Gimme a break, gimme a...

Haha, I wonder how many people recognized that reference :)

Well, anyway, I had a lovely week last week, and have had an amazing start to what I know will be an amazing one this week :D

Last Wednesday I went out to the school early to watch the 5th and 6th graders show off their dancing skills and compete in waltzing, tango, and freestyle.  That was a blast, and I was SO impressed by the students, they've worked so hard and did an amazing job.  It was especially fun to see how proud they are of what they have accomplished :).  On Thursday night I got to go and see the kids' Christmas program, and it was fun to see their weeks of hard work come to fruition.  I also recognized a few of the songs I'd been serenaded with recently ;).  Thursday and Friday were also training days for me at the Boys and Girls Club, so that was nice.  They were especially nice, because I got to spend a couple hours exploring Lebanon, and found some fun shops, and now am the proud owner of a library card :).

This week promises to rival the last though, because as well as being Winter break.... I'm off to Hawaii! On Tuesday! And my family will be there :) I can't wait! I'm going to go finish packing now ;)

A new discovery

Well, I suppose its not exactly new- just a random fact that hitherto had escaped my knowledge- being laid up STINKS.... prodigiously.  I managed to hurt my knee yesterday, and as a result spent the vast majority of today in bed, which was fairly pleasant.  For the first few hours.  Even bribing myself with a new book didn't do the trick however, and I don't care if it hurts, I'm NOT staying in bed tomorrow.

A tasty, twisty pastime

Trust me, these ooey gooey buttery masses of carbs will make time pass, and before you know it there aren't any left.  I should feel guilty, but somehow I just can't ;) Thanks again to Maddy for the recipe :)

Cinnamon and sugar

Salty

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh so delicious

Anyway, that was Monday.  Tuesday looked like this:

And this is without editing or anything

The sunrise over Foster was absolutely stunning :)

Today's adventure just involved so much rain I had to pull off and wait it out... very scary.  I have to admit though, as I was creeping down the street trying to see through deluge, I felt like I was in a car wash :).  Oh, and we got thunder and lightning too! Very exciting, as long as I don't have to go stand in it :)

Odds and Ends, but mostly odds

  So, due to a snow day on Tuesday, I only had to work one day last week- yay! It was nice to have a break, but I sure didn't catch up on sleep.  Wednesday night meeting was tiny, just four of us up at Garrets, but it was a lovely meeting.  That night Amanda drove down from Seattle to join me for Thanksgiving.  We ate ourselves silly on Thursday, then went over to Nelson's for early Black Friday shopping.  We went to Woodburn (bc sales opened at 8pm) and it was sooo much fun.  We froze a little, but found some awesome deals :).  We stopped by Cold Stone, and while Lenore and I were sane and got Hot Chocolate, Amanda got coffee ice cream! That's right, not hot coffee, ice cream... crazy Alaska girl.  Oh wait... haha.
  This week has been pretty slow- Wednesday was the last day of swimming with the boys for awhile (boohoo), but I might start working Fridays at BGC in Sweet Home- yay for hours! Oh, and the count-down for Hawaii has begun... 19 days!
Now for a little photo backlog

Flatbread pizza of the most delicious sort

Finishing the last of the cake-pops....MMmmm

Skirt I made for Amanda out of shorts- 1 hour!

Now the lack of sleep is catching up, and I still have to get up at six... Goodnight!

Just Having fun :)

 

I am ridiculously awesome, and possibly glow-in-the-dark ;).  Just kidding, but I love those face-mask things... they're SO FUN :D

Oh, and I want to post a picture of the cake balls I made.  This time I actually had time to decorate them, and they were really fun to make, not to mention delicious :)

Temptation

  Tonight I made chocolate chip cookie-dough brownies with chocolate ganache- ooooooooh, the house smells sublime! I can't wait to try them tomorrow :) Although their ostensibly for a going-away party at the boys-and-girls club, I'm thinking not many will actually make it there :). They taste pretty amazing, but they're a bit too rich for casual consumption.  Honestly, next time I won't add the ganache, because as tasty as it is, it overpowers the already delicious chocolaty flavour.  I think what happened is the recipe was intended for use with Betty-Crocker mixes, and as famous as they are, they have nothing on Ghirardelli.  The brownies and cookies I used were so flavorful that they didn't need the extra chocolate- but all was not lost- they are delicious with a glass of milk, or hot with ice-cream.... Healthy, no? ;)

Mmmmmmmmmm.....chocolate :D

Cooks Illustrated recipe- Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mmm mm, swimming in chocolate- just the way I like it

Mail time

Yay for packages from home! She knows exactly what I like :D

And yes, I finally have my shoes back- after 3 months!

