"WEE ONE" IS A GROWIN'

A posted more pics today. She is 23 weeks pregnant with the "wee one".
I cannot wait to start a scrapbook of baby pictures...I wish I lived closer to my girl so I could see her more and go shopping with her! I miss you darling daugher!

PHOTO PROJECT--THANKSGIVING CAMPING

In addtion to completing the wedding album, I got another album prepped for photos. It was a project offered as part of my day. Since the album is in a pumpkin shade and has a very fall, thanksgiving feel, I have decided to use it to scrapbook our thanksgiving camping photos.

Our family has a long held (20 year or more) tradition to spend Thanksgiving weekend camping in the California desert. We always have a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all of our family favorites and more food than you can imagine. There are usually 22 of us and our group usually includes a few friends. We caravan down and circle our motorhomes/campers with the same campfire ring in the center. We look forward to spending time as a family, laughter, s'mores, around the campfire, hiking, reading and of course playing "Mafia" after dinner. There is always some kind of offroading (mostly in Jeeps now) which also includes a trip to the "Glamis Beach Store" for a T-shirt or hoodie to remember the weekend.

Just look at this gorgeous sunset....this is usually what we are greeted with when we arrive into camp and set up for the weekend. We just bring a buckets of KFC and all the fixings to share for our first night, since we are too busy to cook and too hungry to wait. Another tradition for the guys is getting firewood for the campfire. The guys love going out in their Jeeps and trucks and dragging back limbs of downed dead trees from the back of their vehicles that were found in the washes. It becomes a competition of who can bring back the largest piece. Can you tell?

Here are the grandparents hanging out after breakfast, enjoying some morning sunshine and respite while the rest of the camp finishes up breakfast and moring routines before we make plans for where we are going to go on our off-road adventure for the day.

Setting up the tables for dinner....

The line forms here....and if it happens to be a chilly or windy day, we set up our food inside the motorhomes for serving. We are usually blessed with beautiful weather for Thanksgiving dinner so we usually are able to eat outside.

Let the feasting begin! It's hard to get everyone in one single picture!
Time to gather by the fire for a game of Mafia. Also time to break out the marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey Bars....and mugs of coffee...and enjoy the star-filled sky with lots of shooting stars as well as the peace and quiet of the desert night. It is beautiful out there...our little piece of heaven on earth.
We are starting to plan our trip this year. We have our motorhome reserved and are getting excited for our trip. I have to make sure to take lots of pictures as this will probably be the last desert thanksgiving trip for us before we move to Tennessee.

SCRAPPIN' AND MEMORIES

I finally completed the photo scrapbook for my eldest daughter, A's wedding. I have been working on it for some time now and was able to finish it at my annual Croptoberfest scrapbook workshop that I attended yesterday. I am so relieved that it was such a productive day for me. I usually only get to really scrap seriously two times a year during these kinds of events at Cassandra's. I am attaching some of my favorite photos from the wedding album to my blog.


It was also a bittersweet day for me...because it was just one day after the 5 year date of my good friend, Carla's passing from cancer. Carla introduced me to scrapbooking just months before her diagnosis. I could not help but think about her a lot yesterday...and I missed her sitting there with all of us, sharing laughter and our photos and stories.

I miss so many things about Carla. I miss her laughter and sense of humor and most of all, I miss spending time with her. But I have good memories that always make me smile. We met in high school and attended the same church and became fast friends--we raised our children together--hosting playgroups for our kids, birthday parties, camping trips and just spending time together. Besides scrappin' together, we also took a Wilton cake decorating class together and then began making masterpiece cakes for our kids on their birthdays...it was fun and I always think of her when I break out my cake decorating tools. I love ya and miss ya girlfriend!

THE MANY FACES OF KONA

Here she is at just three weeks old--we kept visiting our little pup each week until we brought her home.

Finally home and all tuckered out...we thought this little bundle of fur would never get bigger than 50 pounds....or so we were told...can you say "gullible" ?

You can see she is getting bigger and lighter...looking more like her golden retriever grandparent now. Sleeping again...but now she has discovered just how comfy our sofa is...now I know what they mean when they say it's a dogs life.

Well here she is now all full grown and still makes herself at home on the sofa to hang out whenever she gets the go ahead to do so.

This one was taken during a camping trip at Thanksgiving....one tired dog after running around outside with other dogs in the campsite. She loves going out there, but is so happy to come back inside and crash with us in the motorhome. She is definitely an indulged house dog.

Did someone say "Let's go for a ride in the Jeep?" I'm ready to go! Get my collar and leash!

Kona will be three years old this December. She is a very smart and obedient dog...the best dog we have ever had. Oh yeah, that 50 pound dog we were told she would be....make that 80 pounds. 80 p0und lap dog. Lovable lap dog.

AFTER THE STORM

Here are a couple of pictures T sent me of the Pensacola sky after the storm from Hurricane Ike cleared out.

MORE FROM P'COLA

He did it! T graduated AE school last week and is now waiting for his orders to his next school. I have not seen him since March and asked him to please post new pics for me. Here they are. He looks more mature than when he left here last spring. I can't wait to see him again and take some pics of my own to add to this blog.

PENSACOLA CHECKING IN

T has been in Pensacola in school since March and graduates on Tuesday from AE school. I was thinking about how fast time has flown in the year since he left for Navy Bootcamp and decided to post a pic he sent via his cell phone. I am so proud of my son.

CHANGES KEEP ON CHANGING

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we are going to be first time grandparents. A recently sent us a pic of her pregnant self so I could see her "baby bump". This is her at 19 weeks pregnant. Our grandchild apparently is an active wee one, too. A had an ultrasound this week, and wants to keep the sex of the baby a surprise, however, we do know that this baby is growing on target and healthy, which is the most important thing to all of us.We are living 12 hours away from A and K now, and once we move to Tennessee, we will be even further away. It makes me a bit sad that we will be that far away, but I am sure we will be using my income for airline tickets to see our kids and grandbaby. We will make sure that our house has plenty of room for guests and family to come and be comfortable.

Despite my rambling, I am getting more excited and anxious to move east. I am so ready for a change from California. I am ready to start going through things and thinning out the things we will not need once we move.