A&A Kruse

Blair's 1st Birthday

2010-01-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

Wow---I cannot believe that a year has already gone by. Blair turned one this last Saturday and Jason and Gina brought him to Spokane to celebrate. We had his birthday on Friday evening and it was one fun night. I hope you guys enjoy the photos and the videos. Happy Birthday Blair...we love you Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy.

All Cleaned Up

Enjoy the Videos

Catching up!!!

2010-01-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Wow...sorry it has been so long since we have blogged. We are doing well. This Winter has been, well not very much like a Winter. I think we have managed about 3 inches of snow total, and I am sure not complaining after last year. We have been continuing on with many projects and get togethers. Here is a little of what we have been up to.

Christmas:
Everyone made it home to include my Grandma Dorla. We had a great time and it was so fun this year with Blair. He of course ended up liking the wrapping paper more than anything so we decided the wrapping paper sack was a great place for him. We were up in Colville Christmas Eve, which is always so much fun.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T14:32:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, although we were missing Lucas and Adina. The day was spent with two of Lucas's football guys Mark and Alan. Bill Nerud was also there and of course Jason, Gina, and Blair. Lots of food, games, and laughs. Thank you one and all for such a special day.

We are ready, now where is that snow???

2009-11-29T14:30:00.001-08:00

So I spent all Saturday decorating our home for Christmas and we are officially ready. Time for some family and friend dinners!!! Andy was so wonderful on Saturday morning he took off and drove to my favorite coffee stand and got me an outstanding Egg Nog Latte...ahh made the decorating so very worth it. One thing we are lacking is a little...and I stress a little, snow. I am sure it will be with us soon.

Halloween - Lady Gaga

2009-10-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

Andy found me a video on You Tube (you can find it under Lady Gaga Makeup) that had a beautiful makeup idea. So we bought everything and I tried it out. Ladies if you are looking for something fun and very different try this out. Very easy to wear and everyone wants to know "how did you do that". Andy had vampire teeth that looked exactly like his own teeth that he wore at work (no photos do to the fact he says he does not photograph well).

1st Snow

2009-10-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

We got our first snow on Wednesday morning. It did not stay around long, but was beautiful while it lasted. I wish the snow could always be this way...short and sweet.

A few more of Blair

2009-10-22T20:38:00.001-07:00

Blair loves beaters with goodies. So this is Blair enjoying his goodies.

This is what happens when he is finished and you take the beaters away.

This is what he does when he sees my camera...the one way you can always cheer him up.

Just some cute photos of Blair in the Fall

(no we did not let him eat this pine needle)

I cannot believe how much he has grown

2009-10-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

My nephew is getting so big in such a short time. We just saw him about a month ago and he is now pulling himself up to standing without any problems, crawling on all fours rather than army style, and is talking more and more. He is such a happy young man. Here are some videos and updated photos.

The Summer of Projects

2009-10-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

So I am going to call this Summer the "Summer of outdoor home projects". We had a very productive year and I still cannot believe how much was accomplished in a Summer.

First we built the shed:

Than we covered the deck:

Put in a water feature:

Than Andy built my flower bed:

Put in an arbor for my grapes:

Now------

We had the house painted. You know both of the homes we have owned were yellow and not that we have anything against that color...we just prefer something other than yellow. I found a guy through craigslist that we absolutely loved and in one day our entire house was painted. Andy and I finished the trim the following day and now we have a beautiful green/brown home. We love it. We still have to paint the door, but other than that we are done...for this year I think with outside activities. =) So when you come to visit "no you are not at the wrong house."

South Dakota

2009-09-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

We just returned from South Dakota and had a wonderful trip, that as usual was not long enough. This was a mini-family reunion for us and what a great time we had. We flew in to Rapid City and drove about 3 hours to Pierre. We spent our time eating, talking, fishing, and etc. Thank you family for a great time. We love you all so very much and could not have asked for a better time.

Love you.

The Family

The Cousins

My brothers

A Day Out With Dad

2009-08-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

Huckleberries are here!!!! My dad and I went out today about 45 minutes from our house and in about 2.5 hours we had a little over 2 gallons. It was absolutely beautiful and so quiet. We had a wonderful time together as we rarely get the time to do something with just the two of us. Now on to making Huckleberry Cobbler and pancakes.

The Full Berry Bushes

The Goods

A country girl never goes without protection note- Dad, Dog, and Sidearm.

What a beautiful day on the hillside

Lake Time

2009-08-02T16:42:00.001-07:00

This last weekend we were able to spend at Deer Lake, which is about 45 North of our home. Andy and his friend Jason did some work on this guys boat and he gave us a weekend for payment. We had an outstanding time. We were able to take out his boat and use the jet ski all weekend. We got plenty of time on the water and had a very relaxing weekend.

The Cabin

The short walk to the water

Jason out on the jet ski

Andy having a great time.

The boat we were able to take out.

What a great time!!!

