Tiptoe - through the tulips!!

Today, Kathi, Marla and I played hooky and went to the Tulip fields in Mt. Vernon. We actually went to RoozenGaarde and tiptoed through the tulips!

That little touch of home feeling .......................the windmill!!

The fields of tulip look like velvet and take your breath away.........................

Love the mix of daffodils and pink tulips with the old fence.........................

Yellow is always stunning..........................

These are some of my favorites........................

They are at their peak right now, so go take a drive!! It is such a reminder of God's power in creation!! Bravo!!

Outside is starting to shape up!!

After living in our new home for 9 months - things are beginning to take shape outside!! My husband is such a hard worker - he works hard all day, and then comes home to work hard some more!

Wednesday I bought plants for the planter boxes that are built into our house! I bought true dwarf boxwoods for year round color and then I added bacopa and a plant I don't know the name of:-) - it has yellow and green variegated leaves and will have small yellow flowers on them. I didn't want to add a lot of color to the boxes since they are up against our red house!

Then, yesterday Randy and Nathan poured sidewalks!


Next is the lawn .................I think putting a yard in is the worst part of building a new home! Give me tile and paint any day, but I don't love pulling a rake around!! I must admit - my husband does 99% of the work (probably more :-)!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh..........................

We did it! We got to take the boat out this weekend! We haven't had it out since November!

Saturday evening we took our friends Rob and Bev McKissick out to Chuckanut Bay and anchored in a cove and barbequed a nice little dinner on the water! It was so relaxing, an absolutely beautiful calm evening on the water!

Then, on Sunday it was Marla's birthday, so Kathi, Marla and I went to the mall in the morning for a little birthday retail therapy, and then we met the boys at the marina at 1pm to head out to Sucia Island.

You'll notice we all got the white denim jacket memo!!


Once again the water was like glass and the weather was beautiful!! We enjoyed crackers w/cheese and salami on the way out, and then once we were on the island, we cut open the crusty bread and munched on that for a while. For dinner Dan barbequed some awesome steaks, we had potatoes and onions cooked in packets on the grill, and Jeff brought our favorite salad!! Nothing like a day spent with friends, relaxing, eating and sitting around a fire! The best therapy I know!


After dinner, Kathi brought out the birthday cupcakes her niece Hannah made for Marla and we lit a candle and sang to the birthday girl!

I can't ever get enough of the islands! Lord willing, this is just one trip of many in the months to come!

Sometimes you just need a Marla!

It was beautiful on Saturday!! A day when one should be washing windows, working in the yard (what yard?), washing cars, etc. But my dear friend Marla gave up her sunny afternoon to come and sit on my patio with me - oh yeah - and give Max a haircut!! What a faithful friend!!

This is the before picture.......................

Then we dug in................so glad we could do it outside - what a mess! How's that for a submissive, laid back dog?!?!?!

You cannot believe how much fur came off this dog (and us!!!) :-) (The snacks in the jar were to help keep Max happy - not us!)


Here's the after picture!! It's not quite as smooth as when we take him to the groomer - but it was $35 cheaper!!!! Thanks Marla - You're the best!!!

Now Max is ready for the summer heat - so bring it on!!

Oops - sorry Kathi!

I didn't realize until this morning when I looked at my last post, that Kathi was not in our group pic around the picnic table!! Knowing Kathi, she was cleaning up or something productive like that! So in honor of Kathi here are some boating pics WITH my friend!



Hopefully I'll have some more boating pics after this Sunday........we're hoping to go to Sucia Island to have a barbeque for Marla's bithday!

Dreaming of summer!

I don't know about all of you.............but I am dreaming of summer! It can't get here soon enough! Last year we had some awesome trips out to the island in our boat, and I can't wait to get out there again! We love taking friends out with us and sharing a beautiful part of the Pacific Northwest that so many miss out on! One of my favorite places is Friday Harbor, hop on a ferry and get out there for a day - what a treat!! Our favorite restaurant is Downriggers, there is an ice cream shop with literally over 100 flavors, great shopping, great scenery - an awesome place to spend a day!!

