now we can turn on Christmas music!

Thanksgiving was held at C & R's this year.  Seth & his girlfriend Nichole drove up for the day, and so did we.  Christy provided a delicious brined turkey...YUM!  Seth made his hitmaking mashed potatos and I made 5 pies--- 1 apple, 2 pumpkin and 2 slighly burned chocolate (luckily, everyone had a good sense of humor about the burned chocolate.  Aaron even said, "it was pretty good, if you put enough whipped cream on it!) WE all had a lot of fun together.  Lots of wrestling went on.  The kids were hysterical.  Funny quotes of the day are: Aaron "I'm invisible" (because he wore camouflage in honor of Uncle John), Alton: " Easy peasy, lemon squeezy" (while he ran up the stairs to make a 'scorpion'), Kara "You broke my heart" (when Sarah had the audacity to not be upstairs playing with her.  There is such joy in simply being together.  Christy, Seth and I played a few rounds of Family Seek, just to brush up on our family history (hopefully we didn't scare Nichole).    It was a good day (loooong drive, but good day!)

 

Uncle John attempts to text "happy thanksgiving" while being tackled, constantly!

Alton's living for his art right now.  He decided his art belonged on his and Peek's faces!

the whole clan-- even the elusive ryan

you can't tell by his face- but, alton was thrilled to be taking a picture with uncle john

girl power!

Sethy and Nichole

the camouflaged ones!  (we almost couldn't see them in the couch!!)

back again!

JR and I have been married 17 years, actually, it's 17 years next week.  When we got married, it was 2 days after Thanksgiving.  We got married then because we thought it would be easiest for my friends and family who were away at school to attend, otherwise we would have to wait for spring and we didn't want to wait that long.  In retrospect, getting married at thanksgiving time has had distinct ups and downs.

The ups are:
Everyone's in a celebratory mood that time of year
JR usually has time off of work that time of year
WE always have our marriage to be grateful for @ thanksgiving

The downs are:
every 4 years our anniversary LANDS on Thanksgiving, making it expensive to go anywhere & our special day is glossed over in favor of the holiday everyone else is sharing
every 5 years our anniversary lands on a Sunday, ensuring that we don't go anywhere on those years- and for those who are curious those are the big ones...5th anniverary, 10th, 15th....we always end up doing something small on a different day so that we can keep the sabbath day holy.
JR may have time off...but, it is limited, meaning we usually can't get away for loong.

This year we had the opportunity to go back to the place we went on our honeymoon 17 years ago.  It's a condo owned by a good friend's parents and we were thrilled to be offered the opportunity to go.  Sneaking a way for time together can be hard.   There are so many pulls on us, on our time together.  I literally felt the pull as we drove away and then it snaked it's arms back around us when we came back, but while we were gone....we exhaled.....it was bliss.

For those of you who are familiar with the Oregon Coast in November...it is rainy and windy.  We have celebrate several anniversaries at the coast in near gale force winds (it's actually quite fun!).  Imagine our surprise when this particular trip we arrived in freezing, pouring down rain but awoke to blissfully blue skies.  It was surprising to say the least!

I'm so grateful for my time with my hubby, although I think I need more.  I think I'd just started the relaxation process when we had to come back.  I feel lucky that after 17 years together we still really like each other and are relaxed and happy in each other's company.  All in all 17 years is just a drop in the bucket.  It's a small fraction of the time I intend to stay committed to this wonderful man.

This quote says it all for me: "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

october 2010 recognition night

Recognition Night has come and gone.  It was actually held on October 10th but the leader who was going to bring her camera forgot so we enlisted a willing parent, who then was unexpectedly called to Japan (or is it China) on work for a while.  So, now...ta da....

Recognition Night pictures! 

For Muti

Ok, Muti,

This post is for you.  baby J came to Oregon briefly for a friend's wedding.  WE got together as a fam for dinner and frivolity.  Mostly, we just chatted about everything from politics to family, emphasis on two particular brother's having significant others.  We certainly covered a gamut of topics.

Abi & Cedes entertained us by dancing.  First Abi danced her dance.

Then, Abi & cedes danced together (no music available).

Too Cute!!

I did take some family photos.  It's tricky getting pictures of this goofy group. 

the sibs! (and I'm wearing heels!!:( )

one constant wrestling match!

improving my run

I've been thinking a lot about running today.  I am not a natural runner.  I do not like to run, AT ALL.  Having said that I do run, slooooowly.  I decided to run for my own health.  I feel good about it as a decision and a lifestyle change, but I struggle.  I struggle with breaking the one mile barrier without needing to vomit.  I struggle with injuries to my ankle and feet.  So, I've been doing a lot of reading, trying to educate myself more about the technical aspect of running and get myself re-energized in all of this.  I read a wonderful book called "run like a mother" about finding balance and inspiration amid the chaos of life. 

