Upcoming Family Fun Weekend

Dan and I are very much looking forward to this weekend. All of the Lynden Family is coming to the East side for a visit. That means tomorrow we'll get to see Sue, David, Heather, Austin, Travis, Holly, Dean, Lyndsey, Avery and little Kenzie. I'm looking forward to some niece and nephew time and I'm sure Dan is too. I'll take my camera along and post some pictures later.

Let'er Buck!

Last weekend was the world famous Pendleton Round Up and as an avid Round Up fan, I have an obligation to share this with my husband. It's okay, I think he liked it. Friday morning was the Westward Ho! Parade. It's really pretty neat. No motorized vehicles or rubber tires allowed. That means there are lots of wagons and horses. Of course there's the typical marching bnds and dance teams as well as political campaigners and universities. Here were a few of my favorites:

We also had a good time at the rodeo, but my pictures from the arena didn't turn out so good, although I did get a decent paparazzi shot of the calf roper, Fred Whitfield. The Round Up rodeo is always good and this year was no exception.

30 Thoughts for Dan's 30th Birthday

On September 6th, Dan turned the big 3-0. I was going to wax poetically about 30 things I love about Dan, but then I remembered that I am not a poet and a list of thirty things I love about Dan could turn sappy really quickly, so this is simply a list of thoughts about Dan, some kind of random, some short, some long, but they're all true.

1. Two weekends ago, I came home from the farmers market and found this note on the kitchen table. Sweet, huh?

2. Last night at dinner, Dan did an impression of Rob Akey's Vandal football radio commercial and had me laughing so hard I though I was going to spew food all over the table.

3. Dan is no longer surprised when he walks in the kitchen to find me dancing to the radio.

4. Dan can come up with silly lyrics for any song. Country, rock, pop, even church hymns, just give him a few minutes and he'll deliver a new masterpiece.

5. I don't think Dan ever gets cold. It could be the dead of winter and I'm curled up next to the heater wrapped in coats and blankets and he'll be wearing shorts and a t-shirt, opening a window.
6. Dan is a fabulous uncle. His nieces and nephews love rough-housing and playing with their Uncle Dan.

7. I think Dan likes playing with the nieces and nephews so much because they let him have an excuse to play with trucks and hurl himself down a hill on a snow tube.

8. I like that Dan will happily spend half a day hurling himself down a snow hill and then carrying the sled or tube back up the hill, just because the kids are having so much fun.

9. I appreciate that Dan doesn't mind when I try out new dinner recipes on him. He's usually very complimentary and even if the new recipe experiment was a total flop, he'll still have something nice to say about it.

10. Dan has never once gotten mad at me for forgetting to do something.

11. I have been able to talk Dan into some new adventures, and so far, no harm done. Do you think I can talk him into Phantom of the Opera? Wish me luck.

12. I have more fun with Dan than any one else in the whole world.

13. Whenever I have a funny/sad/scary/weird/mundane/interesting/exciting story, Dan is the first person I want to tell.

14. Dan has accepted the fact that all my scrapbooking stuff will never be completely put away.

15. Dan doesn't like tomatoes, avocados or Blue Cheese. I don't suppose this is good or bad, just interesting.

16. Dan is a very talented picker of fresh produce. He picks us out the best fruit and has a knack for finding the best ears of corn.

17. Even though he doesn't really like them, Dan still helped me pick several tubs of raspberries this summer. He's a way better berry picker than I am.

18. Dan and I have a standing Friday night date at the grocery store. I look forward to grocery shopping with my husband all week long.

19. See these pretty flowers. Dan got them for me, simply because he knows I like pretty flowers.

20. Dan has a well-worn Bible he keeps on the table by his side of the bed. Know why is so worn-looking? He reads it, a lot.


21. Dan decided to help me with children's church. That means, about once per month, it will be me and Dan and 15 to 20 three to five year olds singing and doing crafts in the church basement. Wish us luck!

22. I appreciate that Dan doesn't mind that I go to craft night once per month. He knows I need my girl time.

23. Dan has never once commented on the lack of "fairness"when it comes to closet space or bathroom shelf space that I take up versus the space allotted for his things.

24. You know that Brad Paisley song "I'm Still a Guy?" You should really listen to the words. I swear it was written for/about Dan.

25. Dan hooked up his speakers to the tv to create surround sound. When we watch action movies, the apartment walls shake.

26. Since we've been married, Dan has faithfully taken out the trash and taken the big can and recycling to the street for pick-up. He's so good that usually he takes the neighbors can out too.

