Tis The Season!!!

December has arrived and with it a flurry of activities! I have always loved Christmas...the lights, the decorations, the caroling, family gatherings ...Santa fun, giving gifts.....but most of all the very reason for the season...the celebration of Jesus birthday.

Owning The UPS Store makes the month of December extremely hectic and to say the least very exhausting!! It is the busiest time of our year. It is always fun to see customers come in to ship their loved ones gifts, share some words of cheer and wish a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. My daughter -with the help of her daughter and a bit from me-bakes up a storm and puts out cookies & Starbucks coffee for our customers to enjoy while waiting their turn to get help at the counter! Everyone loves the cookies and are soon out the door, their packages on their way. We see friends, neighbors and "once a year shippers" that we haven't seen all year as they pass their packages over to be shipped. It IS fun but we are sooooo glad to close the door at night.....we are on the run the minute we open til we close! It is hard to keep focused on what Christmas is truly about when you get so tired and caught up in the busy days.

Last night we attended the Christmas Dinner at our church. The church was beautifully decorated, dinner was catered by Michael's On The Lake, Christmas music provided by the MLHS Swing Choir, harp & cello by Rena Harrison & Tracy Estrellado and we all sang Christmas carols together. Tonight, we attended the Christmas Musical at the Moses Lake Alliance Church.....wonderful music praising God.

In the midst of all the hectic busyness at the store, I once again feel a peace...my heart feels revived and more ready to face another week. The Christmas dinner and musical were just the remedy to remind me once again what the true "reason for the season" is all about. Thank you Lord, for the reminders!!

....and yet ANOTHER suprprise!!!!!!!!!

Lisa and Amador surprised Gary and me with a 60th Birthday Celebration!! I had wanted to plan one for Gary and while Lisa and I were "working on it together", they were planning one for the both of us!! Our birthdays are only 16 days apart! It was a huge surprise...they threw a wonderful birthday celebration for us. We had dinner at the Pillar Rock with many family and friends! Truely it was a wonderful blessing. Thank you with all our hearts to the kids for doing this and to all our family and friends for coming to celebrate with us!! You all are so very special to us and we love you each dearly!!

Surprise.....and surprise Again!!!!!!!

Tonight my husband, one of our grandaughters and I went to Wenatchee, WA. Gary had a dinner meeting, so Hannah and I went along to go shopping. Hannah suggested we go visit my sister, Cheryl and her husband. So I called to see if they would be home. Steve answered and I asked him to not let Cheryl know we were in town, but that if they would be home, we would stop by for a bit if it worked out for them. So...we rang the doorbell, Steve answered, directed us to the utility room where Cheryl was getting laundry into the washer. We "snuck" up on her and yelled "boo"! It worked....she was startled and we were laughing to see our surprise had worked!!!! Stayed for about an hour, visiting while they ate dinner!! Great fun!! Love you both much. Would love to have ahd a camera to catch her look of surprise!!! Didn't think to take in my phone!!!!!! Oh well.....another time!!!!! Oh....and by the way....the second surprise....Cheryl and Hannah.....I have blogged yet again!!!!! :-)

Vegas, Death Valley & Grand Canyon

We took a trip to Nevada and our best friends flew in to meet us there!!!! What a wonderful time we had! Took in a couple shows in Vegas, drove to Death Valley and then on to Grand Canyon. The desert was full of awesome flowers in bloom-made Gary stop many times so I could get a pic!!He grumbled but was a great sport about it all!! We took picnic lunches on our outings and had a great time together laughing, visiting, sight-seeing and just hanging out together!!


Dinner in Vegas on the strip.





Bill and Janet posing at the falls!


Ceasar Palace water show......fountains move in time with the music!!


Death Valley...hot & dry!!!!!


Gary and Debs turn to pose....Death Valley


Picnic lunch -this time in Death Valley!


Desert flowers...soooo very pretty!!


Grand Canyon.....such beautiful views....no matter where you look, it was gorgeous!!


Lookout tower at the Grand Canyon...



Janets camera episode.....


Janet's camera....you would have to ask HER about THAT story!!! God blessed us with awesome friends and we are ever so grateful for them!!

