Ashlei's Visit

Last week we had the immense pleasure of having my friend Ashlei come to visit me for my birthday! And not just for that day, actually for 10 days! I haven't seen her in two years and the last time was only a brief lunch visit, so this was a great time to spend time together and get to know each other better.

Our first stop was JoAnn! Ashlei lives in a tiny tourist town in Alaska, and doesn't have many fabric options for her sewing projects (to give you an idea of how small her town is, there is no McDonald's and there is no Starbucks! The horror!). We got fabric to make skirts together and were busy with that for the next two days.

Girly night! Rag curls, smearing our faces in Alaskan mud, foot soaks and watching Emma! 

And frightening ourselves when we looked in the mirror. Yep.

Here's what happens when you take those rag curls and brush them out... well, except for Tara's. She washed hers out too early so Ashlei invented something to make her fit in. :-)

Time for tea... we did the whole nine yards - dressing up, fine china, and lots of goodies!

Friends!

Thursday rolled around, and after our visit to the retirement home, we came home for a harp trio! Yes, Ashlei plays harp too! Here she is playing my harp. She will be getting one just like it in a few weeks!

It was going to be a harp quartet, but Kristen wasn't well and couldn't make it. :-( (We missed you, Kristen!)

Laura and Mrs. LaPrise still came, though, and we very much enjoyed their company!

(Very spontaneous photo... I smile too big :-)

Sorry, Raeanne, it seems we entirely missed you in the photographic record of the occasion. :-( We do, however, have videographic (if that's a word) proof of you, which I may post. *naughty grin*

Next up was a shopping trip to Target, where Ashlei has not been in 3 years. Per her brother Nathaniel's instructions, she tried on a trench coat, and looked quite... well, yeah.

Friday (Dad's birthday) was birthday dinner out at Texas de Brazil... here is my delicious papaya cream dessert. Mmmmm....

Since my birthday fell on Sunday this year, we did presents, etc. on Saturday.

On Saturday night, Dad took Ashlei and me to a harp concert downtown at the Lyon & Healy concert hall! Before the concert started, the harp showroom was open so Ashlei and I played on the pedal harps for nearly an hour. :-) Heaven! (sorry, we have kind of a lot of pictures from this... if you aren't as crazy about harps as we are, you can stop reading now. :-)

"Ashlei, you are playing a $32,000 harp!"

The two of us in front of the stage after the concert. Jana Bouskova (the harpist we saw) was simply incredible! We were in awe. Thanks for taking us, Daddy!!!

It was wonderful having you, Ashlei... we need to do it again soon!

Happy Birthday, Kathryn!

Happy 19th Birthday, Kathryn!

We love you!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad at his favorite restaurant (Texas de Brazil! Yummmy!)

Happy birthday to the best Dad ever! We love you!

Basha

Our sweet little Basha died today... She was the best kitty we ever had. She's been failing for several months and we are surprised that she lived as long as she did. We got her as a kitten over 16 years ago, so she lived a long and full life and, as you can imagine, became like one of the family. :-) We will miss her a lot!

Praise the Lord!

After a long wait of 4 years, our old house has finally sold! There has been a lot of joyous jumping around here today. :-) Praising the Lord for His perfect timing....

Blizzard Aftermath

We've just experienced the biggest snow of the season and the worst blizzard since 1999! It's hard to tell how much snow we actually got - likely somewhere from a foot to 18 inches, but it's drifted so much that in some spots it's up to around 3 or 4 feet! We were amazed our power didn't go out.

This morning Dad got out the snowblower and spent 3 hours clearing the driveway. Tara and I clomped around in the snow just for the fun of it... it was pretty hard walking in that deep of snow!

See how deep it is along the edge of the driveway?

The branches of the trees weighed down by the snow

The Man with The Machine.

Tara attempts to embark across the front lawn, loses her balance and ends up with all limbs submerged in snow (including part of her nose).

Snowy trees... so pretty!

Another nice thing about deep snow is it makes it safe to jump out of trees.

Hard to see, but this was a huge drift

Tara in the track made by The Machine in the driveway

A nice snow cascade from the roof to the bush to the ground.

She's such a nice poser even when she's caked with snow. :-)

Needless to say, we won't be going out any time soon. Our road is down to one lane as the other lane is completely blocked by a 4 foot drift. Pretty crazy!

New Year's Eve

I'm finally getting around to updating our blog. Our most recent happening of note was our little New Year's Eve party. We had the Chids and the Riggenbachs over and had a ball! We ate munchies throughout the night and played games. The R's brought the Pride and Prejudice game, and of course Lily and Gretel won (we played teams). And we had our traditional Sjoelen tournament. Mr. Chidlow was determined to redeem his reputation.

Mrs. R takes a practice round... she's concentrating.

And Mr. C is getting worried.

A rousing card game... they sure look roused, don't they?

And... shock of shocks, EMILY won the second Sjoelen tournament!

Emily, I am still about to faint when I remember that!

(Tara won the first game, but that's not headline news)

She has no idea how it happened either.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We made as much noise as we could. 

Mr. R was prompted to remark, "Who needs boys when you have girls like this?"

Love the expressions in this photo! :-)

Tara blowing up a noisy balloon while keeping an eye on Mr. C's progress.

 I guess she didn't have anything to worry about. :-)

I'm sorry, Gretel. I couldn't resist.

Blow harder, Emily! All those breathing exercises should help!

Yes. Be afraid. Very afraid!

We drank sparkling grape juice (or champagne for the adults) while listening to various versions of Old Lang Syne on YouTube.

Hello, 2011! Thanks for coming, R's and C's - we had so much fun!