Perfect New Year's Eve!

What better way to spend New Year's Eve than with your husband. Quiet dinner.... lobster, salad, fresh bread and a bottle of wine..... perfect! Happy New Year to all of my friends and family. May 2010 be the best year yet. See you on my blog.

As many of you know, I have had a revived obsession in my life - photography. My blog this year has been an accumulation of "events" - big and small - in our life. I have had the great pleasure of spending much time taking photos of family, friends and all of God's great gifts. I have had people asking me to see more of what I have been doing, so.... in the next couple of days, I will be putting the finishing touches on another blog that will feature many of the photos I have taken and will be taking over the next year. Connie has inspired me to do a POTD..... well, maybe more like a POTW. But, I will do my best to post at least once each week with one, two or many photos. As with all bloggers, we love comments so, if you are so inclined, please leave me some of your thoughts.

Thanks be to God for all he has blessed me and my family with and I wish all of you the same for the new year.

Tubing!!!!

Today we went tubing out at Perkinstown. We haven't been there in years and boy was it fun. Lorin is off this week so it was a Nana, Papa and Aubree day. The first picture is of Lorin coming down the hill with Aubree....

Then the landing....

About half way through the day, the rope broke. Do you see how many stairs there are to the top of the hill. Of course Aubree was not ready to leave so..... time to climb the stairs - 108 stairs to be exact. Do you know how many times we climbed those stairs - Too many!!

Here is Nana and Aubree way on top of the hill.....On the way down......At the bottom.....


Another graceful landing.... Not sure what was more fun - coming down the hill or landing in the straw. Aubree was a little scared on the first run. However, we no more than landed in the straw and she was saying "Again, again, again, can we go again?" What a memorable day. We ended with hot cocoa in the club house to warm up. Here she is on the way home.... Cheeks red and nose running. What a fun day - can't wait to go again. BTW - when we left they got the rope back up and running.

What a Christmas Gift

We had a wonderful Christmas! Lots of fun with family and friends - we are blessed in so many ways. Check out many of my photos on facebook.

Anyway, a cute story from our Christmas.....

Saturday evening, after much of the commotion was over, our immediate family had our get-together. We had a very casual dinner and then opened gifts. Aubree, who will be 6 in about a month, has really wanted a bra. She is such a girl and growing up way too fast. Heather has been telling her she doesn't need one yet but, as I have told you in the past, Nana is a pushover. And, since Heather didn't mind if I bought her one, that was one of her gifts. She was so blessed with so many wonderful gifts from family and friends. Many items that you would think she would have been so excited to receive. Well, her favorite gift from this year is....... Her new bra! When she opened it she was so excited, we all laughed. Someone (I think Chad - Jenn's boyfriend) made a comment about her getting a bra and her reply was "Well, I am a WOMAN you know!" (She is almost 6.) Gotta love it.

One other story from the weekend.... We asked her on Christmas Eve how her day was with her daddy and Grandma Sue, etc. She was telling us how she had fun and about the gifts she had gotten. She got art supplies, toys, etc. and some money from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Randy. We asked her what her favorite gift was. She said, "Everything! Well, I really didn't like the envelope they put the money in, but I did like the money." (I guess she saw no reason to waste an envelope.)

Such crazy memories from a wonderful weekend. I will post some more pics this week from the open house. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the day.

Bokeh

Since Connie posted her bokeh, I thought I would show you some of mine too! I love bokeh. It gives a different look to a photo that is kind of fun. Last week I took a couple of shots of my tree and used it for a card/label I put on my thank you gifts to my clients. The first photo is SOOC (straight out of the camera) and the second is with a little photoshop work. I lightened it so it would be a background, added a white border that faded in/out of the photo and added words. So easy, and it turned out pretty cool.

Maybe tomorrow I will post my "stars". Thanks Connie for your constant inspiration! Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Lights!!!

Tonight we took a drive to Marshfield to walk through the park and see all the lights. We have done this every year with Aubree, Heather and Morgan and it has become a "tradition".....and, every year it gets better than the last. If you have never gone.....you are missing something quite wonderful. There are hundreds of thousands of lights throughout the park. You can either walk through or drive through..... we do both. Here are a couple of photos to entice you to make the trip. The park is decorated entirely with donations and there is no admission. They have volunteers that work in the park throughout the season and collect donations of money and/or food items. The money raised goes to the needy families in the Marshfield area.

Of course there are a few of these fun photo "boards". Here is Heather and Aubree.....

Papa, Aubree and Morgan.......