2009-07-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to go over and spend a few days with Jason, Gina, and Blair. We had so much fun. Blair is constantly changing and learning so much. The weather was perfect so we were able to spend alot of time outside and we were also able to make a ferry trip over to have dinner with Lucas and Adina. I hope you enjoy the photos and check out the videos at the bottom.

Family photo

Fun with the little man

What a good looking guy

I love to swing

Just like dad

So big...I can now hold my own bottle

My green monkey hitching a ride

Another one with dad

Sorry the video is a little dark...but what do you hear? They have been working on MaMa and DaDa

Showing how funny I can be with my green monkey

Jason and Blair come for a visit

2009-07-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

Jason and Blair came for a visit. This was the first time Blair flew and Jason said he was the hit of the plane and barely cried at all. On this visit Blair is using his voice to see how loud he can be, he ate dinner at the table with all of us and had his own peas for dinner.

My how he loves peas.

Sitting next to dad for dinner.

This is how he plays with his hands in his mouth.

My dad is so funny.

Those baby blues.

Great 4th of July

2009-07-05T18:43:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July. We wanted to thank the Butlers (Dave, Katie (Andy's sister), Kim, and Hadley for making the long hot drive up from Vancouver, WA to spend the holiday with us. We had so much fun as all of the girls decorated flip flops and bags and if I may say if anyone is into projects go to Joann Fabrics and get the materials for these projects. We spent the 4th up in Colville in the river and than returned to Spokane for the downtown fireworks and than a few of our own at home around 11 p.m. (your welcome neighbors =) ) The boys got sometime to work on the cars and we were able to enjoy some time out on the deck when things cooled down. We sure had a great time catching up and it made for an outstanding 4th for us.

Kim being cute.

Hadley rocking out with her firework as a microphone...yes she set it off first.

Andy and Dave putting on a small show for our neighbors...oh ya fireworks are ILLEGAL in Spokane

Some more fireworks...I was messing with the functions on the camera, but I thought it looked kind of cool.

Blair in June

2009-06-15T20:46:00.001-07:00

Blair and Gina came for another wonderful visit. We sure had a great time. Blair is learning so much and as you can see in the last photos he finds his toes quite interesting. He laughs all the time and is using his hands so much.

Thank you!!!

2009-06-15T20:44:00.001-07:00

Thank you everyone for all of the phone calls and cards that Andy received on and around his birthday. You made for a special day.

Gone with the STI

2009-06-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

The STI is gone and Andy picked out a 335I. This is one great car. We are headed out on a little day road trip this weekend. Andy has worked really hard with his new job at the foundry and I am so glad he found something he loves to drive....now my next project, how can I get those keys =).

P.S.
Happy Birthday today Andy, I love you.

Gina and Blair came to visit

2009-05-26T06:38:00.001-07:00

Gina and Blair came for a visit over this past weekend. Jason was working as he got his first chance to do helicopter patrol (way to go Jas). We sure had a great time showing Blair around mom and dad's and Gina and I got some great time in the sun. Having a young child around really helped me appreciate country living.

I think this photo looks exactly like Jason did in his baby photos.

Blair got to meet the neighbor horses. He didn't quite know what to think of them, but they kept trying to nuzzle his cute legs.

He and Grandpa got a chance to catch up. Blair smiles all the time.

During dinner Grandpa set him up on these pillows and he watched a little t.v. (Don't tell dad) while we ate.

He started eating rice cereal, which he loves and the spoon is not to bad either.

This was just a photo I loved showing his tongue.

Grandma has lots of frogs around her flowers and Grandpa found this one to show him.

Short update

2009-05-24T07:19:00.001-07:00

We added a couple finishing touches to the water feature. I love the planting part of projects and I now think we have the water feature complete. I love the pink flowers. Andy and I have enjoyed many breakfasts out on the front steps listening to the water feature.

So you can experience...do you feel relaxed. =)

Friday night Andy and I spent about an hour on the swing with our feather blanket. This turned out to be such a relaxing place. The first photo is with the flash so you can see what it looks like; the second shows how dark it was and how nice the candles and lights were. We are ready for company.

Our other big news is that Andy has a new job at the foundry where he is managing a group of about 30 guys. This is a job that he was requested for as it is challenging. He is doing a great job so far and has made some wonderful changes already. He is able to keep the same hours (most of the time). My job is still going very well. We have been very lucky that the challenging economy has not affected us very much. We hope you all are doing well and that you are having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

A VISITOR

2009-04-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

This is an email I got today from Andy at work.

Great Horned Owl. They’ll Get up to two feet tall and have a wingspan of five feet. Our visitor was only about a foot tall. Two weeks ago we had his brother in the foundry. Today this guy kept the maintenance workers from getting to their coveralls.

Yes, they were really in the foundry. The first one was captured and taken to one of the vets in town. The second was able to get out on its own. What an exciting day.

The 3rd is done (almost)

2009-04-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

In December a water feature place here in town had all of their fountains on a great sale so we bought one to put in this Summer in the front of our house. We have always wanted one and decided the front would be the best place for it as we were sure Brinkley would think this was her new bath and water fountain had we put it in back. Here is what the front used to look like.

