I better get another blog post in before it's December!

Seriously?  This is the last day of November?  How did that happen?  Life is just plugging away here at the Hiemstra House.  Nothing too exciting happening and that's okay.  Thanksgiving was nice.  We had a small group at Sally's house on Thursday and a relaxing weekend.  So much to be thankful for.
Here's just a couple pics of life lately.
Katie had a friend over one Friday afternoon and they made cut-out cookies.  These two were not afraid to use sprinkles, I didn't eat one but I'm pretty sure you couldn't actually taste the cookie.

Some progress on the shop.  They were hoping to pour the floor yet this week but it doesn't look like that's going to happen since it won't quit raining.  This is a bad sign that I am tired of the rain already.  I think it's going to be a long winter.

Because we didn't think our yard was quite ugly enough without mounds of tree debris, rotting stumps, piles of dirt, enormous ruts, very little grass (the green stuff is moss) and mud puddles so big I lost the dog in one the other day...we now have trenches. 

But this means we now have water and electrical lines.  Yeah!  I am particularly excited about this trench.  It goes out to the very scary little barn in the woods that someday will be my party barn.  This means I can string lights up in my woods.  It's all going to be very magical and beautiful some day. 

Thanksgiving day.  There were 10 of us but enough food for 50.

Holly spent her Thanksgiving with the Beltmans.  She had a wonderful time.  Thanks Doyle and Susie for taking such good care of my girl. 

The tree is decorated and I am hoping to get the rest of the decorations up today.  You might notice that the bottom branches are devoid of any lights.  This is because the cat kept biting them.  It only took me three strands of lights to figure this out. 

The cat is still alive only because I didn't want to go outside in the rain to dig a grave. 
Just kidding.
Sort of.

Big Stuff

Big stuff happening at the Hiemstra Hide-a-way right now. 
You know it's big stuff when you get an outside potty.

Katie was very excited over this.  She has actually left the house in order to go potty outside.
Just to refresh your memory, John is building a shop.  Well, to be more accurate,  John is having a shop built.  And thanks to my uncle's sage advice of "You can never go too big", it is not little.  Thank you Uncle Glen. 
This is how it started out.

This is what is looked like as of 3:30 this afternoon.

Here are some in-between shots for those that are interested (my Dad and Uncle Glen).
The trusses are so big that they wouldn't fit down our driveway.  They had to get dumped in the front field.

Now this isn't a sight everyone sees out of their kitchen window.  Yes, they did have to drive that big machine across my front yard to get them.

And that's not the only big thing happening around here.
This sweet girl turned one-year-old on October 28.

We didn't have a party but she did get a new hat.
Election night was a big deal too.  Sam and Katie couldn't tear themselves away from the computer while the results were coming in.

And here's a couple of totally random stuff because that it the way I roll.
The kids and I went to see a movie last week when they had off for conferences.

And Holly texted me these.

 I think the one cousin who is actually taking a pottery class snuck the other cousins in.

And I have no idea what is going on here.

I think it's safe to say she's having a good year.

the coffee ladies go to seattle

So, this past weekend I went to Seattle with my friends known affectionately as "the coffee ladies".  We decided last year to start going away somewhere when one of us turns 50. The birthday girl gets to pick where.   Last year was Whistler and this year my friend Cheri chose the big city down south.  We had a blast.  As usual.  This quote probably best describes my coffee ladies.

See, it doesn't really matter where we decide to go.  It's really not about that.  We just go somewhere and we laugh a lot.  The only thing that makes it different than when we just get together for coffee is that we don't go home for a couple of days.
We left Thursday morning and stopped at Panera for lunch.  I love Panera.  Look Mom, I even got our fancy coffee drink since it was a special occasion!

We got to our hotel in Seattle just as the sun was setting.  This was the view from our humongous deck!

Looking down into the lobby.

The next morning I had my coffee out on the deck.  This is Lake Union.  It was a little foggy but cleared up pretty quickly.  We had a BEAUTIFUL sunny day to explore the city...a very welcome break from our very rainy fall.

We took a group photo before we left.

Then took the streetcar to Pike's Market.  I didn't even realize Seattle had a streetcar!

The original Starbucks is right across the street from the market.  Nothing fancy but there was a big line to get coffee so I just got my picture taken by it. 

I love Pike's Market.  If you are ever in Seattle, it is a must see.

The flowers are my favorite!  You can buy a huge bouquet for $15.  It's fun watching the ladies put them together.

Selfie by the gum wall.  Yes, it is disgusting.

These two had never put a piece of chewed up gum on the wall!  Lucky for them, I had a couple pieces in my purse.

We wandered around downtown for quite a while, did a little shopping and then ended up at Starbucks Reserve.  It's a very fancy smancy coffee place where they roast the beans for Starbucks Reserve coffees (basically their fancy, smancy coffees).  I had never been before.  It was pretty cool.  I'm not a big fan of Starbucks (a little too strong for me) and the coffees were expensive so I just bought myself a mug.  It was really interesting to watch them roast the beans though and did you know there are six different ways to brew coffee?  I'm thinking if I went to the bar and ordered a non-fat mocha they would give me a nasty look.

After a little more shopping, we had an early supper at the Cheesecake Factory.  I must say that Cheesecake Factory is one of my most favorite places to eat.
Since it was a special occasion, I got myself a peach bellini.

We went back to our room and stayed up way too late eating way too much junk food. 

The next morning we went to Ikea and then headed home.

Great get-a-way with some wonderful friends!

Just in case you were feeling bad for John....

No need.  He had his own little party with some of the coffee lady's husbands. 

I just noticed Arnold has two beers.  I hope he wasn't holding Sam's.