Me and Aubree...... We had to do the penguins because I love penguins.

As I said... I love penguins.

One of the new additions this year. It is santa's village and it was awesome. How cute and so much detail.

A closer look at one of the houses in the village.


On the way home we had to stop at Starbucks. Aubree loves coffee (decaf of course). She had to try Heather's Peppermint white mocha...mmmmmm yummy. A perfect way to end a perfect evening. I Love Christmas.

I hope I have convinced you it is worth the short drive to see what a wonderful display is there. BTW - Santa is there, some evenings his reindeer are there and they even have sleigh rides through the park on some of the nights.

Merry Christmas and God Bless you all!

Bed Head

I have to post twice tonite..... this first post is Pickles head this morning. A couple months ago Julie posted the back of her head one morning and it looked a little like this. Pickles had a sleepover at Nana and Papa's house last night and when she woke up her hair looked like this and I immediately thought of Julie's post. When she fell asleep she still had her pigtails in and when she woke up this morning, this is what she looked like. I'm glad I was able to send her home and let Heather deal with this "bedhead". I wonder what she found in there? What did she do when she was sleeping last night?

Kids and Boxes

What is it about kids and boxes. I remember when the girls were little and would get a new toy. They played with the toy for a bit but then always seemed to play with the boxes. Today, Pickles was here. She was so excited. As you know, if you have been reading my blog... we have Nana - Aubree days. Well, today was an unplanned Nana - Aubree day. All she kept saying was, "It's a Nana - Aubree day and it wasn't even planned!" Well, we had a busy day with baking cookies, decorating, doing art projects, drinking coffee?!?, etc., etc. This morning I told her I had to get some work done on my computer, so she colored a couple of pictures and then decided to watch the rest of Sesame Street..... and here is where she decided to do it - IN A BOX. She took my fur blanket off the sofa, the feather pillow from the closet, wrapped herself up and crawled in the box. I think she almost fell asleep in there. She looked so darn cute, I had to take a picture.

Isn't he a good Papa??

Last weekend when Jenn and Chad were home, she needed to get her hair done. So, Sunday while I was making brunch, Heather colored Jenn's hair. Of course Pickles wanted to get in on that. Usually she does Heather's or my hair, but Heather was busy with Jenn and I was making food. So Papa was the target. Isn't he a good sport? I love his face in this first picture. Doesn't he look kind of like he is in pain???

Did you notice the bracelet??? It's a full service salon.

BTW - His hair is still gray. Maybe he will have to make a trip to see Heather.

Thanksgiving Feast

Last week before Thanksgiving Pickles class and some of the other kindergarten classes celebrated Thanksgiving with a "feast". They talked about the first Thanksgiving and how they had their meal with the Pilgrims and the "Indians". Everyone in Pickles class was a Pilgrim. Here is a picture of her class. Heather and I got to go and "help".

Here is a picture of Pickles in her outfit. When we got to school, Heather asked her where her clothes were. When she left for school in the morning she had on a pink sweatshirt and brown boots on with her denim skirt. Well, she still had the skirt on, but no sweatshirt and no boots. She told Heather, she "needed" to bring her apron because they were having a feast. Heather asked her where her boots were and she said they didn't match her apron so she had to bring her black shoes. She is only 5!!! Her apron says "Diva in Training" - appropriate???

Before they began their meal they all were told about how the Pilgrims and Indians gave thanks. Doesn't this look like they were praying? They were all told to fold their hands together and give thanks. The did not say pray or did not mention God, but it sure looked like praying to us. Heather and I were so surprised - very, very glad, but wow. I was shocked they did this. Wouldn't it be nice if that wasn't such a shock?

God Bless you all. Maybe someday this will no longer be a surprise or a shock, but something that children and all people will be able to do again.

Pioneer Woman

This past weekend Heather, Sue and I ventured to the Twin Cities. We had a few things in mind...... Shopping, see Pioneer woman, shopping, visiting Jenn, shopping, eating, oh and did I mention shopping????

Well we were successful in a few of those areas. WE SHOPPED! We ate Lots of food, we visited Jenn and We did see Pioneer Woman, but that part of our trip was not as successful as we had hoped. Long story short...... We saw her, but did not meet her. She was doing a book signing for her new cookbook which we wanted. When we got to Mall of America where she was scheduled to be, there was a very long line. We went up, bought our cookbooks and went to take our place in line. That is where the story gets llloooooooooonnnnnngggggg. We waited, and waited, and waited..... We actually waited for nearly two hours and moved about 10 feet in line. There were hundreds of people in front of us. Hundreds and hundreds of people. Sue was waiting in line, holding our spot while I went up to the second floor to see if I could get a couple of pics. We couldn't see her from where we were standing. Thanks Sue! Here are a few pics. Thank goodness for telephoto lenses, because she really was not that close.

