PRESENTS!!!!!!

We had Christmas early - since we were going to Wyoming we decided to treat the kids to an early present exchange so that they could bring their goodies on the trip! Here are some pics from the carnage.....

Hernias are NOT fun....

Murray had his hernia operation this week....poor guy! We had no idea how major this surgery was - he's hobbling around the house now and getting better slowly....

Sledding at Happy Jack

Our Wyoming Pastor told us about a nearby sledding area called "Happy Jack" - it used to be a ski resort many years ago. The lifts are long gone but the runs are still there, complete with all the fun bumps and turns.... We had a blast!!!! This is definitely an Every Winter place!!!!




Darian and Daddy climbing up the hill from their first run - it was awesome!












Jojo and Darian in full snow garb - having a great time!!!

A New Tradition

We finally began our tradition that we kept talking about but never did... We wanted to buy a piece of art glass on every trip we take. But upon arriving at Ft. Collins we realized that the art glass was quite inferior to Washington art glass (sorry!!) and most of it looked, well, remedial. And we feel really stupid saying that since neither of us knows how to blow or fuse glass but really - there was nothing spectacular.... We live in the land of Dale Chihuly....it doesn't get any better than that.

But the pottery was a completely different story and we found a local art gallery full of WONDERUL pieces, and a new tradition evolved! We bought a platter made by Terry Acker, more than I wanted to spend but it is the first in what I'm sure will become an obsession....

My first piece of many.....

There's MORE!!!! I will be back....

Ft. Collins Trip

We went to Ft. Collins, CO for an afternoon - it is a quick 45 min drive from Laramie and wow - we had the most wonderful time! We started off in the Arts District. It's full of unique shops, restaurants, local art that is BEAUTIFUL!!! We had lunch at the Spicy Pickle - it was DE-LISH!! And dessert at Gelazzi, talk about heaven on earth....it was so good!


The streets are full of really amazing artwork and the girls loved posing with it - here are a few examples of their "Next Top Model" skills! As always - click to see bigger pics!

A Surprise...Ski Resort..?!?!?

OK, so we knew there was a ski resort near our house (well, where we will build our house) and the girls wanted to go sledding so we thought we'd go check out this place we kept hearing about.

Well, just 15 min from the ranch is Snowy Range - a ski resort with 5 lifts!! We had NO IDEA!!! But wow! It's so close and it's so nice and totally UN-crowded. Just one more plus to add to the list!





Murray is pretty stoked - can you tell???

Mommy & the girls by the slopes - it was a bit late when we got here - that's why it's so dark.... But come next ski season - it's ON!!!!

Cousins....

For old times' sake we stopped at Cousins in Oregon - we had to show the kids the enormous cinnamon rolls and giant cookies - as you can see - it was a real hit!

Our girls do their best cow impersonations...pretty accurate huh?

Jordyn and the giant cinnamon roll - worth every penny!

Not every day you see a cookie bigger than your own head...and it was delicious too!

This is going to be a family tradition forever!!!!

Frozen Lake Hattie

This is Murray and the girls on our ranch - in the background (it's hard to tell) is Lake Hattie. It's frozen over and while we were visiting there was one ice fishing shanty out there and a few guys running around on the ice, fishing I presume.

The girls wanted to go on the ice but we were too scared...old people...who needs them?

Wyoming - Here we are!

*You can click on the picture to see a bigger view

This is a picture of us on our ranch with snowy Sheep Mountain in the background - it was so cold and so snowy and so beautiful!!!


This will be the view from our house - what a way to watch the sunset!

Merry Christmas!

Glitter Graphics

Our Christmas Party!

We had our Life Group over for a Christmas party and it was wonderful!!! We had so much delicious food, some really fun games, lots of great laughs and of course, our annual White Elephant gift exchange - which was HILLARIOUS!