  Dinner tonight was yummy, but I ate so much that all I want to do is imitate a puddle.  That wouldn't be so bad, except that's all I've done today, and it's getting ridiculous.  I think I'll tune into the Aces game, and do something productive, like cleaning my poor neglected room :D
GO ACES!!!

Healthy, but yummy

I tried a new recipe today, helpfully posted by Clover White on her blog- Clover's Recipe Box.  It's for Oatmeal flaxseed rolls, and though they're really healthy, they're pretty delicious too- especially hot and buttery. :)  I did sub 2 cups of whole wheat flour for two of the white, mostly because we were almost out of white flour, and they turned out just fine.  Oh, and a warning- they are *really* filling, so you might want to plan on sharing them ;)

Mmm mmm, fresh, hot and crispy :)

Am I ADD?

Sarah's level of distraction while reading:
None- I love this book, I'm focused, and if you talk to me prepare to be ignored :)

Some- la-dee-da, I've got things on my mind... tangents... hmm, I wonder if...   It probably will take me awhile to finish this book.

A lot- either this book is boring, or I'm really tired- chances of having to re-read it because I remember very little are high.

Really cute guy in the room- chances are I've been re-reading the same bit for the last half-hour ;)

Tonight, I'm just tired, methinks it's time for hot chocolate and bedtime :)

Oh, and for those who are wondering, grandpa is up and walking around, and should be coming home tomorrow.  He's obviously feeling pretty good, because he's been joking around and teasing ppl :)
Thanks to everyone who has shown so much love and support over the last few days, we really appreciate it.

Wheee!

  Everything feels a bit surreal today- probably because I'm running on caffeine, but I'd like to think it's because I'm happy :).  This morning I went down to the school admin building in Sweet Home, took a super easy test, and turned in a mountain of paperwork (one reason I didn't get much sleep).  I went to the police station and got finger-printed for the back-ground check, got the results back on my test (100% on all three sections!), and got my information for the sub pool(!).  Then I went home to crash :).
  I'm still going in in the mornings to help with the homework, and now I might have a chance at getting hired to do it :).  I'm looking forward to new opportunities and experiences, though right now the only one I want is my pillow, haha.  Today with the kids was fun, we played gamed with pumpkins and other assorted squash- rolling them, running around them, estimating sizes etc.  Dinner was yummy leftovers from last night, a very simple dish mom used to make that I LOVE.  It's just chicken, cream of mushroom soup, and french onion mix, but it is delicious.

Plated with yummy veggies :)

I love cooking, mmm, and reading, and sewing... and obviously rambling too- good night ;)

It's raining, it's POURING

   I guess this means winter has finally come in earnest- rainy rainy rainy.  Oh well, I enjoyed the beautiful sunshiny days while they lasted :)
  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were a 1/2 day, a conference day, and a day off respectively which was nice, and I even got to make-up hours on Thursday by helping with set-up for next session.  Yay for working :).  Tomorrow was supposed to be pumpkin games, but since it's pretty cold and wet, I think we'll have a computer-lab day, and save the games for Tuesday when we have the gym.
   On Friday Gma, Gpa, Lori and I went to Verna's funeral in Lebanon.  Dottie spoke, and it was very nice, but surprisingly short.  After a wonderful pot-luck lunch, I headed off to Albany for a day of shopping with Lenore, then to Wiley Creek to see Claire at her dad's house.  When Claire's step-mom died, she left three sewing machines, and Claire was sweet enough to give me one of them, and yesterday she gave me some fun material too :) I'm excited, and there are already plans taking shape in my mind :)
   Cooking-wise I guess I took a bit of a break, but last night I made sesame chicken whole-wheat wraps that were really yummy, and then cakesters with bright blue frosting (for everyone else of course... haha)

The wrap, plus left-overs of the spaghetti dish :)

Cakesters! :)

   I love love love fresh tomatoes and avocados, I'm not sure how I ever survived without them :)
Now I'd better work on finishing my skirt, or I won't have a costume for school.

