January 24 & 25, 2008

Thursday 24th~~~~Today Sharon caught up on some overdue emails and wrote on the blog. We are so glad to be caught up, we will never get that far behind again. We went for a 2 mile walk, came home and Kent took a nap while Sharon fixed something to take to the happy hour party they have every Thursday at the Elk's Club for all the RVer's. There are some real nice people here. The people who sat by Sharon are from Keizer, Oregon. They compared lots of names and neither of us knew anyone the other one knew. Then Sharon asked them if they knew Gene Benson!! ( her son in law) Yes!! they knew him. How funny it was to finally find a name in common and have it be a relative. Ha
Friday 25th~~~~ Today is Thresa's birthday, so I called her to wish her a happy birthday and to see if she remembered her present I gave her at Christmas that was for her birthday. She has to work Saturday, so she was home today and was having a great day with her family. I cleaned house and Kent did the laundry. We went out for Pizza tonight to another good pizza place, Friday is date night for us and we usually go out for dinner or go someplace.

January 23, 2007

Wednesday~~~~ We drove t0 Oceanside again today to spend the day with our friend Gary, who lives there. Gary drove us all over, stopping at the Old Mission San Luis Rey De Francia.(pictures) There were several groups of school children there touring the mission, they had a neat paper from their teacher that had all kinds of things on it to look for. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt. Sharon was so impressed with it that the teacher gave her one. There were all kinds of things we found that we wouldn't have looked for on our own. These Mission's are all over and they all have a neat story behind them. We went out for lunch at the "In and Out" restaurant . They are all over here, and Kent really likes them, Sharon doesn't like the fresh cut french fries because they are cooked in fat free oil. They only have Hamburgers, Fries, and drink so you truly are in and out so fast. Gary showed us more places and after another fun day, we headed home to our Suite.

January 21 & 22

Monday ~~~We stayed home today and worked on the blog and slept in late. It is a rainy day and with patches of Sunshine in between the showers.
Sharon is really starting to walk, so we now do our walk together. Kent pushes harder on the walks, so we go further and up long hills and we are doing real good at it. The hardest part of it is going up the long steep driveway to the Elk's Club and the RV Park when you are already tired. I guess the extra push is good for us.
Tuesday~~~We stayed home again and did our walk and drove around the town and saw things.

January 20, 2008

Sunday 20th~~~~~We drove to Oceanside today to see our friend Gary and spent the day with him.(picture) We watched the "Charger" game in a Pub and grill. The beer and food were good and so was the game, even if our team did lose.( we were rooting for the Chargers being we were in San Diego where the Chargers are from.
After the game we drove to the ranch of Poncho who was in the movies with the "Cisco Kid". It was a real neat place with all the buildings open for visitors to go through, like the wash house, cook house, bunk house and more. There were dozens of peacocks walking all over, beautiful flowers and huge cactus's.(pictures) The neat part was it was just a few miles from the busy city of Oceanside and it was so quiet and peaceful. Next we watched the last quarter of the Packer's game. Our team again lost, but the game was good.
It was now getting late and it was raining, so we headed home. The rain here doesn't just rain, it just dumps on you and water runs everywhere. Kent says its a great way to get the truck washed. I like the gentle rain we get in Oregon much better.

January 19th, 2008

Saturday Jan. 19th~~~~We arrived in Chula Vista Elks RV park about noon. After we ate lunch, Kent left to do the laundry and Sharon deep cleaned the house. With Pepsi's (cat) long hair we could vacuum daily. The sun is so bright and warm we want to get our work done so we can play tomorrow. Next we went to Mass and after that we went out for dinner to Applebee's (thanks Cindy and Erik) . We were so impressed with the Mgr. for the way he was running the restaurant so smoothly and friendly during the dinner rush hour and we told him so. We got to talking to him and he was telling us he is moving to Los Vegas and to continue to work for Applebee's. He has bought a house there (4 bedroom,3 car garage, pool and granite counters) , they gave him everything for a home theatre and 3% kick back. His monthly payments are less than he is paying for rent here in the Little Italy area of San Diego and had a lot less square feet. He gave us his card and asked us to stop and see him when we get to Vegas. He said it was all due to the housing crunch. He was quite excited about all his kick backs and what he was buying in the down housing market. Our next stop was home to watch TV and go to bed.

