I have much to share about our day trip across the line yesterday but there’s lots of recuperating going on before my brain kicks in to do that…
For now I leave you with the most interesting and unique white elephant gift I’ve ever seen at an exchange.
Fresh eggs straight from someone’s egg farm and there are more than a dozen expertly packaged so they wouldn’t break.
My week is going to start slow but I’m sure things will speed up soon. Blessings…
Last Friday afternoon Dear and I traveled to Chilliwack, B.C. and home again the same evening. Bev and Harv treated 12 of the Mennonite Girls and their husbands to a wonderful evening of delicious food and fellowship filled with lots of laughter.
Most of these photos were taken by Anneliese and Judy. Thank you girls for letting me use them in this collage. Dear and I had several offers to spend the night in Chilliwack but we had to return the same night because of Dear’s work obligations.
The main dish will be featured in our new cookbook. Our meal started with a lovely soup course, followed by a salad course, main course, and dessert of Chocolate Mousse pictured in the collage.
A huge thank you to Bev and Harv for hosting us and providing us with delicious food and opening the door to a night of laughter filled fellowship! We appreciated every minute of our time together!
I’m in preparation mode around here. Got all my meal shopping done yesterday. We might include a special breakfast in our day tomorrow since Thanksgiving dinner will not be until 4:00 P.M. tomorrow. We’re praying our son’s trip across the pass will be uneventful and that he’ll get here without delay on Wednesday night. Don’t be surprised if there is no new activity here for a while…
September 2007, Woodinville, Washington
September 2008 in California
September 2009 Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C.
September 2010, Beaufort, South Carolina
September 2011, Kirkland, Washington
September 2012, Seattle, Washington
September 18, 2012. My mom and dad at their apartment. My mom got home from the hospital on Tuesday and my sister Lana took this photo.
Plans are afoot for my time in Southern California this weekend. The first day of Fall will include a taco party with my family at my niece’s house. More big plans are afoot for October. I’ll be able to share more soon. Hope all is well with you my friends…
Our hydrangea is finally showing us it’s color. Soon it will be fully bloomed.
I made 2 trips to Canada this past week. My first trip was full with a reunion of the girls from Mennonite Girls Can Cook. It is rare that the 10 of us can all be together but we were able to pull it off on Wednesday of last week. We enjoyed a full day together with great food and fellowship. Tuesday and Thursday sandwiched all 10 of us together on Wednesday with smaller gatherings. Hearty slices of time with a wonderful filling in between!
Fun little gifts kept coming out at our different gatherings. Here are the gifts I brought home across the line…
Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul. Proverbs 16:24
Friends are the flowers in the garden of life…
This description for this gift made me smile!
A fun basket of treats on my bed from my hostess Marg. Marg brought all of us a special treat from St. Petersburg, beautifully woven napkins. My gift to the girls was not confiscated at the Border…
Bags filled with lavender. I’ll be staying in the U.S.A. this week but am looking forward to a soccer game with the English Premier team Chelsea vs. the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday.
…for the Groom. All photographs were taken by Jeremy Leffel our wedding photographer.
Waiting to see Katie for the first time in her wedding gown…
The first look…I think he was pleased.
Now we are getting ready to see the next groom in our family, Levi.
What an emotional day Thursday was around here. We got an early morning call that my dad had called 9-1-1 and that my mom was rushed to the hospital. They are keeping her for observation and are trying to determine if she had a heart attack. Most of my family is and will be in Southern California soon for our nephew’s wedding on Saturday. My mom is real sad that she’ll have to miss her grandson’s wedding. She is in a lot of pain and doesn’t walk well these days because of the pain. We’ll hear today more on what’s going on. I’m at Seatac airport as I’m typing this getting ready to board my flight for Ontario Airport in Southern California. Hope things are quiet where you are…
Katie and I flew into Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Saturday morning. We hopped into our crumby little rental car and headed to Orange County for a Baby Shower Brunch. The newest addition to our family was showered with gifts and we finally got to see her in person and give her some squeezes and kisses. Her mommy is our oldest niece on Dear’s side of the family. Here’s little Miss…
These are Dear’s 3 nieces. Little Miss’s mommy is in the middle. Aren’t they beautiful?! Youngest niece on the left is a model.
Here’s little Miss with Auntie Annie
This is Little Miss with her older sister.
Our Katie with each of her cousins.
