just as I am

Mostly Pictures...

2012-01-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

Here are a bunch of pictures...mostly from December, but also from November. We lost our SD card that had all our Christmas pictures on it. Thankfully I transferred some of them to my mom's computer before we left, but we lost all the rest! :-( We did have a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break with both of our families.

Skyping/g-video chatting is less stressful with this on the keyboard :-)

We celebrated our two-year anniversary! I'm so happy to be married to Tim!!!!!

How to switch your Gmail back to the old look.

2012-01-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

I case you don't like Gmail's new look, I will inform you how to switch it back to the old one (which you can do now, but they will take that away in not too long, I think).

In the top right-hand corner of your webpage you will see your own email address and a little wheel-like button next to it that is for settings. This is misleading because you cannot change back to the old look in your settings. ..

Here's how to switch back:

1. Directly below your email address and the settings icon (that looks like a wheel or something), you will see the number of emails displayed on your page and arrows that look like this < > that allow you to look at new or older emails.

2. Directly to the right of these (< >) arrows is another wheel-like icon, and if you click on that, you will find the option to return to the old look.

It sounds simple, but it took me a long time to figure out. I thought that I would be able to change it back in the settings. :-)

Hopefully pictures to come. We lost our SD card so....yes.

Mid November

2011-11-14T10:49:00.001-08:00

Annie seems to be getting more sophisticated, mobile and grown up so fast! She's a delight to us, and we praise God for her!

Playing the piano with mommy!

Reading a book on her own...

A really fun game is "try to stick the binkie in mom's mouth"

Just playing in a box is also a lot of fun!

Daddy and Annie reading a book together!

...her first pony tail...

This little girl's reach is becoming increasingly vertical...

...and it's so fun!

Waking up baby

I think in this picture she may have found some little piece of something on the floor. See how happy she is?! She seems to have an amazing ability to find small (and/or gross) objects on the floor!

Little Girl

2011-11-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

Our little girl didn't go to bed until a little later tonight, and we had a fun time hanging out with her. Apparently, she's starting to enjoy reading/books a whole lot more!

November is here!

2011-11-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

We are trying a new arrangement of our living room. For those of you that know our house, we put the loveseat in the little nook of the living room with the computer. I'm really enjoying this new arrangement, as it is quite open, and takes care of all the cords from the computer etc in the living room.

Annie explores so much now! She can even pull herself into a standing position (though she mostly likes to pull herself onto her knees).

Digging into the instrument bin...

...playing with Daddy's Chinese flute, it's almost as if she knows sort of how to blow into it...

Ain't she pretty?

Daddy's work ID holder is a very fun toy.

She's serious about crawling!

Last Saturday we took a family outing to the Navy Base to release our two baby box-turtles into the wild.

Their names were Turt and Boxy...yes.

Here's Turt. He was our first turtle, and I must say, our favourite. You can see how much he grew in the approximately 4 months we owned him (the picture below is from the day we found Turt, I believe).

It was a little chilly outside, but a beautiful day for a walk!

9 Months old...

2011-10-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few wonderful things about being a big, 9-month old girl!

One big advantage to being a big girl is you can look out the window...

You also get to wear big-girl shoes!

...and you have big levels of fun!

you also have extra smarts...

...and abilities, like sitting up!

And maybe best of all, you can crawl!

...and not only can you crawl, you can wear a pretty clippy in your hair!

You also get to do lots of fun things with Daddy...

...like get tossed up in the air, which nearly always makes you smile and laugh!

Also when you're big, you enjoy going on walks even more...

(Ok, so the weather did get a little chilly a couple of weeks ago. We needed to bundle up to keep warm.)

When you get bigger, you enjoy drinking water and meal time more! (even if you don't really eat much besides tomato-broth type soups!)

...you also get to explore your world in a new way...

Cell phones are cool!

You can climb into your toybox without help...

...and be really cute so your mommy wants to take ridiculous amounts of pictures of you!

October--and the temperature's "down"!

2011-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

It's October and the temperature's down! It's not exactly chilly, but the mornings are delightfully cooler. It's still been getting up there during the day, but the humidity is down, so it feels much better.

Tim and I (mostly Tim, because there were spiders, and dead spiders everywhere) cleaned out our garage this morning. It really needed it. We were having a veritable infestation of mainly brown widows (there were lots of other spiders too), so a couple of months ago we fumigated the garage with a mist-bomb-bug-killer. Thankfully, not too many more spiders had moved in since then, so we swept up and vacuumed things and got it looking much better. Whew! Thanks, Tim!!!

I didn't do anything to her hair. It's just naturally big!

One of her favourite things to play with is the diaper-wipe box.

Now's she's got three teeth on the bottom and four coming in on top!!!

We tried Annie's cute shoes that we got from her Aunt Marian. They were a bit too big, maybe, but not much. They were so adorable! Annie was pretty curious about them too. Thanks for the shoes, Marian!!!

This little girl likes water...plus it's just fun to play with the cup and bite the tip :-)

I think she's coming after the camera in this one!

Wow, I have a shoe on my foot!

I made Grandma Boothman's Lemon Meringue Pie. (Except I made a graham cracker crust, which wasn't as good as Grandma's crust recipe, but it was fast...). It was really good!!!

Here's my husband. Ain't he handsome? He's the best husband and father, and I'm so glad I'm married to him!

This little guy was on the inside of the screen, between the glass and the screen. Tim helped him find his way out through the bent part of the screen...

Rain!!!

Daddy's hat. I love this little girl!

My Birthday

2011-09-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend I celebrated my birthday! We ended up having a great time with Paula, Josh, Camilla and Beatrice on Saturday. They made it all the way from Pensacola, which was a huge blessing for us! Thanks guys! We made sushi for lunch and had some of Josh's gourmet burgers for dinner, which were very tasty and perfectly cooked (thanks, Tim!).

We also had the chance to play Rook when all 3 of the children were napping at the same time. That was really fun.

For breakfast on my birthday, we had German breakfast (bread, cheese and cold-cuts with tasty european butter. Yum!) We also had organic milk as a special treat!

Annie likes smiling at her daddy!

These are in reverse order, but oh well. Here I am after blowing out my candles...realizing that they are just going to keep coming back to flame. Trick candles...

Paula brought decorations with her to make it festive!

Paula also made this delicious almond-chocolate (chiffon?) cake. It was delectable. Thanks, Paula!

Paula with baby Beatrice, who is a very smiley little girl!

Camilla was very nice to Annie, who really like her a lot!

Tim with Beatrice. She was very pleasant!

Annie has 5 teeth, and one more about to come up on the bottom, I think!

September 20

2011-09-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Annie figured out this water bottle was very fun to wield...

This one is probably my favourite!

On Saturday we went for a trek and decided to walk somewhere we haven't been yet (to a neighborhood that's like a few blocks away.) There is a long dock there coming out onto the bay, which we could see from the dock that we normally go to. We found out that there is a beautiful board walk that leads to the dock! It was a really nice walk, and we had a good time. Annie loves riding in her back pack!

Our Friends, Craig and Nicole stopped by and visit us on their trip around the country. We had a really nice them with them. Annie really liked Nicole and would smile at her a lot!

Beach baby! Thanks, Craig, for these last three pictures!

2011-09-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of Annie demonstrating her manoeuvring skills...

2011-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's easier to post lots of pictures, because I don't have to try to decide which ones I exactly want to put up, so I hope you enjoy this post with many, many pictures!!!

Below: Note how Annie is holding the yellow stick pretty much the whole time!

She can even roll over without letting go...

The two below are a two-step picture of her saying 'BA'

Annie learned how to really move around. She even found out she can go up to the sliding door and peer out into the yard!

Though she enjoys reading now more than before, she still prefers to chew on her cardboard books. She's ingested pieces of this one. I know for sure.

Say good-bye to this amazing hair...it's getting too long to stand up like this anymore.

Trip North and August

2011-08-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month we took a brief trip north. We got to see many family members and go to a friend's wedding. It was a really great trip. Here are some pictures...

Auntie Jane and Cousin Ruby got Annie some pretty red shoes...

They're pretty funny to stomp in...

Aunt Jane also made her a new, very stylish shirt...

she likes it! We do too...thanks Jane!

Annie really enjoyed playing with her aunties, and this green tube...

she discovered that she could produce some pretty good sound if she hollered into the tube. It was really cute.

We visited Annie's great great Aunt Skip while in Cashmere

***Wedding***

Tim was honoured to be the best man in his friend Matt's wedding to Josie. We are very happy for them!

Annie loves sitting on Tim's shoulders

On our way back from Leavenworth, we got to stop and see what we're pretty sure is the house that Tim's great grandpa built. Cool, eh?

We also visited some friends in E-burg and got to meet their little girl who is not much older than Annie!

