The Tree

The Process Begins! Decorating

It was the plan to decorate the day after Thanksgiving but our water leak set me back some. By the time that was fixed and I cleaned the mess up I was ready to put off decorating one more day. Saturday for sure! Here it is Saturday evening and I have done almost everything to decorate. I just need to put ornaments on the tree and do a few last minute adjustments. It was really like Christmas getting the decorations out this year. I went to my sister's in Michigan after Christmas last year and we scored at a 75% off sale! So many new things I had to ship a box to myself! I had forgotten how much I bought. It was fun discovering again. I sorted through the older things and decided what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to give away! Then I got started! Fun for me but Mike carried all the boxes upstairs! I asked him if he would like me to shoot a video and he could tell everyone how he felt about bring all the decorations upstairs. He said, "No." HMMMM! Probably just as well! Look at this face! I am pretty sure he is enjoying every minute of this!There were lots of tubs or boxes of goodies! A few of many! Of course all these are stored downstairs!

The first step is to start taking down all the normal decorations in the house. The house looks pretty bare when you do that but it is a chance to dust in places you haven't seen for a year. :-)

When you have a bunch of new trinkets it creates many possibilities for arrangements. I am still not convinced I have the best creations or the way I want things. Tomorrow is another day and I will take a look at things again then! Here are some pics of the decorations. I will add the tree tomorrow. It is up but no ornaments yet.

Merry Christmas everyone. Let's celebrate Christ's birth with lots of love and joy!

Thanksgiving after the Trot

While I was doing the Turkey Trot Mike was getting the turkey and the dressing ready for cooking. We had done the things we could do the night before. Mike chopped up the ingredients to put in the dressing. I made the cranberry sauce! We planned on a late dinner and I liked that. Gave us more time for the other things that needed to be done. About 2:30 Mike went and picked up his mom! Kristin, Justin, and Layne arrived about 4! While we finished up the dinner Layne and Kristin played some games. Don't Spill the Beans is this game but Layne thought it was more fun to spill the beans.Take a look at the cook with this beautifully cooked bird!We hustled around getting the potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, and other goodies ready and the table set. We were about 5 minutes from sitting down to eat and Kristin was helping in the kitchen when she stepped in a big puddle of water. She was standing right in front of the sink. Not good. The pipe under the sink wasn't just leaking it was broken. Just worn out. There was water everywhere!We all went into high gear pulling things out from below the sink and cleaning up the water. What a mess! We had to put a bucket under the pipe! We finally sat down for a yummy meal. The clean up was interesting. Mike propped the pipe up with a stick for a temporary fix and we discovered the pipe was also cracked. We put a bucket under the crack and cleaned up, emptying the bucket as needed! Layne wanted to take a crazy picture and I think it is an appropriate picture to show how I felt!After dessert Kristin and I searched through the ads. Keri had given me the idea of ordering online instead of going to the stores in the AM. I wasn't going to go to the stores anyway. I set my phone alarm for midnight and got up and ordered some gifts. Easy! I almost stayed awake until midnight but I am glad I set the alarm just in case! It was a fabulous Thanksgiving even with the little bit of chaos! We missed all the rest of the family though and wished they would have all been with us for enchiladas!!! Maybe next year!!

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

Cheryl had a great idea for the first part of Thanksgiving Day! The Turkey Trot. We met at First Pres. and drove up to Manito Park for the run/walk. It was about 25 degrees and we sat in the car to keep warm until about 15 minutes before start time. We had our mittens, long underwear, chemical heaters, etc to keep warm. The pond in the park was beginning to freeze. It looks like Mr. Duck is frozen into the pond but he was just standing on top of the ice. I think he needs some little chemical heater packs for his feet!

These guys were giving us all directions. We brought food for our local food bank and these two were collecting cash for the food bank! There were a lot of people there! All getting some exercise before the big meal! The announcer with the purple hat said there were over 3,000 people!! Wow! Not bad for a cold November morning.

Some people even decided to imitate the turkeys there were about to eat!Some people didn't think eating turkey was the best thing to do on Thanksgiving!

We finished the race :-) and then headed straight for a coffee stand! Yum! Nice warm drink after a cold morning. It was a great time and we are both thinking it should be a Thanksgiving tradition! Care to join us next year?

