the thankfuls & the funnies.

The thankfuls.

For Thanksgiving we made the trek to visit our dear family in Montana.  They were awesome to host not only our little family, but the Sorensens, Grandparents, and the Spokane Saugens as well!  It was a BLAST.

We all stayed at Glacier Presbyterian Camp -- on Flathead Lake.  Um, hello gorgeous setting!  It was amazing.  

Our eight kiddos can sometimes be a handful when they are all together, but luckily the lodge was large and the kids ran wild and free within with no bones broken or friendships lost.  Actually speaking of friendships... it was so sweet to watch Olaf and Micah all week ATTACHED AT THE HIP.  Almost literally.  With no fighting.  I think they miss each other quite a bit...  It was really fun to see them playing so well together, imaging all sorts of things... of course every single imagined story had either superheros, cars, or superhero cars :)  They were certainly in their element, both into the same things, and just loved being together!  Forest on the other hand... well he went by the rules of "what's mine is mine, what's yours is mine, if I had it once it's mine, if you have it but I want it it's mine and if you try to get it back I will smash you in the face with it."  Ack... we are working on the whole sharing thing... Luckily the intended victims, Kyler and Soren, are both third children and go-with-the-flow and didn't seem to get too upset by it... I hope.  (Sorry!)

Highlights of the week included:

• Seeing this camp which is Dave and Christie's new home and being SO happy that it is a such a great place and such a great fit for them.
• A run with Christie and Jenny
• Our own "Family Turkey Trot" on Thanksgiving Day!  All the kids participated!
• Watching Dave take all the little kids on a gator (mini tractor) ride around camp after the fun run.
• Teaching Christie, Theresa, Lydia and Sherea how to play Settlers.
• All family games at night.
• Ladies dance parties.
• Haakon's cheese biscuits.  No seriously - they are THAT good they deserve a mention.
• A well organized family photo session (which I can't wait to see photos from!)
• &
• Being blessed by our extended family.

It was a great time had by all, and I am so glad my favorite holiday was celebrated in such fine fashion.


And now for the funnies.
These kids + older Saugen cousins + iPad apps = HILARIOUSNESS

grandpa

soren

ingrid

serenity

trygve

mr. olaf himself

christie

micah

The gaggle

ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! 

it was the best of times, it was the best of times

Seriously.  It was the best of times.  What a nice weekend; what a nice day Sunday was!

Steve was home for mama's day this year.  I loved it.  I slept in.  I woke up to this:

Yum.  PW's french cinnamon muffin things, coffee, banana.  All so happy to see me.

Then we went to Plain Community Church where our friend Zachary preached an AMAZING sermon on Ephesians 2.  Both convicting, and encouraging too!  Those are the best kind.

Then took my mama out to brunch/lunch here:

www.mtsprings.com 

DELICIOUS.

Bumpa and the boys feeding the fishies at Mountain Springs.

Then a lazy afternoon with some gardening.

And later a softball practice in the hot May sunshine.  (But not too hot.  80 is PERFECT).

Getting ready to plant in my raised bed.

 

Then some specialty garlic-chive pasta from Pike Place Market and a cold PBR with my hubby.  We might have even danced in the kitchen with eachother :)  I remember my folks doing that when I was a little girl and it's such a fun memory.  Cheesy, but fun.  

A day and a weekend spent with family was a recharge to my mama batteries.  Thanks Steven for making it such a nice day!

finally, new year here i come.

 I have been avoiding posting because I felt that in the new year, I should have some great ideas about resolutions, or what I did on my Christmas break, or something GOOD, you know?  But really I am tired and apparently I have writers block too :)  Not that I write all that much, but really, seriously, there's nothing coming to me right now people.  I should probably share a few pictures with you from our very special Christmas, and time spent with friends both before and after.  I'll get to that... once I finally download them!  Ha!

Here's a start though -- we sort of opened up our property as a Christmas tree farm of sorts this winter... so we ended up having help thinning out the doug fir and grand fir babies!  It was pretty fun actually to have so many people drive out, hike around, and drive home happy with a tree on their car.  All in all I think about 10 family friends came out -- too much fun!  Here's a few pics of when Steve and Olaf and I hiked around looking for trees.

