Tristan

Hello Everyone.

Not sure how to format for aesthetically pleasurable viewing. Sorry. Hare some newer pics of T.

He has since graduated to the big tub now, no more sink. He loved to try to drink the water and then complete the task with a big

thirst-quenching "ahhhh."

He helps mommy water the horses by dragging the five gallon bucket around. I frequently tell him what a good job he's doing.

He says he's ready, Anita, to come visit when you're are settle in AK, see....he's already tried Mom's boots on. They fit fine if he doesn't walk.

His newest "playtime" is jumping on the bed. It's amazing to see his natural body posture in that picture matches Daddy's posture when Daddy is snowboarding. Yes, I did tell him about all the monkeys that jumped on the bed and what happened to them! But, apparantly, he figures they weren't as good at jumping on the bed as he is!

Take care.

LK.

WHAT A DAY

hello everyone! :) Today is my mother's birthday!!:) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! But anywho! Today we went to church in Prescott and then went to Nathan Graduation Party at Juha and Annette's....There is beautiful nature everywhere! :) I just love this picture though there isn't much water in the creek. Luke took all of us younger/older ones down the trial and to the creek! We had our laughs and giggles... :)















While we were at the creek/wagon trail... we were climbing rocks, throwing rocks into the water to get people wet and just laughing at each other. But Tia just happen to stike a pose for me! This pisture isn't the best picture but I love it,.....:))










Then there was Aubrey! lol ... for those of you that don't know... this little girl is Keilah and Dean's child.... She was outside for a little while and got scared because mom wasn't there. She came inside with sticks to eat for supper! :) LOL She is so adorable!!










Well... You just can't miss the cake! :) I did not get any pictures of Nathan OR my mom holding the cake... (My mom seriously didn't need two cakes.) But yea... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :) Big OLD 42! :)

But yea I am gonna jump back like 5 hours... LOL no jk... But my mom stopped at the gas station so she could fill that gas tank and wash her car.... WELL..... us 4 little kids desided to run into the store and get candy but didn't make it back into the car to go threw the car wash.. Anna and I got bored and took a picture... I kind of got a smile... maybe I was just a LITTLE asleep this morning:)



Well that is about it for now so ima go and get my homework finished... Hope you all enjoyed your wonderful day today! :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA! :)
-acm

Can't Believe I'm Here

Here comes a post that is all over the place ... you've been warned!

Last Sunday Miss. Toni rode with us from church to Frans & Jenny's for lunch. I am not a photographer lady ... that I will gladly leave to others in the family. But, once in a while I manage to get a photo that I love. And this little face begs to be painted. Wish I had time to play with a brush.

Our passports arrived the other week. I always thought that you surrender your old passport when you get the new one. They send it back to you but it is marked as "no good" or whatever. Took a picture of my 23 year old one next to my new one. Decided I'd delete that picture. Time does fly. Quite the pile we've accumulated here. We should be good to travel for a while! We had already paid for passport photos when I found out that we don't need them yet this year to drive through Canada. The photos were done, the paperwork was filled out ... so we went for it. Now we don't have to worry about it.

Summer is coming to the Valley of the Sun much too quickly. I don't know what the temp hit today, but must have been in the mid 80's. So off to the lovely Target store we went. New flip flops for kiddos. I actually wore tennies this winter more than I ever have before. Believe it or not ... it helps with that nasty heel crackin' that we were comparing the other summer. Now we're ready for bare feet.

Brock & Tia were working on moving wood piles for me. The green cart has been a life saver. I don't know what kind of wheelie contraption we've ever used more than this one. It moves everything ... including kiddos. Back yard got cleaned. Today, with Anna & Tia's help, I finished slapping paint on the patio wall where it was concrete mud splattered. Alyx and the rest of the munchkins busily cleaned off the patio and it once again looks big. Awesome!!

The For Sale By Owner sign is up in the yard. We may end up using a realtor, but will try this for the next week or so and see what happens. I kept saying that this will be the easy part ... keeping the house clean. Then ... guess what I did? I decided to organize all my saving of kids school papers/birthday cards etc. I have it everywhere!!! So much for clean. We even played with those lovely bags that you fill with stuff, suck the air out with the vacuum and are space saving devices. The kids' favorite teddy bear from baby hood may never look the same again, but I fit them in small spaces now!

Yesterday I spent HOURS once again organizing photos on my computer. Still not done, but will be fun to move them all to disks in an organized manner someday.

