{ thanksgiving 2010 }

We spent Thanksgiving at Doug & Vicky’s new home in Pasco. They just moved in over Labor Day weekend and it was the first time we’d been there!

The Koch’s took this opportunity to take a picture for our Christmas cards…

Melissa loved the staircase. She was making her childhood dreams come true…
I’m surprised she didn’t try to slide down the banister!

Here’s the cousins that were there that day:
Karlye, Marcie, Melissa, Paige, & Amber

(It was so good to see Amber! She hasn’t been home all fall since she’s been busy student teaching. We’ve missed her!)

and with Grandma…

It was a nice day…ended by coming home with Melissa, Karlye, & Amber to watch a movie. Amber & I fell asleep on the couch. Good movie.

…done!…

After a few months of not much coming out of the craft room – I am happy to share two completed quilts with you!

This one was pieced at Priest Lake this summer. I took it to the quilter in Spokane on the way home and picked it up in October when we were there. It’s pretty big and I fell in love with the quilt and the pattern! I made this knowing that I was going to give it away, but I fell in love with it – so I bought fabric to make myself one too!!

Fabric: Verna by Kate Spain
Pattern: Mary’s Quilt by Allison @ Cluck Cluck Sew (click to view tutorial)
Quilted by: Quilter’s Corner in Spokane

This quilt I was pretty excited about making. I love love love this fabric! Originally it was scrapbook paper and I made some scrapbook pages with it – and when I saw it was now fabric, I was excited to create something with it!
Then – one of my favorite bloggers started writing patterns. I was really attracted to this pattern before I even noticed that it was using the same fabric that I loved!

Here’s the completed quilt:

It’s the one I’ve been snuggling under during the last week when it’s been so cold outside!!

Fabric: Early Bird by Cosmo Cricket
Pattern: Skipping Squares by Allison @ Cluck Cluck Sew (click to view tutorial)
Quilted by: Marcie

I have a few more in the works that I’ll have to share after Christmas!

…sewing machine surgery…

While sewing a binding on yesterday, my sewing machine completely locked up and would not move at all. The handwheel won’t budge.

My Dad took it apart this morning to see if he could fix it, but no luck.

So, time to find a repair man. Any suggestions?

I had just been getting my sewing mojo back and tackling projects left and right. So bummed to be forced to take a break!

…on to the championships!…

I have to admit, I was dreading going to this football game all day Saturday. It snowed/rained/sleeted in the morning, so I was not excited about having to drive the cheerleaders to Kennewick…or drive the suburban home. Plus, it was hovering in the 24 degree range. Yuck Yuck Double Yuck.

Since it was so cold and could possibly rain or snow, Melissa & I told the girls they could wear their boots to keep warm especially since we weren’t going to be stunting in that kind of weather. They were pretty excited about that!

The photographer from the Tri-City Herald was there, so I borrowed his pictures from their photo gallery. You can see how much snow is on the sidelines! There was a crew of people from Kennewick that broke the ice up and shoveled off the snow from the field and the stands last Wednesday. It was crazy to see big piles of snow in the stands! I’ve been to Lampson in the pouring rain a time or two, but never in snow and ice! My feet got the most cold last night (5 layers of pants and 5 layers of shirts actually does keep you fairly warm!) but I figured it was because they were resting directly on ice!

The boys played a great game despite the cold and won, 55-21!

The celebration begins! We’re going “home to the Dome!” It will be the 4th time in 5 years that our football team has played in the championship game. We’ll be playing against Cascade Christian again – a rematch of 2009!

This is the team that could make school history next week by winning 2 state championships back to back!

Check out all that snow!! This Riner kid was having a great time running around in it, throwing snowballs up and breaking them with his head, throwing snowballs at the football players and into the heater.

Maybe the smartest boys on the team – standing in front of the heater!

So the plan is to leave on Friday (hopefully early afternoon to get over the pass in the daylight). The game is at 10am on Saturday at the Tacoma Dome. The girls will be working on a new dance/stunt routine this week – pulling out all the stops! With all the excitement at school, it should be a fun week!

…black friday 2010…

This morning, my Mom & I ventured out in the 20 degree weather to join millions of Americans in the annual tradition of Black Friday shopping. We do it Heider/Koch style – none of this waiting in lines for 4 hours and going to Target at midnight stuff.  

