just around the corner

Christmas is just around the corner and with it approaching so quickly I have realized that I have left you all out in the cold. So many adventures these last few weeks from Thanksgiving extravaganzas to the ultimate Griswold family excursion to get our Christmas tree. It would take too long to share it all, but the adventure to procure our tree is one that I cannot go without sharing.

As many of you know, living in a small space in the past has encouraged us to step outside of the box when it came to setting up a Christmas tree and last year brought us to hanging our ornaments on cedar bows that we hung around our window. Robb and I loved it. However, our oldest child informed us that this year we "needed" to get a tree. Finally we succumbed, thinking that we could probably find a nice 3' tree at a local Christmas tree farm that would fit nicely in a small space but would allow them to have the tree they really wanted. We then made the fatal mistake of watching Christmas Vacation with our girls. Upon the conclusion of the film, our oldest declared "I want to get our tree like Clark's family." Ugh! "Really?" I asked with a wrinkle in my forehead, trying to persuade her with my facial expressions. She hung strong, exclaiming that she wanted to have "frozen eyeballs." We thought about this scenario and realized the decreased cost between a $5 permit and a $40 tree and decided, why not?

Those two words really are not quite as simple as they often seem. Why not? Well, looking back now, I can think of a lot of reasons why not. So lets begin.

After agreeing to hit the woods Griswold style looking for the perfect tree, we chose a date, invited the grandparents and waited. A day didn't go by that Olyvia wasn't asking "When are we getting the tree, Mom?" Finally the day came. We had chosen a Saturday with the plan to get up, have breakfast, get dressed and head out. No set time or schedule, just to play it moment to moment. Grandma and Papa showed up around 10am and we all loaded up into our truck and headed towards Jefferson County. We arrived at the ranger station in Quilcene and Olyvia took her $5 into the ranger station and purchased herself a Christmas tree permit. She was so proud and excited. I loved it. Leaving the ranger station we headed to Lord's Lake Loop Road, at least I think that is what it was called. Really all I know for sure is we were in the woods, driving on dirt roads. :)

After awhile we started to see snow on the ground on the sides of the road. I have to admit that got me a little excited. Started to feel like a real tree hunting expedition. We came to our first clearing and noticed that there were quite a few cars parked in that area looking for trees, plus it wasn't raining yet, so we decided to continue driving and looking for the next clearing. Driving . . . . driving . . . . driving . . . we came to a T in the road. Took a left only to turn around about 300 yards down that road and then head back the other direction. After about 15 minutes heading up this road, all the while gripping whatever I could get my hands on sure that at any moment our truck was going to pitch itself over the edge, sliding into the icy lake below, we came to a flat spot. There was about a 30 second time span between coming to a stop and deciding, after opening the doors, that there was no way on this good green earth we were getting out of the truck in this particular location. Heck, I am surprised the truck wasn't spinning around with the rate the wind was whipping between the trees. You could barely see 50 feet down the road as the snow was flying thick. We had driven into a blizzard. Hindsight tells me I should have let Olyvia out, frozen eyeballs would have been immediate. Probably a good thing I didn't though, not sure how that would have gone over.

Back down the road we headed, deciding we should just go back to the first clearing we saw and take our chances that the perfect tree was there. Grandma was sure it was there. I was already starting to loose my luster for the entire excursion. For my kiddos sake, however, I slapped on a smile and down the mountain we headed. 20 plus minutes later we are back at the original clearing, we park, get out and guess what? Yes, it is raining. Must be the perfect time to tromp around in the wet underbrush with a 5 and 7 year old to find the most magnificent tree.

All bundled up and ready to begin the search!

Lots of potty breaks were necessary for the little ones. Ah, the fun of helping a little one go to the bathroom in the woods on a 45 degree incline in underbrush while it is raining!

