.:and it’s october first. happy fall.:.

a lot has been going on in dave and my life… hence the lack of blogging. i’ve been more preoccupied at work with the legal paperwork of dave’s divorce and finding a place for us to live. oh yeah, and work. i occasionally was able to find time at work to jot down a quick blog or two… but not so much lately.

change is on the horizon. i can feel it.

dave’s divorce is just about wrapped up. we are literally sitting on pins and needles. really! i put thumb tacks on my chair at work. okay- just kidding. but we are awaiting the news that the judge has signed the final papers that were agreed upon earlier this week. we sat through mediation last week- what an experience. and one that i intend to never participate in again. i would like to personally thank our great family friend Michele who was a saving grace at a time when we felt helpless. she helped to make an amazing amount happen. thanks also to my momma for hosting a dinner so we could all chat.

and… dave’s house is on the market! i’m sure this is the first many of you are hearing of this… well, ta-da! dave’s friend toril is the real estate agent we’re using. she came to the house this morning; took pictures, put a lock box on the door and will come by again to put a sign out front. and just like that our dream to get out of this house is real. i’m not sure i can quite explain how exciting this is for us… it’s fairly private and fairly obvious i think all at the same time.

i’ve got a spot of a sore throat that is going up the right side of my neck up into my ear. ouch. drinking tea, drafting a blog should make it feel better.

we have the girls tonight and this weekend. i feel like we haven’t seen them in a looooong time. i’ve loved the summer with them and everything we’ve done, but i’m also excited for what fall weather brings… candles, cuddling, holiday music and scents. *mmmm*especially the crafts that come along with fall weather too!

OH! MY! GOODNESS! how and why did it take me this long to bring up this news?! we got a dog! she’s a sweet yorkshire terrier. we picked her up when she was 9 weeks old. her birthday is the day before the 4th of July… and her name is Olive. she’s our little olive pit. i had hopes of picking out a boy so dave wouldn’t be so outnumbered, but no such luck. she’s the one I fell in love with. i rescued her from an organization called under-dawgz rescue… it is amazing what these people do. dave came up with her name… for a couple of reasons. 1. i love a good dirty martini 2. ella adores olives 3. dave’s dad’s name was Clive and his signature often looked like “Olive!” i think kelli, his sister, has a note or paper with his signature on it and i’m anxious to see it sometime. so, that’s how little miss olive came to be called olive. makes me teary-eyed thinking about it.

i’m starting to feel a bit crafty again… i’m continuing to alter my clothes to funk-a-fy them, and pick up darling things at the thrift store for the girls to add a bit of a flare to their wardrobe. ella now has an adorable pink, off-the-shoulder Flashdance-esque sweatshirt. totally dance-able. my aunt let me borrow a craft magazine from last summer that has these cute fleurettes that you can appliqué right onto throw pillows- or really whatever you want! i’m excited to give some of those things a go.

i think this is about it. for now at least.

actually- our great friend’s justin and sara are getting married! we received their wedding invitation and feel so blessed to be a part of this wonderful day for them. our lives are fortunately and unfortunately parallel in many ways… they know what i mean.

i have a great support at work- her name is jenny. i was feeling extra scattered earlier this week and she sent me the below… i wanted to share it here because it’s something i now read everyday.

“Dear God- may the burdens on this woman’s heart be lifted to your care. I sincerely pray that she is reminded that you never intended for her to carry these burdens alone, but to share them with you.
As she walks through today with a scattered feeling in her head, I ask that you make a clear path for her. I pray that her eyes are open to your Light and as her mind calms, her ears are clear to your Word and as she feels the burden lift there is a lightness to her body that helps her move through this day. Not just to get through it, but to be present in it, released from doubts, insecurities, pride or any other workings of evil. She has endured so much in the past few months and has been under attack. May she be filled with Faith, Hope and Love and be reminded that these are gifts that come from you, God- even when we experience them through the actions of other people, they are still from You. Lord, I ask that you bless my sister, Kristine.
In the loving name of Christ, my savior, Amen.”

now, yes, i think that’s it for now.

xo

.:that’s a wrap:.

we had another fun thursday with the girls. dave and i found a new spot on the green river that is really rad. it’s a bit steep to get down to, but the girls were amazing- well ella was dead asleep in my arms, so my trusty flip flops and dave’s hand helped us down… but nonetheless they were troopers. ella slept the whole time in the 90 degree weather, drenching my dress and the whole side of her head. bless her heart she was very hot, but too tired to care. lily, chloe and dave dug chloe and lily into the ground and got sand everywhere. dave found his goggles before we left and he and the big girls went scouting. they actually found a shopping cart at the bottom of the river! we tried to talk dave into pulling it out, but i guess it was really stuck and the currant was pretty strong. so best he didn’t do it.

we changed the girls at the beach (that was fun!) and carted them off to their mom’s. both lily and ella had a hard time saying bye. it’s bittersweet really, it’s nice to feel loved, but it’s tears us up seeing them sad. we remind them they can call us anytime… and we drive off.

