Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas

Okay, okay, everyone stop yelling

(I'm starting to hear voices in my head, and my doctor says it isn't a good sign).

It is 10:30 at night and I am sitting here blogging. So....I am going to hit most of the holidays all at once.

Terresa and I cut out pumpkins for the boys, and all the kids in the neighborhood, to paint. Then we very nicely asked them to leave them all at our house and we decorated the yard with them. Yep, we had a very large pumpkin patch in our front yard for Halloween (and a lot of very sad little kids that thought that they painted for no reason....).

****We gave them their pumpkins after Halloween, so they could decorate their yards next year**** We really aren't that mean.

The other pictures are of the Halloween party that Allyson and I did for the boy's classes. (If you want to know how we got that gig, you are going to have to ask Allyson) ;) We made oreo spiders, played 3 different games, and then drank dry ice apple juice and ate cookies, while Allyson read a Halloween story. When all was said and done, it was a great time all around. The boys really love having us in their classes every once in a while.....which is good, because we have to do the Christmas party in 2 weeks :O.



Now for Thanksgiving (Brace yourselves)!

This was my view of Thanksgiving.... I didn't notice before, but there are LOTS of hugs in my pictures. Well, this is what my family does when they get together. They HUG!

Well, they do other things too. Like, they make food, and laugh a LOT, play games, watch football. You know what? I don't think anyone enjoys being around their family more than we do. AND I think that because we are so close, we make others feel extremely warm and welcome when we get together.

I want to thank everyone for making Terresa feel welcome. She hasn't stopped talking about the weekend. She loved every minute of it (especially the little kids), but the adults too. She felt very relaxed and welcome and I absolutely LOVE my family for this gift. THANKS EVERYONE!



I know it is early for Christmas, but I thought I would get a head start so that no one can yell at me for a while.

Parker and Dillon had their Winter concert on Tuesday night. They each had parts. Parker's group sang "Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer" and they did the actions, it was pretty funny. And Dillon's part was with Santa as one of his elves. It was adorable. I have a movie, but I don't know how to change the orientation, so it is sideways. Maybe I will figure it out soon.

So there you go. Hopefully, I can keep my blog more updated so that these don't have to be SOOOO long, eh? All I can promise is that I will try. If I don't talk to you before Christmas, I hope you have the most memorable holiday of all.

Love, Jen

The Summer Garden

This is our "little" garden. At the beginning of the summer, we planted a little 5X5 area right off our front porch. I planted 3 cucumbers, 5 different kinds of peppers and 6 little tomatoes. OH, and 2 of those little plant-your-own-watermelon kits that the boys got for 48 cents at Lowes one day.

Anyway, it really didn't look like it was going to be doing all that much. We had added 2 bags of fertilizer to the soil and tilled it in before we planted, but we really didn't know very much about the soil in this yard.

Then mom and dad showed up for my birthday and brought me a Salsa Garden to plant. They brought 6 roma tomatoes, 1 patio tomato and 3 big boy tomatoes, and also 1 pepper plant.

Let's see.... in total that makes, hmmmm, 3 Cucumbers, 6 peppers, 2 watermelons, and, um, oh, I dunno,
16 tomatoes!!!!!

As you can see in the picture, the tomatoes are now taller than the boys, well, they are really taller than me. The peppers are under there somewhere. We have taken more than a bushel of cucumbers off the vines, and I don't even know where to start with the cute little grow-your-own-watermelon-48-cents-at-Lowes-didn't think-they-would even-mature-past-2 leaves watermelon plants. They single handedly took over the whole front of the garden (and the grass) while the tomatoes handled the back of the garden like giant warriors.

Here are the boys with their first watermelon off their very own watermelon plants (that have serious entitlement issues, I might add). They are pretty darn proud of those ground covering, half an acre, swallow up the yard, plants of theirs.

All kidding aside, the watermelon was scrumptious and the boys learned to spit watermelon seeds like pros.

Last night Dillon and I went out and relieved the tomato plants of the burdening lower tomatoes that were pulling more than half of them onto the ground. We laid them out in the house for house ripening and left the rest on the vines. We covered 3 of those big plastic tote lids with our haul. Hopefully, they don't all turn at the same time, or I will have to see my doctor regarding "attack of the killer tomatoes" nightmares.

Doin' what ya gotta do

Dear Family,

Now that it is in the recent past, I think that I can actually tell you all what it meant to me not to be with you, but to be included as much as possible.

In my infinite wisdom, I have realized that people who have not shared the Oregon experience with one of us, do not know what it really means to us. Those that have, share the same sheer love of it.

I wonder if each of you knows exactly what it meant to me not to be with my family this past week. EVERYONE was there. It was a very strange and not very good feeling not to be with you when you were all together. Especially, when you were all together sharing Grandma’s birthday with her and the beautiful Oregon Coast.

I would have loved to share one of Jenalyn’s and Corbin’s nighttime rituals with them. I just can see the look on Leslye’s face the first time she saw the Oregon ocean. It would have been so amazing to see my boys running alongside Colton, Mason, Easton, Alex, Lexie and Braydon up the trail at Haceta Head together to that special place where Grandpa still is. I would have loved to browse the shops with Rachelle and my sisters and sisters-in-law, laughing until 2:00 in the morning with Rendy and Jerald about random stuff that no one would think of but them. The best thing in the world is being with my family and seeing the incredibly wise, proud faces of our parents as they smile at us having such a goofy time.

Yes, I truly missed every minute you were together, and I felt it every minute also, but I am so GRATEFUL to have a family like ours and the wonderful moments we share together and will share for years to come.

So I guess, if you have to do what you gotta do, it is better to do it with my family than anyone else’s.

I love you all very much, and hopefully we will do it again soon, with me there of course.