So Long 2011

I had every intention of getting our Christmas post done before the end of the year so everything would be all in the right year and neat/tidy. Obviously that didn't happen! Even though I am posting late, December was still a great month.

Work was very busy with holiday parties for both our production staff and our office employees. As I was in-charge of both events, that meant many long days at work in December, but it was worth it because they both turned out great. At our office party the winners of the 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award were announced. The nominees for the award were announced a few weeks before the party and I was honored to be nominated and truly thought that is where it would end. I was quite surprised when my manager got up to describe the first winner and started talking about me! I don't write about work much on this blog, but I truly do love my job and my manager. Winning this award after being at the company for only a year and a half was a shock to say the least. I am so grateful to have a job I enjoy with a wonderful company.

The picture came out blurry, but you get the idea. The winners and the management team.

The holiday bug finally bit us this year and we put up our tree for the first time since we did Christmas on our own in Kentucky in 2007! It was great to actually feel like it was Christmas time.

We decided to do gifts for each other before heading out of town. I am now the proud owner of a sewing machine!

Next came our trip down to CA to spend Christmas with the Bonham side of the family. We lucked out and had great weather on the drive down. On Christmas Eve we went down to Susanville to visit the rest of the family. We spent some with with Grandma Jeanne and cousin Daryl, who we haven't seen since the wedding. After lunch we ventured over to the Bonham's to see Grandma Marlee, Grandpa Jack and Aunt Sue. Unfortunately we had to hit the road before Bill, Verlene and Kara arrived.

Christmas was spent opening stockings and enjoying bread pudding. Zeke, Katherine and the boys came over in the morning and the present opening continued. The boys were patient and took turns opening.

The hit of the day was from Jerry and LaDel - a kids basketball set.

After it warmed up a little outside the brothers assembled the hoop and it was time to play. The boys were interested for a few minutes and then wandered off. Of course this meant that the grown-ups could have a turn. At least an hour later, after we had all practically worked up a sweat playing we put it away and went back inside. Hope the kids enjoy it as much as the grown-ups did!

We spent a couple more days hanging out with the family, playing games and lots of laughing. Weather was rolling in so we ended up leaving a day before we had planned to, but we were thankfully to have mostly dry road for the trip home. It was another great holiday season and a good trip to CA.

New Year's was quiet for us this year, which was just fine by me. I actually stayed up to watch the ball drop and enjoy a glass of champagne, then it was time for bed!

So long 2011. Bring on 2012.

Thankful in Utah

The holiday rotation had us in Utah for Thanksgiving this year. The night before we were leaving SLC it dawned on me that I had not taken any pictures. Oops. None-the-less it was a good trip. The week in UT was spent hanging out with family and of course the traditional friends party.

The friends party had a little change up this year in that we decided to focus more on the food and less on the drinking, which meant no punch. Don't get me wrong, there was still plenty of drinking, but since there was also plenty of food, it meant feeling much better the next day! We also incorporated games into the event. In the end this was a great idea, even though we had to take a few mandatory breaks cause the game was causing us to not be friends! It was great to see many of our friends that we tend to only see once a year.

Thanksgiving day was a feast. We had to bring up an extra table to fit everyone, and it was nice to all be together. I think my mom said it best when she said the thing we are all most thankful for is that Sissy is with us. After a pretty serious car wreck just a couple weeks earlier, things could have been very different this holiday season. We are so happy that she is getting better day by day. Love you Sissy!

Round two of Thanksgiving (or Fakesgiving, as we like to call it) was at Bry and Leisl's house. Since we are still off on our holiday schedules they were not with us on the real day, so we have a bonus day to celebrate. This year we mixed it up and had a pizza party since everyone had enough turkey already.

A few more days of just relaxing, playing games (I heart Perquackey!), upgrading mom to a smartphone (yikes!), raking leaves (child slave labor!),  and being with family and then the vacation was over. It was once again a good trip and hard to believe that it is already December now.

Halloween 2011

Halloween around here has not been too festive the past two years. 2009 - Jake was gone for work and Sissy was visiting. We purchased candy to hand out and then promptly got wrapped up in watching the World Series and forgot to turn on the porch light so kids would know to stop. Oops. 2010 - I don't even remember if Jake was in town or not, but either way I know we (I?) didn't do anything.

2011 was a different story. Sandy and Wes had a party at their house which was fun. There was very appropriately themed food and drink with dead man meatloaf and brain hemorrhage shots served.

We also had fun with our costumes, channeling our love for fitness and mockery. Thanks goes to the Goodwill for my full outfit and our props...

Needless to say, neither of us wore our costume to work on actual Halloween!