Life of a Working Girl

Wow, what a week... and it's not over yet! :)
  Monday marked the switch from me partner teaching with Mrs. Webb, to taking over the gym classes, and thankfully it went very smoothly.  I got my lessons ready, and even managed to incorporate the session themes... Yay! :)  I still have a lot to learn, but I'm enjoying it, and handling the added responsibilities as they come.  I also have started working with the homework club in the morning at Foster, checking math, and helping students who didn't understand mostly.  It's been fun so far, even though I have to get up at 6, and I might even start getting paid for it soon :)
  Speaking of getting paid... most of my co-workers are teachers at various schools, and they want me to get on the sub list.  One even said once I am, I'll be her first call.  I'm very excited, and a little nervous too- what a way to kick-start my career :)  I still have to take a test and wade through the paper work, but this is such an amazing opportunity, I'm a little blown-away.
  Today we met with an ecologist, who will be partnering with the after school program at Foster to get the students outside and learning with hands-on activities and demonstrations.  I'm really excited about this, and will be working with her to integrate this into their "PE" time.
  Oh, I made another experimental dish tonight, and though it hardly resembled the recipe it was born from, it turned out yummy.... and surprisingly healthy.  I used whole-wheat spaghetti, baked marinated chicken, olive oil, vinegar (basalmic works best), leeks, spinach, a bit of sugar, salt, oregeno, basil, italian seasoning,  sundried tomatoes, and almonds.  You could also add mild italian cheese and parmesan if you like, but since I'm not really into cheese I "forgot" :)
  Since I've been working *so* hard this week, I decided to treat myself... teeheehee, three new books from Friends of the Library... YAY! Guess what I'll be doing tonight... not sleeping, that's for sure ;)

Lazy Saturday

  Last night the power went out around eight, and instead of doing productive things by lantern light (really cute lantern btw) I fell asleep- glasses still on.  I guess my wonderful day with Shelly and Martha and the boys wore me out :)
  We went to a really fun indoor bounce place, ran around and had a blast until we were exhausted, then picked up Martha's mother-in-law and went to a park for lunch and more fun!  Lots of laughing and running around in the sun :)   I didn't get many pictures, but this one is precious :)

 Oh, and those cookies turned out soooo yummy. :) I found a wonderful death-by-chocolate recipe, and played with it a bit... well, suffice to say they aren't lasting long.  They're good enough that I probably shouldn't make them anymore... at least not until after winter break ;) but more about that later :D
  Today was so fun, after waking up a little late (oops;) we finally got to have some of the sourdough waffles which had been getting yummier and yummier in our fridge this week.  I like the way they turned out, and we even have some left for tomorrow! Thanks Daddy :)
  Then Grandpa and I went to an old cider mill.  The Mill had broken down, but it was still fun, and we got a whole bag of delicious apples :)  After apples, and a little grocery shopping, we went to the grand re-opening of Safeway.  I couldn't tell what had changed, but we had a blast anyway :)  We got lots of yummy samples, and bagels fresh out of the oven- they were so hot I couldn't hold them :D.  When we checked out, the lines were crazy long, and ppl were everywhere, but we found a semi-short express line.  The guy in front of us decided to put some of his stuff back, so we only had to wait a little, but when he came back, Grandpa had him go in front of us.  Safeway was awarding random $25 gift certificates, and we won one! (I think bc the checker was impressed with Gpa :)
  We concluded our lazy day with a steak and potatoes dinner, a cookie, and some brisk exercise for me (well, a little ;)  Now I'm just looking forward to meeting tomorrow :)
  Oh, and I need ideas for these adorable fat quarters I picked up in Corvallis yesterday

