It's December! Can you believe it??

I just pulled some Chocolate Paradiso Biscotti out of the oven and boy, does it smell good! A wonderfully crunchy cookie with bits of toasted almonds, hints of orange and large chunks of dark chocolate.

Wow, it's December. Where has the time gone? I have definitely been keeping busy with life. I am working 4 days a week at a local health food store and am enjoying it, I am also learning a lot! I continue to create in the kitchen and it never grows old to me. If I didn't get to spend at least three hours in the kitchen, my day was not complete! :) Life is busy and good at home. Always lots of work to be done, joys to share, games to play, books to read and talks to have. I wouldn't trade all these memories for anything. I love my family! I have been working on some sewing projects, some Christmas and the other is a big quilt which I am thoroughly pleased with how it is turning out. I am to the point of starting to machine quilt it but I am a little scared, it is rather large and I am NOT experienced with machine quilting! We'll see...anybody have any tips for me? So, other than just living life to the fullest following my Father in Heaven as He leads and enjoying it tremendously...not too much else. I will write again soon and post some pictures. God bless you all richly in the Christmas Season!

High School Graduation!!

Laurel after performing

The Michener kids and Backholm kids (minus Stephen)

The Michener Family

The graduation party crowd

Candice and Wyatt

Where people ALWAYS congregate...around the food!
It is just not a party without food.

Yep! I graduated! It feels so good to be "done" with school. I know that learning never ever stops but it is so nice to be graduated from high school. A lot of people are asking me what I am going to do now. I am not 1oo% sure what this next year holds for me but I do know that whatever happens I am going to keep my eyes on Jesus knowing that he holds my life in his hands. I plan to keep making money and working my full-time job at home. I am also considering teaching ballet lessons in the fall. Plus I would love to continue to bless and help out families who need a hand with house work, cooking, child care and whatever else suits their fancy. Anywho, I am going to keep my eyes wide open because life full of adventures and twists and turns and I don' want to miss any of them!

We had a GREAT graduation party on Saturday. Wonderful company, good food, lots of laughter and even live music featuring Zona Calda and Melina Kastle. Yes, it was splendid! One of the best gifts to me was that my good friends from Grandview were able to come and stay the weekend with us. We had an absolute blast playing tennis, pinochle, nerts, trivial pursuit and more. We thrived on little sleep and yummy food!! Ohhh...what fun, what fun. It was so hard to say good-bye. :(

On Sunday evening Laurel performed with the Grays Harbor Symphony playing Kabalevsky's youth concerto no. 5 op. 30 and she did a bang up job. I am so excited to see were Laurel goes with her amazing God-given talent and determination to practice daily 4-5 hours. I wish she would rub off on me! :)

Well, this is getting long and it is getting rather late. I am getting my last two wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so if you think about it I would appreciate prayer for a easy surgery and quick recovery. I will try to post again soon.

P.S. Does anyone know the secret to getting the pictures to go where you want them to?? I am completely and utterly befuddled!

Yes..I am still alive!

I know that you are all thinking that I have probably died or something but I actually am still here doing what I usually do and having a grand time. I just got back from spending a few days with my good friends the Micheners, were I ate good food, played lots of pinochle, laughed, held precious babies, played, enjoyed the sunshine and 85 degree weather and helped my sweet friend Larelle in anyway I could. About a month ago I finished up my year of Bible quizzing at districts in Tacoma with my team taking First! Yes! We were so excited! We all agreed that it was a very fun way to end the year. I have finished all my school now and I am finally graduating in a week and a half. It is a great feeling, yet a little strange and daunting since only God knows what the future holds for me. Yet, I wait with great anticipation knowing that his plans for my life are good and for a purpose. I'm so glad God cares about me! Well, I know that this a short post but I realized that I hadn't written in over 3 months and had to do something about it. I will try to post again soon with pictures. Be Blessed.

Baby Jackets, Raspberry Jam, and Cousins!

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Today was a great day! For starters Laurel and I made a batch of raspberry jam and the whole house smelled of summer. Ohhh..it was just delightful! Then we had a wonderful unexpected visit from our cousins who moved away to Seattle last December. So we drank tea and ate cookies while catching up on all the latest news and holding adorable Brinna. :) She has grown so much since the last time I saw her it was almost like a different baby! We really enjoyed getting to see them again. Finally, this evening Laurel and I finished two sewing projects that we started last week. We found this cute baby jacket pattern at a fabric store in Olympia and knew that we had to make some. It just so happens that a family we know is due to have twins any day now, so we decided to get a sewin'. We think they turned out marvelously and we will certainly use the pattern again. Ohh...what a day!

