December.....

November and December have been a bit of a blur for me.  Thanksgiving was wonderful, but it kind of took a lot out of me.  We had lots of food, friends and pie.  We had my birthday, Tim's birthday, Erik's

birthday and my Dad's. As soon as I had a tiny rest from all the cooking, it was time to decorate our house. I love to decorate, and have lots and lots of Christmas stuff. I also don't like change, and use the same things in the same places.  This year I learned to embrace change.... lots of my favorite things in different places, and some of my favorites went missing.

Erik and Steve both had to work this Christmas, but we were still able to have our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning.  My David came home, and I have him for one lovely month.

We've had snow, we've had really cold days.  We've had burn bans.  I miss my woodstove.

I have slowly been knitting on Ashleigh's baby blanket, I hope I get it done before her little baby comes.  I have yarn for Kelly's, and still haven't chosen any for Miriah yet.  I did get some books for Erik to read to his little jelly bean--- I remember reading them to all my boys and can't wait to read to my grand daughters.

Next week it will be 2011, and I hope to start getting rid of lots of stuff in my house.  Anyone want a cat? Or two?

Later!

November!

I love November.  I love fall, yes, even here in Juneau.  :-)  I love having lots of family birthdays in one month..... My birthday is on the 1st--- I am now the big 50!, my boy Tim is on the 6th--25, my Mom is on the 7th, my boy Erik's was yesterday the 21st--24, my Dad is on the 24th.   So many times to remember those I love..  and Thanksgiving.  Erik's favorite holiday.  Although I won't have my David for the first time ever! At least he will be home for Christmas.  I had the family over last night for Erik's birthday, we had spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread and Dale's cheesecake with raspberry and blueberry toppings.  I love having all of us together.  Tim and Katie come home!

I am truly blessed with a wonderful family, and it is getting bigger.  :-)  Two, granddaughters.  2!!!  Miriah is also having a little girl; she and Erik had an ultrasound last week, and they brought over the pics and even a cd the tech had made.  It was so exciting to actually see her moving around in there.  My baby is having a baby.  It is real.  :-)  Until she pops out she will be known here as Jelly Bean.

We're having yet another burn ban.. I hate and love them.  My bedroom and the basement are warmed with our boiler, but the rest of the house is SO cold.  And we have a really good stove that burns well.  Oh well, not everyone has a good stove, and I don't want a ticket. I will submit.

On the knitting front, I finished Tim and Christine's blanket, I LOVE it.  It was all my favorite colors.  I have started Ashleigh's, and it is going well.  Yarn is ordered for Kelly's, and I have some picked out for Latecia's and Hannah's.  Not yet for Miriah though.
That's enough for now, I need to go to work today.  I don't want to, it's my day off.  But since we are doing our Thanksgiving on Wednesday, I have to.
Later!

Kelly with Owen at Christine's shower

My birthday  boy

Rikki and Max

Too much love!

Signing the papers for their first house-- next door to Larry and Kelly!!!

Owen's new blanket

hope

Today is my Mom's birthday.  She would have been 70 years old.  I have been missing her so  much lately; I think it's because I am going to be a Nan, and I know she would have been so excited to see her grandbaby having their own baby.  Someone told me recently that I really look like my Mom, it made me so happy as when I was growing up all I wanted to be was her.  I am so fortunate to have had a Godly Mom and Dad, to have grown up always knowing that God loved me.. to know that even though there is death here on earth, I will see my family again.  That they are happy and worshiping our great God.

Worship today at Church was amazing, I felt so close to God and grateful for all He has done for me.  I was remembering when Dale died, seeing the sunrise at my friends house thinking this is Dale's first sunrise with Jesus.  Being so sad and happy at the same time.
Thank you Jesus for loving me, for saving me, for always being there for me.  Thank you for giving me hope.

yarn!

Today was Three Irish Girls day at my house.  Every month I get an order in... this months yarn is so beautiful.  I haven't been posting many pictures of my yarn lately, but I have to today.

Feast your eyes on the gorgeous work of Sharon:

Here you have flourish, cornucopia, bountiful, sweet pea and alchemy. 

Ahhhh.  Bliss. 

50

So I am now officially middle aged.  I don't feel old, I still think I'm young.  Saying hey, I'm 50 sounds really weird.   Oh well, I'm as young as I want to be.