27. For Dan's Birthday Dinner, we went to BBQ & Blues in Clarkston. Once again, it was wonderful. They added to their menu and now have a tasty starter, collard greens soup. It's dang good. We'll be back.

28. We also went to the Wazzu football game. The best part was sitting next to Dan. The worst part was the ugly football game.

29. Dan sometimes tickles me so much I swear I'm going to hyperventilate or wet my pants. Fortunately, I have yet to do either.

30. And finally, the sappy love fest I've been waiting for. I love that Dan is so wonderful, patient and caring. I love that I get a kiss goodbye every morning and a kiss hello every evening. I love you Babe and wish you a very Happy Birthday.

My Labor Day Weekend

I happily spend the end-of-summer three-day weekend sleeping in, relaxing, shopping at the farmer's market and getting caught up on some projects that needed my attention. Dan was busy with harvest (see next post) and I did visit him three out of four of the days to bring him food and keep him company for a while, but mostly I just locked myself in the apartment and got to work.
First project: Barn Windows. I haven't totally decided what I'm going to do with these, but Dan dug them out of his Mom's old garage and I thought that surely I can do something with them. Right now they've been cleaned and sanded and I applied wood stain to one of them. Current Project Status: In Progress
Second Project: Do something creative with this paper. I sketched out some ideas but have been having problems actually executing these ideas. I got one page nearly done and another one about half-way done and a third still being formed in my head. Current Project Status: In Progress

Third Project: Turn this wonderfully fun fabric into something usable and cute. In theory this was supposed to be an easy project. The fabric was already cut out, all I had to do was sew it together. This is always easier said than done. I have materials to make six "items" (to be revealed at a later date) and I fully completed two of them. Current Project Status: In Progress



So, as you can tell, I did and I didn't get a lot done this weekend. I made headway on three projects, but didn't get any of them totally done. Oh well, I'll just keep working and hopefully have something done that I can post soon.

Dan's Labor Day Weekend

While I was busy sleeping in and getting caught up on my projects, Dan was spending all weekend working harvest on the Palouse. He left early and got home late Friday-Monday. He mostly drove grain trucks, but did spend a bit of time helping to fix a combine.
I visited him and rode along a couple of the days. Mostly to keep him company and bring him necessary provisions.

{Dan working hard and trying to ignore the camera}















Harvest on the Palouse is really amazing to me. These fertile hills produce so much. It's quite astounding when you think about all the food that is produced on the farms in the area. I get really tired of hearing and reading the opinions of people who one day decide they're environmentalists and want to accuse farmers of being greedy land-abusers. If that is your opinion, I would encourage you to actually meet a farmer and tell me what part of him is greedy to you? What part of the hard-working, faithful stewardship of his land do you take offense to? What part of feeding millions of people do you think is wrong? A popular bumper sticker a few years back read, "Fed your kids today? Thank a Farmer." That's one slogan that should make a comeback.












{Soft white winter wheat, ripe for the harvest}











{after the combine has been through}

So even though Dan worked all through his "vacation" weekend, after work today he'll be back out there again and will continue to do so until the harvest is over. Before you start to think that it's too bad Dan couldn't do anything fun over Labor Day, you have to know that my dear husband is a worker by habit and by nature and he enjoyed every minute he was out there.

Lentil Festival

The National Lentil Festival was this past weekend. Dan and I headed downtown on Friday night to get a bowl of genuine lentil chili. It's actually pretty good and they make it in a really big pot that's carried on a flat-bed trailer. I made Dan stand in front of it for a picture.





The next morning was the Taste T. Lentil 5k fun run. Well, I can tell you it was definitely 5k, I'm just not sure how fun it was. But I did it. I entered and ran and finished with no injuries or mishaps to report.



Dan took pictures. See, there's me happy and relaxed and excited for the race.

Then there's this one. This was near the start and it was really crowded. Pullman is a town of hills and the race organizers had us run up the longest one of all. I was a tough course, but I'm glad I did it and will hopefully go again next year.

Summertime food is the best

When Dan lived in Lynden, he grew a big garden with peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, corn, peppers and other fruits and veggies. Before we got married, he loaded me up on all the butternut squash I could eat. But, this year, we live in a small apartment and growing a big garden just isn't possible. We did plant peppers and tomatoes and herbs and I am so very excited that finally we are picking and enjoying the fruits of our labor.


These are some of the first peppers and tomatoes. We have 5 different varieties of tomatoes and 3 varieties of peppers.

