Frost and Lights or Frosty Lights!

Friday after Thanksgiving was a fun day as well, as a tradition (i think 4 years now) my sisters and I get up at the crack of dawn (actually well before then) and head out with the crazy masses to begin (and sometimes finish) our Christmas shopping! My alarm went off at around 3:3o am, I rolled quietly out of bed to make the most of my appearance for that early in the morning. Once I was ready poor James had to roll out of bed to drop me off at the mall where I was meeting up with my sisters (its only 5 minutes from our house), he proceeded back home and back to bed. Us girls got our traditional free snow globe from JCPenny and then proceeded immediately for COFFEE!!! A must when the clock reads 4:30 am! After we sat and gulped down our caffeine, and munched on some food to give us energy, we began to maul the mall (haha, its a little to funny to be funny)!! We hit quite a few stores and did a great deal of our shopping before we had exhausted every resource we needed there. Then we headed out into the masses and hit several more stores before our stomachs got the best of us around 11am! We grabbed a bite to eat and decided to bring it in for this years shopping extravaganza. When we got back to my parents house it was to find two very happy grandparents and two very happy kidos. They had used our time a way to build the best little gingerbread house ever! It was pretty cute, but I didn't get any pictures, bummer!

This meant it was time for a nap before we all met up again for the Coeur d'Alene Lighting Parade, Fireworks and Holiday Lights! Its so fun to go out in the chilly night air with thousands of other people who are also very excited for Christmas, and ready to begin celebrating the holiday season! I was observing those around me this year it just made me smile, here is what I saw:

~kids bundled to the point they could barely move their arms, with HUGE smiles on their faces

~moms and dads reveling in the magic displayed on their children's faces

~grandparents flashing back to what it means to be a kid again

~couples snuggled together keeping warm and enjoying the show

~the smells of hot chocolate warming drinkers from the inside out

~a community coming together and celebrating a very special time of year!

Holiday lights are one of my favorite displays this time of year, it may be tacky but I love them. I was driving home last night with all the fresh snow on the ground, listening to Christmas music, just praying that I would get home safely, I was going so slow that I decided to peek down side streets as I went for Christmas lights.... I found that now matter how many or how few lights a house had up I just couldn't help but smile, I love the lights! So thanks to those of you who put up lights, I appreciate them very much!

Doctors, Dentists and Family!

Wow what a week we had last week! James came home from his last two weeks of Fire Academy with a toothache and major skin irritation. This meant a trip to the ER on Friday night and getting about 3 prescriptions, then on Monday a trip to Pullman to see a dentist which resulted in a referral to an endontist in Spokane, then finally a rootcanal on Wednesday morning. All the while James was on pain medication and unable to drive! Needless to say it was an eventful week leading up to Thanksgiving!

Thursday proved to be a wonderful day with lots of family. My family was there, Mom, Dad and Ann, Christie and Mark with their kids Taylor and Conner, James and I, my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Olympia, and my grandma was up from Davenport. My grandpa stayed at the nursing home but he had a nice dinner and a few visitors, he was missed at the house but we thought about him and prayed for him. James' family was in Alaska but we were able to visit with them on the phone. We have so many people in our life, like family and friends, to be thankful for!

It was a mellow day with food, games and movies; poker and The Grinch were a big hit! And snuggling on the couch with the niece and nephew! We were also able to take some family pictures which hasn't been done in a long time! So here are a lot of those, scroll through if they get boring!

James, Erin

Ann

Al, Sherri, Taylor

Mark, Conner, Christie

Four Generations
Sherri (grandma), Taylor (grand-daughter), Mabel (great-grandma), Conner(grandson), Christie (daughter)

Grandparents!!

Taylor with her grandparents, what a happy trio!

Taylor, Uncle James, Auntie Erin, and Conner
They are such happy kids, we love them so much!

I hope all of You had a wonderful Thanksgiving also!

Fire and Wine

This past weekend I got to go to North Bend and the Washington State Fire Training Academy for James' graduation. I went to a BBQ on Thursday night and then the graduation on Friday morning. I am so proud of my "Hot Firefighter", every weekend it was so hard for him to go back and be away from home. The goal was to graduate and he did and he worked so hard it will all be worth it in the end. He still has 2 more weeks of additional training so that he will be Firefighter II trained (more advanced techniques). We're hangin' in there and ready to be able to see eachother every night.

I took LOTS of pictures so I will share a few so as not to bore you all!

James being pinned by Cheif Wilkins

Cheif Wilkins, Cheif Heston, James, Captian Reiber, and Cheif Brown
Cheese!! I did it!!!

Proud Wife Picture

Congratulations James, I am so proud of you!

After the graduation we met up with a friend of our, Sarah, so we could head up to Lake Chelan for the weekend. We made a pit stop in Chashmere at the Applets and Cotlets store and got a tour of where they make the candies, it was unplanned but lots of fun.

We were a little unsure about what exactly there was to do in Chelan , until we got there and saw all the Winerys!!!! Woo Hoo Wine Tasting!! We got a slow start on Saturday but that was ok we got started none-the-less.

We drove in circles for a little bit trying to decide where to even start, when we decided to hit the south side of the lake. We went to this cute little place called Tunnel Hill, it is made out of stones that once made a tunnel through the hill side. It was super cute! We went on to 3 more wineries, and tasted at all of them. It was so much fun to spend time with our friend Sarah, she is such a good friend to James and I!

Again, I took lots of pictures so I will only share a few! The first one will be of Tunnel Hill, isn't it super cute!!

Cheers to Us! This is at Karma Wineries, Sarah and I!

These last few pictures are at the Tsillan Cellars (Chelan Cellars). It was very pretty here too and they were kind enough to give us a tour. What a great afternoon!

Fermenting Grapes, It smelled so good in this room. I asked them if they made candles that smell like that!
Hmmm... So thats where all this yummy stuff is made! The barrell room, this barrell was huge and there were two of them!

James Erin and Sarah at Tsillan Cellars

I hope you are all enjoying your autumn and looking forward to the holiday season!