A new week

And what a promising start :)
 Meeting this morning was lovely, and gospel meeting was so rich, truly the perfect start to a new week.
I also have two things to look forward to- possibly getting to babysit on Tuesday, and possibly getting some sewing and quilting supplies :).  Oh, and hopefully finishing my skirt.  On Friday I decided I wanted to try making a skirt... sans pattern.  It's the first time I've tried creating my own, just altering it as I go along, and I like it! It probably will take longer than otherwise though :)
 And one other thing, I've been meaning to back up my computer ever since Cara's died a dramatic death- taking all her pictures with it.  I looked around, but didn't really want to spend a lot of money.  I found a internet back-up thing called sugar-sync, and you can use 2GB free.  I like it so far, and if you're interested this is the link- https://www.sugarsync.com/referralrf=fmvdtwzgx2r0o

Oops

 I guess I've gotten a bit behind on this whole posting thing, oh well.  Lets see- on Sat I got to go to the Beavers game, and tho I only saw abt 5 minutes of the game (I was working concessions :) it was really fun.  Oh, and they WON! :)
 We are really enjoying having gospel meetings in Tangent, and getting to know our new workers.  We also really enjoyed having Larry here, visiting Jake and Ila.
 This week at school has been really fun, Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful sunny days, so we had the kids outside playing :).  Today was kind of cold, and the kids were a bit lethargic, so we played "sleeping lions"- whoever came up with that one is a genius.  Essentially, they all lay down and pretend to be asleep, and a couple of the kids go around and "wake them up" by making them move without touching them or yelling at them.  It's amazing how fast those kids fall asleep for real :).  One of the students fell so fast asleep that he forgot where he was, and rolled over and started snoring.  When woken up, he staggered into the wall and tried to figure out what was going on.  I felt sort of bad for him, but I admit I did laugh rather a lot :)
 Now I'm baking cookies from a new recipe I found, so we'll see how they turn out :D
-Update-
Mmm, I like... a lot

Soooooooo good, I think I've eaten three already.  Haha, and then i wonder why my clothes get tight ;)

Long day

So, when I got up this morning, I realized I didn't have a thing on my schedule, but there were three zucchinis in the kitchen just begging me to use them... hehehe.  Thus begins an amazing day of cooking, and eating too, of course :).  I promise this won't turn into a food blog, but I do want to document some of my kitchen adventures :D
  First I tried a recipe for whole wheat and oat zucchini muffins that I got off the Tasty Kitchen.  I did alter it a little bit (added more brown sugar and a little honey), and it was SO GOOD.  I ate one hot, fresh out of the oven, and I wish I had taken a picture of the inside, bc they really are beautiful.

Hehe, after Grandma and I had been at them :)

  While the muffins cooled, I tried a recipe for fried zucchini cakes, with cheese and a few other odd ingredients.  Grandpa liked them, but I didn't really, probably bc they tasted like sharp cheese, and I am not a fan.

  At this point, I took some of both up to Dave and Aunty Ena as a thank-you for all the zucchini they gave us (another one arrived whil I was cooking this morning).  When I got back, it was to the pleasant discovery of an e-mail from Nanette Lundell with her amazing zucchini bread recipe.  I did change a couple things here and there, just from personal preference, but the honor is hers :).  Oh dear, I forgot to take a picture of the loaves, but one is chocolate chip, and one is walnuts with brown sugar.  I do have a picture of my zucchini station though, I managed to use 31/2 monster zucchinis today :)

Then , while the loaves where cooling- I made biscuits! At this point, I came to the realization that the three of us were never going to finish all the food I made, esp since I want to make more soon.  So, a talked to Lisa, and she invited me to help clean up at Will and Shelly Garret's for the surprise, and bring the extra food. So a couple plates of food and I went barreling up the hill to generally help wipe down and pick up.  The new kitchen is gorgeous, I'm so happy for Shelly.  I'm also impressed with Will, and everyone else who helped him pull off a week and a half complete remodel.

A sneak peak at what they pulled off

 What a crazy, wonderful time, as tired as I am tonight, I can't imagine what they are feeling.  Speaking of which, I 'd better turn in.  Tomorrow Scott and Lisa are picking me up to go to my first college football game- Go Beavers! Haha, jk, I don't really care about football, but we're going to be running a concessions stand to raise money for the Sweet Home pool :)
Goodnight

Yay for cooking!

