guess who's coming to dinner?

our military man is home!

it's only a two week leave but it's nice to know he's close if even for a short time.

he was supposed to fly in today at noon but surprised everyone and showed up last night. it was the best surprise ever!

welcome home tony.

we love you.

the sisters of freckle-face haynes, the dog-faced boy

staying true to tradition, my christmas gift to my parents were tickets to see a show in seattle.

this year's choice:

irving berlin's white christmas

the program

we had great seats in the balcony

isn't the theatre pretty?

group shot before the play started

the snow!

white christmas is my favorite christmas movie and to be honest, I was worried that the play might change things too much from the movie that I wouldn't love it as much. thankfully, things were enough the same I needn't have worried! the general's granddaughter, susan, had an annoyingly different role in the play but it was easy to overlook because of all the rest.

and it snowed!
in the audience, over all of us. well, it didn't quite reach us so high in the balcony but it was beautiful to see as it fell over the theatre in front of us. one of my favorite things!

..how do I prefer this face to another...

my little sister got engaged last night!

congratulations katie and jeremy! I am so happy for you.

now it's on to the planning stage...my FAVORITE part!

brown paper packages tied up with string

I'm on a roll with the "sound of music" references aren't I?!
well, I know lisa appreciates it even if no one else does.

my mom is the sweetest. sometimes she sends me surprise packages. just because.

see what I found in my mailbox this week...

oh, how I've loved this green party dress! for over a year, I've admired it, taken pictures of it, fingered the tulle on it.

what I love about it:
soft, dreamy green color
poofy skirt with layers
ruched bodice with peeping tulle at neckline

maybe my wedding dress (one day, don't read into anything here!) will be similar? how fun would it be to have a retro, tea-length party dress to wear for your special day?


and look what I opened today...

I spotted this quilt the same shopping trip as the green dress. there are a few worn spots, a few holes. but the colors are bright and cheery still. I don't think it's been hand stitched but it's been well loved, and it shows.

I love that!


thanks, mom! you spoil me so.

I heard it's your birthday

my little sister is 26 years old today.

I love so many things about this girl...

1. she's hip and trendy
2. she even has her nose pierced
3. she knows the lyrics to every song
4. I wish she could teach that skill to me
5. she is an x-ray tech
6. and loves her job
7. she has many good friends that treat her well
8. she is a sweet sister
9. caring, generous, super fun
10. she is tall and loves it
11. her favorite band is jars of clay
12. but she listens to almost everything
13. like michael jackson, adele, beyonce, katy perry
14. are in her cd changer at the same time
15. she has already paid off her student loans from school
16. obviously she is better with her money than I am :)
17. she is always buying new perfumes
18. and I admire her sense of adventure
19. she has a love of coats
20. she owns about 25 of them
21. she loves to play games, any kind of game
22. she is on a bowling league
23. and owns her own bowling shoes and ball
24. she loves mexican food almost as much as me
25. I love it when she comes to visit me
26. I miss her

happy birthday, dear kate!

no, and thank you please madam

I now present to you the photos and video from one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

getting ready to rock.

james morrison:

you give me something

precious love


katie is now crushing a little on james' drummer, matt.

adele:

cold shoulder

chasing pavements

hometown glory. my personal favorite.

this one is for marilyn. we screamed really loud as requested, I promise.

we had a really great time. really, really great.

both james and adele were funny, chatty and just plain delightful.

what fun!

all kinds of weather, we stick together

it was snowing the day katie got here, bright shiny sun the next, and snow when she left tuesday morning. I am so over winter.

but the weekend with my sister was fantastic! she did get here safely despite her severe lack of sleep. bless her heart.

part one of our shopping excursion began on sunday afternoon. katie had a list of all the stores she wanted to go to so we hit northgate mall so she could get her fix. then we met up with the family to eat homemade chop suey (thanks uncle ed) and visit for a bit before we braved the crazy snow and went to church.

when we got home, I made katie open her birthday present. it's not for two weeks but I won't be there to celebrate on the actual day and I wanted to see her face as she opened it. she was delighted with her own version of our late grandma's candy dish in the shape of a hen.

grandma kitty's was an amber color and while in phoenix, hailey helped me scout out a dish in a cool green color for katie. it will look beautiful with her decor! to add to the nostalgia, I filled the dish with these little pink mints that were ALWAYS in my grandma's dish. it was really fun to reminisce.

playing with katie's new camera

katie and her new candy dish

friday was cold but super sunny and gorgeous. I took the afternoon off and katie and I spent it all shopping around downtown. we went to H&M, sephora, anthropologie, urban outfitters and ate at beecher's for lunch (the BEST mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches) and dinner/happy hour at umi sake house. I wanted katie to try my favorite seattle crunch roll and spicy ginger chicken. that stuff's so good I dream about it!

katie sitting on an old milk jug at beechers. we watched them making cheese too.

sweet birdies in the window at anthropologie. don't you just love the decor in that store?

fun sight in downtown seattle, police on horseback.

stunning sunset downtown and katie with her wares.

enjoying the spiciness of umi.

we ended the night with one of the best concerts I've ever been to. photos to follow soon.

