Gingerbread Houses

Keeping up with the family tradition of making gingerbread houses...we didn't have time to make them before Christmas so we made them a few days after Christmas instead. The battle between the guys and girls continues...declare the winner for yourselves!

Dad's Gambling Habit

I started wagering candy bars on NFL Football games with my Sons in law and Alanna and it was hard to keep track who owed me what so I was given a white board to keep track so they wouldn't CHEAT me out of what I was due! According to my record, Joel was due one candy bar (after I received five from him earlier in the year) but he thought he should have at least three so we compromised on two. Heaven knows he needs it more than I do...! Alanna owes me one so she did OK for the year; considering she was down byfive or six earlier in the year. Matt owes me one but he gave me an extra one last year so I called it even! I guess we will all say, "Wait until next year..."

Snakes

For Christmas Jen and Alanna gave us some treats in our stocking. As I was pulling things out of the stocking my hand grabbed hold of a plastic snake. I freaked and threw the stocking. Later in the day I was trying to take a nap. The girls put the snake by my face and this video shows the outcome of it. :)

ENRICHMENT MEETING

I actually went to Enrichment Meeting last night. I was asked to bring my sewing machine and help make stockings for the ALIVE shelder. We sewed 150 stockings and decorated them. It was a great activity and there was a good turn out. The YW helped as well. There were about 8 of us sewing the stockings. We were covered in white from the trim we added for the top of the stockings. Of course I wore black pants so the fuzz really showed up. The other women and YW cut designs and figures out of felt and decorated them. They looked really nice when they were finished. I have to admit, this is one of the best Enrichment Meetings I have gone to. The children will be given the stockings and they will have activites and stations where they will receive little gifts to fill the stockings.

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

We enjoyed the snow we got on Sat. and Sun. Sunday it snowed all day with the most beautiful huge snow flakes. Around 5:00 it warmed up and the snow turned to rain. It rained hard all night. We got about 6 inches of rain in less than 12 hrs. It continued to rain all day Monday. Our back yard was flooded as were many of the roads. Mike closed the office at 11:30 so we could go home because so many roads were closed. Dad left work early and it took him an hour to get home. This is the worst storm I have seen since we have lived here. Between all that snow melting fast and the huge amount of rain the ground was saturated and the water had no place to go. This morning the rains had stopped and the sky has been kind of blue. It sure makes me appriciate the good weather when we get it. I am thankful for the safety Dad and I both had going and coming home from work. I can see why the Lord has councled us to have a supply of food on hand. I really thought that since we live at the top of a hill we wouldn't be affected much by flooding. This storm changed my mind. If that weather had continued very long I'm sure the grocery stores would have closed and things would have been shut down for a while. Then it wouldn't take long for the shelves to be depleated in a hurry with people having to buy food to get by. I am so thankful for a Prophet who can council us to do the things that Heavenly Father wants.

IT'S SNOWING

It's the first of Dec. and it's snowing. Dad and I cleaned the spa early this morning because we knew it was suppose to snow today. Then we ran to Wal-Mart to get groceries and sure enough, it was snowing when we left Poulsbo. The closer to home we got, the harder it was snowing. It looks like a winter wonderland. We were suppose to have tithing settlement tonight but it has been postponed. Everything stops here when it snows. I'm making home made Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner. That's a perfect dinner for a snowy day. Pictures will follow when we can figure out why we can't pull them up.

DOES FOOTBALL HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT

Last night there was a special Thursday night football game. Gary decided he wanted to watch it as we were playing cards. We usually play casino, 4 handed solitare and rummy. I hardly ever win at casino and loose in 4 handed solitary 75% of the time. Sometimes I get lucky with rummy and actually win with that. Last night we played all three games and I won all three! I'm convinved it's because Dad was watching football and teased him that his concentration was on the football game not the card game. Just like when he talks on the phone while watching football. He denies it and thinks I just had good luck with the cards. If I had won one game I would have thought that but to win all 3 in one night! I'm sure football made it possible for me to win. What do you all think?

IKEA

IKEA

Alanna, Heather and I went to Ikea on our way to Kim's house. They loved the masks. You can always find something unusual at Ikea.

