December Madness...

Okay, so Christmas is still 10 days away and I feel absolutely drained! This month kicked off with a bang! Right off the bat we had our 2nd annual Christmas Drive thru at the church. It’s pretty cool… for two evenings in a row, we block off the street in front of the church & set up scenes from the life of Christ. Visitors drive thru in their cars going from scene to scene with the encouragement of a cd that reads the associated bible verse & plays Christmas music. It literally takes the entire year to plan & well over 100 volunteers, but in my opinion is worth every bit of the work involved! Of course I was not in charge, so it’s easy for me to say that! My little job was ‘prop master’ so I set up the accessories for each of the scenes (with my helpers of course), Mike played the part of Andrew the fisherman (see below), Hayden played Jesus at the age of 12 in the temple, and a tractor driver (contemporary scene) on another night, and Koltin played the little boy that brought the loaves & fishes to Jesus. So you can say that it was a family event… even Bobbie & Alyssa took parts as women in the crowd… I think that we had over 800 people drive thru… so it was just an incredible experience.

Mom & Dad had their 2nd annual Christmas party in their new house this past weekend… It was pretty much just family… we tend to entertain ourselves! Dan won the tacky sweater contest (the one in which he picked out all of the other guys’ sweaters)… James has already declared that Danny’s reign will soon end as he begins his hunt for the tackiest Christmas sweater ever. The gift exchange was a total hit with the favorites being a lantern for the guys & some gorgeous mirrored frames for the girls… which I would have got to keep if my dear great aunt Pat hadn’t stolen them from me… The coolest thing was that my cousin Tracy brought a painting that she had painted for me of my favorite photograph, that I happened to take. Check it out below… It’s beyond awesome & she did such an incredible job on it!

So wedding bells were ringing this weekend! Mike’s sister Kathy married her fiancé Randy in a small backyard wedding on Sunday. It was delightful, quaint and to add to the excitement… the skies were about ready to crack open in a mad rush of winter rain at any moment! Outdoor heaters helped, but it was definitely a crisp, cool occasion! The wedding was followed by a champagne brunch with all sorts of yummy foods. Scones, cinnamon rolls, quiche, fruit… Yep… I love food… Where was I? Oh, yea… the wedding. It was lovely & everyone had a great time. I was officially the wedding singer & the photographer & have included a few snaps below!

This photo of Koltin was included because in the family photo above, he wasn't so cheerful... this photo was taken much earlier in the day before gloomy gus arrived.

So… 15 days into the month… 16 to go… this week we’ve got the kids ‘holiday’ presentation, a rehearsal, two large choir performances at two different churches, a meeting with teachers, two doctors appointments, payroll, and then… Christmas week begins… and did I mention that I am no where near done shopping yet? Did I mention...I love December madness!

Merry Christmas!

November Gatherings...

What a crazy, busy month of November it has been! It started off with a bit of travel… I recently heard about a church conference to be held in Cleveland, which happens to be very near the home of my great aunt & uncle so I volunteered to jump on a plane to check out the conference as well as my relatives! Also along for the ride was my 87 year old grandmother Arlene (The older sister of my great Aunt Brooks). We fared quite well navigating airports considering we had a wheelchair, walker, and various carry-on bags. It was a great trip getting to know the Carpenter side a bit better! It’s nice to see that that particular branch is quite humorous and just as opinionated as ours. I got to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and then took a wonderful drive thru Amish country. I also met up with my cousin Leah & her husband Darrin from MA. Leah’s family was originally from California so I grew up with them popping in on a yearly basis in between summer trips. Come to think of it, her father still pops in on drives south. All in all it was great to experience Ohio for a week, and I’d love to go back sometime.
This is my grandmother Arlene, me, my uncle Ray & aunt Brooks at a yummy restaurant called Steak on a Stone where they literally put a raw steak on a very hot stone, on your plate and you cut & cook it to taste on your table. It was definitely an experience!