Here is Tim playing the 'spinning blades' game with some of the kids. I think the goal is to not let yourself get hit by the noodles.

It wasn't exactly warm in the water, and Noah started getting maybe a bit hypothermic, so they brought out warm water for him to sit in. He was very appreciative.

She likes paper

With Auntie Kate

Aunt Trudy

Aunt Emily

Here she is eating some tasties. It seems she likes savory flavours better than others.

and we made some cinnamon bears last week...

6 months

2011-07-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

Today is our precious littler girl's six month birthday! We are so thankful that God gave her to us. It's amazing how much she has grown.

Birth Figures:

Weight: 7lb 7.4oz

Height: 19.5in

6 Month Figures:

Weight: 16lb 13.5oz (50-75%)

Height: 27.25in (90-95%)

Head: 43.5in (75%)

She's more than doubled in weight, and grown almost 8 inches!

here are some pictures from her first days on...

At the hospital

****1 Month****

****2 Months****

****3 Months****

*****4 Months****

****5 Months****

****6 Months****

A few pictures from June....

2011-07-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

More baby pictures

2011-06-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that our little girl is already 5 months old! She's such a happy and bouncy baby! Now she is grasping things with surprising accuracy, and enjoys her tummy time much more...We also took a great trip up North last month, so I'll post some pictures from that time as well...

Grandpa Boothman

Grandma Boothman

Now for the beautiful sweater that Grandma Marston hand-knit for Annie (Thanks Grandma Marston!):

Annie

2011-06-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

New Arrival

2011-06-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to announce the arrival of our newest neice: Beatrice Babette Cassia Celeste Theodora Magnolia Gibbs. She was born yesterday afternoon, and we're so excited. Click here to see pictures of the newest little beauty!

Summer

2011-06-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

A lot has been happening since I posted over a month ago. Annie is growing and becoming so advanced (we drove back from Pensacola this morning, and she didn't sleep any of the way. She's sleeping right now, so I'll see how much I can get posted.)

We went up to the beautiful Northwest for a couple of weeks because Tim had a conference and we wanted to visit our families. It was the first time that my dad and siblings, and Marian and Ransom got to see Annie. It was a great trip for us, and Annie had a fabulous time as well. Pictures to come...

In the past week, Annie's hand-eye coordination has sky-rocketted. Instead of mearly batting at things and grabbing things that happen to come in contact with her hands, she now accurately reaches for things, takes hold of them, and brings them to her mouth. It's quite amazing how fast the transition from not being able to grasp, to accurately aiming and grabbing what she wants was. She has also rolled over twice now, but hasn't figured out how to repeat the action.

[finishing this post two days later. Baby woke up from nap after last paragraph.]

But she's napping again, so we'll see how long this lasts. There's not been a lot of consistency in how long her naps are, except that the longest she's been sleeping without needing to be resettled is maybe 50 minutes on her own, usually 30 to 40 minutes. If I hold her the whole time, it might last longer.

Eventually she will learn to fall asleep on her own, but that time has not yet arrived. We thought she'd eventually fall asleep on the way back from Pensacola, because she was acting tired and fussing and closing her eyes and everything, but she just couldn't drift off to dreamland without parental help. Oh well, gotta love the stage when she sleeps in my arms while it lasts!

On her cousin Ruby's first birthday, Annie will turn 5 months old! I can hardly believe the time has gone by so fast. We went and saw Josh and Paula and Camilla in Pensacola last weekend, which was a lot of fun. We took them their wonderful baby swing back (what would we have done without that? Thanks, guys!), because they are expecting little baby girl #2 any time now! We're excited to meet her!

Mostly now it's just really hot here these days. It's hotter here right now, according to wunderground.com, than in actual Panama in Central America.

Now for some pictures:

This first batch is from before our trip up north, she's about 3 months old in these...

Annie is signing a thank-you card

I think this was around Easter. Annie still had that thick hair in back, and was still pretty bald on top. This have changed!

When Tim came into the living room and sat down to read this book with a big bowl of ice cream, it reminded me of someone. Can you guess who?

Our Trip North

View from Tim's grandpa's house

Grandpa and Grandma Marston on the ferry

Waiting for the ferry...I went to see my family for a few days while Tim was at the conference.

Aunt Annie holding baby Annie

Auntie Jane

(Uncle) Peter and Tim at the family reunion

April

2011-04-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from April!

On our way to church...

Annie was asleep last week on the way...

Little Cougar

We went to the beach last week!

It was very beautiful and warm and the water was clear.

beach baby

Annie and her daddy

Easter picture

Family picture

Annie on the way to church on Resurrection Sunday

Tim cooked a couple of delicious lamb chops for our dinner (Annie is smiling in this picture)

Ready to hit the beach!

2011-04-15T17:09:00.001-07:00

I'm hoping to post before too long, but there are new pictures up on Tim's blog!

March

2011-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the last month or so!

Early morning smile...

Annie loves the mobile that her Aunt Jane got us for Christmas!

...her favourite vantage point.

**Our First Trip to the Beach**

My sister Emily made me this lovely nursing cover! Thanks Emily!

Aunt Paula came for a visit with cousin Camilla last weekend...

Grandma Marston and Annie...

Smiling Baby

2011-03-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

Tim posted some more very cute pictures of our little precious dumpling on his blog. Click here to see them!

We get a piano, and other happenings

2011-03-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Today is Annie's 6-week birthday! Today is also the day that our digital piano arrived! Last weekend we all piled into the car and drove to Dothan, Alabama to look at digital pianos. We settled on a Kawai, which the owner of the music store and his wife drove down to us today. We're really thrilled about having a piano in the house now!

The Kawai

Annie is also learning how to smile. I haven't captured it on camara yet, but you can see here that she is looking intently and purposefully at Tim. The smiles are getting more frequent, so hopefully you'll be able to see one before too long....

We give her a bath most evenings. She used to scream during her baths, but now I think she's just accepted them as a matter of course. She get's this sort of determined look on her face, it's very cute.

Also, praise to the Lord that she slept about a 5-hour stretch last night. Wow. Thank you Jesus!

4 weeks old

2011-02-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

This past Friday, our dear daughter turned one month old. She also broke the 10 lb barrier and is as healthy and happy as can be!

I know there are a lot of pictures here, but it turns out that posting more pictures is actually easier. Plus, she's really cute. Enjoy!

Annie is very strong and likes to hold her head up...

Sometimes she get's a little crossed-eyed...

Pictures of Annie

2011-02-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

Annie turned 3 weeks old on Friday. She's doing very well! She's already gained at least 2lbs since her leaving-the-hospital-weight (I haven't weighed her the last couple of days). She's also a very good sleeper, though sometimes she has her big, deep sleeps during the day :-)

These pictures are not the most recent...they are almost all from about a week or more ago and I've been wanting to post them. Sorry for not many captions. Enjoy the pictures!

Aunt Paula and Cousin Camilla with Annie

***

Annie makes some amazing faces...

Socks from our friends, the Kawakamis, in Sendai. I think it was our first baby gift.

Grandma Marston

The following picture might be one of my favourites...

She sometimes does this little lounge pose with her fist under her chin. It's very cute!

Grandpa Marston

...taking a nap with daddy in the chair

Baby Bath Time

(the sequence is backwards, so the beginning of the bath is at the bottom. sorry.)

We've had some projectile vomiting around here...

Check out those amazing feet. They're so flexible!

Grandma Boothman

The little pea-pod in her green swaddle. She's definitely gotten bigger since then...

...one of her spontaneous sleep-smiles

Annie Christine Marston

2011-01-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

Annie Christine Marston was born on January 21st at 11:19am. She weighed 7lb 7.4oz and was 19.5 inches long. She's doing really well. There are pictures on Tim's blog. Click here to see them!

41weeks tomorrow

2011-01-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

Just in case you're interested: no baby yet. My mom is down here, though, which has been really nice. We've been having a great time talking and reading and going to the store together. Mom brought lots of good reading material with her, so I have lots of good books to look forward to! Thanks mom!

no baby yet, but more Christmas photos!

2011-01-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

I'm now 39 weeks 4 days. No baby yet (it could possibly still be a while...something like over 50% of babies are born after their estimated due date and some other large percent are born after the 41st week, I think. Yikes!)

Anyway, here are some pictures of Christmas time!

Ruby's very first stocking

Mom sent us each a stocking filled with goodies. They were great, thanks mom!

We also filled stockings for each other... so there were lots of great stocking gifts! Thanks Ray and Jane for the very cool stockings!

Ray with his 'extra life' mario kart candies...

Jane and I got our husbands a very cool surprise...

...remote controll helicopters! They had a lot of fun flying them in the days following Christmas...

Jane and I are preparing dinner...