dave and i have another event filled weekend. his mother’s side of the family is having their family reunion this weekend. many of dave’s family members he hasn’t seen in years… and i mean years. i think he’s very excited to reconnect and to have me meet a lot of people that i won’t have another chance soon to meet. so we’re headed over the mountains this afternoon to meet up with his sister and her family for tonight and then the rest of the family will start trickling in tomorrow morning. we will maybe stay the night saturday or come home in the evening. my older brother is also in town this weekend from la! hooray for family! dave and i would also like to float the river on sunday, wrapping up our weekend at my ma’s for dinner. should be busy… should be fun.

hope all is well… love to you and yours.

happy sunshine.

xokb

no pictures from last night, but here's one to keep you smiling.

.:our kirkland get-away:.

another fun weekend has come and gone.

ma, carl, eric and rc all flew to san antonio, tx for the weekend. they left bright and early friday morning and don’t get back until this evening. dave and i held down the fort in kirkland for them while they are soaking up the rays that we’re not seeing here in seattle. darby, grams, dave and i managed quite well. we invited ryan and esther over on friday for dinner and guitar hero... it was nice to spend some time with them. rowan crashed the party as usual with her big eyes and giggles. saturday morning dave and i attempted to make crepes... i called my dad and he rattled off his recipe and dave worked his magic. i thought they were pretty dang good, but dave being the perfectionist cook he is wants to try, try again. i’m looking forward to those attempts.

sonja cruised over for a bit on saturday for lunch and rummikub. i’m pretty sure we were clocked at a solid 4 hours of play time or something crazy like that. that was the first time i’ve played and i got the hang of it pretty quick. we had a relaxing time listening to paul simon, the beatles, phil collins, star wars soundtrack- whatever was on top of the pile of records. and then dave put the new metallica cd in with hopes of livening us all up a bit, but the competitiveness and intensity shot through the roof- we quickly turned something else on. pretty sure dave sent sonja home with the score card... so she could forever witness the beating she endured. LOVE YOU SONJA.

we grocery shopped for grams on saturday night... made french toast sunday morning. dave had helped my parents with a broken pipe earlier in the year and the drywall never got finished, so dave had the wonderful idea to have it finished for them when they come home (did i luck out with an amazing man, or what?!). dave did a great job and we got that all wrapped up yesterday (okay, okay HE got that all wrapped up yesterday). he explained to me what he was doing as he worked, sharing how his dad would have been able to do this project in the blink of an eye... i think dave takes after clive quite nicely. we also walked around downtown kirkland for a good portion of the afternoon. the weather was gorgeous and chilly. we spent most of our time at an antique store. we found a rad old pepper grinder, and a silk scarf for me. antique stores are one of our most favorite places to explore. the tales and treasures they hold is fascinating. we wrapped up our evening with a little pasta, dave made cookies and a quick dip in the hot tub.

what a get-away this was. how simple it is to stay at my parents house while they are out of town... but driving 35 minutes north of auburn can feel like another world. it felt great to ‘go home’ for the weekend. we had a wonderfully relaxing time together.

dave is working today! he starts training this week... we’re not really sure what he needs to be trained on because he’s done more than he’ll be doing at this job, but it’s work! i hope there will be some sales training, just as extra for him since he hasn’t realllly done the sales side before. regardless, he’s stoked to be working and can’t wait to get out there. i’m so proud of him and excited to hear how his first day goes.

it’s lily’s birthday on saturday so i’ll have more to report after we celebrate.

i purposely didn’t share about our trip to sur la table. dave got a gift certificate from my aunt robin and uncle paul for his birthday and he was able to shop a bit. i’m hoping he’ll hop on here and write a bit about our stop there. he’s awfully excited about his new toys. thanks ar. and up.

love you all... keep braving the storm. and remember to lift it up.

k.e.s.s.g.h.

.:a success indeed:.

so this year’s valentine’s day dinner was a success! the girls were absolutely thrilled and surprised. dave set it up to have me beat them home so i could get any last minute things set up and the dinner started. although i didn’t need to do as much as i thought because dave surprised me and had much of it done already! such a sweetheart. the girls first saw their cards and chocolate’s from my mom on the coffee table. when i told them it was from my mom they shouted “ah, she remembered us!” adorable. i then was surprised by lily and dave with a little present of my own. they surprised me with this wicked lightening bolt pin! i wore it very proudly on friday to work. that was a sweet, sweet surprise that i wasn’t expecting. i believe chloe spotted the kitchen table first and quickly hollered for her sisters to come check it out. now this whole time dave and i are frantically trying to find the camera, continue making dinner and get the girls settled. they spot their place cards, hair clips, cards, and the copious amounts of candy and sweets. as dave reads them their cards i add my special ingredient to the noodles and corn... a little red food coloring! at this point we have yet to find the camera. we tried to hold the girls off as long as we could while we searched high and low for a camera dave had seen earlier in the day. so i said, “forget the camera- let’s dig in!” and so it was... we enjoyed a delicious dinner (who knew that noodles, corn and strawberries could be so good?!) and ate some more sugar and decorated our Peeps (my personal favorite). we scattered from the table and dave and i stepped back to enjoy our successful dinner sans camera. i guess dave was a bit chilly because he went in our room to put his sweatshirt on and when he lifted it off the bed- what did he find?! THE CAMERA- after the table had been demolished, food eaten, Peeps devoured.

