Um...Yah, it can stop NOW!

This is today...

This was yesterday....

Merry CHRISTmas

We had a wonderfu Christmas. Here are some of my favorite photos. Meat, meat & more meat! My Dad was in charge of the MEAT!

My gals.

Ella the Snow Princess.

Big D & Buddy

Coal with his snow-stache

Randolph the Red Nosed Buffalo

I bought these napkins with my sister in mind.

Christmas Movie Quotes

These are some of my favorite lines out of movies that are either considered a Christmas movie or a movie that just happens to have Christmas in it!

While You Were Sleeping

"You suck!"
"I suck or the outfit sucks?"
"It's a toss up."

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

"How could it be so,
it came without ribbons,
it came without tags,
it came without packages, boxes or bags."

White Christmas

"This is cozy...boy girl, girl boy."

The Muppet Christmas Carol

"Ah well that was a fine meal."
"Yes it was wasn't it."
"Well what should we do now?"
"Let's have lunch!"
"Oh good idea!"

Little Women

"If God wants me with Him, there is none who will stop Him."

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

"Mush...Mush...MUUUSH!!! Don't you understand North Pole talk?!"

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

"I'm crowded! But I'm loved."

Frosty the Snowman

"That silly snowman. Once they come to life they don't know nothing."

Alvin & the Chipmunks

"Wait for me!! I still have baby fat!!"

The Cutting Edge

"Honey where I come from we stand for the National Anthem."

Steel Magnolias

"Clarie, you know I'd rather walk on my lips than to criticize anybody. But Janice VanMeader.."
"I know."
"I bet you money she's paid $500 for that dress and didn't even bother to wear a girdle."
"Looks like two pigs fighting under a blanket."

Christmas Vacation

"No it's the Christmas Star. That's all that matters tonight. Not bonuses or gifts or turkeys or trees. See kids, it means something different to everybody, now I know what it means to me."
"That ain't the friggin' Christmas Star! Griz, it's a light on the sewage treatment plant!"

With Honors

"Women ain't they perfect?"
"Not always."
"Yes they are, they're perfect. Don't matter if their skinny, fat, blonde or blue. If a woman is willing to give you her love Harvard, it's the greatest gift in the world. Makes you taller, makes you smarter, makes your teeth shine, boy O boy women are perfect. Perfect joy and perfect ache. Joy when you 1st see em and get to know em. Ache when you leave them Joy...Ache...Joy...Ache...joyachejoyachesjoyachejoyachejoyache..."

The Family Man

"I choose us."

SNOW BABY!

Record SNOW FALL in 24hours!

~DING DONG~

Pizza Delivery!

2:02 a.m., 10 lbs. 5 ozs.

Adam at 2:02 am this morning.

At Adam's Birthday Dinner last night.

Eatin' those clams he loves!

My Buddy turned 14 today!

Time has soared since that day I held him in my arms for the first time. It actually wasn't that magical at the moment. I was thinking "Wow, I did ALL that WORK for this?!" Don't hate me, I'd just been up for a very very long time and I was exhausted! My birthing story is very traumatic, you can ask me about it if you really want to hear all the details! But soon the physical pain and exhaustion passed and he became my Little Man. Tender, loving, giving, smiley, with plenty of naughtiness too! He hated to be held & to nurse. He loved bananas & airplanes (still does)

But labor didn't end at his birth. It only began. Some people spend months learning how to birth a child but no time learning how to raise a child for the next 18 or so years. All that information/education for a 24 hour period, but nothing for the 157,000 or so hours after that. I've spent the last 14 years giving everything I've got to grow this human being into someone who loves the Lord and serves Him with his all and is a valuable part of society. Sometimes I wish I could just *push* for a couple hours and out would pop this wonderful human, but it doesn't work like that. When people say what wonderful children I have, I take the time to let them know that is was a team effort. Both us parents and the kids working really hard together. As he has been growing, so have I. It is true that they are little mirrors, they just reflect back to you what you are all about. Very sobering and humiliating at times & refreshing and lovely at others (thank You Lord!). The hardest part for me about today is all the questions circling around in my head: Have I done enough? Did I teach him correctly? What if....? Does he know how to do....? How have I hindered him? Did I give him enough opportunities? Did I discipline him too much or not enough? Does he.....(fill in the blank)? He's 14!!! Not too many more years with me. He IS growing into the man I hoped he'd be one day. That brings me great comfort and joy. Yet I am determined to continue the HARD work & labor of raising my son to be a Godly man. A man who is a reflection of his heavenly Father and not a reflection of his earthly mother.