So… almost a week after I got home, we left as a family to the coast for a long weekend… This time we were off to a rental house in Bodega Bay. The weather was gorgeous, the house great, and overall I really enjoyed the family time. Also along for the ride was Mike’s mom Becky, our friend Denise, Mike’s sister Kathryn and her two children Kaili & Caden, our friend Randy, Mike’s other sister Jenny and her husband Bryan & son Casey, my younger cousin Bobbie, and then there were the four of us. Quite a household! Besides eating A LOT… we spent the time kite flying, playing in the sand, shopping and just hanging out! On Sunday we attended the church of a family friend who pastors there, her name is Judith and she was the minister that married Mike & I 15 years ago, so that was a pleasant surprise finding her in this area! Overall, a great trip! I've posted several photos below, and one of Kaili above.

Now we arrive at Thanksgiving… We first joined my family, at my parent’s house next door, along with over 20 other relatives that happened to come as well! It was loud, fun & quite yummy! About an hour or so later we loaded up in the Durango and headed to Chico to celebrate with the Shadd’s. They were not quite as loud, but just as fun & the food just as yummy. You might think… that’s a lot of food for one day… but wait… there’s more! Tomorrow morning we head to Jim & Vicki’s house for brunch, and then off to Becky’s cabin for her 60th birthday gathering… so more food to come! Back to thanksgiving, I have been a part of the Shadd Thanksgiving celebration for over 15 years now and each year as they gather to eat they sing a song… I’m finally getting the words down… back to the song... it is actually a prayer and I thought that it would be appropriate to print it below as a prayer of thanksgiving. If you’d like to hear the tune… ask Mike sometime… it begins with a long “Ohhhhhhh….” and then we join in… Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ohhhhhhh, the Lord's been good to me.

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need:

The sun, the rain and the appleseed;

Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
Ahhh-men!

Welcome Autumn!

Welcome autumn! The crunch of fallen gold leaves beneath your feet… the smoky aroma of yard trimmings burning on a crisp morning… the warmth of a chunky knit sweater as you sit on a sandy beach, watching the sunset… I love every vibrant splash of oranges, yellows and spicy reds of that consume our northern hemisphere between the September equinox and the December solstice. Bring on the beauty!

The Shadds have been quite busy in the last couple of months… we attended the gorgeous outdoor wedding of Mike’s cousin Sarah to her husband Andy, took an incredible trip to the ocean, and celebrated Mike’s Birthday by attending a concert of one of our favorite musicians, Alison Krauss. The cannery season is slowing down for the business (thank goodness!)… We’ve had trucks running 24 hours a day since the beginning of July so needless to say Mike has been extremely busy, and I’ve been doing my best to keep the office in order… I’ve finally hired an assistant to help ease the work load so the future is looking great! Now if the fuel prices would continue to ease up… or rather down for that matter!

So I picked out a new camera recently and have enjoyed learning how to use it… much more gadgets that I am used to but I’m getting there… My first photo session began at the wedding and due to a computer malfunction I lost over half of photos… which drives me nuts because there were precious photos of my nephew dancing with his daddy, the kids playing on this great old fashioned merry-go-round play structure that they had to pump with their arms to get it going… and just plain awesome group shots. I will not let that ever happen again… and look forward to shooting away at the next family function! A few survived the computer as you can see below...

Our weekend at Dillon Beach was great! We rented a house close to the beach, my parents and two nieces, Alyssa & Danielle came along. We spent hours playing in the water, beach combing and basically doing nothing at all except taking in the views. It’s a quiet area, and it was fun watching the fog literally roll-in in the evenings. We attempted geocaching but only found one… not sure if we need a new GPS or more help searching for them… surely it’s the machine not us! It was great photographing everyone… my niece Danielle also has the photographer bug… and made use of my older camera… she is very artistic!

On the Monday before Mike’s birthday, I somehow came across the fact that Alison Krauss was going to be only two hours away at the Konocti Harbor, so I bought some great tickets off of eBay (second row) and Mike somehow took the time off, and we went! The one thing that we didn’t plan for was the freezing cold breeze coming off of the lake, so although I wore wool socks & jacket, I still had to raid one of the boys’ sweatshirts with a hood to keep warmer… not quite as warm as I was hoping though… The concert was wonderful, music great and somehow they let me take photos despite all of the signs that said that no cameras were allowed. So it was all good. I really enjoyed going away just the two of us… we should definitely do it again! This is Alison singing one of our favorite songs... Go down to the river & pray...

