Oh Daisy

We have a crazy cat. She has the funniest personality and gets into the funniest things. So, I think this year I'm going to share some of the funny things she does.



Brent has decided to start dressing a little bit nicer for work, which also means he has to iron. This is the pile of ironing. Daisy likes to sit on things, but this time she got into his shirt to take a nap.

Just makes me laugh.

Frozen Mayhem Part 2

Well, freezing rain has been falling all day, but it's now turning to snow. The weather people were saying that it was going to start getting warmer by noon. Not so much just yet. Still 28 degrees at last look.

We got a little stir crazy and went out to see what it was like. (But not stir crazy enough to go to Costco like one of our friends. He's crazy.) Anyway, here are some pictures of the ice we've gotten. Brent says it's 1/8 inch thick and I say at least 1/4 inch so I'm going to say we have a TON of ice out there.
This is our attempt to show how thick the ice is, but it just wouldn't take a good picture. I'm continuing to take donations towards Ashley-needs-a-digital-single-reflex-camera fund.

This is the road outside our house looking down the hill...

And up the hill...

We could get out but have decided not to chance it. Like I said, we have plenty of food and frozen pizzas. (Hee hee) So we're staying put for now.

And, sadly, Brent and Ryan are going to have to watch the USU game on tv. The monorail is not running today and most of Seattle is closed so no basketball for them. Sad days guys!

Now on to organizing and packing up the craft room. Why you ask? Well, we're going to be doing some home remodeling and getting ready to move our bedroom downstairs. Lots of work ahead but I'm excited.

:)

Frozen Mayhem!

Well, it's happened. I've been fearing this for years now. A freezing rain storm has struck. So, on top of the 4-5 inches of snow that we got yesterday is now a nice layer of ice. Eek!

This is what the deck looked like last night after the snow stopped. Not too bad. It's what it looks like now too only the top layer of snow is really ice.

And the front of the house. You can barely see Brent's beautiful retaining walls.

I don't know, can you see the layer of ice on top of the snow? I can, but I know what I'm looking for.

And the layer of ice on the blueberry bush on our deck.

But the funniest think I've seen with this snow storm is this hummingbird on the dead fuchsia outside our kitchen window. It eventually flew away but I was so surprised to see it!

Hopefully you're warm and happy where you are. We're warm, but I don't know if Brent's going to be happy...he's suppose to go to a basketball game tonight in Seattle and I'm not sure I'm going to let him. Freezing rain scares me!

It's Snowmagedon!

Look at what our deck looked like this morning...
I know, that's like 4 inches of snow! IT'S SNOWMAGEDON! The Pacific Northwest has shut down. We are having a snow day. Other places have gotten a lot more snow than we have. And it is still snowing, but...still it makes me giggle a little bit.

Here are the facts:
-This past weekend was suppose to be, what I like to call, a snowpocalypse. Everyone was freaking out and getting ready for a big snow - at least 3 inches. The frozen pizzas were flying off the shelf! And then it didn't even snow an inch.
-The weather people have been saying that we were going to get at least 8" of snow today. All the schools would be closed. It would be CRAZY! SNOWMAGEDON! So people started getting ready - what frozen pizzas were left were flying off the shelf. We woke up to about 4 inches of snow. But...
-Of the something like 166 school districts in Western Washington, as of last check, all but 3 are closed. (Poor kids at those 3.)
-Brent's work went from a two hour delay to a cancellation. (Woho!)

So, we're snowed in. With 4 inches of snow. But it is still snowing. And we have food - no frozen pizzas for us. So we're good.

But it is fun to have a snow day!

**What is the deal with the frozen pizzas, you ask? Well, a few years ago, they were predicting a huge snowstorm right before Christmas - this one did turn out to be a huge snowstorm. We had about 18" at Christmas. Anyway, we had just gotten home from San Diego so we HAD to go grocery shopping. The lines to check out went all the way to the back of the store. It was crazy. So I was walking through the store trying to think of things we could make if the power went out, because, let's face it, that happens a lot here. So I got some soup and stuff like that. But when I walked down the frozen food aisle, there wasn't a single frozen pizza left. Guess that's emergency preparedness for Western Washington. It's now become our joke. We know it's not going to be a big thing if there are still frozen pizzas.**

Hope you are warm and safe where you are!

