Friends, fire and final

    We had a nice week, dinner with friends, a Sunday burn barrel and the final piano recital for McClane and Charlie. (At least with their current piano teacher.) I uploaded a few of their main performances. They both did pretty well and we will miss their piano teacher who leaves next month for a senior mission to France with her husband.

Great friends & Fun times!

Just the two of us to start the night out.

Cute piano performers.

    So there were a few more events of the week but no more photos. We can't believe we're less then 3 weeks out from Christmas but we're feeling pretty good about our preparedness. Let the count down continue!

Tail end of our Thanksgiving trip.

    Our last day in Oregon was fun with some fun activities, including a little kickball and ice skating. 

 

 

    The Larson's zip-line was definitely a hit with everyone. 

 

Even I had to get in a ride or two.

Carter took to ice skating just like we thought he would.

Isaac wasn't bad either.

How adorable. David, Asher, Carter, Luke and Isaac.

Charlie enjoyed pushing her cousins all over the rink.

Brock wasn't sure how he felt about ice skating but he gave it go.

 

    Sadly I missed getting a photo of McClane, but he had fun and did great.

Fun times.

    We're now home and working on preparing for Christmas. We've got 75% of the decorations up and about the same percentage of Christmas shopping done. I'll never know how I survived Christmas shopping without Amazon! There's nothing better then shopping from the comfort of my own home and having things magically show up only a day or two later. A miracle of our day for sure!

    And our friend, Andy, let us participate with him in gifting the 'classic' Leg Lamp to our newly widowed friend and neighbor. She loved it!

Everyone needs a leg lamp in their window for Christmas!

    And a great friend and neighbor knows me so well and for my birthday gifted me this amazing pillow. Who doesn't want to lean back against this beast, Mr. Jason Momoa?! Even Greg's a little jealous of my pillow. 

 

    Now on to more Christmas stuff.

Thanksgiving in Oregon

    It's been the weirdest week. It feels like it's been a total of three weeks but this post will be dedicated to our Klamath Falls Thanksgiving activities. It's been a great trip with lots of laughs, good food, and more cousin time then these kids ever dreamed of.

Charlie's first plane ride with Grandpa Jim and she loved it.

The kids can't get enough of the zip line at the Larson's.

 

And Grandpa's newest toy is a huge hit with all the kids.

 

Thanksgiving day prep and wait.

 

Dinner did not disappoint. All the favorites!

 

And you can't spend time with the cousins without a little poker.

And a little game of "cards against humanity" for the younger kids.

 

A little trampoline fun.

A couple fun crafts with Great Aunt Terry.

Halle's version of a Thanksgiving dessert, Chicken in a Biskit crackers with whip cream. Yum! 

And you can't visit grandma Elaine without a good old fashion food push/breakfast.

    Such a fun time and lots of laughs with the Baker side of the family. Only wish we could get together a little more often. Happy Thanksgiving now on to the Christmas traditions.

Happy and sad

    Last Saturday wasn't the birthday celebration we had hoped for, for Greg. Sadly, only hours of returning home from our overnight stay in Provo, we found out our good friend and neighbor had taken his own life. This is the husband of one of my favorite people and walking partner and it's been a rough week! There are really no words but I've included the two memorial notices that were held and are being held on his behalf just for my own memory more then anything else. 

    On a happier note, Kayli and Tanner are expecting Baby Girl Wendel #3 in the Spring of 2023 and we couldn't be happier for them.

Cupcakes for Greg, courtesy of Kayli.

From 4 to 5 to before you know it.

 Girls rule!

This vigil was pretty cool and definitely a great tribute to a man who spent countless hours on the baseball fields.

It doesn't feel real.

    How do you help? How does his family go on? It's all too much and being human is about the worst idea sometimes!

Friends, family and big numbers!

    Charlie was super happy to be able to attend her good friend, Adam's, baptism last Saturday. She also had the best time, with most of her Kmetzsch cousins, having a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at her Aunt Kristin's house.

 

Lots of yummy food & fun!

    And this weekend we're celebrating Greg's birthday! The big 5-0! The two of us went to Provo for the night and had a great dinner at Ruby River Steakhouse. It was fun and now we'll be doing a little more celebrating with the kids and friends the rest of the weekend.

He loves their prime rib.

And I can't resist the filet mignon.

And Charlie made some cute notes for her dad.

    It's nearly impossible to believe we're in the middle of November, although the weather is helping persuade us that winters nearly here. We're looking forward to the rest of the months activities, especially a trip to Oregon and hopefully another great Thanksgiving dinner.

Halloween and a new ride

    Another successful and fun Halloween. 

Aunt Charlie the pretty vampiress and her favorite 'Beau-peep and sheep'. 

Last Halloween parade for this Domino's delivery boy!

Even uncle Isaac and girlfriend, Morgan, got in on the fun.

 

Cute 'Beau-peep' and her sheep. 

Harley the sheep.

Designated city escort.

Time for all the friends to trade and count up their loot.

    And Isaac bought himself a temporary 'ride' until insurance figures out what they're going to do with his wrecked Toyota MR2. Check out this vintage 1992 Honda Civic! Pretty sweet!

Lots of rust, bondo and missing parts, but it runs and gets good gas mileage. Totally worth $700

    So there you have it! A fun Halloween and now the countdown to Greg's big 5-0 birthday begins!