Speaking of the beach....

Grant worked in the driving snow to create these little cactus, and his surfer dude, holding a pina colada no less! There was a shark fin in the water at one time also. I prefer not to think about that. The spikey hair is my favorite.

Starting to pack!

Wow, I have so much to do to get ready my head is swimming. Oooh, that reminds me, I need to check and see if everyone has a swimsuit in their pile. Piles and piles of laundry to do. To do list is getting longer by the minute. Minutes are ticking by and I am sitting here doing nothing towards helping that situation.

Boys

Troy came up with this bright idea for fun. It was highly entertaining for most of our neighbors! They wouldn't do anything without airbags. (Me too!) What you don't see is Victoria riding backwards on the back of the snowmobile trying to videotape this event. The blur was when she decided she should hang on going around the corner. Of course that is when we missed seeing Troy do a triple back flip on the snowboard.

Stick your tongue out!

When it looks like this outside and some silly people are sledding behind a snowmobile....

And you have to do this to get out of the driveway......

And you have to resort to rounding up the neighbors for a get fit shoveling roofs program....(they were actually working in the photo I thought I was posting!)

Just stick your tongue out....Fireball is doing it,

And Joe is doing it!

Hmmm....doesn't look too satisfying, but I know he will try again just to make sure.

Favorite Peeps

We enjoyed having Kelsay, Terry W. and the other B family with their guest Bob A after Special Meeting. Bob helped clean out Grants cat p--p sandbox to weigh his truck down. That provided us all some entertainment.

We were serenaded. I like doing dishes while listening to harmony. Hymns to be exact.

Next day or some other time anyway.....we had commander Joe over to make sure we had a successful mission.

My pretty and smiley sister-in-law and another favorite nephew.

Joe and Wilbur

Cowboy Joe and his faithful pig Wilbur, on a cold winters night,
Went for a wild ride, with no bandits in sight!

The road was rocky, the sage boot (sock) high,

which made the ride a rough one. Yowza! My oh my!

The adventure could be drainin' but ol' Joe, he's strong and brave.

And Wilbur can be counted on, it's a natural that he's the fav'.

Tip your hat folks! For we can all be thankful for the steady faithful friends in our lives.

How's the weather?

Cliff Mass Blog, this site was recommended by Gerry (the Professor) who claims to know this fellow, and has watched his work for a long time. So far I have been impressed.

I Wonder.....

I wonder if this snowman looks like someone you know?

I wonder if you have ever tried a "sleigh" like this one? Custom made by Gentry, and a big hit all around.

I wonder who is trying to duck behind the tree?

I wonder who is trying to hide, the snow is making it difficult to see!

I wonder who this sleepy little snow angel is....

It is a winter Wonderland, so there is much to wonder about. You may all be wondering about us soon. The big storm moves in this afternoon. Sigh.....I wonder if we will even have Special Meeting, and our Special guests? I wonder if we do if everyone will fit under our roof? We are already pretty full but I will be disappointed if we don't get the chance to see. Until after the storm, have a great Holiday!!

Retro Christmas? Waaaay back when.....

I found these pictures today while sorting through all our picture cd's. From our old Santa neighbor who insisted we take pictures with him. Grant apparently thought it was pretty fun, Victoria is a bit more unsure.

How much snow do you have?

This is a picture of the snow levels up at Fish Lake courtesy of a neighbor who is up there today. As for us right now I think we have 5" and the sledding is great. Gent even provided the neighbors with a show as he took the kids and Katie for a ride in his custom trailer/sled or "sleigh" pulled behind the snowmobile. It was a success!

Boys

Things have been too busy for much in the way of real posts but I thought I would share something I found funny. G. has been asking for an email account for the longest time and I finally found out how to do it...mostly it just took the time to read, which can seem like work and so of course I have avoided it. Anyway the kids both got set up with new accounts and Sir. G's address includes ....imstarving. He was dead set that this be his account address. I think the guys he will be in touch with will understand completely. It has kept me smiling!

Dont be a flake....Make One!

Like totally flaky man! And for more interesting stuff check out the Crystals and Frost on this site!

Supercilious it is not, it is however, Super Silly!

It is hard to keep an elegant haute composure when you are blindfolded and sitting in questionable places.

Long overdue update on Gentry Homes blog

Finally posted some pictures of the job just finished. It was a really nice job since the homeowners were so appreciative and pleased and the result addressed all the needs but most important it turned out to be a really nice looking update- it looks like a brand new home. I hope to get the final pictures to put up soon.

See pictures!

Look to the sky.

Mt. Rainier is always beautiful, but this is shockingly awesome. We get these cloud formations around here from time to time and I was so happy to see so many pictures of the phenomenon.

