Take Your Wife

So I had the snowshoes for another week. Why not ditch the kids in Issaquah and take a stroll up Rattlesnake Mountain? I admit, the REAL Rattlesnake Mountain is northwest of the Tri-Cities is southeastern Washington. This imposter is just south of North Bend.

This is looking across at Mount Si on the Way down. Note the Snowshoes on my back. We had to pack them up the first 1500 feet before we really needed them. But once we were up there it was perfect snowshoeing; sun, fresh powder, and even a view or two. This is what that looked like:

Compared to last week's debacle on Amabilis this was heavenly. The moral of the story: Take your wife.(Note: the good snowshoeing wasn't until above the popular Rattlesnake Ledge, which is what you see from the parking lot.)

Violet 1st birthday party (March 24th)

Violet turned one yesterday! She is growing up so fast. Ginny gave Violet a boat with fish, a captain and all sorts of fun things. She really likes it.

Her party was fish themed. We brought violet flowers for Aunt Mel for letting us have the party at her place. We blew up purple balloons. The cupcake I made look like small fish bowls, The party favors were plastic fish on pixie-stix in the fish bowl vase (thanks Shawna!). Violets littler friends got fish bath squeezy toys.


Here is a close up of the cupcakes

Maddie helped me put up a sign. Nice work Maddie.

Pop came and brought some books which Ginny and him enjoyed before the festivities. We were glad to have him. Thanks for traveling to see us, we hope your cold gets better soon.


And then the big moment! Happy birthday my angel.



I sewed her that little crown. Turned out better than I thought it would.

Violet's buddy Emerald came. Violet is truly jealous of Emerald's beautiful hair. But isn't that what girlfriends are all about? Someone to look up to.

Emerald's mom is my buddy Tawona, here we all are.

Just before presents I had to lure the birthday girl out of the little garden.

She really had a great birthday. Here she is very happy to get a cute bunny card from Grammy and Grandpa (Ben's Parents).

She was surprised to find money inside. (her expressions really crack me up)

Her are the cute outfits she scored from her aunts and uncles.

This is her today modeling one. We love you Violet we are so happy to have you in our family. You are so grown up!

Amapukis Mountain

Brandon and I went cross-country skiing this morning. He puked in the first quarter-mile. That's a good summary of how things went. There was lots of powder. That's a good thing for downhill skiing, but when you're working against gravity not so much. I didn't see my skis the whole time. By the time we were about two-thirds up Amabilis Mountain the powder was waste deep, even in snowshoes. The deep powder prevented a nice downhill run back to the car. At least the early turn around allowed us to get home just a little after lunch.
Did I mention the near white-out conditions?

Ginny the artist

My little girl is growning up. This is what she drew yesterday with a stampin up marker. And those markers are pretty hard to handle for small unsteady hands. Its a self portrait of herself. I think its pretty good for an almost three year old. But of course I am biased. Later she decided it wasnt her because she would be drawn in pink not purple.

Ode to Matthew and Dallas

This year I was honored again to accompany the scouts on their winter camp. There's a lot I could say about it. The weather was nice. Yes, this is February in the mountains in Washington. Wow. Anyway, this is really about two amazing sledders. But first I have to relate to you the awesomeness of our jump. This is the type of jump that responsible adults should have discouraged. We egged them on. I could describe it to you, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Who knows how many a video clip is worth...

Our first focus sledder is Matthew Cook. He was the uncontested master of the slopes landing unbelievable jumps, doing sketchy first descents head first, and getting huge air. Here he is mid flight.

His signature move which wowed onlooking snowshoers and season sled hill veterans alike was the "eagle of glory". Check this out!

The second is Dallas Pinkham. Dallas is the enforcer of the slopes. He gets big air then punishes the snow on the landing. The brutal majesty of his jumps raise an "oooo" from all who witness them. Perhaps the most inspiring part is his unflinching demeanor as he approaches his inevitable doom. He flies straight and true. Here's an example.

What really set Dallas apart on this trip was a particularly hard hit which drew blood. That is hard core, my friends.

For footage of this and many more epic jumps, snow (ice) caves, and scouts, look here.

