Blast from the Past Thursdays!

My little 2 year old Heidi. She had just turned two. She found some red lipstick in a bathroom drawer and did a pretty good job of getting it on her lips...don't you think?



She didn't like it on her hands...so she wiped it on her shirt to get it off...and then my white carpet. That was a NIGHTMARE to get out. I'm just glad I wasn't too mad to take a picture.

Kids make our lives interesting don't they?

Blast from the Past Thursdays!

Haha, this picture makes me laugh. It brings a lot of joy to my heart. This is shortly after we just moved here to the area. I just love pictures of Daddy playing with his little munchkins. Here is a video clip of Reagan...she had just turned 1 years old. She's singing the B-I-B-L-E...so cute little one year old!



...and here is a little video of my Heidi from back then...so cute. She was so little! Yet, I thought she was a big kid. What was I thinking?

A Thanksgiving we will ALWAYS remember...

We will always remember Thanksgiving 2010. First being that....we had SNOW!!! It never snows in the Seattle area in November! It started snowing a bit on a Sunday night, and then Monday morning, the kids woke up to snow...they were so excited! Like a mean mommy, I made them do school work, but they just really wanted to go play, and then I read my friend's blog whose kids WERE playing in it, and decided to forget school and let my monkies play too.


And the real reason why we will remember this year was the power outage!
That Monday evening, after braving the driving in the snow (these drivers around here are NUTS! And this area isn't ever prepared to deal with snow removal or sanding, it's insane to be out in it. My Alaskan friends would laugh for sure, I wasn't worried about me....just all the other drivers!) we came home to a house without power. It came on again an hour or so later. Then about 7:30pm went out again. Later on we ventured out and saw all the trees down over the power lines, due to 75mph winds. The first night without power around here is always a fun adventure. 2nd day with out power, still an adventure, but now getting annoying. The temps were getting pretty low at night and the you could see your breath in the house, everyone was bundled up good for sleeping. By Wednesday, I was getting antsy...Thanksgiving is coming and I intended to have a houseful, coming to spend the night. Our cousin down the road had her power and invited us over. We were very thankful, and ready for a hot shower. So, we went over there and I baked all my pies. That night, finally-- the power came on...for maybe an hour or so. It came on at 10pm and when we woke up somewhere around 2am it was off again. Of course, I'm in panic mode now, how am I going to bake bread rolls and vacuum before my guests arrive?? I was trying to be thankful for a roof over our heads and toilets that flush because so many with out power around here do not have any of that but at this point, I am just annoyed. I felt like crying, but for 3 days already with out power in a cold house, all I did was wipe and blow my nose and it was chapped and raw. The idea of crying and blowing it some more was a great deterrent. Time to put on my big girl panties and make the best of this day! We called our guests later on that morning explaining our situation, and thankfully they invited us out there, so all of us packed up and headed down the road to Snohomish. It was wonderful. I love our family on both sides! We are so blessed. So before we left for Thanksgiving, I took a picture of our very sad and empty Thanksgiving table that was set up but never used....

But Thanksgiving worked out perfectly. I think we were more thankful this Thanksgiving for heat, and hot showers and wonderful family. Not having power over the Thanksgiving holiday makes you realize what we are really thankful for and how truly spoiled as Americans we are, we have so much, we are so blessed. We didn't get our power back until Friday afternoon, and I thought...does it take all of that to be thankful to God? Are we only thankful to him when we do have warm houses? It was something to chew on for sure, and to be thankful for the little things.
How much do we have every day that I don't thank Him for? Clean drinking water, clothing...(and nice ones at that!), healthy family, unlimited food on our table, cars that run...so, so much. It was a great reminder to me.

I'm hoping your Thanksgiving wasn't quite as eventful, and even though I hated the power outage on that day, I am thankful for IT, for it's reminder TO be thankful!
God bless!

Socks

Every time I fold the laundry, I think how much faster it would be if I didn't have to fold my husband's socks a certain way. That sounded bad...let me rephrase that...if I didn't need to fold his a certain way because he likes it like that. Hmmm...nope, that didn't sound much better. I don't mind folding his socks. I've been folding them like this for over 11 years, and I really don't mind it, it's just time consuming and laundry will never be my favored chore. I'd rather muck a stall or do the dishes. That being said...I ball up my own socks, and the girls, and throw them in the drawer. Todd's are neatly folded and placed just so in his drawer. Now...do understand,that even though I don't care what my drawer looks like...



...and that is my drawer...I suppose if I rummaged around in there, I might find another balled up thing of socks, along with a slip, bathing suit, and who knows what else...mixed matched socks probably --(they're just free spirits you know...they don't like conforming, a bit like myself...)--I might really enjoy a clean and organized sock drawer. It isn't as though I don't know how to do it or get it that way, I've been managing Todd's for years. I just don't care. But I do care, that Todd cares, and he can't stand disorganization. His job in his military days as an Air Force logistics officer, was to turn chaos into organization. Which I believe, is why he married me. Over the years I have come to appreciate his orderliness and actually, a lot of it has rubbed off. Just not down to the sock drawer. Okay, so this...is how I fold his socks...


and this is what his sock drawer always looks like...

