Go Seahawks!!!!

Curt and I had such a fun time at the game!! We kept going back and forth on whether we should go or not because of the potential strain that it could put on our marriage :) That is sort of a joke but actually not really. The very first day that I met Curt he found a way to bash on the Seahawks; I remember it like it was yesterday. We were standing out in the middle of Pastor Ed's yard and had been talking not even 3 mins and somehow he mentioned that he was a Broncos fan....and I said "oh really" and he said, "yeah, the Broncos are supposedly rivals with the Seahawks but we have never felt there was any competition". My first thought was, "did he really just say that"? then it was, " the nerve!!", then I thought," I think I might kill him", then I thought," I don’t have many options and, well nobody is perfect so this is one fault I can deal with". Grrrrrr......So that was the day it started. And actually, we fight a lot about football.
When we got there I was waiting inside the gate for Curt to get through security and I found myself some Seahawk fans!!! I think they had already had a little to drink so they were quite friendly and opinionated. Some how it came up that my husband was a Bronco fan and one of the guys yells at the top of his voice, “DIVORCE HIM!!!!!" I laughed and said that not everyone can be smart enough to be Seahawk fans or who would cheer for the other teams? He agreed with me but then when Curt finally walked over he kept saying to us, I pronounce you divorced!! The other guy kept telling me to tell Curt that I wear the pants in the family. It was fun to talk with then since there were few of us fans there.
As Curt and I were walking to our seats some guy started booing me because of my jersey.....I thought to myself, "now how fair is that?, there is one of me in the midst of thousands of Bronco fans, how could I counter that?" I would have to walk through the crowd booing everyone I walked past! How ridiculous would I look!?
I’m sure I made 30 friends that night. You just wanted to go up and hug everyone with a Seahawk jersey on. It felt like you knew each other. It was great!!! A little piece of home in Denver.
There were Seattle fans near me and a lot actually but none were in my row or around me so I was very alone in my cheers. Every time the Broncos did something great Curt got to high five about 10 people. When the Seahawks did something great I got to high five myself or give the thumbs up to another Seahawk fan 10 rows away and hope that he saw me. There was a 10 yr old kid right behind me who was so obnoxious!!! He kept screaming at Hasselbeck that he sucked and the whole team sucked and then when I would stand up and cheer he would tell me to sit down. His Dad was encouraging his obnoxiousness and I wanted to spank the Dad for raising such an obnoxious child! Don’t get me wrong, when our kids are cheering for their team they can cheer all they want, but they wont be allowed to make fun of the other team and put people down. It’s just annoying.
So there were moments in the game when Curt was ecstatic and then moments when I was ecstatic and we had such a fun time. We prayed that it would be a fun game, not just a blow out, and boy was it. We went numb after about 15 minutes. I think they said the low was like 11 degrees with the wind! Boy was it cold. Fortunately we had friends who had winter clothes that I could borrow. We froze and it was worth every minute!!!
Bill Thomas called Curt Sunday before the game and said that he had a dream that the Broncos won 34 to 10. Oh brother! Bill, Bill, Bill.... wishful dreaming. Maybe next season. Don’t let Curt or Bill talk to you about the game because their logic on why the Bronco's lost is that it was Jay Cutler's first game, the Seahawks got lucky etc, etc........Boo on that. The Seahawks are good...that is why they won. Just remember that.
After the game I called my parents. When my Mom answered the phone the first thing she said was, “I hope you are acting like a Christian." Good grief!!!!! I said, "Mother, of course I am!" She said, well when your Dad heard that the Seahawks won he said to me, “I hope Kelli is acting like a Christian." Oh brother....could Curt get any better in-laws??? They don’t even care that my team won they are just making sure that I am not gloating about it. Don’t they remember what Curt did the very first day he met me!!!!! :) Anyways....we love each other, we had a lot of fun...Curt is a good loser :) Go Hawks!