V-Day and P-Day

Valentine's Day came to the Wilson household and there was a lot of love in the air. The day got started with the girl's receiving their Valentines. Ginny got an alligator because she's been singing a song about an aligator snapping monkeys out of a tree. It may sound morbid but it is a pretty catchy tune. Vi got a Valentine book.
Mom made some nifty home-made fortune cookies for Dad. She baked in some warm-hearted, extra-mushy love notes. Thanks to Shalece Fiack for the idea! They were yummy!
For their big V-day date Mom and Dad headed to the most romantic place on Earth. That's right, the temple. We had previous reservations at a nice restaurant, but then we found out their V-day menu was $125 dollars a plate. Didn't see that comin'. So we did a last minute change. Here we are after returning from our favorite local italian restaurant.
Ben decided to not work on a Monday holiday for once. So we headed for the hills to try our hands (and feet) at cross-country skiing. We went with the experienced Matt, one of Ben's friends from work, pictured below with fiance Anna.
We made it up to Kendall's knob without a hitch. Surprisingly the going up was the easy part. It was the going down that was a bit tricky. We'll say Bri is still a little sore today and leave it at that. All in all we had a great time.

My Birthday/Project Runway Party

First off I need to tell everyone that I share my birthday, February 6th, with two wonderful girls. My niece Olivia who has turned 8 and will be baptised this Valentines day!

The other is my best friend Tawona! We met at UW orientation back in 2001 and found out we had the same birthday and several interests & personality traits. I love sharing my birthday with these great women.

On the 6th we went bowling and to IHOP for dinner. This was Olivia's party.

Ginny really enjoyed bowling! She did pretty well. I was fortunate enough to get a few strikes and beat Mark and Ben. Thanks bumpers!

Ben got me flowers and made me french toast that morning.

We decided on Trophy cupcakes for that night. Here we have vanilla vanilla, chocolate vanilla, triple chocolate (mine), and a snicker doodle. They were tasty. We watched Fools Gold. It was a fun day.

The next day Tawona and I went out to a movie and dinner at the Dragonfish in the Paramount Hotel. It was tasty! After dinner we came home and got ready for the big party.

For those of you who don't know Project Runway is a fun show about designers who want to become the next best thing in fashion. The winner receives a car, a spread in Elle magazine and $100,000 to start their new line. In preparation for the party I gave everyone rules and 3 yards of white muslin. Basically they could do whatever they wanted as long as they were the ones who did it and they made a dress, oh and kept within a $15 budget. They being couples, or teams of two. Ben went to everyone's house as Tim Gunn and asked questions. I tried to get one of the videos of him interviewing posted on here but they all are just too big. All the models chose a purse and some accessories from the BLUEBRI wall.

First down the runway was team Maxfield. Jessica used fabric she already had and lined her dress with the muslin. Her model was her daughter (my Ginny's best friend) Riley.

She did a nice job going down the runway all by herself!

Then I came down the runway. Ben and I were inspired by Seattle and salmon. I think it turned out rather well. Ben did the dying of the fabric and the designing and help pin. I sewed and gave good input.

Here's the back. if you can zoom in there is some detail I am proud of on the top of the bodice. the peach fabric I already had on hand the rest is the muslin.

My friend Cindy made a toga and my friend Tawona modeled it here.

It was Cindy interview with Tim Gunn I was hoping to post because it was really funny and great. oh well.

Traci followed Cindy's Design. Mark and her did the noble thing of making something less attractive. It was a lot of fun to see.

I think Traci had the best modeling skill though.

Ashley and Brandon did the black & white challenge and the shirt off your back challenge. They used a black dress that didn't have sleeves added them. Then made a belt and head scarf out of the muslin.

Nice hair spin!

Mel and Josh, Mel being the model and Josh the sewer/designer were inspired by daffodils. They did a really good job.

Here is a great shot of the back!

Then the judges Micheal Kors, Nina Garcia and Heidi Klum asked the designers and models questions to help us come up with good scoring ideas.

here is Jessica and Riley being grilled.

Our Winner was Josh and Mel they won a matchbox car, an Elle magazine and more like $10 of supplies for their next sewing project! Our favorite model was Riley and she won Tresemme hair spray and Loreal Paris lip gloss.

Here is Heidi and the dresses... minus the toga...

Happy Birthday! a special thanks to Ashley for the yummy cupcakes!