January 15, 2008

Tuesday 15th~~~~ We are staying in Beaumont, CA as it is close to Palm Springs and a whole lot cheaper to park. The park in Cathedral City we stayed at last year is on winter rates now and it is $335 a week so we are driving 46 miles round trip to go to Palm Springs. We are going to see our friends Bonnie and Ruebe from S. D. who are out here again seeing Ruebe's Doctor.
Wednesday 16th~~~~ Today we drove into Palm Springs to see Bonnie and Ruebe, They are staying in a house right behind their daughters house as the owners live in Washington and have the home as a vacation home. It is so handy just going across the fence to see each other. We took them out for lunch and came home and visited for a short time, as Ruebe was pretty tired. We stopped at the casino on the way home and had dinner and played the slots. We weren't having any luck, so we were on our way out when Sharon decided to put $1 in one of her favorite nickel machines. She won back her loss and left with $20, that made her happy.~~~ Thursday 17th~~~~We drove to Palm Springs again to see our friends, as they are leaving to go home tomorrow. It is Bonnie's birthday today and she and her daughter were going to a spa for the works for the day, so we had a nice short visit and said out goodbyes until next time. It was a beautiful sunny day 63 degrees so we spent the day touring the area and we finished up the day going to the street fair.

January 10 through the 14th

Our next stop is Pismo Beach at the Elk's Club. We are 2 blocks from the Ocean and the weather here is usually pretty warm. We stayed here last year and we really liked it. We are going to stay here for 3 days.
There is a restaurant named "The Hitching Post"that we liked last year so Kent wanted to eat there. It is about 10 miles in the hills from any small town but its worth the drive. When they sat us down we were seated next to the Barbecue pit. They use hardwood for fire and raise and lower the platform as the meat is getting done. They use Olive oil and spices on the food which when put on the meat flames up and gives the steak a excellent flavor.
Pismo Beach is where a lot of people like to take their camper, 5th Wheel, or motor home right out on the beach where the surf comes in and camp. To get to the beach there is a hill that goes down to the sand and after a few go through, the sand gets loose and pretty deep and they get stuck. Of course there are the guys (and gals) who love to show off the power of their big trucks and someone is always willing to pull them out. We also take long walks down the beach to where the river flows into the ocean, we turn around and head home stopping at the exit to watch more rigs leaving and getting stuck. They let the air in the tires down to 20# and it makes the driving on the soft sand easier.(pictures)
They fill them back up when they get out. One day we went to the Post Office and we saw an Estate sale sign. We went in to check it out and it was pretty old junk. The owner was out back and she said she had more things out there, so we decided to check it out. In the back was a complete setup for a beauty salon with the cutest light green stations with mirrors and pink hydraulic chairs for sale. Using one of the chairs and mirrors was the owner giving her son a haircut with a pair of scissors that looked like they wouldn't cut paper. Sharon couldn't help but be amused watching, but it drove her crazy knowing it was all wrong. Sharon asked her if she was a stylist and she promptly said NO! She was just trying to fix a bad haircut from the salon in town. I am sure you know the rest of the story~~~~~ yes ~~Sharon finished the haircut, they were both very grateful (especially the son) and Sharon smiled the rest of the day. Sharon said that was sooooooo much fun!!!!!

January 7th through the 10th

Monday 7th ~~~~We arrived at the Elks club in Monterey and we went over to the club to have a beer and see if we saw anyone that we might know from being here last year. They are having a good dinner here tomorrow night and we are coming here to eat. We went home early to watch the "Apprentice" on TV. ~~~Tuesday 8th ~~~Today Kent got his "Costco Fix", he loves that place and he always eats a hot dog or has the ice cream or sometimes both. Tonight we went to the club for dinner and socializing.~~~~Wednesday 9th~~~ Kent fixed the squeak in the truck and we stayed home watching it rain. Sharon wanted to go to Carmel again, as she really likes that yuppie town. We both didn't want to go out in the drizzle, so we spent the day at home on the computer.

