Neena's Birthday #1!

The CUTEST little girl in the Gorge turned ONE this weekend! We helped her celebrate on Saturday night... Julie made cheese fondue, and we had lots of dipping items: breads, veggies, fruit, etc. She also made a sausage/sauerkraut/potato casserole, so we were WELL fed!
Playin' the piano
Neena was Peter's little buddy the entire evening... I was a little jealous. :-)
Yummm - Frosting!
She loved her new bunny blanket! Neena won't wear a hat, but she liked this fuzzy blanket on her head! She's standing, (very sturdily) but not walking quite yet.
Peter, play with me! We're definitely not partial at all... Especially since she's the only little girl in our field ~ She has us ALL wrapped around her little fingers!

Crustless Spinach Quiche

Yum, Good....

And our MOST exciting news!!!

We closed escrow on some property on the "border" of Mosier and The Dalles, and it's just BEAUTIFUL!

Stats:
4.77 Acres
SOLD :-)

View:
North - Mt. Adams
South - Wheat Fields & Mt. Hood
East - Columbia River from The Dalles to the Celilo Bridge
West - Columbia River from Mosier to the Hood River Bridge

We plan on starting building in 2008. However, depending on how long the permits take, we're hoping to get power on the property and the well drilled by the end of 2007... that's beginning to look optimistic though! :-)

North View - Mt. AdamsEast View - The Dalles & beyond
South View - Wheat Fields and to the West a little is Mt. Hood.
West View - a little foggy, but if you look real close you can see the Hood River bridge...

Birthday Presents!

Last week, my wonderful hubby......bought me an...

...for my birthday, and I LOVE it! So myself, being the ingenious, creative and ORIGINAL wife that I am, decided to buy him one for his birthday! We both love it... it's quite an amazing little gadget. :-)

Kauai Highlights...

Just some highlights from our Kauai vacation with Mom and Dad in October:
Gorgeous BeachesKayaking
Snorkeling...3/6 = 1/2 of our family on top of Waimea Canyon
Beautiful Napali coast - from the top of Waimea Canyon
Fresh Guavas
Probably my favorite picture from the entire trip! (blackmail!)
It was POURING rain...
Peter found out how powerful the waves can be! :-(
Hiking up to "Secret Falls"
My sweet, sweet hubby! (notice the black eye...)
Peter n' Dad Boogie Boarding
25 Years Later... :-)
Such a good time! I'm glad Mom and Dad let us chaperon them! :)
Our full album is at our home website...

SUNDAY 11.4.07

Sunday we had a few friends over for company, then enjoyed an afternoon of eating, bike riding, and eating some more!
Sunday table-scape... I just loved this color combination!!
Menu: Roast, Potatoes, Green Salad, Fruit & Rolls
Dessert: Butter cake with tangerines & a pineapple whipped cream frosting... mmm, moist.
Cake Anyone?!The sweetest little girl in the Columbia River Gorge! Neena. I wish I could wear horizontal stripes and look that cute! Neena, my favorite kitty & myself... Neena was quite interested in the furry creature!!
After lunch we took our bikes down to the riverfront trail, for a leisurley ride. The weather was perfect!
Dan & Peter... with the Google facility in the background.Ready for dinner!
Where we live... Beautiful.
And that wraps Sunday up!
Editors Note: Blogger keeps erroring out, and I've lost patience, so I'll try to update some more tomorrow...

Long Overdue

I'm going to write a little synopsis of our recent life tonight, and then will post pictures later... :)

10.13 thru 10.22: Spent in Kauai with Mom and Dad - Pictures posted at Picasa and also our Homepage. Mom also did a nice writeup on her blog.
10.22: Come home to a kitty who has grown up, and learned all kinds of bad habits!
10.28: Gram & Gramps Ramey spend the evening with us and bring their friends George & Judy Andrade.
10.30: Marissa stays home from work sick, and her birthday present arrives! (I'll save that surprise for pictures...) :)
10.31: We sign papers on our property!!!! Yahoo!! 4.77 acres!
Current: Kitty is still unlearning his bad habits...

Pictures of all the above news to come soon!

KAUAI!!!!!!

AND WE'RE OFF!!!

Laundry Room Project... and more on Dozer! :-)

Well, I finally got tired of my laundry room constantly being in a state of MESS all the time, so we did something about it! There wasn't any storage at all in the room, except for one small cupboard below the sink (which was already full). We priced out getting cupboards for above the counter, and they were outrageous! So... we decided to be resourceful! Our handy builder had left behind 4 shelves from the bookcase he built in the dining room, so we put them to use, and I LOVE it!
BEFORE:
The counter top was piled with stuff, all needing a home. This corner was haphazardly thrown together, and awkward...
Yuck! I couldn't even see the tops of the washer & dryer, and the cleaning supplies looked awful up there...
AFTER:
I need some ideas for this wall - We tried a mirror, but it's too high to be able to see anything so it seemed pointless... (this was the ledge that was cluttered with cleaning supplies)
A CLEAN counter top!! Now what am I going to clutter it with?
I just love how this turned out! The baskets hide (mostly) all of our paper-ware, ironing supplies, misc office supplies, cleaning utensils etc! Also, I had been wondering how to use those darling sun & moon plates, and was so excited that they fit in here!
The shelf fit PERFECTLY in this little nook - now it hides the cleaning supplies!
In other news...
Dozer is becoming our window cat...
He slept in here for awhile today - nice and cozy I guess!
I was dusting the bookshelves, and he seemed to think this bowl was just for him!!And a random act of cooking...
Mmm, Enchiladas... (I have to photograph when I bake since I do it so infrequently!!)That's all folks! We leave for Kauai in 5 days!!!

Dozer, Deck & Apples (Not necessarily in that particular order)

~ Look ma, I'm DOMESTIC, can you believe it?! ~
Today, I decided to make an atrocious mess in the kitchen... I baked 2 apple pies, and 2 apple crisps. Mmm. My wonderful, sweet hubby peeled & cut all the apples!!!

Apple pie Mmm, look at all that carmely yumminess! (Apparently carmely & yumminess are not real words, but I think I'll use them anyway)

Apple crisp

Peter re-finished the deck on Saturday. He bought a cool new high-volume, low-pressure sprayer (aka: HVLP) that made the job a little bit easier than last year... hopefully this coat will stick better than the last! Ah, the joys of owning a home... :)Half-way done! It looks SO much better!Dozer - he likes shoes. At least he has good taste! :)And playing Tug-of-War with his mouse... He's pretty cute!