Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We are really enjoying our time away from work and are thrilled to have time to spend together as well as with family and friends.

We're off to Chicago on Tuesday to spend some time with the Ellis clan. That will be such fun. We're also going to see great friends - Jerrod & Amanda and the Conrads! We are pumped for that special time.

Much love this Christmas...

Power Outages!

Well, I'm sure many of you have heard on the national news all the craziness that has been going on in the northwest. It is all true!

On Thursday night/Friday morning a very powerful windstorm hit our area with gale force winds of up to 70 miles an hour and along the Washington coast, they reported winds of up to 90 miles per hour. Needless to say, the wind caused a bit of damage. On Friday, over 1 million people in the Seattle area were without power and today (Monday) there are still about 350,000 people without power. We lost power on Thursday at about 11:30pm and regained power on Saturday at 4:30pm. We were very thankful when the lights on our Christmas tree popped on. It was a rough couple of days.

Due to outages in Bellevue (where we teach) we did not have school on Friday or today, Monday. Tomorrow is supposed to be our last day of school before break. Hopefully, we'll at least be able to go to school and wish our students a Merry Christmas! We'll see...

Dave Matthews Band

What a Saturday! Early Saturday morning, Cliff and I met up with 8 or so friends, drove east across the beautiful state of Washington for about 2 1/2 hours to George, Washington (yes they were quite creative with that one!) and went to a Dave Matthews concert at the Gorge Amphitheater. The Gorge is one of the most famous concert venues in the US...breathtaking views. We sat outside last night, facing the Columbia River and watching O.A.R and Dave play from 7:00-midnight. Can't beat that! (Check out the Gorge - http://www.hob.com/venues/concerts/gorge/index.asp)

Then we went back to our campground and crashed! It was a very fun day and it was our last hoorah before school starts on Tuesday. Such fun! :)

Mackenzie's Linguistic Profile

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

25% Yankee

10% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Give it a try. Very interesting. I would say this is quite reflective of all the places I've lived. :)

Project...after Project...after Project...

We are working like crazy on our house...not because it wasn't perfectly fine in the first place, but because we want to add personality. Do you ever enter into a project with all these great ideas, envisioning the end product, only to get halfway through and want to never have started? Well, we aren't quite there, but it sure is getting close! :)

Over the last four months, we have seen our home transformed from a house with no plants and white walls to a very colorful place. We were talking last night about how much we have enjoyed this journey! The journey continues...that's for sure - with no end in sight!

This week, we painted furniture, installed two new light fixtures (with help from dad!), hung all kinds of things up on our walls, bought new decor, built a stone retaining wall with free landscaping stones from craigslist, and bought a shed at Home Depot that Cliff and others are building this weekend. While they're building the shed, I'll be painting more furniture and refinishing a chest. Yikes!

Like I said, it is fun to see the finished product, but whew...I'm tired!! :) Love to you all...keep us in your prayers as we dive into all these new projects while teaching summer school! As always, you're all welcome to come stay with us and see the new place!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Brent and Katie Luettel

Katie and Brent were married on June 30, 2006, in Kansas Ciy, MO. It was a blast! The ceremony was gorgeous, Katie looked beautiful, Brent was dashing in his white tux, and the party was awesome!

Katie did such a great job planning everything and making it all work perfectly. Everyone that was there and part of their special day was thrilled for them. :)

Kate and Brent went to Mexico on their honeymoon. Such fun! It is great to have another new brother. We couldn't have asked for a better match for Kate. Brent is such a great guy!

Yeah for the new couple. We love you so much!!!

Almost our 2nd Anniversary!!

We cannot believe we have been married for nearly TWO YEARS! It has been an amazing time and we've loved every minute of it. We both agree that it feels a lot longer! :) We mean that in a good way. It just seems as though we've done so much and have grown so much since we got married. We have moved, started new jobs, bought a house, adopted a dog, and now I'm changing jobs. Life is great! :)

To celebrate, we're planning to go camping at Mt. Rainier. Monday night (our actual anniversary), we're going to a VERY nice restaurant in Seattle...Daniel's Broiler.

4th Grade!!!

After 2 years as the special ed teacher at Woodridge, I'm making a change! Next year (per my request) I will be teaching 4th grade! I will still be at Woodridge, and I'm very excited for the new opportunity. Can't wait!!!

Washington Coast

This weekend we went to the Washington coast with some friends! Two of the guys are in the army, so they were able to rent an army owned beach house, quite inexpensively. It was a great time - relaxing, filled with laughter, and lots of smores!

