Alta Rose

Alta Rose, she is just so beautiful. Alta is our niece and we just love her so much. She has gotten so big since we last saw her. She has her own personality now and is just so full of life.


There is nothing more beautiful then holding a sleeping baby in your arms. Well there is one thing that makes it a little bit better...your the one that got her asleep!


I promise it was not the beer that got her to sleep! Katie made me do it!!!

New Look for a New Year!

So I decided to get my hair chopped off! I was tired of pulling it back in a ponytail and not doing anything with it. The grays were out of control so I needed some color. I decided today was the day! I stopped on my way home from work and sat in the chair and told the lady to go for it. It was just what I pictured and am very happy with it. Let's just hope I still like it at 6am when Im trying to get ready for work!

Christmas

Santa came to the Clouse House!!! This year our Christmas was filled with family and friends. We were able to spend Christmas with our mom's and even Pat's sister Erin, Rich & Alta were here. We were so happy to see everyone and be apart of Alta's first Christmas!!!

In Memory of James Patrick White

June 28, 1920 - December 21, 2008 Loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, soldier and friend to everyone he met along his journey. Survived by his wife of 66 years Marjorie Jean; daughters Suzanne Chesney and husband Richard from Ankeny, IA; Judith White from Park City, UT; Kathleen Adams and husband Robert from Waterford, MI and Laura Edwards and husband Jeffrey from Brighton, MI. Also survived by his sister Eileen Hanna and husband Howard from Grayling, MI; 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by his parents James Patrick White and Lillian M. White (maiden name Galliers), sisters Lillian Harrington and husband Jack from Rockford, MI, Renee Simpson, from Parker, AZ; brother-in-law Charles Davidson, grandson Chase Edwards from Brighton, MI and great-grandson Jaden Ciccarelli from Plymouth, MI. "Pat" will be missed not only by his family, but by the many people whose lives were touched by his happy demeanor. He had a sense of humor that was quick witted and dry. He was an artist and enjoyed oil painting and sculpture. Pat wrote a Sci Fi thriller called 'Thaw' in more recent years and had it published and sold in shops country-wide. He loved golf and boating on Fonda Lake in Brighton. Always the life of the party. Basically...he loved life! He was President of Henry McCurry Insurance Company in Southfield for many years and was a salesman extraordinaire. As a medic in WWII he saved not only American soldiers' lives but German soldiers. He received the Bronze Star, the Good Conduct medal and one for faithful service along with combat stars. He turned down the Silver Star stating "...I'm only doing my job..." Pat's death was caused by complications from Parkinson's disease. Viewing will be held at Keehn Funeral Home, Brighton, 706 W. Main St. on Friday, December 26 from 2-8 p.m., 810-229-9871. The Funeral will be at First Presbyterian of Brighton, 300 E. Grand River Ave., 810-227-7411, December 27 at 11:00 a.m.; Rev. Michalek will perform the Service. In lieu of flowers, his family requests that you feel free to donate to the Red Cross of Livingston County. Address: American Red Cross of Livingston County 1372 E. Grand River Avenue Howell, MI 48843 Attn: Armed Forced Emergency Services In remembrance of James "Pat" White

Snow, Snow, & More Snow!

We know it's going to happen every year, but boy were we surprised with the amount of snow we got this weekend. A little over 6 inches in one day and this morning we woke up to 2 more inches of the white stuff.

Poor Turbo wants to go back to Mexico but we had to break it to her that she's stuck here with us in Michigan. To make life a little easier for her we put on her special sweaters and winter boots. She is the best dressed dog in Ypsilanti!



We shovel a special little path for her in the backyard so she can walk around. We have to go back out there and shovel some more since Emma likes to push the snow over the path. It puts a smile on your face when you see the two play in the snow and Turbo in her outfit! The things we do for our pets. Only a pet owner would understand the love when its 5am and your sitting on the kitchen floor half a sleep dressing a chihuahua!

