Thanksgiving was fun! The guests were welcome and brought such tasty goodies. We visited, we feasted, and we visited some more. I'm not sure I can hostess and take pictures because it totally slipped my mind to take any. Now I have nothing to show how beautiful the turkey looked or how the guests looked while visiting. Oh well.
Today I did do better. Tradition at our house it Turkey, Sleep, and Christmas Decorating. Everyone did a little something and pretty soon everything was up. It does help that over the last few years I have been editing some of the adornments. This is my favorite holiday though. I love the dinners, the decorations, and that most people are celebrating our Savior. I'm really not so good at the shopping though.
This evening I did venture out in search of a purse I wanted. Last week I could only find it in brown and I wanted black. At 6:30 pm I ventured out of the house and low and behold the first place I looked today had it. Home it came and now I can go at least another year before I wear this one out. I could probably live without one, except that I clip my car keys to it and it helps me keep track of them.

Thanksgiving at Brendas

After eight hours on airplanes, we arrived at Sitka, we think that the island has risen, because when we landed the pilot tried to land two feet lower, It was really hard. Kent met us at the airport whisked us to a fine dining establishment, The Golden Arches, and then to Brenda's house. We tried to beat her there, but she got home before us. But that turned out to be good, when we got there she was in the shower, Cassie was surprised, but didn't scream, Arnold, (much like Paul and Be), looked up from his video game said hi and paused it, so we sat down at her table ate our gourmet dinner and waited for her. OMG, OMG! what are you doing here? many tears, mostly Brenda's, and some from Lori, none from Gary or Mike, at least not yet. After much talking and laughing and more tears, from Brenda, and a great round of Cranium, which the boys won, we decided it was time to sleep. This morning Brenda is making breakfast, it is 7 and still dark. Happy Thanksgiving!

You have heard of dancing bear, well this is dancing turkey carcass, the other half is getting a garlic and butter rub down, and a trip to the crock pot, mmmmm smells good. Lots of people in town knew that we were coming, except for Brenda, and there has been several friends coming around and bring extra food, just in case. Thanks to all of Brendas friends and coworkers.
We made it to the Totem Park for the much needed picture of the four of us with "The Totem" mother nature obliged today, with a weather forcast of 90 % of rain, it didn't, we even had some sunshine for picture taking.

Now that the surprise has happened, Mikie, you need to post SOMETHING! I've a had a few phone calls on how it went and did you get there safely. My dad thinks your going to be eaten by grizzlies.
I'm working on the turkey and the house some before everyone gets up. It's always so quiet first thing. Good for getting warmed up for the day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
We miss all of you all ready!

P.S. Mikie: Shawn was here yesterday. The fireplace is starting to shape up. It should turn out really nice. He did have something that he wants his dad to look at so we can be fire safe. He wants to make sure the opening is sealed correctly, between the box and the sheet rock, where the gap is.

Tractor pulls

Went with John Thaxton to ET Motopark this evening for the Tuff Truck race and the Truck and Tractor pulls. The pulls took a while to get started, and there were several entries in different classes, The minis were the most fun to watch, mostly they are motor and tire,this one has a big block Chevy engine and an experimental steering system, he made his first successful pass tonight after two years of trying.

There were some "tractors" out there also. This one has a small block chevy engine in it, and only resembles a tractor, loud and fast. There were about a half dozen of these types out there.

Over on the Tuff truck track they had jumps bumps and tight turns to deal with. There were a couple of rhino type cars that had Suzuki street bike engines in them, they were fast, sorry no video of them. There were some Honda Pilots, trucks, Broncos, and rock crawlers, some were fast others were not, and only a few rolled over, but no one was hurt. They had rocks at one end that they used last month, and the rock crawler trucks did a little showing off and went through the rocks, one guy got a little carried away and blew a tire, and did another lap before he knew it. We ended our night early, the band was just getting started, and we had seen most everyone do their runs. All in all it was a good night, note for next time bring a chair and a cooler.

Let me tell you, there will be no pictures of the battle I've been having this week.
I'm not sure if being short is an advantage or a disadvantage,
but I am winning.
I'm speaking of the battle with the grease monsters.
In our house we fry food at least once a week, sometimes twice.
I generally clean while I cook,
I do not stand on chairs while I cook,
but this week I reached up to grab something off the top shelf and
blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Gross, gross and more gross.
The last few days with a little amonia, and some scrubbing, the kitchen cabinets are looking better.
Next I should look at the top of the fridge.
This will take the small ladder or standing on the counter.
When you are as short as I am sometimes you live in an unknowing abyss about how clean things really are.
Please note, I am not a clean fanatic by any means, but there is a limit.
I do not think of myself as short until I realize how many surfaces I can not see while standing on the floor.
I remember getting on my hands and knees when a shorter person had moved something I could not find so I could see under.
Now I'm the short person and am wondering what everyone else sees that I am totally missing.
The more I stay home the more I can find to clean.
There may be hope for me in the end,
but for this week it's only one small battle,
and it's the grease monsters.