Here is the beginning. I am so glad to have those green bushes gone. We added the bricks and started digging.

The pillars were unbelievably heavy, but the guys got them in and set.

The beginning of the end.

Completed project...almost. I still have to add in the plants and will post another photo when that is all done. We are very happy with it and enjoying the sound of the water.

So there they are, the three planned Summer projects complete.

Finished Covered Deck

2009-04-19T16:50:00.001-07:00

Andy finished the covered area on Saturday. I am so excited about this newly finished project as it was the one I most wanted. We have been spending as much time as we can out there already. We will get a ton of use out of this area this Summer. We do still have a few pieces of trim to finish it all out, but overall this project is done.

I snuck this photo...this is completion day.

More snow

2009-04-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday (4-14-09) we again woke up to snow. This was not predicted and what was the funniest thing is that if you went about 10 blocks South of here there was no snow. We ended up with about 3 inches.

The Second Project

2009-04-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Our next project is covering the deck. Our little covering worked okay last year, but after all the snow...well you can see the left overs on the ground...lets just say it did not fair to well. I am so excited for this covering as I love to swing and simply be out on the deck and this will be so much better. Thank you Andy. I also know Brinkley will love to have a little more cover. This will be prefect for BBQing.

Easter in Colville

2009-04-12T15:55:00.001-07:00

All the kids getting chances to hit the pinatas.

The goods from within

Andy and Micki

We had a great time up in Colville. The weather was a little cold, but we had a wonderful time with family. We ate a ton of wonderful food, had a great Easter egg hunt, and smashed some candy filled pinatas. We hope everyone had a great Easter.

My how he is growing

2009-04-12T13:17:00.001-07:00

He is smiling all the time now and drooling like crazy. He is such a wonderful baby.

Dad snuggling Blair

He still holds his hands in little fists most of the time, but is starting to opening them more often.

I just love this photo as he was snuggling with Andy and here I am again with a camera in his face.

We are done!!!!

2009-04-08T19:34:00.001-07:00

The shed is complete. We are very excited with how it turned out and it can hold so much of our stuff. Again I am so very thankful to have a husband who not only can build, but design. You might ask why we chose this color when our home is yellow....well you are now seeing the future color of our house, we don't know when we will get to that project as we have a new house project already lined, up (actually two)...stay tuned.

What have we been doing?

2009-04-02T18:38:00.000-07:00

Andy has been wanting a shed in our backyard since we moved in and he decided he would build his own. So for the last few days we have been building our shed. Through wind, rain, 2 ' of snow, and a very small moment of sunshine our shed is coming together wonderfully. Andy sure has a talent for building. We actually did most of the work ourselves. My dad helped with the siding and his friend Jason helped with the roof. We are getting close to completion. Here our some photos of our fun.

If you are standing on our deck this is in the far right corner of the lawn.

Heavy load for the little truck.

We will be using this for all of our garage storage needs. I think it is going to be perfect. I am very thankful that Andy has this wonderful ability.

Blair playing with his toys

2009-03-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

We cannot believe how much Blair has changed. He is now 3 months old and here are a few videos for our family that wishes to see his progress. He is such a great baby.

Seattle in March

2009-03-22T17:30:00.001-07:00

For my birthday I asked Andy if we could go over to Seattle and visit family as well as do some of the tourist activities that I have never been to. We had a wonderful time. We were able to spend time with Andy's grandparents Martin and June. They are always so wonderful because every time we drive in they have made us a delicious lunch. After visiting we made our way over to see my best friend Amanda and her husband. We were able to finally see their first home which is beautiful. They took us to a delicious BBQ restaurant where we enjoyed an amazing dinner served on garbage can lids. Later that evening we made our way over to spend the weekend with my brother Jason, sister in law Gina, and new baby Blair. They took us shopping and to the crab pot where we were fitted with bibs and dug into all types of seafood dumped on our table. Andy and I took a day to head into Seattle and visited the aquarium and the pacific science center. I have to say this was one great birthday. Thank you hubby for being so thoughtful, I had a wonderful time.

A butterfly from the butterfly exhibit...I think this was my favorite part of the PCC.

What we had for lunch at the PCC..just kidding, but people do eat this.

Have you seen our new legs???

We ordered this for our kitchen...looks just about right don't you think?

Blair Edward Langbehn

At the BBQ Restaurant

Amanda and Aaron

Jason, Gina, and Blair

Thank you everyone for the wonderful weekend. We appreciated seeing family and spending time catching up with everyone. Martin and June thank you for the outstanding lunch. Amanda and Aaron thank you for welcoming us into your new home and for the evening full of laughs and catching up. Jason, Gina, and Blair thank you for opening your home to us and for all of the laughs. You guys are great parents and we could not love Blair more. Hope to see all of you again soon. Abby and Andy.