Seahawks 23, Broncos 20......

2 tickets to the game = $200

1 hot chocolate, 1 bratwurst = $11

Clothes to keep you warm during 15 degree weather = $100

Watching your team beat your husbands = PRICELESS!

A small revelation

Jessica Cagle really inspires me when she talks about the Lord on her blog and so she has inspired me to do the same. This wont be very long but what I am about to say has impacted me a lot. To some of you this may be an old thought but to me its a million thoughts put into one phrase. I am a girl of deep convictions. I know that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life and I have served him as long as I can remember. Because I love him so much I always want to do things that please him and bring glory to his name. Of course I dont always do it right and fail many many times. The Lord has always spoken to me clearly about things he does not want me to do and I feel passionate about those standards that he has asked me to keep. Sometimes I wonder what the point is in it all and then the other night a man at Bible study said something that I will never forget.
He said, "If I married my wife Carol and then said to myself, I am going to keep my committement to Carol but try and figure out everything I can get away with while keeping my committment, what kind of a marriage is that."
It is such a simple picture but a million words in it. I dont want to serve the Lord half heartedly, Im tired of seeing friends and family "taken out" by the small compromises that they make in their christianity. The devil doesnt want to take our salvation. He just wants us to become so compromising that we make no impact on life around us. Im ready for the day when christians make things popular to the world, instead of the world making things popular to christians. I always go back to the verse, "all things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable". I think we waste more time figuring out things that are lawful for us to do instead of looking around our world and seeing that everything we think is lawful for us is distroying the people around us. What we do in moderation, those we should be an example to will do in excess.
I hope that example impact you as much as they did me.

I've been stalling...

So Im back from Seattle. I had a wonderful time with my family and seeing the beautiful NW again. I have been stalling to post because I dont have any pictures to post yet. My sisters camera broke so before I came she kept reminding me to bring mine so that we could take pictures. I was so paranoid about making sure that I packed it, I never once considered the fact that it may need to be charged. Typically when we go anywhere Curt is the one who makes sure all chargers are packed and it didnt cross my mind that I should take the charger. So I get to Seattle, so proud of myself that I remember the camera, whip it out, take 2 pictures and it dies!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe it! So immeadiately I call Curt to see if he will over night the charger because its so important that I take pictures. He went to mail it and found out that it would cost about $40 to over night it. Arrrrrrgh! So annoying....Curt then has this brilliant idea that I should just buy a disposable camera and we will just have the pictures put on a disk and I can do whatever I wish with them. I was reluctant but desperate so I took his advice. Im not sure that I have ever felt like a bigger nerd in my life. I felt like my 80yr old Grandma whipping out her wind up camera, saying, ok kids gather around...then trying to figure out how to turn on the flash and then starts to take the picture and has forgotten to wind it. I kid you not, I think my 1 year old nephew Jace thought we were joking when we heldthe camera up to our face and told him to smile. Everytime we did it he would look at us like...."what in the heck are you doing?, Is that a toy?" The first few times I took pictures, Julia would ask if she could see the picture on the back of the camera. We explained to her that this was a special camera that didnt have the picture on the back. She looked at us like, "HUH? What does that mean?"Its amazing the technology that kids are growing up in. They get to see pictures instantly and think its bizzare if the camera does not have that feature :) So needless to say I have not had time to go get the pictures developed....well, maybe I have had time but I keep forgetting or maybe I am just throughly embarassed to take my wind up camera into Costco.
So, cute story. Jana taught both of her kids sign language before they could talk, so ofcourse Julia doesnt use it anymore but Jace is really into it. Its so adorable. Anyways, Sunday morning Jana and I got to church and she realized that she had forgotten Jace's milk cup. That was a bummer but she figured he would be ok for a while. After church Jana and Justin had to stay for a while but I wanted to get home to watch the rest of the Seahawks game. I grabbed both of the kids, stuck them in the car and raced home. On our way the car was slient for a while and then all of a sudden Julia starts yelling at Jace, "Jace, NO!!!! Stop IT"....I was a bit confused as to why she was yelling at him because they were both being quiet . I asked her what was wrong and she said " Jace keeps asking for milk". I about died laughing.....of course I couldnt see him asking becuase he was signing for it but when he asks for his milk he will just stare at you and sign for it until he gets it. He must have been staring at her and she just got really annoyed with him. Kids!!! They are such a joy in life.....I have to go...my husband is patiently waiting for me at the door. I will post again shortly......

