Christmas..beware, lots of pictures

In the 35 years I've lived in Washington, I got to experience my first White Christmas! It certainly makes the holiday magical, but it can go away now! Really...This is our house on Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was a quiet day for Reg, David and me. Emily and family stayed home because of the weather. Emily is suffering from morning sickness (translated, all day), and was not having a happy day. Christmas Eve services were cancelled, but we had Ken and Deb Nielsen, who pastor the Foursquare Church, and our other friends, Gary and Doras Cronce over for a yummy prime rib dinner..Christmas Day dinner was leftovers..mmmmmm!!

Saturday, December 27th was the Hearn Christmas party at Melony's house in Seattle. Here are Don and Linda, Reg's folks. Still so much in love. They've been married for 61 years!!
Ok..there will be lots of pictures of Tillie...That's a grandparent thing..Next year will be fun with the new baby!!! Tillie got a doll from her Aunties...She wasn't too sure about it, but it will be a good learning tool for a new baby!


Here's our Santa Baby..well, she's not a baby anymore!!

David was our Santa this year!
Reg and Kathryn..


Reading a new book..

Melony has a great view of Seattle..This is my failed attempt of taking a nightime picture looking at Qwest Field.

Our nephew, Seth..our chef for the night! Good job Seth! Dinner was wonderful!!

Me and my Tillie Girl! She is growing up so fast!!

Another picture of Tillie with her Mama in the background!!

Meredith, Kathryn and Melony..Notice Kathryn's new pressure cooker?? Can't wait for a dinner cooked in it Kathryn!

Uncle Levi and Tillie..they always have fun together!!

Linda and our son-in-law, Albert

Tillie's wearing Uncle Levi's hat..

Kathryn and Albert..

Here's Tillie again!!

Eliza and David

Eliza and her Momma, Jo

Tillie was doing something cut here and you can see all the cameras going! Gotta love a 2 year old at Christmas!!

Here's our goofy girl!

This is a pottery piece we got Eliza on our roadtrip to Mt. Rushmore..

Christmas 2008 marked my first Christmas since my parent's death. My sister and I talked and cried together..I posted a blog entry on my other blog here

I hope each of you had as wonderful Christmas as our family did. Happy New Year to all who read this!!!!

Update

HI,
I decided to post here instead of answering on Facebook one by one..that's one thing MySpace has going for it..I can blog it there or do a bulletin..

ANYWAY...the news was mostly good. The lump was pre-cancerous. The surgeon got all of the affected tissue out..

The next part is where it gets difficult..Traditional medicine says 6 weeks of radiation, or mastectomy..those 2 options are not at all what I want to do. Most disease comes from environmental causes and my biggest issue in life is nutrition and exercise..I am trying to make better choices and am supplementing with good, healthy supplements, but have a ways to go..at this point, I believe that's how I will choose to keep this at bay, but will look at all sides..

Thanks for all your prayers and support..

Love you all,
Carolyn

Fun with Anne and Sara

Today I got together with longtime friends, Anne and Sara..We all went to high school together..Anne now lives in Virginia, Sara in Kent and me..well..Shelton, but you all knew that..

Here we are at Jared's picking out my new wedding ring..My Mom left me my Grandmother's ring, so I'm using the diamond from that.

Here is the ring I'm getting..I'm excited..I have Reg's blessing to make this change. I am thinking of having a pendant made with my original diamond to give to Tillie when she is older..I'm not sure yet what I'll do..
From Jared's we drove up to Kent to where Sara gets pedicures and she treated us all to pedicures..It was fun!! It should be added that this year all 3 of us turned 50..So, this was an especially fun visit..
Our pretty toes!!
From pedicures we wandered the shops at Kent Station and ended up at Dukes for a drink and some hors d' oerves..
We headed back to Lakewood..that's where Reg visited with Anne's husband Steve..they can talk for hours. Emily and Tillie went to Chuckee Cheese with Anne's kids..(kids..they're 26, 24, 20, etc....)

It was a wonderful visit!!

Duke's New Family

Here is Duke's new family..2 kids and a large fenced yard! Perfect for a puppy!!

It doesn't take much to excite me...

Today we took out the gross shower doors and put in a new curved rod and shower curtain..It's pretty cool..it's a little bit long..Reg didn't take into account that it would hang just a bit longer because of the hangers..but, I think it looks cool!

Ooohhh....the curved rod..
Another view..One other problem is that it's much darker in the shower now..I'm not sure that can be fixed..I also scrubbed the ceiling..we have a mold problem and later down the line we will probably tear out everything and start over..but for now we'll see how long my mold scrubbing will last!!

