Schools are closed here until further notice because so many roads are closed.

This is the valley about 3 miles from us. If you read the blog you may recognize this area as the place we went for picking pumpkins. It is not under water.

To give you an idea of how bad and wide spread the flooding is- this is a picture from Sea tac airport. Governor Christine Gregoire has declared a state of emergency for all of Western Washington and asked the President to call out the National guard.

Our house in not in the flood paths but some of my friends have been evacuated.

Our river is raging.

This is the park at the foot of the bridge on 203. Where the tree is in this picture is the park we take the kids to. It is completely under 8 feet of water.

This is a picture from Sultan, which is the next town east from Monroe, on Hwy. 2.

When you enter Monroe heading North from Snoqualmie Falls you take Highway 203. This is a view of Highway 203 this morning- which is closed. The bridge you can see in the distance is the bridge into Monroe. All the farms and homes have been evacuated.

Sand bag efforts. DOC has gotten involved and used minimum security prisoners to hamper flooding.

Snoqualmie Falls raging waters. North Bend and Carnation are flooded. The dam was topped early yesterday and all of the exess started flooding into towns. Sand bag crews are working feverishly but to no avail, because it is still pouring rain.

Our Pumpkins from the patch.

Harvest decorations.

Wonder Girl is overwhelmed with Middle School life. Homework, Flute practice, mandatory dress down for PE, Volleyball, No text messaging in class, Boys and Boys. Did I mention an abundance of boys.

Conspiring for the Big Win the Pink Panthers gather at time out.

Steve enjoying his birthday with friends and family. The Big 30!

Trying on Halloween hair today.

Small Scarecrow not so scary.

Lil Pirate

Pirates on the open seas.

Face painting and tons of fun to be had.

Having a great time at the mini golf. We went to the Harvest Festival in Snohomish at Craven Farms.

Talk about spirit..... Wow does she have spirit. It is Homecoming and she is off to the game with friends.

Get down and boogy!

Here is C's. These were grown from his starter seeds that he grew for me for Mother's Day.

The kids are amazed by their pumkins. They grew in with their names on them. There is one for each child. The trick is that when the pumpkins are small you take a nail and scratch the names into it. Then as it grows it scabs over and heals. As it grows bigger it stretches. Voila! It is a very cute surprise for them.

Save me Red Ranger, save me. No its not Steve, its C and he is very excited about his new costume.

Olympic Beach, Edmonds, Washington

C is loving his noodles.

The kids on the Olympic Beach.

Yummy.

Luci's Birthday cake from her mom.

Everyone joins in on the fun.

Luci's new hair do. Done just in time for her birthday celebration.

The corn is ready to be kernaled so we can begin canning. To find out more about canning visit our new blog; secret ingredient. Over the weekend we did green beans and dilly beans. This week we will can corn. The following week we start peaches and pears. Everything is so beautiful in harvest season.

Schucking corn is a full time job.

Sometimes you just gotta dance...

We went to a bunch of local fruit stands today. Luci bought a giant zucchini. Later we canned green beans. Read about it on our food blog.

Happy birthday Luci!
Happy birthday Dad!

My birds are having babies. Here are what the eggs look like. We have two different nests that have tiny finch eggs. There is a lot of buzz in the house about when they will hatch. We are excited.

Today we started another blog. It is called Secret Ingredient. We will blog about cooking and our experiments with preserving. Here is a picture of our new pressure canner. This weekend we will try canning some corn and some green beans.

Our Daughter Started Middle School (6th grade)
She is starting band as a flutist this
year and likes her new school.

For C_, puberty was a fast and confusing experience...

Summer Vacation's Last Hurrah
We took the boys to the Pacific Science Center

High-Res pictures of Luci's
early birthday presents.

Here is the anniversary band.

Here is her pinky ring!

Here is a picture of my birthday present.
The flower pinky ring.

Here are the downtown shops near where we had dinner. Edmonds is a very picturesque little town.

We had dinner with my family at Claire's Pantry in Edmonds. It was a beautiful day.

I love how you can smell the salt air as soon as you crest the hill lowering into Edmonds.

Like the birth of a child,
here is the new server.
Steve is so proud:)

The anniversary band pictured alone.
Luci's Birthday is September 16th.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY FROM STEPHEN!

A new anniversary band for luci from Stephen for
her birthday. Steve gave it to Luci early so she would be
surprised.