"Our little darlings........2012"

 Impromptu photoshoots work for me. My sister Donna asked if I would be interested in her friend taking some pictures of the 4 cousins, just for fun. Of coarse I'm in! Picked a day. Rounded up all the kids. Prayed for no rain. And in between rainstorms in October..............this is what we got. Love it. Gorgeous kids. Was hard to keep their attention for more than 3 seconds at a time. Lots of silly. Just the way I like it. Can't believe how grown up they all are! Tyler. Nicole. Drake. Gunner.

I love these kids..................

"Eagle Crest Thanksgiving 2012"

 Eagle Crest........our annual Thanksgiving trip! We counted this as our 15th year! I guess you would call it a tradition. Got to go for the entire week this year since the kids didn't have school. Nicole managed to get the entire week off of work and I marked myself out too. LeRoy wasn't as lucky and had to go back for 2 days of work and then headed back over to Eagle Crest again on Wednesday. We headed out on Saturday and had snow up on the pass on the way over. We had a great week. Don't think there was alot of relaxing happening.............but lots going on! Had Thanksgiving dinner at the condo. Lots of trips to the sports center. Trips into Redmond and Bend. A little shopping. Got to see Heather and her baby! Visited with family. Did some crafts. Read tons of magazines. Went on walks. Enjoyed having some time off.

 We played countless games of pool at the sports center. Pool. Pool. And pool! Tyler has gotten really GOOD at it! But hates it when his dear ole' mom does well too.  We played for hours every day.

 LeRoy doesn't like pool and raquetball as much...............so he played old school video games.

 We also played lots of raquetball! Hours upon hours......................

 And we were so excited we got to see Heather and her new baby boy Ian. He is so adorable! He loved Nicole. Couldn't take his eyes off of her!

 Was so nice to visit with Heather. I miss her so much since she has been gone. Can't wait for her to come back to work! She is living in Redmond right now so we were about 10 min. away and they came over for breakfast.

 Baby Ian.

 We got Nicole to join in on the pool games one day. I think just one day. She was busy coloring. And making a blanket. We did talk her into raquetball one day too............................one day only

                                                                            2012
I took this same pic this year as I had taken from last year. What a cute boy!! (and we played more raquetball)                                                            2011

 We managed a little shopping. We don't do Black Friday. I refuse. We went out a few days before. Didn't buy alot. Just kinda wandered and went to the craft store for crafts. (I finished my fabric wreath!!)

 More raquetball...............

 It always starts out as a friendly game..................

 Mostly Tyler and I played. We have so much fun laughing and being silly. This year he was more agressive and kind of a ball hog! We really don't play by the rules! ha!

 Mt. Jefferson. Had some clear beautiful days. Saw tons of deer.

 It was dusk as we were heading into Tollgate to see the extended family Thanksgiving Eve. LeRoy had been out very early in the morning to get a newspaper. He saw a coyote!! In Eagle Crest! So at dusk we saw it again. Very blended into the grass...............middle left of pic.

 The sky was so beautiful and we had warm 50 degree days. Of coarse it didn't snow because I brought all of the snow clothes and boots!

 We headed to Tollgate to my aunt Sherri's house to see the rest of the family. I love the loud crazy busy of all of us being together.

 The week went by fast! Didn't get rest or sleep like I had planned. But that's ok because I was with my family and that's what makes me happy.

"Craft Day!!"

 What a fun day! Craft day and family bonding! Had the girls over for coffee. Crafts. Snacks. Lots of fun. Wine. And a fabulous glittery day! Donna, Brandi and Amber came (not sure why KayDee never showed up!) We drank LOTS of coffee. Ate lots of snacks. Took us about 2 hours to actually start "crafting".

 Amber and Brandi were pretty focused. They actually completed a project! (Donna and I did too, we sorted pictures and put them in albums. My original craft was to Modge Podge pictures on canvas. Well.......I couldn't find my enlarged pictures! Next craft day I will do that!)

 Amber made an adorable halloween costume for her little girl Amity. So cute!

 So since we got our first "craft" done..................we all decided to go to JoAnn's fabrics to start a cool wreath like Brandi was working on. Funny that we can't stay cooped up for too long. Always leads to a trip to the craft store! ha! Fun to look at fabric.

 We usually don't behave in the craft store.

 And then we needed to check out the goodwill. Just in case we were inspired for other crafts. Or christmas decor. None of us know who the chick is in the background. ahahahahaahaaaaaaaa.............

 The goodwill is always a good time! Brandi.........fab hair!

 Since we just snacked all day we decided to grab some quick burritos and get back to the house to work on our new crafts!

 Brandi stayed focused and finished her wreath! Amber finished hers too! Donna ran out of fabric. I got mine about 1/2 done.

 Donna...........................I just don't know.....................whats happening!!!!??????!!!!

 We opened some wine. Talked and cut fabric. Visited. Laughed. Had a fabulous day! Everyone finally left around midnight (we started at 11:00 am!) Great day girls. Next one is at Ambers house...........

"Happy Birthday Erin! The Big 40!!"

 Happy 40th birthday!
So glad you could finally join the club! It's a little over-rated, but it's better than the alternative.....Was great spending the afternoon with you and lunch! We alway have fun shopping and talking (and eating!). You look great and glad you had some time to get away and hopefully relax.

(I think our waitress was drunk..............this pic is really blurry...............makes us look younger........"special lighting"........)