Good-bye, Pella Christian High!

Pella Christian High School, my alma mater, just built a brand new beautiful school on the other side of town. This past weekend they had 'alumni games' in the old gym as a celebration of the old school. I played volleyball--old guys vs. young guys (they beat us by 1 point...darn!) Then they had women's 6-on-6 basketball. Now, I grew up in the Chicago area and never played 6-on-6, and they switched to 5-on-5 the year we moved to Pella, so I never had to play it in high school. That is probably the most boring basketball game I have ever played! After that they had girl's 5-on-5, but I didn't stay because we had 4 inches of snow in 2 hours, and I wanted to drive home. Good-bye little gym!!
Here I am in the entry hallway.
Looking down the hall toward the gym doors. I have spent many hours in this school building, and I am going to miss it a little bit. But the new school sure is nice...

Christmas Party

Last Saturday it snowed all day...I had to shovel twice! Here is a view of my house around 2:30pm, after the first shovel. Below is some leaves on the neighbors ice-covered tree. I guess autumn never quite finished before winter kicked in, because none of the leaves fell off those young oak trees!

I invited a bunch of friends over for my annual "A Christmas Story" party. This is the movie with Ralphie and the bb gun...it's my favorite! After I cleaned the entire house and got the food ready, I had some time to kill before the party, so I made some luminarias for the front steps. They were beautiful!

Some of my friends gave me a leg lamp nightlight as a Christmas present. It's so beautiful, and fra-gi-le...must be Italian! (If you haven't seen the movie, I guess you won't get that joke. Sorry.) Justin also got into the theme and showed up in an "A Christmas Story" t-shirt.

Winter Wonderland

We had a big ice storm yesterday. It sleeted all night, and then froze all day followed by a dusting of snow in the evening. I took work home Monday night so I didn't have to drive to Des Moines. The picture above is a branch on a bush by my driveway.
The tree by the house next door is leaning toward my house. I trimmed all the branches that were above my roof last summer, and I'm glad I did because the other branches that are normally high above my head were almost touching the ground because of the ice.

All the trees in my yard lost a bunch of branches last Feb. during an ice storm. I think the rest might have cracked yesterday. I guess this spring I'll just have a bunch of trunks...and a big pile of firewood.
This is the bush next to my driveway again. It really is very pretty...like an ice castle. I tried to walk the dog around the block and couldn't because all the trees by the sidewalk were so heavy the branches blocked the sidewalk. I like to look at it from the comfort of my warm house with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. :)

Thanksgiving 2008

My sister Lynn created a lovely fruit turkey. It was delicious! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my beautiful pie...it was pretty blah. Guess i won't try that recipe again.
We had our traditional family Thanksgiving picture in the same spot as we do every year...it gets more crowded every year!
We also had a rousing game of "Pin the Tail on the Turkey."
Finally, we went out and picked a Christmas tree and put up decorations. Carrie and Mom hung ornaments on the tree while I put up the icicle lights outside. Mom commented that she is glad 3 of her children are still single, as we still help her put up decorations...thanks a lot, Mom!

Gobble Gobble Gobble

I decided to forgo the dutch apple pie for thanksgiving this year, and tried a new recipe: Cranberry Pear Pie. It looks beautiful! Stay tuned to find out how it tastes...

When I drove to work in Des Moines this morning, there wasn't a bit of moisture on the ground, and the people on the radio assured me that the snow was all south and east of Des Moines, and we wouldn't get much. Twenty minutes after I got to work it started snowing, and hasn't stopped. I left work at 3:30pm and drove through snow all the way home!

First shoveling of the front steps this winter!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

My niece Emily turned 7 last week, and we had a little birthday party for her. Lynn made the cake--this picture was taken BEFORE we started eating the cake...it has a few problems. I gave Emily the soundtrack to High School Musical 2, so we spent the next 30 minutes watching the girls sing and dance along with that. Fun birthday!

Iowa State Tournament

This past weekend the Pella Christian Eagles volleyball team, coached by my dad, played in the State tournament. They had enough passes that my mom, sister, and I could all ride with the team and sit down on the floor with the "cool" people. My sister and I both played at state while in high school, so it was also a trip down memory lane for us. Here is the display on the square in Pella.
Staci, Brittany, Carlee, Michelle, and Bekah
Carrie and I preparing to take stats and cheer on the team!

PC won the first round. In the semi-finals they lost to Dike-New Hartford in 5 games by 2 points. It was a disappointing loss, and they were so close to winning. It was a great season, and 3rd place in the state is not too shabby!

Quack Quack

Winston's current favorite toy is a duck that has a noise maker in it. when you squeeze it, the duck says "quack quack quack quack quack" in a loud, low voice. he loves to chase it across the room, and then make it quack. it's nice, except for at 6am when he starts playing with it and i am still trying to sleep...

High School Musical

This is my nieces Abby and Rhea singing along with the High School Musical soundtrack...I couldn't get the video to upload, but here is a link!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1630300194633896308

Decorating

Last week I carved a couple Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween. People in Oskaloosa get really into decorating for Halloween...there are whole blocks where people turn their front yards into a big, long haunted, yard. I was more subtle, and just carved two pumpkins for my front steps.