Saturday at Kristin and Justin's

Everytime I look at the pictures I take at Kristin and Justin's I think about what a neat place it would be to grow up! Lots of space and beautiful country! Keri and Layne stayed with the Lathrops this time. The cousins had a lot of bonding time!

Some cabin fever set in so outside to the tractor, swings, and beautiful country we all went!

Layne took a little ride on the horse swing! Wow! She loves going really high and fast. Wonder where she got that! Kristin!

Keri and Ryland Visit Thursday

Keri and Ryland arrived late Wednesday night. I took a personal day on Thursday so I could hang out with them. That is exactly what we did. We went to Starbucks for muffins in the AM and then to Safeway where we got 4 magazines! Stuff to look at. Kristin and Layne came over in the AM after our Safeway/Starbucks trip. We looked the magazines, watched TV, played the piano, talked, napped, and played with toys. It was a perfect day. We made enchiladas, a family favorite, and chocolate chip cookies, also a family favorite!

The lounge (that is what I call it but others might say it is an office) is the smallest room in the house but it seems to be the most popular! Even the dogs and the next door neighbor, Tyler, like being in the LOUNGE!

If course there was snack time too!!!Both of the kids like to play the piano. Ryland turns the sheet music like he is reading it and then says, "The End!" when he wants to turn the page to different music! Here is Ryland's version of Old McDonald!

Here are some hanging out pictures we took during the day!

Have you heard of this word????

More adventures to come because Keri and Ryland stayed until Sunday. I am off to see them now!

WooHOO!

What an exciting Cougar game!!! Go Cougs!!!!!

Weekend To Remember

Mike and I spent last weekend in CDA, Idaho. We went to a marriage retreat called Weekend to Remember. It was very relaxing and good to refresh our memories about marriage, communication, family and more. We went to all the lectures and did our homework but my favorite part was just sitting by the fire in the resort and relaxing. We did that a lot! Mike said he thought it was the longest he had ever seen me sit in one place! HMMM! I took my camera but didn't take any pictures except these! So what is this guy smiling about?

This is what he is smiling about!


The gas prices!!! Wow! What a change. Mike thought this might be the cheapest gas he will purchase for the rest of his life so we documented it! First Mike is surveying the price to make sure it is really only $1.89. If you know Mike you know that is true. Look at the smile as he fills the tank! Gotta love him!

Ryland The T-REX!

As I looked at these pictures I thought about how different it seemed not to see the kids all bundled up for Halloween. One of the benefits of living in sunny Arizona. As you can see Ryland was not afraid of being a T-Rex and wore his costume. Looks like Dad helped with that! Thanks for the pictures!!!

A Goat, A Mermaid, and a T-Rex

Our grandkids were transformed into different creatures last night. A Goat, A Mermaid, and a T-Rex! Halloween! They all had a good time and we wish we would have been there to see it all. We have the next best thing though, pictures. Here is the report from Kath about Halloween with Kyle and Finn;

Happy Belated Halloween. Hope it was good, ours was pretty cute. As we approached Sausalito for the costume parade, Kyle and I dressed as a shepherd and his wife with one baby goat to heard, we noted that we were feeling rather biblical. ( we found the goat costume first and decided to be shepherds to fit in) We went to Yoga of Sausalito to trick-or-treat and met a little boy, all of 3 years old by the name of Finn. We told him our baby was named Finn too, to which he replied, "it's baby Jesus!" So, we became Mary, Joseph, and Jesus the Goat! We're hoping he will perform a healing on our back yard and chew down all the weeds!


Kristin and Justin took Layne around with Jen and Larry and family. Layne was a mermaid and at the first house she took a couple of spills because mermaids aren't designed to run! Layne went to a couple of houses and said "Trick or Treat" and came back with no candy. Kristin and Justin had to show her how it was done. She had a blast when she figured it out!

I will add the report from Keri and gang! Keri had a wedding to photograph today. Ryland was afraid of his t-rex costume at first so Mark and Keri had a back up. They didn't need the back up. Ryland rallied and was a T-Rex! More about Halloween tomorrow.