And recipe blogs, and food in general.  I finally tried one of those recipes I've been looking at, and it turned out pretty decent.  It was simple sesame noodles from Pioneer Woman, and they were simple, and fast too which worked for Wed night.  Mine turned out a bit too sweet and way too garlicky though, so next time I'll probably use elephant garlic (or pre-made) and cut down on the sugar.  It was easy enough to definitely make again, that's for sure. The big downside for me was sitting in mtg knowing that I reeked of garlic- in fact, I can still taste it :P I like garlic, but not that much.

Disgraceful Disarray

My room is a mess... again.  For those of you who know me, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that my room resembles the back-room of a second-hand store.  You know- the clothes "neatly" sorted into piles based on when they were worn, which are clean, and which need a little tlc, and piles of books and random artifacts in strategic locations. Perhaps I'm the only one who doesn't expect it, but I'm still holding onto hope of reform.  The problem is that I'd much rather peruse culinary chronicles, or my latest book, and cleaning up or even picking up my room just isn't as fun.  Sigh.  I know, I need to stop just doing the fun stuff and grow up a little.  In fact, I'll clean it up right now... well, maybe when I get home from work... after I try out one of those amazing recipes for dinner... or not ;)

"Lazy" Sunday

 What a wonderful, mixed up day.  Meeting this morning was so full of love and encouragement, and such wonderful thoughts.  It must have tired me out though, because after a lovely roast for lunch, I flopped on my bed and slept for four hours, tights and all! I woke up to the news that Grandpa had locked the keys in the car at Aunty Lori's, so we were to take the truck over and give him a spare set, but we had no keys to the truck.  Grandpa and Aunty Lori ended up driving the other truck over, picking up Grandma and the keys, and going back to get the car.  What a mess!

 I meanwhile designated myself coordinator at the farm, which means I stayed home and made myself dinner while everyone else drove around in the pouring rain :).  Wait, that sounds really selfish... um... does it help that I cleaned the kitchen and made biscuits from scratch? Grandpa and Grandma seemed to think so :). I also got to eat an amazing artichoke, and a really yummy avocado, mmmm.  I love being here, where all the fruits and vegetables are fresh and delish.

I probably should mention last week too :)
Wednesday and Thursday were so fun at work, line-tag and dodge-ball respectively.  Since I'm still shadow teaching there's no pressure on me right now so I'm just learning how things work,  and attempting to develop my "teacher voice."  The kids are really fun, and they already recognize me, and say hi when they see me outside of Foster.  On Friday, the Boys and Girls Club had a special "Day for Kids," so I went over there and helped out. The middle school's reptile club brought over its creepy crawlies, so I ended up doing crowd control for the exhibit.  There were about ten different types of snakes, a leopard gecko, a baby american alligator (abt 2 ft long), and my least favorite- a tarantula.  All of the reptiles were held by members of the club, and you could hold them if you wanted to. It was actually really cool, although I never did get up the nerve to hold any of them.  It was a bit weird though to see seventh and eight graders with snakes draped around their necks or arms, or even on their heads.

 Now I'm going to get my act together and clean my room- maybe :)

First Days

  Well, The first day was a little crazy, a little disorganized, and actually a little boring too :).  There was a lot of introductions (only of the teachers) and rules, and wondering what came next.  I did get to help with the food, which was fun, and the kids were friendly and numerous :)
  Today was my favorite so far, by far.  The kids are mostly divided by grade level for this session, because they're doing a writing focus and it's hard to do writing in a multi-grade level setting.  Normally, the groups will be 20-25 kid in a mix of 1st-6th, but for the next few weeks its 1st&2nd, 2nd&3rd, 4th&5th, 5th&6th.  Mrs. Webb and I were working with the groups one at a time in the gym, playing name games and letting them run around a little.  I have to admit, the 1st-3rd graders are my favorite, but I'm sure I'll have fun with the older ones as well.  The funny thing is I'm not nearly as tired today as I was yesterday, perhaps because it's tiring to be confused and out of my element :)
  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful job, I know over half the kids by name now, and I can't wait for tomorrow! :)

Ready, set...

 Well, tomorrow is my first day working with the kids, and I am so excited, I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep :).  I got my food handler's license today, and I'll be updating my first-aid and CPR as soon as the class is offered.  Yeeeeee!
 Speaking of food, I made biscuits and zucchini stir-fry for dinner tonight.  The biscuits were yummy, but the stir-fry needs work, sigh :)

Yum yum :D

Mmmm

Skittles, Cheerios, cookie-dough ice cream, a good book, and no work tomorrow. :D  I vote for sleeping in and acting like it really is a three-day weekend.