Puppy Update

Most of you know that last month we got a new puppy..His name is Duke..Here he is on October 28th...

a few weeks later..
Sleeping on his back...However...

after 3 weeks, I decided that Duke was a lot more than I bargained for. We found him a new home with 2 kids and a fenced yard. So, yesterday Duke went to his new home..Many thanks to Elisabeth Cooper who helped me find the home..they are friends of hers..Duke will be much better off..Thank you Reg for supporting me in this decision..it was much harder for him..

Shop Hop part 2

This is our shop here in Shelton..I may be a bit biased, but of the 12 I visited..this is the best!! I picked up my material here after Chehalis and Centralia..

On Oct. 31, my friend Doras went with me to my last two stops. They were in Aberdeen and Ocean Shores. We had a great time..I did forget the camera though, darn it!! This quilt project will be for the new year..I have plenty to do for now..including a top secret project!!

Shop Hopping

Two weeks ago I visited my sister in Salem. On the way home I started my journey on my very first Shop Hop. This was the SW Washington Shop Hop. There was a list of 12 shops between Vancouver and Shelton. At each shop you get a free piece of fabric and directions for one of the 12 squares. Since this was my rookie Shop Hop, I was learning along the way..like I needed to purchase more fabric for the squares..so, I started doing at later stores.

This first store was in Vancouver. I combined this stop with lunch with our good friends, Glenn and Cindy! (Miss you guys!)
Inside the Vancouver shop they had a quilting room. There were 2 huge quilting machines, all computerized..It can be quite hi-tech..maybe that's why I haven't finished any quilts yet..this is daunting..granted..the home quilter usually doesn't have all this fancy stuff.. Here is the shop in Battleground. This shop was on the owner's property. I had to maneuver around the chickens in the yard!

My next stop up I-5 was in Longview. Not only did this shop have sewing and vacuum, it had a whole kitchen section..It was pretty cool..

Traveling just a few miles north, the next stop was Castle Rock. I've never been to Castle Rock and it's a cute little town.

After heading a bit further north, I turned east and went to Morton. That was the hardest drive, only because it was 3o miles off of I-5..but, it was a beautiful drive and had a beautiful view of Mt. Saint Helens!

As the hour was getting late, I wasn't able to get to Chehalis or Centralia on Friday, so I continued up to Tumwater..It was opened until 6:30....this shop is not too far from my house so it's another place to learn..

On Saturday, Oct. 25th, I headed to Emily's candle party and spent the night. She and I went to church the next day and on my way home, I detoured to do some more "hopping." This shop is in Yelm...I should say that both days were wonderfully sunny..I couldn't have asked for better driving weather.

From Yelm I went down a back highway to Chehalis and Centralia. I went through the town of Rainier..I wondered where that town was. We have friends there, so that was fun to see. This is the Chehalis shop..once again, I had never been in the downtown part of Chehalis. Only stops right off of I-5. I think that's been one of the neatest thing of this journey..

Here is the Centralia shop. Now this was fun..the shop?? No, the 2 guys in there planning their next quilt. Not that guys can't quilt, but I hadn't seen it before..they were brothers..one did the sewing and piecing and such and the other did the grunt work..the cutting!

More to come on the next post..

Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of.....Milk?

Here is Pirate Tillie!!!

What a cutie!

Projects

Here are the first 3 squares of the 2008-09 Block of the Month club..I'm caught up on that one..

I've also joined the "buck a block" club. It's using a method called Thangles. I have some questions, so off to the quilt store tomorrow I go!

David's old room is just about finished..meaning that it should be able to hold heat in the winter better and hopefully stay a bit cooler in the summer. I'll be moving my craft stuff up there, giving us more room in the family room and giving me my very own space. I'm excited..

My New Life...

This week has been the first week since "retiring" that I have had to rest, relax, start projects and the such..How nice!! There were 3 nights that I didn't sleep well, but made up for it by sleeping in until 11AM....I got 2 quilt squares finished for the current block of the month club. I'm now trying to master setting triangles...Tomorrow I'm going to Sue's for help!

Emily and Tillie came over Saturday for Chrissy Hammond's baby shower and they're staying for my candle party on Tuesday..need candles?? Come on over!

Here's Tillie wearing Uncle DJ's boots!! Size 12..mens!!

These boots WEREN'T made for walking..by a 2 year old!
Tillie and Reg having fun before bedtime..Tillie's working hard at saying Grandma and Grandpa...

Giving Uncle DJ a kiss goodnight..and you know what?? David loves it! (He'll never admit it)

This next week doesn't have a whole lot to it either..I can't wait!