Jane put rosemary, lemon and garlic in the chicken...also some butter under the skin. Yum!

Paula and Josh and Camilla came over in the early afternoon. Camilla got to open some special presents!

Josh and Paula finished up the dinner prep and set the table beautifully while the rest of us skyped with the Boothman family...then we shared a very festive Christmas dinner!

And for dessert, Josh and Paula brought Christmas pudding! The brandy burned this beautiful colour blue...

Here's Tim flying his helicopter...

Ray and Ruby

Ruby really liked the spagetti...just like her dad!

Rook and Ruby

2011-01-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

While Ray and Jane were here, we got to play some Rook. Here we played men vs. women, and I'll just say that the ladies really cleaned up...but I have to give Ruby some of the credit for that...

Ruby participated on the girl's team by being distractingly cute...

I wish I would have thought to take a video of her blowing and buzzing, it was quite hilarious...

Here she is playing peek-a-boo with Tim...

Some days before Christmas

2011-01-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in quite some time. I don't have much commentary, but I do have a lot of pictures, which I will be posting soon. Jane and Ray and Ruby came to visit on the 21st, and we had a wonderful time with them here. Then on Christmas day, Josh and Paula and Camilla joined us! It was so great to have them over for a few days. I'll be posting pictures of Christmas later.

Oh yes, I have only 10 days to go until my due date (on the 14th!). I can't believe it's coming up so quickly. A lady who works on the Navy base organized a little baby shower for us, which we went to today. Many people in Tim's group and others brought us gifts and came and had a little celebration with us. It was very nice of them to think of us!

Ok, here are a few pictures from the days before Christmas:

This year Tim made some beautiful Christmas cards....

And Jand and Ray and Ruby came for a visit! They arrived on Ruby's 6 month birthday, so Ruby got to soon try out some food! I think her first try was organic banana...

Here she is waiting for the food....

We also went to the beach on the 22nd. It was a pretty warm day, though it was windy at the beach.

Here I am with Ruby.

Jane and Ruby--the 'nautical baby'

I particularly like Ruby's expression in this one...

I'll also mention that Megan put on a lovely baby shower for me. Many ladies from church came, and it was a very nice shower!

Carrie comes for a visit...

2010-12-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late to getting to writing about it, but Carrie came to visit on the weekend of the 4th, and we had a fabulous time together!

On Saturday morning we did a 5k. Tim ran and Carrie and I walked. Carrie could have jogged, but she walked with me because she's a swell cousin.

The weather was beautiful! Here's me and my honey. We've been married for one wonderful year! (anniversary was the 21st of November)

Here is the belly at 34 weeks...

Carrie and me after the race...

Tim had the genius idea of walking out on the pier. We saw so much interesting marine life! It was quite cool. We saw jellyfish, a really big fish with stripes that was probably about 3 feet long, king mackerel (I think that's what they said), clouds of smaller fish that would flip the top of the water, an octopus, and a herd (school?) of very large rays.

A man fishing off of the pier caught this octopus...

It suctioned to Tim's finger...

Tim picked it up and dropped it back into the water.

Here's the beautiful, clear water of the gulf!

Carrie on the pier!

Thanks for coming, Carrie! We hope you can visit again before too long!!

Ruby

2010-12-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

Ruby really likes her mommy...

Carrie's coming!

2010-12-03T12:56:00.000-08:00

Yup, Carrie's flying in from D.C. and I'm really looking forward to having her visit! Sorry I haven't posted pictures from our trip up north, but there are several on Tim's blog. Just click here to see them!

Thanksgiving time

2010-11-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Tim and I spent last weekend up in Washington. We had a wonderful time! My brother Peter got married to a fantastic girl named Liz. We're very happy to have her in the family!

We left Panama City Beach on Thursday...a little later than expected because our flight was cancelled due to maintenance (we were more than happy not to be riding on a plane that may have had issues, even though we had to wait a bit longer!). We got re-routed through Atlanta and consequently arrived later into Seattle, but we had a long layover there and didn't miss our connecting flight to Yakima. We enjoyed a delicious egg-nog latte (our favourite holiday flavour--and it was less expensive in Seattle than down here...maybe that's because milk is $1/gallon cheaper up north?) Our flight to Yakima was quick and all of the Yakima-dwellers in my family were there to meet us at the airport. We definitely had the best reception of anybody at the airport! It was really good to see everyone again!

On Friday morning Tim and I went with my younger siblings to listen to a holocaust survivor who was speaking at their school. It was sober and very good. I think that it is especially good for the younger kids to be able to listen to a survivor speak, because when they are my age there won't really be many, if any, survivors left.

Much of Friday was spent preparing for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. Our Church in Yakima let us utilize their facility, which was really great because they have a big kitchen and area where we could do lots of food prep and where mom could make all the flower arrangements for the wedding. My siblings pitched in and were very helpful in the preparation. There were also some church ladies who helped out, which was really great. Tim was also super helpful...he did many odd-jobs and driving around to get things etc. Mom's flower arrangements were absolutely stunning. She's an awesome florist.

For the rehearsal dinner we had some delicious pot roast...actually we had pot roast for the rehearsal dinner and for the wedding. My dad cut pretty much all of it with the meat cutter--and that's saying something, because I think we had around 100 pounds of meat! Thanks dad!

We also had salmon, baked potatoes, steamed carrots, sauteed mushrooms and green beans. Then there was apple pie and apple crisp with whipped cream for dessert. It was a true feast. We even had real glass goblets to drink out of!

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. Liz looked gorgeous, Peter was very dashing and Caesar did a great ceremony. Liz was the opposite of bride-zilla, which made things relaxed and non-stressful. It was a joyous occasion, and I'm so glad to see my brother happily married to the woman he loves.

It was extra special for Tim and me because nearly exactly a year ago we were married in the same church. We've been married for one wonderful year, and I'm looking forward to many, many more years with the best husband in the whole world! God is very good to us!

We were able to spend some time with the Marston parents on Saturday after the wedding, which was very enjoyable. We also went to their hotel room (which had a kitchenette!) on Sunday morning where Mrs. M cooked us breakfast. We had a very tasty breakfast and nice, relaxed morning together.

The Martins were speaking at Grace Bible Church so my family and the Marstons went there on Sunday morning. Mr. Martin preached a very good sermon, and we had a nice time of fellowship with them afterwards.

After saying goodbye to the Marstons we had a few minutes before leaving to go to the funeral of Grandma Godkin, our cousins' grandmother. A bunch of us girls (Sarah, Jane, me, Annie, Kate and Trudy) sang some songs in the service.
After that we bought some rook cards and met up with Sarah R. to play some Rook. We had a nice evening with everyone. We tried to go to bed at a reasonable hour because our flight out of Yakima was scheduled to leave at 6:05am. Due to maintenance issues, the flight was delayed, so we missed our connection in Seattle. Providentially, there was another flight to Atlanta departing at 9:20, which got us home to Panama City at around 7pm...not a bad connection.

It was sad saying goodbye to everyone. We really had a most enjoyable weekend and are looking forward to our next trip up north...

I forgot to mention that Eppie had her puppies. Sarah delivered the first pup all by herself (everyone else was at the rehearsal dinner). Way to go Sarah! The John Doorninks came over and took care of Eppie/delivered the rest of the puppies so that Sarah could attend the dinner. Thanks guys! Eppie had four puppies, but one was stillborn. All the surviving pups are girls. It'll be interesting to see what they end up looking like. They are 1/2 miniature poodle and 1/2 Max, whatever breed or mix he may be. But they will probably be very darling and very good-tempered, if they are anything like their parents.

Sorry I have no pictures yet. I'll try to get some posted soon!

Sunday

2010-11-14T14:00:00.001-08:00

Tim posted! Click here to go to his blog.

Baby Monitor

2010-11-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

What happened to the good old, standard-issue baby monitors? Why do companies keep coming up with the new and (un) improved version of things?

I'd be thrilled if anyone has any suggestions on what is a good baby monitor...

30 weeks!

2010-11-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

I'm 30 weeks this week...Here's my belly...

Little different angle...

My bite-sized almond joy had two almonds! Yay!

I guess our freezer is a little cold...

We dream about Ferdinand's ice cream...not really, but we miss it!

Let's see, what have we been up to? Well we've been rearranging our living situation a bit...and preparing, little by little for the coming of the babe. We moved into a different bedroom, which will be closest to the baby room and we also bought some furniture for our barren spare rooms. Tim has been so cheerful and doing lots of lifting stuff so that I don't have to :-)

We helped with music on Sunday. Tim played guitar and I played the keyboard and sang. Our pastor is gone visiting family in California, so a man named Jed preached. He told the story of how he came to follow Christ. One day, at God's urging, his wife drove to his office and led him through the Campus Crusade for Christ tract about the Spirit-filled life, and God used that in his life.

