Long time no blog......

Okay - this one is especially for my BFF Janelle Barton - who has made my life very lonely by moving clear across the country to Virginia for the next 7-10 months. Her husband is learning how to fly a new Navy jet and as a good wife, she and the kids went to stay with him (i'm not going to mention how she's living in a fully furnished condo right on the ocean in Virginia Beach). I'd also would love to say that the reason I haven't blogged in the last 4 months is because I was in mourning for her leaving, but in reality, its because of this......WE ARE PREGNANT with #3!!! It is very exciting NOW - now that I don't feel as if I'm going to puke all day and gag on anything I try to eat.

We are now 21 weeks - I will post a picture soon. From weeks 5-18 I was really not feeling well, especially weeks 7-14 and I even had to go on medicine for a while.

We had our 21-week ultrasound today and everything with the baby looked great. YAY! It is always comforting to know that. Levi said he wants a brother and Julia wants a sister...since there is only 1 baby in there, someone is going to be disappointed for sure.

So Janelle, this one's for you - pictures will come soon, but I am back in the blogging world!

A VISIT "HOME":

I love Michigan - it is where I was born, raised, went to college, got married, and lived for the first 4 years of our marriage. I love the 4 seasons, the SANDY beaches, the SNOW in the winter, the great restaurants, thunderstorms, snowstorms, downtown Holland, HOPE COLLEGE, JP's coffee shop.....the list could go on and on! But MOST of all, I love the family and friends that call West Michigan home. I really miss them and when I go home for a visit, its always bittersweet - bitter because we live so far away from them.....but SWEET because I LOVE seeing them and spending time with them!



This visit, Bryan had some responsibilities at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI, where he received his Master's of Divinity degree. He spent 2 days there on behalf of the "Classis Cascades" (group of RCA churches in the northwest U.S) to care for the student from our classis that is currently attending seminary, as well as getting the word out about the RCA churches in the Northwest and the opportunities that are available there. Bryan had a great time meeting with the students and sharing the excitement of what's happening out west! He is definitely gifted in the area of relationship-building!


Even with that, he did have some free time and one of those days we went down to Kalamazoo, MI to visit our bestest friends from our Hope College days - Todd & January Haulenbeek and their 2 (soon to be 3) kids - Jonah & Ella.



One of our favorite things about the Haulenbeek's is that they are those rare "lifetime" friends - friends who you can just pick up with where you left off the last time. We spent some great years with them at Hope and were in each others' weddings. We have a rich, blessed friendship with them. We miss them so much and pray that one day God will have us live closer to one another (would it be too much to ask to maybe even be NEIGHBORS someday??)



It was hilarious to watch our kids and theirs play together - it was like they just knew that they were supposed to be friends with each other (as in, they have no choice!)




If you ever move to Kalamazoo and need a interior painting job done, check out Todd Haulenbeek Painting! AND if your dog needs some great all-natural doggy treats, check out January's business - The Good Dog Bakery, LLC.

We love you Haulenbeeks - seeing you made us miss you all the more!

New year, new adventures!

Gosh, I've been REALLY, really bad about blogging lately. So, now that I'm in Michigan on vacation visiting family, I have finally made time to catch up.

PLUS, my exciting new post-Christmas purchase of a Blackberry Curve has helped me take pics on the go.....

Our first adventure of the new year was a mini-vacation to Ocean Shores, WA. A wonderful couple in our church graciously offered the use of their "Beach house" to us, so we made the 4-hr trek down to Ocean Shores, WA. When we left, both kids were getting over the "whidbey crud" and so it was a perfect place to relax and re-cooperate!

Julia in an Oak Harbor SNOW!!!

We've enjoyed this more-than-expected snowfall.  This video is a bit long (7 min+) but the kids are cute, so it's worth watching it all...

Grandma Nienhuis Says 'Goodbye' to Oak Harbor

The great thing about living on a island in the northwestern corner of the continental U.S. is the variety of ways to get to the mainland.  Grandma Nienhuis had the wonderful opportunity to hop on a connecting flight to the Seattle airport using the float plane service that is offered.  

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Levi playing in the snow!

Yes, it has snowed in Oak Harbor. It started snowing on Saturday - and Sunday afternoon (and everyday since) Levi has had a great time playing in the snow. He loves it. Although today and yesterday the wind chills were pretty cold so he didn't last long.

I LOVE the snow - I might be the only one here in Oak Harbor who is excited about it, though. We have another Winter Storm Watch for Wed/Thursday and I am hoping we get dumped on. The great thing here is that a "lot" of snow is like 2 inches - everything closes down. It just doesn't snow very often here. They already cancelled the women's Wed. morning Bible study tomorrow, just because it MIGHT snow. HA!

We've also decorated our house for Christmas - here are a few pictures I've taken so our family can see:

Our snowflake Christmas card holders:

Our mantle over our woodstove - can't see it but I have lights with greenery and gold and red shiny ornaments to add color

I rigged up some fishing string and hung some shiny snowflakes from both sides of the dividing wall between our dining room and kids playroom

And last but not least, our very cute and humble Christmas tree:

Christmas Tree hunting

Typically, we get our Christmas tree each year from one of Whidbey Island's Christmas Tree farms.....you know, the ones with all the people going from row to row of planted trees trying to find the "perfect" one - not too big, not too small, not too fat, not too skinny.

Well, my adventurous husband happened to read some info on the fact that you can pay $10 and go find your own Christmas tree in Mt. Baker National Forest! HOW COOL! I was very excited about this option too (until I heard the part that the bears are extra hungry this year due to a low huckleberry bush population).....hmmm........

Anyway, last Saturday we set out in our Subaru up into the mountains. We stopped at the Ranger Station in Sedro-Woolley and paid our $10....plus $2.95 each for the kids to buy a little compass with the bonus-feature of a bear whistle on them!!! We felt safe and ready to go!

On the way up to the mountains, we stopped in the small town of Concrete (apparently they are known for their now-extinct concrete business) for some lunch. Then, it was into the wild. We drove up windy roads, following a map given to us at the ranger station that highlighted the areas where the BEST trees were known to be growing. Along the way, we passed several other adventure-seekers like ourselves.

As the drizzle started, we found the area where we wanted to go hunt for our tree. After hiking up and down several steep embankments, we found it.....

As we cut the tree and put it on our car for its 2 hr ride to our home, we realized that in the woods a tree looks much bigger and fuller than it really is!!! Nontheless, it looks great in our house and fits perfectly in the corner we had picked out for it.

So, we may have more of a "Charlie Brown" sort of Christmas tree, but it sure has some fun memories surrounding it.