The 4 of us sisters with our dear friend Heidi in the top photo. On the bottom the sisters, Lana, me, Kathy, and Vera.
Some of the shower goodies!
The new mom with our Katie.
We had a wonderful time celebrating little Miss and seeing all the fun little girl gifts she was showered with. It was easier to say goodbye knowing we’d see Dear’s family again at the wedding in less than two weeks. I failed to get a single photo of my sister-in-law who is Little Miss’s grandmother and the mother of my 3 beautiful nieces! OYE!
In the next day or two I’ll share the photos from our second big event in Orange County on this same Saturday in the evening. Here’s a sneak peek.
You will need to give me an extra measure of understanding if you do not see me or hear comments from me on your blogs in the next 13 days. We are busy around here getting all the last minute details taken care of for the wedding. We met with the wedding planner today and wrote out the big checks for the event with our final numbers handed in. Hope all is well with you all. We are being threatened again with some snow in the lowlands. Blessings…
…our power never went out and is still on during this latest tree limb snapping storm! I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with my favorite blessings of the week!
1. Having all our kids together under our roof for a few days celebrating birthdays and just being together.
2. Dan getting back over Snoqualmie Pass safe and sound before the storms hit. We really have been socked with some snow and ice!
3. Katie and Andrew making it from Seattle to Salt Lake City safely on snowy and icy roads. It took them 2 days to get there. They were so happy whenever they hit some dry miles on the highway.
4. The fact that Dear was able to work from home this week instead of driving the treacherous roads off our hill to the park and ride.
5. So thankful to God for all our kids and kids in law who get along so well and love each other. Priceless!
We are pretty sure we have officially hit the foot mark for our snow levels. This is the most snow we’ve ever experienced at this old house!
I’ll post the rest of my snow shots tomorrow.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
Just in time for the letter I we got snow and here in Seattle we measure snow in inches! I’m linking up with Jenny our fearless teacher for Alphabe-Thursday.
Here on our hill we got a total of probably 6-8 inches.
Snow is always big big news in the Seattle area. So far this system hasn’t taken out our power so it’s nice to sit inside where it’s cozy and warm and enjoy our new white world. Igloo creating has been the theme in the neighborhood. Snow is very inconvenient in Seattle because of our very steep hills and streets that go up and down the hills. You would never describe the state of Washington as being flat. They are talking about wind coming in so I hope we continue to keep our power.
Our daughter and her husband are headed to Salt Lake City with the car loaded as full as they could pack it. They are going to take it slow and easy stopping along the way if they have to. From Salt Lake City they have to travel all the way to North Carolina. We of course are praying for traveling mercies along their way. I decided to post the photos I took this morning as the kids headed out with an update on our snow pack.
There she is with my snow boots. She was happy that we can wear the same size. She was also happy to have her husbands down coat. Andrew will be putting those chains on and taking them off a few times on this trip. He’ll be a pro by the time they get to Salt Lake City.
We wonder how many hours it will be for them to make it to Eastern Washington over Snoqualmie Pass.
I think in inches we are now at the 8 inch mark.
It’s time to stop and consider the good things that we enjoyed during this past week. You can link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share your favorites.
It’s a wonderful privilege to be able to travel and visit with friends and family but it’s always good to return home. Katie and I were in Southern California last week and we had a whirlwind of fun gatherings. On Saturday evening we returned home and Dear was very happy to have his chatty ladies in view. So here are my favorites…
1. On our way to the airport we were able to meet up with my walking buddy from when I was living in Southern California. We met Willow from Willow’s Cottage at a shopping center just South of the airport and we enjoyed a meal together while we caught up. Doesn’t Willow look good? During the year and a half that we have been apart she’s been losing weight while I’ve been gaining weight. Just so you don’t feel too sorry for me in the last month I’ve managed to finally lose some weight. Yippee.
2. On the plane trip home an acquaintance of Katie’s from our former church was one of the flight attendants. It was fun surprise to see each other and get caught up on news. Our friend treated Katie and I with champagne when she heard Katie had gotten married.
3. Oh the joy of sleeping in your own bed again after being away.
4. I’ve been picking blueberries off my bush which is loaded since I returned, too. Since the sun has been shining bright things have sped up in their ripening process. Speaking of growing things my Sweet Peas grew and flourished from the seeds I brought home from Butchart Gardens in April. Sweet Peas make me smile.
5. Driving my own car instead of a rental is another nice thing.
What things stand out as your favorites this past week?
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 