Im a whimp.....

So I have been here a little over a month and I am coming to visit Seattle on Wenesday! Hooray!!! I need to check on our house in Maple Valley and pick up some towels that I had Pam at Sew-it-is put our monogram on. They dont have a Bank of America anywhere in Colorado (how can you call it Bank of America? maybe bank of a select few states would be better) so I need to d0 some banking. Of course the main reason that I am going is to see my precious family. My parents will be in town for meetings so they are going to stay at my sisters for a few day. I wont get to see Jay, Lindsay and Eliot because they will be in Spokane, that makes me really sad. But I will take whatever family I get :) Plus were flying to Spokane for Christmas so I will see them then. Im so excited!!! I can hardly stand myself... I also will like being in Seahawk country again....for a while :) So thats all for now.

These two stinkers....deliquent bloggers

They might not deserve it because no on in blog land has heard from them since May!!!! But I must post, none the less. I met sweet Marisa through......you guessed it! MC!!! She is just so sweet and loving and kind and down to earth...who couldnt love her? We think a lot a like, like the same things, love Thai food. Its a friendship made across the Puget Sound with her living on Bainbridge Island and me in Maple Valley. None the less we have made it work. Now she has a beautiful son Quentin and a wonderful husband Jeff. I really adore you Ris! You are wonderful, I love you.
So Melody...Melody and I have always talked about becoming friend but have just never gotten around to it. She is so popular its hard getting a slice of her time. Seriously, since Curt and I got married 2 years ago, Melody and I have talked about getting together 15+ times. Since we found out we were moving, we hung out about 5 times in 3 months. Go figure. She is so fun! For some reason I think she is hilarious and she thinks I am hilarious.....we laugh and laugh when we get together. (which isnt often, but we would talk at church...does that count?) Heres a memory though....when I was in MC in Maple Valley she was in MC in Spokane so I didnt get to know her and was scared of her. Everyone from Spokane MC was scary! LOL!!! Am I the only one laughing here??? Anyways, I dont know if it was when we were in Marisa's wedding that we started getting to know each other or what but Im glad we did. And Im glad shes not scary anymore. Hopefully when we move back to Maple Valley someday we will get to spend more time together.
The picture was taken when we went to see Marisa before I moved. Dont I look like a giant!? Scary, and I think the reason we are laughing is because I squatted down so I would be more their height. Just think if I wouldnt have squatted! Yikes....But Mel and I had such a great time on the ferry ride over....shes great! You both are great and I miss seeing your faces.

Sisters!

So everyone knows that I stole this picture from Lisas blog.....I searched and searched my pictures and I could not find on of them that was digital! They are all paper pictures. So anyways, Lisa and Laura what can you say about the Moran sisters :) I met them both through MC, see that MC is popping up again. If you want great friends, go through MC, well actually you would have to have done my MC class because that is where most of the cool people were :) Sorry...anywas Lis was a student and Laura was our intern. Lis, Suz, Tom and I were good friends then Lis and Tom ended up getting married! I was so honored to be a part of Lisa and Lauras double wedding..how many people can say they were a part of a double wedding!! Not many.....but I was. Sad to say that a life gets busy and I dont get to see them as much as I want but love them none the less. Thomas help Curt and I find our first house that we bought which happened to be right across the street from them. Then they decided living at the bottom of the hill with the commoner's wasnt good enough so they built an amazing house at the top of the hill!!! We missed them as neighbors so we just moved to Denver. They had beautiful Berkeley last November...one of the most adorable girls I have ever seen in my life. And a sassy personality just like her mom. Laura lives in Bonney Lake and I dont get to see her much but I will always remember what a wonderful intern she was, so encouraging and uplifting. Taught us to dance like nothing else, actually I cant dance so she wasnt able to teach me a thing but everyone else looked great! J-lo has nothing on her! LOL! If anyone wants a hair cut from heaven, go to Laura. We had the best fondue parties over the years, great Christmas partys and a lot of fun being together. Until you have spent time with Lis and she breaks out into her crazy Lisa self, you have no idea how funny she is. I will never forget driving around in her Subaru singing Celine at the top of our lungs or driving fast and listening to Top Gun! I know we dont get to see each other as much as we use to but I love both of you and have lots of wonderful memories to cherish forever.

Two in one...

These are two of my favorite people who are also really close to each other so posting them together seemed like the right plan :)
I met both of them through MC...see doing crazy thing's like MC can bring such wonderful things to your life!!! Amy was in my class, and my very first memory of her is seeing her walking down the hall at Tahoma Jr High and Kate telling me that it was her cousin. Moving, isnt it. My next memory of her is the fact that every day she would bring a frozen water bottle to class...one morning as we were all arriving and putting our stuff in our cubbys, Amy set her solid frozen water bottle on the shelf and it rolled off and smacked Nikki, who was putting her stuff in a bottom shelf, in the head. You could have cut the tension with a knife..... I dont even really know how we became friends, but we did and she is priceless!!! While she was interning for MC she came and lived with Angie, Olivia and I. Then Amy suggested that her crazy friend come and live with us too.....and what an adventure that was!!!! LOL!!! One time Ames and I were riding her Seadoo...well actually when you ride the Seadoo with Amy you only ride it for at a time and all the rest of the time she is trying to get us off, and this particular time we flew off so hard and fast that when we hit the water we were still in the sitting position...my arms were still around her waist. We could not stop laughing!!! Of course, hysterically laughing while you are treading water is very dangerous and potentially deadly. I love you Amy! You are wonderful and I am so glad you are my friend.
Leilani, Leilani.....first memory of Lei, I was living with the Strattons (who didnt live with them?? they are so giving and wonderful) and she was a new student for MC coming to live with them. She had called the house when no one was home and left a message that I will never forget...she sounded like she was on suger and crack all at the same time! She was so excited about coming and talking a million miles a minute. We all laughed and wondered what she was going to be like in person. Of course when we met her everything made sense! She is a wonderful expressive ball of energy and personality all wrapped up in one! We have had a lot of fun together and made wonderful memeories. Here is a crazy story that shows how small the world is. Leilani went to YWAM in Hawaii a year before Curt did. When I was first getting to know Curt I was telling him about my friends and about Leilani who lives in California. He kept saying to me, she sounds so familier. Then he put two and two together. When he went to YWAM all his leaders would talk about this girl LeiLani that had been there the season before him! So he knew her without really knowing her. And it is so true with Lei, if you meet her once you will never forget her :) Now she is a wife and a mother!! She just gave birth to Max in September. I cant wait to meet him. I dont get to see her a lot with her living in Cali and now me in Denver but thank God for email and cell phones! I love you Lei. You are very special to me.

Twenty years and counting....