Today has been a very nice day.. I had lunch at the Sandpiper with Lisa, Sherrie, Latecia and Miriah.  It was so much fun to sit around and chat with my lovely friends.  Look at the fun things they got me:

I had my first massage today, I don't think it will be my last.  My chiropractor cracks me up every time I see her; today she just shook her head at me and said, "Janet, you are so unusual."  What can I say, I like to be a challenge.  :-)
I have been told I have tendonitis, and can't knit today.  I don't know if I am going to obey or not.  I'm halfway done with Christine's blanket, and I'm having such a fun time knitting this one.  Maybe I can just knit for an hour.

The weather says we could get 4-8 inches of snow tonight... we'll see.  I'm always excited for the first snowfall.
Last night we had another family dinner-- roast this time.  It was yummy, and was again tonight.  :-)  Kelly, Miriah and Latecia let me take a picture of them last night, they are so sweet and cute.

 I bought some really cute baby clothes from Mommy and Me Saturday, including 2 sweet little dresses.  It begins.  :-)))

babies!

Today was such a lovely day; sunny, cool and wonderful.   Church was wonderful as usual, Steve and I had lunch at the Booyah grill with most of the kids.  David, you are missed!  Tim and Katie, you would have fit right in.

I finished Teri's blanket and hat, and have a good start on Chris's.  I only have 5 more to go!
I took a picture of Chris, Ashleigh and Miriah today at church, 3 of our pregnant ladies.  They are so cute!

I am beside myself with excitement waiting for my Grandbabies, I went and bought some clothes for Kelly's baby......it's going to be a GIRL!  We will find out about Miriah's baby next month.  Joy, joy, joy.   I already have some boy clothes waiting for my first grandson; I've had them for about 3 years.  :-)

Finally after waiting and loving all the babies at church, I get grandchildren of my own.  :-))))  I will be posting pics of Kelly soon.
This is a pic I took of Miriah on Saturday.  Isn't she cute?

fall days and food allergies

It's been a great fall so far.  I have taken lots of pictures with my phone, but usually forget my good camera when I go out.  Today I remembered it and got a few pictures.

I have been seeing a different doctor for my food allergies; for some reason I keep getting new ones.  So far I am allergic to eggs, some proteins, tomatoes, peppers, some vitamin c, sugar!, dairy, garlic, and I think rice.  Ugh.  My doctor is doing some natural remedies that supposedly will make my body not so sensitive, we'll see if I can again eat without getting tired.

We have begun our ladies craft nights again; we are going to be having them at my house once a month.  We had one last Friday, it was SO nice.  We didn't craft, we didn't play games.  We talked, laughed and ate.  My kind of night.  :-))  I'm just gonna call it ladies night.

I have been knitting on baby stuff.. I have finally finished Teri's blanket and baby hat... she can go ahead and have the baby now.  Christine's is next on the needles, followed by many, many more.  If anyone wants to get pregnant, just come to Calvary.  There's something in the water here......

That's enough for now, I want to knit.

10 years!

Steve and I just celebrated 10 years of being married on the 16th.  Sometimes I can't believe that I have lived in Alaska for 10 years.  It's been wonderful, and I love it.  I feel so blessed to have such a great husband; someone who loves me in so many ways.

Steve had to work on our actual anniversary, so we claimed Tuesday as our day.  We went for a nice walk, ( 8 days and counting of hot sunny weather in September!), walked along the docks at the downtown harbor, went to Twisted Fish for supper, and then watched The Prince of Persia.  A nice lovely date.

I love boats!

  I love all the fall colors showing up now.

The best scrabble game I have ever played.  I had incredible luck.  :-)

Family Camp 2010

Last weekend was our annual family camp at Echo Ranch.  It was incredible.  On the drive out the road Friday, we had sunglasses on and the air conditioner on low in Steve's truck.  It was sunny and warm the entire weekend, and it got way to hot in our cabin with the wood stove.   :-)

I of course followed the little kids around and hung out by the horses.  Steve and I went for many walks, and on one of the walks by the beach we got to see Dan and Ashleigh's canoe tip into the ocean.  Ashleigh was such a good sport, she and Dan both were just laughing about it.  

We got to have a softball game, again I got many pictures.  Steve whooped everyone at tether ball, it was so much fun to watch. 

As usual, I told Steve I want to live out the road, especially at Echo Ranch.  It is just so peaceful and quiet, and unbelievably beautiful.  I just look at everything and am so awed that God created all of this.  

I was blessed to be able to take a boat ride both ways to camp, thank you very much Bill Nash, Kevin Miller and Russell Brown for providing that for us.

I took 702 pictures at camp.  That is a record for me, and it's quite hard to choose which are my favorites.  Here is a sampling: