Snow Day!

Yes we have snow! Not an ordinary event for this area so it really stops everyone in their tracks! The "Arctic Blast" is still hanging around~~freezing rain is next, there is a thin crust of ice on everything out there this morning. I ventured out on the back patio to clear off the feeders for those poor hungry birds and squirrels!
Mr. sunshine face where have you gone?

Oh, there you are!

As beautiful as this all is, it is hindering my Christmas shopping! All week things have been icy and road conditions ify, so I have put off all but the essential traveling. Hopefully conditions will improve before Christmas Day so we can get out there and finish things up! 17 degrees this morning~~Brrr~~church has been cancelled, so it looks like we will be staying home and cuddling by the fire! ( well, no fire, but we can cuddle!)

Baking Day

Big Soft Ginger Cookies!! Yummy~~
These are one of our Christmas favorites, they smell sooo good, I wish you could have a whiff of our kitchen right now!
Baking is one of the Christmas traditions that I cherish. It just wouldn't be Christmas without yummy smells coming from the kitchen and piles of goodies to give away and eat!
This always brings memories of my Mom. She was Martha Stewart before there was a Martha Stewart! She would spend days preparing and baking for the holidays. First was the trip to the store to purchase pounds and pounds of butter, dates, nuts, coconut, cherries, chocolate, etc. and then the baking could begin. I was enlisted to help with the endless chopping, mixing and taste testing! She would have containers full of different cookies and breads that she would keep in the freezer to replenish the pretty trays she kept for when company would call. It seemed they never ran out!
Some of my favorites: Cherry Date Holiday Rolls, Brandy Cookies, Coconut Cherry Drops, Ritzy crackers, Fondant swirls, Date Pinwheels and yes, Fruitcake!!
I try to recreate the memory every year, but it never seems to be just the same. I guess it is the perspective of childhood that makes it seem so much better.
Happy Baking to you all!!

Beach Day

Tolovana State Park--Cannon Beach--Haystack Rock
Pebbles on the sand

Two old folks on the beach

We took a trip to the ocean a few weeks ago, my favorite place on earth. The ocean always calms me and re-energizes me at the same time. It was a perfect beach day in November, that's what I love about the Oregon coast--no matter what time of year you go there is something to enjoy--wind for kite flying, sun for worshiping, sand for running your toes through, rocks and shells for collecting, seagulls and pelicans for music, and of course the waves for stress relief--pack up the car let's go!! I feel so lucky, blessed, and glad, that I live where I can hop in the car and be at the beach in an hour or so.

The End of the Road

It has happened, the dream has come true! Calvin has transferred to the Materials Lab and will be traveling no longer! I'm still not sure I have taken it all in, our permanent home will now be Vancouver WA. (I have always been an Oregonian and it is hard for me to transition to being a Washingtonian)

This is what we have have hoped for for the past 12 or so years, I guess you hope for a thing for so long that you eventually forget about and doubt that it will happen, but out a nowhere-here it is! This will be so great, no more packing up and heading off to places unknown, we will stay here in the apartment until we decide where we would like to buy a home--somewhere close by here in Vancouver (I'm dreaming of living in the country and raising Alpacas-but that is for another day).

I feel a little bittersweet about the change, no more adventures and time alone on the road with Calvin; but at the same time I relish the opportunity to stay home and domesticate--organize, clean, decorate, craft my heart out. It will be nice to stay in one Ward and make friends, have callings and just get to know the area.

I have been having a hard time sleeping because my mind is whirling with all the possibilities!!

Will I need to change the title of my blog???

The Internet has arrived!!

Olson--Soccer trophy

Deacon~~Happy 1st Birthday

Meggie and Mom

Four generations: Great Gramma Robinson, Gramma Robinson, Rachel, and Meggie.

WooHoo!!! The internet is now installed and working right here in our home! I feel so special-no more trips to the library to wait in line with smelly people. So I hope I will be much better at regular blogging.