Happy Thanksgiving 2020

     We had a great Thanksgiving. We kept it simple, stayed home and cooked our own meal and everything turned out pretty great. We had a minor tragedy with the rolls and my favorite baking stone at the end of the night but these things happen, especially when you leave the stone on a burner that never got turned off. OOPS!

Charlie had a little 'sweet' fun at school.

Carter and his friends had a hankering for scones so they looked up a recipe and had some decent success. The honey butter in a jar was crucial but for a first attempt he didn't do too bad. 

     And then we had Thanksgiving dinner! Greg and I did our best to bring in all the favorites.

Greg's relish tray and cranberry sauce over cream cheese was great.

It's hard to get a photo of such a big group.

Bye, bye best ever baking dish.

My blueberry/lemon cobbler and a yummy coconut cream pie courtesy of our great neighbors.

A little better view of us all thanks to our security camera on top of the fridge.

      It's been a nice week and our weekend should be productive. Greg's working on a gate for the back fence project and you know me, I made it even harder for him by requesting it have a chevron pattern so I'll post photos when that's done. Charlie and McClane helped me put up the Christmas decor today and when I get a tree up I'll share photos of it all put together. It's going to be interesting when baby Beau comes to visit but we tried to keep it simple and baby friendly. 

    We sure are lucky and blessed and we're so grateful for our healthy family and that we could all be together for Thanksgiving. 

P.S. If you're wondering about Mark's hair, it may or may not have been cut and it may or may not have cost me $400 but rest assured memories were made and it's a long story! 

Baby Beau

      Cute baby Beau came for a visit last night and we had fun spoiling her and watching her clutter the house. She's a pro at opening cabinets & drawers and emptying their contents and she's also a champ at unrolling toilet paper and paper towels. She's so fun!

Sitting in the dog bed having a treat.

Definitely loves some root beer.

Keeping Grandpa pinned down for a minute.

     And Charlie is always asking for her hair to be photographed so she can see what I've done. Here's one of her favorites from this week.

     It's been a fairly quiet week. I'm slowly bouncing back from my crazy pinched nerve/sciatic nerve issue. My right foot is still numb and now my calf muscle is tight and sore but I've been able to function fairly normally and after seeing the chiropractor I feel confident I'll eventually be back 100% normal soon. And thankfully Greg is a rockstar and helped with a lot of things this week giving me a break from some of my least favorite chores.
     And with our great Prophet encouraging gratitude I have to say I'm beyond grateful for my amazing husband and his willingness to help me with whatever and whenever. I'm also grateful for good muscle relaxers and other healing agents that are fairly easy to access.

Greg's birthday

     We've had a nice week. While walking I couldn't help but take a photo of this pretty view. I'm not a fan of the changing seasons and things cooling down but I can't help but see the beauty of the snow mixed with the water and fall colors.

I'm not a fan of the cold but there is some beauty to the snow.

    This week we got to celebrate Greg's 48th birthday. We had fun celebrating him and he seemed pleased with the gifts and getaway we went on.

Special birthday rocks from Charlie.

Corn hole game.

     I just casually mentioned to Isaac that he could collaborate with his siblings and dad and maybe buy me a robot vacuum for my birthday in a few weeks and before I was done telling him about it he'd gotten online and ordered it! He's speaking my love language for sure!

Early birthday gift from my favorite son!

Meals from Hello Fresh for Greg's birthday.

A fun overnight getaway for Greg's birthday at the Zermatt in Midway. Seriously the best food!

And a cool/fun soak in the crater in Midway.

The first of the three hello fresh meals, looked and tasted great.

    It's been a fun week and despite doing something to my sciatic nerve it was a fun getaway for Greg's birthday. Now we can start planning our own little Thanksgiving celebration while we do our best to lay low and avoid others to help slow the spread of Covid! Stupid!

Halloween 2020

     We had a pretty good halloween despite the pandemic. We had quite a few trick-or-treaters and our good friend, Linda, brought over her famous candy apples. 

Happy Halloween from the Wendel's.

Favorite candy apples from one of our favorite ladies!

Cutest Raggedy Ann.

McClane got a pretty big haul!

Charlie's stash

    We had lots of yummy cobblers for neighbors to enjoy this past Sunday and we had a pretty good turn out. The weather was pleasant, which always helps. I don't think this Sunday's weather is going to be as cooperative so we'll probably skip it. The time change doesn't help much either.

