Happy Thanksgiving Birthday

Maddie turned 15 years old on Thanksgiving this year. She is always such a good sport about "going with the flow" for whatever is her birthday celebration.

This year we had Marie Callender chocolate satin pie and sang to her at the end of dinner!

We had three tables set up in the living/dining room. Susan, Brian, Drew, Jeff, Mom, and friends Sharon and Lorraine and I sat at the big table.

This was apparently the table with all the "cool people" on it for Thanksgiving dinner. (Amy, Lamoni, Lamoni's brothers, Moises and David, Maddie, and Allyson.)

The little kids, Sydney, Nate, Brian, and Aubrey had their own table in the middle.


Maddie folded the napkins into turkeys. She thought they were kind of dumb, but we all liked them! We had a great time eating, playing Catch Phrase and the Name Game. Jillian, Anthony, and Maizie joined us for dessert and games.

We missed David, Loretta, Julie, and Ally, but they had a great Thanksgiving too. They made their own dinner with all the things they love to eat--even baked a new "pumpkin cheesecake pie" recipe--and enjoyed each others' company.


Amy's friends, Eddu, Rocio, and Maritza (with David and Moises) joined us for "second dinner" Thanksgiving night!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Four Years Ago Next Tuesay...

We celebrated Sydney's 4th birthday today.


We were a little worried about not having planned something more than cake and presents with the family, but Sydney was perfectly happy playing with her cousins and her new Barbies.


This was Aubrey's idea of party finery...


I sure do love this little girl. The last four years have just flown...

Our Beautiful Ballerina

Maddie had parent dance observation at ballet class this week.

She is turning into such a beautiful ballerina.


I can't wait to see her in the Nutcracker in December. (This photo-Nutcracker 2009-Peppermint Doll.)

I Love the Ocean

The other days of our Veterans Day weekend were spent at the beach.


We decompressed from Disneyland, rode bikes, and Jeff surfed. His new long paddle board works great. This is the first time I've actually seen him stand up and ride the waves. We all had a great time.

Happy Holidays!

Guess where we went for Veterans Day?


Last spring we worked at the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery for an afternoon and received tickets to Disneyland for a day as part of their "Give-a-Day/Get-a-Day" program. So it was only right that we use our free tickets on Veteran's Day.


It's a little early, but when I saw Main Street all decorated up I got tears in my eyes and almost cried.

After all, it's been over a year since I was there.


I'm glad I got to spend the day there with two of my favorite people.

Beautiful Girlies

Meet the BCHS Cheerleaders!

Oh, wait. That would be the Girls' Cross Country Team. (Maddie-standing, second from right.)

I'm So Proud...

Okay, okay. I know. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins. So. Let's just say "I'm So Happy." "I'm So Satisfied." Or "I'm Amazed."


I have tried a new skill. It is one I have wanted to try for a long time. I free-design quilted on my sewing machine! I used a tool (screwdriver!!) to put a darning foot (which I didn't even know I owned) on my trusty Janome sewing machine and quilted crazily all over this wild Halloween table runner. I purposely used all this wild fabric so that the quilting would not be prominent. It is VERY rough and totally a practice effort. But I did it and I can only get better from here, right.

I'm pleasantly surprised with this crazy runner. I think it looks kind of eerily festive! Thanks to my good friend Jill who made me the original summery one and to Moda Bake Shoppe for the idea.