Snow in March

2009-03-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

So during this past weekend Andy and I went to Lowes and Home Depot to decide about the shed he is building in our backyard. We were actually standing on our grass deciding where to put the shed and how we wanted to build our pathway in our backyard (remember the grass ;) )

Well last night we were driving around town and decided to go to a favorite spot of Andy's. He showed me a great time; I think I am still smiling.

Spokane Steel

2009-03-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Andy is in another video for Spokane Steel. Check it out if you are interested.

http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=J2J5OqYlDfs

Thank you very much

2009-02-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to Thank you....all of my family and friends for all of the wonderful cards and flowers that made my 29th so special. I really appreciated all of the birthday wishes. Thank you so very much.

A few more for the family

2009-02-11T21:07:00.000-08:00

This is Bill Nerud who has always been like a grandpa to us. He is very special to our family and with him is Barb who is an amazing woman.

Grandpa and Blair

The Langbehn's Come to Visit

2009-02-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

Jason, Gina, and Baby Blair are here for a visit and we could not be happier. We hope you enjoy the video and photos.

Turn up your volume to hear baby Blair

Check out where Andy works

2009-02-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

A video of Spokane Steel Foundry is now on youtube. This is where Andy is working. We know he gets asked many questions about what he does...so if you are interested check this video out. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRPI3kslrXM

or

youtube.com and type in spokane steel foundry

Here are a few more

2009-01-28T17:51:00.001-08:00

Blair Edward Langbehn

2009-01-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

Proud New Dad

Lucas (my brother) with Blair

New Grandpa

New Grandparents

Here are the first few photos that I have received of Blair. I will add a close up as soon as I get one. Congratulations Jason and Gina.

Welcome Baby Blair

2009-01-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Jason and Gina:

Blair Edward Langbehn
7 lbs 15 oz.
20.5 cm
Born at 9:06 a.m. today

Frost in Spokane

2009-01-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

We have had some beautiful frosty days here in Spokane and thought I would pass along some photos from around our home.

Tomorrow is Baby Blair's Big Day

2009-01-21T18:34:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow (Thursday) my sister in law is getting induced. We are so excited as this is the first baby for the Langbehn side. Congrats to my brother Jason and his wife Gina....we wish we could be there with you guys and we cannot wait to meet Blair Edward Langbehn.

Christmas morning with the Nichols

2008-12-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas morning the Nichols arrive for breakfast on their way over to Seattle. Andy and I really enjoy this time with family and always look forward to it every year. This year was the first time I noticed how grown up Mickie and Adam are as there was not the usual "can we open presents" that we used to get. =) We had a wonderful time with them and are very thankful they take the time on their way to spend with us.

Wow it just won't stop

2008-12-29T06:46:00.001-08:00

Well everyone knows how tall Andy is and now you can see how high the snow in the backyard is. Here he is outside with his new toy...we decided this was just way to much snow for our little snowblower so we moved up and he loves it. He is working on the backyard so that Brinkley can actually run a little and it should give her some better areas for her bathroom.

Brinkley enjoying the snow

2008-12-24T19:57:00.001-08:00

Well we getting the beginning of what is supposed to be another 8-12 inches of snow. Tonight Andy was out clearing snow and Brinkley loves to help. Here are some fun photos of her playing in our back yard. (To give you an idea how much snow we have Andy is standing on top or our deck which is a couple of feet off the ground.)

Snow here

2008-12-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

We are getting dumped on. Before we went on our trip we got about 2 feet of snow in 2 days and since than it has not stopped. In the back of these photos you can see Andy's black truck or what is left of the truck. We are both on vacation right now and you can see what we have been spending our time doing.

Early Christmas

2008-12-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was spent in an early Christmas trip to Seattle. Andy and I drove over on Friday on roads like the ones below. Every once in awhile they cleared enough to have one clear lane. As you can see even though the roads were not the best the weather was clear and made for beautiful photos.

Our first stop was to see Andy's grandparents (Martin and June Peterson). We had a great time catching up and really appreciated the lunch and her delicious Christmas tree cinnamon roll. We also were fortunate as Andy's mom and Mickie had come over this weekend.

We than headed over to see my brother's (Lucas) home. After that we ended that day at my other brother's (Jason) home in Bremerton. We wanted to make it over on Friday so that Andy could go to work with Jason who is an officer with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. They had a fun day with all of the snow.

We were very fortunate that all of my family was able to make it over for Christmas. Here is an immediate family photo of all of us. You can see my amazing sister in law that is due in February, so next years family photo will include one more.

Here are the roads we went back on.

We sure had a wonderful time with everyone. Thank you to all our family, we love you all so very much.

I am going to get in trouble for this =)

2008-12-22T18:36:00.000-08:00

I was so excited for Andy about this...and he thought it was okay =). So here I am posting it and he is just going to shake his head..(love you). Andy was awarded this plaque and $250.00 (shared among those he cited) for a paper he wrote through work. It was published and for that he got the money and the very nice plaque. Congrats hon.