Two masters

A man cannot serve two masters, but I do have two bosses :)
Yesterday I went and was oriented at the Boys and Girls Club, met everyone and learned policies and procedures, and what will be expected of me.  Then, my boss and I went to Foster Elementary to meet my supervisor there, and learn everything about their program, policies, and what I will be doing.  Lots and lots of information for one poor head to deal with, and even homework in the form of things to take home and read.  I turns out my responsibilities will be slightly more challenging than I originally thought, but I'm really excited.  For the first two weeks, I will be working with the lady who runs the PE portion of the program, and then she will move to another section, and I will be running it.  That means I will be in charge of coming up with activities as well as carrying them out, and responsible for the kids, although I will have someone else with me.  I hope I will get a better idea of what activities work, because my guidelines so far are activities that develop upper body strength, fine motor skills, communication skills, and tie in with the theme of "space exploration." Yikes.  On the plus side, I have access to a ton of arts and craft supplies, and a fully equipped gym, plus anything else I think I need.  Once I actually start, I will be developing and turing in lesson plans to me supervisor, like a real teacher, just not a certified one.  I really like the school though, it has a good atmosphere and from what I've seen, amazing teachers.  I like both my bosses, and my only disappointment is that I will not be working on Fridays unless they need a sub at the Boys and Girls Club.
  I also got in on the lovely visit with Dellas and his brother Lloyd yesterday, I got back before they left.  It was nice to see Dellas in a different setting, as I've seen him many times this year, but only at convention :)

We're following the river, the river, the...

Today Grandpa and I took a truly lovely drive up along the Calapooia river, and saw the house he grew up in.  It has been moved, remodeled, and built onto, but the original house is still there.

Grandpa's family lived in the original house, which was only as wide as the gabled part, and not very long behind either.  They didn't have all seven kids while living here, but seven or eight people is plenty for this little house.

After seeing the house, we drove up to a beautiful spot, where we could get right down to the river without much difficulty.  It was incredibly beautiful, and there were some great fishing holes too :)

What you can't see, is that right next to me was a huge spider web between two rocks, and the enormous resident too.  I'm not arachnophobic,  but it was HUGE! I tried to get a picture, but the combo of bad lighting and my iphone didn't work out, so I'll have to go back with an actual camera one of these days :)

This was an enormous tree that grandpa said was probably carried down river when the water was high and fast.  To give you a sense of proportion, realize it was about 6 ft in diameter, and really really long.

When we got back to the farm, the sun was drifting towards the horizon, and the flowers looked so lovely I just had to share :)

  I vote two posts is plenty for one day, good night! :)

Back to stay

  I've had the privilege of two conventions since my last post, Saginaw 2, and Boring 2, and both were truly wonderful.  Boring was last week, and there was such sweet fellowship and richness there, I feel so full :).  An interesting thing about Boring 2 though, is that it's fairly small at the beginning, but since it's over Labour day weekend and it's the last one on the west coast, everyone seems to come for the weekend.  By Sunday, it was the biggest convention I had been to, and there were a ton of young people.  After the last meeting on Sunday, we went to a get-together at the Woodruff's , were we had pizza and a sing, and then Max Bowman and Dan Sherick spoke.  It was the biggest get-together I'd ever been to, but it was nice, and really neat to get to hear some of Max and Dan's stories, and their testimonies.  I've gotten so many wonderful conventions this year, it's hard to face returning to the real world, but pretty soon special meetings will be starting, and I am looking forward to our little meetings too :)
  I'm also very happy to report that I finally found a job, and it's better than I could have hoped.  I don't start until tomorrow, but I will be working at the Foster after school program as a representative from the Boys and Girls Club.  This way I will get to work with kids, and since my job doesn't start till the end of the school day, I can volunteer or work at the school too! I'm very excited, and I really can't wait to start.  My boss is really nice too :)
  We also have another wonderful privilege, tomorrow Dellas Lineman is coming for lunch!  I've never gotten to spend time with him, but Dellas has been at most of the conventions I have this year, and I've come to especially look forward to hearing him.  I only wish that my job didn't start tomorrow so that I would have more time with him, and with his brother who is also coming.
  Oh my, I didn't mean to write a novel, but there you go, and without a single picture to make it interesting ;)

Amanda's Here!

