It's NEEDS to Snow again!

Why you ask? Because we need to make one of these:

Thankful Thursday - A Day Late, again!

With the holiday season we've been busy having fun!

I am thankful for:

The Jingle Bell Run/Walk in Bellingham

Tabitha and I walked our 2 miles!! We had a blast and at the same time we honored our sweet friend's daughter who passed away in June 2010.


This is Kiersten. She would have been 19 years old on December 11th. The day that we participated in the race. At the same time we were in our race, simultaneously, in California a similar race was being held to celebrate Kiersten's birthday.


Leila and Trevor-Kiersten's parents

The Jones Family


The rest of the "team".
It was such an honor to be a part of this, even though we were 2 States apart.

Music (again)

This time it was David's band concert. And he just completely ROCKED the trombone sections solo during jazz band!! SO fun!!!!!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for:
Electricity!

We lost power for 3 hours yesterday. Boy do we LOVE our creature comforts. You know, like going to the bathroom with the door closed ;D. But it sure is good to know that our fireplace keeps us nice, warm and cozy.

More music:

Amber's Symphonic Band concert

My crazy family:


Christmas trees:


And being happy when you find the one that will come home with you!

Frustrated Friday!

Ugggh!!! Ever have the kind of day that you think "it's going to be a good day" and things keep coming up to try and make it a bad day? I'm so frustrated!! When I opened up my email today, Rob sent me the notice that his healthcare premium is increasing 71%!! Arrrggghhh!!!

THEN both, his car and "Ruby" (our faithful minivan)went in for a normal oil change. HA!! Not so normal for "Ruby". They found that she has a crack radiator. :P Why is it that December seems to equal car repairs? Grrrrr!!!

So here's my rebellious attitude song for the day!

Thankful Thursdays

I am still loving these Thankful Thursdays. It just helps to keep me focused on the good things and try to not get sucked into the negative.

I am thankful for:

Pictures that cheer me up:


Falling and not getting injured:

Not down the stairs, thank goodness. But in step aerobic class at the gym. Splat on my rump bone!! Yikes! Glad nothing was twisted or broken.

Protection:

Hearing and seeing an accident starting to happen 3 cars behind me while stopped at a red light and being able to avoid becoming the 4th car rear ended.

Girls in a Home Improvement Store...

...can't be trusted! Rob went one direction to get something (can't even remember what) and Amber and I went the other direction to "save time" and go get a replacement toilet seat.

Enough said!!! :D

We FINALLY Have Light!

We went from this back at the end of September:

To THIS:

Do you hear the angels singing?

Especially when the light turns on!! I can't believe it took us so long to decide on a fan/light. At first we wanted to just go with the plain basic white replacement. But really didn't like the light globes available. Then the place where we bought the fan (Fishtrap Creek Interiors) gave us the manufacturers book to "take a look". MISTAKE!!! We fell in LOVE with this one. We decided if this one lasts as long as our first one-which was 17 years, it's completely worth the extra money. We can't believe how quiet it runs too. And it's a nice update to the kitchen area too.

Happy Day we know have light over our dining room table again!

Thankful Thursday - A Few Days Late

Sorry, we're a few days late. Too busy making memories. Not to mention my card ready busted.

I am thankful for:

SNOW!!!

And snow on a day where everyone is home.

Family:

I have the BEST family!!

Orchestra concerts:

And watching our beautiful daughter play the contra bassoon

Baby it's Cold Outside

24°F
Feels Like: 17°
And this is warm!!

This picture was taken last night at dinner. We had winds that brought the wind chill down to 7!!

Now THAT was cold!!! The worst thing about it being so cold was there was very little snow. Nothing to play in and not enough to cancel school. Boooo!

And yes, we were NUTS for being outside. But Amber had an orchestra concert. Which was wonderful!

Rob is Home from India!!!

Woohoo!! We are all so glad he's home. It's just different him being in India than over in Boston even though he was gone for the same amount of time. But before we get into his trip, we had quite the sidetrack project that wasn't on our to do list.

We went from this:

To this:

We had a terrible snow storm with winds. And our 15 year old Japanese Cherry tree was a victim. So sad!


So the boys got bundled up and went to work.

And the girls joined in to help.


Now we have LOTS of wood to give away.

Thankful Thursday - A Day Late

I must say I'm pretty proud of myself in getting a lot checked off my list and not staying in that corner too long. I guess that's what happens when you have a husband that goes out of town (far, far, away) and I can't sleep.

I am thankful for:

A husband that brings me chocolate from this place when he goes on an ultra last minute business trip

More details on this trip to San Francisco later


Great friends to spend the day with. Shopping and scrapbooking, of course!! Thanks Bev and Cheryl. Bev's daughter-in-law, Jamie and baby boy came too so I got my Grandma fix. And thanks to my awesome kids for letting me get away on the same day that their Dad left on his international business trip.

And images like this that just take my breath away.

Yes, I'm a Disneyland geek and proud of it!!

Do you ever feel like this?

Where if just ONE MORE thing gets added to your calendar you are just going to scream?!?!? And these are all good things too. Not like some unpleasant Doctors appointment or anything like that.

I just CAN'T believe how packed our calendar is. And next week is Thanksgiving!! And yes, I did get those decorations up too. I don't have any pictures because Rob has my camera on a business trip right now. We'll tell you all about that when he returns.

For now, I think I'll just go curl up in the corner in the fetal position, rock back and forth and suck my thumb until the next thing comes up that I have to do.

Thankful Thursdays

There is SO much to be thankful for in our family.

I am thankful for:

Veterans: There are SO many in our family. Words can never express our gratitude for their service.


Family: Our baby girl coming home!


Chocolate: So thankful that others like our chocolate an support our business by purchasing our chocolate. Here's a display at Chocolopolis:



Being up there with some of the "big boys of chocolate" is truly an honor.

Lovin' on our boy...

...from a distance while he's on leave from Iraq. But still lovin' on him!!


And our little cutie pea, Lizzie!


We can't get enough of these two.


Ummmm, I caught YOU!! Yes, Robert, YOU!!




He didn't think I was taking a picture.

WE LOVE SKYPE!!!