Happy Thanksgiving!

Nial and I returned from our mini-vacation on Tuesday real late. It was awesome to catch up with some friends, visit the Cluff Homestead and attend Simple Faith on Sunday. It was short but sweet. We had the chance to meet Weston's new girl-- super cute! And see the new boat which is huge and definitely something I will make the trip to go cruise on! It was too short to do everything (sorry we didn't make it to see you Tiana!) but what we had we were definitely grateful for.

Turkey Day! Nial spent the morning taking pictures of a washed out road in Index and the Skykomish River that he loves to fish. I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen with my Mom. Turkey, stuffing, yams, potatoes, corn, rolls, cranberry applesause, one Dutch Apple pie and one pumpkin pie. The pies are my favorite to bake... I think because I feel empowered with a rolling pin :)
As tradition dictates: before dinner Dad read scripture and we had a prayer, after dinner we each read 10 things we were thankful for and that always brings tears from the weak-eyed. We played some board games and visited til the little ones got cranky and sleepy.
It was alot of fun... 11 of us in all, 2 of whom are little tykes.

I hope all had a lovely Thanksgiving Day!!! Unfortunatly, Nial and I both have sinus infections and a terrible cough... any cures?!

Trip South Approches!!

Nial just informed me yesterday that he actually has all next week off (therefore, with weekends 10 days off!). SO, we've been trying to get back down to Ashland to visit since Halloween-- now we can! As the plan stands to date, we are leaving Saturday and returning home on Tuesday. We're both so excited to see everyone. Dallas knew right away somehow and was texting me asking if I was coming :)

We're attending a Thanksgiving Pancake Dinner on Sunday at my old house-- should be interesting as we're supposed to dress up. For pancakes that seems weird?!



Tiana are you guys going to be in town by any chance???

A Trip in the Rain...

Friday, Nial and I took a small road trip across the Cascades to Cle Elum and the Yakima River. We met up with 6 other friends and friends of friends to camp for a night and fish (well, they fished I took pics.) We got there and it began to rain. It rained all night. It was COLD! I hardly slept a wink... The guys fished on Saturday, another girl sewed and I clicked away! We made fun of the boys in their silly waiters...

We had two dogs between the 7 of us, they were both puppies and extremely energetic and cute! I snapped a ton of Lark because she made Nial and I her adoptive parents on the trip. See how adorable???!!

We made it back in time to have a horribly sleepy and honestly boring night of watching Mia while her parents went out. The drive to Cle Elum and back was interesting on several levels because of the storms we've been having and the local flooding. The fall colors and scenery of the Yakima valley were gorgeous.

Mia and Jackson

My neice and nephew are the cutest things that ever happened. I watch Mia on wednesdays and she is a doll; always trying to get into trouble -- paint her nails, draw on the walls, play with scissors, take off her pants, get into Nial's room, or play with mom's makeup. Thursdays I watch Jackson, he is definitely a boy. Trucks running into each other, crashing blocks, running, rolling, motorcycles, wrestling and hard nap time.

I love them to death!

Tomorrow, Nial and I are going on a mini-fishing trip with friends from his work. Should be fun! Except that its raining. And cold. And I don't fish. And I can't really hike. But seriously, I'm planning on having fun! Because camping is great and I like his/our friends and fires and I can enjoy the outdoors, though I'm still not really sure what I'm going to do :) oh well.

My First Blog

Wow! I've never had a blog before, well that I actually took seriously. So we'll see how long I can actually keep this up! Currently, I am watching early election news, applying for school, recoverying from knee surgery. I am living in Snohomish, Washington in the great country of the United States. I am a registered republican and an avid volleyball athlete. My family means a lot to me and I see everyone at least once a week. I babysit my neice and nephew at least once a week and work at a restuarant on the Snohomish River real close to were I live.
I have been with Nial Cluff for nine months (tomorrow :)) and we are very very happy together. He moved up here when I moved back after being in Ashland for a year. He lives with my oldest brother, Jordan and his wife and baby Mia! They live in Monroe, where I grew up and its luckily only about a 6 minute drive. He is working for Snohomish County as a part of an AmeriCorps program. He is technically a "Forest Service Specialist" or something like that... His crew takes care of salmon habitats and native species and helps during times of emergency, like the floods that happen every year. He likes it and is definitely his supervisor's favorite worker.
Wahoo that was more than I even meant to write for this first blog... bon chance!