Christmas & Thanksgiving 2009

Keeping warm on a cold night ...

Nativity under the tree

Entryway Santa with his duck (carved by Uncle Andrew)

The village

Village continued

Kitchen corner ...

Projects under construction ...

Family and friends at Thanksgiving Dinner

Affects of dinner

After dinner activity

Beginning of Fall

9th Grandchild:
Katie - 14 September 2009, 8 lbs, 20 " She looks kinda like a football in this picture:)
Parents - Ben & Misty
I (Gayle) spent 3 days at their house while Misty was in the hospital and Ben was staying with her. Since she has c-sections, she requires more help with even the simple things like getting out of bed, picking up the baby, etc. Three days with 4 children made me remember the good ole days, and why we have children when we are young! I got labeled the "mean" grandma because I required the kids to pick up after themselves, come inside before dark, eat their good food before dessert, and do their chores and homework....apparently grandmas aren't suppose to do those things....only parents.

Find the grass hopper?

Fall flowers around the house after a morning's rain

20 September - the grass seeds are growing
Larry has even mowed it!

work on the deck continues with staining and sealing

A drippy job - paint upside down

It was a great day to work in the shade

While Will worked in the sun on top of the deck - lots of slats to stain/seal!
This was our Labor Day activity.

Little grass seedlings coming through the new dirt. (above)

'Before' the grass seed (below)....notice all the dirt piles.

DIRT.....6 tons of it....all moved by shovel, wheelbarrow, and the "sweat of our brow".

Hauling dirt one wheel barrel at a time - coming back for another load

Dumping - again and again - over and over

Filling the wheel barrel

Asparagus Green Beans: not very productive and not very tasty. They are about a yard long.

Our giant sedum was mysteriously getting eaten. At first we thought it was bugs.....

but the plants inside the fence were unmolested.

Evidence of a bigger culprit....deer poop...look closely

He cleans more than windows - spraying stuff on the siding to remove the mold/moss/whatever it is that grows in wet, humid climates.

Have a happy Fall!

Here we are, parasailing at Big Bear Lake, California.

(and if you believe that, we have some "oceanfront property in Arizona"...)

We did actually spend a lot of time doing some "high class" activities. Note the following:

Making our way over the dam at Lake Mead

A session with a "fashion consultant"

Attending ballet and tap performances

Reading "in depth" about princesses and ballerinas

"Building" projects

and destroying

"Play games, all sorts" (those who are Mary Poppins fans will understand)

Hitting the lights of the Great and Spacious Buildings (oops...I meant) the Las Vegas Strip

Communing with nature in Zion (the park...just in case you thought you might have missed the "invitation" to the actual "city of".)

The "boys" in intense competition on the waterfront (skipping rocks...or just throwing them in the water. Larry was the only one with any "skipping" skills)



More competiton on the golf course

and in the bowling alley

and racing down the Alpine slide at a snail's pace...sorry Meag....the sign says "no pregnant women"....(did they think there would be pregnant men??)


water sports...floaties included

and late-night Wii tournaments (no picture)


WE CLIMBED, WE CONQUERED.....AND FOR THIS????

At the family reunion, we hiked up Mt. Baldy, the 2nd highest peak in Arizona. The bald top of the mountain belongs to the Apaches and is, therefore, a restricted area. We hiked 7 miles up the mountain thinking we would actually be able to see the top. Apparently, we should have taken the "other" trail in order to do that. So after we had our pictures taken with the "restricted" sign, we got to hike all the way back down the mountain. I had really sore toenails the next day

This is El Moro National Monument in New Mexico. We have stopped here a couple of times and made the climb up to the top. This one is worth the hike.

On the way home, we drove through the canyonlands of Utah along highway 12, from Zions clear up through Capitol Reef. We highly recommend it. Having "turbo-boost" on your vehicle really helps on the uphill climbs.

Rather than take the 3 days planned to drive home, we did it in 2. Larry was holding up well as the sole driver and we had food and books on CDs to pass the time. We missed a giant hailstorm by about 20-30 minutes...we realized this as we came upon cars on the sides of the road with broken windshields, cornfields destroyed, and remnants of the hail on the sides of the roads. It was a tender mercy.

Since we were officially on vacation until Saturday night, we just kept quiet about the fact that we were home. The garden held off producing while we were gone....another tender mercy. I thought for sure we were going to miss a lot of the harvest. We are VERY GLAD to be home...where it is green....without irrigation. Hooray for humidity!