May 5th, 2010....Happy 30th Birthday, Amador!

My son-in-law, Amador...the birthday guy!!! Lisa planned a special party for the big event...BBQ, outdoor movie night, campfire-to keep us warm-was a very cold evening!! His mom came from Colorado to surprise him! Family and friends joined us to celebrate. We love you, Amador and are blessed to have you as a part of our family!!





Amador loves Mountain Dew , so Lisa had a special............"Mountain Dew" cake made just for him!!

BFF!!!!!!!!!!

Lori, Deb, Louise, Sylvia and Patti

Best Friends Forever!!!!!! That's what the five of us seem to be!!!!! We have been together since grade school!! Patti, Lori & I since kindergarten...Louise came to Lakeview School in first grade and Sylvia joined us in 4th grade. We all grew up in the same neighborhood-spending MANY hours together up though High School!!!!! Oh the memories we have!! It would make a book I am sure to record all of our memories we have shared!! We stayed in touch after graduation, some of us able to attend each others weddings...I managed to attend each of the weddings!! About five years ago we decided to have a yearly get together in Leavenworth, Washington. A couple of times not all of us have made it but we have done pretty well!! We keep in touch for all the "major" events in our families and share prayer requests in difficult times we encounter. We definitely are friends forever....amd consider ourselves blessed to have had our friendship for so many years now.....54 years since Kindergarten and counting!!!!

May Wind Storm

Memories of dust storms in years gone by blew thru our area in full force on May 3rd...From breezy to 60 mph gusts.....the tumble weeds rolled by, roads closed, brown outs from the dust, trees uprooted, power outages-what a mess!! I came home for a late lunch and found one of our Blue Spruce trees in the front yard uprooted and laying on our house!! It was a tall tree but fortunately the smallest of the four Spruce trees in our front yard so no damage occurred to the house! Several neighbors lost trees and we were all out of power for about 10 hours. The kids made dinner and brought it up for us, Grandpa & Grandma Nelson & Grandma Chandler. Wasn't quite dark yet but we ate by candlelight and tried to keep warm-temps dropped to 30's that night!! We decided to take out all four trees and "remodel" the front yard....a sad day cuz I loved my "forest". The trees have been there for many, many years. The birds and squirrels LOVED those trees!! The biggest spruce used to bear Christmas lights for the Chandler kids growing up, and years later one of the "smaller" spruces were decorated by our family! Now my house gets LOTS of light-fun to walk into the rooms and soak up and take in the bright light-even the hallway is not so dark anymore!! I will miss our trees but I think I will love the sunny rooms!! Now there is alot of work ahead!! A new look is in the making!!


View of the uprooted Blue Spruce from the driveway.


View of tree laying on roof above our bedroom.


My bench is what caught my eye as I drove into the driveway....thought it was weird it was sitting unlevel.





View of the trees from our back yard.


Down come the trees.....











New look of our yard!!

Freaky April Winter Storm!!!

What a day!!!!! How weird to experience all the seasons of the year in a short 5 hour span!!!!! Sun, rain, strong gusty wind, snow, sleet, "sideways snow", hail, breezy wind, hail/snow, rain and back to sun!!!!! What a day to choose to cross the Cascade Mountains!!!!! Traffic came to a halt, then we all inched along for what seemed like forever!! Finally we all came to a tour bus that had slid sideways on the freeway, closing all but one lane. As we went around the end of the bus, a small pickup in front of me could not get traction and was slippin' & slidin' trying to get going-which he finally did. As I got to the same spot I started to loose traction but got going ok. Must be why the bus could not make it! Everyone was chaining up but I could not get to the side to chain up so kept going looking for a way over. Finally we all got to the "spot" in the freeway where the trucks had plowed and things got some better-almost at the top of Snoqualmie!! Going down was almost as bad!! Going East the freeway was closed for a bit. My hands ache from holding on to the steering wheel too tight!! In all the years I have traveled over the mountain, I have never had to chain up...this was the one time chains were required and I couldn't!! By the time I could, it wasn't required anymore!! A 3 hour trip took 5 hours!! Strange April weather!!

