Weekend in Solvang

Well, the weekend between Thanksgiving and December 1st is usually my busiest weekend. Back in the day, I would go to various houses (as well as the office where I worked) and set up and decorate Christmas trees. I don't have so many to do now that I am older and slower. This year Grumpy and I took the weekend off and flew to Solvang to visit Taya and Kevin's family. I fully intended to help her get all the Christmas stuff up so she would be able to enjoy their limited season with the older kids. Did I say I am older and slower? That doesn't begin to cover it. We did get the tree (already up) decorated and I must say it looked very nice. Emmy thought so too. Taya tells me she has since broken several ornaments and no amount of punishment (which isn't too stringent) will deter her from her fascination with the tree this year. She is two after all, and that is the worst year for Christmas trees. She is too funny.

We had a great time with our California family. We went to the year round Christmas store and I didn't even buy anything. Grumpy is still in shock. I found some Ug type boots to buy for cheap and was a happy shopper. We all know how much I love to shop (not)! We ate at our favorite China Panda and it was Goooooooood! We had tasty dinners at home too. It was fun to see the kids and spend some time in their digs. Daron was a gentleman and gave up his room for us. Thanks Daron. He gave a very good talk in Church on Sunday. I don't think he was even nervous.

Kaitlin and Maddie were drawing stuff and reading a lot too. They are such cute girls. Lauren was funny Lauren. She has such a sweet nature.

It was a great weekend.



Grumpy and me with the plane. I'm looking as cute as I usually do these days. (a train wreck). I must say though, I like not wearing make up very often. I guess I'm old enough not to do that for other people. I only wear it when I want to. Maybe I'll learn to want to more often again some day. For now, I am just me.



Grumpy getting comfy in our guest bed.

Thanksgiving 2010

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and life has been ultra crazy from that weekend on. At least that's my lame excuse for not getting the post done until now. Jade and Jeff were our Host's this year and they did an excellent job. They set up tables and got everything ready for the whole fam damily to descend. Well, not quite the whole fam damily. R.B. and Stacie had plans with Heidi and Bruce who were traveling from out of state. I think most of Stacie's family made it to their fun day too. Jamie and Summer had family coming from hither and yon on Jamie's side, so spent the weekend mostly in Maricopa. We missed Taya and Kevin's cute family this year. They stayed at home in CA. and did their own thing this year.

We are happy to have had such a good day. I personally discovered (again) that I need to make pie more often. Crusts were never hard for me until I stopped making pie except for once a year. I am definitely out of practice. I planned on making 4 pies for our mini pie fest after dinner, but alas, I only got 2 done. And those were only done by a slim margin. Tawna helped make up for my less than manic skills and made an Apple and a Pumpkin pie to bring. I ended up with a Lemon and a Coconut Cream. Gramma Dorothy brought her famous Pecan. Someone made a delicious Strawberry dessert too. None of us went away without dessert overload.

Tawna roasted our 20 + pound turkey and made the dressing. Jade did the mashed potatoes and got us all set up and ready to sit down and eat, plus all the last minute things Hostesses end up doing for everyone. She also got the rolls in to bake and the carrots and corn on to cook. Jeff's sister, Christy brought the famous green bean casserole. Gramma H. brought Grumpy's favorite jello salad, sweet potatoes, the pecan pie, some coleslaw (just for me because I love her coleslaw so much) and maybe some cranberry sauce. We all succumbed to dinner overload and wanted to sleep the rest of the day. It was fun to visit and catch up with family we don't see often. I love Thanksgiving.



Kay, Christy, Jeff and Robert waiting for dinner.



Nathan was our Turkey Carver and did an excellent job.



Our mini pie fest for our desserts this year. They were all awesome.

My sincere thanks to Grumpy (and his helpers) for all the table loading and unloading, same for chairs and the hauling of such items wherever they were needed. He is always there for me and helps me so much. What a guy!

Walk On…

Early in the month of November saw the organization of a breast cancer walk by the Making Strides people. Tawna got us all involved (all who could be) and for many of us it was the first time we had participated in something like it. We wanted to do something to show our love and support for our sweet family member who is dealing with breast cancer at this time. Tawna got us all signed up and we got some shirts printed so we would look like a team. The walk took place at the Tempe Town Lake and I think the final word on the distance was 4.3 miles. It was really quite wonderful to see all the people who were there to walk for someone, had survived breast cancer, or who simply wanted to do something to show concern. There were a lot of people there. I never heard how many walked that day, but there were at least 1 or 2 thousand it seemed like. I don't have a pic of the whole group as it was on Tawna's camera, but I have a few of before the walk and then some as our group came across the finish line.






Our walkers were Grumpy, Tawna, Nathan, Faith, Chance, Taya, Kaitlin, Maddie (Kaitlin's friend), Summer, Jordyn, Rylee, Jade, Robert, Tracy, Kevin, Malea, and Colby. I was there with my shirt on, but knew I wasn't up to a long walk yet. I waited for them at the finish line and took pics. Me and the high school cheerleaders who showed up to cheer people on along the finish line.



Kaitlin and her friend Maddie finished first from our group.



Grumpy and Jordyn were next to cross.






Kaitlin kept circling back to come in with whoever was next to finish. She was too funny. Of course we can't do anything without food, so we all went to breakfast at a little hole in the wall called “Carolina's”. Not much to look at, but they do have really good food. The best tortilla's ever.

It was a great experience and we hope that our sweet lady will know how much we love her and that she is in our prayers always.

Thank you all for coming to walk. It was fun and hopefully will teach us to be aware of the concern out there in the world from so many people. Tawna, thanks for thinking of doing this and organizing us. We should do it again.

October Decorations

Now that October is over, I guess I'll get around to posting a little. I remember years (when I had a lot more energy) our house looking pretty awesome the month of October. I would web much of the interior, make all the frames on the walls crooked, put out all the wonderful, fun decorations accumulated through the years even made "halloween candy" lights one year. I really like those lights. They are lots of fun.

This year I decided I would do only what I had energy for, so it was pretty lame, but hey, some is better than none, right?

This is what you saw coming up the walk to the front door:




I made the tall witch years ago and I really have enjoyed her for many a Halloween.



I managed to put the candy lights on the stairs and place a few jack-o-lanterns around the house. Sadly, that is as far as I got. I really missed the webs. One of my favorite things to do after the webs were all strung was to walk under them and toss black spiders (plastic of course) up into them. That was so much fun. Maybe next year.

I have so many fun memories of costumes Nana made for me, and my brothers and sisters. Later she made some for her grandkids. She always did such a good job and enjoyed doing it. I remembeer a Spanish Dancer dress, a Jeanie, a Dutch Boy and Girl, a Pirate, a Gypsy, several Witches, a Princess or two, Bo Peep, a couple of Clowns, and many others.

Maybe that's why I love the season of Halloween so much. Great memories.