Susan's Big News

Recognize the little pumpkin in the back of the wagon?

It's Susan, my wonderful stepdaughter, when she wasn't much younger than Leila.

Susan's 21 years old now, a year away from her master's degree... and engaged to be married (big news hot off the press!).

We found out last weekend, when Jon went to West Virginia to visit Susan and David.

Her fiance's name is Jay Johnston; you can see him for yourself below. Susan and Jay have been dating for over a year now. Their wedding will be a few years off, since she plans to finish school and get her career started first.

I haven't met Jay yet, but understand that he and Susan will be coming to Wisconsin for a visit in December. We'll all get to meet him then!

Jay spent time with Susan, Jon, and David during Jon's recent visit. Of course I had to ask Jon what he thought of him-! I was happy to hear him described by Jon as intelligent, personable, and "he treats Susan like a queen."

Susan seemed radiantly happy, which also says a lot.

During the visit they made an outing to Little Beaver State Park, which is about 20 minutes from Beckley. Susan and David's little brother Logan came along, as well.

They saw Kate Falls, and took a dip in the water. It was spring-fed and pretty frigid, I guess.

It's a long drive to West Virginia, but Jon was really glad he made the trip. It meant a lot that he got to hear Susan's news in person, and that he got to know Jay a little and see the two of them together.

Jon said David was "still David" (which is a good thing). He just had his senior pictures taken, and we were given a nice framed black and white photo that Susan had picked out.

The car came back loaded with some of Logan's former play things, passed on to Leila. Everything was in real nice condition, including this fun plastic car that can be pushed along by an adult.

Of course, no blog would be complete without a few pics of Leila. She wore her Badger outfit recently (from John and Jim, of course!) during Mom and Dad's recent visit to Colfax.

Mom and Dad brought me a bunch of canning jars. They have hundreds of jars, saved from back in the 1970's, when they did a lot of canning. But the jars are still in great shape and look just like what they sell now.

The jars arrived here just in time-- I need to make salsa, and fast. It's getting to be that time of year when it's hard to keep up with the garden. While Dad was here I showed him my nifty apple peeler/corer, which was lent to me by a neighbor. It makes peeling apples a breeze and the task of making applesauce much less daunting.

Mom picked up this cute teddy rocker at the antique/quilt shop in Ladysmith. It was only $18-! I used to have a similar one that cost much more when Michael was a baby, and unfortunately hadn't kept it after Emma outgrew it. So I was happy to get this similar one; Leila just loves it and rides on it daily.

I'll end with an old picture of Susan (which Grandma Jane had published in a Country Woman years ago).

Congratulations Susan and Jay!