We spent a weekend at Sucia Islands with our friends and we are all planning and counting the days until we can go again! We're hoping to go out this Sunday for the afternoon...........I'll get back to you on that one :-)!

The weekend we were there last year couldn't have been more beautiful. It was about 100 degrees at home that weekend (it was the weekend of the fair) , but out at the island with the breeze softly blowing it was a lovely 85 degrees. The sunsets were phenomenal and the company delightful!
So..................bring it on summer...............we're ready!!

Sunshine, Pedicures, and Family - oh my!

We just got home last night from visiting my brother and his family in Corvallis, OR. The sunshine was wonderful - it runs about 10 degrees warmer down there, which means it was almost 80 degrees on Sunday. We sat outside on their patio watching the golfers go by - it was so relaxing! All of their trees and plants are blooming right now, so it was a wonderful dose of spring!

We headed to Oregon on Saturday, Emily's birthday, so we stopped at her favorite place for lunch.....Olive Garden.

Sunday night we went for dinner with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Mary. We went to Applebee's and since we had eaten a large lunch after church, Emily decided to opt for just dessert (surprise, surprise :-).


Monday we went shopping at the Woodburn Outlet Mall - this is like the best place ever! I just followed Emily around as she spent her birthday money. The weather was beautiful and flowers are incredible as you walk around.

After we spent the day shopping, my sister in law treated us all to pedicures - ahhhhhhhhh!

This is my mom and Sue enjoying their massaging chairs and pedicures!

I just love this picture..............this was Emily "relaxing" as they started scrubbing the bottom of her feet. She had a guy working on her, and I think he was trying to get her to laugh :-)!

I didn't get a picture with my brother - who I gave grief all weekend for being a "follower" of my blog, but never reading it :-)! I love spending time with him - I wish he wasn't so far away. It was such a wonderful, relaxing and encouraging get away! Thanks Dave and Sue!

Sometimes you just need girlfriends and chocolate!!

Tonight was the best medicine ever! It's been a rough week for me.....kind of emotional, not sleeping well....you know the drill! So, 2 of my BFF's invited me to hang out. Kathi's family was gone for the evening, so we hung out there. We started with grown up beverages :-0 and chocolate - I licked the spoon from the dessert we just stuck in the oven.

Then we sat down to Thai food Kathi had picked up on her way home from work.

My favorite is the coconut curry chicken on rice!! I usually only order 1/2-1 star for spice when I order it. Kathi ordered it with 2 stars - for me it was smokin' hot! I had to stop and put chapstick on!!

After dinner we sat in the hot tub under a beautiful crisp starry sky! So realaxing!! Life is great when you've got great friends. Kathi and Marla always are so encouraging and refuel my tank to keep going down the highway of life!!

Just a side note, if you are a reader of my blog (which obviously you are at least right now), I'm going to ask you to pray for work for Randy, and Nathan is looking for a job. God is faithful and I know he will supply! Thanks for your prayers!

My baby is 14!

I'm posting this today because tomorrow morning Emily, my mom and myself are heading to Corvallis,OR to spend a few days with my brother and his wife. My Uncle Jack(my dad's brother) lives across the golfcourse from my brother, so we will get to spend time with he and Aunt Mary too!

Anyway - all this to say - tomorrow is Emily's birthday so we did our traditional Birthday breakfast this morning before school. She has had this every year (on the celebrate plate) for as long as I can remember! Waffles with strawberries and whipping cream - and a candle of course!

She is so grown up - I can't believe she's 14 and going to start high school this fall!!

So, to help her celebrate I sat down and had a waffle too - how indulgent is that!! My neighbor/friend called me last night about 7 and asked if I wanted to go for a walk. We had starting trying to walk regularly in February (which may I remind you was warmer and dryer than March), and then with all the rain we haven't been walking for weeks. When she asked if I wanted to go I said "NO", but knew I'd better get moving! We walked a good 2 1/2 miles last night - do you think that was enough to justify the waffle :-).



I will be gone until Tues. but I will try to post from my brother's house - he's got laptops laying around everywhere, so shouldn't be hard! Enjoy the sunshine that's coming - sorry I'm going to miss it up here!