Catching Up!

Wow, I think this has been one of my longest posting breaks yet! December has been a busy month, with different things, but we are back now, and hope to be more consistent! Before I get on to Christmas pics, I have other stuff to put up!! Last week, we had lots of snow, that we all enjoyed so much. School was out for one day, so we took advantage of it. It was fun to see the kids play, and the twins check out their first real snowfall. As you can see by the pictures there were a couple of times when they weren't that impressed with it, but it gave me a giggle watching them :)One other thing that we took the opportunity to do when the weather was good couple of weeks ago was to take a family walk on one of the local trails. We unexpectedly stopped by our friends Ken & Bonnies house and talked them into coming with us. They were great sports and dropped everything they were involved in to join us. It was alot of fun!

Time with Daddy

Over the last 6 months "time with Daddy" has been a rare commodity for the kids. Now our life is back to normal, it has been great to see them be able to spend time together doing all kinds of fun stuff. Practising swinging a baseball bat, burning garbage, having "Thanksgiving" around the coffee table, and they even enjoyed shovelling gravel around the yard!!

Off to Tennessee again!

Jasen left for Tennessee again tonight. We put an offer in on a house last week and it was accepted with a couple of contingencies, one being Jasen's approval of the house, as it is one we haven't seen in person yet, and two, being the sale of our house. We are tentatively excited about this place as it pretty much fits in with our desires for a new home. It has 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, a full finished basement rec room, 5 acres and one of the best things about it is that it has a detached 3 car garage with 1600 sq ft of living space above it, perfect for company!!

We are trying not to get to excited as we do have to sell our house first, so there is a possibility that someone else may make an offer and be able to close before we can, however we believe that if this is the home for us, it will be kept for us :) Here are a couple of pictures, Jasen will have lots more next week.

Cute pictures

Sometimes I just have to show everyone how cute our kids are!
P.S. No, we didn't have ANOTHER baby, that is our sweet little niece Abigail!!

Before and After

Many of you know that Jasen has been working on a huge project over the last few months. It has required alot of blood, sweat and tears to say the least. He replaced the roof, the foundation, added a bedroom, and a bathroom, completely redid the electrics and plumbing, gutted the whole inside, removed the water tank and built a new one under the house, and so much more....

Well, I am so happy to say that he is finally done!!!!!! I get my husband back, and I think we get to pick up a regular life again....The pictures do not do all the work he did justice, but it will give you an idea.

Front before and after.

Kitchen Before During and After.

Living Room before during and after




Main bathroom before and after


Dining area before and after

Bedrooms 1&2 before and after

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!

For Angie.....why and when are we moving to Nashville!!

I guess this whole thing started about 18 months ago. We have been feeling for sometime now that it may be time for us to move on, but we didn't have any clear direction as to where or when. The last year or so has been hard for me, dealing with the constant bad weather that never seems to let up, and because of that being tied to the house with the small children, not being able to get out and do much. I long for a grassy yard for them to run in!! Jasen has always felt a strong call to ministry, and things for us in that respect have wound down for us here also. My parents had also been feeling that their time here was drawing to a close, and they made the decision at this summer to end their ministry here and move on. That is the why.....

Now to the where! My sister-in-law, Jenn started us looking in Nashville...the more we looked the more we liked. The housing is still relatively inexpensive, but the area is also growing rapidly. There is much to do there, and the people are very warm and friendly. Nashville is a good location for us, as it is midway between Jasen's parents in Ohio and North Carolina, and also Jenn's parents in Virginia. The climate is great, they have all four seasons, and there is not the big city feel that alot of "down south" places have. Overall, everything we have seen, we like. We are aiming to leave Ketchikan around the first part of February, if all goes well with selling our house. We are continuing to walk ahead with this, knowing that God has our future and we are trusting Him with it.

So, Angie there you have it! Hopefully that filled you in a little more on our plans :)

Tennessee

Well we made it safely home from Tennessee. We had a great time together exploring different areas and looking at many different houses. These are just a couple.

We stayed within an hours drive of Nashville, and I must say that I like most every area we went to. It struck me how everything was very neat and well kept. The people were very friendly, and the weather was perfect. We had much needed time together, and also were able to have dinner with our friends Ted and Shana.


We took one evening and went into downtown Nashville to listen to different bands play and see some of the sites. There is music EVERYWHERE, even people playing on the sidewalks!! We had alot of fun.

Unfortunately things didn't go as well at home. My poor Mom & Dad had to deal with sick twins and a traumatized Evan, who didn't do well with us being gone. Grandpa spent three nights with Evan sleeping on his chest, it was not a fun few days. We have been home a week, and he is just now getting back to normal.

We will keep you updated on our plans for the next few months, it is exciting, scary and sad all at the same time.

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

Jasen & I are leaving town for 6 whole days starting tomorrow!!! It will be a much anticipated and much needed break for both of us.

We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in May, and decided to take a trip, but with Jasen being right in the middle of a big project, thought it would be better to wait until he was done. So, we are heading to Nashville Tennessee tomorrow! As most people know by now, we are going to be moving after the first of next year, and the Nashville area seems to be the destination :) We are both excited for some free time to relax, and look into a new adventure for our family.

The kids get to hang out with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dave, Auntie Jenn & Abby while we are gone. I will probably make it two days before I start thinking about coming home early!! We have never left the kids this long before :)

Hopefully when we get back we will have lots of pics to post of our time.

Highlights of Summer

It seemed that this year summer came and went very quickly for us. We were in a flurry of constant activity. It all started with the birth of little Abigail. We had lots of company from out of town, and Jasen slaved away on a VERY long project that deserves it's own post!

A new school year has started so life is somewhat back to normal. Here are some pictures from our summer break, that you will hopefully enjoy.

Evan relaxing in the sun

Driving the boat with Jeremy.

The big catch!

Time spent at the playground

All helping Mommy bake :)

Hanging out with Auntie Jenn & Abby, and berry picking with Sharon

More playground fun (and Mommy reliving her childhood!)