My parents grew quite an onion crop this year and shared a large bag of Walla Walla Sweet onions with us, which is great because 75% of my dinner recipes start by sauteing an onion and garlic.

Dwayne and Angela have been quite generous by letting us visit their fruitful raspberry bushes. We've been over twice so far and have been enjoying raspberry shakes and smoothies. I think we might even go back tomorrow to pick more.

So, as you can probably tell, there's not a lot of exciting things happening in Newlywed Lenssen Land, but we are eating well and certainly loving all the fresh food of summer.

Happy (sort of) Anniversary!

On July 16th we celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our engagement. Yup, one year ago Dan decided we should go "scouting for deer" on Kamiak Butte. Well instead of seeing deer that evening, I saw a beautiful diamond ring and said 'yes' to the most wonderful proposal. Three months later we got married and now here we are, married for nine whole months. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. We definitely still feel like newlyweds. I hope we always do : )

{Right after he asked and I said 'yes'}

{A happy day in October}

{Engagement pictures, taken one year ago}

4th of July Spectacular!

Dan and his friends have celebrated the 4th of July for years by putting on a big fireworks extravaganza and there was no way he was going to miss it this year simply because now he lives on the other side of the state. So we packed up the truck and headed to Lynden for a long weekend. It was great to catch up with Sue and spend some time with Dean, Lyndsey and the little girls and see some Lynden friends, but really, for Dan, the weekend was all about the pyrotechnics.












{See. Isn't it pretty?}

Dan has a good friend, Jason, and he goes shopping for fireworks on the 5th of July every year to load up for the next year. Jason is quite a perfectionist and lists out what fireworks are better than the others and is continually tweaking the line-up to put on the very best fireworks show possible. He and Dan launched fireworks for an hour straight as the rest of us watched from the safety of the balcony.



















On the drive back to Pullman we decided to take the long way to check out Snoqualmie Falls. We stopped in the fall/early winter and boy howdy have they ever changed. They have always been beautiful, but now with all the extra water they truly seem powerful. Anyway, if you get the chance, on your next visit to or from the west side, you should stop and admire for a bit.












{anyone wanna swim?}

Newlywed Lenssen News Update: My pick-up, Gunner, now belongs to another and we are the proud owners of this cute little Chevy Cavalier. Dan calls it my "high school girls car." It has taken me a bit to get used to driving a car versus driving my Dodge, but the new car is quite zippy and fun and it's nice not to have to search the parking lot for a spot big enough for a pick-up.











{meet Cali the Cavalier}



I added some new blogs to my favorites list. My sister finally joined the club along with my cousin and his wife. If you like cute pictures of adorable wee ones, you should check them out on the right side of this page.

Summer.....so far.....

I love summers in Pullman. I like that the students are gone and parking spaces are available. I like that there are no lines at restaurants and the movie theater. But this summer is different than all the others I've enjoyed in Pullman. This summer I have a great husband to share lovely Pullman with. Walks and bike rides are definitely more fun when there's someone to converse with.

We've seen two big summer movies so far. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was pretty dang cool. Yes Indy is older and has graying hair and a few wrinkles, but he's just as smart and witty and funny and clever as always. We also saw The Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian. This movie rocked. There was action and cool battle scenes and I just love all the Narnia characters. There was even a poignant scene or two that had me in tears.

In other Newlywed Lenssen News, we've decided to sell my pick-up. Yup, Gunner will (hopefully) soon belong to another. This makes perfect sense of course; Dan's truck is better and newer and all that and really, what do we need two full-sized rigs for? So alas, practicality rules and Gunner, my constant companion for these past 7 or so years has a FOR SALE sign in the window.


Doesn't he look nice all cleaned up?












On June 10th we were VERY suprised by a freak snowstorm. (There were tree branches down all over town and power was even out in some areas.) I ran home at lunch to pull in all my dear little potted plants and pull them to safety. After snapping a few pictures, I shook off as much snow as I could. Now, eight days later, it's 75 degrees and sunny and I think most of the plants are going to be okay, with the exception of my poor, sad little basil.



Okay, I just had to share the adorable picture. This is my niece, Sandy, and her mother happened to catch this wee one is a happy mood and showing off her new sun hat. Pictures like this just make me want to scoop up the sweetness and kiss her chubby cheeks a million times.

Well, that's all for now. We're looking forward to our Lynden visit over the 4th of July. Hopefully we can catch up with family and friends and enjoy the annual fireworks spectacular.