helloooo friends~

it's 2015!

2015

this feels like a good number.

it's going to be the year our girl gets married.  : )

************

my blog today is a wrap up of our families Christmas

at our hunting lodge.

there's noooothing at all that's fancy at our cabin folks but what there is,

is a whole lotta room to spread out and hang out and cook and eat and laugh and

 annoy each other. it's here that we spend the most time with those we

love and we're creating memories that'll last a lifetime.

 and....there's lot of room for the

3 family dogs to rule the roost and shed all over. 

koda, kenzie and duke are such an important part of our days...

they are loud and messy and hilarious and they compete for our attention & i've grown

very fond of all of them. 

*i've even had one of them (kenzie) sleeping in MY bed the last couple

nights, while adria and chris are on Lake of the Woods ice fishing.

if you know me at all you know that i don't like dogs on the bed.

especially my bed. she is such a sweet dog though and she misses her

people, so i can't resist letting her curl up on the end of my bed to snuggle.

************

Christmas day...we were about to open gifts.

this cutie is going to be my son in law. 

thank God i like him...we all do.

he's a "good boy".

this is my Christmas child...born on the 25th of december 26 years ago.

cole and duke love each other...duke hadn't seen cole for awhile and it

was a big joy fest~ all day long.

eric checking out a new fishing pole.

adria having a snack while duke and koda watched attentively,

hoping for some spillage.

 

yes...it's all about the furballs~duke is the most affectionate dog i've ever known.
he has no idea how big he is.

lars got this warm new face gator from yours truly...he spends about 1/3 of his day

outside and even though he has a massive beard right now, i want him to 

stay warm.

 

 ad and cole both got new headlamps. they were powerful and we

just about had to take them away and put them both in 

time outs for blinding us with them...here they were having 

a "shine out".

eric got this awesome cap from chris and adria~

 seth looked darned cute in it too.

these two were playing a game and making each other laugh...

eric was also playing loud music that his 

dad wasn't a big fan of...

so lars went and got his ipod and chilled out to charlotte church...

his zen. : ) 

(i'm not kidding either...this lumberjack love of mine likes classical music)

dairy queen cake for the birthday boy

fun with her furry friend

after gift opening the whole gang went ice fishing. it's what cole requested for his

birthday. all he wanted was to be out fishing and to get a couple feet of snow.

see how bare the shoreline is? if you're not from minnesota...this is 

not typical for december- at all.

 cole

i kind of dropped the ball about taking photos on new years eve, but my sis and her

hubbie and brother and his wife made the long drive north to celebrate with us.

todd also has a black lab so now we were up to 4 doggies.

(aren't these 2 cute? tok and kenzie)

my gnome (lars) whipped up a bird feeder for my sis right before they left.

she saw ours and loved it- i think she's going to love hers too cause we're all

big birders. (eric already made one for todd- it's a big hanging birch log

with deep holes drilled in it and you pack them with suet or

peanut butter mixed with bird seed.)

the pups were exhausted last night after all the commotion and fun.

kenzie

koda

& duke

 i wish you

all soooo much joy, health and peace in the new year ahead.

a new year is always full of possibilities and reasons

to be hopeful. let's all be a little kinder than necessary and

remember that every single person matters and deserves

love and respect.

love a little harder when someone seems unlovable.

give someone the benefit of a doubt...

take care of yourself first,

then let's all go out and make someone else's day!

xox, beth

p.s. can i just tell you about something my hubbie and oldest

have been doing the last couple of weeks? lars met a neighbor on the road
 and found out she was on her way to cut wood to heat her home.

our neighbor's name is sandy.

sandy is young and she is dying. she has terminal cancer.

her boyfriend has a bad back and can't help her, so sandy

cheerfully goes about her days, doing her best to take care of

all the physical demands that living in the county and taking care

of critters and keeping a house warm entail.

she didn't ask for help.

 she just pleasantly visited with lars and then went on her way.

well he came home and called me in the cities and told me about it

and he was all choked up. it tugged at his heart and he knew he

could do something about it. eric was all about helping too so

together they have cut and split and hauled many, many loads of wood

over to them.

they're not looking for any praise. it's not the kind of thing

they'd probably even mention, but it sure made my heart happy and

i know it did theirs too.

God bless us everyone and
i'm so grateful that my little family is healthy. if you have that, you 
can figure everything else out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!