Christmas 2010

We had a fabulous Christmas.  What a weekend.  Tons of fun with family and friends.  Here we are at mom's house Christmas Eve. 

Having our Christmas graze at moms.

Paisley was my brother Michaels helper that night.

My youngest brother Michael being Santa.

Jeneva received some great things from Spain.  This is for you Diana.

Paisley helping my other brother Steven open his gifts.

Paisley's favorite Christmas present are these pair of skates that aunt Christine and uncle Thomas gave her.  We can't keep them off her feet.

My favorite gift...my new Nike free run shoes.  They are so comfortable!!!!

My other favorite is my new yoga sandals.  Yes, I do enjoy yoga, but have not been for awhile.   They help with posture and balance.  In addition, they will be great for my monthly pedicures.  They have straps between each toe.  Very comfortable!  George gave them both to me along with some dvds I had been wanting and 5 new pride and prejudice sequel books.  Love ya!

Paisley with her stocking.

And this is also part of her stocking.  George was tasked with the stocking stuffers and this is what he bought.  Needless to say they did not fit into her stocking and his theme is pretty obvious.

Christmas morning we opened more presents.

Played with Daddy's new motion sensor stuff for his Playstation 3.  They were having a ball.
More roller skating.

I gave these to Paisley.  They are so cool.  I stood in line for these babies and they are worth it.

Paisley has such great friends that love her.  Valerie stopped by to give her this doll she just loves for her birthday present.  Thanks Valerie-we love ya!

Paisley's best friend Amira gave her these too cute hair bands.  Thanks Amira we love ya too!  Come over soon to play.

Paisley's big gift was this v tech bike game.  It hooks to the tv and she has to get a work out by pedaling.  She will also learn letters, number, colors, shapes, etc.  We can't keep her off of it.
For breakfast daddy made us monkey bread and our favorite neighbor and friend Donna Barrett gave us yummy bear claws to enjoy.  Thanks for letting me come over and spend some time with you Donna and Gus!

Saturday morning we headed down to Belfair where George's mom and Papa Nick live.  Here is Paisley helping papa Nick.

Now the pictures are out of order, but it still works.  Melissa brought along cookies and decor to have a cookie decorating competition.  Here we are making our cookies.

Here is my contribution and entry!  Love it. Great idea Melissa!


George even participated.  He is really good.

George made this for Paisley.


We could not get her off of this horse. 

I had to add this in.  This is the first time she was on the horse.  She is so grown up.  I miss the baby days already.
We had such a great time.
On our way home we were able to ride the new ferry and have Ivar's clam chowder.  So good and the ferry was nice too.  By this time you can see in her face she is wiped out.  She slept really good.

Papa Nick made us fried bread for breakfast.  My favorite.  Yum!

Papa Nick also gave Paisley a new kitty.  It looks real, but it is not.  She has it safely in her room.  Thank you Papa!
Here we are unwrapping Christmas gifts.

Paisley helping everyone with their gifts.

She loves her snow boots uncle Kona!

Trying on grandma's funny hat.

She is so spoiled and loved.

We had a fabulous Christmas.  To top it off when we got home we had a surprise visit from Kekaula and her husband Leonard.  She was visiting from Hawaii and stopped by.  Such a great treat.

We are so blessed and so thankful to all of family and friends that spoil us, take care of us and love us.

Mele Kalikimaka

We hope all of our family and friends have a wonderful Christmas!  Mele Kalikimaka!  The Place Family

College Girl Again

Ok, so I am now officially a college girl again!!! 

Here is a little back ground.  I went to Montana State University right out of high school. 
I was a double major in history and physical education with the intent to teach high school level. 

Well, things changed and home I came.  I was immediately hired onto the City at age 20 and began working two full time jobs and kept going to Skagit for my AA degree.   

This year I was given the opportunity to finish up my four year degree.  The kicker it has to be in accounting. 

So, I went to work on transferring credits and low and behold....they all transferred over!!!!  Hurray.

Oddly enough....one of my few classes left to finish to get the 2 year degree is a history class.  Weird enough since I was a history major and already took every war class you could imagine, but they request a certain one here.

So my choices were American History or Western Civilization-no brainer there...I am taking Amercian History. 

