.thanksgiving.

We got to spend Thanksgiving at Grandma’s new home this year! Everyone brought something and we had a fantastic feast – with all of our favorite traditions!

Sweet potatoes…frozen pumpkin pie…raspberry pretzel salad…YUM!

We were all so tired after the meal – we had to do something to stay awake…

so we played Progressive Rummy – our favorite!

It’s a Thanksgiving miracle – Karlye won – by A LOT!!!

We all met back at Grandma’s on Friday evening – after a day of work for some, Black Friday shopping for others, and the Apple Cup game for Amber & Alex.

We had more than enough food for a 2nd meal!

Sitting around Grandma’s kitchen table…

After dinner, we brought in Christmas tree that Mom & I had picked up for Grandma. Melissa and I put it up, then Kim & Karlye helped decorate it.

 

Fun evening with family – love these guys!!

  

 

Kim brought me a quilt book that her mom, Freda, had asked her to give to me a few years ago before she passed away. The book has many classic quilt block patterns so it will be a great resource for me! So special to have something from Freda! <3

   

.sewing maniac.

I have been spending every single extra second in the craft room lately – thus the excuse for being behind on my blog!

I am preparing for the Mesa CPT Christmas Bazaar on December 8th – so I’ve sewn about 15 table runners, 7 or 8 quilts, 3 pillows, and have a few more things on my “want to do” list.

The other day, I needed a break from the insanity and decided to sew something for myself – the November BOM.

Six months down, six to go! I love how it’s looking!

 

So – I just have 2 1/2 more weeks before the bazaar…then I’ll have TONS of pictures and projects to share!

.quick trip to Seattle.

Mom and I headed over to Seattle yesterday for a quick trip for her to cash in her birthday presents from Melissa and I! We left early on Sunday morning, stopped in Othello for breakfast at McDonalds (yum!), stopped in Ellensburg for Starbucks (duh!), and then met up with Melissa at IKEA. Mom & I were looking for a coffee table and a chair for the basement, so we joined in the sprint around IKEA with the rest of the population in the greater Seattle area! We were successful in finding what we were looking for and were ready for a late lunch/early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory! After dinner we went to Nordstrom for their half yearly sale and made a few other stops before heading to our hotel in Bellevue. We settled in, watched Revenge, and ate our cheesecake!

This morning, we stopped at Starbucks on our way out and then dropped Mom off at Gene Juarez for her spa/salon day! She got pampered with a pedicure, a makeup session, a brow wax, and a haircut. While she was there, Melissa and I found the Bellevue Goodwill – because she heard that they would have great stuff. FAIL! So we went to Bell Square, to Nordstrom, Brighton, Victoria’s Secret, and Forever 21. We had much better luck there! :)

We met Mom at the  brewery restaurant next door to Gene Juarez for a quick lunch before she & I headed back home. She looked gorg after her makeover – fresh and fun!

Even though it was a quick trip – we packed a lot into it and had a great time, as usual!

.wine festival.

Mom had a table to sell jewelry at the WIne & Brew Festival again this year. It’s always a fun evening of community members coming together and having a good time!

Toni Johnson was there taking photos and asked us to be her guinea pigs to make sure her lighting and camera settings were correct. Fun picture of Mom & I!

.election.

This was an election year for the President as well as the Franklin County Commissioner, District 2 (aka Dad’s position!).

Dad spent most of the fall putting up signs, sending donation letters, writing advertisements for the newspaper, radio, & television, attending forums, and other sorts of campaigning!

Dad was awfully nervous about the election, so we were encouraged by the fortune he got in his fortune cookie at PF Chang’s the weekend before the election!

 

We went out to dinner at Anthony’s on election night and then raced home to see the results…and thrilled to see this!

 

I’m so proud of Dad! He received many encouraging words from friends and community members before, during, & after the election – so grateful to have a wonderful support system!

It seems as though his was the only good news on election night. Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in the Presidential election. I really really thought that Mitt would defeat Obama…It was very disappointing to watch the results roll in state by state. Mitt gave a respectful concession speech that included the following quotes, which I liked: “The election is over but our principles endure. I believe in America. I believe in the people of America. I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction.”

In Washington State, Rob McKenna was defeated by Jay Inslee in the Governor election. Again, so very disappointing. It is always such a downer when the Eastern Washington vote is overruled by the Western Washington vote.

There were also some controversial bills & initiatives that were on the WA ballot – which all ended up passing: legalizing marijuana, legalizing same sex marriage, and allowing charter schools in the state.

It was quite a night…excitement and relief along with disbelief and confusion. Just a typical election night!

.football playoff game @ Cle Elum.

The first playoff game was at Cle Elum against Cle Elum last night. Road trips are fun with this group – and even though it was a LONG trip, the girls made it go by fast and it was fun. We left right after school and stopped in Ellensburg for dinner.

Self portraits and Starbucks = good road trip!

There were no outlets in the bathroom at McDonald’s…so what’s a girl to do? Hang out in the hallway, of course!

When we got to Cle Elum, it was raining…which was SUCH a bummer because the girls had prepared an awesome stunt sequence. I told them if it stopped raining during the 2nd quarter, they could do the dance with the stunt. Here they are praying for the rain to stop. :)

Those pretty senior girls!

Their names are on their hoods – and they looked so funny doing this!

    

The girls’ prayers were answered and the rain stopped, so they were able to do their dance!

Right as they were getting ready to go on the field to perform, a streaker ran by. Yes, you read that correctly – a STREAKER! It was the craziest thing I’ve seen! The poor girls were shocked and surprised (as were the rest of us) and totally traumatized!

 

Unfortunately, the music got screwed up and the wrong song was played.

 

They were able to do the stunt sequence at the beginning, but the end ripples were messed up!

Kick Line….the trademark of the 2012 Football squad!

 

Even though it didn’t work out like we had planned, I’m proud of the girls for keeping their composure & being professional. They are awesome!

     

Heather got a group shot of us! :)

Unfortunately, the football team just couldn’t keep up with Cle Elum and we lost, ending the season. We were so disappointed – especially the seniors, of course.

On Monday at school, one of the girls at school said, “I don’t know why your season has to revolve around the football team. You don’t suck!”

It was a bummer for the season to come to an end so much earlier than we are used to…this was such a stellar and special squad that I really was disappointed the season was over so soon. Usually I’m ready for the season to be over, but I could’ve hung out with these girls for much longer!

.happy halloween.

Halloween was a fun day – a lot of the students dressed up, so that was fun. I wore a fancy headband with a zebra ribbon and bats on wires.

A Blue M & M and a giraffe stopped by my office a few times during the day…Crazies!

Lisa posted this picture of Frances & Louise. They are just too darn cute!

Mom & I were home to give out candy. I put this little hat on Samson & put an outfit on Coco. We didn’t have too many trick-or-treaters so we headed down to Grandma’s where she was handing out candy with Mark & Kim.

  

By the time we got to Grandma’s at 7:30pm, she was out of candy and had to turn off the lights. Nick, Kate, & Kamryn stopped by on their way home from Washtucna. Kamryn wasn’t so sure at first, but finally warmed up to us. I think she always thinks that Mom and I are going to take her, since that is what we usually do!

 

.nails.

Kamryn’s Gramma Karen caught this picture of me polishing Kamryn’s nails at a volleyball game this week! This is one of the things we enjoy doing when we’re together. At the game, Kamryn was a little restless so she was digging through my purse and finding all the colors of chapstick – another favorite thing we share – and found a bottle of nail polish. Of course we had to polish her nails – a distraction for about 5 minutes!