A Busy December!

I'm sure for most of us December is one of the busiest months of the year!  Baking...decorating...Christmas programs...school programs...birthdays...shopping...etc.  Now we sit on the last day of 2014, celebrating this year and the years to come!  Thank goodness we have pictures to remind us of the fun times...sometimes it's a blur!

 

We started the month with snow, but in a very rare occurrence, there is no snow for Christmas!

Our church has a Cookie Walk every December...and we(both of us) bake for it!

 

And everyone of these goodies along with all the other baked donations from our church family were gone in less than 2 hours!

We were privileged to watch these two munchkins sing in their Christmas program!

We enjoyed Christmas Eve services at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie with Sam & Roz & their family.

 

We will all gather at our home this weekend...so I decorated!  As I always do!

Kitchen tree...

 

My Mom's Christmas Village...

 

Our tree...flocked, just like my Dad did theirs each year! Only he sprayed a real tree!

I started a tradition several years ago of giving each of my girls ornaments with their kids pictures in them...sometimes it's a group photo, sometimes individual...they treasure them!

We also visited this special lady!  A bittersweet visit, but we took her a picture of our first potluck with them...when we bought this beautiful place from them!  God surely had a hand in this! 

Have to share some pictures of the progress on our "retirement" home!  It's almost insulated and ready for drywall...then wood ceiling...our carpenter says it will be done this spring!

Here's the room above the garage...future sewing studio!

 The steps in the garage leading into the house...we will build a ramp at the front porch for handicap accessibility.

The stairs in the garage leading up to the "studio"!

Just had to share one of the painted windows for Christmas...at our favorite restaurant...Turtle River Chop House!

Finally...Papa doing what he's done for the past 12 years with the grandkids...reading!  The little ones just run to the hallway, get their book and find Papa...and he never says no!  Calli has already found his lap!

A blessed Christmas season to all of you...and a Happy New Year!  

Oh, the memories...

Me and 2 of my brothers on Santa's lap in 1957!

To be continued in 2015!

The Journey from Blackduck to the Capitol!

     So....yesterday we decided to drive into Blackduck to share in the excitement!  When you drive to the school and see this...

 

And this....

 

On a normal day, you would be alarmed!  Not yesterday...the nation's Capitol Christmas Tree was in town!  The semi made a stop in Blackduck before heading on it's cross country journey to Washington D.C.  The tree was cut from the Chippewa Forest just south of Blackduck.  This is big time for a small community like Blackduck!!  You don't often see these guys guarding a tree...

 

They took their job very seriously! And it seemed the entire community was there!  The band played...

 

Even Smokey the Bear showed up!

 

 The semi was beautifully painted to tell the story of it's journey...this is painted on the side of the cab...

 

And here's the trailer holding the famous tree!  The back part had windows so you could see the tree, partially decorated for it's journey!

 

There were ladders placed near the trailer so the kids could climb up and sign their name...

 

3 of our grand kids go to Blackduck school...and daughter, Jen, is a teacher...here she is with her class.

 

Jillian, 5, is in her Mommy's class and she got to sign her name...

 

Nathan, second grade enjoyed seeing the firetruck and police...and thought the guards might be from the "Chips" show!  Here he is with his friend, Detective Flann...

 

When Nathan heard the Capitol tree was coming to his school, he wanted to know if the President was coming...we said no, but the Mayor would be there...then he got really excited!

 

And had to get his picture taken with him!  That Mayor doesn't realize that he made Nathan's day!!

Just small town...but we sure love this small town!

God speed, Christmas Tree...go and represent our small community with big hearts...and really big trees...minus one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Resort Season Ends!

      Where does the time go?  It seems like we were just rushing around getting the resort ready to open...and now we are rushing around getting the water turned off, lines blown out and everything closed up for the winter!

The pool cover is on for the winter...

 

New picnic tables are folded up and stored...

 

The last loads of cabin bedding are washed and bagged...

 

Whatever did I do before we had golf carts to haul all this to cabins?

 

We watched the stocking of walleyes in the lake this month...500# of walleyes, sizes ranging from 9 to a pound to 50 to a pound!  An exciting addition to the lake every other year!

 

My Blackduck quilting group came out in October and sewed for 4 days in cabin #12...

 

Jackie and her block of the month quilt...nearly finished!

 

Val & Bev with Val's block of the month quilt...ready for borders!

 

Jillian posing with the pumpkin bags we filled for the fall!

 

My recently finished retreat quilt, ready to be quilted!

 

Fall wall hanging, quilted and ready for binding...sewn many years ago!

 

Flannel quilt needs binding, but we got cold and had to use it!

 

Table runner kit from years ago...finally quilted and ready to bind...

 

Nativity wall hanging for church...needs binding!

 

Stained glass wall hanging to bind for church!

 

You can see I have plenty of sewing to keep me busy for awhile...and lots of new projects to begin this winter!  I won't lack for sewing ideas when the snow flies!

We also continue to watch the construction progress...every photo seems to make the house look bigger than the last photo!  What are we thinking?  I guess some big families will have plenty of room to spread out next summer...and we'll have room for our growing family whenever we retire!

 

And this just might be a sewing loft...some day!

 Shingling has started...that should be finished this week!  The doors will be put in today...windows should arrive this week and finish up the closing in of everything for the winter work!  Yes, it's big!

I also want to share a photo I took a year ago...a beautiful sunset...something I didn't notice until I saw the photo later was the reflection the sun had shown on the lake...the first photo is the photo I took...

 

And below is the photo shown upside down...a sign?  Perhaps...

 

Beauty, for sure!

So now we settle in for the end of the season...wait for the snow to fall...and make our list for the 2015 resort season...we already have lots of fun ideas to make your vacation the best ever!