We left Connell around 7:30am. Here’s the rundown of where we went:

• Craft Warehouse
• Starbucks – met up with Melissa, Karlye, & Amber
• Target
• Heritage Home Accents & Gifts
• Columbia Center Mall (Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Macy’s, Lane Bryant)
• Lunch at Azteca
• JoAnn’s
• The Liquor Store
• Starbucks

We got home around 4pm. We didn’t find great deals (well, Amber did!), but I think we all got things checked off our list! It was fun to spend the day with the girls!

Just a note to anyone around and about in the Tri-Cities...Clearwater is a mess. It was awful - ice thawed and refrozen, bumpy, and full of ice ruts. YUCK.

This evening, I’ve been shopping online:

• Amazon.com
• Kiyonna.com (holiday clothes for me!)
• ordering pictures from Shutterfly
• some specialty shops – love suggestions from Real Simple!

I think I’ve contributed plenty to Black Friday. Holding out to see what great deals are on for Cyber Monday!!

{ happy thanksgiving! }

 

Enjoying a relaxing morning watching the snow fall, drinking coffee, snuggling with Samson, a little time spent in the craft room, and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with my family. It’s going to be a good day!

Today I’m thankful for the blessings in my life – family, friends, good health, and happiness. I’m grateful for a warm bed, a car with 4 wheel drive, a job that I like going to, my snuggly dog Samson,  friends that are creative and fun to be around, and a family that loves and supports each other no matter what.

{ my Christmas Wish List }

My Mom has been asking for my Christmas list – which is also my birthday list since my birthday is two weeks before Christmas. I’d love to see what everyone else is asking for!!

Fat Quarter Shop Gift Certificate

Brother CS6000i Ruffler Foot (amazon.com)

Monogram Pillow (etsy.com)

Flowerbomb (sephora.com)

Vera Bradley Metropolitan Bag in Baroque

Vera Bradley Get Carried Away in Very Berry Paisley

Quilting Pins

A Brighton Charm Bracelet

Tickets to Wicked in Spokane

...snow? welcome to Connell!...

One of the reasons I really love where I live is that none of the seasons are too extreme. Sure, it gets to 100+ in July/August, but with no humidity. Sure, it gets to 0 in the winter, but usually not much snow.

Well - the predictions this fall were that we were going to have a bad winter and guess what? Mother Nature isn't wasting her time.

It started snowing and blowing last night around 10:30pm. I figured we'd have a 2-hour delay. I got the call around 5:25am - and couldn't go back to sleep. Awesome.

As today went on, it got colder, it snowed, the sky got darker...and surprise! Practice was cancelled!!

About 45 minutes ago, we got the message that there's at least a 2-hour delay tomorrow!

There's a winter storm warning until 10am tomorrow. On the news, they're showing 7" of snow and we're supposed to get 3-7" more! WOW!

Right now, it's so dark outside, I can't see the street lights. It's snowing pretty hard.

I'm snuggled up on the couch, under a new quilt, with Samson - coffee is brewing, downloaded a new CD - I could be here for a while! :) I hate making up days in June, but oh, snow days are so enjoyable in the moment.

…a win over Chelan…for the second time!…

Today, the Eagles of Connell travelled to Moses Lake to play football against the Goats of Chelan. These two teams first met back in September when Chelan came to Connell to get stomped on.

Beating a team twice in one year isn’t easy. Especially Chelan. Connell was the only team they’d lost to all season. They even beat Cashmere, who beat Connell (follow that?!).

 

Guess what? Those Goats didn’t stand a chance against our Eagles. We won, 41-6!
The 2010 Eagles made it to the Semi-Finals!! One more game to go before we’re back in the Tacoma Dome! YEAH!!

On to the fun stuff – the cheerleaders!

When we found out that we’d be playing in Moses Lake, the girls that were on the team last year remembered that they’d get to cheer on boxes! This is pretty exciting for them – but scary too. They practiced jumping and cheering quite a bit before the game and by the time it started, they looked like pros!

Here’s each of our squad members – I don’t think I’ve introduced them individually before!

This is April, our captain!

Carly

Kayla

Selena

Madison

Allyson

Sommer

They were bundled up tight this afternoon and it was still chilly. At least it didn’t snow like the forecast predicted!

I’m glad we have another week together – and hopefully two!