Jari left for the cold north on Wednesday evening. Satellite showed nasty storm cells over Anchorage & Wasilla before he left. Hasn't driven in snow for quite a while and was renting a puddle jumper little car. Flight got in after midnight & he was driving to Wasilla. I was working on Thursday & a bit of a nervous nelly. No call, no answer to my text messages ... visions of snow banks and buried by snow plows ran around in my head. He got there safe, sound and exhausted. This weekend they are snow mobiling up at the cabin some folks' own. The weather isn't bad. He bought boots before he left. Even got me a pair on clearance. Hard to believe that I will actually need those when I was eyeing flip flops today. Shopping for a jacket & some more long johns was on the list on Friday. Hope he's staying warm. Will see what kind of pics he sends me when they get back to town. This one came on Friday.

I'll be back sometime soon!

New Hobbies

First of all ... it was a joy to have Becky here the other weekend. That should definately happen more often. It has been a very busy several weeks around here!

It has been super having Grandma & Grandpa around as well. Last week the laundry room got done, with the exception of a piece of trim around the room @ the ceiling. I even have evidence to prove that he was workin' hard!

This evening we went to play miniature golf. Grandma had gone once before while here visiting, for Grandpa it was a new experience. I must admit we kept score, but won't post those here. Alyx wanted us to go play a game at the place she works at, Fiddlesticks Family Fun Park.

The water hole. Jari was the first to just take a penalty stroke and pick his ball out of the water. Grandma wasn't so easy going. The spray on the left side of the picture, on the green, is from her repeated efforts to get that ball out of the water. I was wondering when she was going to go for the all out bath! Grandpa took the penalty. Good laughs!

mother and isa

Today, Sunday, we had a bbq at Frans and Jennys with Anita, Jari and 4 kids here. They
had to leave to do school work and someone was coming to look at the big boat.

Yesterday we went with Frans and Jenny to the Science Museum to see the Body Exhibit.
Jari went to bring a trailer of stuff to Juha's. Anita, Tia and Brock were cleaning more on
their yard, Alyx was working and so was Anna, baby sitting for Frans and Jenny. Quite the
exhibit. When at Anita's, Pa was able to help Jari some. Then on Friday the real helper
came, Kevin came to help with the final details. During services he was able to help Frans
with the remote video for the overflow service tent. So he didn't have to twiddle his thumbs
too often!

We had one day less than planned in Tenaha because of the storm in Mobile. It was too cold
to go fishing. River would have been shaded so no warmth from the sun. The brothers did
go 4 wheeling in their pasture and the adjoining hunting land.

First night after Lake Worth was spent in Mobile, Alabama. Found out severe thunderstorms in
Mobile County and a hurricane touched down in New Orleans and some in the area. We decided to check in for a second night. By doing this, when the sun came out we went to visit Vosahlos
about 12:30. Darrell asked if we like small shrimp. We do. He boiled it. It was cool by the time we got there. He showed us how to peel it. Dip in some red sauce ?; it was good. Ruth had
gotten home from the hospital the day before; rectal cancer surgery. She has a non-reversible
colostomy. She looked good though has loss weight since we saw her last.

When we did leave Mobile we stopped at an antique place in Hattesburg, Mississippi. Pa got
me a valentines day, mother's day, and birthday gift and even a Christmas gift for 2008! Will
have Debbie put pictures on the Blog later. We should have taken our winter jackets out of the trunk when we put the purchases in there. We didn't. In Jackson, Mississippi, it was 34 and
windy, and we walked 3 1/2 blocks to the capital. Should have had on the winter jackets. I
didn't walk back to the car; got picked up across from the capital.

Lake Worth we stayed with Don and Pauline. Awesome. You'll read the rest in the Newsletter.
We thoroughly enjoyed Chattanooga, but laughed that it was a little too high falutten (sp?) for
us.

Will check on weather conditions when in N.M. to see if we should go to Oklahoma City and
then north or go NE earlier. Sure have been lots of storms in Minnesota, and the rest of the
northern states. Heard some stories of people being stuck but we've been o.k. so far! dk

SNOW in Minnesota

steven stood in front of the snow mound so you can see how high it was he is over 5 ft. tall and so is the mound!


snow is 24 in. <

Well, the weather forecast wasn't wrong this time 2 and 1/2 ft of snow is about what we got, and to think it doesn't want to stop. (thats of this morning) It was suposed to die down at 5 this evening but its now 20 to 6 and its still coming down very hard. I think that we have 3 or close to 3 ft by now. i haven't been out there since after lunch but i am sure theres a lot out there now. here are some pictures to give you a feel for what its like in Rogers today:) Duchess was having a hard time walking so me and Denise made a trail for her to walk down.