The clearing we stopped at is of course not flat and happens to lay on both sides of the road at a 45 plus degree angle. We decided to head down the hill and begin our trek to look for the perfect tree. I have already realized that I am going to have to abandon my idea of the perfectly symmetrical full and bushy tree for a more sparse tree. Grandma says that allows for the ornaments to be more properly displayed. We wouldn't want to hide the ornaments with branches. It would however be nice to have enough branches to hang the ornaments on in the first place. Just saying. At this point I am also realizing that I am starting to focus too much on the negative aspects of the many trees we are coming across so I start to focus more on the positive aspects. "Wow, that one looks great. It has branches."

Every tree we came to there was something. It would look great on one side but when we got around to the other, there was nothing, or the base of the tree and top of the tree were aligned while the middle represented a spaghetti noodle having just been thrown on the ceiling to test for doneness, or my very favorite were the ones that looked perfect and were over 15 feet tall. That should fit nicely in our 800 square feet. After 30 minutes of realizing that none of the trees were going to be perfect and that we just needed to pick one that would work, Robb found one that would do. Didn't seem to be too large while having what appeared to be a symmetrical branch layout. We were pretty happy with our choice and Robb chopped it down and drug it back up the 75 feet of incline necessary to get it back to the road where we parked. Ellie held the tree while we waited for Robb to run back to the truck and bring it to where we were at. Tree was loaded into the truck, wet coats were shred, heater was cranked and we all loaded back up for the drive home.

Proud hunter with his catch.

This probably should have been a sign for us that this tree was a little large, but we just figured "Eh, Ellie is small that is why the tree looks to big."

Finally warming up a bit as we entered back into Quilcene proper I turned around to say something to those in the back seat about where we should grab some lunch. Just as I did I watched our tree fly out of the back of the truck and slide along the road coming to a stop halfway in the lane and halfway on the side of the road just as a semi truck swerved out of the way missing it by inches. I calmly exclaim "Our tree just flew out the back of the truck in front of a semi. We should probably turn around and get it." Pulling to a quick stop on the side of the road, we wait for the semi to pass and then whip around to go and save our tree before the next car comes. Robb jumps out, going to save the tree and more securely affix it to our vehicle, while the rest of us realize that the "it will do" tree has exited our vehicle right in front of a Christmas Tree U-Cut Lot, as if a sign. We ignore the sign, load the tree back up and are off again. The tree has only suffered minor road rash.

After some lunch at Loggers Landing, we head home and Robb unloads the tree so that it can dry out before we put it into the house. He comes upstairs and exclaims that we may have to do some pruning on the tree. It won't even stand up all the way in our garage. He estimates it is over 10 feet tall and possibly 5 ft wide. Argh! It really did not seem that large when we were getting it. I mean, we didn't even have to dig the thing and it took him barely anytime at all to chop it down. What will we do? Deciding to address the issue tomorrow, as any lover of Scarlett O'Hara would, we decide to go Christmas shopping.

The next day we end up having to cut 4 ft off the bottom of the tree, 1.5 ft off the top of the tree, and prune in all the branches about 1 ft to get the tree to a manageable level that would fit into our house. We were successful and are now blessed with a most magnificent, although extremely sparse, tree. The memories were worth every minute of our wonderful adventure.

a princess halloween

Better late than never I suppose. :) Here are a few pictures from our fabulous out and about on halloween. The girls made the most perfect Ariel and Thumbelina.

nothing quite like a fresh hair cut

That says it right there. There is nothing quite like a fresh hair cut to give you a little attitude and brighten your day. I am not sure what it is. It doesn't even need to be drastic; The feeling of the hairdressers hands running along your scalp as they shampoo and condition, the sound of the scissors snipping away at the dead ends, the relaxing feeling of product being smoothed through your hair, the hum of the hair dryer and the way your hair falls into place is unmatched. You can be in your most down state, and this little ritual can put a smile on your face. If it has been awhile for you, I highly recommend taking an hour and treating yourself. It will be worth it.

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween has come and gone and what we have left are our memories and the photos we were able to capture. A week ago we managed to make it up to Sequim for a trip to the pumpkin patch and had a great time.

We were joined by friends this year and had a great time snapping some photos of them as well as their little baby Bekah.

I sure hope everyone had as great a time as we did. I will try to get some snaps of our Halloween adventures in the next day or so.