We also had an "Ugly Sweater" contest and everyone came in the ugliest clothes! Murray and I didn't stop at the ugly sweaters - we had complete ugly outfits!!! It was all fun and games until I had to go to get dinner out in town....how embarrassing!!! I wore a huge jacket to cover up the ugly sweater but my white leisure pants and Kmart slip-on's were NOT cute!!! And of course I run into my 2 friends at the store!!! AACCCKKKK!

Life Group in the house!!! From L-R Top: Dena, Salla, Anna, Lorrie, Amanda & Genny Bottom: Kendra & Trish

Our "Twin Deb's" - think Napolean Dynamite!

More Life Group friends! From L-R: My mentor and dear friend Flor, Pastor Bill, Karl (with a K) and Dr. Judd

Christmas Time Is Here!

Christmas is coming and that means....

Me and Brenda's Annual Ladies' Christmas Party! This was my 4th year attending and our 3rd year putting together a table. This year was the best!

We were at the store trying to come up with a theme and we both thought that we wanted to do blue...but were looking at everything else in the store and kept getting sidetracked. Then....the voice of an angel....

Elvis came on the sound system singing "I'll have a BLUE CHRISTMAS...." and Brenda said "It's a SIGN! We're doing blue!"

So here are some pictures of our Blue Table. It's my last Oak Harbor Christmas Party so I think it was a blue occasion for me. But we had a lovely time and it was by far the best table we've done.


Brenda with our blue table and our truffles & mini blueberry cheesecakes! YUM!










Me in my Blue Christmas splendor! It was a beautiful evening and the Missionettes group came and told me they thought my table was the BEST! Hey - 8 year olds can't be wrong!!!!

The New Babies!!!!

This is a picture of our new little babies!!! OK, so they're not technically ours...but they are our new baby nephew and niece!!

Nephew is named Ricky and niece is named Lacey - but we jokingly call them "Ricky and Lucy" like the show...

From this picture I think Ricky looks like his dad and Lacey looks like her mom - they just have opposite complexions... Don't you just love that Lacey Girl's smile?!????? We are so happy for the new parents, David & Michael!

Halloween....

...is not CUTE anymore....

Darian and Jordyn were not the usual cutesie characters for Halloween. Last year we had a Miss America and a Ballerina Princess Fairy. This year....

Zombie Girl and Goth Punk! Enjoy....
Jordyn and Darian hamming it up!

Jordyn wanted to be a "corpse". I started to call her a zombie because it just sounded better...

Darian rockin' the sock gloves! OK, so the kids really are doing this these days and so I got her some socks with skulls...cut out some finger holes, and she became a whole different person...can you say "ATTITUDE"????

More sisterly love before the candy carnage begins!!!

The girls got a LOT of candy - it was fun and the girls loved being "spooky" for a day!

Big People in Winthrop

Me and Murray enjoyed our first trip to Winthrop - here's some pics of us having a great time!

Me and Murray - I think he likes me.... We played miniature golf and this pic was taken on the course.

Me and an old coal miner!

AMEN to that!!!

Murray, Petey and Patchie at the river right by our campground - Patchie loved splashing around in the water - Petey...not so much.

Murray and the girls and yet another local landmark

Winthrop, WA Trip

We went to Winthrop, an old timey Western Town in the Cascades. It was a really neat town and we had a lot of fun! Here's some pictures of the girls having a rootin' tootin' time!

There were all these wooden people in Winthrop - we took lots of pictures with them.


Jordyn running the stage coach at the campground.


The girls with another old timey statue.

The girls trying out some saddles.

Uh oh, I see trouble in our future!

Jordyn's a Butterfly

Jordyn came downstairs one day and told me she was a butterfly... She put this little number together all by herself - yes, that is a wire garbage can on her head....

This kid keeps cracking us up!

Tish's Birthday

Murray took me to dinner and to the top of the Space Needle for my birthday - we've been in Washington for over 7 years and had never been up on the Space Needle - it was cold but very nice. I enjoyed my birthday trip!

Me and Murray in the elevator that takes you to the top!

Murray was trying to find the car....ha ha

The view of the city from the top of the Space Needle - beautiful!