Can you believe that I have know Angie for 20 years! I remember the very first day I met her. I was 8 years old and my Dad was preaching at her church in Sandpoint, Idaho. As we walked up to the church I saw Angie and her friend and they had on HIGH HEELS!!!!! Can you believe it!!!! I was shocked...where I came from 12 year olds did not wear high heels. LOL!!!! Actually I wasnt shocked, I just thought they were so old and mature. Angie was my sister Janas friend first because they were about the same age but later on Ang and I became great friends. We went to MC in Maple Valley together and then lived in an adorable house on the lake after we graduated. We cracked the 10x10 picture window at our house by having the wood stove going to hot and travelved Europe for 6 weeks together!!! What an adventure! We lived together in Maple Valley and I was at the Puyallup Fair with her when she met John for the first time. :) Now she is married and has a beautiful daughter named Emma. We certainly dont see each other as often as we should but she will always have a very special place in my heart and life!! Twenty years is no drop in the bucket, LOL! We are gettting old. I love you Ang!

Kelli gets to post all the time, so it is my turn....GO BRONCOS

That's all for now

The sweetest flower girl ever!!

I just found this picture and it is one of my favorite memories in my life. Jules stole the show at my wedding and Im so glad that she did! It was just the way I wanted it. Quick story...rehersal night when it was Julias turn to practice going down the isle she started throwing a fit because she didnt want to go. Jana was already on stage so my parents stepped in. My Mom grabbed one arm and my Dad grabbed the other and said, "Julia, you are not going to act like this, you stand up right now and walk.. and basically proceeded to drag her down the isle. The next day at the actual wedding, my Dad and I were standing at the back of the church watching every one go down the isle and when it was Julias turn you could almost see her brain turning saying to herself..."you might as well just do it because you know what happens if you dont", and it was like she took a deep breath and marched down the isle. It was hilarious! Then my Mom was so busy watching how cute Julia was that she forgot to stand up and my Dad and I were half way down the isle before she figured out that she missed her cue!!! Now Julia is getting so big! She loves wearing wadult (adult) shoes.....and when I talk to her on the phone she tells me that she is going to drive her Passat down to see me when she becomes a teenager in a few weeks. Shes a little spoiled..her parents gave her a Passat for her 3rd birthday (joke).I love you Julia Neree Farley!

Three in one...

I cant find any pictures of Kiane and or Autumn and I so I will do them together. Autumn was my partner in crime when I first moved to Maple Valley. We lived in the Ranch house in Issaquah together and made a lot of great memories. One of them being talking with our friend Lloyd in the Red Robin parking lot until 4 in the morning with all of us having to be at work at 8am. Things you do when your younger and dumb :) Autumn and I went on great trips to the Bahamas and Florida, worked in youth group and went to summer camps. Dreamed about life and our future hubbys :) I was just so blessed to have her in my life for those few years. Then Kiane joined the fun at the ranch house!!! She joined Autumn and I at summer camp for the youth group and we just all became great friends. Kiane is one of the most wonderful people anyone will ever meent in their life. Genuine to the bone and keeps it real. What you see is what you get for sure :) I love you Kiane and Autumn. You both have been a huge, wonderful part of my life.
Of course I didnt forget Rose!!! Rose was my roomy when Suzanne moved to California for 6 months. Poor Rose! She moved in right around the time that I met Curt and since I had been waiting for Curt my whole life, I had to talk about him all the time. Then Curt went to Africa for 5 months and so Rose had to endure my sadness and then anger and then sadness!! LOL!! What an angel. We had fun times together and it was a great time in my life so I will never forget her! Rose you are wonderful!

On we go...

Taracina has been such a blessing in my life. I just have really great, solid friends. She and I think so much a like its crazy sometimes. We crack ourselves up everytime we are together. Others dont get it, Im not sure we get it most of the time but we laugh our heads off and that is the best part of life. If we didnt have Chipotle, Im not sure we would ever eat together. T went to MC a few years after I did and then we were sort of friends for a while and then Suz and T became good friends so I moved in on that. Then when Suz moved away I took over - LOL!!! Just kidding, but we have become better friends over the past few years. Now that I live so far away we talk through voice mail, we never seem to get each other on the line!I love you T - you are a blessing to me.

Im not done....

