november newsings

My oh my! Last time I posted, I needed to change my background to a fallish one. Sure that I would be posting frequently in light of upcoming events, I merrily went on my way. And. Forgot. to. Come. Back. OOOPSS!! Now, 2 holidays have come and gone, and Christmas is too quickly upon me. Not only am I not in the least ready for the big day, I am severely behind in the blogging dept. So, do I catch up chronologically, or just pick up from here and move on? Maybe pick up, and have flashbacks?

These pics are taken from my hotel room window at Suncadia Lodge. I was there for a scrapbooking retreat hosted by my good friend Jane and her business partner Deb. 35 women got together for 3 days of laughing,scrapping,eating, and making more memories.



This is Michelle. I met her at the retreat. This gal finished 55 pages! And Heather, who sat across from me did 53! I was feeling pretty good about my 12 pages until I heard those numbers!!

The food was unbelievable, and beautiful as well. I made new friends, some incredibly talented women, who share some of my interests. I love doing family history, and one of the ladies, Jody, was making pages of her husband's deceased family members. She had beautiful photos and combined them with ingenious embellishments that made a treasure her family will cherish for generations. The windows to Michelle's left look out over a meadow and evergreens. The deer came out and fed there. It snowed on the 2nd day, and turned it into a wonderland. wow!

Returning home on Saturday night (after a super fun stop at Ruby's scrapping store), I had a few days to reclean, relaunder, and repack for a trip to Boise, Id. . Paul's nephew was getting married, and it was a great excuse to party with his sib.'s. We don't get together very often so this would be a real treat.

Brian met a beautiful, sweet young woman on the internet....who happens to be in Paul's sister's ward!! How funny is that?! She is very outgoing and warm, and will be a great addition to the family. Welcome Ashley!!

The next day, we all hooked up at Winger's for some, well, wings! and other stuff too. There were so many of us we pretty much took over the place. I felt sorry for the waitresses having to keep us all straight, but they did a great job.

Paul and Bonnie peruse the menu- there are a lot of choices after all!
Here are Gary(who is married to Paul's sis Sue) and Kellie (who is married to Paul's bro. Jim) trying to decide what to eat, and keep up with the laughs and jokes at the same time.

And the infamous teens/young adults! What a riot to watch and what a wonderful thing to see all these cousins talking and laughing together. Our financial stations vary from extremely comfortable to counting every penny, but the ties among all of us run very deep and these cousins are always there for each other. What a great blessing!!


Next up: turkey day!! This year, Paul did the turkeys-2 22 lb. birds. He put hours and hours into them, seasoning,making brine,and then cooking them. He did one in the oven, and one on the barbecue-They were gorgeous and so yummy and moist!

We got over to Bill's house around five, and of course my sweet little neice was having her pre feast snooze. After waiting forever for her to wake up, I accidentally on purpose woker her up. But who would be able to resist this little cherub??
We had tables and people and food everywhere! so Fun!! this group of cousins also get along well, and enjoy being together. The dynamic is different, but equally as tight.
Nick came and it was nice to spend some time with him. He is doing well, finding out how challenging it is to be an adult. He bought a truck this summer-which he really needed- and now lives with a friend of his out in one of the valleys. They are a Russian family, and are re teaching him Russian. I hope he also learns to read and write fluently.

And now, it is Christmas time! May you all feel the peace of the season that our Saviour's birth made possible, and let His Light and Love fill your hearts moving you to have compassion on those you come in contact with. May you seek ways to lighten their burdens, and through this feel an increase of love for our Father and His Son.

PS: This new layout is a little wierd- if you would like to leave a comment, keep on scrollin' down!!