Thai/Pie Surprise

Yes, I know these photos are blurry, that is because my camera batteries were not charged enough for a flash. But, I must post them to commemorate our 5th Sunday potluck. We tried Thai for Morgan and had Pie for Jerry. It was spectacular. The Thai cooks were all successful with their dishes so we had a wonderful shrimp dish, a chicken salad,a soup that we cannot pronounce, a chicken curry, chicken in a peanut sauce, barbecue chicken, and pork on lemon grass skewers. Jerry's apple, currant and cranberry pie was very memorable (the kids loved his little individual ones) and if I remember correctly we also had a Japanese pumpkin pie with coconut, a banana creme pie (this was my old favorite with a twist, I used coconut milk for the milk and of course had the rum in the whip creme....turned out pretty spectacular if I don't say so myself!) and a pumpkin birthday cake for the birthday girl (Paul's mom). It is enough to make you lose your appetite eating all this delicious food. Next time: Authentic Mexican Cuisine. Thanks for the inspiration Morgan/Jerry!

Thank Full

Grant and I

are thankful for fun projects like pilgrim place cards to keep us from doing real work.

I am thankful for a full Thanksgiving table. This is before food, so it gets even better!
Bacon crusted Turkey tastes allot like...regular old turkey. But the gravy? Oooh yeah, now that was worth the extra effort! We are all thankful for bacon crusted Turkey gravy.

I am so bummed that blogger can't find a few of my favorite pictures. I have one of Troy and Danny waiting at the table for the food that is so cute! Both have a little frown and Troy is holding up his fork and spoon. This one will have to do instead.

This cute pilgrim couple stopped by for the feast, we are so thankful they came.

Our Thanksgiving tradition of decorating cookies continues, and for that we are thankful.

The master craftskids are thankful for baggies with holes at one corner with frosting inside, and especially thankful that the frosting comes right out when you suck on it. So convenient. So sweet is it not?

Color is good for you

We did not have a very successful garden this year, but we did get some of these very pretty and delicious purple carrots. "Why would anyone want orange carrots?" says Grant after trying some of these. I am hoping to include them somewhere in our Thanksgiving feast. Have you already started thawing your turkey? Have you made your pies yet? Are you making anything new and unusual this year? We are trying a new turkey recipe. Everything is better with bacon, so we are putting some under the skin. I also made a smokey pepper jelly which is supposed to be a good match with the bacon crusted turkey. I'll let you know how it goes. I actually feel a bit nervous about the whole thing, but we must be strong and brave. So must our guests!

From the "What Not to Do" Chronicles

A recent past customer is a photographer of fine things, including this classic 56 Chevy Belair. Our dad has this to say......

Boy, the Chevy brings back images...I had a friend who had one about
like this one....except for the wheels...the wheels back then were not as fancy.
It was a cool car and he was proud of it. We had a 1957 Ford Fairlane
500 that was also a good looking car. That was back in the days when
"drag racing" was a big thing. One night we went out West of Morning
Sun to a long stretch of straight road with a small hill on each end.
It was probably about 2 miles long. A car went up to the finish line
and flashed their lights to signal that no cars were coming our way.
Somebody dropped a hat and we took off..going neck & neck. There was
a RR track that wasn't used often that was on that stretch...we could
see for a long way both ways so we knew trains would be no problem.
The problem turned out to be that when we hit the tracks the
speedometer on my Ford was bobbing around 100-105 MPH and was still
accelerating...the tracks were a little rough. I heard a BANG and
felt the car start to swerve.. It took some work but I was able to
hold it in the road...the tire just disintegrated and was down to the
rim..the sparks were flying like an arc welder. Well, the rim was
ruined too. We changed the tire and I went home. Early the next
morning Dad came into my room and said "what happened last night" I
said "I had a blowout"...he didn't get angry or anything but just said
"Your lucky to be here this morning and, by the way, you won't be
driving the Fairlaine for a long time....he was right! Anyway, I
guess we all do some stupid stuff when we are young...It's a wonder
there aren't more deaths and injuries. I'm sure you boys never took

those kind of chances. You better hope that Grant has better judgement

than his Grandpa, his Father and his Uncles!

Dad

Some words are hard to say.

Goodbye is the hardest word of all.

I have found much comfort in this poem that was sent to me after we said goodbye to Mom, from my Aunt Hazel. It does make the sorrow easier to bear.

Even death has a wonderful mission,
When it robs us of those we love,
It lifts our hearts from our surroundings,
To long for that meeting above.
No matter how heavy the burden,
No matter how deep the despair,
Does not heaven seem nearer and dearer,
To know that our loved ones are there?

Thank you Michelle for a faithful finish, it helps us to say goodbye.....until we meet again on the other side. May we be as faithful.

What? No Hunting?

In these tough economic conditions it just seems unfair to limit our food options even more but alas there it is. Posted.

Apparently the herd of deer that we have wandering around the streets and byways here was "discovered" by a group of trophy hunters. Local legend is that bow hunters shot one in our neighborhood and had the bad taste to just take the trophy. I am not impressed. So the next week these signs went up around the block. I have to admit I did not see this one coming.