Just Because

So many things have happened to our family this week. Illness, job security, incomes are sparse, health is a question. What do you do especially with the holiday season right around the corner.

Pat and I were sitting together tonight in the living room watching the snow fall and talking about all the hurdles we have had this week. One song that struck a tune with us, especially Pat. The song - Lost by Coldplay.

Pat has a hidden talent to us all. He can listen to a song and then play it on the piano. As I type I am able to listen to the same song (Lost by Coldplay) that moved me to write this...this time it's my husband playing it.

We have been through some hard times this week. I know we all handle things differently but when we break it down, we are all human and need something or someone to lean on. Thank god I have my husband and he has me. Together we will get through this no matter what we face.

Our Life Broken Down Into Simple Words

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Tis the Season...

Tis the season for snow! Tonight we finally got a good snow fall! We should wake up to at least 3-4 inches. According to the weather channel they said up to 6 inches in some places. I'm hoping when I wake up in the morning it will be gone!
In the picture above Emma is playing with her Frisbee. She loves the snow! Poor Turbo ran inside...she didn't have her boots and sweater on.


Tis the season for work holiday parties! This year the department I work in...Pediatric Nephrology, hosted our work holiday party at Putt n Glow. It was an indoor miniature golf where everything glows under black lights. We had a really good time. Everyone came and played games. Pat even won a free pizza on the last hole! Hole in One Baby!!!! After playing miniature golf we decided to play a little air hockey. It got a little competitive and my pinky finger is now a nice shade of purple.



Tis the season for Holiday dinners with friends. This past year Pat had season tickets to Comerica park to watch the Detroit Tigers. While being a season ticket holder he became friends with many others. Last weekend all the season ticket holders got together for dinner at Leonardo's for dinner in Romulas. We went to this particular restaurant because John is a chef there. We had a wonderful dinner and even did a white elephant gift exchange. It was pretty simple and the only one's to cause a little friction of course with stealing gifts were Pat and myself. I have to say in the end we walked away with an awesome set of plates and teapot designed by Carrie (John's sister).




Tis the season for birthday party's. Pat and I went to his old roommates house to help celebrate his buddy's birthday. They had 2 bands that played. It was interesting. They had lots of music, a heater in the garage, and a keg. I woke up the next morning with the shakes & a headache. Guess I could take it we had a fun night.





Tis the season for a little friendly competition with the co-workers. My department at work had a door decorating contest. So my boss and I decided to team up because we are both the winning type and decided to decorate a door together. Here it is! We took everyone's face and stuck it on a holiday figure. We came in 2nd! Bummer! Oh well what can you do. I guess I shouldn't have tried to bribe the judges...the kids that are patients on the floor :)

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today Pat and I said I Do. I cant believe our first year is already here. It feels like just yesterday Pat and I met, then before I knew it we were engaged, then the wedding. Here we are a year later. Our wedding was great. We took the easy road and decided to get married in Las Vegas. It was wonderful. All of our family and friends flew out to be apart of our special day.

To celebrate our anniversary, Pat and I are going to go down to the MGM casino in Detroit to hang out for a little bit then have dinner at the steak house. MGM is where we stayed in Vegas and so we thought since we couldn't fly back out to Vegas to celebrate our anniversary we could drive 20 minutes to Detroit.


December 1, 2007




1 year later, 2008

The house is ready for Christmas!

I love to decorate for Christmas!! Lights have to be every where. I don't care if it's tacky. It makes the house feel warm and inviting.

Here is the piano and our plant stand decorated for the holidays.




Living room




Here it is, our Christmas tree that Pat cut down.

The front of the house. Pat and I made the wreath and in the left window is our Christmas tree. We have a little bit of snow that fell today. More to come :( YUCK!

Griswold/Clouse Christmas Tree

For the past 2 years Pat and I have decorated our 60 some foot Christmas tree with lights in our front yard. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation gave us the drive to do it. That is why we named the tree The Griswold/Clouse Christmas tree. Its a landmark! Our neighbors have even made comments and ask us if we are going to do it again next year. We take that as a compliment but it could be there way of saying Don't Do It!!