I begin January 10th and I am trying the first class on-line.  I am getting really excited and I am glad that I did not waste my parents 2nd mortgage after all when they made it possible for me to go to college.

When I am done I will have a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Accounting.

Life is weird and takes you in many directions that you did not plan for. 

I gurantee you I did not expect to go back to college at 34, having a toddler, and after being invested in the City for 13 years. 

Having said that I am grateful for the opportunity and I am thankful for George encouraging me and supporting me on this next adventure. 

I pray for balance each day between family, work, church and now college. 

Prime Rib and Cookies-What more can you ask for!

Our weekend began Friday night with a fabulous Christmas Party.   We all chipped in for a 20lb prime rib. 
George cooked it up and here it is.  It was great! 
We had a fabulous fabulous time.  

We did a gift exchange.  In which we drew someone's name and could not spend more than $25.00. 
George and I made out.  Here is some of our loot.
The coolest thing was the hamburger slider maker.
I love sliders!
I also have the second cook book out by Jessica Seinfeld.  Great ideas!

Paisley was taking a bath and I told her to have a serious face...this one make her look like she is in pain.
She is not...she loves the water and bubbles.

We could not stop laughing....

Not sure what kind of face this is...but cute none the less.

I don't know why I think I like to craft...I really don't.
I do like to make my boards, but when I get half way in...I just want to be done.
I made this board Saturday.

And these boards too all on Saturday.  Jeneva helped me paint and Paisley pushed the buttons on my cricket to help out.  At least I have 5 more gifts done that I did not expect to do.

George made a new recipe for dinner Sunday night.  Chicken Cattiatore.  It was really good.

Then Paisley and I made our cookie dough for another Christmas party tonight. 
It is a cookie exchange.  She is such a great helper.

We are making peanut butter cookies surrounding a Dove chocolate that melts in the middle.
Ooey Gooey Delicious!!!  Can't wait to party tonight!

Paisley's 3rd Birthday


Here is our big 3 year old in her new birthday outfit. 
She is so excited to go to Seattle.

We decided this year we would go to the Seattle Aquarium for her birthday. 
So we gathered up the entire family and car pooled down.  The family had a great time. 

This was too cool.  A jelly fish exhibit where they went around in the tube thing. 
George's mom in her cutie pa tootie hat.
Too cute Claudette! 


You will note in the next few pictures my girl is the only one that did not look up or smile at the camera.

Cousin Lynnsey

Cousin Kyanne

Cousin Jeneva


This one was too cute.


She loved looking at all the new sites.

Watching the scuba divers feed the fish in the dome.

My cousin Jennifer and her family.  So glad they came too.

Love this picture. 
I am going to have it blown up and framed for them.

Grandma and Paisley

Daddy, Paisley and Lynnsey
A bunch of hams.

Touching some marine life.

Most of the time we just had to keep her out of the water.



We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  We celebrated Jeneva and Paisley's birthday. 
Jeneva is a Grease Movie Freak.  So we got her the new Grease Wii game. 
We also got her a pack of socks from Little Miss Matched.com-they only sell one of each sock, but the colors and designs compliment each other so you can mix and match to your heart is content.  They are really cute. 
We bought Paisley a pack too.
Paisley opening her presents.

Their cute cake.  The princesses lighted up and all.

Melissa and Kona got her this headdress and some cute pj's.  Too fun.


Paisley made out like a bandit.  Thanks to all for the wonderful gifts! 
And thank you family for coming with us to have a great time in Seattle.

We have the best home teachers.  Brother French has not missed a month since being assigned to us. 
He is truly fabulous.
He stopped by just to give Paisley a plate of cookies and some barretts his wife made for her birthday.
Thank you French Family!

Long story here, but I now have 3 Seattle area entertainment books.  They had a buy one get one free coupon to the aquarium, plus a second one each on line.  We saved a ton of money with these babies. 
It was cheaper to buy the books than the entry fee...can you believe it.
So we had 6 coupons and then Christine (my sister) was given 3 free tickets from a friend.
We saved a ton.
I have to give a huge thanks out to Melissa for telling me about these.
If anyone needs coupons, let me know!

Happy Birthday Paisley!!!