It's beginning.....

.....to SNOW!!!! Yipeeeeeee!

O Christmas Tree...

...O Christmas Tree, how expensive are your branches!

This year found us looking for our beloved tree in the middle of town. After last years "Snowshoe Death March" memories, Laura's morning sickness & sick kids, our big family decided to not take our annual trek up into the Colville National Forest to cut down a Christmas tree in the beginning of December. No, last Saturday, we found the nearest tree lot, forked over $50 (usually a $5 tag gets us one), tied it to the Sub, and drove home! Oh well, not quite as fun or memorable, but we still got our tree.

5479 Days!

Today is our 15th Wedding Anniversary! Whoopee!

We had a wonderful time this evening reminiscing about the years gone by. I am SO thankful to the Lord for bringing this man into my life. To be my very best friend, companion, lover, mentor & head of our home.

When you've been together as long as we have, & you write stuff down, you begin to really see the "Big Picture" and it's very cool.

In the last 15 years.....

Dave survived a major auto accident

gotten in 4 fender benders

had 4 ER visits

got braces (me)

survived unemployment with a child

had a cholecystectomy, rhinoplasty, tonsillectomy, & abdominal reconstruction followed by a vasectomy!

remodeled, on our own, 2200 square feet

bought and paid off 6 vehicles

3 speeding tickets

visited 9 countries

had 3 different gym memberships

helped save a mans life

been apart, at one time, for 50 days

made it through 12 years of my sickness

made it through a failed personal business

on our 3rd camera

payed off Gonzaga University student loans

home schooled, collectively, for 17 years

helped start a church

4 trips to Disney

helped a family member start a restaurant

had 3 kids within 23 months

had 3 kids in diapers for over a year

helped a man in Africa financially so he could take care of his parents & get married. He later named his first son David.

had no cable TV for over 10 years

mourned the loss of a beloved friend

been debt free 3 times (3rd time must be the charm!)

bought 2 diamond wedding rings

only made one 911 call

lived with a family member

lived in 6 homes

took 1 severance package

worked (Dave) approximately 7500 hrs. of OT

& it goes on & on & on........

The most BEAUTIFUL part is how I can look back over the years and see the LORDS HAND on our lives. We've gone through many difficult times but we have also been able to enjoy so many wonderful blessed times. They all add up to OUR LIVES. Our lives orchestrated by HIS loving hands.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you," says the Lord, "thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

PS~ Dave bought me the wool sweater I am wearing in the picture on our honeymoon. I wear it every anniversary!

If I was a Gingerbread Gal......

...this would be my winter home.....

...and this would be my summer home!

11:11 am, 7 lbs 9 ozs & 11:41 am, 8 lbs 7 ozs

11:41 am yesterday

11:11 am yesterday

"Twins! We're having TWINS!" "I need a beer!" Yes, those were the words of my husband when he found out that God would be blessing us with 2 more children instead of 1. I was in for my routine 4 1/2 month ultrasound. Granted I was huge and I felt like an octopus was living inside of me, but the Doctors & us thought I was just having another large baby like Adam. Boy were we all wrong! The sonographer squeezed that blue jelly on my belly and took one swipe with the wand and there went two heads! Our lives have never been the same.

My girls turned 12 yesterday! I can honestly say I didn't see it coming!

We had a wonderful day together which started with a trip to the local coffee shop and then a haircut at the salon (as opposed to Mom's Salon). The girls had each picked out a hairstyle they liked and one they thought they could maintain themselves. The most shocking part of the salon experience is when Bethanne's hair came off. 1st with a donation to Locks of Love and next with her new stylin' do! I had no problem with the hair coming off, just a problem with the extra beautiful girls underneath! I think they look so much like Dave's sister Suzanne, which is ok by me, she is beautiful.

After lunch at home we went to a few of their favorite stores, TJ Maxx & Mels. Adam bought each of the girls a present, a large pink cut glass stone for Bethanne & a cute little Christmas decoration for Rachel. It is a little statue of an acorn with a cardinal sitting on top all dusted in glittery snow.

