Thus Concludes January

Hubby and I had no plans to go anywhere in January, February or March.   Sort of the calm before the storm and a good time for projects.  The best laid plans and all that...

January turned into a fun and busy month.  Our friends, Jeremy and Rene' youngest daughter got married and we went to Winlock, WA for a weekend.  If you ever need a wedding within three weeks, call Jeremy and Rene' for tips.  They emptied a barn, made it beautiful, created guest housing, and cooked and baked for 60. It was so pretty and the food was delicious.  We had a good time with them and with their kids.

 The next weekend we went to Enumclaw, I had a Sisters on the Fly luncheon and we got time at Larry and Shelly's house. I don't know how Shelly did it but she had a full house for lunch, house guests and then her and Larry made dinner for eight. It's so good to see our camping peeps in the winter.

 The next weekend my brother, Ken and Carolyn got married.  It was a beautiful wedding, Carolyn wore my Mom's going away wool suit.  It was in Lynden and that was good since our crawl space flooded and we needed to take care of that issue.  Actually, Hubby and Max took care of it, who are we kidding. 

 A few of our guys and their girls came home for the wedding.  We love having them around and Max and Kassie brought Bo. We love their dog and hadn't seen him for a long time.  He's such a good dog!

#goodtoseehisownerstoo

 I've been painting a small cabinet for silverware storage. Why do projects look like they will take me two hours and end up taking days? And days. Ugh! I'm close and my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint expert is chiming in to get me to the finish line.  I'll share the finished picture in February or when it gets finished. June?

Hubby and I are hitting the oranges hard.  I had a sinus infection in January and it has settled in my ears. Does anyone else take elderberry syrup and chews? I have been but how does anyone know if anything really works? Would it be worse?

I stacked coupons on Loft and bought a soft jacket for under $12. The soft, yummy, lounge wear jacket is fantastic to wear with pj pants and a tank.  Sizes are disappearing so hurry!  And the coupons aren't as good now but keep watching and stack'em!

Y'all know I love snow and Tuesday the snow fell straight down. I had the day off and it was the stuff that winter dreams are made of.  Yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. 

I'm reading The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.  It's an easy, fun read and that's just what I needed.

Love Week is coming up and I am putting together a few special Valentines.

I'm dreaming of summer, camping, the rivers, the sunshine.  Until then I am making some changes in the living room and plan to deep clean the laundry room. Working now so I can play all summer!

This concludes January. It turned into a jam packed month with weddings, weekends away and weather events. Now for some February projects and Love Week. Enjoy!

Farm and Frills 2019

Sisters on the Fly Northwest Gathering 2019 is in the books.  It was held in Union Gap this year at the Central Washington Agricultural Museum with a Farm Fillies theme. Over 150 women from the nation's largest outdoor group, Sisters on the Fly came together and had more fun than anyone.

It's fun to walk around camp and see every one's trailers and tents set up.  You don't have to have a vintage trailer, there are a lot of new trailers too.

 

Annie got a ribbon and later I realized it was a clue for 2020 NW Gathering,  It's at the fairgrounds in Filer, Idaho and the theme is Going to the Fair. #giddyup

The museum grounds were great, a lot to see and maintained beautifully.

The showers were a tad rustic.  I got up one morning, ready to go the showers.  I told Cheryl I was headed to the showers.  She dryly told me that I would be cold, wet and naked in a horse trailer.

Well, when you put it that way...

And yet there I was, wind blowing the curtain straight up.  Oh well.

 We did some wine tasting.  Shelly, Rene', Jackie and I started early and camped in Prosser for a few days.  A prefunc is always a good idea.

More wine tasting once we got to the gathering.

We had a knowledgeable and sweet gal running our tasting.  We kept looking at each other and finally figured out we went to high school together.  It was so fun to see Marian and get caught up.  She was having a quiet morning at the winery and we showed up, she handled us beautifully.

Another winery, which is a Harvest Host for future reference.

We went junkin', lunching, dressed up and dressed down, met new friends and reconnected with old friends for four days.

Penny in her Camping with My Peeps hat was a hoot.

I googled Kentucky Derby hat on Amazon and ended up with a small pink and orange hat.

 I love these two special ladies!

I made a specialtea for cocktails one afternoon.

Rene' and I crafted one afternoon.

 Denise was back! 

And my oh my, doesn't she clean up nice? 

I love my tribe!

It is a really fun week, with a few rules, no mister, no pets, no kids, be nice and have more fun than anyone. Yee haw!

My blogging has been spotty lately.  I did get caught up with a random post here and I wrote about Grace and Love here.

Besides my lack of time management my icloud photos will not add in order and so it's painful getting the photos to the blog.  Super frustrating!

We camped on our patio this weekend and tried our new pie irons with success.

Hubby made ham and cheese and I had strawberries and cheese. Yum!

Now, I need to get Annie packed up for the Fourth of July.

Have a fun and safe holiday friends!

Random Catch Up

I'm baaaack.  May was a little crazy, in the best way.  In all my years of blogging I don't think I have ever missed an entire month, until May 2019.  May is always my busiest month for subbing.  I squeezed in a of of fun too. Let's get caught up.

Danny and Jess visited us from Michigan the first week of May.  We had a good time being tourists with them and visiting at home.  Danny finished his Master's degree at Grand Valley University and Jess completed her first year as a math prof at GVU.  It was a good time for a break for them.

Hubby gave them a cast iron crash course for their summer camping trips.  He made biscuits and gravy one morning.  Bo helped like a boss.

The one night almost everyone was home, Katie had to work so it's the gang minus one photo.  She was able to see Danny and Jess other nights.

Hubby and I went camping at Port Townsend.  It was Annie's first ferry ride.  We met up with our camping crew and had a great trip kicking off camping season 2019. 

We camped at the marina and enjoyed the farmer's market and the Rhodie Fest in town.

May means yard work and this year we (Hubby) took out the trees around the patio.  Then built some curbing and planted new trees.  The winters have been hard on shrubs here and ours were getting old. So, a fresh start!

 We all know how one thing leads to another and the patio was no exception.  Hubby  installed drip lines in all of the flower beds.

We took or patio from drab to fab.

We added outdoor living room furniture and we were still able to keep the dining area. I am loving coffee time in the morning with my fire and all of the lights in the evenings. 

 Jodi had the pie pals over for strawberry pie and her Specialtea.

I went on a Sisters on the Fly camping trip to Bay View State Park.

It was a really nice event with a lot of chill time.  That is my favorite part of SOTF, you can do the big organized activities or do your own thing.  It's perfect for this introvert.  A day in La Connor with old friends and a new friend, biking the dike trail, lunching and visiting the galleries in Edison, sitting around the campfire and enjoying the sunsets, yep, that was perfect.

Morning coffee in her peignoir, my friend Kathy knows how to glamp.

On Monday I am leaving for SOTF NW Gathering.  I have been prepping the trailer and my wardrobe for days.  Three more sleeps! It actually starts on Wednesday but I have a prefunc with a pool.  #poolside

After some kicking and screaming I left the book world and got a Kindle.  I have resisted for so long.

Annnnd, I love it!  I use the libby app on my iphone , it's a Washington State library system that I can use with my Lynden Library card.

I just finished two non-fiction books, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother's Will to Survive and Flat Broke with Two Goats.  Leslie, I think you'd enjoy the goat husbandry more than I did but I muddled through and it was interesting. 

Now school's out for summer and I am heading for some beach reads.

I saved the best for last in this rather lengthy post.  Sam and Katie are engaged!

It is wonderful to see Sam so happy.  Katie is delightful and we are excited for her to join our family.