Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

Hearts and Hugs!
God Bless :)

Then came the ice...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After our fun, family friendly snow, came the ice... the snow stopped coming in soft white flakes and instead came down in sheets of freezing rain that clung to everything. It coated and stuck to all it touched, clinging and growing, it transformed the world into a strange icy wonderland. At first it was just strange, then it was beautiful and then it became scary... the weight of the ice pulled branches from trees and sealed the car doors shut. It coated the electrical wires and when the tree branches fell they pulled down the power lines and then the lights went out. The house grew cold; we chipped the ice from the car and drove till we found power and a hot meal. We made it to Auburn and luckily David LOVES Red Robin, so he enjoyed lunch. We played at the kids play area in the Supermall until they too, lost power. Once we were home again we BBQ'd hot dogs in the snow, and then we decided that it was too cold, too dark to keep the kids in the house, so we left, praying we wouldn't slide off the road. We drove to Longview, watching the snow covered trees as we went. We stopped briefly in Centraila where there was power and filled the gas tank, then as we took the Longview exit the ice and snow was just gone. It looked like any other winter weekend, green and brown and wet. It was SO bright, the lights were gleaming and it just shouted 'safe haven' and when we were welcomed into Chris and Jan's house it was wonderfully WARM. Its a good weekend for a visit :) I hope you all stayed safe and warm this weekend! God Bless.

Adventures in the Snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a wild ride! The snow started in soft gentle flakes that gave us just a few inches... we had fun, sledding walking to Starbucks and lobbing a few snowballs. Then there was MORE snow- we had between 4 and 6 inches and even more fun! David enjoyed the sledding and Lynn even enjoyed a few turns going down the hill.

Merry Christmas... From our family to yours :)

Watching the twinkling lights... the Christmas cookies disappearing... The kids throwing wrapping paper over their heads, hugs and greetings from family upon our arrival... The annual reading of the Christmas story from the Bible- these are the things that make Christmas the wonderful day that it is for our family.
And these are the photos that make it infamous:

Merry Christmas Cookies!

 
 
 
Life is always fun when we are visiting Longview, David and Lynn are surrounded by grandparents and aunts to play with. We had Great Grandma over to help with the all important sugar-cookie making and had a lot of fun :) David got lots of attention (and frosting!) in a relaxing low key setting, which is perfect for him, and the cookies look and taste fantastic :) We have already visited the lake and the playground and there are a lot more fun times coming up.

Lynn is entralled by the pretty lights and decorated packages... has done a little practicing on one of her brothers ribbons and should be a lot of fun to watch come present time. She is finding the dog a little challenging as his tail is at just the right height to catch her in the face and she lacks the skill to block or avoid it, but overall she is having fun and being her usual charming self. Merry Christmas Adam, and God Bless!

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

 

And May All your Christmases be white :)

Happy Birthday Lynn!

 

You are such a seet girl..adventurous, brave and so happy! We are blessed to have you in our lives :)

TSO...

 
 
 
 
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Concert was AMAZING... the English language cannot do it justice, to understand it you must speak the language of music, and only to see and hear it yourself can you truly understand the amazing awesome-ness of the show. That said, we had a blast and I hope to see them again :) Jonathan and I decided that concert tickets would be our Christmas gifts to each other and enjoyed good seats and had a fantastic time. The Show, the Colors, the Lights.... and the MUSIC!... it was all fantastic... I really can't describe it. Have a Merry Christmas!

So Busy!

We have been having so much fun... The Summer Flew By and autumn has nearly come and gone... I am going to be posting a few photos and descriptions over the next few weeks :)Lynn will be one year old in just 8 days! I can't believe how quickly the world is spinning.

I am back to leading MOPS crafts at Lighthouse Christian Center and it keeps me hopping, David is constantly talking and Lynn is doing her best to walk. I miss the bright and sunny summer days, but can't wait to get ready for Christmas. In the meantime... HAVE A FANTASTIC THANKSGIVING!

Gingerbread houses

 
 
 
This years gingerbread expedition had extra oomph added to our expectations of ourselves. The Daily News announced a Gingerbread house Competition and we decided that we simply had to enter... so lots of the designs are top secret and won't be pictured on the blog till after the Dec 6th judging. I have decided that I want mine up anyway! We worked hard and had a few minor catastrophes (I had to completly recreate my roof) but they all turned out fantastic- and as usual we got them done in one weekend!
Enjoy :) and God Bless!

Fall Fest

 
 
 
 
As we left summer behind and embraced the beautiful autumn weather we anticipated our annual fall fest, where we invite lots of our college friends over for a big hurrah before the Holiday season. We met at our favorite corn maze and pumpkin patch... got lost and found our way out again and then returned home for some fantastic food. It was a blast :)

And then I got purple highlights... just because I could :)

Disneyland!

 
 
 
 
 
 
As September approached we made plans to go to California... Primarily to visit my grandma Arnelle and my aunt Barbara and Uncle Dave- but we hit Disneyland for a 2 day adventure while we were there. It was fantastic! David had a blast, Lynn seemed happy and I got sunburned... it was just as it should have been! David LOVES roller coasters and Mickey Mouse, I love EVERYTHING and Lynn liked seeing so many new things :) After the general splendor of Disneyland it was off to Bakersfield. We hadn't seen my grandma or aunt and uncle since our wedding, so it was wonderful to see them and visit for a few days. Grandma Arnelle loved meeting her great grandkids for the first time and she and aunt Barbara took me out for my first pedicure- and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Leaving was rather sad, but it was nice to get home to sleep in our own beds. I do wish we could visit more often though.
God Bless!