Shannon's wedding

Many of you know my friend Shannon.  She is a very sweet long time friend of mine.  She got engaged last summer (with a beautiful 4 diamond carat ring)  She hadn't really made any plans yet when her finances dad got sick and wasn't going to much longer so in 10 days they planned a beautiful wedding! They only had 30 guest including her parents, brother and a few friends (me).  Just last week they had a reception and David and I got invited.  It was really fun. Shannon's husband Kyle's family raises shell fish.  The reception included a tour of the farm.  Their farm has been featured on NW Backroads.  I learned so much. They plant gooey ducks, manila clams, and oysters.  I guess gooey ducks grow for 5 years before harvested.  The farm is most known for their oysters.  I hear they are served in the finest restaurants in the country.  His dad invented a new way of growing them called tumble style.  It makes them deeper and less fluted but with more meat.  I was scared but tried my first one with John Pepper.  I figured this was the best time if I ever was going to.  I just swallowed it with out chewing.  David had several but I just tried one.  They were serving them fresh, raw or cooked.  They also had the best clams I ever had! They had pesto sauce on them. They also had a pig roast.  It was a little weird for me but the meat was delicious.  The day was absolutely beautiful! 80 degrees and sunny.  It couldn't have been prettier.  Don't be surprised if our Christmas card this year features a picture from that day.

my first oyster with friend Johns first too.



oyster beds

roasted pig dinner

Shannon and Kyle 2014

wedding cake her friend Haylee decorated!

wedding day Nov. 2014

Tulips

A few weeks ago David and I wanted to go see the tulips. (well probably more me)  I looked into going to the was here in Washington.  There about 2 hours north and I wanted to make a day of it however I noticed they didn't let pets come.  That's understandable but we decided not to go.  A few weeks later I was looking for something to do and noticed there was a tulip festival in Organ. It wasn't much further and not only do they let you bring dogs but they encouraged it by offering a discount if you do, and having a dog costume contest.  We decided to make a weekend of it and get some tax free shopping in too! We knew we were a little late in the month to go but there was still some flowers left.  I really liked the place, they had cool tractors to play on, this tulip train cars, lots of kids rides that looked fun and risibly priced, but I loved seeing the old steam tractors.  I've seen steam trains but never old tractors.  They even worked!  It was a nice little get away.