So anyway, I got over my writers block.  PHEW! 

Well I hope you all are all off to a great start to the year already.  Mine is going swimmingly, as I enjoy my family and friends, and buckle down at work.  We really are blessed.

Peace, Joy, and Love

Here's to a Christmas Eve that's full of wonder, joy, and celebration!

Love from Plain

December is a crazy month

Yup, December is crazy.  And as much as I may whine about being busy or not having enough time in the day... I do just LOVE this month.

I love the special family birthdays -- Aleksandr, Sue, Serenity, Haakon, Josh and Steven.  Whew!  That's a lot, but apparently a good month to share time and experiences with one another as we see some of you for parties!

I love decorating for the holidays.  Yes it can be cheesy.  Yes some people go way over the top.  Yes even I have many lights and ornaments and a few wall hangings in my house... but I have no guilt over "commercialization" of Christmas... because for some reason it sort of brings back the magic that I remember Christmas feeling like when I was little.  Hope, expectation, joy... all those feelings.  I remember just laying on the couch in the dark with my sister Kirsten and just talking and staring at the lit up tree and listening to Little Drummer Boy off Mom's favorite tape...  I swear it was magical and so much fun!  I know those feelings aren't a result of the decorations, but somehow they are connected in my mind because of how much I love them when I was younger.

I love Christmas music!  Top favorite album for the season -- Amy Grant Christmas.  Just can't go wrong with that CD.  Then Late Tuesday.  Their rendition of O Holy Night is AMAZING.

I love cold weather and snow outside, and a crackling fire on the inside.

I love that Gravity rarely has too much work in December, and so I get to keep Steven home with me a lot :)

I love the parties and many excuses to see people that you love, both family and friends!

I love seeing an outpouring of generosity from many folks I know to those less fortunate -- food, gifts, money, volunteering...  and I love giving back to the community I live in, in small ways, and hoping to be a blessing to someone else.  

I love Oly.  Enough said.

I love ALL OF YOU READING THIS!  and here's a shout-out to Grandma Hazel - it was so nice to talk to you last night, and I am sure glad to know that you and Grandpa Russ enjoy reading this blog :)

Happy December 9th.  Happy birthday Josh!

happy day.

What I am most thankful for today... people!

Oly-Olaferson

 

Steve and Dave

 

Grandpa Mark

 

 Friends that go WAY back.

 

 Snow and bad mustaches.

 

Also... I don't live here this year.  Yay!

Thankful for all the other people in our lives who aren't mentioned today -- know that you are loved!

Now if only it would snow this weekend...  all ours melted :(  boo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

6 - 2 = 4

Well it is the 6th of July, but I would like to share photos from 2 days ago, the 4th of July!

On Independence Day we:

1. Mowed the field around the irrigation heads. Steve really REALLY needed an excuse to borrow Dave's new (old) John Deer. He claimed the weeds were getting "out of control".
2. Drank coffee. Lots of good delicious coffee. With my husband. In the sunshine.
3. Paid bills. What better way to celebrate good old American spirit than to spend money, right?! I swear we are keeping the local economy alive single-handedly with this remodel...
4. Spent all afternoon at Lake Wenatchee with the Cohens! It was so nice just to relax and spend time with good friends who we hadn't seen in awhile.
5. Went to a pool party at Grandma Betty Newell's, hosted by Jaimi and Nick. Saw lots more good friends and family too!

Please enjoy a snapshot of our day.
For some reason these pictures remind of that country song "Redneck Yacht Club"...

His milk belly is about to explode out of his little t-shirt :)

Our little piece of lakeshore heaven.

I made Steve go back and sit in the water to take this picture... He was screaming like a girl at how cold it was... okay that's a lie, but he sure didn't sit down for long!

Just in case people forgot what day it was... we brought our own flag to show our American pride :)

The Cohen Family. Little Chira is SO CUTE!

Shannon and I enjoyed being tied off to ye old stump while floating on our humongo tube...