Memorial Weekend Adventure (part 1)

Dan and I weren't sure how we were going to spend our long weekend. We debated just hanging around here, but when Grandpa Cy and Grandma Janet invited us to the cabin for the opening of fishing on Henry's Lake, we decided that sounded way better than the non-plans we had. Bright and early Friday morning we took off and drove the 500 miles to the cabin. All the other times I had made the trip, so had my cousins and other family members and it was really nice this time to have a low-key adventure with just my grandparents, parents and us.
Saturday morning we were up and on the water with the rest of the Henry's fishermen and we were not disappointed. Dan hadn't ever been boat fishing, but he was certainly a fast learner. He brought in the first fish of the day and then proceeded to bring in another and another and so on. I got one and Grandpa Cy got one and my Dad caught two, one of which was a 5-pound monster.
Day two on the lake wasn't as productive (two fish caught, two got away) but Henry's Lake can be fickle and after such a great first day, we couldn't complain.
Props out to my Mum and Grandma Janet for sending us out with ample provisions and welcoming us mighty fishermen home with fresh cookies and amazing meals. Fishing is hard work (especially in the rain and wind) and it was nice to have a warm cabin and a great meal to come back to.



Here we are with all the fish of Day One.












Should we use this as our Christmas card picture?























Oh yes....the couple that guts and cleans fish together, stays together.

Memorial Weekend Adventure (part 2)

After a full day-and-a-half fishing on Henry's Lake, the six of us piled in the pick-up and headed into Yellowstone National Park. Dan had never been and I was excited for him to see all the neat things Yellowstone had to offer. First up were the Buffalo. Yes, they really are that big. They're so used to to tourists that they just sit there and as long as you don't bother them, they'll leave you alone. It was cool to get so close to such large animals.















No trip to Yellowstone would be complete without a stop at Old Faithful. We got there with plenty of time to complete a 40 minute hike around the springs, pools and smaller geysers. Old Faithful is the definite draw, but the other thermal spots are really neat to see too. Old Faithful was right on time.




















The Old Faithful Inn is 100 years old and the oldest Inn in the National Parks System. It's incredibly beautiful and is currently being renovated and updated, but keeping it's traditional charm. The main lobby is just awesome and if you're ever in the area, you need to stop by to check it out.










It was a quick weekend with two solid days of driving, but definitely worth every mile.

Springtime Craftiness

I spent some time a few weeks ago making a tag book for my sister for Mother's Day (from Clint and Sandy, they just needed some help from Aunt Shelle) and Mother's Day cards for my Mum, Sue (Mother-in-law) and my Grandmas.
Here's the cover of the tag book:

A couple of the pages....

I really like using these new Bazzil scallop edges....

Some little paper flowers cover up staples that I messed up on : )

Baby Sandy, Graduation and more Baby Sandy!

Isn't she just the cutest little thing you've ever seen? Her puffy cheeks! Her round eyes! Her big smiles! Okay, so maybe I'm a little biased because I don't get to see her very often, but really, she is the cutest.

The Big Graduation Weekend has come and gone. Jen (and Baby Sandy) and Cody flew in on Friday and we just kind of hung out at my apartment for the afternoon. I took a lot of pictures of Sandy-bear and pretty much spoiled her. After Dan and Kasey put on their armor to rescue Christina (Kasey's girlfriend) when she broke down out in the boonies, we all headed to dinner. BBQ & Blues in Clarkston scored again. That place really, really rocks and if you haven't been there, you should go. Like now, really, go.

Saturday was the big day for Kasey. Four years of classes, tests, books, dodgeball games, frustrating football seasons, group projects, roommates and study sessions all came to a close. Kasey graduated from the College of Business with a degree in Marketing. The three+ hour event took it's toll on all of us out in the audience, but as you can tell from the picture, Jen and Cody found a way to keep themselves entertained. They were sure to take off the headphones when Kasey's name was announced. Afterward we had a big get-together at the Church and my Mom BBQ'd steaks and we all just hung around talking. It was great to catch up with all the family in town and (of course) watch Sandy-bear play.

Saturday night was card-night with the grandparents. Dan and Christina just had to laugh at us. Apparently, in their families, card games do not result in fights. What!?! How is that even possible? The arguments are part of the fun, right?
Sunday morning, we all woke up early to say our goodbyes and everyone was off. It was a quick weekend, but very, very full. Kasey is off to start a new chapter of his life (I know, I know, that's so cliche), but I know he thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent at the University of Idaho. He is a Vandal through-and-through. He stands for the fight song, sings the words and despises Boise State. Yup, he's a Vandal.

How about another picture of Baby Sandy, just 'cause she's so cute!

One of the Cool People!

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally I too am one of the cool people. Well, actually Terry and Denise Candler are the cool people. They just happen to be friends with Monty Lane Alan, backup singer and guitar player for ALAN JACKSON!!!! They totally scored with free tickets and invited Dan and I to join them in Spokane for a night of country music. We got to met Monty before the show. He's a super nice guy and has his own single coming out soon to country radio. I'm excited to hear him on the local station soon.
Miranda Lambert opened and she was fun and high-spirited and got everyone up and rockin'. Dan has a little bit of a crush on her and he might know more of her songs than I do. I really liked her pink guitar and her cute shoes.










