banana, candy cane oreos, milk, chocolate sauce....

This is our own special blend, blender the above ingredients...you should try it...it is....ah....interesting.

battle of the bands

We went to a battle of the bands with Laura and Dan, at Studio 7 in downtown Seattle. There were a few good bands...but overall most were too loud (mostly grunt rock), had no imagination and some were a little scary (greasy, 40 yr old man danging around with a mic). And with the hard rock bands there was this group of boys in front that would start moshing...which looked like about 20 kids in a fight (Teresa was not amused!) We did have a good time though - it was generally amusing.

country village

On our way to gospel meeting every Sunday, we pass this shopping area with a big rooster out front and we always wish we had time to stop by....so on Friday we dragged Jim, Kathy and Dan with us to check out the different shops. There are art galleries, toy shops, cafes, antique shops, clothing...all in these older looking buildings connected with boardwalks and there are several converted train cars as shops. Scattered about there are ponds (with lots of ducks) and fountains. It was fun wandering about!

turkey day

we had our first host job for turkey day - Jeff made most of the food while Teresa supervised (and stressed out). :) Mama K. made several pies: blueberry, acorn squash, sweet potato and apple; and her famous rolls. Dan brought the canned goods. And papa J. brought cinnamon rolls for the next morning.

Here is the spread: we got to use a lot of dishes we'd never used yet...

:

jeff's flowers

scrabble...

on Sunday we stopped at Joe and Jasmine's and played rook. then Jeff and I played scrabble. it seems that when we think, we must hold our heads on.

gingerbread cookies

Jeff and I made gingerbread cookies this past Sunday and yesterday we frosted them. It is something that I grew up doing this time of year. My mom and I would get out the millions of cookie-cutters that she had accumulated over the years and make cookies to send to all the family. We weren't so ambitious this year, we will eat them all ourselves (which I guess is actually pretty ambitious)....unless people come visit... :)

last night's dinner

I thought this dinner deserved recognition it was so beautiful (and good to eat). Jeff made tuna cooked in white wine and garlic, butternut squash and asparagus. Yum :)

for sale: new blue guitar (yamaha)

I am sure there is more to it, but I don't know a thing about it. Here is a pic:Yamaha

a memior of the celica

Today we sold the celica.
I never thought that I would be sad to see this car go, but there it is. The car that Jeff would pick me up in when we were dating. The car that I told Jeff all of the reasons that I thought I shouldn't be dating him...but I was anyway. The car that I just started learning to drive last month. The car that I so hated to ride in because it was uncomfortable, loud and smelled funny.
Jeff will probably miss it, since now we own two trucks, neither of which even come close to a sports car (unless we go off-roading, that is a sport yeh?).

halloween - our excuse to dress up

On Saturday we had people over to Dan's house for a halloween party/potluck...we all dressed up and had awards for best costume, most creative costume and most creative food. Mom (Kathy) won the best costume ("gorgeous"), Kateen won the most creative (Freudian slip) and Jasmine won the most creative food (peanut-butter balls decorated as eyeballs).

We also had three groups of people pick a fairy tale (three billy goats gruff, little red riding hood and hansel and gretel) and change the story to have an alternate ending or to change the perspective of the story being told (and act it out). We awarded best actress to Jolyn.

We had a fun time - costumes are great fun!

Jeff the scary scare-crow and Teresa as Pippi

our weekend....

This weekend we went over to Bremerton and then to Olympic National Park with papa and mum Brady.
On Friday night while leaving the Edmonds ferry dock, the sun was setting and made the water look muddy. It was very weird. Sort of like the Mississippi.

"Survival Craft Embarkation Station" -embarkation is a great word!

Our drive out to Soleduck Hotsprings was beautiful!!! We love the fall!

Snow!


The only gas within miles...


Our first view of Lake Crescent:

We stopped before we got to the hotsprings to hike up to Marymere falls.

We need to have a bridge like that on our land someday!

here is the craigslist ad...

This is the ad written by the guy we bought Forest from...Thought I would add it just to give you an idea of the bloke that we spent 4 hours with, in the same 5 square feet.

"Stay off the sidewalks & don't even think about entering the crosswalk on a red hand when you see this thing, yuppies. Look how green this car is. Ha ha. It's dark green.

CALL 425 - 922 - 5646. If you're looking for a great truck, suv, or all purpose vehicle, this is the one that says BAD MOTHER F#*KER

Legal with tabs, plates & emissions slip 'til May '08

New:
Battery, Alternator, heavy duty belts,
starter, ignition, plugs, wires,
filters (all), fluids (all),
wiper blades, 34" Michelins (all 4 + matching spare).
Barely a scratch on it.
Husky heavy duty rubber back floor liner
fold down seats in the rear.
10 disc Sony plus matching sony cassette deck with built in amp
Thule ski rack holds surf & snowboards. Pack a 12 foot woody on this thing.
Averages around 20 m.p.g.
Great daily commuter
Moving out of this cold ass rainy but beautiful state, must sell
Runs so smooth, it's like riding a
Well whatever you ride that's real smoov, playa!