Petaluma January 3 thru 7th

January 4th~~~~When the storm let up in the morning we decided to get some stamps in our National Park Passport that is around the San Francisco area. Point Reyes was a short distance away so we headed out towards the ocean. While driving down country roads we could see what the wind had done with large limbs and trees fallen all over. As we got closer to the coast the roads were flooded. It was quite a trip and we probably should have stayed home. But we have exploring in our blood so we went on.
January 5th~~~~ Today we went into San Francisco and explored the National Monuments of the Presido and Fort Point. We got our passport book validated for both places and got to see things we normally wouldn't see. When we were in San Francisco last year we drove right by the Monuments and missed the different view of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.(pictures)
January 6th~~~~San Francisco is finally settling down from the storm so we went back to San Francisco to look in some of the stores. We found a nice place to park on the street so we got to take our time looking around. We went into Macy's that has two large stores right next to each other, Men's on one side of the street and women's on the other side of the street. One floor had just makeup the second floor had shoes wall to wall. Kent ushered Sharon past the first and second floor or we would have been their until they closed. Sharon kept telling Kent that we should have taken more time on the second floor shoes.(HAHA)
January 7th~~~~ We left for Monterey over the Golden Gate Bridge(picture) towing the 5th wheel and then down 19th street in San Francisco (yes a very narrow bridge and street). As we were stopping at one of the many traffic lights Sharon asked Kent what was the smell of burning rubber. Kent informed Sharon it was all the stopping we were doing the last 3 miles on 19th street. This was the only way we could connect to highway 101 that would take us down the coast to Monterey. The views we saw going down the coast line made the trip well worth the narrow Golden Gate Bridge and streets we had been on earlier in the day.

Tuesday January 1, 2008

Tues. January 1st~~~~~~~~ We said our goodbyes to the kids last night and today we are headed To the "Seven Feathers" Casino. It is a beautiful R.V. Park They had a shuttle that took you to the casino and back. We only stayed here one night as Kent is anxious to cross the Siskiyou Mountains and get where it is warmer.
Wednesday January 2nd~~~~~ We were so lucky, there was absolutely no snow in the pass or on the road. We stopped in Red Bluff for the night. We almost bought an artificial Christmas tree for next Christmas at the Target store in Medford, Oregon. We decided shipping it home would be a pain in the neck, so we passed on the 75% off sale. Maybe one of the kids will pick one up for us back home. They really missed us not having a tree for 2 years and we thing a fake tree will be just what we need for now.
January 3rd through the 6th~~~~ We were on the road early this morning driving in heavy rain. Our plan was to stop in Sacramento and see Sharon's cousin Bertie who lives there. We called to see if she was home, she warned us of a big storm with high winds that was going to hit there that afternoon. She recommended we keep heading South where the weather would be better. We drove to Petaluma 30 miles north of San Francisco, we just got parked when the storm really hit. The storm was actually worse further south. The wind was strong and some of the gusts shook the trailer. Sharon was uncomfortable with so much wind but we were OK and we didn't lose power like they did further south in San Francisco.There they had thousands of homes without power for a week. They got 2 1/2 inches of rain in a short time, We like the gentle rain we get in Oregon much better. The "good" part is we missed the snow storm in the Siskiyou pass . They got 10 feet of snow and we missed it by a matter of hours. They require you to chain up to go through (chains!! huh??) we don't have such a thing.