I just had to add this pretty view taken on the way to Clear Lake... I love all of the colors!

Until next time...

Summertime Memories

I recently received one of those wonderful junk e-mails about getting to know your friends. You know the one… where you list your favorite soda pop, movie, eye color, whatever… Well this one in particular asked you to list your favorite childhood memory. Now, I have issues (and which of us does not?)… I cannot retain certain memories for very long… if you give me a start with a couple of details then I can run with it, but to just pop up with a memory, I will just look at you with a blank stare. Pathetic but true… This particular question, however, I did not delay in my response and knew immediately which of my memories would top out all of the others… Summer-times with the cousins… My grandparents lived on a farm. They raised Berkshire hogs, and grew peach & prune trees on several acres in the Manzanita area of Gridley. Each year my cousins from the north, Gerald, Melissa & James (who was Stacy at the time) and the cousins form the south, Becky & KC would come to visit with their parents. Now I don’t remember if B&K’s parents did this but GM&J’s parents stopped at the road, kicked my darling cousins out and encouraged them to run down the long driveway to Grandma & Grandpa’s green house (remember the green piano cousins?). The arrival of the cousins meant that we would have constant playmates… to run barefooted in the freshly made checks (small mounds made to keep irrigation water in-check and not running everywhere), to share in the gorging of ourselves in the ripe peaches, to pick blackberries for yummy cobblers, or to climb in the broken overloaded prune branches that littered the field… those were the days… At night we would play hide and seek in the peach field, screaming and running like little filthy heathens to base. I remember finding an old cow trough out in the barn that we tried to fill and make into a swimming pool, not caring that it was full of cracks and only a couple of feet deep… it was PERFECT at the time. There was a chicken coop under a fig tree, where the chickens laid blue-green eggs and we would race out to see what we could find each day. The pigs were another story… the flys were so bad that they covered the barn walls, and there was a manure ditch for the waste that sort of flowed into the ditch out back… Occasionally a visitor would come for a pig and Grandpa would go out and shoot one so that they could cook it for their celebration. We weren’t supposed to go out there, but we went into stealth mode (as much as several giggling kids can) sneaking close and could hear everything. You had to be careful of the electric fences (and yes, if you touch it with a weed, it WILL shock you), and Aunt Tanya’s drink called Green Lightening, or something like that… whatever it was… it was STRONG stuff and to be avoided (I’m sure that the adults loved it, but my unpolished palate did not… sorry Tanya). We fit so much into the short time that we visited that I’m frankly shocked that I remember so much! One of the things we did with Grandpa Bob was to go to the Candy Store… He would have us all load up into the back of his old tan truck and he’d drive one mile down the road to the Manzanita Market where we would pick out a candy each, and sometimes even get a soda, then we would drive all the way back to the farm. There we would either find a tree to play under or go inside the house to lay on one of Grandma Arlene’s vinyl couches in front of the air conditioner (you got to choose the red or the tan one). There was an old zenith tv to watch, with a lovely star shaped clock above it right out of the 50’s-60’s. Those were the days! I happen to live next door to that old farm, which held so many memories to me… Sometimes, in the evenings those wonderful smells of the summer bring me right back to that place in time when life was so blissfully innocent. I think that it’s rather comforting that my children, and my nieces and nephews are able to share now in creating their own memories on the same plot of land, enjoying the same smells of summer in their own way that are sure to be remembered for a lifetime. They run around barefoot, like we did, play hide & seek, like we did and they occasionally get a trip to the Candy Store too! I guess moments like these are timeless! Thank you to whoever sent me that junk e-mail… I needed to take a minute to ponder the past. If any of you cousins have any photos of our adorable selves, send me a copy... I can't find any good ones!

On another note…. HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!

