R is for Ronnebeck!

The day after Thanksgiving for some is such joy; I relish in the joy that these people find as I sit at work. I love my job and there’s never a dull moment – but the day after Thanksgiving has something to be desired. It’s quiet, the amount of phone calls I’ve had to answer I can count on one hand. I do have to admit – I’ve done a fair amount of extra projecting that is sure to get me ahead for next week. I do have to admit the quiet it nice, though a little disturbing considering my usual work environment is lively and fun. I am getting my fill of Christmas music and organization to pass the time more quickly. Eric and I had a nice Thanksgiving eve with dinner at the Santo residence (where our wedding was held) and their family was welcoming to us. Tonight we’re going to eat some yummy Turducken that Eric has slaved over all day (though I think he’s napping at the moment) and side dishes provided by the Oleson’s. I was in charge of the pie! So Tonight feels like Thanksgiving to me – I

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. Count your blessings every day and today count them twice. Enjoy your time with family and friends! Wish we could be there. Love you all! Abby & Eric PS: Gobble till you Wobble (Just to make Meg roll her eyes)

Have you ever decided you needed a 'Perfect Family photo' for that wonderful Christmas card to send out in the beginning of December? I decide every year that I would like to send out a family photo with our Christmas cards. This year is no different than the last, but this year in the middle of our photo shoot I started to wonder... is there such a thing as a 'perfect family photo' to send out in your Christmas cards? After much trial and error and frustration with the timer and tripod I've realized that there is not going to be a 'perfect family photo' I do have a couple that will make you laugh and a few that I love, but to strive for perfection in something as trivial as a family photo will lead you to insanity. I bid you good luck in your venture for a 'Perfect family photo' I don't ' know that we got ours this year but I guarantee the one that shows up in your mail box will make you giggle and say "yep that's a perfect Ronneb

As if Voting on November 4th wasn’t enough – I asked you to vote last week for Leilani for a baby contest. Good news … She made it to round two! I need you to go vote again! Same types of system - go to http://www.kube93.com/ and click on the “Baby Battle Banner” and follow the instructions to vote for LEILANI F. The most important part isn’t casing your vote and entering in your e-mail address, but make sure you go to your e-mail address to get the “verify your vote” link – your vote doesn’t count until you click that link! Leilani is a few steps closer to her College fund start and Meg’s a few steps closer to ultimate bragging rights! Thank you all for helping Leilani succeed! I have posted the picture Meg entered of her to help sway your vote! It was taken by her cousin Kili!

Yesterday our Thanksgiving plans of cooking a Turducken with the Oleson’s have been postponed until after work on Friday. Tim and his family lost their Grandpa Morris this week – please send thoughts and prayers to them in this time of sorrow. Grandpa Morris was 91 years old and full of fight – he will be missed. That being said – Eric and I are going to Claim Jumper! Just kidding – well not entirely … we might. We’re going to make the best out of the situation and decorate for Christmas, and maybe go out to eat and perhaps stop by the Santo residence for a hey hello and a piece of pie! We look forward to our Turducken on Friday – whoever said Thanksgiving has to be on the same day as everyone else’s’? We’ll just be thankful one day longer and postpone the Turkey coma for the weekend! I hope you have a Happy Turkey day – where are you going? What are you doing? ♥ Abby

Meg, Amber and I ventured to the Auburn 17 by the Super mall to take in Twilight! We have read the series and wanted to experience the movie together. I wanted to take as many photos as possible to document our adventure. We had a ton of fun and have definitely decided that we all want to be part of the Cullen Family. There was a HUGE line to get into the theater when the doors finally opened but we got decent seats. The girls behind us were being typical teenaged giggly girls and we finally hushed them half way through the movie, here are a few of the photos We took and a few from online showing how awesome this movie is! I recommend the books to anyone and everyone! We got Tickets at Fandango - The theater entrance - Meg with her Fangs The Marquee with Twilight. - The unreal line we stood in - The sign to the theater.