It's been cool...even chilly here this last week. I've worn a long sleeve shirt most days, and even my jacket! We are experiencing what I consider "Fall" weather, and it's really great. It's supposed to be highs in the 70's later this week, but we'll see. I'm really enjoying this...

Time to Celebrate

2010-11-03T13:27:00.001-07:00

Today is the first day since I've been in Florida that it has not gotten above 70 degrees, if I'm not mistaken. This is amazing! It's raining and about 62 degrees. Ahhh.

Also, here is an interesting grammar discussion on 'got' vs 'gotten'...

Eggroll

2010-11-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Tim and I made eggrolls for the first time on Saturday.

Putting meat and veggie mixture onto the wrapper...

rolling up the wrapper...

it is important to keep the eggrolls under a damp towel so that they don't dry out before it's time to fry them.

Tim did an excellent job frying the eggrolls.

And we enjoyed a lovely dinner of eggrolls and stir-fried broccoli and rice! We ate the eggrolls with a sweet chili dipping sauce and a home-made soy sauce mixture...

I also made Mrs. C's delicious blueberry coffee cake! Yum...

no-knead bread

2010-10-28T11:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I performed a bread experiment that turned out very nicely. I made tasty, beautiful no-knead bread in a total of about 5 hours. I got the idea to do this because a few weeks ago when we had attempted to make no-knead bread, we ran into some problems. The dough ended up way too gooey, didn't hold together, didn't rise properly, and took waaaaay to long to cook. When I was looking up something about bread online, someone mentioned not to let the bread over-rise. My theory is that in our hot, humid climate the traditional n0-knead bread recipe allows too much time for rising. So last Friday I mixed some up the night before, let it sit in the fridge all night (to slow down the working yeast) and brought it out mid-morning to sit in the warmer air. It turned out pretty good.

This time I decided to see if I could get the same delicious product in just one day. So here's what I did. I doubled the yeast (from 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp). I also had to add a bit more water because my flour was very absorbant. You want the bread to be in sort of a sticky ball/mass, but you don't want clumps of dry flour everywhere...that's too dry. Here's what I did.

12:00pm- mix up 3 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp yeast, 1 1/4 tsp salt. Cover on counter.
~3:45pm-mixture has grown substantially and I see bubbles on the top. I dump it out on a floured surface and fold it on itself a few times. Let it sit for a few minutes.
~4:00pm- preheat oven to 450F with cast-iron pan in it (you cook the bread on a hot pan...kind of a pseudo stone-oven) and shape bread into a rough ball (it's pretty sticky, so it oozes out of shape a bit. I let it rise in a oiled and floured pie plate, so that I can easily flip it into the hot cast-iron pan when it comes time to transfer it. The traditional recipe says to let it rise on a well-floured towel, I think.)
~4:30-ish transfer loaf into very hot cast-iron pan. Put it back in the oven and cook it for 40 minutes. Remove and let cool on cookie rack.

The result: Very tasty bread with a crunchy crust and a very moist, chewy crumb. It may sound shocking to bake it for so long in such a hot oven, but it works...really well. This bread isn't the slightest bit crumbly or dry. The flavour might not be so distinct as when it sits for 12-18 hours to rise, but the whole make-bread-in-one-afternoon is a major bonus, and most people won't note a difference, if there is one. The result was very satisfying.

Nice crackly crust

Beautiful big bubbles on the inside...

In P-town and other places up in the cold north, you might have to either add more yeast or let it rise longer... I think the rising time depends largely on the climate. It might take a bit of experimenting. I haven't tried a whole-wheat mixture yet, but I hope to soon. I also want to try a sour-dough no-knead bread...

The Bay

2010-10-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

Recently I was on a walk with Megan and Aurelia (and Blaise in the stroller), and we came upon this lovely dock in a condo area not far from our house. It's a gated area, but the gate is almost always open. They have a sidewalk in there, so we thought it would be a good place to walk. The water is shallow for a long way, and sometimes you can see interesting things in the water. The first time we went there we had a dolphin swim up (chasing a fish) quite close to the dock. It was really cool!

So Tim and I decided to go down there. We spotted some interesting things in the water and Tim went to check them out and explore. (Tim actually saw a stingray once, and he spotted baby one again when we went the other day...)

Tim found some hermit crabs. He was also careful to shuffle his feet in order to avoid stepping on a stingray, which would be quite painful.

I was watching from the dock, and seeing if I could spot interesting things for Tim to check out. Some of the hermit crabs were in interesting shells. We've heard and seen that people go fishing around where we live. We've even seen fish jumping out of the water not too far from the dock.

It's great to have a place like this just a short walk from our house!

Running

2010-10-21T10:51:00.001-07:00

10 reasons why becoming a runner/consistent exerciser is good for you (me), mind and body.

*There is no particular order and this list is not comprehensive...

1.your overall health increases

2.your perspective is changed for the better

3.you find out that your body can do a lot more than you ever thought possible

4.you learn self-control. No one is going to make you do it. No team. Nobody. You learn to follow through despite feelings/excuses.

5.physical training provides very applicable lessons/analogies for spiritual training (Paul mentions this in the New Testament)

6. your general energy level increases

7. you (generally) get a lot more done

8.you get a hearty appetite :-)

9.you (usually) sleep better

10.there's nothing like going from being the person who was a panting heap after 15 minutes jogging ("running is terrible, why am I doing this?") to running 8 solid miles and feeling invigorated afterwards.

I've generally been someone who kept myself in some form of physical fitness (walk several miles most days to school and back and around...), but up until approximately the end of my sophomore year of college, I would have told you that I really didn't like running. And that was the truth. Running was miserable, painful, and simply not fun. I'm not sure what inspired me to start running. Maybe it was that I ended up having tons of friends who were runners. Or maybe it is because Jane wanted to run a half-marathon with me. Maybe a combination of all things. Also, there's a lot of fun in a challenge (and deciding to run a half-marathon, if you've never done cross-country before, is a big challenge). So whatever got in to me, I don't really know.

So I encourage you: Buy a good book and try it out! (I highly suggest The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer by Whitsett, Dolgener and Kole...probably also good for those of you who are runners but need a reasonable guideline/structure).

Happy Birthday Noah!

2010-10-20T08:12:00.001-07:00

Today is Noah's 7th Birthday! Happy birthday, Noah! You are wonderful blessing from God to our family, and we love you!

Some pictures of That Man (aka Mein Kleiner Man)

one of the youngest highlanders at the games this year...(thanks for the great picture, Jacob)

trying out a air potato gun on Christmas

I am so thankful for Noah. He has brought continuous joy and light to our family (and to many others as well). What a great brother!

What we've been up to lately...

2010-10-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

I think we're slowly but surely becoming more used to Panama City Beach...which is easier now that the weather has toned it down a bit. We've been experiencing some beautiful summery weather (warm, sunny days and low humidity). I hear the temperature of the gulf has 'cooled down' (to like the 70's probably), so prime swimming is probably over. Hopefully we'll be able to make it in again before it get's too freezing. (I guess it get's all the way down to like 58 in December. That's a huge temperature range!)

Now for some pictures....

Has anyone ever had their computer show them something that looked like that? I just waited for the computer to catch up with my clicking, and it got out of it by itself. That was bizarre.

Tim and I attended the 235th annual Navy Ball on Saturday night. It was supposed to be a celebration of the beginning of the US Navy I guess. We enjoyed a nice time and a tasty steak dinner. Everyone was quite dressed up, and the military people were in their fancy uniforms. It was really fun to be able to dress up and spend a formal evening with my wonderful husband.

On Friday we made the famous biscuit braid, one of Tim's all-time favourites. He helped me with the biscuit and did a fantastic job.

I also made my first lemon meringue pie using a recipe from Grandma Boothman. It was really simple and very tasty. I'm going to have to make that again!

A while ago I found probably the biggest flake I've ever seen in my raisin bran.

I think I win. (Ok, so we actually did a search and found that someone else had found this huge chunk of cereal in their box, but I would call that a manufacturing mistake, not a flake. I think I still win.)

******
And now the moment you've all been waiting for....

*Week 27*

There's nothing a whole lot new except that the child's movements have become increasingly strong and frequent. Sometimes I think she's dancing (I really wish that I knew what was actually going on in there). I get to see my tummy bobbing around when she really get's going. It's quite amusing. I guess she weighs somewhere around 2 pounds and is approximately 15 inches long.

I also got my first every pedicure. I went with Megan and we had a nice time together and lunch afterwards!

2010-10-12T18:40:00.001-07:00

I know that I haven't posted in a while, and unfortunately we haven't been taking any pictures recently. It seems like we just forget to take the camera when we go places...I'll try to remember to take some pictures and post them before too long!

