The floods came up

We have had major flooding here in the last week. We had those huge snow falls over Christmas, and then it got warm enough to rain and meltled all the snow, (they call it a rapid melt) then it got warm enough (45 degrees) to start melting the snow in the canyons. The numerous rivers around here have all flooded, and there are some big rivers in the area. There have been flooded houses, damaged and closed roads, mud slides and avalanches. All the canyon passes are closed again. Damon can take 4 possible routes to work, and 3 of them were closed due to the flooding. We have a gully next to our house that I have never seen water in. I guess water used to run down it all the time, but the city rerouted where the water flowed. I looked out my window this afternoon, and the gulley is totally full. We live next to a horse field that is also full of water. I can see water running toward the house, but I looked down the gulley, and the water was also running away from the house, faster than toward it. I don't think the water will rise to the house. The weather forcast didn't call for any more storms for the next week. I think the water in the gulley has been high for a few days and I just haven't noticed. I've included a link to a news article that has some photos of the flooding. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/387510_flood13.html

Dipping Chocolates

We went to my Sister Deborah's house to celebrate her husband, Marc's birthday, and while we were there we dipped chocolates. It was so much fun, as you can see from the pictures. I have a lopsided amount of pictures of Brooklyn. She enjoyed it so much, she was in little girl heaven. We were all covered in chocolate, and had to change clothes when we were done. Man, I wanted to start a food fight with that drippy, gooey stuff. Deborah made truffles, mints, and peanut butter fillings for us to dip. She made caramels also, but they didn't set up in time. Yum! It was Awesome Deb, thanks for inviting us.

Happy New Year

We got a ton of snow over the Christmas holiday. The schools here were closed for a week before the official school break started. We measured 17 inches of snow on my sister's back deck. And Wahingtonians are just not equipped to deal with the snow. They plow the freeways, but leave the rest of the roads alone, and all the snow left on the roads freezes every night. The roads become a big mess, and everyone stays home and complains about it. But I loved it. Christmas Eve we spent the night at my sister Deborah's house and played in the snow. We sledded down her long driveway, built a Brooklyn and Devin sized snow man, and helped build a huge snow fort. It was a ton of fun. I couldn't get the greatest picture of it, so I'll post a few different angles. We had a great christmas, and shopped some of the awesome after Christmas sales, and are looking forward to 2009! Happy New Year Everyone, May all your resolutions come true!

In The Dark

We got a live Christmas tree this year. It's the first time I've had a real tree since I was a teenager. We went to a U-cut farm, and Damon sawed the tree down, and got it bound to put on the car while the kids and I looked at 3 of the ugliest turkeys I've ever seen. They were very territorial (we were separated from them by a fence), which made it fun for the kids because we got a lot of cock-a-doodle-doos out of them. Devin could have stayed with the turkeys all day long and been happy. We won't go to that farm again next year. It was more expensive than we thought. I'm all for live trees, but I'll go for a cheap live tree. The kids love having the tree in the house. They will plug the tree lights in each morning and they both go around the house turning all the house lights off, regardless of whether I am working in the room or not. I've started threatening them with time outs because they won't leave the lights on. And we have this cute little line of miniature pines that line the side of our yard that we put lights on. I love the way it looks when I drive in after it's dark. . . . And, yes, that is snow on the ground. Yeah!

Festivia

Ok, so I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year for the first time EVER. My sweet sister Deborah hosted all the holidays at her house last year, and asked me if this year I would host one of them. So one thing you should know about me, is I am not fancy at all. I didn't buy china when I got married (mostly because I was (am) totally oblivious to customs like these). And I like having people over, but I don't have anything nice to host a fancy dinner. Yesterday, the day before Thanksiving, I ran to the dollar store and bought some goblets for sparkling cider, 4 table runners, three of which I cut up and sewed into matching napkins, and copied Brooklyn's Thanksgiving table craft from preschool and made some cool candleholders for the placesettings. Needless to say, I am a domestic goddess, and this should be a craft blog, LOL.

Travel Log - Tag

One thing Damon and I both Love is to travel. We've traveled alot when we were DINKs (Duel Income No Kids). Now that we have two beautiful children and one income, we don't. But we dream that one day we will again. So I compiled a list of all the places I've visited, and driving through doesn't count. Enjoy. And if you wish, write a similar list on your blog, I would love to see where everyone has been.

Domestic

Arizona; Pheonix, tempe

New York, Manhattan

Massachusetts, Boston

Utah :)

Nevada, Las Vegas

Washington, Seattle :)

Texas; San Antonio, Dallas

Hawaii, Maui

California; Los Angeles, San Diego, San Fransisco

Colorado; Fort Collins, Colorado Springs

Oregon; Cottage Grove, Portland

Florida; Miami, The Keys

Idaho, McCall

International

Australia, Melbourne

Mongolia; Ulanbatar, Darxhan

China, Beijing

England, London

France, Paris

Italy; Rome, Venice, Florence

Germany; Frieberg

Bahamas

Devin's 2!

Ok, so I don't think I mentioned this last year, but we personally know 3 boys who were born on the same day as Devin. (Happy Birthday Roshan). Damon's best friend growing up and his wife had a son the same day we did, and one of my sister's friends also had a son the same day we did. And to add another coincidence to the mix, when we moved to Washington, we moved into the same ward as the family my sister knows. So last year and this year we have had combined birthday parties for the boys. Alas we have yet to meet Roshan due to the fact that we haven't visited Texas in way too long. I digress. Devin's birthday party was totally fun. He didn't understand, but he did pick up on the fact that he was entitled to more oreos than normal. I think I cut him off at 7, but he kept finding them and eating them. He isn't interested in cake or ice cream, seriously, what's wrong with the kid? But he loves oreos, so I put some on top of the cakes, and made homemade oreos, which are delicious, but we had some crisco that went bad once, and I used it in a recipe, and now I can taste crisco whenever I bake with it and I don't like it! You can see in the pictures that Brooklyn "helped" Devin open his presents. My sister got the boys super cute matching shirts that have planes on them that light up. Devin loved it, he kept saying "airplane". And I have to say he looks very handsome in navy. Happy Birthday Kid. We love you.