Jenny

Hello everyone! wow...it's been a while since I have blogged anything! Here or on the Forstie blog! I have been sitting here editing and adding more services pictures to pictage.com. what a job! I think I am done now tho, so that's good. I had to edit everyone's pictures that took them, (kim kesti, markus korpi, bob johnson, roxy and rory, etc...), then ftp them to pictage. They are sure fun to look at online tho. They are at www.pictage.com and type in 'winter services' in the search box. It might be down right now though for a few hours, because I am in the process of adding more pictures to it. If you can't get there, try again in a few hours.

Services was fun, but very busy....almost too busy.... Frans and I didn't get to sit together for one sermon...a few times we were together for about 15 minutes or so. On Sunday morning we were together, but as soon as the first song started, I went out with a crabby kid. When I came back about 15 minutes later, our bench had been filled with people, so frans got up and let me sit! oh well...I saw and visited a lot of folks that I haven't seen in a while which is always fun!

How is your house project coming along Heather? Frans is in the process of putting in a new shower and toilet in our back bathroom. It is a mess in there! He started it last week, but hasn't touched it now for a week because of services. It will be so nice when it's done! Our shower was beyond disgusting! At the same time, I am hoping that he puts in new flooring in our bedroom:)

Lindsey is having a 'Dr. Suess book' week at school. Monday they had to wear unmatching or inside-out clothes, tuesday she had to wear a hat, today was wacky sock wednesday, and on friday high school students are coming to read a dr suess book to the class! It is fun, and boy she loved wearing my mismatched socks to school today! She was so cute this morning running around the house in my socks pulled up to her knees! I would post a picture of her, but I can not find my card reader anywhere!! Frustrating.

anyways, here are a few pictures of our trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. This baby arangutan (sp?) is so cute!!

Day Off in Arizona

I had a grand time in Arizona. Weather was nice, but visiting was the best! Jari got me from the airport and brought me out for lunch at a great mom & pop Chinese place. We had been there on a prior visit. Good food; great visit. Anita was working, but I got some quiet time with their kids which was nice. Frans & Jenny came and brought pizza for supper. We can just chat the night away! Got some reading done in the morning, then to play broomball in the evening. My kids didn't think I would actually go play. They must not see that side of me enough. Pictures don't lie. After broomball, a bunch of moms, along with Alyx and Alissa, went to Chipotle. We were visiting so intently, we didn't realize they had washed the tables and put up chairs around us until Jenny went outside to use the phone and found she was locked out. How embarrassing to have the place close around us. Spent that night and the next morning at Frans & Jenny's. That evening, after supper at Anita & Jari's, we went to visit at Jeanette's. Wayne's mom is staying there for several weeks, so got to visit her there as well. Benefit breakfast at the church in the morning. More good visiting time there during Sunday school and after services. On to Souper!Salad! with Anita & kids and Frans & Jenny and kids. With full bellies, Anita and I went back to her place and reminisced while going through old photos, then laughed into the morning. We figured it was time to hit the sheets when we were down to four hours of sleep before heading to the airport. Thanks to all you AZ folks and to Wayne and my kiddos for a wonderful D.O. (Day Off)! I think I could get used to this. -b

Fred Tomassoni

I can still hear Fred's unique voice when i think back to him stopping by to sign checks for the township.

I didn't know that Bruce & Michelle lost a son - when was that?

e.

Debbie

i decided that while i was on i would post these pictures, i'm not a fan of my own pictures but ;) i thought that picture of kathryn is just hilarious, i tell ya she can really be a thrill. have a good day every one.

Ivan and Missi

Hey all

Hope all is well with all. Heather-sounds like all is going well with the home project. Anita and Jari-good luck with the sale-hope the market down there is better than it is up here. Am looking forward to visiting sometime in AK.

Missi just taught me how to get onto the new blog-(crazy that I couldn't figure it out.) Anyway, I haven't posted anything in a long time so figured I'd give it a whirl.

