Goodbye to 2009

The first half of 2009 came and went very quickly. Grandma Bromley came to visit from December to February. We loved having her here. Cody attended his junior prom in April. All of his friends and their dates met at our house for photos before heading off to dinner. Cody and Marissa spent the spring finishing up their schooling and then it was on to a busy summer and rest of the year.

Cody and friends posing for prom photos.

We had a gorgeous summer and it started early. To kick off the summer we took the RV on it's first outing of the season to Palmer, AK over Memorial Day weekend. Not too far, (about an hour north) just in case something happened, but so beautiful and relaxing.Robert, Doug & Marissa on the lake in Palmer.

Marissa modeling grandma & grandpa's hiking gear. :)

Uncle Victor came to visit in mid June and we camped and fished two weekends in a row. We have a freezer full of halibut and salmon to prove it. Yum! They halibut and salmon fished on a charter in Homer, AK and then on a halibut charter in Seward, AK the next weekend. Mom, Doug, Marissa, Cody and I spent the same time relaxing, walking around the small shops in town and scouring the beaches and tidal pools.

Uncle Victor, Robert & Marissa with their halibut catch of the day. Robert's very large halibut caused quite a stir at the dock. Everyone wanted their picture taken with it. Fish envy is a beautiful thing! ;)Robert and his salmon.
Checking the tidal pools on the beach in Seward.
Doug, Marissa, me & Cody.

At the end of June Rob and I lost our father. I have posted on this prior. While it was a very sad time for our entire family, we spent some great time together with my dad's family in Illinois. My Aunt Linda and Uncle Dan are always so gracious to host us when we make the trip home. This trip was no different. I love staying at their house. We all sat on their front porch and watched the fireworks on July 4th. It has been 26 years since I have seen fireworks on the 4th. (The sun doesn't set in AK on July 4th.)

When I returned home from Illinois Robert's mom and our nephew Thomas were here visiting. They had a great time camping at Quartz Creek while I was gone and we had fun catching up when I returned. Thomas is such an amazing young man and Carol had fun visiting with Marissa. Thomas had lots to tell about AK when he returned to Tennessee. He went drift boating on the Kenai River, horseback riding, a glacier cruise and saw moose in our yard.Robert & Thomas horseback riding.

The end of July my Aunt Linda and Uncle Dan came to AK for a visit. We all headed north for an AMAZING weekend of sun and fun! We went out onto the Matanuska Glacier and picked blueberries. Since they always host me when I go home to IL it was nice to host them in our RV. ;) Mom and Doug hosted them the rest of the visit at their home. Mom, Aunt Linda, Cheryl and I all celebrated our birthday's at a spa here in Anchorage. We all have birthday's within two weeks of each other. This was my big 40!
MatSu Glacier

Cody & Rob on MatSu Glacier
MatSu GlacierMom moose and her calf in our front yard.

The first part of August Robert, Marissa and I flew to Seattle to pick up our mini cooper (we shipped it there) and drove to our new vacation home in Boise, ID. We spent about 10 days there cleaning and swimming and buying some furnishings and swimming. Did I mention we swam alot? ;) Idaho to me is like AK and IL rolled into one wonderful place. Everyone we have met there are so nice. Holly and Josh, Ray and Jeri, all of the contractors we have done business with and all of our neighbors we have met so far. Such a relaxing place to visit. We love it!Outside of house in ID.

Kitchen table in ID house.

View out the window is the pond out back.

The end of August brought back to school. Cody started his senior year at Dimond High School. He decided to run cross country this year and did very well. He missed the last race of the season because of our trip to DisneyWorld. Marissa returned to preschool and is loving it!
Cody, just before his race.

September brought with it the long awaited and planned out trip to DISNEYWORLD! Need I say more? Robert, Marissa, Cody, Me, Mom, Doug and Ken all went. Carol, Don, DJ and Lindsay drove over for two days. It was great to have so much family together there. We stayed at the Grand Floridian Resort and did all the parks and 2 days at Blizzard Beach. We had a blast. It was soooo hot and humid. But, we hit the pools enough every day to make up for it. I think the photos tell how much fun we all had. Robert celebrated his 45th birthday and bought himself a new toy to celebrate! His Harley-Davidson Road King Classic is the newest addition to our family. It is a beauty and he loves it.
Cody & Marissa waiting out a rain storm with Emporer Zurg
at the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was the only rain we had our entire trip.
Marissa meeting Belle. She met so many characters and princesses. She was very bashful to talk with them, but she has autographs from all of them. ;)
Marissa and Cody in the spinning teacups.
Marissa on daddy's shoulders taking it all in on her first day.
Marissa hanging out with her new buddies Mickey & Minnie at bedtime.
Cinderella's castle on the last night of our trip. Beautiful!
Robert a& Marissa sitting on the new Harley.

Cody turned 18 in October! Can you believe it? He designed his class ring for his gift. It is so awesome. We made a second trip to ID and spent halloween there. Marissa had so much fun going trick-or-treating in nice weather.

Marissa in backyard of house in ID on Halloween afternoon.