Soccer Mom driven for the first 13 years of it's adolescent life, then literally stolen by me for $2400 just over a month ago. This thing will run for ever. They really build things well in japan. (see: everything ever built in Japan). The Germans would say, "Wunder Kaarzen run fo' evahz!" If they were half Hawaiian.
Get laid, or get paid, or bail hay or visit your cousin Ray Ray to say hey or pack Sha nay nay's kids in this mo'fo, it's got some cargo space.
10 disc sony changer & even a tape deck, old-schooler, for your Rock 'N' Roll or Dance hits of the 80's or Booty Jams or Hair Spray music. Even tolerates some occasional classical but dies suddenly when Dido or Kenny G or Celine Dion or anything fruiter than that gets played. Flying Purple People Eaters excluded.

Plus tax, title, & license, registration, insurance, gas, oil, tolls, fees, surcharges, late fees, dues, parking, tickets, & Halliburton shipping fees (If applicable in the futuristic state of Iraqistan)

Price possibly negotiable, if you can prove you eat red meat.
The real Man's Joke of the day:
What do you call a vegetarian with diarrhea? Salad Shooter. (Presto)"

the ordeals of obtaining a 'Forest'

This morning, at 9:30 am, Jeff called me (woke me up) to ask me if he should take the rest of the day off work to go look at a Trooper. (Last Sat. we looked at one and we loved it except that it had multiple problems...generally beat up.) I was of course really groggy but I said sure, we could look at it. Jeff then left work, stopped by the bank, picked up cash, picked up me and off to Sammamish to check out this 1994 green Isuzu Trooper (w/brown interior!).

When we showed up after a 50 minute haul (Jeff freaking out about getting there before it was taken - since it was a very very good deal) the Trooper was just pulling out of the driveway. The guy that owned it jumped out (John) and told us he would be right back, another guy stopped by to test drive it. After about 15 -20 minutes they come back, the other guy walks around the car inspects it...starts talking about his football job at the local high school and that he needs to see that an insurance check went through, then he will be back to pay for the car. (This last part is while we are standing outside our ranger shivering in the cold staring at them...a little peeved that we drove all this way and maybe the car is gone) John shakes the guy's hand and he is off.

We test drive it. Of course we like it. John gives us his spiel (never-ending) about the car as we are driving (with jokes of course, generally off-color and his phone (off-color ring-tone) going off every five seconds). We find out that he never even registered the title in his name so he calls a local dmv and figures out what he has to do. Then the guy calls back (Ed, who was test-driving the car when we showed up), he was ready to buy it. John told him that we showed up, cash in hand and that we had called first, so we got it. Ed wasn't happy. Anyway, we got back to John's house, and got directions to the licensing place in Kirkland.

We get to the auto licensing place after missing it a few times (now we are getting low on gas). We finally get there and are told that we have to go for an emissions test, as it hasn't had one in the last year. They give us directions.
The directions were completely weird, and only by luck do we find the place. Then during the test, where you are to run the car at 25mph, Jeff couldn't get it to do that so the technician (Japanese? with accent anyway.) had to jump in and try it (of course he is a short guy, Jeff=tall, he was straining for the gas). Anyway, the good-0l-trooper passed emissions and we went on our way back to auto licensing.

We missed it once again. Got there and then everything goes wrong. Something about a double transfer of the title and pending...and the computer locked down and wouldn't let it all go through. We hadn't had lunch or water for quite some time by then (2:30) and we all were starving. While they were trying to figure out the problem Jeff and John went and got Subway. By the time they got back, the auto-licensing place decided that we would have to come back another day to process the title transfer. So we jumped back in the car (Jeff driving) . John and I ate our subway, while Jeff drove us back home.

We got home (finally!) at 5pm. And we now have a new addition to the family.A beautiful green Isuzu trooper w/brown interior. Dubbed 'Forest'. Lovely :).

'God grew tired of us'

We just finished watching the documentary, 'God grew tired of us.' It is about three of the lost boys from Sudan and their struggle to survive. It is very good to watch, it gives a good perspective of how good we have it in America, but also of some things that our culture is missing.

some wedding photos

Here are a few pictures from our wedding (6 months late :)...something like 1400 were taken, thanks to a hardworking brother-in-law, so it's hard to pick just a few great photos :). Enjoy!

our music theme...

pots of gold

the programs that took forever to make!

wonderful musicians! Thanks June, Lane and Heidi!

Dennis's nose.

Almost everyone that was at the wedding

Curiously Strong

Lindsey starting out her music career