so, the important part of our whole evening was how much the girls enjoyed themselves and loved what dave and i had put together. we do have some photos for your enjoyment, but they definitely weren’t what i was thinking i’d be able to share. please enjoy.
dave and i had a very relaxing valentine’s weekend. we made almost no plans- intentionally. we knew we’d be taking my grams to church on sunday and had my ma’s valentine’s dinner that night. we kept friday and saturday unplanned, quiet and free to do whatever we wanted. we went to ikea and dreamt of what we could be doing to our place somewhere down the line... we went to the new kent station to walk around and see where the new hockey rink is. we got home early in the night and decided we would love to go out dancing if we could find some place free.... dave put his mits to work and found that the muckleshoot casino had the romantics playing saturday night! (i hope you’re all laughing to yourselves by now...) we got dolled up and hit the road. this place was packed! first time i had been to a casino that wasn’t in vegas! the show was cute, we caught a couple songs and headed to the smoke-free section of the casino; which just so happened to have a sweet shop in the back corner. HUGE ice cream cones for two and a half bucks. uh-mazing. it was entertaining to say the very least.
we had a great sunday too. church with grams was great as always. she even treated us to lunch afterwards! there is this great place called spuds close to my mom’s house. one of my grams’ favorites and something grams and i used to do a couple years ago after church. they have amazing tarter sauce. we dropped grams off at home, went grocery shopping for her and then hung out at my ma’s for the afternoon. we played cards with ma, carl and eric. ma had a few little gifts for dave and i. dinner was at 5 and it was delish! ma did three (wait, maybe four?) different pasta sauces, caesar salad and great bread- with cheesecake for dessert! chris, marc, esther, ryan and rowan were all there too. a great family time for all.
i’ll wrap up here. our weekend was great, and our valentine’s dinner was pretty amazing.

happy middle of february.

.:first place weekend:.

we started our weekend off with a bang. lily took FIRST PLACE for 3rd graders in the super stackers assembly. dave was able to see the whole thing, i was there right at the end. she kicked some serious super stackers tail. she was doing it in about half the time that the other kids were. she got this rad handmade clay cup that had a big “1” on the side of it and a super stackers sticker on the other. we’re super proud of this little super stacker.

saturday was a bit of a fun day too... we had a lazy morning and then dave and the girls got ready for lily’s soccer game. i curled all their hairs and they looked adorable. chloe’s ended up the curliest, ella’s was only medium curly and lily had pig tails for the game, so i curled her bangs and a few pieces in her pony tails. i was headed to amber’s wedding dress appointment so dave will have to fill in the details of the game, but i heard lily played like a champ.

amber’s dress appointment was fun, of course! what girl doesn’t love to be surrounded by beautiful wedding dresses, especially when it’s your best mate trying them on?! she was glowing in this particular dress- she had been waiting to try on this certain color of gown, and she looked absolutely stunning in it. her skin, beauty, hair color and tattoo were all greatly complimented by this platinum color. can’t wait for the big day, am-bone.

saturday afternoon we washed the cars, and then took a bit of a rest before we rocked ‘n rolled all night! dave and i had been planning a dance party of sorts. costumes, strobe lights and all. we’ll post pictures of our incredible costumes. we wrapped up the night with a little Disney screne-it. that was pretty hilarious. we all made a great team.

sunday was a blast too. i had breakfast with my other great mate, sonja. and then we all went down to the high school to play tennis with dave cox and davey and justin and sara. we thought justin’s girls would be there too, but they weren’t. we’ll have to set up another time when we all have the girls. of course davey would tag along... cuz he’s just that much of a ladies man.

dave and i continue to knock things off of our list. it feels amazing. our place is looking incredible. i’m assuming some of you who have been there but haven’t seen it in awhile wouldn’t recognize it. it’s great. dave’s pretty dang handy and he’s impressed me more than once. i’m very excited to post some pictures here pretty soon... give us a little longer.

work is absolutely exhausting. time’s are tough right now and our company is finally feeling it. i’m not exactly sure why it took so long, but it’s here now. the stress level of just about everyone is incredible. i know it’s not the time to change jobs, but i wish i could. L

dave is higher on the apprentices-waiting-to-go-out-and-work list! HOORAY! he was number 6 last friday and he just heard that one of his buddies was sent out, and he was 1 or 2 on the list... so the time is coming for him to be back out there! man-o-man will that be a great feeling.

i think i’ll wrap up here. almost done with the work day, the countdown begins.

hope all is well with everyone.

happy monday.
kb