Just talked w/Becky last night about various wedding things and she wasn't aware that there will be a gift opening on Sunday after the wedding. Immediate family and the wedding party are invited to attend. We haven't decided on the location or exact time yet but will almost definitely be Sunday. Anyway, just wanted to give a heads-up to all.

Anyone that has good ideas about a scripture/other reading for the wedding please feel free to share. Missi and I have been struggling on that one. We've found one that we agree on-it's an Apache wedding prayer or something- we both like it but have to wait until we find out which pastor will be officiating at the wedding so we can talk with him/her about what kind of reading we have to have (if they require anything specific-or biblical). Anyway, if anyone has ideas of specific bible verses or other readings, please feel free to share for our consideration.

Jenny, Missi has sent you a picture of her dress via snail mail-(or will soon if not yet). I talked with Frans a little about dresses for the girls but just to make sure everything's clear I'll reiterate here. Missi and I are fine with you picking out dresses down there (I hear you have connections), all we ask is that they are white, similar style to Missi's, and most importantly, that the two girl's dresses match each other.

Kisses and hugs to all, see you soon
Ivan and Missi

Debbie

Well its been pretty quiet on here, how did Marjanen's and AZ Kuoppala's like my moms visit down there? she comes back home today and i am glad, its hard to get these girls to listen to you :-) well hopefully everyones been having a fun time. I can't wait to hear about Grandma and Grandpa's trip south, lets hope Grandma hasn't gotten sick yet ;) have a good day everyone.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday dear Liz,
Happy Birthday to you!!

Hope it was a happy one.
Heather and Shawn

In the middle of Montana...

Wayne is getting to know his future daughter in law... Her parents were planning to help her move here soon, but a job interview pushed things up a little. Rather than making an extra flight, it was decided she would drive here now with all her stuff. Well, nobody liked the idea of her driving alone and her parents couldn't drive her in time for her interview, but Eric was able to arrange things so that Wayne could fly out and drive her back. He flew into Seattle around midnight Friday morning and they took off driving, stopping in Spokane. After sleeping a couple hours, Rosie spent some time with her sister and Wayne was able to have lunch with Ed. They made it through the mountains fine, but shortly east of Billings, her trani gave out. They were able to limp back to Billings very slowly. Very nice people at a garage there verified the problem and told them it would take a week to fix. First plan was to get a UHaul and dollie and tow the car home. The garage guys gave them a ride to UHaul. The contract was over $800! Add to that terrible gas mileage. After many phone calls and much brainstorming, they returned the UHaul and rented a car. Her car is getting left for repair at the garage in Billings. They are now on their way with the rental which she will be able to use all week. Then, next weekend, they will make another dash west to return the rental and pick up her car. What do you do??? Nothing like getting to know how the in-laws (both kids and parents) will do under stress! I will be happy to see them pull in early in the morning and hear Rosie's famous, "It's all good."
-b

Good Old House

Well the doors are all on..... three bedrooms done.. but a few touch-ups here and there. I am down to our bedroom and the laundry room and that should do it ... ha,ha... Need to finish every thing to put the house up for sale. Off to Bryans wedding next week.. then home. Same day I get home, R&D will be here... then winter services, three days later. To Alaska a week later after services to find another fixer-upper and the old home still needs work .... I think I'm going to cry.... :( just no time. Oh well all in good fun. Hope you all are having fun like me.

Jari

Debbie

I was having fun taking pictures, as i always do, but i thought i would post some on here, Kathryn talking on the phone, Laura and for some reason i an't flip her picture today so, and kathyn again. hope everyone's having a good day.

Construction continues

Our living room floor is done. It has been installed, sanded, sealed, sanded, sealed.... and is now completed. Yesterday, Steve, Shawn, and Randy were putting up the wood around our living room walls, bay window, bookshelf, and will be doing the rest of it today. Then, the project will be to sand and seal it. Hopefully this gets done today, so I can sand it tonight and seal it tonight. Then, for the clean up. The plan next week is to finish the bathroom and start laying tile in the bathroom and hallway. It's fun to get a new floor and I've enjoyed going out shopping for felt and other protection so my new floors don't get scratched. We won't move anything into to the living room until it has been protected. We'll see how long it is before we have a big scratch in the floor. The finer details such as molding and trim will be some time before it is completed.

How are the other home projects going? Anita/Jari? Frans/Jenny?