Tim had Monday off for Columbus Day, which was really nice. We had a relaxing time and went to a coffee shop, where we played Boggle, 2-handed Rook, and the scribble-picture game. This all occured after Tim got our water situation figured out.

It looked like this. I open up our water bill from the city. I stare at it in confusion and shock. $513.00 for 27 days of water? Wait. What the hack?!

It said that we had used 64,100 gallons of water from August 19th (we didn't move in until the 23rd) until September 15th. I mean, we didn't even have a washer and dryer until the first weekend in September. So we were pretty baffled. That's comparable to us filling up one of these above ground swimming pools almost every day. Pretty crazy!

So Tim called in and got it figured out. There was an error somewhere. Quite a big error, I'd say! But we're grateful and relieved.

I get to feel the baby kicking around a lot these days. It's pretty exciting! I'm 26 weeks along now, and I'll try to post a picture of the belly before too long...

Varying perceptions of Walmart

2010-10-07T09:42:00.001-07:00

Having grown up half of my life in Pullman and the other half in Yakima has given me somewhat of a skewed idea of the general public's opinion of Walmart.

Here's what I mean.

My perceived Pullman/Moscow view of Walmart, in short and maybe slightly exaggerated...mabye not:

Walmart is a corporate beast aimed at sucking the life-blood out of small, local businesses.

My perceived Yakima view of Walmart:

Walmart is a dumpy store, but it's cheap. (The Yakima Walmart is pretty dumpy. So I kind of associated Walmart with dumpy.)

However, neither of these opinions seems to find it's home here in Panama City Beach. Nope. Normal people shop at Walmart. They are just grateful, probably, that there is somewhere to buy groceries that is not ridiculously over-priced.
There are basically three grocery stores here. Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Walmart (there is at least one small one in Panama City, but we haven't been there.) I'd say Publix and Winn-Dixie are sort of on par with Safeway and then there's Walmart. There's no WinCo (probably the cheapest grocery store...I'll describe it by saying that it's wonderful but they use flourescent light, if you catch my meaning. Ambiance really has nothing to do with it. But they have what you need and have some of the best prices.)
And, there is no Co-Op/Trader Joe's type store (the cool "green" type stores for those environmentally-minded people who also have a large grocery budget, or for those who refuse to submit to the corporate beast or for those who simply prefer to shop in places that are more comfortable and relaxing--and are willing to fork over the cash for this luxury.) Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Co-Op and appreciate their soft lighting, earth tones and interesting inventory. I'm especially drawn toward the organicky aesthetic but it would just not be practical for my type of every-day shopping.

Oh yeah, I have a question. What is peoples' big deal about monosodium glutamate (aka MSG)? It doesn't seem any freakier than Splenda to me.

So, if you know what the big old deal about MSG is, you can let me know.

October and a hint of Fall in the air

2010-10-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so thrilled. I think I might celebrate by making a pumpkin pie!!!

Here is why: the weather is getting cooler.

Do you want to know something else shocking? Tim used the 'C'-word (Cold) to describe how it felt when he went on his run this morning. He actually said "cold".

Wow. Amazing. Thank you Jesus!

Also, my sister-in-law made a great post about the highland games. That's where I got the picture below. To view it click here

My brother Noah. I wish I could have been there!

Amazing Sweater

2010-10-01T12:48:00.001-07:00

I know I already posted today, but I just thought that everyone should take time and admire this handiwork by Rosina. Wow. I feel myself becoming inspired to knit.
http://noteworthyknits.blogspot.com/2010/09/very-small-sweater.html

Where are they hiding the whole-wheat flour?

2010-10-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where the whole wheat flour is. Um. I assumed it was the flour that had brown on the front of the bag. But when I went to make bread today (thinking I had mostly whole-wheat flour on hand) I found that the brown on the package simply meant "unbleached" white flour. So we're having white bread. I like home-made white bread, but now I'm getting to wondering how I missed the whole-wheat flour at the store. I don't know. I'll have to check next time I go to the store.

I had a birthday last week, which was pretty fun!

Megan made this delicious carrot cake. It was moist and had cream-cheese frosting on the top. Yum!

On Sunday, Tim made this very tasty German pancake. It was cooked to perfection. Did I mention that he made me dip-eggs and toast with bacon for my birthday breakfast? (Deliciously cooked Grandma-Boothman-style eggs.) Grandma knows how to cook great breakfast bacon and eggs, and Tim did a fantastic job as well! The yokes were nice and soft, perfect for dipping.

*********

Paula and Josh came to visit for my birthday and we had a really nice time with them. They brought us some fresh bread and fresh produce from the farmer's market in Pensacola. Thanks guys! We were missing fresh produce, and it's been really nice to have tasty veggies around the house.

They even got us some okra. But I've never cooked okra before, so I got busy searching for a do-able recipe for okra and found one for Jambalaya. I modified it to fit, and it turned out really tasty!

Fresh tomatoes-used in vegetable stew

Okra (I thought the twin okra was cool)

The finished Jumbalaya. Sausage, okra, canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, onions, chicken, spices...it's like the creole version of spanish rice, or something. It's more stewy than spanish rice, I think. It was quite tasty!

They also brought us peppers, eggplant and pattypan squash. I made a tasty veggie stew with those the other day. We've really enjoyed the fresh vegetables!

*****

Tim and I went to the beach earlier this week, and it was really great. The water was clear (no more seaweed) and nice. Tim went swimming, and we're hoping to go again this weekend.

I should also mention that the weather has been much better. Wow. I just checked and the temperature was 75.4 F at 51% humidity (10:08am). That's amazing. I went on a walk this morning and it was actually refreshing. It was feeling a bit hot in the sun, but the breeze actually cooled me down. Wonderful. I'm hoping this cooling trend keeps it up!

We also get to feel the baby kicking a lot, which is fun. Sometimes I can see my tummy bumping out when she moves!

Florida

2010-09-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

On Sunday evening Tim and I drove to Laguna beach (about 20 minutes away) and went swimming. There was quite a bit of algae in the water, but it was warm and we had lots of fun!

We acquired a German Pancake (dutch baby) recipe from Mrs. Marston, and tried it out. It was quite a success!

A very puffy german pancake!

***

Here are some pictures of my 23week belly. We found out that we're having a girl! and that she weighs approximately 1lb 4oz and is about a 12 inches long. She really knows how to throw around that weight too. I feel her kicking (really hard) especially when I'm trying to get to sleep. It's pretty cool.

When I'm leaning forward my belling looks smaller. But....

...here's a more natural way to stand with my shoulders back!

Simple and tasty (very tasty) stir-fry recipe

2010-09-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

I've been using this very simple, and very tasty stir-fry recipe that I got out of a great cookbook called "The Bear and Fish Family Cookbook" by Yabin Yu and Jialin Tian. I suggest actually following the recipe. If you're like me, you tend to jump to improvisation before trying the original recipe...well, this one is really great if you actually follow it (as best as you can). I mention it later, but I usually double the marinade and sauce amounts, because I prefer it that way. Plus, I usually make more than the original recipe calls for (it calls for only 6 oz. of meat).
I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

-Stir fry meat (for as many people as you need. I usually use a couple of small steaks or a couple of pork chops...but the necessary amount depends on what you want your meat-to-veggie ratio to be)
-Onion
-Other Veggies (I usually use any or all of the following: zucchini, red bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, green onions, asparagus, carrot, napa cabbage....and probably more. Basically, use whatever is in season or whatever you like. You could even do just meat and broccoli if that's what you have.)

-1 clove garlic, thinly sliced (I always use at least 2 cloves worth, I think, and I send it through my garlic press...works great!)
-3 slices of fresh ginger, minced
-Oyster sauce to taste, optional

Note: I usually double both the marinade and the sauce

Marinade Ingredients
-1/4 tsp granulated sugar
-1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce
-1 Tablespoon medium-dry Sherry (I'm assuming that the rest of you don't have Shaohsing rice cooking wine either, so I didn't feel that it was necessary to mention it here. The sherry was given as an alternative to this! When I didn't have sherry, I used rice vinegar. I just use cooking sherry now. Both taste great!)
-1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tablespoon water

Sauce Ingredients
-1 Tablespoon soy sauce
-1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (I usually use a bit less)
-1 Tablespoon chicken stock or water
-1 Tablespoon of same sherry (or vinegar)
-a pinch of salt

Directions
-Make up sauces in separate bowls
-Chop meat and put in marinade. Dice onion. Chop other veggies.
-Heat up wok or fry pan with a few Tablespoons of canola oil.
-Fry marinaded meat, onion, mushrooms, garlic and ginger until cooked (doesn't take long). Put them aside in another dish.
-Put a little more oil in your pan if you need it and fry up the remaining veggies (be sure to put the ones that take a few minutes in first...then put the ones that are done almost instantly in last. That way they don't all get super soggy.)
-Pour sauce over veggies and add the meat mixture. Bring to a simmer and it's ready to go!