Hiking In The Dark

During Labor Day weekend, we decided that instead of spending our three day weekend sleeping in, we would get up before the crack of dawn and go on a hike! That Sunday we set the alarm for 3:15 AM, finished packing snacks and water and hit the road. By 4:30 we were at the trail head for Angel's Rest in the Columbia River Gorge.

We started up the mountain with headlamps shining. I had never done a hike in the dark and was a bit apprehensive to say the least. I quickly discovered that bugs like light. The light they seemed to prefer was the one on my head. Thus I was constantly flailing my arms around so they wouldn't land on my face. I was not going to be able to take 2.5 miles of this up to the top!! The headlamp was then converted to a wrist lamp which was much better. After a while I got used to the dark and was enjoying the hike. Thankfully we did not come across any wildlife, though we did spot a few scorpions in the scree fields we had to cross. We finally made it to the top, though we hiked faster than anticipated so we had to wait around a bit for the sun to come up. But once it did, it was totally worth it...

 

After soaking up the view for a bit longer we started the 2.5 miles back down the mountain. We got home and promptly went back to bed. It was a great feeling to wake up at 9:30 and know we had already put in a 5 mile hike and had the rest of the day ahead of us.

On the Water

In August we were invited to join some friends for a day of rafting on the Rogue River. After spending the night in Roseburg we got up and hit the river the next morning. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for being on the water. We paddled down river for a while until we came to a spot to pull over and eat lunch. A couple more hours of lounging in the raft, enjoying the sun and braving the "rapids" we arrived back at the pickup spot. We had worked up an appetite and stopped at a Mexican restaurant before heading back to Roseburg. The next day the guys went fishing while Sandy and I headed back to Portland. It was a fun weekend spent on the water.

Homemade Always Wins

It has been a whole month since we went to CA, but I am finally posting about it. It had been a few months since our last visit, so we made the journey south. After spending the night in Alturas, everybody (Jake, Kari, Ethan, LaDel, Jerry, Zeke, Catherine, Cooper and Tristan!), piled into cars to go down to Susanville. It is always nice to be able to visit with all the grandparents, but this time there was the added bonus of homemade ice cream! This was not the modern version of add the ingredients to the KitchenAid and wait. This was soaking the barrels the night before, mixing the ingredients in a bowl and putting it into the tub, adding ice and salt and cranking!   

 

Ethan and Jerry did a fantastic job while Cooper and Tristan supervised.  The final product was so good! One batch of vanilla and one batch of pink lemonade. It definitely made it feel like summer. After we had all cooled off with a treat Jake took me on a tour of the property. Since he spent many years living there, he was an excellent tour guide. The little ones decided to come along as well. 

I love this picture because Tristan looks like a tiny version of Grandpa Jack, always with rolled up jeans, plaid shirt and a blue hat. 

 

 Grandpa Jack, Jerry and Jake

It was a gorgeous day to be outside enjoying time with the family and a cold treat. A little more visiting and then it was back in the car to head north. One more night in Alturas and it was time to go home.

A Much Needed Vaca

As I mentioned before, Jake left for a work trip back at the end of May. His route home was going to take him through Hawaii, so it was decided that we could not pass up this opportunity and bought a ticket for me to meet him there for a vacation. The plan was for me to arrive on a Thursday and he would get in on Friday morning. This was going to be fine because I have a friend stationed there for the Army and my mom was going to be there for work so I had people to hang out with. All went well with my flight over and I had walked out to wait for the rental car shuttle. I glanced up when I saw a guy walk out from around a pillar nearby but thought nothing of it. As he took a couple steps closer I realized it was Jake! I was so surprised!! When I talked to him the day before I left he said he was in a hotel, which I took to mean a hotel in Samoa, not having dinner and drinks with my mom in Honolulu. This was a fantastic way to start a vacation.

We had a few ideas of things we wanted to do during the week, but mostly just looking forward to relaxing and catching up on all of our stories from the last two months.

Highlights from the week:
Seeing the Grovers (Jake's aunt, uncle and cousins).
Visiting Punchbowl and Jake's grandfather's grave for the first time.
Waiting all the way until day two to get sunburned!
Actually getting up on the stand-up paddle board.
The aquarium.
Eating breakfast on the lanai.
Pineapple! Guava juice!

Kayaking in Kailua and seeing sea turtles.
Seeing the houses my mom grew up in. Of course, Dukes and Moose McGullicuddy's.
Macadamia nuts as a souvenir.

It was such a great week. I asked Jake pretty much every day if he was sure I couldn't just retire and not go home. The answer never changed, so it was back to reality after a week of fun in the sun.

Now for the pictures...