She took the train down from Seattle, and we're having a blast.  Yesterday we made tons of cookies, went on a cleaning rampage, and generally acted like crazies, and today we're going shopping and getting ready to head to Saginaw! Yay! Will and Shelly are picking us up at 1:00, so I better go wake her up, and start packing :)

I'm Back :)

Convention was wonderful, and now I'm back with new resolve and re-focused vision.  I'm so glad I got to be there with so much spiritual help, and strengthen some friendships and forge new ones in the process.  Now I have a couple days to rest, replenish, and bake before heading back to the grounds :)

Packing again

For the second time in as many weeks, I'm packing my bags and heading off for a wonderful week at convention.  This time though, instead of taking a train I get to go with Will and Shelly and their adorable boys! They are so sweet to me so I have a couple surprises to help keep the boys occupied in the car, just some new books, and a quiet toy for meeting :).  I better finish packing though, it wouldn't do for me to not be ready :)

Twas a dark and stormy night

What an incredible, beautiful night.  Grandma and I watched the dark clouds roll in and the temperature drop, and I went out and swung a bit in the windy afternoon.  Later, when I was baking in the kitchen, I saw the first flash of lightning, and we went outside to hear the rolling thunder.  There wasn't a ton of lightning, and the rain was light and short-lived, but the sunset was simply magnificent.  The entire skyline behind the farm was fiery red and magenta, and everywhere black clouds were backlit with brilliant color.  In front of the farm, there was a beautiful rainbow, lit up on a background of pink.  I tried taking some pictures, and they really didn't do any justice to the splendor, but I'll give you a taste of what we had the privilege of witnessing.

View from the back.

View from the front.

  I think what I was planning on writing before the beauty of tonight distracted me was something silly about having fun baking tons of chocolate chip cookies for Saginaw :).  I really am happy about how they turned out this time though, they're edible! Hehehe, I should know ;)

Olympia

 I had the privilege of going to Olympia convention this last week, and enjoyed it immensely.  There was so much love and encouragement, it really made up for the 90 + degree weather, and that is impressive.
 I took the train up from Sweet Home, and Gary and Doris Raab picked me up and took me to my fourth convention this year.  They are such a wonderful couple and Alaska is lucky to have them :).  With a lot of help, I managed to figure out where things were, and even secured a cushy job working desserts.  Despite the heat, it really was a special time. There were a lot of Alaskans at the convention, including a handful of Cullips, Evridges, and for the weekend- Weltzes.
 I ended up staying Sunday night so that I could get a ride to the train Monday morning, and it was a greater privilege than I could have imagined.  I was the only one in the dorms, so Sunday night and Monday morning I got to help clean and generally hang out with the workers.  In the morning during breakfast someone spotted a squirrel, but I just thought it was cute and went back to eating. Apparently, if ignored, they make pests of themselves and get into the food, because the next thing I hear is "No! Don't do it!"- BLAM.  One of the brother workers, Brandon Boller, had grabbed a shotgun and nailed the little thing, while Caroline Sanderson vocalized her horror.  It was kind of funny, once I stopped freaking out about the sudden gun shot a few yards away :).  After breakfast we went to the "white house" and all shared something we enjoyed that we heard at convention.  That was so special to get to be a part of, and was really like an extra meeting I got to attend. Afterwards, I got a job cleaning in the girls dorms, and then Terri Marsh took me to the train station.  By that point, I really didn't want to leave, but I didn't want Grandma and Grandpa to worry, and at least I have Saginaw to look forward to this week :).
 It was such a wonderful trip, and maybe next trip I'll even remember to take pictures :D

Here goes... something?

As you probably know, my track record for keeping in touch is less than spotless, but I'm hoping that by the time my fascination with this new way of communicating has worn off, I'll be hooked.  Well, we'll see :).  I will say though, that I've never really felt behind in the technological game until now.  Seriously! I don't know what half the things they asked me about were.  Where are the blogs for dummies? Hmm, I might have to look into that.