It's been four weeks of not driving the bus and this is what I have been doing with my extra time. Sleeping in 1/2 hour more. Learning to use a table saw to build a new pantry. Texturing, painting and being pleasantly surprised when everything fit so snuggly. Now there is room for more than 2 weeks of groceries. Maybe I'll be temped to shop the sales instead of just my standard list. If you're wondering what you are looking at. This is the living room side of a closet that connects to the laundry room. The groceries can be loaded into this side and taken out the side closest to the kitchen. Maybe I'll have less old food if I can rotate easier.
Spending time at Rachael's making new curtains out of yes, real curtain fabric not sheets, and lined with black out lining. They even can be drawn back out of the way of the doors. I must say that Rachael installs much quicker than I do. After a second trip back to her house for the rings and a trip to home depot for a longer bit, it was only 4 hours for me to hang 3 rods and 4 drapes. I did have to adjust all my hooks down 1/2 " and I also made many trips up and down the ladder to retrieve dropped screws. Let me tell you drapes lined with black out are HEAVY. It was all worth it though. You can now see the TV, even in the afternoon, and I can let the sunshine in much easier.

This weekend was Little Philmont, leadership training for scout leaders and their spouses. It was held at beautiful camp Lo-Mia near Pine, AZ. Friday night was dinner and cub pack meeting, where we were all eight year old boys. It was very funny. I laughed for almost the whole hour and a half. We went on safari, learned about Tarzan, and of course had food.
Saturday was breakfast and more classes. I sat in on one of Michael's classes and then went to the spouses class about supporting your spouses. I guess I do OK at this. We cleaned up and then I walked around with the camera playing a little. It is truely a beautiful place. This was the first time in a long while I had seen water running in the creek. It was chilly and it rained on and off all morning long. So glad we went.

These are my studies in light, using the digital camera. Some day I'm going to get really good at taking photos. Right now I'm just seeing how cloudy, partly cloudy and not cloudy pictures look.

A new place to rest from my journey!

After not sleeping in for the third day in a row, off we went. We didn't miss all the traffic but the fog wasn't as bad as the day we drove in. On our travels we had promised Rachael we would take care of a travel bug that she had had for awhile. We left it in this nifty travel bug motel. It was a bucket with holes in the bottom, with a lunch box inside, covered with a tire rim in the middle of the desert. After looking for geo caches over the years I spotted this one right away. It contained another travel bug which we will deposit somewhere by Strawberry or Pine next weekend. As we were driving away we spotted more geo cachers looking for the box. We arrived home 30 minutes before Michael had a meeting. Off he went in his white shirt and tie. Men in suits are just sooooooo sexy.

Too early for traffic

This morning as we were getting ready for the day and the contental breakfast downstairs, we realized that the clock in our room had not been changed. We were still on Arizona time, it wasn't 7 am it was 6. We figured we were ready, why not beat traffic. An hour and a half latter we arrived at the San Diego Temple. It is beautiful! Then off to the beach and t-shirt shopping. Afterwards we drove down the Pacific Coast Hwy for a couple of hours. We ended the evening at Huntington Beach Pier, watching the sunset and taking the parking lot attendants advice. He wanted to know if Mikie had brought me to the beach at sunset to kiss me. Good idea.
Along the way I discovered that Girdy loves Mikie but just likes to go on adventures whenever I just touch her, much to Mikie's dispair.
We saw a lot of beautiful coast line and creative homes. Tommorrow we will head home.
Behave!!!
I love you all, mom

49's not so bad!

Today I turned 49 and still learning and today I learned:
1. if you wear a birthday badge at California Adventure that everyone wishes you a happy birthday!
2. if you fill out the survey at the front gate the nice lady will tell you that you don't look like you were born in 1960.
3. the golden zephyr is not so bad even though you are up in the air
4. that the California Scream coaster doesn't give you time to get your breath before they drop you off the top, they count to five and blast you to the top!!!!
5. even if you go on tower of terror, closing your eyes does not help, eyes open does not help, holding on does not help, and riding twice does not help, I do not like the sensation of falling!!!!!
6. I can shoot pretty well, but Michael is still better. I do improve with practice though, 4 times as much the second time around.
All in all this was a really great birthday. I didn't walk until my feet hurt. I watched some awesome shows and didn't die from the bug acid. The hamburgers are good and the cotton candy is delicious.
If you need to call us, call the hotel, or leave me a message, or later I'm sure dad will check his face book. I'm sure you are all good. You'd better be, ITS MY BIRTHDAY!
I LOVE YOU ALL, mom

Thanksgiving

Calling all cooks, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, time for the volunteer chef's to gather and feast on food and family friendship. Mike and Ginger have the turkey under control. But man cannot live on bird alone, somewhere in there is the need for vegetables, stuffing, potato's, salads, breads, and of course pies. So don't be shy check the calendar side of the blog and volunteer for whatever tickles your fancy, who knows, maybe someone different will bring their special signature dish. Please don't feel limited to the list, if you see something that is not on there feel free to contact Ginger and get your favorite item on the menu. Hurry this offer ends Nov 27, or while supplies last, be the first on your block to sign up.
Either on the blog or to Ginger's email: gingembre@bwmail.us