Nice close-up.......

She answered a couple of questions before she started signing.

Picture of her husband. He also was signing cookbooks.....

Husband and son signing.....

Here is a picture of part of the "line" waiting to have her sign a cookbook or two, or twelve. Couldn't get all of them in the photo. They went behind the stage, behind the escalators and waaaayyyyy down the hall.

The story really didn't end there. when we had purchased the cookbooks, Sue had asked me how much they were. I told her I thought they were about $14-15 on her blog. When we purchased them they were $27.50..... Yikes! So, when we decided we were finished waiting, we decided to return the cookbooks. We went back to Barnes and Noble and returned them. We found them online that night through Amazon for $10.75. Bad enough on one, but between Sue and I we had purchased 7 of them.

Maybe next time. I think I heard she is in Florida, or maybe California in February. Good reason to go there isn't it????

Well, at least we shopped, we ate, we visited Jenn and had a nice time. Thanks Jenn, Heather and Sue for the weekend. Love ya.

Nana is a pushover

This morning I got a phone call from Pickles. Here is the conversation:

Pickles: "Nana, I don't like the lunch at school today so I want to take cold lunch but we don't have any bread. Do you have some bread?"

Me: "Yes, I think we have some bread left."

Pickles: "Would you bring it over here?"

Me: "Sure, I will be right over."

Good thing they live just through the woods. However, that is not where the story ends. I am putting my coat on and the phone rings again. Heather says, "Nana is a pushover". I told her that Pickles needs bread. Well then she explains that she told her she could take cold lunch but only had buns, but could have a sandwich with a bun, but Pickles did not want that. So when Heather went into the bathroom to get ready, Pickles called Nana. When she got off the phone with me she went into the bathroom by Heather and said, "Nana is bringing me some bread because she loves me." Boy does she have me pegged.

The picture I included is from a photo shoot I did this weekend for their Christmas Card. Obviously this isn't the one on the card. You'll just have to wait for that one. I absolutely love the one we used for the Christmas Card, and it is killing me not to show people. But - patience is a virtue - right? I do like this one too and there were so many that turned out cute. Once the Christmas cards are sent I will give you a bigger peak of what we did that day.

"Season's First"

When we woke up this morning and opened the bedroom curtains, we saw something we hadn't seen yet this season. The pond was frozen over. We have had a few days where there was a little ice along the edge, but today it is across the entire pond. Lorin laughed as I threw on my clothes and ran out the door to take a couple of photos. I had inspections this morning so I had to keep going out so I could get some photos when the sun was coming up.

Winter is on its way. Are you ready? I'm not!

"It's Lisa's Fault"

That's what I heard today when we were having lunch at Olive Garden - "It's Lisa's fault". Several months ago when we were in Vail, we made a quick detour to visit Melissa. During our short stay there, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. Melissa ordered some alfredo sauce for dipping her breadsticks. Once Lorin tried that, he was hooked. I remind him from time to time that isn't very healthy but his response always is - "It's Lisa's fault." Sorry Melissa.

Obviously he likes it because he ate the entire bowl! Bad thing is, by the time your food comes you're not very hungry anymore. Although, Lorin said he had a solution for that. Next time he will just skip the salad.

Griswold Family Christmas Tree

Clark is on vacation this week and has decided it is time to get the Griswold Family Christmas Tree to begin the holiday season. (Halloween is over so on to Christmas - or is there another holiday in there? - oh well, we'll worry about turkey day at another time.) We trudged through great depths of snow for several miles into the woods to find just the right tree........ Ahhhhhhhh the angels sang and a bright light shone upon this glorious tree. And there it stood...... The Griswold Family Christmas Tree.




Since last time we forgot our saw and had the trying task of pulling it out of the ground, this year we came prepared. Tethers, chainsaws, a cat and a tree bailer - this year we are prepared.


"Little full, lotta sap!"




Here it is laying on the ground after we cut the tree..... getting ready for the baler. It had a long way to go.


On the trailer and ready to go home. I wonder when Eddie will show up?????

"I hear a noise, it's a funny, little squeaky noise."

"You wouldn't hear a dump truck in a nitroglicerine plant."

OK - Enough lines from Christmas Vacation (can you tell that is one of our favorite movies?) BTW - We have already watched it this Christmas season. We all watched it on my birthday.

