370(aka, Ian)

1Lt. Ian D. McLaughlin
Assignment:F-15E
Location:S. Johnson AFB, NC

Ian has been flying T-38's like these...........

Next he will be flying planes like these, AT-38's.

And eventually, F-15E's!!

Nicknames are a given in the military.

Ian's is 370! Has to do with ordering 3 drinks

and going to fast at a certain altitude.

Some of the others were like Ike and Toby.

And it sounds like the nickname will stick.

So this morning was the 'wings' ceremony.

General Stephen Lorenz gave the graduation

address to the 19 members of Class 09-01!!

Ian's mother, Marcie pinned on his wings!

After the ceremony we did a little more

touring! Listening to Ian talk about what

he has been doing made us so proud!

He is still the wonderful young man we

have watched grow up.

What an honor to share this time with him!!

Time to get ready for the 'party' at the officers club....

Just a quick post for my Unity friends!

This is the card I made for Ian!

Made with Unity's kit by AJ, Simply Said and an old Rebecca Sower tag.

Ian's Getting His Wings!

Yesterday Tim and I came down to Enid, Oklahoma with his parents to celebrate our nephew Ian getting his 'wings'. He is stationed at Vance Air Force Base. And he has been assigned to fly F15's. Pretty much a fighter plane. Something like $5o million. All I can say is 'wow'!!

We are so proud of Ian. And we are so glad we could make the trip for him. There are eight of us(plus baby Jacob) here today with a few more family and friends coming to help Ian celebrate.

Today we went on tours of various parts of the base! We ended up skipping a few things because of the wind and temperature. I thought going 690 miles south of Minnesota would be warmer!!! (Not today.)

One tour was of the simulators the pilots use. Tim and Ian's dad took a try at flying.

These are the finished (felted) slippers for Ian. Air Force colors. The grey color is yarn from sheep that Ian's parents raised(years ago) in Minnesota. I thought he would like a touch of home.

Off to bed now! Sounds like we have a long day tomorrow.......

LOTS more pictures to come......

Baby Showers and Family!

It's hard to believe that Randi only has about 6 weeks
to go till her due date! She has had a great pregnancy with just a little morning sickness in the beginning. Now she feels good and is enjoying feeling the baby move and even appreciates some of his ''jabs". I still can't believe I'm going to be a grandma.















On Saturday Randi's Aunts(my sisters) put on baby shower for her. Randi just wanted a small simple get together and then she wanted to play 'group solitaire'. I remember my mom playing solitaire when I was very young. When my sisters and I got older mom taught us how to play. And then we learned to play 'double solitaire' with her and some how we kept adding people. On Saturday we had 6 playing but we have had as many as 8 or 9 playing. It can get pretty wild at times with cards flying. The youngest nieces are now playing. The family
tradition will continue....

Then on Sunday we had the McLaughlin's to our house. We had a very relaxing day. Even a trip across the street to the park. My niece Claire's daughter Hailey(2 yo) even gave her Great Gpa Mac and Nick a ride on the merry-go-round. We are so greatful to have family near enough for day trips to be together.

What's on My Ottoman!

Do you have a 'my chair'? Mine has an ottoman which usually has what I'm working on on it!
Wednesday evening I finished knitting the slippers on the left, they just need to be felted now. They are for our nephew who is getting his 'wings' at Vance AF Base in Oklahoma next week. Tim and I are going down with his parents for all the festivities! No, he doesn't have really big feet, they'll shrink about a third when I felt them.
And laying on the slipper is one finished sock for myself, the second one is on the needles. I'm using the Monkey Sock pattern from Knitty.com. This is the second pair I'm making with this pattern.
And there is also my shopping list! Which is two days old, I hope to get it taken care of today. Have a great weekend.

Bye, Bye, Kids!

Last night I said 'good-bye' to the kids! It was the fund raiser/banquet for Hope Pregnancy Center. They held a silent auction for the dolls, around 30 of them. The bids were started at $50 per doll. The twins started at $100. The auction started before the meal and ended after the speaker. From what we saw the dolls sold for any where from $85 to $500. It was fun watching my two and my sister Deanna's doll.











A co-worker of Deanna's daughter was bidding on hers. Funny thing is that Deanna had named her doll after her own daughter, Heather Lynn. But the name was changed by someone to Heather Grace. The woman bidding on the doll was wanting it for her 7mo daughter, Grace!! And she did have the winning bid, $155. It was meant to be!!!




After the meal I checked on the twins and saw that a couple that I have known for years (his crew did our woodwork in our new house 21 years ago.)were bidding on them for their daughter who wanted them for her children. After a little competition they won with a bid of $250. I was glad to know who they were going home with.






It's tempting to design another pair of dolls for myself. These were such beautiful dolls. (gosh, I look like a dear in the headlights in this pic.)

This is Angie and her dad, Micheal.

Thanks for taking the kids home!!!

Finally... a few cards!

Where have I been?(I ask myself.) I have been trying to get more organized at home and at work. Purging, purging, purging. Feels good, but now I need to take time to make a few cards.

Not much more than a month till our first grandchild will be born. So it's 'shower' time. I made these little cards to send out to the great-gma, and a couple of great-aunts. The stamps are Unity of course!! And I used my first Copics pen. Now I know why everybody says they are the best!

I also have been making some b-day cards for someone who is having a birthday in 33 days! But since she reads my blog I can't show them. I have been sending her a card a day for the 50 days before her birthday. They are more personalized with pictures and crazy sayings like: Close your eyes and imagine(picture of friend and I floating on George Lake on front)....(inside) The sun on your body,

the breeze in your hair, and the feeling of

being carefree young girls again. Now

open your eyes, pay the bills, take

your pills and wash his dirty underwear.

hehe-hehe LOL!! I'll have to post a

few after the big day!!

Well, off to mails these cards!