It's all about......

Good food
Presents (just ask the kids - no matter how old they are!)
Family
Games
---------it's how we celebrate Christmas!


Joey was the designated Santa and enlisted Sierra to help out! We decided to pass out all the presents first then open them. Much less chaos and actually we had a lot of fun seeing who was naughty or nice (Beth and Bryan won the nice....you should have seen their haul!!!)

Mom and Dad managed to relax a little before all the gifts were passed - yep, Mom is like a teenager - the i-pod (a birthday present from Dad) is not very far from her these days!!!

Rusty had a ball getting into the fray of it all! He wasn't about to be left out of the activities.As is the tradition, we played a game after the presents were opened. It was several games of ol' fashioned bingo! Lottery tickets were the prize - the most anyone won was $3.00 No one is quitting their day job!

We truly feel very blessed and fortunate to be in such a loving family. We missed having Ryan and his family here - he had to work. Also Andy and Teresa had their plane trip canceled because of the terrible weather and decided to stay home. It was sad not to have them but they were in our thoughts and prayers.

We took time to also remember the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate - the birth of Christ. What a wonderful gift God gave to us and we will always be thankful for Christ in our lives.

Merry Christmas!

Not even winter...

and guess who shows up? Ol' Man Winter! We woke up to a wintery site on 12/14/08. Beth's log home is the perfect setting for this type of weather! Fireplace was roaring and we enjoyed the snow from inside! We weren't quite prepared for this! But it was absolutely beautiful!
The birds were thankful for the feeder! Plenty of food and goodies to snack on.

Here's the snow coming down in Independence. It's a rare sight.

The next morning we had about 3" on the ground. That was the start of it all. Now it's the 21st and we have had snow and ice all week. This morning we are blanketed with ice - our snow has melted and in its wake is a mess! Good day to hunker down and enjoy the indoors! Movie anyone?

Another reason to party!!

Mom turned 75 on December 14th and we celebrated with an open house party on the 13th. We spent the morning preparing the church hall and then the afternoon enjoying Mom's friends.Mom got to pick out her own birthday cake. She ordered two different cakes and they were really good! Greg and Bryan are busy with hanging glittered snowflakes; they had to do it a couple of times as we rearranged the trees and decided to close the stage curtains! Thank goodness for a ladder that the church had - it came in handy!!

Here's the birthday girl!
The biggest surprise of the day was Aunt Irene arriving. She is dad's older sister and she flew in from Iowa to surprise Mom. It was so good to see her and catch up on how things are going. She is 80 years old and made the trip all by herself! Way to go, Aunt Irene!Here we are: the 4 kids and spouses with Mom and Dad. It's rare when we can all get together for a picture!
And here are all the great-grandkids with Mom! Mom even has the sticking-out-the-tongue trick down! (It's the only picture I had so that's what is here!)

With Age Comes......

learning to like things I have never liked before!

I had the opportunity to try a really great aspargus dish and much to my surprise, I really liked it. Since then, I have used apsaragus in many different dishes and even ordered it at a restaurant! Mighty good stuff! I always disliked the texture when I was younger...who knew???

Yep, those are my toenails painted! My close friend gave me a manicure/pedicure gift certificate at a local spa (for my birthday in September) and last week I bit the bullet and had it done! Most everyone in my family understands I can't STAND to have my feet touched - way too sensitive. And no, I didn't have to take drugs, Ryan! I had my moments but managed to just laugh through it and for the very first time in my life, I have painted toenails. Would I do it again? Yes, to parts of it, not sure I could do it on a regular basis! I do like the look so will work on keep the nails painted! Fun stuff!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It all started in late October with LOTS of boxes and tables. Putting up the Snow Village was a process this year. We added the Polar Express train set and Greg spent many hours, mulling and planning. And the results are great!

With over 100 pieces (not counting the trees and rocks), the dining room quickly became chaos!

The first two pieces - and they were moved all around!

There are three areas - the downtown, the mountains and cabins, and the residential area.

All lit up and very pretty. It's nice to just sit and look at it. Greg loves to run the train and blow the whistle. Rusty doesn't like that and leaves the room! We are getting excited for Christmas!

Back to school

Saturday was a school day for me. I spent the day at the Nikon School of Photography. I learned a lot. I also remember now why I feel numb and dumb.....numb on the bum for sitting so long and dumb because there is SO much to learn. The hotel we were at was beautiful and right by the airport. The weather even turned out to be partly sunny!

This was taken after the class; I even tried some of the techniques they taught us. Long ways to go!

This sign greeted us as we entered the classroom area. 175 photographers (or waana-be's!) attended!
Lunch was the standard fair of chicken caesar salad, rolls, and dessert.
Here's all the "stuff" they gave us; we had a 21 page book of notes and then they gave us more. Some free goodies too! Time to go practice!

Published!