Ok, Im not done posting about people I love.....but its 2:30 in the morning and my husband is yelling at me to get to bed. Well not yelling but strongly encouraging me to get to bed so that I wont sleep during church tomorrrow...not really cool for a PK to sleep during church :) Goodnight!

Suzannie......there is no one like her :)

Oh Suzanna! We met at Masters Commission in 1996...oh my goodness we have been friends for 10 years!!! Definately soul mates if you believe in that sort of thing. Im not sure I do but I do know that God truely blessed me with a best friend.....She just gets me and I get her. She got married a year after I did so now Curt has a friend to be with while Suz and I hang out :) LOL! We love Suz and Skyler the only problem is they lived in Yakima so we didnt get to see them as much as we would have liked...and now we live in Denver so its even worse :) I love you Suz!

Our favorite Jenn and Bill....

They arent our favorite friends because we have been blessed with a lot of friends, so we will call them our favorite Jenn and Bill. God knew what he was doing when Jenn and Bill, Curt and I got engaged within a week of each other and then got married within a week of each other. Every newly married couple needs married friends to spend time with and we were so blessed to find Jenn and Bill. Curt was from Colorado and Bill was from Oregon but for some reason they are both Bronco fans!! ( God knows why? Everyone knows that Seahawks rule, but that is another post at another time) And they are 6'5 and 6'3 respectively....so the Lord knew that large men need large friends...right? Of course Jenn and I were already friends but not as well as we are now. I think for the last 2 years we have probably spent 4 nights out of 7 together. We went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon for our first year anniversary and we had a baby last January!!! Actually Jenn and Bill had a baby....but we have done everything together so far so we just call Bella ours too....they didnt consult us on the timing of having children, we were planning on having our kids a week apart just like everything else we have done but they didnt give us enough time to plan so they have to share Bella :) We miss them terribly....But we will see them in December for the Bronco vs. Seahawks game!!! Go Seahawks!!!!!
The picture was taken on our road trip a year ago...Bella was with us but she was in Jenn's tummy :)

Im feeling sentiemental....or maybe just mental

Its Saturday night and I am missing the beautiful NW! So I thought I should post about everyone that I love in Washington :) Actually that will take a lot of time so I am going to post about almost everyone that I love in Washington...... Perfect place to start is my WONDERFUL family!!! I cannot begin to explain how much God has blessed me with my family. My parents are such great examples for marriage, christianity and parenthood. If I can be a fraction of what they are to me to my kids I will be doin a great job! I have wonderful sisters, brother and inlaws. We are all just great friends and like being with each other. This picture was taken at Cannon Beach, Oregon where we have vacationed as a family for the last 29 years. Thats a good history...And of course my amazing niece and nephews......I will blog plenty about them. Cute story about Julia...when I talk to her on the phone she always asks me "Are you at Denver"? Like Im at Target or the mall :) She is so so so precious...

Memo Board

I really wanted a memo board to hang in our kitchen but I couldnt find the perfect one, so I built it! Actually I had the idea and then Curt took over and finnished it. I guess he thought I wasnt doing a good enough job...so we built it together :) It turned out perfectly!

Finally!!

We are done!!...well basically done. There are a few odds and ends that we need to finnish but for the most part we are done. I need some decorations behind the couch and a curtain for the sliding glass door, I think I need a rug under the dining room table but I think basically it looks good. There are no pictures of our bedroom because we are building a headboard but when its all done I will post some of those. Curts parents are in some of the pictures...they came all the way from Rockford, Illinos to help us and what a HUGE help they were. They stayed for about a week and we had a great time with them. All in all it was done in about 3 weeks maybe less and boy did Curt and I learn a lot about each other. It sure brings out personality traits that you dont know you have :) And challenges your patience...but we had a lot of fun doing it and are really glad to be living in a house that is not trashed and full of tools and the smell of paint.

And More...bathroom

More Final product...The kitchen

Final Product...finally!!!

in the process...

In the process.....

More condo before...

Condo Before

Jana, Mom, Leslie and I