Mexican Christmas & Californian New Year!!

A wonderful Christmas vacation beginning in Mexico.....the Grand Mayan Palace located on the Riviera Maya just south of Cancun. Wonderful weather....swimming, delicious food, sight-seeing, snorkeling, beaches-equal a marvelous time!!!


Mayan Ruins tour....Chichen-Itza. Lots of history....which Amador ate up!!!!


Lots of gekkos and iguanas-everywhere!! This one was the king of all iguanas!!


Pools were like one big lake surrounding the resort-all connected. Very cool water so night swimming was chilly!!


On to California!! Spent a day & part of another at Universal Studios-we were on the go all the time and extremely exhausted by end of the day!! Had a super fun time!!

While in San Diego, we met my cousins,on the Holland side,for dinner to catch up after not seeing each other for several years!! Was a GREAT time!! Amador, Lisa & the girls met up with Amadors brother, Adam & his family and they joined us to go to Sea World.


Sea World!!!!


Awesome Christmas whale show! All music for the show was traditional Christmas hymns. Very beautifully done...all live music.


Caught on camera!!


New Years Day in Disneyland!!! Hannah & Savanna at Mad Hatters Tea Party!


Minnie Mouse....can't go to Disney without seeing Miss Minnie!!


There really IS a Santa!!!!


It's A Small World.....Gary & Amador's FAVORITE Disney ride!! Lit up so beautiful at night!!


HAPPY NEW YEAR......2010!!!!!!!

Memories.....Grandpa's barn

This is our "little red barn". I love our little barn and I can't help but think about my Grandpa's barn almost every time I look at it! I half expect to go back in time when I open the door to our barn. Not that Grandpa's barn was anywhere near the size of ours-the barn on the farm was huge. It WAS red and shaped like our little one is though!! I believe it may have been built in the late 1800's by my Great Grandfather. I was told it caught on fire and burned down once, then was rebuilt, but I do not know details-will have to get the history on the barn sometime. My cousins and I played in the hayloft-the boys built awesome tunnels throughout the hayloft. It was amazing fun!! The cows were milked in the barn-I can still remember the barn smell....sweet milk, cows and manure!! I was always fascinated by the barn and the farm activities in that old barn!! The family farm was eventually sold and as the years went by, the old barn aged and begin to deteriorate. Gradually its roof sloped in and it was one day leveled. When I traveled back to Minnesota, I took my family to the farm to see where their great-great (and even another great for MY grandaughter) grandparents had lived. The barn was no longer standing and I felt a saddness to see the empty spot where the big old red barn had proudly stood for so many years. We made many wonderful memories on the farm - I miss you Grandpa and Grandma....someday I will see you again!

Football...Seattle Seahawks game at Qwest Field

Qwest Field...October 11th, 2009



Seahawks mascot.....Blitz



Blitz bringing the team out of the tunnel onto the field.





What a great time we had....an exciting game to go to!! Seahawks defeat Jacksonville Jaguars at Qwest Field, 41 to 0! Matt Hasselbeck threw for 41 yds and 4 touchdowns....Gary & I had a great time together!! We can never go to a Seahawk game and not think about Jeremy-he loved the Seahawks and would have LOVED this game!! We miss you, Jerm!

Las Vegas Trip-October 2009

Spent a week in the Las Vegas,NV area-went to some evening shows and out to dinner at wonderful restaurants. The weather couldn't have been more wonderful! Sun, sun and MORE sun!!! During the day we drove to several "touristy" places and had an awesome time everywhere!



Decided to go to the Grand Canyon and on the way we stopped at Hoover Dam-they are building a new bridge which you can see in the background so that cars will no longer travel over the dam but "above" the dam. It is amazing to see how they are constructing the bridge!







Arrived late in the day to the Grand Canyon so our first glimpse was pretty much in the dark. Still was breath taking but the pictures did not turn out so well! Not having been to the Grand Canyon before, we were both awestruck by the majesty and beauty of the canyon. Would love to go back again!



One last day trip-just outside of Las Vegas is the Red Rock Canyon. You take a scenic drive thru the canyon. Many people were hiking and some rock climbing. Was again, a wonderful day!