Christmas? What about Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  Rob and I went up to Redding for this Thanksgiving.  Following are the "mug" shots of most of those in attendance.  I have to hand it to Jana and Denisa for making two delicious turkeys -- I didn't take any pictures of the "spread", but the food was just outstanding!  Kudos to all who worked so tirelessly to make our Thanksgiving a special one!

The pictures are in alphabetical order --

Aubry, daughter of Gabe and Emily...

Bryan - love the hat! 

 Dad...

 Since I didn't have any sisters in my family -- Denisa is my sister...

 Elle, daughter of Gabe and Emily and Jake, son of Bryan and Denisa...

 Emily and little James

Gabe loves to have his picture taken -- just like his dad!... 

 Gary...

 Jake borrowed his dad, Bryan's, hat....Jake liked the hat and I did too!

 Marie (Bryan & Denisa's daughter) holding James (Gabe and Emily's son)...

 My other sister, Jana!

Jordan, Kris and Jana's son...

 Karyl (another sister) and Scott...

 A great pose -- love the soda -- should have been a Pepsi though!...

 Marie, Bryan and Denisa's daughter...

 Mom, taking pictures as usual!...

 Rob and I in our "Never Give Up, Never Surrender" shirts...

 and last but not least, Tanner, Kris and Jana's son!

I think we all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I just couldn't even think of putting up Chase's birthday pics or Christmas pics without first getting these pictures on my blog.  Hopefully I will be able to get Chase's birthday pics up soon!  Happy belated Thanksgiving to all!

Josh & Leigh Ann Wedding Pics

I didn't take very many pictures at Josh and Leigh Ann's wedding, but just enjoyed the event.  It was so special to be in attendance at this wedding.  So many small details that Leigh Ann planned and created for her guests and for this special wedding.  She and all those who helped really deserve accolades for all the preparation that went into this lovely wedding.  The wedding was held at a golf course in Sparks, Nevada.  The ceremony took place on the patio and because it was a little chilly, Josh and Leigh Ann gave everyone a cozy blanket to wrap up in for the ceremony - lovely touch!

These pictures aren't in any specific order, but I thought this one would be a great start to a great wedding -- Leigh Ann standing at the door with her father.

Josh waiting for Leigh Ann to come up the isle, as his mother, Jeannette looks on...

Leigh Ann looking toward Josh as the walk down the isle begins...

Beautiful view from the patio at the golf course

Another beautiful view - Kate and Ryan :)

Rachel and Ryan with Gabe in the background!

A few of the great shoes at the wedding - Kate, Jen and Tara...

I took this picture of the sunset by taking a picture of a window.... 

The wedding ceremony was over, but the party was just beginning! Josh and Leigh Ann hosted a lovely dinner. One of my favorite ideas from the wedding was the "Sweet Bar" -- you could go over to the table and pick out whatever sweets your heart desired -- I could have stayed there all night! After the dinner they had dancing.

Needless to say, the wedding was a great success and I wish Josh and Leigh Ann many, many years of joy and happiness -- Congratulations and Best Wishes to you both!

Halloween Nights

Kate and Ryan invited us to their Trunk or Treat night which turned out to be really fun.  We at first declined, but when Tyler called from a cell phone and asked us to come, we just had to be there!  Ryan had even entered a carved pumpkin into a contest and placed third!  Way to go, Ryan.  Instead of a Spook Alley they had a Harry Potter Alley where the kids could get a wand  and could decorate their own cupcakes....After that the children went "trunk or treating"

Here's Chase as Buzz Lightyear...

 Chase enjoying the trunk or treat night...

 A very scary Tyler as a mummy -- because they couldn't wear masks Tyler's dad, Ryan created this face for Tyler -- very realistic!

 They had so much candy that the kids probably went around several times and it didn't take more than 15 minutes -- Tyler enjoying the trunks full of candy and decorations...

Kate and Ryan decorated their trunk for the trunk or treaters -- here's a picture of them at the end of the evening...

 Lastly, I'm throwing in a picture of me "clowning" around at the office party...Go Grandma!

Ghosts, Spiders & Grandkids

I had invited the grandkids over to help me make some ghost and spider cupcakes -- Here's Bella with the finished spider creation...

 Chase with his ghost creation made with nutter butter cookies...Looks like he couldn't wait to bite into the yummy ghost!....

Ethan with his ghost -- love the orange and black shirt - very Halloween!

Tyler holding his ghost - I think the ghosts were the favorites!  Pretty tasty, too.  Tyler had a little face makeup on when he came as a practice run for his mummy costume and had to wash it off, but there's a little remant left as you can see around his eyes!

Hopefully the grandkids had as much fun as I did -- glad though that they were taking all that sugar home to their houses....hehehehehehe

Love, Grandma :) 

Coast Trip with Shell

Shell and I had an opportunity to get away for a one day trip to the coast.  We went over to Fort Bragg/Mendocino area.  This is a picture of some flowers and fountain at the motel where we stayed.  We asked the receptionist at the motel what kind of weater they had been having and she said that it had been foggy off and on, but mostly foggy.  We were disappointed as we really wanted to see the ocean not a fog bank....

This is one of the first pictures I took of the ocean and you can see the fog, but also a promise of a little blue sky!

Next we headed to one of our favorite places - the Mendocino Headlands.  Shell and I were competing with each other to get the best picture of the largest waves -- I think Shell won, but I thought this was a beautiful picture of the coast as the weather cleared ...

Check out the blue sky in this picture - no "doctoring" here - these were the actual colors!

  I had remembered a beach that Gary had found that didn't cost money.  Russian Gulch (one of our favorite spots) charges $8 just to go and sit on the beach for the day and since we weren't going to be sitting for the entire day on the beach and wanted to see many of the sites, we decided this beach was just the thing!

Shell is in this picture walking toward the beach and looking for a great picture and a place to sit and enjoy the waves crashing on the rocks, or the surfer or all the beauties that surround us...

We sat on the beach and I took a million and one pictures trying to get a great pic of the waves -- will settle for this one.  It was such a beatuiful day!

We then took our 1/2 mile walk to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse and here are a few pics of the lighthouse.  Inside the lighthouse they have a tv that monitors the light on the top to give you an idea of what it would look like closeup...

Love this lighthouse!

Picture of Shell as we finish our walk to the lighthouse and are closing out our short adventure at the coast.  Sad that it had to come to an end, but thankful we had such a beautiful day!  We also visited the bakery and the Mendocino Chocolate Factory - of course!

Our last stop was a glass gallery that had some beautiful glass work and these beautiful flowers right by the parking lot!

The end to a wonderful day at the coast with my daughter, Shell ~ Shell thanks for sharing this moment in time with me!

Rob's Over the Hill Cake

I knew that we were going to be tired from being on the lake, so I had Sandy's Specialties from Cottonwood cater our dinner and make this fantastic "Over the Hill" cake for Rob.  I loved the way the cake turned out and the food and set up was outstanding!

There were 60 candles going up to the top of the cake and at the top it said on a tombstone "Here Lies Rob's Youth"  It seemed like it took forever to get all the candles lit....so many candles!

that it looked like the house was going to burn down!

Finally Rob was able to blow out the candles....with a little help from Jake and Tyler!

The last thing that I want to share about Rob's birthday was the idea that Jen gave me and that was getting a picture of Rob and having family sign their name and best wishes on the border and then have it hung in his office.  We finally got the picture hanging on the wall and I think it turned out pretty special!