Ready for Christmas

2008-11-29T15:52:00.001-08:00

Did I tell you I love decorating trees? We have a total of 5 in our house right now and I also decorated one for one of our friends. The bottom tree is our main tree. It took me a full day to do it all, but I sure had a great time and my wonderful husband brought me an egg nog latte (which I love) to help me through the day. I look forward to sharing the holidays with family and friends. To all of you that we will not see we hope you have a wonderful holiday. We hope you know that we will be thinking of you all on this special day and wishing we could all be together.

Welcome Snow

2008-11-29T15:49:00.001-08:00

On our way back from Thanksgiving in Colville we saw our first snow of the year and yesterday (the 28th) we ended up with about and inch. As you can tell by this photo it is almost all melted.

Brinkley and her ball

2008-11-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

Well the wonderful duck she loved so much is now in the trash as she tore out the squeaker. We now got her this hard ball that squeaks and it is now her new favorite.

Baby Shower

2008-11-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

My sister in law is due in February and we had her baby shower today which was tons of fun. We were also lucky enough to have my brother and his wife here for about a week. It was great to catch up.

Dad

2008-11-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

Dad we hope you know how much you are missed and how often you are thought of. We hope you are proud of our choices and that you always know we love you. Thank you for the laughs, hugs, love, and the years we were able to share with you.

Always.....

Brinkley's new truck

2008-11-02T16:16:00.000-08:00

So here is our new truck. We decided to sell the Dodge due to the crazy gas prices (which are now not so crazy ha!). This is Andy's new work truck. It is a great truck and of course we still need a truck to haul Brinkley. For those of you that visited our 1st house you might recognize the fence...yep...this truck was bought from the couple that bought our first home. Funny story as they recognized Andy's screen name on the computer. He was able to tour the old place when he went to look at the truck and he said they have not changed much and that they are really enjoying the home. Small world.

Brinkley and her duck

2008-10-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

We found this duck at one of the pet stores and Brinkley LOVES it.

What a Beautiful Wedding

2008-10-06T19:30:00.001-07:00

My great friend Amanda got married last Saturday and it was absolutely amazing. She and I worked together at one of the hospitals here in Spokane and she graciously asked me to be her matron of honor. I refer to her as my "sister". We had a wonderful time dancing and eating.

Long Beach, California

2008-09-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

Every year the company I work for sends two of the Pathologist Assistant's to our yearly conference, which this year was is Long Beach. This conference takes place all over the U.S. and Canada. The conference is a week long and all of our expenses are paid which is very nice of our company to do. My mom came with me and we spent the week: at the conference, eating, touring the aquarium and Queen Mary, and shopping.
My mom usually comes with me as she is completely content waiting by the pool for me to get out of class; this would get old for Andy. I am usually in classes from 8 a.m. to around 1 p.m.
Here are some beautiful boats that were around an area we were shopping at.

This is Jeremy and Gina. Jeremy used to work for the same company I work for now, but he has since moved to a different hospital here in Spokane. We do love this though as there are now always three of us at these conferences. Gina is wonderful. I work with her and she traveled with us. We had tons of fun with the girls. Jeremy brought his beautiful wife and three boys. We sure had alot of fun eating and enjoying the pool.
The next two are photos of the aquarium. What a wonderful day it was. They had places where you could touch sharks and rays, which I took full advantage of.
It was a great trip with temperatures in the 80's. I was very glad though to get home to my amazing husband.

BABY BOY

2008-09-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

My older brother and his wife just found out that they are adding a baby BOY to the Langbehn family, which they are thinking of naming Blair Edward Langbehn (Blair= Gina's grandpa) (Edward=Jason's grandpa). They are due the first part of February. We are all so excited for them.

Bridal Shower Fun

2008-08-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I helped host a Bridal Shower for which I am the matron of honor. This is my great friend Amanda who I met while working at Holy Family Hospital. The other photos are of her, her mom, and her sister in-law. The dog is her pug Tank...which was totally worn out by all of the women.

Skyfest 2008

2008-08-11T06:22:00.001-07:00

We went up to Fairchild Airforce Base yesterday to see the Blue Angels in Skyfest. What a great day...it was not near as hot as last time we went.

What a Night

2008-08-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

We are having the most amazing lightning storm this evening and Andy and I wanted to share some photos that we took with our new camera.

Mom and Dad's New Deck

2008-08-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

My parents have been making alot of changes to their home and the newest is the addition of a new deck. You can also see the addition to the house and all the rock work. The house looks amazing and they did it all themselves.

Relaxation

2008-07-22T06:13:00.001-07:00

Andy and Jason had helped a guy with some brick work in turn for a weekend at the lake and this last weekend was just that. We spent our time fishing, swimming, eating, and sleeping. It was a great weekend.

Here I am with my perch.

Here you can see how I spent most of my time in the lounger with a book and this is the view. The deck was shaded most of the day which was nice by the afternoon when it started to get warm.

Here is the view over the rail.