Laughter of children is medicine for the soul.

My children bring me great joy. Now don't get me wrong, we have our fair share of stress and frustration just like any parent does. That aside, there is nothing more fabulous than when they are happy. Ever since they were small little baby beings I have loved the sound of their giggles and laughter, signs that they are truly happy and worry free.

Since our girls share a room, we tend to put one of them in our room to fall asleep and then move them into the same room together. Last night as I was going into our room our youngest started a full out giggle. I asked her what she was giggling about only to realize she was asleep and couldn't answer me. She had a huge smile on her face, all cuddled in her blanket and was just laughing away. It melted my soul and in turn brought a smile to my heart. How amazing what a small little being can do to a mommy! I love it.

Afternoon with friends.

One of the few wonderfully sunny Sunday afternoons this last August, we were able to go and walk around Port Gamble and Poulsbo with our wonderful children and some good friends of ours that were visiting from California.

It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon. After taking a few photos of Shawn and Sofia, my fabulous husband of course had to step outside of the box and try something over the top.

Of course immediately after I snapped the photo, he proceeded to fall off and practically take out the little white fence behind them. It was about that point we decided to head to Poulsbo for a little walk and some lunch.

Having great friends is priceless. Thanks to Shawn and Sofia for a great afternoon.

Leavenworth Half Marathon Accomplished!

Wow! That is the most craziest thing ever, but I did it. I seriously want to go crawl in a hole and cry my eyes out but I did it. Not only did I finish, but I ran the entire Leavenworth Half Marathon. Who would have thought that even possible? OK. . . my mom, my husband and my friends all thought I could do it. But in my own mind I was slightly skeptical. Not anymore though. Was it hard? Heck yes. Probably one of the hardest athletic accomplishments of myt life but fully worth every one hundred and fifty nine minutes of it. That is right, 159 minutes to run pretty much 13.5 miles of hills. CRAZY!

That was Saturday morning. Then as if that wasn't enough, we couldn't leave Leavenworth without a fabulous lunch and some much needed exploring, so walking around we did. For the next 4 hours we ate, explored, shopped and visited with friends. It was a great afternoon. When I finally could not possibly walk any further, we found our way to our vehicle and settled in for the ride home.

Yay for me! I am definitely patting myself on my back and once I can walk upright again I might even think about doing another one of these.

Fabulous Afternoon at Edgewater Beach!

I was so blessed to be able to spend some time a recent afternoon taking photos of this wonderful woman. I first met Erin years ago through her daughter. Megan went on a mission trip I led to Puerto Rico in 2007. As I have gotten to know Megan I have learned a lot about her Mother. Erin is a wonderful spirit full of love and kindness and I wish her much happiness in her life. So many great adventures ahead.

Allison & Timothy join together on a cool August morning.

What a pleasure it was to spend the day with Allison and Timothy, capturing the fluidity of the day. We didn't let the damp or cold weather stop us from sealing the essence of the day into numerous photographs. Thank you both for choosing me to be there with you.

They were surrounded by many family and friends showing their support.

Ultimately, however, the day was about joining into a relationship between them and God forever. What a wonderful relationship it is sure to be. Congratulations to you both.

Painted Valley Farm - Summer Horse Camp

Olyvia decided to participate in the Painted Valley Farm Horse Camp for a week this summer. It was a great decision and she had a fabulous time.

Friday the family was invited to come and watch their student show off their new skills. Grandma and Papa as well as Auntie, Uncle and Cousin all came to watch Olyvia. When you get those three together, they are quite the little threesome.

Seattle To Portland Bicycle Ride

My husband decided this year that he would register for and ride in the STP, Seattle to Portland bicycle ride. He and my mom would leave Seattle at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and proceed to ride 100 miles 2 days in a row, making it all the way to Portland, OR on Sunday evening. My dad, the girls and I decided that as fun as that sounded (ARGH!) we would skip the bike ridding part and just spend the weekend camping in Chehalis area. This would give them a place to camp for the evening as well as letting us get away and have some fun.

The girls wait for their Grandma and Daddy to cross the finish line.

Here they are!