Our second attempt at cobbler Sunday. The blueberry/lemon cobbler and pumpkin cake/cobbler were winners.

     And getting the kids to bed on time is always a little easier the first couple nights after the time falls back an hour.

The time change can be exhausting.

       Greg's been busy this week digging holes for the new back fence. Tonight he got all the posts level and set in place but that may be all the progress he makes for awhile. Lets hope the weather allows him to do a little more work before winter really sets in. 

       Maybe we'll have a president declared before winter sets in as well. I'd rather just have Jesus come but I'm pretty sure things have to get a little darker and scarier before He'll come save us. Oh wait! He already saved us! We're good!

Birthday boy!

      We have another adult in the house! How did that happen?! For Isaac's 18th birthday he bought ME a new pair of Nike's! What a good boy! Definitely my favorite! He also requested acoustic tiles for his bedroom so he can soundproof it. I don't know what exactly he has in mind but I'm happy to fulfill requests that are within my price range for birthday gifts.

    And I love a simple pumpkin pie request instead of a birthday cake that I have to make. Costco pumpkin pie is always a win at our house!

    And then it was the Halloween parade at the school and if Covid's done anything positive in my life it's this, no parents allowed at the school for big events like Halloween parades and class parties! Yay! I'm a total poor-sport when it comes to the school activities so I'm glad I had a legitimate excuse for not watching the kids walk around the gym for an hour this morning. Plus these two kids keep wearing the same costume every year so it's nothing new to see.

     Now we'll see if regular trick-or-treating will happen tomorrow. I've got a lot of full sized candy bars to hand out so I hope at least a few brave children and their parents head out. I'm sending my kids out and hopefully enough neighbors will be good sports and pass out candy. This Covid business is getting out of control. They sent out alerts on our phone today as if we're in some kind of state of emergency. Don't they realize, at this point, its a virus and it's going to spread no matter what rules they give us!? This is getting crazy! Can't wait to see what happens next week. Maybe Jesus will finally come! We need Jesus!

Refer to last post

      I dropped my most recent photos on my last post and have nothing new to add. It's been a quiet week. We did vote and we are looking forward to making cobblers Sunday evening and hope we have a few neighbors join us. 

Photo overload/RV to Nyssa Oregon

     We had such a fun time in Nyssa, Oregon visiting the Baker's! Taking the RV was an added bonus and made for a more comfortable road trip. Gas was a bit expensive but it was a fun experience overall. Here are photos of all the fun we had over the 4 days. Tad hooked us up with lots of fun stuff and the weather was gorgeous every single day. 

Here we go, all 7 kids, one dog and one cute grandbaby!

Beau meeting Great Grandma and Grandpa Baker for the first time.

Our set up for the four nights.

Fun with cousins

Games

Playsets and tire swings.

An overall fun and gorgeous yard to enjoy.

Fishing for sturgeon at a nearby pond.

The kids loved this fishing fun.

Our first glimpse of Grandpa's new ride. He won this after buying $75 dollars worth of raffle tickets. 

Back to more fishing fun.

Carter was the master fisherman.

Beautiful place to spend a few hours fishing.

Luke was the 'sturgeon whisperer' and a rockstar at unhooking and releasing the fish.

Carter pretty much never missed.

Jim the fisherman/instructor. He was a character.

    Back to fun stuff at Tad's.

Race car rides for the win!

This is a real photo taken by Greg from Tad and Megan's backyard, it's frame-worthy for sure!

Aunt Ann wins favorite aunt with a piñata for Austin's birthday.

Ford is a Baker for sure. Off to the Model-A to eat his stash of candy. How can you not love this cute boy!?

So many fun toys to ride on and enjoy.

Cousins, cousins, everywhere you turn.

Another fun ride.

These boys want to make their own cool go-kart.

And when you're at the Baker's you learn to bake!

Baby Beau had endless entertainment.

A fun Christmas craft with lots of help from Aunt Megan.

And we ended the weekend with a fun drive out to the Owyhee reservoir and dam. 

Carter was the master rock skipper.

     So that's the photo explosion of all our fun over the past several days. We're so glad we could get away and spend time with family. We had lots of yummy food, lots of fun visiting and no shortage of fun things to ride around in. We wish we had all our siblings and their families there but maybe next time!