18 Years of Richly Blessed Life!

Last Tuesday was my 18th birthday. I have been so richly blessed in the past years with a wonderful family and a sovereign, merciful, gracious God who loves me even though I am a horrible sinner. Praise God for his blood that washes us white as snow. I had a lovely day on the 17th. My sweet mama and sisters made me a delectable breakfast of apricot, white chocolate and pecan scones, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit salad and tea. Yes, it was so good! Later Laurel and I went to Olympia and did a little shopping, mostly just window shopping but we had a great time and managed to find four chic skirts at a small second-hand store. We were truly pleased with our finds! Afterward, we met up with Stephen, Paige, Pear and Jovie at a coffee shop and munched on a some of the world's greatest chocolate chip cookies that Paige so graciously made. :) Meanwhile, back at home, mama started to whip up what was going to be one of the best dinners I have ever had. The scrumptious aromas of Coq au vin, Anna's pommes, and lightly roasted asparagus lead me to the table with great anticipation of what I was about to indulge myself in. For dessert we relished a tart tartin with a spoonful of devonshire cream on top. Yum! It was a delightful meal and oh so satisfying. And to top the day off, the sun was particularly golden and the sky was a silken blue all day long. Thank you Lord for 18 years of abundant life!

My new sophisticated look...

Yep...I am visually impaired when it comes to reading. I had been having a terrible time reading lately. My eyes couldn't focus properly and after just a few short minutes my eyes would hurt something awful. So to the eye doctor I went and sure enough I now own a pair of glasses. And now everyone is telling me that I look just like Sarah Palin. I am not sure that I agree. What do you think?

Iced Coffee, Fresh Bread and Sunshine!

'Tis so sweet to slurp an iced coffee on a sunny day. I was overwhelmed with a wonderful warmth as I sat outside drinking my iced coffee yesterday. I was sitting there lost in the moment and realizing how blessed I am to live in this country, this state, this city, this house and in this family. Thank you Lord for this wonderful day! This wonderful day that you ordained long before I was born. Enjoy the sunshine ya'll!

I have been baking a lot of bread lately( You all should be baking your own bread as well if you can, it is so much cheaper! And, might I add, so much tastier! :)) and decided to take some pictures of the tasty loaves while they were cooling. So enjoy, after all, most people eat with there eyes!

Happy Birthday Mom and Stephen!

Praise the Lord for the beautiful weather! We celebrated TWO birthdays yesterday, Mom and Stephen. Stephen is 25 now and Mom is 49. Stephen made mushroom crostini for an appetizer and everyone pitched in on dinner which consisted of a full-fledged thanksgiving meal. Yep...turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, cranberries, salad and let us not forget the family's favorite, grandma's green bean casserole. :) We also enjoyed a pumpkin and a pecan pie. It was so delicious! I am so blessed to be a part of such a great family. We laughed often and immensely enjoyed each others company.

Today we took a walk up at Sam Benn park while we soaked up a little sunshine. It felt so good. I am really looking forward to Summer. Here are some pictures of the past couple of days.

Time is Flying!

I realize as I am sitting here that I have not posted in over 5 weeks! Yikes! I have not purposely neglected posting but it was just further down on the list of things to do. So without any further ado- here is an update of the last month.

-We had about 50 people for Christmas Eve at our house. Yes...we were all squashed in like sardines in a tin can but we had a blast. We played lots of games, ate food (we never, let me repeat, NEVER lack in the food department, and enjoyed my favorite people: My Wonderful Family! We had one of the best Christmas' ever.

-On New Years Day Mom, Laurel and I drove up to Bellingham to go skiing, the first time since I was 8 years-old, with our cousins. Friday morning we woke early donning on our warmest of clothes. My wonderful Aunt Tammie made us breakfast sandwiches and packed us a picnic lunch. And then we were off! Well to Starbucks that is. No trip to the freezing mountains would be complete without coffee! We finally arrived to Mount Baker and got a wonderful parking spot (not too hard to do when you are the second car there!) Before I new it I was on the ski lift and climbing into the sparkling white sky. I was rather scared but Trevor assured me it would be no problem. I tried to tell him I didn't even know how to snow plow he just said I would be fine. Needless to say the first trip down the mountain was interesting. I spent most of the time on the ground skis in the air. I became more accustomed to the way skiing worked and eventually I could go for a while. Although, I never made it all the way down without falling at least once. We had a great day and when we arrived home cold and exhausted our wonderful sisters had a scrumptious meal for us. Thank you Lord for Sisters!

- After returning home from Bellingham I sewed a dress and packed my bags. I was heading to Texas for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival with Amy Ellen and Cassie. We had a magnificent time and it was so encouraging to be around others girls with similar visions and hopes. God is so good to me! I really enjoyed meeting new people and soaking up the Texan sun. I will post some pics soon of this trip.

And now I am home and studying hard. I am currently working on 6 chapters in Luke.
Have a blessed day,
Claire