An Edmonds Kind of Day

Hi there,
I am submitting writing samples for various on-line freelance writing sites and one of them asked for a 250 word essay on a city I loved. Naturally, I picked Edmonds. It was hard for me to limit the words!! Here it is below. Let me know what you think. :)

If you think you've seen it all around the Seattle area, think again. From the great Emerald City to it's outlying cities, there are many little-known jewels to discover. If you travel just 15 miles north of Seattle, you will find a charming town by the name of Edmonds. One of my favorite places to visit is Old Milltown right in the center of the city. You can find it just off of Main Street in Edmonds, a charming little indoor village of antique stores. It has the feel of an 1800's logging town, complete with photos on the walls of Edmonds in yesteryear and wooden floorboards that give off their refreshing, woody scent. The beaches in Edmonds are delightful, nearly private spots to while away the hours digging in the sand, investigating tide pools, collecting shells and just sitting on the old sun-bleached driftwood logs, enjoying the cool breezes and the foghorn of the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. A summer vacation wouldn't be complete for me without a walk-on ride on the Kingston ferry, the round trip journey taking about an hour. On a clear day, you can see the Seattle skyline as the ferry pulls away from the dock. Edmonds has been repeatedly voted as the Seattle area's friendliest city. In the local shops, a popular bumper sticker proclaims "It's an Edmonds Kind of Day". I hope you have that just that kind of day-- full of friendly people, sometimes the drop of cool rain, but one of breath-taking beauty.

Wonderful story told to us by our Stake President during Relief Society

This was my journal entry for today. What a fabulous story! :)

Jan 24, 2010
Today was ward conference and our stake president, President Murphy spoke in our Relief Society meeting. He told us what had happened to him this past week. Early on in the week, a Brother Miller from our stake died and his viewing was to be held at our ward building (the stake center) this past Thursday. The day before, the stake presidency conducts their temple recommend interviews. One of the questions asked is if you sustain the prophet and one sister admitted that she was having difficulty sustaining the prophet. The stake president decided that she should not have her recommend renewed yet, but made an appointment to talk to her again on the next night, which was Thursday.
Thursday night came and President Murphy was in the Relief Society room with Brother Miller's family and friends for the viewing. He looked down the hall and whom should he see coming down it, but President Monson! It turned out that President Monson was Brother Miller's mission president in Canada and had come to pay his respects to one of his missionaries. President Monson talked to everyone in the room individually and shook their hands. He then gathered with the family in the back corner of the room and told them stories about Brother Miller when he was a missionary.
President Murphy then recalled that the sister that was having trouble sustaining the prophet, was arriving at that time. He went down the hall to his office and she had just walked in the door. He told her that President Monson was in the building and she looked at him as if he were crazy. He told her, "Come with me and I will make sure that he shakes your hand." She followed him down the hall and saw President Monson inside the room. He eventually came over to talk to her and shook her hand and President Murphy thanked him for coming. President Murphy then took this sister back to his office to talk to her. He said it was a very humble conversation, with the sister in tears. The sister's husband had also had trouble sustaining the prophet, and she would no doubt go home with a wonderful story to tell him. I gather that all was well with sister from that point on.
President Murphy then told us that it was a miracle and he had no doubt the Lord had a hand in making it so that the Prophet was there in our chapel at the exact time that this sister would be there. What an amazing story! I couldn't help but look back in the corner of the Relief Society room as he was telling this story and imagine President Monson standing there or walking down the hall of the chapel. I told Brayden and Daniel this experience and said that it makes our chapel even more special to me, since the Prophet had been there.

Pumpkin Patch Oct 26, 2009

We had a lot of fun at the Pumpkin Patch tonight for Family Night. The kids enjoyed picking out their own pumpkins and I had fun taking their photo. Click on the photos to make them larger. Enjoy! :)

I'm so funny--unintentionally, but I'll take it. :)

Yesterday was Trunk or Treat for our ward (yes, a week early) and I took the kids (Trevor had to work). Brayden was a zombie/mummy; Daniel was an alligator; Sarah was a bunny. (Don't they look CUTE?!) I decided to dress up also in a costume I made for Trevor years ago (details at the end, I don't want to ruin the story). So anyway, I was talking to my friend Donelle and said that I was "over the moon" about maybe going to Washington DC in a couple of weeks to see Holly, Scott and Noah sealed. She started laughing hysterically and I asked why, she looked at me and said, "You're dressed as a cow!" I had forgotten about my costume when I said that. We had a good laugh. :)

Daniel was unintentionally funny tonight

A great one from Daniel: He wants to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween and I found a pair of tan pants (in storage) to go with the outfit and I told him, "Look! I have Luke Skywalker's pants!" He looked at me with wide eyes and asked me, "How did you get them from him?!" That had me in stitches! I love 6 year olds! :)

Big Girl Bed!

I found this fabulous deal on our local classifieds website and got this Princess bed frame with the bedding included for $30!! We already had a mattress (crib size) and I didn't have to disassemble the bed to get it into the minivan, so it was a very easy thing to put it all together in Sarah's room.

I was nervous about the first night, but Sarah was so excited about her new big girl bed, that she stayed in it after I told her to and slept through the night the two nights she's slept in it!! We took apart the crib this morning. It was all very bittersweet as all of my kids have used the crib, but at the same time I was glad to see it go. It was barely holding together and we needed to get rid of it.

This video is of her getting into the bed the first time. "Goodnight, Mom." So cute! :)

We may be moving to...

SEATTLE! A manager job for Delta has opened up in Seattle and Trevor has the experience they need, he also knows everyone up there since he worked in all the departments and they like him a lot. Some people have told us that he was the best manager they ever had. So, please keep us in your prayers that he gets this transfer. We want to come home!!!