How is everyone surviving the slightly chilly weather? It is supposed to be warming up now and at 10 degrees it is feeling a bit like a heat wave. The guys would go outside and saw wood on the table saw in their short sleeved shirts. Can tell it is warming up - okay it was only 10 degrees, but it felt warm.

Heather

The "Worker Bee"

Once upon a time when I was scouring the internet for some pictures for something or another, I found this picture. It sort of brought me back to places I've "been". Thought you might get a chuckle.

I renamed the wonderful guy I'm married to. The other sounds much too derogatory (sp?). Bedroom #3 is done except for trim & doors!!! This morning when I left for work at 6:30 it was empty of everything including carpet & doors. Wow!! I came home (a bit late ... it was a long day) to a room that looks fantastic!

Now I'm down to the wire. The master bedroom must be emptied next. What am I to do????

I got a wonderful exciting telephone call today. NAET is sending me extra things I asked for. That means that I can actually do more than one person allergy treatment at a time. I see the light at the end of the tunnel for hospital floor nursing. This will be absolutely awesome!! Can you imagine? Someday ... no more wiping butts! I am just grinning.

By the way, "B" ... now that #3 is done, looks like we are free to do fun things while you're here! The thought must have made my "worker bee" a bit nervous.

THE Slave again

Oh boy
#2 bed room is done.... Sorry no pictures this time, when I finished the boys moved back in with a hop, skip and a jump.. Lets hope after all this they might keep it alittle cleaner.. Right!!! Well time to start #3 bed room. Alyx is not going to like it, but that the way it gos... Oh maybe while B is here.. A and B could do # 3 for me.... NOT !!!! I will be at my sisters for a wedding from the 15th to the 19th... and B will be here.
Thats all .... Night ..Night

Z- outlaw

Construction

Our house remains under construction. Here's the update: the kitchen has been mudded, taped, primed, and painted the walls a dark green and a white ceiling. The tan colored ceramic tile is in, with a darker grout (Thanks Anita and Becky). We put the old cabinets back in, but one of these days, Shawn is going to make new ones. He wants them out of ash and is going to try that. When we were in St. Paul, he went browsing and found the "perfect" countertop. I guess it is a mountain green granite tile with tan flecks. He hopes they still have it when it comes to that time to do the countertops. The living room is a darker tan and other than one spot, it is done being painted. Around the bay window isn't done as that will be wood. The plywood was put down on the living room floor yesterday, the birch hardwood is piled in the living room and the project of putting that in, starts today. He has to get some saw blades, etc. this morning and then starts with the wood. After it is in, we have to sand our wood ceiling, varnish it, then sand and varnish the floor. Hopefully all this will be done by the middle of next week. The bathroom is near to being done with the mudding. That will be the next project. The hallway is painted and the tile will be put in after the living room. So, the work continues and there is new stuff done every day. Shawn initially insisted on white walls, but now it appears that the only white walls we will have will be in the bedrooms. To go from the thought of white to the reality of a dark green, has been an adjustment, but it looks really nice and both of us just love it. Others have not been so impressed. I think they just act like that and I tell them that before I know it, they are going to have dark green walls themselves.

I'm enjoying the progress of the house immensely. Shawn has been going overboard with ideas and really all I ever wanted was to just get mud, tape, and at least primer on the walls. I told him that last night and he wished I would have pointed that out earlier as it would have saved him a lot of work. I'm getting excited about having a little house warming party when the house is near done. I will be able to take pictures and not just see the mudded sheetrock in the background. That has bothered me for quite some time. When all this work is done, it will be time to add an addition. However, I'm not moving anything in to the addition until it is completed. We hope to build on an addition in the future so my living room can be a dining room then have a larger living room and add another bedroom for when we have people over. I'm trying to get 2 bedrooms so I can have a craft room, but we'll see. One thing at a time.

To those that are cotinuing with their home projects, enjoy!!
Heather

Mrs. Bloomquist

In renewing my teaching license, I had to get in
touch with the Cherry School District to plan my
continuing education credits. I had contacted
Kathy Bloomquist to have some questions
answered as she is one of the Continuing Ed
committee members. The second call I made
to her to clarify more questions, generated the
"which Kuoppala?" conversation (you know the
one) in which she mentioned to say "Hello" to
everyone.

I told her I'd post it on the family blog and she
seemed quite excited!

So "Hello" from Mrs. Bloomquist, all of you Kuoppala Kids. : )

Sorry, I have been slacking with the photo taking of
Tristan, but will have more soon! : )

LK.