Serve with rice.

After your sauces are made, the veggies are chopped and the meat has been marinaded (it only needs to be marinaded for a few minutes, but sometimes I make it quite a while ahead of time and stick it in the fridge) the rest of the cooking only takes a few minutes! For best results on the rice (if you have a rice cooker): start the rice 45 minutes to 1 hour before you eat, and let it stand on the 'warm' setting until it's time to eat. This makes for fluffier, more authentic rice!

Last weekend

2010-09-13T14:31:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we went to Seagrove Beach to have a fish boil with Jon and Megan and their extended family. It was really great! They were at a house right on the beach. We didn't go swimming in the ocean, but Tim went wading.
The weather, in my opinion, is best on the beach, because there is a breeze and it feels cooler and not so sticky!

The water was very clear and warm. We want to go swimming sometime...but not at dusk. Apparently dawn and dusk are shark-feeding times! (I'll also mention that the Florida panhandle is one of the safest places to swim. There are virtually no shark attacks here. Last one was in 2005, I think.)

Aurelia with her 'sunglasses'...as I think she called them

The sunset was beautiful! Tim took these amazing pictures...

You can see the moon and a star in the sky.

After watching the sun go down, we all enjoyed some amazing seafood (and potatoes and corn). It's really great. It's all boiled in tasty spices and then each person can have a little cup with drawn butter in it to dip things in--just my style. I had lobster for the first time. It was pretty good. I don't know why you don't just eat shrimp or crawfish though...

The past week

2010-09-10T10:04:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry that I've taken so long to post again! I'm going to post some pictures from last week, so you can see a little bit of what we've been up to!

While Tim was refinishing our table, we ate at the little peninsular bar that sticks out from the kitchen. We went healthy one night. Plus, we enjoy eating on our cool, blue plates.

Alright, here I am last Friday (21weeks)

Tim at the beach

We had a picnic at the St. Andrews state park

******

Refinishing the Table

We found a solid oak table at Goodwill, but it needed to be refinished, as you can see. So, Tim decided to do it! Thanks Tim!

Tim Sanding the leaf to remove the old finish/stain

Tim sanding down the main table...

Now the table is ready to be stained....

Tim applying the stain

The second coat of stain, I think....

Doesn't it look great? Thanks Tim!!!!

You can see the very cool gears in the middle that allow the table to slide apart for the leaf.

Then Tim applied several coats of Polyurethane and it looks great! We have it in our dining room. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I'll try to post one soon.

Would you like paper or plastic?

2010-09-08T10:49:00.001-07:00

Nope. Haven't been asked that question, not once since coming to Florida. Maybe this is just a fluke, or maybe they don't have paper bags down here...I don't know.

I'm going to post some pictures soon!

Periplaneta Americana

2010-09-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

"They migrate by crawling or flying into structures often entering houses and apartments from sewers via the plumbing..."

The American Cockroach

aka Palmetto bug

As I was writing this (above) I walked to the bedroom to get my computer cable. Can you guess what I spotted on the way? You bet, a baby cockroach.

Watch out.

Pictured here on a piece of toilet paper (before I caught himand squashed him with the back of a spoon.)

If you read the top quote, you'll know why I didn't flush him.

Ok, so we haven't really had problems with cockroaches. We've (until now I think) only seen a dead one in our house. We saw a live one outside our front door, but that's it. Tim caught one last night in John and Megan's house (they garbage-disposalled it....kind of gross, very affective).

If you'd like to read some more, and wonder where I got my informational quote, you can read this article by Kathryn A. Barbara (University of Florida). It's quite informative. http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/roaches/american_cockroach.htm

Tim shaves and I'm 20 weeks along!

2010-08-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

This last week has been very good, and we've been able to settle into our new place more and more (well, somewhat settled in. We now have 3 stools, 1 chair and a dining room table. We also have a couch and a washer and dryer on the way in the next week or two. Mostly, we went grocery shopping and I've been able to cook! This is very good.)

I made bread today. I put oatmeal, a little bit of spelt, little bit of wheat bran, and a little bit of gluten flour (because I wasn't using flour with extra gluten already). It was very tasty, but it could have used a little more sugar...maybe because the spelt is harsher? After the bread came out, Tim and I packed a little picnic and ate out on the pier. It was very fun and we could see tons of little fish swimming (swarming). We don't know what they were doing; probably eating something, but we couldn't see it. We also saw jellyfish and lots of people fishing off the pier. We asked one fellow, and he said that he was fishing for king mackerel. I think they may have been using the little fish as bait, but I'm not sure...

Also, I'm 20 weeks pregnant this week, so I thought I'd include a picture of myself and my belly.

And now for the shaving part of the story. Tim had been growing his wiskers since we left Pullman, and this weekend was the time to shave it off. Here's the progression!

Beard

Preparing to shave the beard off...

Alright! A goatee...

The fu manchu. Kind of looks like a farrier....

The moustache...

And then, voila!

That was a fun and interesting shaving process!

First days in the new house...

2010-08-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while Tim and I were on our way home we decided to stop by World Market. To our great surprise and delight, we saw that they had some beautiful dishes (picture below) with a pattern that matches our cherry blossom plates. It’s important to snatch up good, affordable dishes when you find them, because they’re not always easy to find when you want them…

We have been eating on this crate on the floor, because we have no chairs yet. Our two stuffed livingroom chairs are smokey and waiting to be cleaned. However, we just got a dining room table (no chairs yet, though), but we're going to use my hope chest from Grandma to sit on as a bench.

I'm going to post some pictures of the house we're renting. One of the best things about this place is that it's only 6 houses down from our friends, Jon and Megan. We haven't really set the place up much. The dining room has most of the stuff on the floor that didn't get smokey (mostly cloth items got smokey, plus the bookshelves, stuffed chairs, and suitcases).

Tim's been calling all the people and companies for getting everything set up, and he set up the wireless yesterday, so now we have internet.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the house. I'll try to update them as we get more settled in...

We have 3 palm trees in our front yard, and other tropical-ish looking plants.

Here's a picture of the kitchen from the outside of the back yard. The tiled space between is the future dining area, but we don't have a table in there yet.

We have a large, fenced-in back yard.

And this is what is behind our fence. It's part of the "preserve" , I'm pretty sure.

Here's one side of the living room. There's this wooded area in one corner. Maybe it's an "alcove".

View from dining room into hallway. There is a room on each side of this bathroom.

Here you can see from one bedroom to the other, with the bathroom between.

Living room fromt he other angle. The master bedroom door is on the left.

Here's a view from near the master bedroom door into the dining area.

Me making dinner

Master bedroom, and the master bathroom in the back.

We're really thankful for God's provision in providing us a house so near to our friends and near to Tim's work on the navy base (less than 5 minutes drive).

Moving van catches fire?

2010-08-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yes. Tim just talked to the moving company, and they "were sorry to inform him that his shipment was involved in an accident". What kind of accident? The moving truck caught fire! Multiple peoples' things were packed in the truck, and ours were packed near the back, so none of our boxes were torched. However, our chairs may have smoke damage and if that's the case they will either be cleaned or replaced.

Just thought that was kind of funny (not exactly what you think is liable to happen to your things when you have them shipped accross the country)!

Old friends

2010-08-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

On our way through Texas we spent a night in Lubbock with Kristin (formerly Cooney) and her husband Elliot. Kristin and I have been friends since we were little kids in Pullman and we hadn't seen one another for about 14 years! We had a really great time visiting we them and it was really good to see Kristin after all this time!

Mr. and Mrs. Cooney had us over to their house for dinner, and that was wonderful. Here's a picture of Elliot, Kristin, (me) and Tim.

Tim and I have been pretty busy since getting to Panama City Beach, and we're really grateful for Jon and Megan's hospitality. They're letting us stay at their house until we can move into our new place...which leads me to:

We've found a place to live (Lord willing all goes through!)! It's a house near to Jon and Megan. I'll try to post some pictures sometime, but we don't have access to the house yet!

Trip

2010-08-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hi! We've been having a great trip. I just tried posting, but again blogger destroyed all of it so I will just post the photos and short commentary for the moment. Here are some photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon several days ago.

This is the tallest point in Arizona:

Here is Tim standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon:

This is a neat photo Tim took:

I'll post more later

Day 3-Wednesday

2010-08-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last night (Wednesday night) we spent in a little place called Grant, NM, about an hour's drive away from Albuquerque. Today we're planning, Lord willing, to make it to Lubbock, TX, where we will spend some time with the Cooneys.