We drove out on Friday night with our friends Matt and Courtney. Tucker joined the group and was a very good boy. We played some lively games of Catch Phrase on Friday night then headed down to the beach on Saturday. We made a fire pit, grilled hot dogs and smores, and played frisbee and football. Tucker also had his first beach experience (with us anyway). He loved the water and we could barely coax him out! Granted the wet dog smell was not the greatest. :)

Tucker is Wonderful

We have had such a great time with Tucker! He is a wonderful dog and a perfect addition to our family. Saturday night was fun, but Sunday was better!!! We went to Petco to get a few supplies and he was so friendly to the other dogs. Then we went to Lincoln Park (our favorite park that happens to be very close to us) and walked around. We had such a great time - we took Tucker off of his leash and he just walked the paths and stayed close by. He even looked back a number of times to make sure we were still with him...what a good boy!

This week has been an adjustment for him, because he's staying outside in the backyard all day while we're at work. He definitely wants to be with people and doesn't love the "alone time" but he's getting used to it. :) I can say, he is extremely excited when we get home!

He and I (Mackenzie) have been running together, which is a great motivator for me. We couldn't have asked for a better dog or situation!

Tucker

Tucker, a six year old golden retriever, joined our family tonight. We adopted him from a family in Seattle, who simply couldn't give him the exercise and attention he needed since they moved to the city. The adoption process was quick and simple - they brought him over, he checked out the backyard, we played ball, and we said yes. Like most goldens he's mild mannered. He also happens to be quite a large golden. The vet has said he's about twenty pounds overweight, but we're hoping our backyard and our motivation to exercise will help him slim down for this summer's bathing suit season. Other than that he's simply content to be in the same room as everyone else. Check out our picture site for more pics.

Happy Birthday!

Cliff's birthday was very fun!

The play and dinner on Friday was great. Nine Parts of Desire was a one woman show - except the one woman played nine different characters...it was truly amazing! Saturday we had a great time at my parents. Then on Sunday evening, I invited some friends over for dinner and Cliff didn't know it. When our friends Matt and Courtney walked into the backyard singing "Happy Birthday!", Cliff was shocked! We had a great night eating Cliff's favorite meal (roast beef sandwiches - Rita's special recipe), playing badmitton, and doing smores in our fire pit. It was great!!! We all had a good time.

Cliff's Birthday Weekend

Yeah for Friday!!! I can hardly believe how quickly this week has gone by. Cliff's birthday is this weekend, so we have lots going on...of course. :)

Tonight we're going to The Keg for dinner - great steak and they send you a coupon for a free steak and lobster dinner during the month of your birthday. How can you refuse that??? Then we're going to see Nine Parts of Desire - a play at the Seattle Reperatory Theatre!

Tomorrow we are getting our NEW COUCH!!! You'd think a cable guy was delivering...they give you a 3 hour window that you have to be home; but for my new couch, I can handle it. We'll post pictures, so be sure to check them out. My parents are having us over for dinner Saturday night to celebrate the birthday boy. Then on Sunday, we'll go to church, hang out, and then I'm making a nice dinner. Sounds like fun to me!!! Happy Birthday, Cliff!

I hope everyone has a nice weekend...

What a trip!!!

We just got home last night (late!!) from Chicago and Indianapolis. We flew to Chicago on Wednesday with Nate and Kara after their visit to spend some time with the fam. It was nice to have 2 whole days where we weren't painting or doing any housework - it was amazing!!!

Then on Saturday, we drove to Indianapolis with Rita and Gary for Nana's (Cliff's gram/Rita's mom) 80th birthday party! It was a surprise...and boy was she surprised. It was nice to see family and spend time with Mark and Trent. (They drove over from EIU.)

Sunday morning we went to church with Bob, Sheron, and Brit (Cliff's aunt and uncle/Gary's sister). It was nice to see their church - it reminded me of my church in Alabama. It was great! Then we went back to Sheron and Bob's for an Easter brunch. It was exciting to see that whole side of the family and all the new babies that have been born since the last time we saw everyone. Amazing how time flies.

We flew home late last night...getting it at 11 is rough, but well worth it! Then it was back to work today...crazy as ever. It was a beautiful day though, which was awesome. We got home, mowed the lawn, I went for a run...great day!

New Blog!

We are finally ready to give blogging a try!! Take a look from time to time to see what we're up to!