Alan Jackson was great. He sang new stuff, old stuff, all his stuff really. Monty did a great job on backup vocals. There were a few songs where the four of us couldn't help but to get up and dance. He put on a wonderful show.









Afterward Monty came out again and he and Terry and Denise got to play catch-up. If you ever get the chance to listen to southerners play catch-up after several years, you should do it. It was entertaining just hearing them talk and ask about everyone from Mommas to cousins to aunts.






Thanks again to Terry and Denise for inviting us and guessing correctly that we'd have a great time. Many, many thanks to Monty Lane Alan for a fun time and thanks for letting us all be cool people!

Some catching up.....

I know, long time, no blog. I have been super busy with work, my Guardian ad Litem mentorship and finishing out the required writing sample (it ended up being 16 pages...whew). I've also done scrapbook pages for kit club and for design team and still managed to go to my regular job everyday. None of it has been too exciting, so I don't feel bad about not blogging about the non-excitement.
Concerts- Dan and I worked 3 concerts this month. Elton John was loud and his fans were crazy and there were plenty of drunk Wazzu Moms to keep it interesting. He is quite talented though, and once everyone found their seat, I got to enjoy the show. Dierks Bentley was next and he was by far my favorite. Dan and I both really like a lot of his songs (several were played at our wedding) and since we were stationed on opposite ends of the stadium, we "flash-flirted" back and forth with our flashlights when our favorite songs would be playing. It was fun and I appreciated my dear husband's sense of humor. Dan did have a much rowdier section than I did and he announced to me at the end of the show that we would not ever be having a teenaged daughter. I wonder how he plans to see that one through? : ) The last concert was on Saturday night. Does anyone remember Ben Folds? I remember like 2 songs of his from college and that's about it. Anyway, apparently he's making a comeback and he's doing the college-tour thing now and sure used the f-word a lot. Wouldn't you think it would eventually become ineffective? Let's just say this show was definitely our least favorite of the three. I hope next year we get more good shows and fewer crappy ones.

Other notes - I got my hair cut. I have bangs now. Dan took this picture of me in the kitchen (yes, our kitchen has a brick pillar - it's odd). It's taken some getting used to, but so far I like the new look.
Congratulations to our friends Tyler and Becky Bos and their new little one, a healthy daughter named Morgan (very cute name).
Next weekend we'll have 10 Freston family members in town for Kasey's graduation. I'm very excited to see everyone and celebrate all of Kasey's hard work. It will be kind of sad too. I've really enjoyed having him here the past four years and know I'll miss him when he moves on the bigger and better things.

Two days of SPRING!!!

Yup, that's right, over the weekend we were treated to two wonderful, sunshine-filled, warm, lovely spring days. We definitely maximized our time out-of-doors. Dan spent several hours washing, waxing and detailing his truck. We also went to the WSU Plant Sale and loaded up on tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers and had a perfectly lovely time filling pots and hanging baskets out in the sunshine. We took a long walk around town and it was warm enough that we were able to let Roxy play in the river for a while. She's a lab and a definite water lover. I think playing in the river is a Labrador's version of heaven.
With the perfect weather and the calender showing me that yes, Spring is actually here, I began to daydream about being able to walk to work more often, jogging with the dog in the evenings, riding my bike around town and planting flowers in the garden. You know, all perfectly normal, Spring-time activities. I wasn't even that discouraged when we woke up to overcast skies, after all, it's allowed to rain during the Spring. However, when the rain started really coming down hard and I needed to leave work to hurry home to put all the plants under the carport, I wasn't quite so forgiving. Then when I looked out the window at work and saw snow, I was far from amused. I guess I jumped to gun a little too early on this whole Spring-time thing. I'll probably get some garden plastic on the way home to cover all the little baby plants (sigh).
The two days of Spring were perfect and beautiful, yet now they seem a bit cruel.

Sunday Notes

I really enjoy Sundays. They're quiet and restful and allow for some time to catch up on forgotten tasks. In the 5 or so months since we've been married, Dan and I have developed our own Sunday ritual. Usually we'll sleep in 'til about 8:00 or so. We'll lie in bed and discuss who should get dressed and get the newspaper. Whoever doesn't get the paper starts a pot of coffee and we'll spend the next hour or so reading the paper and enjoying our coffee and breakfast. I'll clip coupons and Dan will read me bits of news or something from the opinion section. It's all very relaxed and comfortable. Eventually we'll look up at the clock and decide to get ready for church. Church is also one of the parts of Sunday that I enjoy. I like the warm greeting at the door and that I'll run into several people I know before we're even halfway through the foyer. I always really enjoy the praise and worship music and whatever sermon is preached. But most of all I love that I get spiritually recharged for the week. It's so easy for me to forget that God is God and I am not. I take on all the worries and stress of life when I really should just give them all to God; He does a better job dealing with them anyway. I remember on Sundays to take time to really reflect on my relationship with God. I take extra time to thank Him for all He's done for me in the week. No matter the day, I know God loves me, but in the quiet time of prayer in church, I let that fact really sink in. This Sunday we started on a new sermon series called "What We Believe and Why it Matters." I know I'm a believer, but it really is good to get a refresher on the beliefs that are easily taken for granted. Emmanuel Baptist Church has all their sermons available to listen to, so if you maybe need a refresher, click here.