Our Wedding Anniversary - 15 years

It seems like yesterday that we were completely consumed with wedding plans… Were the flowers going to wilt? Did we have enough chairs, food and drinks? Was anyone going to show up? Oh… the drama of throwing a wedding! I’m pretty sure that I got a bit witchy as the countdown progressed but all was forgotten as people started to arrive, more chairs were pulled out to seat everyone, and my nerves calmed. I remember being so surprised as we walked down the aisle through so many people… we were really quite amazed at the turn out! I don’t really remember much about the ceremony except that Mike & I both were chewing gum at the time, and that our family friend Rev. Judith Stone performed a wonderful service. I do remember that there was a song in the middle, and that we walked out to “All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight”… I look back and think that was a silly choice, but at that time in our lives, it fit. I remember dancing in a large group of girls, eating chocolate covered strawberries, and that our friend Becky put her hand in our extra cake.

We were so young, so naïve about everything. Who knew how dramatically our lives would change in the next 15 years? At that time, we had no idea as we prepared for the birth of our first child that he would be torn from us within the first few hours and rushed to a hospital miles away in hopes of keeping him alive. We faced the same terrifying trip in an airplane 6 weeks later rushing to yet another hospital. How fast we had to grow up to take care of our 4 pound beautiful boy. We had no idea of the joy we would feel at purchasing our first home, and all of the wonderful responsibilities that we gained with it! We had no idea what a blessing it would be to be gifted with another baby boy who was so very happy & healthy all of the time! We had no idea that Mike would almost be killed in a horrific car accident that left him in a comatose state, on life support with numerous broken bones, and internal injuries. I had no idea how hard it would be to manage two babies and a husband in a wheelchair, and no income for a very long time. We had no idea that our youngest son would need emergency surgery at 9 months and how hard it would be to kiss him as the nurse took him away. We had no idea of the joy that we would feel, each time one of the boys giggled, rode their first bikes, played in their first baseball games, or mastered a new skill. Simply put, there was no way for us to have planned for many of the circumstances of life that were thrown in our direction, but we held strong to those vows that we took so many years ago in front of God, our family & friends.

So… here we are 15 years later (August 14, 2008), having dinner at the same restaurant that we had our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding… probably still naïve about what is to come, but, oh what a ride it will be!

Love you babe!

Home at last! Home at last!

Yea! We made it home! I lost my computer cord somewhere around Cody, WY, thus the lack of posts. We are so glad that our vacation is over! How sad is that? You hear about folks needing a vacation to recoop from their vacation and that's where I am right now. It's taken me all week to get caught up with the business items, i.e. billing, payroll, taxes, bills etc. etc. and my house is getting in order (thanks only to Lorna who helps me clean it). Notice I didn't mention that our trailer is anywhere near being in order... if the kids can't find something I just say "Check the trailer" due to the fact that it sits in our drive way in pretty much the same state as it was when we got home on the 3rd... Clothes everywhere, food still in the cabinets, camp equipment lodged in, everything sits waiting for me to have a few moments to unpack. I did however, remove Shasta's crate and put it in it's proper place in the laundry room in hopes that once in his old domain the barking and other annoying habits of practice during our trip would eventually fade away. I am happy to say that I was able to sleep in to almost 9 this morning without a peep from him. Thank you Lord! He did however give me a couple of black eyes and possibly broke my nose this week! Gotta love this dog! Things just keep getting better & better with him! I came home Tuesday night from a meeting at church and immediately set my things down, excitingly asking Shasta if he wanted to go outside... needless to say that he was a bit pumped up at my enthusiastic arrival, as I am the only one who brings him out, and he began jumping... and as I leaned over to pick up his leash his head came up under the tip of my nose jamming it into my brain. I'm pretty sure it hit my brain because the pain caused a complete loss of usage, and my only intelligent thought process after hearing a click was to scream "Oh my Gosh" about 6 times (such drama) as I felt my nose swell on both sides. So now I sit, my nose a lovely cast of yellow, swollen, and two dainty little purple smudges under my eyes... Not pretty... And it hurts to laugh or show any facial emotion... It better heal fast because VBS starts next Monday & I will appear a bit spooky onstage singing & dancing looking like I got beat up in a fight. So... I'm almost over it.