Let's Start Crafting

Last year, I made a menu board that I never really liked. So, I decided to try again. I like this one.

What do you think?

The Bug Museum

Remember how I said that I'm going to do more stuff this year, take more pictures and blog more. Well, only a couple of weeks in and here we go...

Court and I took the kids to the Bug Museum on the last day of their Winter Break. I've heard a lot about this place but haven't gone yet. It's small, but it's free so I think it's kind of nice.
Kyle liked the painted lady butterflies. And also the tarantula that he got me to take a picture of before I thought it through.

I am REALLY not a fan of spiders! Seriously. Ick.

Aaron argued with me about whether a scorpion was a crab. He finally conceded that a scorpion was a type of crab...not so much but he wasn't going to believe anything else.



This Walking Stick is from Indonesia. I had Sarah put her hand in the picture so you could see how big it was. Sarah and I decided that Indonesia wasn't on our top 10 list of where we wanted to go.

Emma liked the painted lady butterflies too.

But mostly she liked the stuffed bugs and anything else she wasn't suppose to get into, like the kleenix.

Aaron loved these bug glasses. He said to me, "Ashley, I just wish these could come home with me."


Look...I did something, took pictures and blogged. Woho!

The Last of 2011

Well, I thought I'd do one last post for the year 2011. Isn't it a little bit crazy that 2011 is over? Am I the only one who thinks that?

With all my pinteresting this year, I have a huge list of crafts that I want to do. So, I thought I'd do one of them with Sarah and Chloe before Christmas. That way they could give the finished pieces to their friends.

We made necklaces out of washers. They turned out cute, but there are a few things I would do differently next time. But, hey, you live and learn.

Day One: We chose the paper, cut out the circles and glued them to the washers with modge podge, as per the directions.
This is the first thing I would change. The modge podge didn't stick very well. I would use a stronger glue next time.
Day Two: We cut the excess paper off, filed the edges and put the dimensional paint on them.
I think the excess paper would have come off easier if the glue had held better. We also learned that getting the bubbles out of the dimensional paint is a PAIN!

And the Final Product. Cute, huh? You can hardly tell that they were once washers. Chloe said that her friends liked them so much that other people who didn't get any were upset.

And...the last thing I took pictures at for the whole year was...Emma's 1st Birthday.

Happy Birthday Emma!

New Year's at our house was quiet. We had fondue...yum...and I fell asleep at 11:30p. Brent did wake me up at midnight, but then I promptly went back to sleep. I am so my father's daughter. I swear, he turns into a pumpkin at 9pm. I'm a little bit better...I can make it until 10pm, but after that, it's just crazy. What a weird thing to inherit!

One of my new years resolutions is to do more stuff, take more pictures while doing that stuff, and blog more. We'll see how I do.

Christmas Time is Here Again

See, told you I would. Hah! You didn't think I would.

Christmas dawned warm and green...oh how I love our Northwest Christmas! Since we only had adults in our house, we got up and went to Church without having to open presents. Church was only an hour long and it was one of my all time favorite Sacrament Meetings. They had a few people talk about their favorite Christmas Hymns, then we sang them. Great, huh? Well, the last speaker talked about Silent Night. A great hymn. He talked about how it was written because the organ broke in this small town in Germany. He talked about how Silent Night actually has 6 verses, and we don't even sing the first three. But the last thing he talked about really got me. Probably because he's a choir director and I'm a total choir nerd. But he said that people always seem to want to sing at Christmas time. His theory about why is that we remember singing at Christ's birth and we want to feel that way again. I don't know if that's true but I REALLY like it. Still brings a little tear to my eye.

After the wonderful Sacrament Meeting, we came home, had some breakfast and opened some presents.
Brent got a great new apron, that I made, I might add. Well, I bought the apron but I put the Darth Vader on it. Using vinyl. Have I mentioned how I love vinyl?



Santa was good to us all, even me, who is not pictured. He was even good to Daisy, who got a new toy with feathers on it. She promptly took it down the hallway to attack it.

It was quite hilarious.

Then came Mom's present from us. When we were there at Thanksgiving, we bought the present, wrapped it, and hid it in the house. So, Brent made a word puzzle that would lead her to it when she got home. It was hard stuff but she eventually figured it out.