Red Hats With Grandma

red hats

While we were visiting with Grandma she had Red Hats. She invited me to go with her. We went to Blackstone a new restaurant in Logan. We both ordered a Cobb Salad. When they brought our salads we looked at each other and decided we should have just ordered one and shared it. We each ate until we were full and took the rest home. Gary finished mine for lunch and we finished Grandmas for dinner that night. It was fun seeing the women all dressed in red and purple. Even the manager had to come in and and see them all. I can see why Grandma likes going to Red Hats. They are all very sweet ladies and very positive and fun to be with.

I KNOW IT'S TO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Rumor has it that I have been doing geneology. Actually I had my first lesson on how to start last night. But the story starts long before that. Bro. Miller has ben out home teacher for about 10 years. Almost every month he has tried to encouraged me to do geneology. I thought writting the memories of Grandpa was a good start and I was pretty proud of the fact that we as a family accomplished that. Bro. Miller knowing I needed all the blessings I could get would not let me get away with doing only that. Each month when he comes to visit he would nicely remind me I needed to start geneology. Last month we were talking about it and I made the comment that maybe when I quit work. He tehn reminded me that Dad had given a really good lesson that day in Priesthood on procrasination. He had me! Bro. Griffith our other home teacher is the geneology specialist in the ward and kindly offered to help me get started. He came over last night and showed me how to get started. He told me how he got interested in it and a few experiences he had. I have to say he actually got me kind of excited to start. Now I have to do something before they come home teaching again to show Bro. Miller. Our home teachers are truly a blessing in our lives. We have the greatest ones.

Nothing new in our lives

Just thought I'd add something new. There's not much happening in our lives. it seems like we go to work and home and church on Sunday. Gary is looking forward to retirement in Jan. We will be going to Kim and Matt's for Thanksgiving. Alanna, Brandon and Heather will be there as well. We'll miss having Jen and Joel and the kids there but understand it's a long drive for such a short time. We look forward to seeing them at Christmas time.
We have had a beautiful fall here. There have been many days with a blue sky and the colored leaves have been very brilliant. This is probably the prettiest fall I can remember having here. Usually it rains a lot and is dark and dreary. That will come soon enough.

I'm doing it without help!

I'm at work and it's slow, so I decided to see if I could actually add things without help. Hopefully it works. Yesterday we had a huge wind and rain storm. Our internet here at work went down about 3:30 and at 4:30 we lost power and phones. So i closed the office. The power was off all over and I didn't expect to have power at home, but we did. AMAZING since we lost power twice this summer for no apparent reason. There were trees and branches down all over. As I turned to go up the hill a big branch was half way over the hill. I was sure glad it didn't cover the complete road or I would have had to walk up the hill. It wasn't far from where Dad parks his truck. He was lucky it didn't hit the truck. Today it's been pouring down rain and thundering and lightening. Right now it's just dark and cloudy. Winter weather is already here.

Spring

Spring

Jen, Spring and I went shopping and Spring choose to get a little tea set. So we had to have a tea party. One morning I was getting ready and was using electric curlers, she was very interested in them and had to try them out. This morning she asked me if I was done doing my face. She is sure interested in make-up.

Smiling Sammy

sammy

Sammy woke up to early one morning and was having a hard time. Jen had put him back in his crib. It wasn't long before Grandpa had gotten him up and had him on his lap. Sammy just laid in Grandpa's lap for the longest time. When he was ready he got off and started to play. It's amazing how a little one on one attention in a quiet place helps calms them down.
Since his birthday is close and we won't be here for it we gave him his birthday present. We got him a little train and a truck. Him and Thomas had fun playing with it together.

Mary

mary

Mary is such a sweet little girl. She is very calm and easy going. Spring had gotten some new panties and had put them on over Mary's diaper. She said it was to hide Mary's diaper. Mary is beginning to crawl and scoot. She is content to play on the floor but loves it when the other kids come and play with her.

Baskin Robbins

The kids were excited to take us to dollar scoops at Baskin Robbins. Mary loved getting tastes from everyone's ice cream. After ward Gary took the boys home and they played. Jen and I took Spring and Mary to the Taste of Home demonstration. Joel had a service project for YM's. Everyone had a fun but busy night.

