Joanne

Joanne
My life and crafting times.

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Happy New Year!

As the saying goes where did this past year go?
So many wonderful things happened and things that we have done over the past year.
Next week we will be celebrating my youngest granddaughter's first birthday. A year ago I was soon to be leaving from my home to stay with my grand daughters while Becky was in the hospital delivering  in our newest grand child. She is so precious and being a regular curious and adventurous little girl! 

Spring came which brought us to our second trip to Florida with our friends the Craigs. Because we went on a Disney cruise and again to Disney World it was a magical time. So much fun was had. We brought our second granddaughter with us this time as well as my mom and second daughter Holly joined us. Great memories were had that is for sure.

During our summer vacation we did a lot of camping. One week at Syringa with our annual group of friends, one week down in Idaho (Wallace) then a road trip on the bikes to Wallace Idaho. I was fortunate enough to be able to have my three oldest grand daughters here for a week. What fun we had!  Finally to end the summer with a bang we traveled to the coast (Vancouver) for two weeks of camping near my side of the family. Got to see our daughters, son in laws and grand children there too. We were also able to celebrate Arianna's 11th birthday while there. The whole family came by and we had a huge meal outdoors.

Fall was back to school for Arianna as well as the wood splitting and stacking. We are currently enjoying the warmth from all that wood now. As Jim says we get to enjoy that wood heat 7 times over, getting it (which we have not done yet, We pay someone else to do that), splitting the wood, stacking it, bringing it into the house and the burning it! It is also a great workout.

Christmas has come and gone. This year we had the dinner at our house. Jim and I brought in the huge 4' X 8' table. We sat around that table in our livingroom for the Christmas turkey feast. Unfortunately Jim was working night shift and so he was not able to join in the eating until you were just too full marathon. 

Our matching cards
Christmas morning we did the usual get up (at 6 am because Jim had worked night shift and he wanted to be there to watch Arianna open her gifts)
Here you can see that we are a real couple. We bought each other the SAME card!!! The funny thing is mine is once again a sappy card and his is the "you are so lucky to have me type" lol. He likes a joking card. How can one card be both? 


 
The outdoor 4X8 table as our Christmas table. It works well
 Above is us at our table in the living room. Our dining area is too small for all of us to sit there. So here we are in the living room. We had the Craig family and the Tarasoff family join us. What a spread we had and we were all very full by nights end. 

Our delicious deserts deep dish apple pie, ginger crust pumpkin cheese cake and pumpkin pie
Jaime and Janet made the deserts and what a way to finish off the night! Even more stuffed than the turkeys were!


For about 8 or maybe 9 years we have been bringing in the New Year with a fondue feast. This year our friends the Harshenins  hosted the fondue. We really go all out and have such a good time. Lobster, shrimp, steak, chicken, veggies, bread cubes, cheese fondue and hot oil are our usual items on the list. Plus all the dipping sauces. To finish off the night we have a chocolate fondue with fresh fruit and all kinds of desserts which includes pretzels, Rice Krispie squares, gummis, cookies and oh so much more.
Adult end of the table.

Children's end of the table
 That concluded our year. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year and I pray that the coming 2014 year is a good one for you all. May your life be filled with health, comfort, ease of finances  creative outlets. 

Joanne