This past weekend I decorated for Christmas in my house. I know, it's a little early, but I don't know how busy my weekends will be from now until Christmas, so I wanted to get it done while I had some time. I love the elf ladder...my little friends always help me decorate the tree!

Colorado Meetings

Ok, so this is a delayed posting, but i haven't had a chance...early in october we went to Colorado Springs for work for national meeting for USA Volleyball. We stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska, on the way there for lunch and ate at King Kong. Guess what their decorating theme is...yes! gorillas!!!!
We spent some time with the Hoke family while we were there--we miss them here in Iowa! We went hiking by Helen Hunt Falls and took some "christmas card" pictures.
This was the view from my hotel room balcony. Not too shabby.

Olivia Lynn Cutler--October 23, 2008

My sister Lynn has her 5th daughter yesterday. Yes, 5th daughter! We now have a basketball team! She went into labor in the afternoon and had her a little before 6pm, so it was a quick one. My sister Carrie and I spent the night with the other girls, and went to visit Olivia (and Lynn and Doug) this morning.
Olivia was 6lbs., 8 oz., and was a little blue when she was born, but is healthy. She is so little! She didn't want to wake up when we were there, but I believe she does have eyeballs, even though I haven't seen them, so that is good.

The Dragon!

I bought a book at a sale that I wanted to give to one of my nieces for Christmas. The next day, I saw a pattern to knit a dragon online. So I thought the two together would be a great gift! I spent a couple nights last week knitting while I watched tv, and managed to put together this dragon. I think it will be great Christmas gift!

This dragon even has teeth and wings!

The New Colleen!!

I tried a new recipe the other night--beef and sweet potato bake. It was delicious (and looked good too)!

I got my hair cut last night, and finally did something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I don't know why. Maybe this is my "I'm nearing thirty and will have to grow up eventually but don't quite want to yet" act of defiance. Or maybe my "I'm thinking about becoming a punk rocker and am trying out the hairstyle before I make a final decision" look. Anyhow, this is the new me for a while.
I guess with pink in my hair maybe I should start wearing more pastels and girly clothes...

Louisiana, Missouri

Last weekend Sara and I went down to Louisiana, Missouri, to visit our friend Jana, who moved there a few years ago. Here I am standing on the banks of the mighty Mississippi!

Jana ran into some trouble with the local bandits, but we were able to rescue her on time...

Saturday evening we grilled steak and had a nice dinner on Jana's freshly de-weeded patio with a fire going in her new fire bowl. I took on the challenge of making a centerpiece from candles and items gleaned only from her yard. I think I did a pretty good job!

On Sunday, we went boating with Jimmy, who is Jana's pastor. He is young and single. I am telling you this because this is a picture of his brand-spankin' new boat. The Love Nest?!? I wonder if he will change the name...

California or bust!

Last weekend Mom and I went to California to visit my Grandma Huizenga, as well as some other aunts and uncles and cousins that all live there. We flew into San Franciso, and drove the rental car to Visalia, where Grandma and the Bothof family live.I took this picture because i am always thrilled by the windmills all over the pass. I'm putting it on because the traffic is so light! I've decided that one of the top reasons i live in Iowa is because the traffic is so light! The only negative part of the whole trip was the humongous number of cars on the road.
Aunt Judy, Mom, Grandma, and I spent the day driving through King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. I got three stamps in my national park passport (it is officially an obsession). We had a nice picnic among the trees, then saw the General Lee and General Grant trees on a short hike. We also visited some of the new visitor centers. Those are some big trees!

This valley holds the world's largest grove of Sequoias. You can tell which they are because they are the tallest trees there, and also because they have rounded tops while the other trees come to a point.

Three generations!

On Monday Mom and I drove up to Napa Valley and visited a vineyard recommended by BJ and Pat--Castello d'Amarosa. The castle was built over about 15 years, and is modeled after a 13th century Italian castle, and uses mostly authentic materials. We toured the castle, then tasted and bought some wine. Unfortunately, you can no longer carry bottles of wine in your carry-on (that's what i've always done in the past!), so we also had to get a box and hope they didn't crack!

On the north tower.

Let us out! Let us out! We don't want to sit in that chair! It's pokey!

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida--July 2007

I was the coach of the Iowa High Performance Select (8th and 9th graders) team at the 2007 HP Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Girls from all across the state tried out for the team, and we took 10 girls. We played will and came in 15th out of 24 teams, which is one spot higher than last year, so we are improving!

We spent a couple afternoons on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale. It was never real crowded when we were there, which was nice. It was hot!!! I wore 45 spf sunblock, and after about an hour I was red as a lobster. The water was perfectly clear, and you could see your toes when the water was up to your shoulders.

"Life is like a box of chocolates..."

The entire group went on a catamaran ride out into the open ocean one evening. It was a little too dark to snorkel, but I swam out in the open ocean with the girls. I learned a very important lesson: I can swim in the ocean on the beach, and I can ride in a boat in the open ocean, and i will feel great. But when I swim in the open ocean, I THROW UP! This was before I swam, which is why I am still smiling and have some color to my cheeks. :)