This is what the cabin looks like. It was absolutely amazing.

The guys place for the weekend. As you can see it was a little cold in the mornings.

Check out my new teeth

2008-07-07T20:36:00.001-07:00

We got this idea from a poster we saw and we just had to try it. Brinkley was such a great sport. We hope it makes you laugh just as much as we did.

New Babies

2008-07-07T20:25:00.001-07:00

I am SOOOO excited as last night 7-7-08 my older brother and his wife told us that they are going to have their first baby due in the first part of February. We are so excited as this is something they have longed for. We wish them all the best and we cannot wait to become Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy.

For those of you that don't know this is Leslie (maid of honor and college roommate). She and her husband are pregnant with their first child due in November. We are so excited for them. They came over in June for a comic book convention and we did some great baby clothes shopping.

Also, as Julie has posted I would like to send a congrats to the Schloemer family we are so excited for another beautiful February baby.

Subaru Meet

2008-06-17T07:39:00.001-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to a Subaru Meet around Coeurdalene (30 min. from our home). Andy, his friend Jason, and I went. As you can see by the photos it was a fairly good turn out. We met near the state line. Did a drive through some curving back roads and ended at a park for lunch. It was a beautiful day.

Start of the drive

End of the drive heading to the park
Andy and Jason after the drive (Andy's car is the white one and Jason's is the blue one directly behind Andy's)

A DAY IN THE DIRT

2008-05-26T13:06:00.001-07:00

We spent Monday (Memorial Day weekend) out at the ORV park here in Spokane and it was a beautiful day. Andy and his friend Jason wanted to go riding and I wanted to take some photos so it worked out great.

Jason and Andy chatting it up.

Andy making an amazing roster tail.

Andy flying by me.

Wide open spaces.

SMORES...MMMMM

2008-05-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Lately we have been having small family get-togethers which have included smores. We love to all sit around a fire talking and eating these yummy things. Actually at this get-together it started to rain and none of noticed until it started to down pour; we were to interested in the warm fire and treats.

Dinner with Gina's (older brother's wife) family.

Andy melted the chocolate on his stick and than smeared that on a marshmellow for something different.

Just a great fire shot Andy took.

Okay this is kind of creepy...do you see the face in the flames????

We Are Ready For Summer

2008-04-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

We decided our Spring/Summer project would be to add on/update our deck. We found after living here for a year that we wanted to be outside more eating dinner and etc. so what better way to to that than with a deck.

Here is our old deck

We decided to use Rhino Decking so that we would not have the yearly upkeep with wood.

Andy did most of the work himself, but we were very thankful for the help that we did get. Thank you Dave, Jason, Heath, and Josh. I tried the best I could with deck removal and staining, but when it came to actually putting in the boards I was a little worried about using the drill and messing something up.

Andy and Jason putting some of the boards on

The deck turned out amazing and we were out there almost the entire day today.

The New Deck
The decorated table. I found the top (metal) table mats at Pier One. They are so helpful in holding down the actual table mats.

A closer view of the gazebo

A closer view of our table

I just had to share this photo of Oscar...as you can tell he was exhausted from all the work
We hope to see you for a Summer dinner

Answering some questions

2008-04-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

I have been asked many times since passing the exam "what does that mean for me?"
I will go from an on the job paid Pathologist Assistant to a certified Pathologist Assistant. This step means a pay increase and that I am now marketable anywhere. OJT pa's are being phased out as far as certification goes; so that means to become a pa you must go to a school (all of the schools are on the East coast). Also, there is word that if you are OJT you might not be able to work in hospitals as they are wanting only certified people working with tissue and doing autopsies. I got in right in time. With this new requirement pa's are harder to come by so as of right now we are "in demand". This was the one and only test I had to take and now I just keep up my certification by going to the conferences. I have completed a few autopsies on my own, which is a huge accomplishment. Doing the autopsies also gives me a leg up; the docs really don't want to do them and out of the five pa's we have Mike and I are the only ones that can do an autopsy. Really what this all means is that I absolutely love my job and the people I work for and with. We do not plan to move so this just seals in my position with my company. I hope this gives you all a better understanding of what this means for me and I am happy to answer any other questions.

I PASSED

2008-04-24T10:55:00.001-07:00

I took my pathologist assistant exam today and PASSED. Over three years of studying and it is now done...thank goodness. Today will be spent in sweats working on the list of projects I have wanted to do, but had to wait to start until this is done...fun projects. Tomorrow is a massage. I wanted to thank everyone for all of their kind words and thoughts during this long event in our life. I really want to thank my husband for his kind words, thoughts, suggestions, and for simply hugging me during those "not so good days". Oh ya...I am sure he will be glad to have everything off our dining room table now =). I will post a picture when I get the actual certificate. Thank you all again.

What have we been doing?????