December 31, 2007

Monday Dec. 31st~~~~We called the kids to see how cold it got there last night and Kim said It was 2 degrees and theirs and the Benson's water was froze up. Pammy and Jeff had water as their pipes are in a heated cupboard. No one was too concerned about it, as the guys were leaving for a trail ride and Kim had a pot of coffee made with water she had in her tea kettle. They had the generators running and the furnace turned up to warm the pipes. We filled a thermos with coffee, stopped at the donut shop for donuts for everyone and headed up the mountain for more fun in the snow. When we arrived, they had a big bonfire going and the girls had all kinds of snacks to eat. They had the pipes thawed out and were ready for the day. Kent rode snowmobiles with Ray and Pamela around the airstrip. Matt, Mike and Gene were still out on their trail ride. After the guys returned and had a bite to eat, the whole crew went for a evening ride. Those going on the ride were Gene, Lisa, Ray, Mike, Matt, Pamela, Shelby and Kent. After they left, Kim, Pammy, Jeff and Sharon went over to the snow hut and played cards. They have 8 snowmobiles so each person is on his own sled. The hut has tables with benches and a big stove in the center of the room and a room full of wood to burn. It was dark when they got back, I guess Pamela's sled had some problems and it slowed them down, but they all had fun. After dinner, We took a cake, pie and ice cream over to the hut and we celebrated Kimmy's birthday. Then the girls challenged the guys to a game of Trivial Pursuit and won. We sat in our chairs around the fire and Lisa and Ray read the cards to us. What a great way to finish up the day and start the New Year. (pictures)

December 30th, 2007

Sunday~~~~ We left Salem in the morning stopping for lunch at Dairy Queen in Oak Ridge. We parked our "Suite" in a gorgeous RV Park in Westfir (Oak Ridge, Or.) We drove the truck up the mountain, over the Willamette Pass to Crescent Lake Junction. Sharon's kids were camping there with their snowmobiles They have big enclosed trailers that carry 4 sleds and all their equipment and it has a built in gas tank for gassing up the snowmobiles. What fun to be in so much snow. Kent promptly got on a sled and rode it around the park and really liked it.(picture) Tomorrow he will go on a long trail ride with the gang. That night the adults went to the local tavern for cold beer and Broasted chicken and Joe's It was almost as good as the chicken at Susie's at the beach. We had a lot of fun eating and visiting about the rides they went on and the fun we had all day. We drove down the mountain about 10 P. M. We went real slow, as there was a lot of snow in the pass. (Pictures)

December 27,28 & 29 2007

December 27~~~~Kent went to Portland this morning for an appointment and for lunch with the girls. Brandon has a game and this will be the last one we will see as we are getting ready to leave on the 29th. Sharon stayed home as our security alarm went off last night after we were in bed, and it went off every hour on the hour after that. Brinks said they would have someone at our house sometime between 1 to 4 to fix it. The man was here at one o'clock and it didn't take long to fix the problem. We are sure glad it happened while we were home and not away on the road.
December 28~~~~ Tonight we went out for Pizza with Tress, Cory and the kids. All the other kids except Billy are at the mountain with their motor homes and Snow mobiles. We went to Pietro's Pizza Parlor as they have all those games for kids and we knew that would make them happy. The pizza there is great and I think us adults have as much fun playing the games as the kids do. We came home and visited and said our goodbyes as we planned to leave in the morning.
December 29th~~~~ We woke up this morning and decided to spent one more day here finishing up a few things we didn't get done. When you are retired, you can do that sort of thing! LOL We are definitely leaving tomorrow morning.

December 11 and 12, 2007

December 11------Today Kent went to the beach with his friend Gary, they stopped at the casino on the way and had lunch and fun. Sharon stayed home and went to the dentist, tomorrow she is having a bone scan. Tonight Ray came over and spent the evening while his mom and dad went to a Christmas party . Grandma baked Carmel cinnamon rolls for him, as he really likes her rolls. Tress and the kids came over for awhile and we planned the Christmas Eve menu.
December 12---- Tonight was the Christmas party for Sharon and the shop girls she used to work with. We went to "Bentley's" for dinner. We had a fun gift exchange and the dinner was excellent. It sure is fun getting together and hearing all the shop talk that I miss so much. The evening was cold outside, and it felt like Christmas was in the air with all the pretty decorations all over.