Nice right? Honestly...If I didn't have my husband, I think my life would be chaos. Whenever I fold his silly socks, I think about that. I really NEED him. He has been so good for me and I am happy to be his helpmate.

I hope your Monday is wonderful! It's supposed to snow here today, and we are preparing for guests for Thanksgiving. The girls are so excited to have our guests over, they can hardly contain themselves, but--we have a lot of work to get done between now and then, and I am thankful for learning some of my husband's organizational skills over the years to complete my tasks. Happy Monday everyone!

Horses

For as long as I can remember, I have LOVED horses. It's all I dreamed of at night when I was a kid, I drew them and drove my parents crazy talking about them, and I studied them. Every piece of information I could get on them, I soaked it up like a sponge (and I still do...by the way)--it just is a part of me that won't ever go away. I am so lucky to have 2 wonderful people in my life (who love horses just as much and MORE...if that is possible) who are willing to share their horses with me! I am SO blessed! What is even better than that?? Being able to spend time and share my passion with my kids. I think that God gave me my love for horses, so that I could have something to share with and teach my girls, to have something where my kids and I could work together and build bonds. I know they may not love it like I do forever, but they enjoy it now, and I am happy to spend time with them and take advantage of it. My heart is filled with joy, having this gift in my life brings the excitement back in. Gone are the baby years with my girls. No more crawling babies and wiping up drool, we've turned a new and more exciting page!! I get to camp and hike and teach my girls to ride, we share wonderful conversations over icecream, and they are a wonderful help with the chores---I just don't want them to get any bigger!

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing....

This is Reagan on Tucker, owned by Mrs M.(Don't worry, I won't be putting their names on here) He is a little horse with a big heart, he really will just do anything to please you...only...he has the kid's number and knows he can put his head down and graze while they are on him, they just don't have the strength to make him mind. They're opportunists...but I just adore him...


Heidi on Tucker




This is me, jumping Joey over a Cavaletti, this is at the other barn, he's owned by Mrs. B. Isn't he gorgeous?


Heidi, getting a lesson on Joey


Finally...my photographer was kind enough to humor me, and come out to do horse pictures...they are my favorite ones yet!


Okay...okay...enough with the horses...for now. I just wanted to share! I just can not imagine a world with out animals. They make everything just so much more fun!
And THANK YOU Mrs. B and Mrs M. for sharing your babies with me! God bless...everyone have a wonderful Friday...now...off to pick up my husband in a few short hours...he's been in South Carolina all week and we have missed him!

Blast from the Past Thursdays!

Good morning all!! This is me, holding my week old, first born, baby girl. I love this picture (post pregnancy chub and all), she brings so much joy in our home!

I need to have some pictures scanned, next week I want to post some of my pictures from my Alaska days, you know...since I am from Alaska! ;-)

It is COLD in my house this morning, and I am just thanking the Lord for whoever it was that invented Eggnog creamer for my coffee....it's WONDERFUL, and it makes me warm. Well, I need to get going on our homeschool and other daily things!
Hmmm....what should Fridays be? You'll have to tune in to see.

Well...hello again....

Yep, it's me...
My name is Sarah, and I am from Alaska...I'm even married to Todd and I shoot guns, but...I can't see Russia from my house. I suppose if I still lived there, I maybe could...;-) I'm the OTHER Sarah from Alaska, who now lives in Washington with a wonderful little, homeschooling family life!

It's been a while since I have had a blog. 2 years infact! A lot has happened in 2 years, and I think I am back and ready to write and share again. I'm not sure exactly what I plan to do with this yet, I know I'll share some funny things my kids say. They have me laughing all the time...I know I'll probably get on my soap box occasionally and talk politics---that's always a favorite, everyone has opinions they like to share! ;-) I'll share about my passions and my love for the Lord. But I'm not quite sure how the layout will be just yet. My dear friend has a fun blog and she does themed days. I like it. I might steal it for myself just to make things easier, I hope she doesn't mind.

My life now is full and much different than it was 2 years ago. I have joy and bask in the freedom that God has given me. I wish I'd claimed it sooner! My kids are such a gift, I enjoy their company every day. I am a homeschooling mommy, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am married to my best friend, I adore him...he is such a treasure and it feels wonderful to say that and really mean it with everything I have in me! I want to share the wonderful things the Lord has blessed me with, He is so good, and He cares about the littlest things that you care about.

Tomorrow morning I'll start this blog for real. I think most days, this blog will be light-hearted and fun...so let's think...what should Thursday's be?? I think it will be "Blast from the Past" Thursdays with a picture of at least 5 years or more ago and something fun about the picture. You'll have to tune in to see.

So...hello again everyone. It's good to be back!