Medieval Market Village

It finally came! After months of waiting to save enough money, backorder waiting times, and a much anticipated arrival, Will's Lego medieval market village arrived by UPS yesterday evening. You could feel the excitement in the air! Even Betsy must have sensed the air of joy around the impending arrival because she let the UPS man pet her! (she had our last UPS man too scared to bring packages all the way up to our door)

Excitement began to mount when we received word that the scheduled shipping date of April 23rd had been moved up to March 23rd!

As soon as supper was over, the building began...

It is without a doubt one of the most detailed sets we have ever assembled down to the hairbrush for the serving wench and horse poop for the stables. The windows open and they overcharge for fresh flowers. It even has a rat so your villagers can get the plague! :o)

Will was up before 7 am just to play with it. They rigged up a blue background and a green screen for their current Lego movie in progress...

Christmas In March

Because of the crazy weather this winter, we didn't get to see Chris' family at Christmas. :o(

Yesterday Chris headed north for a Camp Board meeting and stopped to see his mom on the way home. While he was there he picked up our Christmas gifts.

So when he got home last night, we had Christmas (again)!

bubble wrap is almost as fun as presents! LOL

checking out the basket of homemade treats and

fun Alaskan stuff from Cindi and Dennis

magnetic dartboard

RC helicopter (watch out for the ceiling beam!)

new scarf and hat (hopefully I

won't need it for a while)

wait, it IS a DVD system for the van!

Thanks Grandma!

It was kind of fun to get to open Christmas presents again. In a way they seem more special because they are the only ones. But it was sad that we didn't get to open them together as a family. :o(

Thanks everyone! Hope to see you all soon!

Dangerous Class For Boys- Woodworking

Today my dad came and did a woodworking project with the boys. They each got to make their own whirly-gig roadrunner.

the sample project

getting instructions

He worked really hard prepping everything and making everything so nice and organized. He had little hardware packages for each boy, posters for the wall with instructions and paint colors, a post for balancing their feet, and another post for putting them out to dry in front of a fan.

starting to paint their own unique creations

waiting for paint to dry is kind of boring... LOL

working on the mounting posts was a good thing

to do while waiting for your paint to dry

balancing the feet

checking 'em out

still drying...

more shaving... anything with knives is fun!

almost done painting

I actually kind of like this one. :o)

Can you tell it's a class of boys???

He definitely went above and beyond the call of duty on this one! Thanks so much Dad! The boys had a great time and I can't wait until they are all done with theirs! I just wish I had been able to get a picture of the whole group with their roadrunners! :o(

Leadership Retreat

This year's leadership retreat at Cannon Beach was the best ever! Justin Vold came from Alaska to be our speaker. He did an amazing job and it was such a blessing to hear him speak on living our lives focused on God and being a missionary to a lost and dying world! Thanks so much Justin!

Justin

Haystack Rock

the "river" to the ocean was huge this year!


where we stayed

the taffy machine

we got a piece right off the line (yummy!)

Wendy and I watched this guy blowing glass

these are some of the gorgeous things they make

they even looked pretty on a dreary day

this is this year's fabric from my favorite quilt shop

The other great part was getting to spend so much time with great friends! It was so fun and it is kind of sad to be back in our "real lives" again. :o) We had meals with friends, went shopping with friends, played games with friends, walked on the beach with friends, stayed up really late talking with friends... Yes, we had a lot of fun! It was a gift from God!

ready for breakfast
(Carrie, Chris, Stan, Judy, Phil, Wendy)

Chris and Phil on the beach (it was really cold and windy)

Phil and his seafood dish

having Thai food

Randy, Phil, Wendy, Linda, Carrie, Chris, Steve

the girls: Wendy, Sue, Linda & Carrie

Sue wasn't really cranky, we just liked the sign LOL

Levi

the Leingangs, the Paulsons and the Heisers

playing mini-golf

Justin's trick shot

waiting for the perfect timing

Phil's timing wasn't perfect but he did make the shot

Then we headed south to Portland for a birthday party for Chris and Grandma Ide. It's always fun to see family!

there was snow at the rest stop at the pass

opening presents

Ada and Maggie
Charlie loves the drums

Charlie and his baby

Charlie also loves coloring with Grandma Ide

Ada is so happy about crawling backwards :o)

blowing out the candles

Grandpa helps Will empty out his coconut

Chris headed home Sunday night and the boys and I stayed in Portland. Monday morning, the Volds came to spend the day with us. Justin and Levi spent the day at my parents' place with the boys and Melissa and I went south to visit with Emily and Elias.

Elias

Elias slept during most of lunch

he was so good!

Emily and Elias

Melissa and Me

it's dark but it was a great picture

Elias, Emily, Melissa, Carrie

It was so fun to meet Elias and just hang out together. We went to lunch, shopped at the WalMart Supercenter and had a great time just talking! I just wish we had been able to spend more time together. After supper, I drove the Volds to their hotel so they could get a good night's sleep for their big day of flying the next day! I miss them already! :o( Who knows, maybe we'll get to go up and see them someday?

Melissa, Levi and Justin

The boys and I spent one more day in town on Tuesday running errands and playing with Ada. (she spent the day with Grandma while mommy was at work) We were able to gets lots done while we ran all over town!

Ada

It's good to be home, but I already miss all our friends! Thankfully Annual Convention will be here before we know it!