After church, we'll have lunch and lounge around in sweatpants. I might scrapbook or blog or cook and Dan will watch sports or truck shows or something equally tough and manly on TV. We'll catch up on laundry and I'll usually make a big dinner. If the weather is cooperative, we'll take the dog for a long walk around town.

Last Sunday was Easter and we were in Lynden to spend it with Dan's family. It wasn't our usualy Sunday, but it was still nice. Sue is all moved into her condo in town and Dean and Lyndsey have done a ton of work to the house. All of Dan's stuff was stashed in the basement, so we spent hours going through it, boxing up some to save, some to yard-sale and some to trash. Sue made a big Easter Dinner and we got to catch up with Dan's brothers' families. We hadn't seen them since around Christmas time. Little Kenzie was just a bitty baby then, but now she's crawling and jabbering nand really turning into quite the cutie. She was adorable in her fluffy pink dress.

Even though we were pretty busy, I did get some scrapbooking done. I recently was invited to join the design team at Paper Pals, which means I'll create displays for the store and work on specific projects. I had some fun spring time paper that was so fun to play with. Here's my favorite card:

One of my favorite parts of being part of the design team is that I now need to make scrapbooking a priority. Yay! In fact, I'll probably work on some more pages once I'm done with this blog.

I was caught!

My friend (first) and sister-in-law (second), Angela, tagged me for this little questionairre. I am supposed to tell you seven random or fun things about me that you might not already know. So...here goes.
1. About an hour ago I was thisclose to either pulling my hair out or shredding my nearly-complete Easter dress into tiny pieces. I have been sewing for years and could not for the life of me figure out how to attach the neck piece. I read the directions a million times and couldn't make sense out what they were saying, so I just ended up doing it my own way. So take that! Stubborn pattern.
2. I'm getting my hair cut and colored on Wednesday. I'm very excited and I'm seriously thinking about getting bangs.
3. I am quite possibly addicted to reality TV. I love me some Top Chef, Project Runway, American Idol and America's Next Top Model. I'm actually watching The Bachelor right now, although it is starting to make my stomach turn, so I'm not sure how many episodes I'll be able to put up with.
4. My friend Tiffany and I are going to do the Campus on the Run 5K at the end of the month. We're keeping our expectations at a fairly reasonable level and know we'll be walking at least part of the way.
5. I have the best husband in the whole world. He just spent the last hour or so organizing all our tax information and all our insurance stuff. Neither one of us really likes to be responsible for all of that, but he knows how much I really really dislike it, so he just took the bull by the horns and did it all. Thanks Dan!
6. I'm very much looking forward to May. We've got a whole slew of family members coming for my brother's U of I graduation. There will be grandparents, cousins and my sister and her little baby girl. That reminds me....anyone have a play-pen I can borrow for a couple of days? Apparently those things are a pain to fly with.
7. This is the first time I've ever been blog-tagged. Yay! This was fun.

Okay, now I'm supposed to tag others. After checking out my friends' blogs, I think Leslie needs to be tagged. You're it!

Things that make me smile.....

There's never a shortage of stuff out there that brings a big smile to my face. Here are just a few:

-My pretty blue Easter Dress fabric. Easter wasn't a big deal when we were kids (except hunting candy-filled baskets), so as an adult I probably get a bit too excited for a new dress for a special day. Oh well, it makes me smile anyway. I am making my Easter dress this year and got the pattern cut out last night. Hopefully I can get most of it done this weekend.
-All the fun pictures of baby Sandy I've been receiving lately. The only time I have actually seen little Sandy-bear was in October when my sis and her family came for the wedding, but that was over 4 months ago! I am glad that we all get photo updates as we all like to keep up with the saga of her wild and crazy and beautiful blonde hair.

-Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Darcy, Willoughby (boo...hiss), Elinor, Emma, Knightly and the great Fanny Price. Who are all these people? Characters in Jane Austen books! I have been on such an Austen kick the past month or so. She wrote seven books and so far I've read three of them. I am pacing myself because one they're done, they're done. It's not like Jane Austen is hard at work on a new novel and I need to savor the words she left.

-Who knew dirty boots would make me smile? Check out the collage. Those are all signs that our apartment is really ours. It's not longer my apartments and Dan moved his stuff in; it's really ours. See the guy DVDs? The tractors? The beaver pelt on the wall? Yeah, those are things that would never be in my apartment, so it's a good thing they're in our apartment.

Take time to enjoy the little things that make you smile!