looking back. and ahead.

(ignore the church ad at the bottom....i just borrowed their graphic cause i likey.)

so 2010 was a good year....no. not good, AWESOME. well, and sucky at times, but awesome overall. at the beginning, i celebrated 11 years of marriage to my better half (kudos to him for putting up with me for that long ;) then, this past summer i ran my first half-marathon with some really great friends and even managed to beat my goal time....and then 3 weeks later i turned around and did another one! and then ANOTHER one on my most epic of birthday celebrations 10.10.10. i started teaching a spinning class (which i never in a bajillion years envisioned happening!) but i am loving every minute of it. my oldest "baby" earned his *eagle* scout. i said goodbye to several good friends (boo! stupid military!) but HELLO again to another great one, who i am so blessed to have back in my life.

looking ahead, i wonder what 2011 holds in store for me. i would like to learn to slow down a little and take time to smell the flowers along the way (as a very wise woman recently advised me.) i would like to serve those in need more and have recently put the wheels in motion for that to happen. i would like to be more content and at peace even when my surroundings are sometimes chaotic. i am hopeful for the beginnings and possibilities of what this new year holds....and how could it not be great with a beginning like 1.1.11?!

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
--Oprah Winfrey

merry christmas.

it was fun....and i was a *tad* disappointed this morning that it was over.....but *WHEW* did i let out a sigh of relief!


the quiet calm of the morning is shattered. (it was first shattered at 4:30 am, when katie woke up and discovered santa's cookies were gone, and found his note, and excitedly ran into everyone's rooms telling them about it. we convinced her it was still the middle of the night and she had to go back to bed....that lasted til all of 6:30 and i never really fully fell back asleep. ugh.)


sam's santa claus sing-a-ma-jig. it sings "jingle bells". and he sings along with it. *almost* makes up for the toys-r-us-black-friday-debacle-of-2010 that i had to go through to get it :)


a BARBIE make-up collection?! wow! (she must have been practicing her "serious model" face while she was opening it)


austin's iTouch. darn you blasted red-eye!!


this is what i get when i ask sam to "hold up your present so i can see it...." LOL


katie's LPS haul!! that's a whooole lotta pet-pets!


my grandma reading her new book. i thought it was amusing that she got a kid's almanac, but she finds that sort of stuff fascinating i guess :)


my mom and i


heidi, wendy and i. they came over with their families for dinner....it was a full house, but a FUN one!!


wendy and bear


steve and heidi-ho.


nathan and i <3


the boys playing with their electronicals....


even the PIE was happy :)


sam and mr. steve, puttin' back a couple of cold ones together ;)

i hope that your christmas was filled with much fun, laughter, joy and friendship! thanks for looking!

a clear creek christmas.

yesterday we went to clear creek nursery, as we have for the last several years. they have a couple of santa's reindeer there that you can visit, and this year they had a camel as well. inside, they have a "winter wonderland" set up with a cabin and woodland animals, and every hour it "snows" for several minutes.


katie and sam, checkin' out the tree.


SNOW!


a couple of santa's reindeer.


nathan and katie checkin' out moses the camel. and moses checkin' them out right back.


"why, HULLO there, moses!"


merry (almost) christmas everyone! (and thanks to melanie for her photo-editing help!)

thanks for looking!

eagle court.

this past thursday was austin's eagle court of honor. i was a ball of nerves for a full week ahead of time.....hoping everything would go as planned; wondering if i was making enough/too much food; fretting over how he would do on his speech. luckily though, all that worry was for naught. it went beautifully. it was lovely and relaxed and funny at times. we were surrounded by family and friends and i could not have been any more PROUD of that child. he has come a long way from that little 8-year-old bear scout.


waiting for the ceremony to begin.


order of the arrow "four winds" ceremony.


spencer, changing out the old neckerchief for the eagle neckerchief.



scoutmaster tom bougan says a few words about austin.


austin's old cub scout leader, mr. steve rinehart, shares some memories from austin's younger scouting days.


austin being presented with an award from a representative of our sponsor, VFW post 4992.


moving his name from Life scout to Eagle on the advancement board.


austin's speech. i wish i had videotaped this. he was so well-spoken, and relaxed, and FUNNY. my fave part? when he thanked me, for without whom his uniform would not have looked nearly as neat and pressed. LOL


cake! i bought a couple 1/2 sheets from costco and had a friend make the eagle medallion for me out of fondant.....i love how it turned out!


austin with buddies spencer and steven.

to austin i want to say, you are now part of an elite group defined by dedication and hard work. it is an accomplishment to be proud of, and one that you will carry with you the rest of your life. congratulations to our EAGLE scout! we love you!

thanks for looking!

*just wanted to say, all but the last 2 photos were compliments of our troop photographer, mr. harry warner!

annual lighted boat parade.

last night we went over to my friend robyn's mom's house to watch the lighted boat parade. the bremerton yacht club puts it on every year, and the participants deck out their boats with lights and then sail along the shoreline, playing christmas tunes.....and santa even gives a shout out to your kidlets by name if you send them in. the kids loved it (they were especially excited when they heard their names called out :) along with the parade, robyn and her awesome mom made an assortment of yummy food, and also had a craft on hand for the kids to do.


out on the balcony, watching the boats




katie and ike, working on their houses (disclaimer: that is NOT how i did my daughter's hair....)


sam tearing into his "house" kit


i can't believe she did that to my *beautiful* cake LOL


sam *really* loves ike.....and ike is so awesome with him.

thanks for looking! and a great big HUGE thanks to robyn and her wonderful mom cheri for having us!

busy busy.

so after katie and i had our "girls' night" on friday, we came home and went straight to bed, cause we got to get up at the crack o' dawn to go SKIING the next morning! unfortunately, it was one of our COLDEST ski days ever.....it was in the teens and the wind was blowing, and then it decided to snow. brrrrrr. my fingers were frozen and katie was NON-STOP complaining about the cold......BUT it was still a beautiful place to spend the day even if it was less than ideal. we resorted to bribing her with skittles which worked relatively well LOL


taking a break to warm up in the lodge

then when we got home that night one of my very most favorite families in the whole world was waiting there for me :) my friend heidi and her fam moved back to WA.....YAY!


(cue the song "reunited")

and to top off a fabulously full and busy weekend, we had my work christmas party this evening, which the kids always look forward to.


my girl and santa.


sam and santa ♥

thanks for looking!!

the nutcracker.

katie and i went to see the Nutcracker tonight, performed by Peninsula Dance Theatre. it was a nice evening, though the ballet was a little slow in parts and katie asked a couple times if it was almost over and when were we going home? for the most part though i think she enjoyed it. i'm pretty sure her favorite parts were the dinner before and the chocolate silk pie we had during intermission LOL


katie with a BIG nutcracker, and she is holding a *little* nutcracker that she got as a souvenir.


waiting for the show to start.


the sugar plum fairy. tried to get katie to go stand by her. yeahhh, right.

a fun "girls date"......i would LOVE to take her to seattle next year though to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet perform it.

thanks for looking!