Last night Staci and I attended Leavenworth's Annual Chamber Auction.  You may recall that my hubby and I went a little overboard with our bidding last year, so this year we scaled back a bit and just picked up a few small items during the silent auction.  We did have some fun bidding on a few live auction items, but someone always managed to outbid us.  Staci got a certain something for her valentine, but I will let her tell you more about that in a future blog so that I don't ruin any surprises for Barnsie.

As always, John Curly was a lively host, and even had some little helpers this year.  All I can say is that the apple, or in this case "apples" do not fall far from the tree! Everytime those 2 little cuties thought of something to share, they marched right up to their dad and just said it right into the microphone for all to hear.  And they even bid on some of the live auction items - it was really funny.

We saw lots of our friends at the event - including Mapel's neighbor from d'vinery (below).  It was great to spend time with friends and celebrate Leavenworth's successes from 2009 - including our new train station, sales revenue that surpassed expectations, and major city improvements.  Mapel is lucky to be part of such a thriving and innovative business community!