I got a birthday present!

I feel like I have returned, although I didn't really ever leave. Mostly it's just my attention that has come home from its wanderings. We had a fun-packed two weeks with my parents and sisters visiting from Missouri. I am sorting through the hundreds of pictures and hope to chronicle our adventures here soon.

On September 30th, we celebrated my birthday with my family and our community group. (I turned 22, in case you were wondering.) Then, this past Sunday, Robert bought me my birthday present, something I have been wanting ever since we moved in to our house last December:

We enjoyed using our fireplace, but that was only feasible for a couple months during the winter, and I missed sitting around a fire outside. Ground fires are illegal in city limits, so this was our solution. I shopped around a couple different stores and was torn between one very similar to this one and one that was much cheaper. Then I checked craigslist, and lo and behold, there was the one I wanted for a quarter the price, and it came with a heat shield on wheels, making it easier to move around. Robert picked it up and we've been using it every day since.

This morning I got up early, put a pot of steel-cut oatmeal on the stove, and went out and built a fire. Before Robert left for work, we spent the morning drinking hot chocolate, eating steaming oatmeal, watching the sunrise, and enjoying the crackling fire.

Tiernan heartily approved of early morning outside playtime, and although this pic doesn't quite capture his enthusiasm, I thought it was pretty cute anyway.