A Night to Remember...

And a day to remember!!!

This is a picture of our house at about 11:30 a.m. The wood floor has just been finished and is being cleaned, and the lady on the left is installing all the cabinet doors and drawers. The stove is not hooked up, the island is in the front of the picture, the refrigerator is in the hallway and we're having a party at 6:00!!!!

We HUSTLED!!! Everything in place by 4:00 and then the cleaning...and putting stuff in the cupboards, and decorating a little more outside, and hiding all of my boxes, and PRAYING no one goes in the laundry room or my bedroom!!!!

Last night was TOLO, the winter, semi-formal , all county dance. Tyler and his date, Joci, were going with 3 other couples and I thought it would be fun to have all the parents over for pictures and appetizers. Nothing like a deadline to get you motivated!!! Thank goodness for shrimp trays from the grocery store, as there was no time for me to make anything!!!

Everyone brought something, actually many things...thank you all so much!!!

Eight kids, thirteen parents , a few siblings and friends too, not to mention everyone had a camera! There were so many flashes the neighbors probably thought we were doing fireworks inside!!

Tyler and Joci!

Joci and her pretty nails and flowers...not to mention that smile!

All the guys...Chad, Jesse, Tyler and Max!

All the girls...Kassie, Erika, Emily and Joci!

The cute pose!

The serious pose!

Kassie and Joci...

My goofy, lovable boy!

So cute!!

The whole group...

Heading out to dinner!

It was about 22 degrees outside and these girls didn't have coats on!!!!

They all went to dinner in Bellingham. Only two of the guys can drive with passengers, so it makes for interesting transportation!

We had a great time with all the parents and enjoyed meeting some of them for the first time.

Great food and conversations!

The kids all had a great time, got home safely and before curfew!!!

This is what the kitchen looked like at the end of the night...much improved from the morning! I love how the cabinets turned out and the floor is amazing! We have managed to ding a cabinet already though!!

These rooms are almost finished... a little carpet tuck left, but we love the way it's turned out!!

Now, for the pantry............

Christmas is in the air!!

This doesn't exactly scream Christmas, but bear with me!

Now that the remodel is done, we're moving on to what inspired the remodel in the first place. The leak that damaged the wall in the pantry, and the floor in the kitchen that led to needing to replace it all so we may as well change everything else!! We didn't want to put in the new floor with all the construction going on so now that that's done, we're onto stage 2!! And since we're pulling out the floor we may as well paint the cabinets too!! So this weekend was spent ripping out hardwood, pulling out appliances, cleaning out cupboards and getting ready for the painting and the floor this week.

Brian's dad came and helped on Saturday. Is is really worth the money we save by doing it ourselves? A question often asked!!

The kick-off to Christmas in Lynden really begins with the lighted Christmas parade. It's my favorite Lynden event, not to be missed!! It was soooooo cold! Northeaster blowing all around and well below freezing! Ashleigh's home so we all got to go as a family this year...Yea!!
Pictures are a little dark, but there was quite a turn out. A few thousand people lining the streets for about 15 blocks.

There are floats, cars, tractors, horses and people all lit up! Prizes for certain divisions, etc. It's so pretty!

Big trucks, fire trucks...anything that drives that can have lights on it is usually there!

One of my favorites is the Edaleen Dairy float. A giant bowl of ice cream with the scoop dropping it in the bowl.

And the eggnog being poured into the mug. Flora has a beautiful float too

Tyler ran into his FAVORITE teacher, Mrs. Kroonjte! They have quite an affinity for each other!!

Tyler's friend Joci! (Very cute coat! )

Tyler and Joci are going to TOLO next weekend so Tyler and I went shopping after church.

Things are so technical these days...taking pictures in the dressing room, texting it to her for approval and getting a response all in the matter of a few minutes!


Her dress is red so she requested this outfit!

Our friends Dave and Angie came up from Marysville and joined us for dinner. It's always so nice to see them. Dave is a master story teller and time flies when we're together!

Today is my Grammy's 89th birthday. I forgot to get a picture to post, but will try and find one for later. Got to have a nice phone chat with her . She is just the sweetest thing and such an awesome grandma. I am so blessed!

Ashleigh goes home tomorrow morning. Two finals this week and then off for Christmas break. She'll be working down there for a few weeks and then joining us in Leavenworth and at home for Christmas. So many things to look forward to!

Pour yourself some cider...it's a long one!!

Last weekend we went up to Whistler with Fred, Tami and Max where we were blessed to enjoy Jeff and Kathi's condo. What a treat!!
It was snowing when we arrived and never really let up. The village was so beautiful, all sparkly and shiny!

We tried to get some Christmas card shots. Ashleigh doesn't like to be in our photo anymore so we asked this snow lady to step in. What do you think?

I think this one is good for Fred and Tami. They needed two substitute sons...snow Danny and snow Sam.

We thought maybe we could try one with the Olympic sled. Do we look competitive?