Baskin Robbins

Grandpa teaching Thomas to play the piano

Thomas really wants to learn to play the piano. Tuesday night Grandpa helped Thomas learn some finger exercises and about the different kinds of notes. Thomas was so excited to show us all he learned the next morning.

thomas and piano

Fun Times in California

Here are some pictures while we were in California. While we were in Petaluma we went to the Nature Park for a walk. Thomas and Spring saw a pond and wanted to skip rocks. So, Grandpa and Great Grandpa went ahead while we stayed to play at the pond. Spring was going back up to get another rock and ran into the mud which is adobe. Her shoes stuck in the mud and her feet were covered to her ankles in the muck. I went to get her shoes and almost got stuck myself. I carried her up wondering how I was going to get her cleaned up. Thomas found a bathroom so I took her in, sat her on the sink, washed her feet, and cleaned her shoes. We decided it wasn't fun to play in the muck. So we went on a walk on the path and saw birds, kyackers, and just talked hoping to catch up to the grandpas. After about an hour we decided to head back to the car to meet them there and they were already there. They had come back the other way. Thomas and Spring both wore Great-grandma's sweatshirts because we didn't bring jackets.

ca trip

Walk to the Park

Friday morning we went for a walk and Spring rode her bike. We went to the park so the kids could play on the swings. Spring and I collected leaves for a wreath.

Weekend get away

Last weekend we decided we needed to get away for the weekend. We stayed in the small town of Arlington. On Sat. we drove to Darrington and Granite Pass. We saw parts of WA. we had never seen before and enjoyed driving around. Sat. afternoon we decided to head to Levenworth. As we drove through Steven's Pass we enjoyed seeing the colored leaves. We hadn't thought about it being a 3 day weekend and couldn't find a place to stay in Levenworth. So we ended up driving to Wenatchee and staying there. Sunday morning we went back into Levenworth and looked through the shops and spent the better part of the morning there. Then we drove back to Edmonds and caught the ferry back home.

Just for you, Alanna

Dad found this cup in Levenworth and thought of you.

Extreme Home Make Over

On Sat. Sept. 22 we were invited by Keith Cash (one of my clients) to go to Kirkland to watch them build a home for the show "Extreme Make Over - Home Edition". He owns Abacus Home Furnishings and was going to be working on the home. Since he was doing that he had VIP passes to give. He called and invited us to go so Dad and I decided we'd go. We got to Kirkland about 8:30 and stayed until about 11:30. We got a ride from the home base to the actual building site. They had a tent for the VIP's with chips, apples and drinks available for us. It was fun and interesting to see all the workers and volunteers working in such a small area. We saw Ty a couple of times. He was actually pretty calm and very personable to everyone there. Dad was in hopes to see his hero Paige (the one who wears the pink tool belt). No such luck!

Ty running by as he is checking up on things.




Plans for the finished grounds

Dad's first homemade pie

One Sunday Gary decided that he wanted to make a homemade pie. I helped him peal and slice the apples. I also had pie dough in the freezer that he rolled out and lined the pie tin with. Other than that he did it himself. It's quite an accomplishment for someone who doesn't know how to cook. It turned out delicious and ready to share with Ron Miller, when he came to home teach later that day.

Girls Week in Utah

Mom, Karen, Kim, Alanna, Jen, Mary, and I all met together in Utah in July for a week. We stayed in Draper for a few nights and then headed to Grandma's house for a couple nights. We went to the Joseph Smith Building to watch the new Joseph Smith movie and had lunch there; went to the Peppermint Factory, Gardner's Village, shopping at IKEA (and of course, lunch there too), made cards and bracelets, and just enjoyed being together. Mom had her walker at IKEA and wore us all out because she just kept going and didn't need a rest. Jen found a rocking chair at IKEA to try out as she nursed Mary and took a short nap.

Vettes for Vets

The GOCC, Tacoma and Seattle Corvette Clubs, met at Retsil Veterans Home to give the veterans rides in their corvettes. We also gave gifts and money to the veterans.

vettes for vets

We are starting

We are moving into the 21st century. We will see how long we stay here!