2008-03-16T20:07:00.001-07:00

What have we been doing? I noticed I have not blogged in quite sometime and thought you all might be wondering where we have gone to...well we have been busy. The snow is finally gone and we are getting ready for Spring. Our big project this Spring/early Summer is to put on a new deck. We are going to make a larger deck out of the Rhino Decking and are very excited. We enjoy being outside and think this will be a wonderful, low maintenance addition.

Andy just returned from Portland (thanks girls for catching up...Andy said he had a wonderful time) on a business trip. So far he has gone to China, Vancouver Canada, and now Portland. He enjoys traveling and says it gives him alittle variety to the job. I also posted the photo of his car as he is turning it back over to the summer car...lower, nicer wheels and tires, etc. We love this car.

I have been busy looking at the yard; actually I was able to pick a few weeds. I am so anxious to get out and work in it. I love Spring time. I am still loving my job and the people I work for and with. My other big exciting event this Fall is that I am a "matron of honor" in my friend Amanda's wedding (see her below). I worked with her at one of the hospitals here in Spokane and we have since become amazing friends. We spent this past weekend shopping for dresses and as you can see the one below is for the bridesmaids. Her dress is amazing; I didn't want to post that photo as there is a slim chance her fiance may see this. Our dresses are going to be a dark blue/gray.

We are doing well. Thank you for all the phone calls and emails. We love you all very much.

Giving Thanks

2008-02-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

"May kindness return to you in the same beautiful way that is was given"

I just wanted to write and thank all my friends and family for the wonderful cards and phone calls on my birthday. I really appreciated hearing from you. Thank you for making my 28 a special day.

Weekend Entertainment

2008-02-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

This is kind of a silly post, but we have had so much entertainment this weekend. We have gotten TONS of snow this year...more than I can remember in a long time. Well this past weekend it has warmed up and with it lots of melting. Our street is horrible to drive on if you do not have 4-wheel or AWD. The snow/slush is about 8-12 inches deep (hard to tell in photo), and as you can see many are having trouble. I think this is the tenth vehicle in about 12 hours that has gotten stuck. Last night Andy went out twice, once with his tow rope, to help people out. One thing it has provided is much entertainment. We found ourselves shouting last night "don't stop, don't stop"...crazy folks we are. Anyway this is as good as it gets for now...the snow has slowed our life to work and movies lately. I am so thankful it is melting now though and on to Spring.

New Camera

2008-01-20T16:40:00.001-08:00

Andy gave me an amazing camera for Christmas and even with all the snow I have been trying to learn all the features. It is sure fun taking photos and has been a great distraction from all the studying. Here are some of our (yes, Andy is really enjoying it too) photos.

What a busy Christmas

2007-12-31T12:37:00.000-08:00

We hope you all had a very wonderful holiday. We spent time in Colville, Vancouver, and here in Spokane. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts and cards. I think we most enjoyed the time we were able to spend with everyone over this Christmas. Here are a few of the photos from our outings.

Here is Kim, Hadley, and Ethan after they stamped each other with some stamps from Christmas (Notice how red Hadley's cheeks are). Andy and I got quite a laugh out of this, the mom's on the other hand did not find the same humor in it.

Brinkley stayed in with us while Andy and I opened gifts. We put all the ribbons on her.

Anna and Kim being funny girls.

My cute parents.

Beautiful Sarah.

Christmas Cookies

2007-12-09T16:53:00.001-08:00

I have spent the last two days baking and I love it in my new kitchen. There is so much more room for doing this sort of thing. I make cookies for each of the hospitals I work at. This year I made sugar cookies, fudge, peppermints, cornflake wreaths, Irish cream brownies, and raspberry ribbons. Andy even helped a little when I needed help pouring and etc. What was great was that on Sunday as I was finishing it started to snow again. I hope they like it all.

Crazy Snow

2007-12-02T16:57:00.001-08:00

We woke up Sunday morning to these lovely tracks in our GRASS...not to mention they were only feet from Andy's truck. Looks like someone got a little carried away in the new snow or simply misjudged the corner. Well I guess it gives me something to look forward to in the Spring.

We thought Oscar should join in the fun as we were clearing snow. We usually take him out once a Winter so this was it. We have gotten about 3 more inches since the first snow fall and this one was perfect snow for building snowmen and etc. Oscar enjoyed it for about 10 seconds and than off he ran to the house.

The Aftermath

2007-11-27T07:49:00.001-08:00

Our first snowfall of the year. You can see Brinkley's footprints everywhere; she was enjoying the snow as I scooped it off the walk.

LET IT SNOW

2007-11-26T19:57:00.000-08:00

We are getting our first snow storm of the year tonight. Here is a photo of the start to the snow and I will try to get one tomorrow to show the accumulation. Welcome to Winter in Spokane.

Ready for Christmas

2007-11-24T13:07:00.001-08:00

I am READY. I love Christmas and as you can see the house is decorated. I actually did this last weekend...I know before Thanksgiving...but we were having company after Thanksgiving and I wanted the house to look nice. I had a great time doing it and Andy really likes it. Now...I should get on to that shopping thing; I am not finished with that. I thought I would share with those of you what the house looks like for Christmas since I know we will not all be together over the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends:
Andy and I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you are filled to the brim by the end of it all and that you have many wonderful moments with those you spend the day with.

