Weekend getaways 2009

In December, we decided to devote some time to ourselves. We came up with the idea to take one weekend each month and do something different, just focusing on us. No rules, just a weekend to ourselves. My months are the odd ones (jan, mar, etc) and Greg gets to plan the even ones (he says it's because he wants his birthday month!). That being settled, it was up to me to plan January. What could we do that we have never done before, that would be fun and somewhat inexpensive? I came up with snowshoeing!! And since Greg had never been to Mt. Rainier, I decided that was the place to visit. It just so happens my sister's husband, Bryan, works for the National Park Service and is "stationed" at Mt. Rainier so now we had our own personal guide! It was an absolute blast and one I want to do again! Beth and Bryan hosted us for the weekend and took us on a magnificent scenic trail. Beth and Bryan have their own snowshoes; we had to rent ours. It isn't near as much gear as when we were skiing or maybe it is, but it's much lighter!!! The park entrance - we still had an hour's drive up to Paradise where we would begin our expedition. We saw the mountain "peek" out from the clouds. A beautiful day- no snow, but overcast with sun breaks. Fog rolled in later in the afternoon so we were thankful to have such great weather in the middle of the day. Here we are......we had just finished lunch and were ready to tackle more trail!

We ended the day with a rousing game of spades. It is our tradition to play men against the women. And yes, Beth and I lost the series again! We just can't seem to catch a break against these guys! What a weekend - good food, great friends, lousy cards (at least that's what Beth and I thought!), and lots of laughter! Thanks, Beth and Bryan, for helping us have a fantastic time! Love you guys lots!

A note to my husband

This day I thee wed......15 years ago.....and am forever grateful that I did! That evening we vowed to honor, love and cherish, to commit ourselves to being the best we can be and will be for each other. The words from Don Francisco's song says it so well:

I could never promise you on just my strength alone

That all my life I'd care for you, and love you as my own

I've never known the future, I only see today

Words that last a lifetime would be more than I could say

But the love inside my heart tonight is more than mine alone

It never changes, it never fails, never seeks it's own

And by the God who gives it, and who lives in me and you

I know the words I speak tonight are words I'm going to do

And so I stand before you now for all to hear and see

I promise you in Jesus' name the love He's given me

And through the years on earth and as eternity goes by

The life and love He's given us are never going to die

Life hasn't always treated us fairly and we are not perfect, but when I think of what I could change about you, my husband, my answer is nothing. I need to always remember that you are God's to change and I need to be the wife God has called me to be. No one promised it would be easy but I am so looking forward to the next 15 + years! I love you!

Being a grandma........

is just about the best! I was blessed to spend this past weekend with Aimee and the grandkids - what a great time! We played the wii fit, wii bowling (Ayden scored a 278 with the only open frame being his first! -watch out pro bowlers!), went to the park, had pizza, made forts, played memory game and had some scrapbooking time with Aimee in the evening! We stayed up until 1am both nights - are we crazy or what???? I do cherish this time as I know it will pass quickly and someday Ryan and his family will move and it won't be as often I get to spend the time with them. Mom and Dad even made a trip out to see on Saturday night and that was really fun too! I really love my family!

Who can't love these adorable children? It's the middle of January and already the budding baseball player is hard at practicing!Who said that? Wyatt is looking for someone (Mom, maybe???)

Meysa wanted "curly" hair for church on Sunday so Aimee spent time putting braids in her hair!

The results of those braids - what a pretty girl!

Little Lauryn loves to play at the park and goes down the slide "all by myself!" It was cold but not cold enough to keep the kids inside!

Ringing..bringing....in 2009!

The 4th annual semi-formal NewYear's Eve dance was a big hit! Mom and Dad joined us and had a great time! They haven't lost their touch when it comes to the dance floor routines!

Bryan and I had a little fun with the top hat!

Stealing a kiss before midnight - they called it practicing!!!

Adam had a great hat once again but this picture was just too good to pass up! Cute couple!

This year, the "Davettes" sang back up to "The Man Song"; check out it here!http://humor.beecy.net/menwomen/mansong/

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!)