Hey guys! I wanted to put out a shameless plug for my dear friend (and co-worker) Meg. She has entered her baby in a “cutest baby” contest through a radio station out here. The first prize is 1,500 bucks. It’s more or less an advertising competition since there are so many babies entered! We need your votes! She’s the cutest baby in the contest by far; I’m [not] biased. Take a look for yourself and then follow the steps to vote Leilani F the cutest baby in Seattle! Go to http://www.kube93.com/ Click on the icon at the top of the page that says “Baby Battle” Click on the “VOTING PAGE” link At the bottom of the page click the VOTE button on Group 4 Find for Leilani F and click on the bubble next to her name Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter in your e-mail address (no junk mail will come of this – trust me I’ve already voted) And click “Submit” HERES THE IMPORTANT PART When you check your e-mail you will have a “verify your vote” e-mail from Kube 93. You must click on the link in

After a few hours of thought about last night’s cRAVE I wanted to blog and share with you the experience we had. First of all, I should explain (again) cRAVE is a worship service some adults in our church facilitate for youth. It’s an opportunity for kids to experience God in their own way. Church can be kind of daunting for youth who are getting drug there by their parents – cRAVE is a way to be youthful at worship but still worship God in the most awesome ways. Last night we ran with the theme of Thankful because Thanksgiving is of course just around the corner. Eric gave a short message about being thankful and stopping to just be thankful. He talked about how we think we do things in our lives alone but GOD is there, and as Christians we should be thankful always for the blessings we have. We opened up the mic after that for the youth to bring things up that they were thankful for; a couple youth brought pictures of friends and family and a couple brought things that reminded them

In no particular order – here are a few things that are making my smile big and bright today. ♥ The photo shoot from last night. Eric (and Aquaman somewhat) was so helpful in helping fulfill my vision of what photo I wanted to post for what I was thankful for today (see http://www.abbys365.blogspot.com/ ). I kept getting frustrated but Eric was so patient and helpful. ♥ Christmas music playing on warm 106.9 – usually I stay away from it till December 1st giving Thanksgiving it’s full month of holiday but for some reason I can’t help but to sing along this year. (It’s kind of a secret shame) And I’ve already heard some of my all time favorites. ♥ cRAVE is tonight and we get to play some fun Thanksgiving themed games! And Eric is doing the message tonight! ♥ Eric is picking me up from work so I do not have to ride the bus. ♥ I got to nap on the bus this morning because my “usual” bus buddy Dahlia was MIA. Though I love talking with Dahlia – I was sleepy. ♥ The three cups of coffee I dran

Wow! What a lazy weekend we had! I know it seems weird but my sister called me this morning and said “what did you do this weekend” and I told her “I know it sounds odd but we were busy I’m just not sure what we did”. Friday night Eric and I went to Federal way and spent some time running errands and went out to eat at Herfey’s (which is a complete and udder grease ball of a restaurant) but it tasted good! Then we went to Target where I purchased the best Pajama’s in the entire world! (See photo). I am SO ready for Christmas morning with these jams, but actually they’re just super comfy. I took some time Saturday afternoon to bake some Chocolate Chocolate-frosted cookies and Eric and I were both pretty astonished to see how quickly they disappear from the cookie jar. Saturday evening Eric went to All Freak’n Night in Olympia which is a movie marathon of really old horror flicks that his friend Ivan is involved with. I stayed home because my talents do not include staying awake from 12

Hey guys! Sorry my blogs have been kind of “Debbie Downers” lately. It’s just been weird losing Eric Tennis and Tuba Man all within a week of each other! I can’t help but to pay a tribute to two men who have had a huge impact on the way I view life. I am a very lucky girl and GOD has dealt me a pretty fair hand. On the bright side of the world - it’s raining here today again! I know I’ve got to be the most insane Seattleite you’ve ever met but I really do appreciate every drop of moisture we receive. It’s weird to think this time of year I’m used to scraping windows and starting my car for work. I don’t even drive to work anymore! I commute by bus 5 days a week and wow! Can I tell you not having to drive in this kind of traffic does wonders for my stress level? As for the new name of the Blog? I’m trying things out. I should have done what I did with my Photo blog, wait until I found a really great name for it or at least a name I liked to start it. So It was “The Ronnebecks” and that

Happy Veterans day to My favorite Veterans! Still activly fighting the War on Iraq... Nick Nielsen Joe Nielsen Kevin Sowers Has completed 1 or more tours of the War on Iraq... Toby Scotting Scott Johnson Jenny Hoover Matt Harmel Renee Miller Tynna Phillips Kayla Aman Jeremy Kasperson Micha Nixon Have fought in Past wars.... Adolph Nielsen (WW2) Leon Ward (WW2) Active Service in the Armed Forces Kerry Bronson Joe Larson Kyle Schull