And then the masses arrived. Ryan and Marcela and the girls came down. Brad, Court and the kids came over. And Uncle Gary. It was a full house, but I loved it.

Brent made an amazing ham dinner. And we opened some more presents.

Finding out that Court and I think a lot a like. We both did family game night-esk boxes. I swear, we didn't talk about it before hand. It was quite funny.







And the little ones went downstairs to watch some Toy Story 2. Aren't they cute all bundled up under the blanket?


We hope you had an amazing Christmas too! If you ever want to have a warm, green Christmas, we'd love to have you. Although we can't guarantee warm or green...

I wanted to share with you the lyrics to the best Christmas song ever!

Christmas in the Northwest
The wind may not blow
Might not even snow
But there's nothing like Christmas
Right here at home

It may not be white
Might be a rainy night
But there's nothing like sharing
The sounds and the sights of ...

Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift that we can share
Christmas in the Northwest
Is a child's answered prayer

Take away the presents
And they still will have a dream
For Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift God wrapped in green

That first Christmas night
Under just one light
In a small town, a child came down
The Father's gift of love and life

And so, I dedicate this prayer
To the children in our care
That we teach them of the gifts of love
He has planted everywhere
Just like ...

Christmas in the Northwest
It's a gift that we can share
Christmas in the Northwest
Is a child's answered prayer

If you take away the presents
Why, they still will have a dream
For Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift God wrapped in green

And I know it may not turn out white
But it's still 'silent night'
So gather those you love
And tell the story of the gift of living
Believe we see from the one who's giving
Giving us ...

Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift that we can share
Christmas in the Northwest
Is a child's answered prayer

And even if you take away the presents
I still would have a tree
For Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift God wrapped in green

That God wrapped up in green

Christmas in the Northwest
Is a gift God wrapped up in green

Ok, it may not be the best Christmas song, but it's a little funny, right? Merry Christmas!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Now that we're well into January...seriously, where has the time gone...I'd thought I'd wax poetic about our Christmas celebrations this year. Well, technically, last year but you get the idea.

Brent's mom and sister, Julie, came to enhance our Christmas cheer. We had a wonderful time. I even took a few pictures.

Mom and I did some shopping at the mall. I don't shop at the mall so that was interesting. We got there early enough to get a parking space but when we left, it was a little crazy.

We also went to see a few of movies - in the theaters. I know, I was surprised too. I can't remember the last movie we saw in the theaters. I think it was the last Harry Potter.

Anyway, went to see Sherlock Holmes, Mission Impossible, and, after everyone left, The Muppets. I liked all three of them. We even got a scrunch picture with Tom Cruise. Yeah, we're that cool.

We had a lot fun times together. Brent cooked a lot, which is always good. All in all, we had a great time! Let's look at some pictures.

We spent Christmas Eve in Silverdale with Ryan, Marcela, the girls and their neighbors. Reyes donned her dragon costume and had some fun playing with her dad and Brent.




We took some cute pictures...

Isn't that the cutest dragon you've see in a long time?

Reyes showed off her jack-o-lantern smile...
When did she get old enough to start loosing teeth?

Marcela helped me make a poinsettia barrette-thing for my hair (am I a girl or what?)...


Ryan and Marcela made an amazing meal. And Ryan, being the engineer he is, made a time table for when to put things in and take them out. We were impressed.


And for dessert, Mom and I made this awesome cake...

It both looked and tasted good. Yeah us!

Then came the nativity. I really liked how they did the nativity with all the little littles. They played the primary song...um....ok...I don't remember what primary song they played but it talked about all the different people and animals that came to see the Baby Jesus. Great idea! Here are the highlights.
First we have to show Ryan's super awesome Wise Man costume that he ordered on the internet. I especially like the head piece.

Does Reyes want to be Mary? Nope, a donkey. She was a great donkey!

I don't know if Cami knew, but she was the angel.

At one point she laid in the manger but she was little too big.



Like I said, cute way to do it. Short, sweet and to the point.

A perfect end to a great Christmas Eve.

Ok, now that I've gotten to this point, I think that Christmas will be coming tomorrow. So check back! Seriously, I really will. I promise. Probably.