Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving get together! Now it's time to start the 8 hour drive to Boise, then another 5 hours over to Rexburg on Saturday. Fun fun fun. It has been a wonderful visit, but I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. No matter how great the hotel bed may be (there have been one or two) it's still not the same as my own beddy.

I am so thankful for a car that works without worries.
-- family that I care about and that I like to visit!
-- our health. Because with 4 little kiddos, the germs could be rampant!
-- beautiful weather! Fog every morning, burning off by quarter to noon.
-- lush, green nature walks on the mountain.
-- and friends that read my blog!! Even slogging through the boring posts with me! ;)

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

More visits

Sorry, today isn't going to be very literary. More of a square filler day . . blech. I don't like to post them, but hey, I'm almost done with this darn challenge. I WILL beat you, NaBloPoMo!! We went and visited the kid's other great-grandparent. I counted it up, and my kids have all four of their grandparents and six of their great-grandparents. That's pretty impressive! I think it's because Spencer & I are the oldest in both of our families. The senior kids in the family get that sort of advantage! ;) And at this point in our life and theirs, every visit is precious.

And a sneak peek at tomorrow's yummies?

Making Memories

I'm so thankful to have grandparents that can still take kids 'on adventure' like when I was a kid. We found some huge sugar pine cones up on the mountain yesterday. And we get to take these babies home! Just in time for Christmas.

Mairyn & her great-grandpa on the back porch

Zip begging for scraps and Jacqueline being the willing enabler

And finishing the day by making hot chocolate and homemade whipped cream with Great-grandma. Yum.

Long time gone . . .

It has been 7 years since I've been in Southern Oregon. I am ashamed it has been so long. I love this area. We stopped about 25 minutes away from Grandma & Grandpa's house to take a roadside potty break (Mairyn couldn't hold it ANY LONGER!) When I opened the car door, the fresh smell of wet pine and earth came flooding in and I was almost in tears. Oregon, my Oregon, I am home. Having always had a very mobile life (Dad, 20 years in the Air Force) we moved a lot. The saying goes, "Home is where your household goods are delivered", and my Mom did a wonderful job of creating an oasis in the middle of whatever state we moved to. But when we would go to Grandma & Grandpa's, we went HOME. H-O-M-E, home. Familiar places, food and faces were around every corner. We would spend every summer in Southern Oregon. Going to the dairy to buy squeaky cheese (cheese curds), visiting the Jacksonville Children's museum, picking blackberries; I could go on and on. I am practically giddy with warm fuzzies! It rained our first night, and in the morning, with the mist slowly rising out of the valley and the sun peeking through the pines, the Rogue River flowing along, I could hardly stand it. I am home!

The morning after

This is what a little boy looks like that stayed up too late the night before because he was excited about Grandma's arrival. He's not burying his head in anger, he's flopped on the couch, exhausted. I dressed him in that position and there he stayed until it was time to load into the car. And even then, it was shuffling toward the door, Pop Tart in hand (our default quickie breakfast) mumbling, "Mommy, will Grandma still be here when we get home?"
"Yes she will."
Grandma was downstairs sleeping off jet lag. She is adjusting very well and we have been enjoying her thoroughly. I even got my first pedicure yesterday! Look, they found toenails!! And the name of the polish? 'I'm not really a waitress'. It cracks me up even more than the hairy-ness of my piggies. OPI Nail polish has the best names. There's this purple-ish lavendar color called 'Kinky in Helsinki' or a pinky-reddish color named "I'm his Coral-friend". The names are hilarious. Just one more, a silvery-metal one; "Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees."