he loves me so well :)

ladies retreat!!!!!

This past weekend i went to a ladies retreat at stormer lake. The retreat started friday evening and went through sunday afternoon. I was asked to help decorate for the retreat and to make muffins for breakfast. I went w/ cranberry blueberry bran muffins...one of my favorites :) Friday morning linda picked me up along w/ 2 other ladies and we headed back to stormer to start decorating. I have should have taken "before" pictures because i seriously had doubts about whether or not we would be able to make the place look warm and inviting...alas, all i have are the "after" pictures.

we went w/ a fall theme for the dining area. thankfully several ladies had quite a bit of decor that we used to spruce the place up :)


there had been nasty ol gray curtains over the windows, so we took them down and put this up :) much better!!!


linda made little loaves of bread to help decorate the tables :)


she also brought along some of her pickled preserves and homemade jelly...actually, the "homemade jelly" is jello :) brilliant!!!

decorating the upstairs dining room was a lot of fun :)


the downstairs was a bit more challenging to say the least!!! we were supposed to set it up to look like a spa...converting a cold, damp smelling, cement basement into a spa...yeah...


but we did it! :) we hung up fabric to separate the different areas. we put up lights and lamps. we put covers over the very dated and ugly furniture. we decorated as best we could, and it actually turned out really well :)

i took along the little electric fireplace that dave got for our bedroom, and the ladies sat around that reading and chatting while they were waiting for their turn

the retreat started w/ registration on friday evening. we got cute lil welcome bags w/ journals, chocolates, and other fun little items.

following registration we had an amazing chocolate fountain!!!


with all kinds of fun things to dip :)

we enjoyed all kinds of food over the weekend!!! pretty sure they fed us 5x a day...


katherine murray from british columbia was the speaker for the weekend. the theme was: growing in itimacy with the Father, satisfying the hunger of our souls.

we had worship before each session by these beautiful ladies :)

friday night we played a bunch of games which allowed us to interact and get to know each other a little better.

saturday night was the spa night, and we basically just got to pamper ourselves and be pampered :) mmmmmm....

we had facials, pedicures, manicures, and waxing!!!
also, while the spa was happening downstairs there was a tea party happening upstairs :)

the hats for the party :)

wendy modeling one of the hats :)



mmmmm...let's just say, we weren't at a lack for food this weekend!!!! and guess who did all the cleaning, washing, and prep work!!!

the boys :) there were about 5 of us women who had husbands who came along to help w/ the food...kinda liked having my hubby along for the weekend ;)

it was a good weekend of refreshment and refocus...and i especially enjoyed the opportunity to get to meet a few more of the ladies from the area :)

welcome to our kitchen!!!

so i have been promising to post more pics of our lil' apartment here, and today it is the kitchen's turn :) let's just say it's a much happier kitchen today than it was a couple of weeks ago...


this is our kitchen a couple of weeks ago...notice the white walls, the white cabinets, the white stove, the white refrigerator, the white countertops, etc.


not anymore!!!! i painted the walls green, and absolutely love it :) and you'll notice my lovely little island is coming right along :) still waiting for drawers, but hopefully that will happen this weekend, and i'll post pics of the whole thing



just a few more close ups here :) still working on the whole decorating thing, but it's commin' right along :)

and to top it all off, my amazing husband made me this cute lil' stool!!!
now i can reach the top cabinets :)

soooooooo...i am now on the hunt for some recipes to try out this lil' kitchen of ours :) so for anyone who reads this, i would absolutely love it if you would leave me a comment with one of your favorites!!!

wedding celebration!!!!!

a little over a week ago, the church up here that dave has been attending for the past 4 years and that i have now been attending for about a month, had a wedding celebration for us :)


dave and i before the reception started :)


linda, kevin's wife, decorated the fellowship hall for us.


she even got together a candy buffet!!! jus like we had at our wedding :)


the reception started at 6, and then around 7 we did a little program.
kevin, who gave the message and did the vows at our wedding, said a bit; and then mike, who lead worship at our wedding, lead the same songs for the reception.
it was a really good time of remembering, of fellowship, and of worship :)


i was particularly blessed when the love of my life said his vows to me in front of his community here in red lake. i wasn't expecting it. i knew he was going to get up and say a lil' something...but to here those words again blessed me beyond measure :) i am one very very lucky wifey!





to wrap up the little program we did a slideshow with music and pictures from the wedding.
i could watch it over and over and over again :) best day of my life!!!!

happy bday baby :)

today is my baby's bday :)

i've heard that the older you get, the less exciting bdays are...i assume this is because people are not too fond of the idea of losing their youthfulness...i think we need to get this idea out of our heads...we may loose physical youthfulness, but each year brings so many new and exciting changes as well :) we learn new things. we experience new things. we meet new people. we see new places. we grow spiritually. we gain wisdom, understanding and knowledge. we are given new opportunities. we live life :)

bdays are a chance to celebrate life.
bdays are a reminder of the gift that we have been given in life.
bdays are an opportunity to let someone know how much you appreciate that their life has intertwined with your life.

i am so glad that my baby was born and am already enjoying celebrating his life today :)
i got up early this morning to make him a breakfast of fried potatoes, eggs over easy, italian sausage, toast, a blueberry muffin, orange juice and coffee...along w/ a card :)

he's at work now, and i've been working on his bday present this morning...


i'm so excited w/ how it turned out!!!
for anyone who doesn't know, dave is a gummy candy fanatic :)


ok, now shhhhhhh...don't tell! i haven't given it to him yet :)