November brought Cody's performance in Hello Dolly. He lettered in Drama last year and will probably do so this year also. We hosted the cast party at our home. What a great group of young people. They all stuffed themselves into our theatre and watched a movie. Ms. Keller (their director) was here with them. She does a fantastic job with all of the productions. Marissa turned 5 and we took here to the Nutcracker ballet. Live ballet at 5. She LOVED it! We are looking at putting her into a dance class. She was really into the Mouse King and Nutcracker Prince. And, she knows the music is by Tchaikovsky. Of course we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with family and friends. Robert and I attended the Marine Corps Ball.Cody as a waiter in Hello Dolly. He played many roles and was in most of the scenes of this play.

Marissa dancing in the front room in her ballerina outfit.

Here we are in December. Whew! Robert went with his friend Brian to South Dakota pheasant hunting. He has traveled a lot the end of this year. Christmas was great and we are looking forward to a fabulous 2010! Cheers!

Introducing....

Our new Road King Classic! This pretty little bike ( I mean, cool looking 'Man Machine'/Harley-Davidson) will be getting a side car to match so that little miss Marissa will have somewhere to ride. Because it won't be on the back of this bike. Marissa loves to ride the 4-wheeler with dad around the yard and was a bit distressed when she couldn't ride on the HD. Robert rolled it out of the garage so I could take some pics and then he went for a solo ride. And, yep, he put on his helmet. Since he moved to Alaska he hasn't ridden, but he rode a lot when living in Florida. He'll be taking a refresher course soon and then next summer we'll be on the open roads of the lower 48. Yipee!!! We both really like the vintage styling of this bike. As soon as I saw it online I knew it was my choice. Coincidentally, the local Harley-Davidson dealer had the same bike on the showroom floor. ;) All they need to add is that little backstop pad for me so I don't fly off the back. :)

In Rememberance of my Dad

Our visit with dad in summer of 2007 in Illinois.
L to R: Marissa, Me, Cody & Dad

Elementary photo

Ron Durnell

11/02/1943 - 06/25/2009

Some memories of my dad:
Serving his country in the Army National Guard.
Saturday morning cartoons, Bugs Bunny and Road Runner were favorites.
Living across from the family business, a concrete plant.
Riding with my dad in the early mornings in the 'big' trucks.
The big yard on Forest Street with the weeping willow tree, the field of daisies and goldenrod,which he was allergic to. But, he always took the 'flowers' I picked for him.
His love of cars and racing.
Always letting me explore and create.
He had great penmanship and loved to draw and draft. Always a stickler for details in his work. He was such a hard worker, no matter the project.
I have so many memories and stories that I can't possibly share them all here, but I will leave many of them in a book about him for my kids.
He had many dear friends and a large family that loved him so much. He will be missed tremendously.

My 'Garden'

I love these old wine boxes. I have been planting in them since we moved into this house. They stack up differently every year. And, every year I fill them with different blooms and herbs. They are right at our front door and offer a cheery greeting to all. This year I have some licorice plants, chocolate and orange mint and lots of blooms I don't know the names of. ;) I have some old broken clay pots that I 'planted' in the ground and filled with strawberries and more blooms around the yard. Our firepit area is surrounded by blue, purple and yellow pansies. We will be revamping that area this weekend. When it is done I will share more pics. I hope these little pretties will help brighten your day. It is 68 degrees here right now and GORGEOUS!! So I am off to play outside. :) Cheers!!









Look what else was bloomin'. This is a template by Lauren Meader for Papertrey Ink. It is the 'Let's do lunch' template. I used some My Mind's Eye Paper. And the cute crochet flower. I MADE THAT!!! Yes, lil' ol' me. That is my first crochet project ever. Check out Nichole's tutorial at Papertrey and try it yourself.

Another trip up Denali

Just in case you are interested in following along. I updated the link on the right side toolbar. He is guiding his second group of climbers, this summer, up Denali right now. Click on the Mountain Trip logo and you can follow their climb. Hoping they have a safe and successful summit. Love ya Rob. :)

Chicks on Sticks

Have you ever been to Bakerella's blog? NO! You must run there now. See the link in my sidebar. She has the most amazing cupcake pops you have ever seen. This is where this cute little chick pop came from. (See his sweet little 'feather' curl on top of his little noggin'?) I took the plunge and made some for Marissa's preschool teachers at NHPS. The matching card is a stamp from SU! It was a match made in crafty heaven. :) The Papertrey aquamist ribbon matched perfect with the Memory Box background paper. And I love the aqua and yellow combo.

Do you dance?

I found this clip on another blog and just had to share. It is very fun and makes me want to join in. :) Have a great day!

A budding artist

Marissa was showing off her artistic abilities sunday morning. She started drawing cats after watching an episode on 'Super Why' on PBS Kids. We are all very impressed. She is also spelling her name and a few other words.

On a separate note. More snow fell last night so now the ash is covered up. Yipee! It was very ugly to look at.

All boxed up!

These cute little monogram cards are all boxed up with envelopes and envelope seals. Thanks to Sassafrass Lass and Xyron this cute little card set was a snap. These cute envelope seals are circle diecuts that were first run thru my Xyron machine and then cut and stamped. All you have to do is peel the backing off and stick onto your envelope. :)

Supplies: Pattern Paper & Diecuts: Sassafrass Lass; Cardstock: SU!; Ink: Memento; Stamps: Sassafrass Lass & CTMH; Glitter: Ranger Stickles; Adhesive: Xyron, Punches & Dies: Spellbinders & SU!; transparency sheet & envelopes: office supply.