In Sweet Loving Memory

2007-11-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

"I sometimes feel I'm so alone and though we now are far apart you hold a big piece of my heart. I never knew how much I'd grieve when it was time for you to leave, or just how much my heart would ache from that one fragment you would take. God lets this tender hole remain reminding me we'll meet again, and one day all the pain will cease when He restores the missing piece."

We love and miss you dad more than you will ever know. Mom, please know our thoughts are with you always...today now more than ever. We love you so very much.

Happy 4th Birthday Brinkley

2007-11-17T07:07:00.000-08:00

Today is Brinkley's 4th Birthday, which we always celebrate with a big chew bone. As you can see from the bottom photo she was quite excited (sorry about the crazy eyes). I think she enjoyed her gift.

A beautiful day with my hubby

2007-11-04T16:38:00.001-08:00

I have been wanting to take some pictures with Andy and we have not had any "professional" photos done since our wedding. I have a good friend who is starting to do photography and we met up with her today. Here are some of the photos. She has an amazing talent.

Confused Kitty

2007-10-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, first I know this is a little gross, but I could not just let go by. Since we do not have kids yet we have "animal stories." For those of you who have not met our 18 lb. cat Oscar here is a photo. He is so lovable and has one amazing purr. Tonight I walked into our bathroom and was stunned to see.....well you will just have to see the photo. I think he is a little confused as to what really is the litter box.

I hope this gave you all a great laugh. Would you like to wash clothes at our house (yes, it is the laundry soap)?

Football

2007-10-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Adam (Andy's younger brother) is in Junior High now and is playing football. We were able to see him play at one of the games on a beautiful Saturday.

Go Adam...

One deer down

2007-10-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

The boys were out on opening day and Lucas brought home a deer. A group of deer came in and Lucas got first shot and here he is. The first photo is of the guys hiking down to the deer and the second if of course the deer. One thing is for sure is that this means great jerky will be made by Andy. Andy continued to hunt the next day and the following weekend; he passed up on one deer and than did not see any more 3 point of better bucks (required in order to shot one in this area) so now he is waiting until the late season. Congrats Lucas.

Hunting Season

2007-10-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Andy and I were up at 4:30 a.m. to go out and look for deer for opening season next week. We had a great time. We got out and situated before sunrise and saw tons of deer. The best were these two spikes that walked within 10 feet of us without noticing us (see photo). As you can tell they eventually did notice us and decided to investigate a little more, which meant snorting at us and staring. One even tried getting closer to us, but decided we were to scary and they ran off. It was a beautiful morning and we had a great time being together. As we were headed back to the truck we ran into this very interesting cricket. We both had never seen one before so of course we brought it home. After some research we think it is a Jerusalem cricket that is native to this area so we let him go. Hunting and science makes for a great time.

Gotta love a pick up man

2007-10-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well as I sit here creating this blog Andy is on his way back from Montana with this. Yep, after his two Mazda's that he fixed up and sold we had enough for this. It is a 2001 Dodge Dakota. Our little white mazda was great, but could fit no more than three people and everything had to go in the bed of the truck. Now he can haul the dirt bike and all his other needs no problem.

For the love of the dog

2007-10-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

Did you ever know how much a dog could cost you =). We added onto (and by we I mean I handed Andy the nails and etc. while he built) our house. Our backyard is treeless and we thought that Brinkley might like to have some cover this winter so we covered the cement area in back for her. As you can tell in the photo it was raining; yep Andy worked right through it. It turned out very nice. I also had to post a photo of her so you could see why we would do this. She really is an amazing dog.

A wonderful day for hiking

2007-10-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

Andy and I spent one of the beautiful

summer days of '07 on top of Mt. Spokane.

You can see all the lakes around the area. We had a

wonderful day together. This was a great way to

beat the city heat.

Picking Peaches

2007-10-06T14:09:00.001-07:00

We Love Greenbluff...

The family went up and picked peaches for canning again this year. I think we had more fun eating the wonderful peaches (Andy) than picking them. It was a beautiful day as you can see. We picked about four boxes worth. The peaches were canned, made into jam, cobbler, and amazing homemade peach icecream.

Belly Dancing

2007-10-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

So I took a belly dancing class with my friend Jill from work. Needless to say people at work found out and asked us to perform our dance at Christy and Paul's summer party. We had a great time doing our Candle Dance. Thank you everyone for you support.

New Year

2007-10-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our 2007 started off with selling our home on Rowan and moving to a different house in a much quieter area of town. We are loving this place. We will no longer have to cover the windows with plastic in the winter =) and it is so nice to not have one little bathroom. We now have room for visitors (hint hint).

Time to start blogging

2007-10-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family...after seeing many of your own blogs I decided I should start one to. It is so nice to see how everyone is and what they are doing. So here I go....