Memorial Day weekend 2009

So much going on that I won't even try to cover it here. I'll just post a couple pictures I took a few weeks ago when Dave and I went to Coulee for the parade, the Last Stand Rodeo, Claytonfest, and my first flying expedition!

Friday evening we spent at home frantically getting our flowers and veggies planted before the long sunny weekend. It was time well spent since we didn't want that investment to die on us! Early Saturday we headed to Coulee City for the parade and BBQ at Nanna and Poppa's (Davis'). I'll post a couple pics from that once I get them edited.

Saturday eveing was the first annual Claytonfest at Viskerville (the Dormaiers are big with knicknames!) The shindig involved volleyball, campfire, a bad danceoff and a white elephant gift exchange. Most of the crew camped out, but we were excited for a real bed. We're getting soft in our old age! (plus it's a real pain to get out all the camping stuff out of storage for 14 hours).

Mom and Dad came up on Sunday to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Davis as well as Dave's parents. (Gma and Gpa are always really tickled that mom and dad come up every year) Went to the last day of the Last Stand Rodeo (it was their "Tough enough to wear pink day for breast cancer awareness.)



Thanks mom and Kathy for holding the umbrellas so I didn't get sun burned!!! Hope you like the pictures I was able to take!




We went to visit my mother-in-laws cousins on Sunday eveing. They live in the original Davis homestead which is a "Century Farm" because it's been there for over 100 years. They have worked really hard to renovate the place and it is beautiful!

I got the thrill of a lifetime when Sharon asked if I wanted to go flying for some pictures...heck yes I do! I was stunned when she let me take the wheel (so to speak) after about 3 minutes in the air. My heart was pounding and my eyes were wide. It is SO beautiful up there! I mean, I fly a lot, but not at the altitude we were at (between 3,500 and 5,500 feet). The view was stunning. We went west towards Levenworth then north to Chelan, then east back to Grand Coulee Dam and Bank's Lake before comeing home. Take-off and landing were done on the county road. :)






What a weekend!!! More pictures to come...eventually. :)

Mary + Quinn::Engagement Pics

Hi all,
Quick post with pictures many of you have seen (if you're on Facebook anyway). Last weekend Dave and I went up to Mt. Vernon to hang out with Mary and Quinn for the Tulip Festival. Funny thing, we didn't spend any time to speak of with the tulips! The only flowers we got acquainted with were daffodils. :) It was a great afternoon and we decided to do an engagement session warm-up. So keep in mind that these aren't the official pictures for their engagement. hahaha.










I might also mention that we had a couple yummy meals and we're all in love with the Lincoln Theater! The candy was cheap, the seats comfortable and the theater full of personality! We all finally watched Slumdog Millionaire. Definitely worth all the rave reviews!

Quinn, glad you had a baseball game in Mt. Vernon...we had a great time hanging out with you and Mary!

Easter Weekend in Hartline 2009

Ok, so now I'm throwing everything out of whack since this is a current post! Do I apologize or give myself credit? hum...

Had a lovely weekend in Hartline...eggs were dyed, photos taken and we even got to see much of the family. Visited with Grandma and Grandpa Friday, Saturday AND Sunday! So good to see them. We haven't been in town since New Year's so it was much overdue.

Here are a few pictures that I took throughout the weekend. Hannah had just gotten her hair relaxed for her 12th (!) birthday so we decided to do a quick photoshoot at Bunny's (what they call grandma Kathy). Quite a knock-out, eh?






I had forgotten the smell of they dye...pretty pungent...how could I forget?!





I couldn't resist including a few pics of the truck out back. Maybe I got a little out of control on the effects, but it's fun, don't you think? :)



Well, that's it for now. I hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend, remembering why we have it at all. To be honest, I am still amazed that the most important Christian holiday of the year gets the least play. Dave and I spent one early morning at church for a time of prayer, and it was magnificent. Just setting time aside to meditate on the magnitude of the day was really powerful.

I still have Christmas AND Priest Lake that I can post sometime soon. Stay tuned.

Quote of the Month

Well, since Quote of the Week seems inappropriate, I thought I'd start again modestly. I will try to post some pictures from Christmas this week, since I'm almost finally caught up. :) In the meanwhile, this simple post will have to do.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
~ Steve Jobs

Our first hosted Thanksgiving (2008)

In addition to having a new house, the Dormaiers thought it would be fun to come to Seattle for Thanksgiving...which meant Dave and I hosted (and cooked) our very first Thanksgiving Dinner. "Ahhhhh!!! Ok, ok, we can do this," I thought. We just need to finish unpacking (yes, nearly 6 month later!), clean and figure out how to cook a turkey!! Noooo problem! :)

A friend of mine at work bought me a fancy schmancy meat thermometer and gave me a great turkey tutorial that included a butter massage and a aluminum breast plate (henceforth called the Breastplate of Righteousness"). Dave was pretty much in charge of the sweet potatoes and green bean casserole (yum!) and I discovered that I can cook a turkey and that fresh cranberry sauce is to die for! (and really easy to make). Overall, the night was a success!

We also figured out that we can house 14 (sleeping) bodies if we need to...people were spread out everywhere! Most of the kids were on a huge island of blow up mattresses in the family room while most of the adults were in the main part of the house. Everyone stayed nice and toasty between our wood burning stove and electric heat...talk about hybrid!

Asres and Dan watching a movie...


We didn't have a rack to put in the bottom of the pan for the turkey, so Kelley got to make the foil snake. Yes, lots of jokes were made...

Dave gets into one of the (many) books lying around...

Don't mess with my mother-in-law...she's got a knife!!

The happy turkey after it's butter massage.


Kody and Sam horsing around...

Who knew that chess would be such a big hit this year? Dawson, Jesse, Sam, Dave and Paul were nearly fanatics. Glad our board finally got some use!


Thanks to David who utilized his budding photography skills for these pictures! :)

Quote of the week

In honor of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, a quote from him:

“I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”

~Abraham Lincloln

Me neither!

I Found Your Camera!

Ok, I have to blog shortly about this site I just found. If you've every lost a camera (or in my case, all my CF cards) then you know how frustrating it is. Maybe you found a camera with someone's pictures still on it and you'd like to give it back. Pictures are valuable to us because they capture moments in our lives. Who wouldn't want their pictures back from prom or the first birthday of their child or a special trip? I'm dying to get back the pics I took from when we had our house all torn apart...I really want to prove that we didn't just paint the walls!! :)

check out this site...it's the international lost and found for cameras, memory cards and film. www.ifoundyourcamera.com A link is also under our "Friend's Blogs" to the right.

Quote of the Week

I'm going to start putting the Quote of the Week in its own post so that if I ever do print a book from here, then I will be able to include all these great (and sometimes inspiring) quotes. Sound like a plan?

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
--Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Emmitt Gregory McLachlan

11 days old. Adorable. Need I say more?










More pics on my website: www.brookwhitney.com

A couple photos from Christmas

This year we had a pretty laid back Christmas. It seemed like everyone was out of town or unavailable, but it proved to be a special time for all. These are pics from Christmas night. Usually we go to Auntie Betty and Uncle Joe's for dinner with all the cousins and grandparents and all. Uncle Joe was sick and we missed them terribly, but we had a fun time at Nonnie and Papa's house. Mae kept us all entertained and we raided Nonnie's closet for our New Year's Celebration with the Menards (those pictures to come soon).

This photo needs a brief explaination...Sean has a fart program on his phone and Mae was making us all laugh with it (quite hysterically).