We'll post a couple pictures of the Grand Canyon hopefully before too long. It's time for us now to get back on the road!

Day 2-Tuesday

2010-08-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

We're in Flagstaff, AZ! Yesterday (Tuesday) we drove from Ogden, UT to Flagstaff...and that was a long, but very good drive. We stopped in Salt Lake City on the way down and took a look at Temple Square, where a bunch of mormon buildings are. Then we headed south and south and south, and we decided to visit Bryce Canyon, because it was only about a 40 mile detour. It was totally worth it, especially because there was this little canyon about 10 miles west of it (and it wasn't in the state park yet) called Red Canyon, that was spectacular! All the sudden we were driving along and we went around a corner and saw these beautiful deep orange-red rock cliffs. I posted some pictures below. Our drive was characterized by beautiful, deep blue skies. We spent most of the day at pretty high elevation (around 7000 feet).

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Here is the mormon temple, and the tabernacle is behind it, I think. There are no tours of the temple.

Here's cool driver Tim. He drove most of the way yesterday! Thanks Tim!

Beautiful southern Utah sky

There are valleys and on the mountains are these shrubby evergreen trees. They look kind of like bushes, but they are trees...

Here we are in Red Canyon! It was really beautiful!

And here is a picture of Bryce Canyon. The red rock was really cool!

Here we are at Bryce Canyon

Tim the rock climber (and a cool view point through the rock!)

Interesting rock formations along the highway (maybe in Arizona, but I don't remember)

This is for sure in Arizona. The sun was shining on the rock and it was really beautiful!

Try Again

2010-08-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I was a little too depressed (it was getting late) to try to post the pictures and everything again, so I'll put up a couple this morning. We had a really good drive yesterday. Tim drove most of the time, though I did drive a little!
I've never been to Utah before, so this is interesting. Actually, something that I've noticed (at least between Idaho and Ogden) is that there are a lot of deserted old farms. I'm not sure why that is, but it does look pretty lonely and desolate between the settlements here, and pretty dry. There are rugged sort of desert mountains with very flat valleys in between (kind of like the rocky sort of mountains near Oliver BC, except these don't have normal pine trees on them and they're slightly more Yakima-esque. They have these of shrubby-looking piny sorts of trees on some parts of them.

Tim and I started listening to The Hobbit on tape in the car yesterday, which was quite fun.

Alright, I'll post a few pictures now. We're planning, Lord willing, to make it to Flagstaff, AZ today and to be able to see the Grand Canyon on the way. We were so surprised last night that so many hotels were full, so we made a reservation in Flagstaff for tonight!

I think this was either way southern Idaho or just into Utah. The sky was really beautiful!

Getting near Utah we hit just a little bit of rain, but the cloud-cover was really nice!

I was so surprised that McCall, Idaho was a bustling little tourist/resort town! We'd been through several small, dinky little western towns before we came to McCall, which was alive with people walking on the streets and everything. It's pretty high elevation, I believe, so it wasn't too roasting.

We had such vibrant skies and interesting skies yesterday. This is not to far past McCall. Lots of the houses had metal-roofs (I'm guessing to keep off the snow).

Beautiful sky in Idaho

Ogden

2010-08-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

We made it to Ogden, UT today. I was working on a post with pictures, but it was all deleted by accident in an instant. So I'll have to post some other time.

Emily's Birthday

2010-06-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

For Emily's 11th birthday, we went to Kamiak Butte. There is a lovely park there with barbeque spots and picnic tables. We had a really great time! Mom brought steak and Annie made guacamole, and there were lots of good things to eat!
I remember very well when Emily was born, because I got to be at her birth. It was really amazing, and I'm so thankful that God put her in our family. She is growing into a lovely little lady. Here are some of the pictures!

Noah

Emily got this from mom! It was a big hit...

Cool treats from Kate, I believe...

As the birthay girl and honoured one for the day, Emily got to put the whipped cream onto the brownies...

Christiana, with the present Kate got her

Gift from Christiana...

Mercy's gift...

Christiana made these flowers and tied them with thread. It was creative!

Kate and Ana took a trip to Philadelphia where they spent the week with Ana's Aunt and Uncle and two little cousins. Kate came home laden with gifts...Thanks Kate!

Kate and Emily

Trude, donning the scaft that Kate brough back for her...

Beautiful view from the park at Kamiak

It should be duly noted that many other great gifts were given to Emily that I don't have documented on this blog. I will also mention that Charity and Noah had some pretty cool gifts!

Tim took all of these wonderful pictures. Thanks Tim!

Ruby Roxanne

2010-06-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of Ruby!

Ruby and Uncle Timmy

Contented Baby

Post-feeding baby

Dad (Ray)

Uncle Peter and Ruby

Ruby with soon-to-be-Aunt Liz

Ruby with Auntie Hilary

Mom (Jane) and Ruby

Baby!

2010-06-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

My sister Jane and her husband Ray just had their first baby! Her name is Ruby Roxanne; she weighted 8lb 8oz and was 20.75 inches long. I hope to post some pictures soon!

Florida!

2010-03-17T08:02:00.001-07:00

Last Friday at 6am, Mrs. M and I began our journey to our husbands in Florida. We had spent the previous night at a hotel near the airport, which allowed us to get a couple more (blessed) hours of sleep.

Here we are on the plane. I had taken my book with me, which helped fill lots of the time. I also had a nice time talking with my mother-in-law.

Our first two nights we stayed in a condo on Perdido key, near Pensacola. Paula and Josh live in Pensacola, and we were able to spend time with them. It was beautiful! and really windy, but sunny and nice.

That's our condo in the background. Our's was on the 3rd floor on the corner on the left.

We walked a ways on the beach and looked for shells. Tim found some really cool ones.

This a broken piece of a shell. Can you believe how thick it is?

Mrs. M and I drove to Pensacola yesterday to spend time with Paula. We had a good time, and I was able to watch Camilla for a bit, while they went shopping.

time to eat some yummy mushed-banana oatmeal!!!!

Focusing on the pear puff. She's working on her fine motor skills...

it takes a lot of concentration to get it in your mouth, when you're only 8 months old!

After we drove back from Pensacola, we fixed some peanut thai curry. It was very tasty! Mrs. M made some gingerbread and whipped cream for dessert, and we all enjoyed that.

Tim is giving a presentation today and I'm hoping to walk along the beach as well as read some more of Christy by Catherine Marshall. I'm really, really enjoying this book. It's exciting and thought-provoking...

Even though it's rainy today, it's nice...may actually be better for finding shells, I don't know. The white sand reflects the sunlight and it works almost like snow in the sun!

Hope to post again before too terrible long...

Wednesday

2010-03-11T09:33:00.001-08:00

This is my friend Crystal. We went to Ferdinand's yesterday so that she could taste and buy some cheese for her host mom, who (whom? I don't know what to do with the direct object in English. German doesn't add an 'm' ending to the direct object, and I don't know if English does it for the direct or just the indirect object...) she's going to visit over spring break.

(yes, it's cold in Pullman)

We got to see them working on the cheese. Look at those huge slabs of fresh cheese!

Just when we were walking out they started sending these slabs through a machine that broke them up into small pieces. That's a lot of cheese!

Here we are again!

I'm just going to be working on packing up for our trip south, which begins eaaarly tomorrow morning. Lord willing, my next post will be from Florida!

Florida

2010-03-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Sunday) morning at 3:20am the alarm went off. We got up, got dressed and headed over to the Marston house. Mrs. M had fixed a tasty sort of egg quiche with sausage...that was really nice of her. Then we took our dear husbands to the Spokane airport so they could travel to the far and distant land of Florida. They'll be doing some work down there,where my handsome man gets to use his amazing signal processing skills...yes.
Here are our men, maybe around 5:30am, heading off to go through security...

I really miss him! But Mrs. M and I get to fly down on Friday morning to be with them for about 9 days. I'm looking forward to it!

Today I finished reading Out of the Comfort Zone, by George Verwer, the man who founded Operation Mobilization. I didn't want to read it for the longest time, but I had told the person who had given it to me that I would, so I did. It had been lost for a while, just stored away in a box of books. But I read it and it was good. He talks about many different aspects of missions and mission mobilization.

And last but not least:

I'm drinking a glass of grapefruit juice. I like to think it's my husband's key to such healthy teeth (even though I'm pretty sure it's genetic...)

The Last Little While-

2010-03-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

So we've been experiencing some amazingly beautiful weather lately. My dear husband took these beautiful pictures on his walk home for work a couple of weeks ago. (Note: Blogger has been making my pictures look grainy...maybe this is my fault? but I'm not doing anything differently than I have in the past...so please understand.)