Very exciting to have the games so close. I pity those poor people who think getting there will be easy! We'll be watching from home!!

Tami looks so cute! I look like I've been stuffing my hat!

Tyler, Max and Brian had plans to snowboard and ski on opening day. People camped out all night to be the first one up the mountain. The boys didn't like the long lines, especially with only a few runs open, and decided to bag it. Instead they built up a jump and had fun playing around with that. Brian took a lot of great pictures of them, but Tyler loaded them on the comp. and I don't know how to get them over here!!!

They had a lot of fun...until Max fell and broke his wrist! What a bummer! The R's spent about 3 hours in the emergency room. I'll let Tami tell you about socialized medicine!!

Tami holding the official coca cola torch!

A beautiful trip!! I'm so glad we had the chance to go! Brian hiked up to the top of Blackcomb and saw the sledding tracks. He got quite a few pictures before security asked him to leave! They are on my other camera which I can't get to load on my computer:(

We had lots of great food, wonderful walks, coffee in the snow, scrap booking and stitching!

Thursday night was the Lynden downtown Christmas shopping night. I love to go and see all the stores and decor. I wish it was better attended, but I didn't see that many people. Please get out and support your local stores!!

This is the Kitchen Konnection, where I work. It looked so pretty and bright and Lori was serving up some awesome samples!! She had a lot of traffic and lots of sales!!

There were carolers wandering the streets ...

This is Surroundings, above Dutch Mothers. Got some nice goodies with my purchase!!
Love the colors on this tree!

Tami, http://theladyinthestonehouse.blogspot.com/ , runs the gift shop at the Lynden Pioneer Museum, my first stop!! She had some fun antiques for me and of course the new Christmas Gooseberry Patch book!!!

She and Frosty make a pretty cute couple! Wish you could see her sparkly, red shoes!!

Friday was the 2nd annual autumn pie party at Lynda's. This is such a fun tradition that she started and I'm afraid she has to do it forever now!!!!

Using the timer on the camera...not the best...but here we are!! Karen, Lynda, Terry and me!

Aprons are required and everyone brings a pie. Lynda serves up a lovely lunch and provides us with a stitchery to work on. Missed taking pictures of both of those!!

My BFF, Betty, aka Lynda...I'm so blessed to call her friend!

Lynda liked my shoes and took a picture. My legs looked so skinny (which they aren't) that I had to add them to the post!!! To put it in perspective, that is my apron, not the tablecloth!!
Just focus on the legs please!!

A festive autumn table with adorable chalkboard name tags.

I'm the only one who got a decoration on her tag...I felt very special!!!

There was a game with about 30 possible correct answers. I won! I got 4 right!!! (It was a very difficult game!!!) Got to take home all the tags!!! Sorry girls!

What a feast!

Karen's blackberry pie...

Lynda's caramel apple cheesecake pie...

My apricot pie...

And Terry's peach pie...which I forgot to take a picture of...sorry Terry!!


We had such a wonderful time together! Thank you so much Lynda!!! Life would be so empty without you ladies!

The pictures just keep coming!!!

Please feel free to pause and nap at any time!

Got the carpet in last week, the couches arrived and we've started putting things in the room! Not much in the decor department as I don't want to take it all down when I add Christmas.

The computer got moved into the sitting area. It's tucked in a little corner. Love being able to play my Christmas music and Aunt Ruthie's music too!!http://sugarpiefarmhouse.com/. Plus I'm able to blog and watch the finals of Dancing with the Stars!!! I'm rooting for Donny as he was going to be my husband at one time. I wore the purple velvet skirt, had the Donny lunch box and all his records. Plus I practiced writing Holly Osmond over and over!!!

this used to be our dining room and we've made it into a sitting, game, computer room. I really like the coziness of it, and the openness to the other room.

We got our new couches! Chocolate brown! I must admit that they were much comfier in the store, so I've been jumping on them to loosen them up a bit!!! Tyler worked on them tonight!!

I need to get some blinds on the window, but I hate to cover them up!! Will make it a little cozier in here though and we won't be on display to the neighbors!!

The fireplace is used every day! It's wonderful!! On a remote and has an adjustable flame, which is really nice! Tyler's been taking lots of naps in front of this thing!!
I'll start decorating for Christmas this week. It takes me FOREVER!!! I'm sure it will take even longer as I figure out where everything should go now! Can't wait to see how it looks!

We'll be heading to Bainbridge Island for Thanksgiving and look forward to spending time with family.

We're so blessed and thankful to live in this great country, in this amazingly beautiful part of the world. To have family nearby and dear friends who bring us such joy. We're healthy, have a warm home to live in, abundant food, and more than we could ever possibly imagine. God is so faithful and I am so thankful for His provisions. So many people are hurting and alone, and feel as if they have no hope. May they feel God's presence this Thanksgiving and may His blessings be upon each and every one of you!