Amid all of this running fixation I went to our Stake's Young Women in Excellence.  The topic for the night was "Running Your Marathon".  The show piece of the evening was a beautiful video by a seminary teacher who ran the Boston Marathon.  She compares running a marathon with our life here on earth.  It's beautiful,and moving.  I wanted to share.  It certainly gives a second perspective to running.  Am I running this marathon here on life to the best of my ability or do I occasionally think I can stop when I want or know better than those who've gone before.

for your crying pleasure.

vacay

This week we went camping in Pacific City for some desperately needed R&R.  Sarah took her friend Abby along.  Sarah and Abby had a 4 day weekend this week because of parent teacher conferences and we just couldn't let the opportunity to get away pass.   We have not had a true family vacation all year long so we needed this time, badly.  Pacific City is one of our favorite Thousand Trails campgrounds.  WE have a favorite spot *G5* and we were able to camp in it.  Our favorite spot is a very secluded, area under the cover of a beautiful canopy of evergreens.  This time when we checked in we were immediately made aware that there are bears in the campground. 

Evidently, they've always been there but have never really come out, but this year was such a bad year for the bears foodwise, that they're hungry so they've taken to raiding the garbage cans, dumpsters and camps within the campground.  It's a mommy, her baby and a grown male.  We fortunately/unfortunately never stumbled across them, although we may have been close one time when we came across an obviously looted dumpster, we were later informed that the bear was likely still inside the dumpster.  Most of the dumpsters in the park showed signs of bear tampering.  The mommy bear will sit on top of the dumpster and bounce up and down until the lid breaks, while the male bear is strong enough to simply repeatedly swipe at the lid until it gives way.  So, the bears were an exciting addition to our trip.  Another favorite aspect of this particular campground are all the bunnies it has.  According to what we've been told, somone at some point released a pet bunny or two at the park and they made many baby bunnies.  We always see a lot of bunnies when we go here.  Sarah and Abby purchased rabbit food at the camp store so that they could get close to the bunnies and feed them. 

This camping trip was full of our regularly scheduled activities, such as swimming at the swimming pool,

and playing miniature golf, John had the irritating (er, good luck) ability to have 3 holes in one while my ball bounced off of three holes that coulda *shoulda* been holes in one!!!  grrr....

but we also did other things...for instance, we went into Tillamook for a few hours, toured the Tillamook cheese factory

and ate ice cream, another day we went to Lincoln City to the Outlet Mall and went shopping for several hours, all of us came away with clothes and much lighter wallets than when we started.  We had dinner at the Pellican Brewery (in Cape Kiwanda) and saw a simply spectacular sunset over the Ocean. 

We also participated in activities at the family Center in our campground.  We had an opportunity to carve pumpkins and eat apples & caramel.  This was the camp's 'Halloween FEST".  Abby & Sarah were by far the youngest participants, as a matter of a fact, so was I. 

The other two participants in the 'fest' were in their 60's or 70's ( a very nice couple from Pennsylvania.  The girls got a kick out of the gentleman because he's a fan of old 20's and 30's horror and scary films. )  We also spent quite a bit of time at the family center putting together a 550 piece puzzle of puppies. 

We never quite finished it.  All and all we had a wonderful time.  The weather was WONDERFUL!!!   We had rain 2 nights and one day the rest of the time it was beautiful and mild, we even had a campfire one night (quite a surprise for October).

AG Luau 2010

Another LUAU has come and gone. I think this one was a success! I had so much fun, but then I always do! the Luau's started out as a bribe. Waaaay back in the early days of leading AG Melissa (my partner in all of this) and I had some really wild girls, they were a handful. So, we bribed them. We told them that if they behaved for a certain amount of time we would do something fun, something they picked. The girls were so excited and they picked (to our surprise) a LUAU. (we were thinking pizza party:) the first LUAU was such a success that it became a yearly event and eventually turned into a mother/daughter event.  Our luau usually consists of some games (this year it was hula hoop contest, girls against moms....girls universally won * I know, you're shocked!!.... we also had a tug of war...I do have funny pics of that one.... and then of course LIMBO...the girls love limbo.  Then, in between games we have dinner...Hawiian haystacks, YUMMM, followed by sherbet for desert *I think I misspelled sherbet..... anyway..... FUN, FUN!!!!

So, check out my pictures!

This is our invitation for this year. One of my co-leaders (Cheri) and I created it. I think it's darling!

Here's a collage of mother's and daughters.  I think they're oh so cute together, doncha think?

ugh!  I hate myself in pictures...ironically though, it was me who insisted on the pictures.  I don't have any pictures with my co-leaders and they are always such amazing women.  I wanted to document this latest group.  These are fabulous, talented women who are such a help to me and a blessing to the girls we serve.

Ok,  funny story.  this is Amy.  She was one of my co-leaders until a few weeks ago when she got released and gobbled up by YW :(.  Bummer.  So, Cheri was taking pics and wanted one of the two of us, so she pointed the camera at us and we smiled....then, Amy who is easily 9 inches taller than I am suddenly drops down to my level, like she was in an elevator.  I cracked up so hard!