Okay so I have a few more photos from our trip... I didn't mention that my cousin Becky had joined us in Custer, SD... that poor girl witnessed the Shadd Family in it's full crankiness and frankly I'm amazed that she didn't run off in the middle of the night screaming (her bunk was over our barking Shasta... I'm sure only adding to the experience)... I might have if I had a car. Mike kept freaking out over the phone service, Koltin entertained about 200 people at Mt. Rushmore with a fit that lasted the entire hike around the faces... I did enjoy her selfishly... it was wonderful to have another female to talk & shop with! She handled us well. My kids were also impressed with the fact that she jumped right in when it came to taking funny nose picking photos & sliding down the waterslide.

No disrespect to Crazy Horse, but it was fun! The indian photo below was taken in Cody, WY at the Erma Hotel, and of course Hayden spotted a skate park in Custer, SD and had to do 'his thang'...I have several more photos but I'm saving them for the Christmas card... ha ha ha!

Yellowstone... FABULOUS!

Yea! We finally made it to West Yellowstone, Montana! The drive wasn't so very bad because the scenery in Montana is incredible! So our plan was to spend two days here but we decided to do the entire park in one day... all day today. Thanks to Shasta waking us up early once again, we got an early start, bought our yearly pass to the National Park system and were off like a herd of turtles (as my sister-n-law Lauren likes to say). There were animals everywhere and after awhile I actually stopped taking photos of the bison or buffalo as I would call them because they are around every corner! Here's a photo of one in particular that decided to pass by our little walkway which completely freaked me out & I was screaming (quietly of course for the fear of the big guy deciding to charge at us just like the park brochure claims they do) at Mike to turn the boys around and he completely ignores my little panic attack and patiently waits for the buffalo to pass and then we proceed like it was some poodle crossing the road. NUTS!

We also saw several wild goats, elk, a couple of black bears, a fox and an eagle in her nest. It was rather incredible! The scenery was so different from one corner of the park to the other! There are miles of lovely grassy pastures, rocky mountains and sadly miles of park that were previously ravaged by a fire... the forest shows new growth but haunting upright trees remain, bleached and dead. The massive cliffs, valleys and rivers varied throughout the entire drive and fun little mineral pools were bubbling up everywhere shooting steam into the sky. The only way things could have been better were if we were in a convertible little car. Check these photos out...

Hayden checks out the topography of a burned out section of the park.

Above are the boys of course posing for the camera with yet another picture perfect view behind them.

We slipped into the Old Faithful parking lot... walked over to where everyone was standing around and not 5 minutes later she blew! Hows that for timing? Here's a quick pic!

This was Shasta's favorite spot... typically a cold weather breed (Keeshond), we pulled over to play in the snow while going over the pass & Shasta went nuts! He dug his nose into the snow, and crunched on it like it was the Gridley Burgie crushed ice (locals understand completely). Poor thing, I hate to tell him he's stuck with summers in the 100's and winters just cold and wet. In this photo he's got his eyes on a snowball that Koltin threw up for him to catch.

So I took about 200 photos and feel like we saw as much of the park as one can in one day. We were supposed to stay tomorrow but have gotten the itch to move on and are leaving for Cody, Wyoming in the morning, just for fun. More photos to come!

Ironman Coeur d'Alene

Well yesterday was the Ironman... an incredible race that requires the participant (around 2200 men & women at this particular event) to swim 2.4 miles (this massive start of the swim is also called the 'washing machine', and as you might imagine Bryan was a bit overwhelmed as he started in the second row). He finished the swim in 1:13:04. The photos show the participants in pink & blue caps ready to begin... and then as they progress into the water. Needless to say, we could not find his blue cap in midst of the masses.

After the swim in 59 degree water, the participants run out of the water, change and then grab their bikes and proceed to bike... oh about 112 miles. AHHHHHH.

Bryan managed to bike the course in 5:41:02 averagine 19.07 mph. At the end of the bike ride, he was ranked 373 overall (non-professionals), and his division position was 95 (he is in the largest age division) so he did great! After the bike the participants finished the bike ride, they came in, changed and begin the marathon run of 26.2 miles.

Finishing the running portion 4:20:43 he finished the entire race in a total of 11:25:48 ranking 373 and finishing 95 in his division... not bad for a Chico boy. Good job Bryan.

After the race, all the participates go the the recovery station... some need more medical attention than others. This is Mike holding Casey, with Jenny & Bryan (Casey's parents).

Overall a great day. Here's a quick family pic.... more photos to come.