Oh my goodness - I can't believe how long it's been since I posted to my blog! I've been reviewing everyone else's blogs and it seems that we have all been negligent in keeping them up to date. I've also been following blogs of people I'm not related to -they have such interesting lives and seem to be relatively current on their information.

So I'm going to try again :) to keep this blog up to date even though my life is far from exciting or interesting. I really hope everyone else will do the same because I really enjoy reading about what's going on in your lives.

I cooked dinner at our house on Easter and invited Evan & Crystal and Joey over to join us. We had a great dinner and lots of fun playing with the kids. Of course, it was raining and very cold outside so we had to do the Easter egg hunt in the house.

Ashlan and Evan were dressed up so cute - here's a couple of pictures.
















They were having fun with the toys from their Easter baskets. Ashlan was trying to figure out how to make the pinwheel spin.

Here's a clip of Ashlan saying her colors.....she was speaking very softly so it's a little hard to hear her. Also the tv was on in the background.

She says purple, red, green and yellow. That's my favorite - watch how her tongue moves as she says yellow - it's adorable!





We're really looking forward to spring. We have been teased by a couple days of sunshine and blue skies in between the rain and clouds so we're getting anxious for the weather to calm down. A couple of years ago, we planted some lilac bushes in our back yard along the fence and this year they finally have blossoms on them. They were only 2 feet tall when we planted them but they're now about 5 feet tall. I'm planning to cut a few for a fragrant bouquet as soon as the flowers finish blooming.

We're planning a trip to Spokane to help celebrate Melanie's 50th birthday in a couple of weeks and are really looking forward to the trip. I only hope the snow is gone for this year - there's been a few snowstorms in the pass just in the last couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

We are really looking forward to visiting our family - especially our grandkids! - because we miss everyone so much. Talking on the phone, through e-mail and blogs is good but it isn't frequent enough and just isn't the same as getting and giving hugs in person.

I'll sign off for now and be back again soon.

I'm back!

It's been a while since I last posted to my blog - you may have noticed! I've been a little busy and a lot lazy about posting so I hope to catch you up on what's been happening here.

Of course, we just celebrated Christmas - had our "famous" prime rib dinner on Christmas eve/Arron's birthday and it was good as usual. Joey planned to be here and, we found out the day before, that Evan and Crystal and their kids would also be joining us. Crystal's dad, who was planning to visit them for Christmas, was unable to fly out of Spokane so his loss was our gain. I had been a little depressed that we wouldn't see any of our grandkids for Christmas but we lucked out! It was fun to have them here, even though they haven't figured out what Christmas is all about yet.

Here's a picture of Ashlan, one of the few that I could take while she was standing in ONE place!

Here's one of little Evan while sitting on uncle Joey's lap.


They were more intrigued by the ribbons and bows than by the gifts inside. But they were so cute and next year, I'm sure Ashlan will be a little more excited about Christmas. Here's a couple of video clips of their excitement over their gifts!



Once Evan opened his gifts, he offered to help Ashlan with hers!



Ashlan and Evan both enjoy her new dolly stroller!















Uncle Joey was a big hit with both kids! He loves to play with them.

Evan and Joey modeling their "fuzzy" hats

Evan's cute shirt - can you read it?

Ashlan loves her uncle Joey!

Doug came to visit us this past week and he went with us to a funeral on Thursday for a woman in our ward. Later that night we went to a Mariners game. Joey met us there and we all ate jumbo hot dogs and had a good time. We left in the 7th inning when the Mariners were down 2 runs but we listened to the game on the radio on the way home. The Mariners caught up and ended up winning the game.
Then on Friday night Doug took us out for dinner at the Black Angus. When we got home the guys watched football and I found something else to do. I can't remember what it was, but I'm sure it was more fun than watching football!
On Saturday I baked some yummy chocolate chip/zucchini muffins. Then we all went to a baptism in the afternoon, and in the evening I went to the stake center for the Relief Society Women's Broadcast. Our stake Relief Society served a dessert buffet while we listened to some beautiful live music provided by some very talented sisters in the stake. There was a cello/viola duet, a flute duet, and a harpist....the music was beautiful and the dessert was very tasty. I ate 4 desserts....they were bite-size portions! I didn't have dinner before I left so I was a little hungry.
Doug left for home on Sunday morning and our day was spent at church and having our home teacher come by to visit. It was a very nice week, we enjoyed visiting with Doug and I hope he enjoyed his time with us.
This week I am planning to begin working on my rag quilt. I bought the fabric but just haven't had time yet to cut out all of the squares. I have a bad habit of buying supplies but never finishing the project...anybody else have that problem? Anyway, I'm committed to finishing this quilt, especially since my husband has been "harassing" me about my unfinished projects. I'll post a picture when it's finished!

At Kim's request, I am posting pictures of my new dishes and kitchen floor. I have had the same set of stoneware dishes for almost 25 years. I decided a couple of years ago that I wanted new dishes but only recently I actually parted with the money and bought a new set of Pfaltzgraff dishes. The pattern is called Napoli and now I'm obsessed. I have bought several serving pieces in addition to a valance for my window and a rug.
We bought the bamboo wood flooring about a year ago and finally found someone to install it whose labor we could afford. Our neighbor installed the flooring and did a great job. I really like the new floor but it really shows it when it's dirty....so I will becoming better friends with my mop! The next project is to paint the kitchen and maybe install a new stainless steel sink and possibly countertops.

We made it through another week! I only worked 2 days last week because I took a couple of vacation days. We went to the Puyallup fair on Thursday 9/11 and had a pretty good time. The fair was pretty much the same as it is every year - same entertainers doing the same acts. The food smells so good, but is way too expensive and doesn't taste near as good as it smells. I did eat a caramel apple which was very yummy - but the caramel was so thick it was almost too much!

On Friday we spent the day at the temple for our stake temple day. It was a very sweet and fulfilling experience....I recommend visiting the temple to anyone wanting to recharge your spiritual "battery".

Tomorrow night we are planning to go to see the Shangri-la Chinese acrobats at the Auburn Performing Arts center. We joined several other couples our Empty Nesters group in buying tickets and got a 20 % discount for ordering in volume. It should be a good show, I'll try to take some pictures to post later.

Here's a picture from the flyer



I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging - I hope I can think of enough interesting things to share so you don't get bored! I'll be back!!

Ready or not.......

Well - here it is, my blog! I have enjoyed reading the interesting and fun adventures on blogs of my family and finally decided to give it a whirl. I don't know how interesting or worthwhile my blog entries will be but it might be fun....and allow me a creative outlet. I will probably need some tips and ideas of how to change my layout because this one really isn't "me". But I've noticed how creative you all are and I'm sure you'll help me out.

So, with some anxiety, I join the world of bloggers. I hope you're ready!