“How are you”“Fine, Fine how are you; monkey?” The infamous words of Eric Tennis. Eric Tennis passed away in his home on Saturday. For those of you who do not know Eric he was as staple at every single sporting event that the Arrows hosted. You may recognize him from County Fair in his wheel chair going mach 5 through the aisles helping people; with his little orange flag waving in the air. Most of my memories of Eric derive from my years spent managing the Arrow Boys’ Basketball team. I always looked forward to Eric and his bright smile and his continuous love for the Arrows and the Pack! His favorite thing to do was to greet people and he had an uncanny ability to always remember your name he must have known every single being in Watertown. County fair foods will not be the same without him, I know that God now has a very special angel that I believe will be in heaven right by his side greeting the rest of us as we come in the pearly gates “have a nice day” he will say with the brigh

Stellars Decor! Last night after work Eric picked me up and we ventured into Georgetown. There we dined at Stellars which is a Beer and pizza place. This place serves the most amazing pizza ever! We ordered the Carleton and the Airport way Cordon Blue . On the Carleton was Mushrooms, Roasted Garlic, and sun dried tomato's . On the Blue was Canadian Bacon, Chicken and Gorgonzola cheese. I think I have fallen in love with their food. I fear I will become a regular! As for desert? W had some amazing Dum Dums which tasted like Suntan Lotion and Cherry Chap stick ... I think I'll just stick to the Pizza! Then we came home and Cuddled with Aquaman... He loves fleece blankets!!!

Wow! I am pretty impressed I already have 30 posts... I'm kind of shocked I haven't given up on this yet. Any ways - Well, one of the things I like most about Seattle in the fall is all this liquid Sunshine! It’s been raining here 3 days nonstop (pretty much). I love when it rains and doesn’t just mess around and mist. Though it does make the leaves stick to the ground in a very messy sort of way it’s still wonderful. Mom said yesterday that there was 3 foot of snow expected in Watertown (and I believe it came). YUCK! I am so glad I don’t have to deal with snow! I miss the beauty of it but do not miss scraping my windows, shoveling my sidewalks, and starting my car as soon as I get out of bed to make sure it’s nice and warm when I leave. I would safely say I will take Liquid Sunshine any day except for on Christmas Day! Speaking of Christmas we’re starting to get things together all ready! It’s weird to hear all the holiday commercial’s because I usually take that as my cue to

It’s true! Eric and I have added a new title to our list! Anna (Eric & I’s niece) welcomed to the world AnnaBella Grace (Bella for short) on 11-1-08 at 1:52 PM. AnnaBella weighs 6.5 pounds and is 20.5 inches long! Both Baby and Mom (Anna) are doing great! Anna had a perfect labor and delivery with her coaches Laura, Kay and Kristina by her side. Great news and a great addition to our family! I would have posted this earlier but I wanted to get a “brag” photo to post along with it! This has made us “officially” a Great Aunt and Uncle. ♥ Abby

For those of you who have not been to a Seattle sports game you would not know nor appreciate the wonderful tunes of the Tuba man. This man; Ed better known as the Tuba man was at ever Mariners game I have ever been to always playing songs, and dancing. He was attacked this week by a gang of young men who beat him and he later died due to injuries from the attack. He has a special place in all Seattle sports fans hearts. I wanted to share a few stories from my (and Eric’s) personal encounters with the Tuba man and how he’ll be remembered by us. When Liz was out here for our wedding we went to a Mariners game the Tuesday she got here. We were walking outside the stadium when I said, “Let’s go meet the Tuba Man”. Liz and I walked up to Ed and talked to him and took pictures with him and then he played our request which was “Take me out to the ball game”. After he played our request he said that we were too beautiful not to have two songs, so he also played “My Sharona”. Eric has had many

So, my dear friend Tacy pointed out to me that there is a statue between our workplace and Bartell Drug. I've always noticed that he's there but recently noticed (again, thanks to Tacy) that there is a construction cone upon his head. There is a flood of questions that come to my mind but mostly "who put it there?" and "how the heck did they get it up there?" The photo doesn't show it but it's a really REALLY tall statue! What I do know is that I doubt John Harte McGraw wouldn't much get the joke as to why there's a constuction cone upon his head. Or He would laugh just as I do because he looks rather proud wearing it! I just thought it was humorus. I hope it makes you laugh too! ♥ Abby