Actually......
This tree, which was about 50' tall was across the road from our house. Today, while Lorin was home, he came in as said they were cutting this tree down. Now, we have seen them cut trees before, but they had a cat, and a tree baler and the tree was tethered on all sides so of course we had to go check out what was happening. We walked down the road and talked to the workers. They said this tree was going somewhere in Tennessee to be decorated for a Christmas Tree. Wow - I wonder if the Griswolds had one like this???

Happy Halloween

Although yesterday was "officially" Halloween, here in our town we celebrate this holiday on the last weekend in October. So today we had the Halloween Parade and Trick or Treating. Pickles dressed up like a mermaid - Aerial. Mommy did her makeup and put pretty glitter on her face.

Here she is in her full costume sitting by the fireplace.

And the parade. Here is the float for our church. We have a Monday Night Worship service that we just started. (If you are unable to make it to service on Sunday, there is a service on Monday night.) So our theme for the parade was Monday Night Worship with a Monday Night Football theme. Our pastor changed the words to several songs and sang them along the parade route as we passed out candy. I figured out how much candy we gave away and it came to over 6,000 pieces. WOW - That's a lot of kids along that parade route. We had lots of kids and adults riding on and walking along with the float. As usual, we had a lot of fun.

I hope you all had a Spooktacular Day. Happy Halloween everyone!!!

I May Be a Little Crazy!

First - Isn't that a pretty picture???
Second - I just went a little crazy.

For the past several weeks - maybe months we have been getting calls from the NRA. Now, first let me say for all of you hunters out there. I do believe in our second amendment rights and know that this is a hot button issue with many. HOWEVER, I am sick of phone calls from them. Most of the time, thanks to caller ID, when they call, I just let it ring. Lately though, I have been irritated enough so I have been answering - nobody is ever there - UNTIL TODAY. Here is how the conversation went.

MAN: "Hello, Is mister Evhislingkunslsh there?"

ME: "Excuse me."

MAN: "Is Mister Enfmkosinlfdjka;ushjsh there?"
Now our name may be a little long - but not that difficult.

Me: "No, he isn't - This is his wife."

Man: "Do you know where he is?"

Me: (First Like it's any of his business, second like I am going to tell him. Well, ok I did) "He isn't here."

Man: "When will he be home?"

Me: "Can I help you with something?"

Man: "No, I need to speak to him."

Me: "What is this in regard to?"

Man: "HIS Second Amendment rights."

Me: "I can tell you we are very aware of our second amendment rights and do not need to talk to anyone about them."

Man: "I will call back when "the head of the household" is home - when will that be?"

Me: "That is not necessary and I am tired of phone calls from the NRA."

Man: "I will call back."

Me: "If there is something you need you can talk to me or don't bother calling back." By this time I guess I was just a little more irritated and messing with him.

Man: "I cannot talk to you - YOU WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND - I need to talk to your husband regarding HIS second amendment rights and being able to bear arms."
(DID HE JUST SAY THAT? I WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND? Well for anyone who knows me, you will know that was definitely Not the thing to say to me. - I was just ticked enough to mess with this butt head.)

Me: So I say - "How do you know I won't understand? Don't you think women have guns? Isn't it my Second Amendment Rights too? Why do you think this is just something men will understand. Do you really think you are doing your cause any good by talking to me and other women this way? Why do you think you are superior to women?........." (After about 5 minutes - I did stop talking and asking him questions and he was still on the phone.)

Man: "Women just don't usually understand this stuff so we need to talk to the man of the house."

Me: "You have got to be kidding. You aren't married are you?"

Man: "Well, actually I am."

Me: "I bet she doesn't own a gun does she?"

Man: "I don't understand."

Me: "Think about it."

Man: "I willl call back later and talk to your husband."

Me: Hang up

So, tell me, do you really think everyone that works for the NRA is this stupid? Do you think he will call back? Part of me wishes he does. Maybe I will mess with him again.

Sweet Little Boy

Yesterday I was out on inspections and had to make a bit of a detour to pick up some carpet for the float that will be in the parade on Sunday. I stopped at my aunt and uncle's house for a short visit and got a bonus. My cousin and his wife were there with their new baby boy. He is absolutely adodorable. I had so much fun taking some quick photos of him. These are SOOC but I had to post just a couple. He just kept smiling. What a good baby.

He is a thumb sucker - I love it! Even sucking his thumb he was still smiling. I can't wait to do some fun photoshopping on these.