What an accomplishment.....Beth is published! She submitted an incredible quilt and found out today that she won the honorable mention award. She also gets her quilt back (the top 2 winners don't....their quilts get toured and then put in the hall of fame) and she can enjoy it at home with all her other wonderful quilts.

"Beth Bowden of Eatonville, Washington, won an honorable-mention award for her mesmerizing depiction of the “Witch of Macbeth,“ an original design done using Sue Olsen’s fusible-applique technique. " --Keepsake Quilting November 2008 issue

MONSTER MASH!

You only get to turn 50 once but in Beth's case, you get to celebrate it twice. Beth turned 50 in May, but her absolutely favorite holiday is Halloween. So with the help of her daughter, Amy, and Beth's husband, Bryan, we pulled off one very big Halloween party! Mom, Dad, Amy, Adam, Joey, Veronica, Greg and myself spent most of Saturday decorating the yard, porch and house. It was Bryan's job to keep Beth away until dark....not an easy feat but he did it!
Bryan and Beth: The gorilla and the nun! Beth didn't have a clue about the party so Bryan got her a costume. She put it on once she got into house! Quite the couple!

Adam took charge of the mantle and tagged it: It's a Monster Mash!
Caly wasn't quite sure what to make of all the decorations; she kept eyeing the caldron. The other dogs were quite fascinated with the decorations, except Kovik just didn't like the mad scientist on the porch (unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of it!).
Mom takes a break while I hang up more decorations. The house looked really good when we got it all done.
Greg got such a kick out of the bog monster. He put this bad boy in Beth's bathroom and actually spooked her when she went in there! Mom had an "up close and personal" experience with it as well. We all laughed pretty hard!
Joey, a 70's reporter, and Veronica, a cute cowgirl....they drove from Oregon just for party. It made the day special for Beth.

Now you wouldn't want to meet these two vampires in the dark; Amy and Adam looked really good and were a very fine couple!

Tourists Ryan and Aimee, along with Wyatt, joined in the fun! Wyatt wasn't so sure about all of it but was the cutest pumpkin. They had a great time and enjoyed their evening with only one child!

Spoiled rotten!

Greg was so excited to give my birthday present on Sunday....he just didn't want to wait until this week.....so I gave in (not that it took much convincing!)......and was I ever surprised! He got me a new coffee machine that replaces my espresso maker and then brought out the piece d'resistance!
I admit it....I am spoiled rotten....yep, it's a Nikon D60 SLR......I take so many photographs and with my scrapbooking, he decided I deserved a top quality camera. I'm so excited....I will be taking a photography class and hope someday to do some nice photo work for submission to magazines and publications.....I am spoiled!

It's a Great Harvest, Charlie Brown!

Our garden has gone from manageable to insane! Here is the proof of what we are picking every 3-4 days.
Zucchini, spaghetti squash, peppers, cucucumbers, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes
This gives a great perspective on the size of our tomatoes.....they're on steroids!
This bounty was picked 4 days before the top picture.....our neighbors are benefitting from this as well!

Laboring on Labor Day......

We spent the entire weekend putting the rock down in our dry river bed - almost 8 yards of the heavy stuff! Our muscles could tell stories about the abuse we put them through! But it's almost done and we are very excited to be finished with this stage of the landscaping project. Now it's time for the drip irrigation and moving sprinkler heads! Yippee!!!!

Greg shoveled and pushed the wheelbarrow; my job was to spread it all out! I was also busy with weeding the back flower beds.....where does it all end???????
Even Rusty had to work. He found the core from the fabric barrier and decided he needed to labor right along with us!
He's guarding his "toy!"
All done except for about 6 feet - we are short on the 2" river rock. Another trip to the rock yard for us.
Here's a look from the taxiway; we tied our rocks in with our neighbor's rock and it looks really nice. We will add the larger rock soon. (Our muscles won't like us then either!)

Welcome, Wyatt!

Wyatt Andrew: 8/15/08 7 lbs 15 oz. 20 1/2 inches


Proud parents! (Meysa doesn't look so thrilled here!)
I loved being able to hold him! He's such a cutie!
Proud brother and sisters! Wonder how long it will be before they want him to "go back!"

Doo wop in 2008?

Andy and Teresa drove their 57 Buick Special from Idaho to Tacoma for a car show. This is a show Andy has always wanted to have a car in and here it is! Does this kid belong in the 50's? He loves this era and all the great music. It was fun to see him and Teresa enjoying the show.

I took the grandkids for the afternoon and they really enjoyed seeing the cars! Not sure Lauryn appreciated it but she had a great time looking around.
Meysa thought it was pretty cool to sit in the convertible!
Just a glimpse of things to come - it's only 9 years till he's driving!
Mom and Dad went for a spin in the Buick. It looks like a lot of fun!
And they're off! Mom and Dad loved the ride; it brought back lots of memories for them.