Then on Friday Tim took me on a date for lunch to Ferdinands. Great ice-cream and a most excellent time with my husband. We played two person Rook...

On Saturday we were able to have family lunch, and spend some time with brother-and-sister in law and father-and-mother in law...we ate pizza and played Rook (do you sense a theme here?)...then in the later afternoon Tim changed the oil on the car. I had really good time with him.

Here's some pictures of my man changing the oil...

oil coming out...

getting ready to change the filter/screwing the first thingy back on...

(see that great ring?)

replenishing the oil supply...

Family

2010-02-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

So my lovely family:

has embarked upon a new adventure! If you'd like to read about it it's on their blog: 10for10for10

The sayings of the wise

2010-01-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

"Do you see a man skilled in his work?

He will serve before kings;

he will not serve before obscure men."

Proverbs 22:29

This verse reminds me of my husband.

Besides being very skilled in what he does at work, Tim is also a skilled artist. He made some lovely christmas cards this year. Here he is working on the one he gave to my sister Emily...

Here it is. I'm not all that great at cropping it from the photo, so it looks slanted--it's actually not in real life! Isn't it great?

Here are some pictures from life and of our apartment.

This is me with Annie before Christmas. I'm so glad she's at WSU!

Our first Christmas tree--we eventually put more decorations on it

Oh yes! I made some Baozi (pronounced like : 'bow' to the king and 'dz'). They are very tasty steamed buns (I had them rising in the oven).

Now for some views of the apartment!

Kitchen The kitchen is pretty spacious and bright

Bedroom

The bedroom and livingroom were actually just one big room, but Tim creatively put up some curtain rods and made a separator. Yay Tim!

sorry about the blinding light on the top of the picture. But you can see the curtain separator...

Here you can see the livingroom and a little into the bedroom portion...we have these random closets (hidden by off-white curtains on left), but because it's just the 2 of us, it's really not a problem at all that the house is a funny design. We really like it!

Between the living room and the kitchen is a random little space about 6' by 10' where I've setup my office. I'll try to post a picture of that space too!

We really like our little place! It's nice and warm and it's ours.

Hope

2010-01-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hope is an interesting thing. It always has a foundation. Sometime I lose sight of the foundation and then wonder why my hope is fading. Have I forgotten what my hope is?

My hope is Jesus Christ. Most basically, I have a true relationship with God and eternal life. This is because Jesus took the place of the punishment for my sin (and the sins of the whole world) when he died on the cross, and then he rose again, conquering death, and now he lives to constantly intercede for those who believe in him(for me!). This means that Jesus is my intercessor--and it allows me to come directly before God and to talk to him directly. It also means that Jesus' righteousness is given to me in place of my own filth, which he cleansed away by his own death in my place, and which he continually cleanses as I confess, repent.

But there is more hope. Mostly right now I'm thinking of the hope of God's promises and the truth of his word.

Sometimes the enormity and guilt of my sin nearly overwhelms me, and I lose sight of God's work and the promise of his sanctification. While it is good for me to see, to some extent, what God has rescued me from, it is not healthy to dwell on my own short-comings and failures. God says that "when we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". So when confession is in line, then I need to confess and let God forgive me. And when he has forgiven me (which He is prompt and faithful to do), I need to be thankful to him and not to downplay the wondrous love that God has and displayed when he reached down and saved this sinner.

It's also very encouraging to know that God's work is not complete in those around us who believe in him, but that He will complete it. Sometimes it seems hopeless, but nothing is outside of God's grasp. "Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples" Psalm 77:13-14
and
"I thank my God every time I remember you...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:3&6

I will trust in the Lord.

"I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the people I will sing praises to Thee among the nations; for Thy steadfast love is great, is great to the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the skys."

Christmas!

2010-01-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

After an early Christmas at the Marstons on the 23rd of December, Tim and I headed toward Yakima to spend Christmas with my family! We arrived on Christmas eve and played music for the Christmas even service at church. Kate, Jane, Annie, Trudy and I sang, Tim played guitar, and Ray played bass. Christiana read the Bible portions for the service very well (her reading aloud skills are quite impressive!). The late service was at 11pm. That's pretty late! But we survived and they were nice services...

Christmas: This year the little kids slept downstairs and they slept in!!! until a little after 8am. We got up and got the stockings, which mom so amazingly filled. I don't know how mom does it, but she manages to put the most amazing and interesting things into them. I got a great pair of socks and a cool, super-duty magnet for the fridge. We also got potato guns and botan rice candy which is possibly my favourite candy. You can eat the rice-paper wrapping...
Anyway, we --the kids-- always head downstairs and open and enjoy our stockings and admire each person's gifts. We converse and have a lot of fun...

This year, on Sarah's cool, lower-rates-for-overseas cell-phone plan, we called up our friends in Germany and Slovakia (mostly former exchange students). It was quite enjoyable.

After playing with potato guns and opening our wonderful stockings and talking to our friends from far away, we headed upstairs. Annie had made some delicious orange rolls (a long-standing tradition...) which we consumed with Tetley Tea in our fancy tea cups. It was a nice, joyful morning.

Gifts:

In our family, we purchase and give gifts mostly in groups. A bigger person is matched with one or two younger people and each group gets a present for every person in the family (there is some sneakiness involved when it comes to getting a present for the other people in your group!)
Dad passes out the gifts one-by-one. Each gift is appreciated and admired by all. This process took a long time, but it was really fun....

Kate with her painting from Jane

Emily and Charity

Mercy with Millard...or maybe Fillmore. The twins got these funny little creature-toys and almost instantaneously named them Millard and Fillmore. It was very cool.

Tim opening a gift

Christiana with her new softy

I got some Sesame Oil...very good for cooking tasty things! Thanks!

Annie, her cheerful self...

Jane and Ray

excited about the gift...and rightly so. It was a very cool maternity (she's expecting) coat that Peter bought her...

I love this picture of Noah that Tim took

Dad, trying on his new hat

She got a bump-it! We all enjoyed that one...

Sarah, opening a present

Kate and Trudy

Peter got me these cool gloves...

Peter got Sarah these cool, memory-foam slippers

Kate opening a beautiful scarf

Dad and Emily, wearing the hat we gave her

Dad with cap, pipe and tea

Peter, donning the new sweater we got him

Sarah wasn't the only one to get a Snuggie this Christmas. Eppie (Aka: The Whep, Eppie-glottis, Webster, or Eppie-nephrine...) also got one! It was just for dogs and quite cute

Millard again

Christiana with Eppie

Kate looking beautiful, as usual

Emily

Timothy wearing the man-orange sweater I got him

Sarah

Kate and Mom

Charity, with a lovely smile

Graduation-Pullman

2010-01-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

I graduated from WSU with a degree in German and a minor in Spanish (Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages and Cultures with a major in German)!

My time at WSU was really good. I'm grateful for the excellent christian community that I've been able to be a part of. I've lived in five places during my time in Pullman:

1. First semester at WSU I lived in Gannon dorm, fifth floor...very close to the rooms in which my sister Sarah and cousin Carrie lived.

2. Pullman House-a year and a half of some of the best roommate-ness ever. Carrie and I lived there. That was a fun and good time. She was (still is) a true friend.

3. Marston House-this was a great time for me...greater than I knew at the time. I got to know the Marstons (little did I know then that they'd be my mother and father-in-law!) and lived there with my sister Jane. I have very loving memories of living there. (That's also where I met my husband! I'm so thankful to God for the time I got to live there and for leading me so faithfully).

-between these times I lived in Germany for 7 months and then got to live in Yakima with my family for the fall and winter of 2008. That was a special and wonderful time. I ran my second half-marathon (first one with Jane, this one with Tim), and had a really great semester spending time with my family.
4-Corcoran home- When I came back to Pullman for my senior year, I had the opportunity of living with the wonderful Mrs. C (and Ana). That was a great time and I felt very comfortable there.
5-Tim and my home!- I love being married and we're settling nicely into our little (but actually not too little) aparment! (pictures to come on a following post).

Now for some Graduation pictures...

I had the most awesome group of cheerers possible! My family came all the way from Yakima for my graduation. I was so glad to have them there. They even made these signs which I could see from my seat down on the floor. It warmed my heart. I think they're quite clever and they did a really good job switching them from front to back.

Liebe Hilary: means dear Hilary

Wunderbar!! means Wonderful!!

(I really thought the signs were great! No one else had signs like these!)

Me with Emily

Mercy and Charity

Dad and Mom (wonderful parents)

Tim, my most excellent husband

Mercy took this one!

He carried me up the hill in the snow!

(Thanks, Tim, for the great pictures! and Mercy...)

Husband

2009-12-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

My husband is wonderful and I love him. I praise God for him!

(pictures courtesy of Dan Snook. Website: www.dansnook.com)