I love my sister!

guess who's coming to dinner

my sister

she's on her way to seattle as I type this. after a night of being on call, she's had about 1.5 hours of sleep so we've been talking on the phone periodically to keep her awake and she's been drinking venti coffees the whole trip. I was a little worried the snow that began yesterday would affect her travel but thankfully things have slowed down and the pass is pretty much clear.


and guess what we're doing while she's here?

going to her show



it's a sold out show and he is opening for her.

it is thrilling!

christmas karoake

without further adieu, please welcome the christmas karaoke that had us running to the bathroom and/or choking with laughter.







sorry for the bad rotation, I wasn't thinking clearly when filming this one.






the granddaddy of them all, hilarity ensued!

christmas 2008

after being rescued off the hill (blasted snow had the city pretty much shut down), christmas eve was spent at my aunt's apartment with lisa and tony. we had grandma's traditional clam chowder, ate way too much and talked until bedtime.

christmas day was down in puyallup with the rest of the family where there was way funny christmas karaoke. it was sketchy getting down south because it was snowing so hard in seattle when we left. by the time we got back into town that night, they had plowed the hill and you could drive up queen anne ave for the first time in 10 days. it was a christmas miracle!

kicking it in my holiday appropriate socks, savoring family togetherness

this gift has such a long story attached to it, you'll have to ask ed sometime about it.
(short version: he likes to tease people and gets them to think that lights - in his office, on cruise ship - are operated by a clapper.
it's so much funnier when he tells it.)

brother and sister and dueling texting, a christmas staple

a girl and her new camera (courtesy of her son)

my sister was on call christmas day so my parents spent time with her in hermiston before heading over to seattle for an extended christmas weekend.

we had a second family dinner, in seattle this time, complete with mexican feast and games.

for their gift, I took my parents to a play at the taproot theatre and then dinner at the melting pot. I can honestly say it surprised the heck out of me when I loved the play so much I pretty much cried through the last 20 minutes. sheesh. I was a mess...but it was totally worth it! and none of us had been to the melting pot before so that was all a surprise. my favorite part was the cheese (wisconsin trio, my friend, I dream about the wisconson trio) with the chocolate a close second. I think mom and dad and aunt b enjoyed themselves so it was a success in my book.

our opposition in a rousing game of mad gab
(notice the chilled posture of ashley, she doesn't know what she's up against)

(she's realizing she's got to get with the program in order to win)

(they had to call in reinforcements)
but I'm not sure it really helped since I can't even remember who won!

I pray that everyone's christmas was as wonderful as mine.

god bless us everyone.

how well do you know mark?

just for fun, wanna play a game?

here are the trivia questions we asked at my dad's party...

1. what is mark’s sister’s name?

2. what city did mark and sara live in when he first became a trooper?

3. what was mark’s first job?
a) meat packing plant
b) roofing company
c) janitorial
d) parts handler

4. how many years was mark in the army reserves?

5. what is marks’ favorite movie?

6. what was mark’s license and badge number with WSP?

7. where is mark’s favorite vacation spot?

8. how many times has mark jumped out of a plane?
a) 10 b) 30 c) 20 d) 40+

9. where did mark grow up?

10. what kind of car did mark drive when he met sara?

have fun!

birthday entertainment

my mom, my sister and my mom's friends

my cousin...isn't her voice amazing?




chip and glen




my sister and her friend (now roommate) andrea




glen singing a pretty good johnny cash


enjoy!

happy birthday dad

my dad just turned 60.

that's a pretty big milestone I think.

one that deserves a party, right? that's what we thought too.

the invitation

his menu choice: round table pizza and breadsticks
(with salad and fruit thrown in for healthy measure)

chip and glen battle it out in wii boxing

we had a short trivia game on all the tables to see how well people knew my dad.
some of the answers people came up with were priceless!

my mom and her girlfriends (for moral support) serenading my dad with "my guy"

he couldn't believe we really put 60 candles on.

happy birthday dad.

I love you all around the world and back.