At 6 we headed to our favorite dinner spot Mizuna. Our waiter Chris bought the girls birthday drinks and we had a BLAST laughing, taking pictures & having a great family night. Dave showed up with a dozen roses for each of the girls. They were so excited. Bethanne "tried" to ask Chris to pack up her desert in a to-go box....it was ice cream!

Next we found ourselves at home singing Happy Birthday as the girls blew out their 12 candles in their new snow-man jammies.

I am bummed too. I tried to scan pictures of the girls when they were born but our scanner isn't working. I'm sure you'll believe me when I say they were the most beautiful babies ever born!

Thanksgiving is always around the girls birthday. We actually came home with them on Thanksgiving during Ice Storm in '96. The whole family was without power so we ordered pizza! Very memorable to say the least.

K*N*I*G*H*T*S Halloween

Boy this post is weeks (a month actually) overdue!...

I thought you'd all get a kick out of seeing what we dressed up like for Dave's office Halloween party. Now remember this is an engineering firm...full of engiNERDS, and this party has become one of the favorites for the staff and their families. The Structural Department did an 80's Flashback, the Administrative staff did Alice in Wonderland, the Civil Department made a human Foosball table, & the Electrical Department portrayed all the famous detectives of the past and present. Every department gets to put on a 5 minute skit if they want to and we have "celebrity" judges come to the office and vote for best department. The Mechanical Department chose Monty Python's Holy Grail for it's theme. I'll let the pictures do the talking but I'd like to mention that Bethanne sewed part of Dave's costume and all of hers and...uuhh...theirs!

Oh, & lest I forget to mention, we won the coveted SKULL this year!

Disclaimer: Our kids have not watched this movie, in case you were wondering....you were weren't you!

WDW Day 5-10 Part 1

Sorry it has taken me a while to finish this blog.....

Well we pretty much spent the rest of our Walt Disney World vacation at Animal Kingdom. What an AMAZING park! It's like walking through the best zoo you've ever been to & getting to ride some of the best rides you've ever been on.

Adam's new all time favorite: Mt. Everest roller coaster. It goes forwards and backwards! That's where he got the t-shirt that says "Scream like a Girl", on clearance too, that's my boy!

Dinosaur: the scariest ride ever! I'm afraid of dinosaurs and this was tops for me. Dinos chasing you and breathing their hot breath on you! Yikes! It was also the funnest ride ever with the family. This is the only ride where we purchased the Disney photo they take of you at the scariest moment of the ride. I wish I could post the image, maybe Dave can help me with that. Anyway, at the end of the ride a gigantic dino, just like the fossil above, jumps out at you and breaths hot air on you like it's going to eat you.....& then they snap a photo! So Adam, Bethanne, Rachel, & I are in the front seat with Dave behind us. I have my head down clenching the handle bars, you can't even see my face because my hair is covering it, Beth & Rach are basically in my lap looking at the dino and screaming their heads off, & Adam, well...he's completely missing! All you can see is the blue strip from the back of his shirt....he had folded himself in half and could be barely seen! And Dave, he's like "this is so cool!!" The photo shop lady laughed her head off!

Animal Kingdom is beautiful. Everywhere you look there is a habitat for an endangered species. The best bird shows & an endangered animal safari right in the center. Have you ever been to Disneyland in California? If you have this will help you understand just how big Walt Disney World is. Animal Kingdom is 1 of 6 parks. You can fit Disneyland in the safari Sahara of Animal Kingdom!!!!

As you can tell from the pictures the last 5 days also included rain. We made the best of it and had a blast. On the worst day, at Animal Kingdom, we were in our ponchos eating snacks under the plastic. At some spots the water was up to my ankles! The rain is warm there not like here in Washington, so you could just hang out and have fun. Almost like playing in the bath!

On the last day of our trip we park hopped and went to all of our favorite rides before heading home to good ole' Spokaloo....it's was FREEZING! Hard to go from 89 degrees to 45!

All in all the BEST vacation we have ever taken as a family. A once in a lifetime vacation...actually, I hope it's not, it would be nice to go again!

FYI: we drank 100 liters of water while we were there & my hair was curly at the ends!