Above is Pat connecting the weight to throw over the top of the tree. He connects fishing line to it and then we pull the lights up with the fishing line. Don't mind his 80's ski ear warmer :)


Pat being a boy of course had to break out the sling shot he bought just for the occasion. Of course it didn't work and he ended up having to throw the line up there by hand. At least he had fun using it for a little while.


Pat up in the tree. He accidentally lost the weight and had to climb the tree. He climbed up that tree so many times! At least he had fun. I stood down below with my cell phone in hand ready to call 911 if he fell.



There it is. I know isn't it beautiful! I cant help but laugh when I look at it because it's a little odd looking. My mom said by the description over the phone that it could be a tree decorated by a Pollock, Pat said that Helen Keller could have done a better job then we did.

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, & Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree

Yesterday was Thanksgiving! Ryan was able to come home after working over 60 straight days and flew in Tuesday night. Pat, Ryan, and I went over to mom & Dicks for Thanksgiving dinner. We sat around and looked through the ads for Black Friday after we ate and planned our route out. This was my 4th straight Black Friday and Pat was going to go with me for the first time!

Black Friday morning went really good. We got front row parking spots for all but one of the stores we went to. Pat even got into the holiday spirit with another lady in line when they decided to tell us we had to apply for a charge card if we were in line...long story but we ended up getting a friendly smile at the counter and were out the door with all of our stuff without a new credit card.

Later that afternoon we went to a local tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Its a tree farm where we can pick it out and cut it down ourselves. We went there 2 years ago and had a blast. This year we took Emma & Turbo. They had so much fun! Emma pulled Pat and the wagon, while Turbo grunted at everyone that walked by us. She thought they were in her yard!


Pat, Emma, & our tree



I asked Emma if she had fun...this was the face I got!





Here it is! We decided to only put 2 ornaments on the tree for now. I don't really trust the dogs or the cats since this is the first tree without them being crated. I know Im going to come home from work one of these days and they will greet me at the front door covered in sap smelling like pine for a month!

Since the house is decorated for Christmas, tomorrow we are going to decorate our "Griswold Family Christmas Tree". Its a huge tree in our front yard that we decorate with lights. You can see this tree miles away!! Pics to come!!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

One Year Anniversary Pictures

December 1st, 2008 it will be 1 year since Pat and I got married. To mark this special anniversary we thought we would get our pictures taken. Im so happy we had them done.

Our friend Lin who is going to school for photography came out to our house and took the pictures. Poor Pat was sick and wasn't feeling the greatest but he was such a trooper. It was freezing cold outside but we bundled up and got them done.

I love all of the pictures Lin took. Not just because they were for our anniversary but because each picture was done at our house and in each picture we can pick out something in it that holds a funny or special memory to us.

We have water & ice!!

Our first ice cube that the fridge made!!!



Pat trying out the water



We have ice!

When Pat and I moved into the house we didn't have a water line hooked up for the fridge. It took several trips to the hardware store, Pat hitting his head a few times on some beams in the crawl space, a few new pipes, and a couple nasty spider webs in the face later, its working. It was such a pain to not have it working because when ever we had company over they would walk over to the fridge and try to get ice or water out of it. Just a horrible noise would come out as well as a dust bunny or two. Then the dreaded period of having to explain why we didn't have it up and running.

Well those days are over!! Thank you Pat! Today was a cold snowy Sunday and the last thing I knew he wanted to do was go into that crawl space again. But he did it and we are both so happy.

I just heard another ice cube drop into the cold empty tray in the fridge just now! The dogs are freaked, Emma just got up out of deep sleep and ran into the kitchen to see what it was.

It's going to be an exciting morning to see how much ice is in the tray tomorrow!!! Boy do we sound old, excited over some water and ice. Pat was right when he said this morning that we just took the first step towards old age when we had lunch at McDonalds and looked through the Sunday paper searching for coupons! :)