November 28, 2007

This afternoon we went to Portland to watch Brandon play ball. He is on the Freshman basketball team at Central Catholic school. We are very proud of how good he plays and it is hard to believe he and the team are only freshman as fast and aggressive as they play. They do all the pushing and bumping that the pros's do. They sure learn it all at a very young age. After we won the game we went out for pizza with Cindy, Erik and Nathan and we had some time to visit. Nathan plays ball too, but we haven't seen any of his games.

November 27, 2007

Breanna (picture Breanna & Ray) spent the afternoon at our house, I cut and styled her hair and we had a great afternoon of visiting. She has signed up at school for 10 days in Japan, Bre is studying Japanese and is interested in their culture so we are all hoping she will be one of the eight students that get chosen to go in June. Breanna is a very exceptional child with a photographic memory. She has several books she is writing, I have read one of them and I would have never guessed she wrote it. She starts her day everyday at 6 A.M. writing the book she is writing and to do her bible study before school. She is a delight to visit as she has so many irons in the fire, I don't know how she does it all. Bill came over for dinner with us and we went to the school for a meeting to learn about the trip to Japan.

December 26, 2007

We were both so lazy and tired this morning, it was hard to get out of bed. We are sure glad we are retired on days like this. We had no returns to do to any of the stores, so we just enjoyed our morning coffee a little longer. We went to Lisa and Gene's house for dinner tonight, I don't know how we could possibly eat another big meal after the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners. Lisa made ham, mashed potatoes with the special "Benson" cheese gravy and a new salad we both really liked. After dinner we watched the video of Gene's sno-mobile trip to Alaska where he a his partner did a pre-ride to the Diderot. They raced for 3 days and nights with very little sleep. It was a very enduring ride and they came in 7th out of 22 teams. We really enjoyed the film and the stories that curtailed from watching the film. After dessert, another great party had to end, we headed home still talking of the great time we had.

We were up early this morning having our coffee in front of the fireplace while we opened our presents and empty our stockings. They are stuffed so full and everything is wrapped, so it is a lot of fun. We ate a light breakfast and sat and visited enjoying the moment together. About 11:30 we left for Portland to Cindy and Erik's house for Christmas dinner. We bring the prime rib which Kent is the Chef and Sharon is his assistant. Dee Dee makes the best gravy, Cindy the twice baked potatoes and Maralyn makes the best deserts ever. Cindy is a great hostess, she has the whole house decorated so beautiful and she really knows how to set a gorgeous dining table. We did our gift exchange with the girls and the kids before the rest of the dinner guest arrived. We are taking a cruise together in March to the Panama Canal, so that was a lot of our conversation and fun. What a great time we all have together and so much food and snacks we all ate. I think there will be several of us dieting before the cruise. Again we realize how blessed our family is every time we are together having so much fun. (pictures)

December 24, 2007

Today was a very busy day with the last minute things we had to do and a couple of gifts we forgot to pick up at the engravers last week, so we really had to go the extra mile to get them to open the store. Of course everything worked out OK in the end and all the packages were wrapped and we went to Tress and Cory's house for the Christmas Eve Party. We had cold cuts with two soups for dinner and lots of sweet goodies to eat all evening. The present opening takes a couple of hours as there are so many of us and a lot of presents. All the secrets, wishing and the days of shopping and wrapping is all opened and over in such a short time. It is a joyous time for family and so much fun for everyone especially the little ones. Kent and Sharon went to Midnight Mass with Sharon's daughter Lisa and Grandson Ray. What a busy day, we were both very tired when we got home.
(Pictures)

December 21, 2007

Today was a busy day at our house, Sharon wrapping presents and Kent working on the 5th wheel so we will be ready to leave on the 29th. Kallie and Pamela slept very late after staying up all night, but that is what a slumber party at Grandma's is all about. Tonight is Breanna's 16th birthday party at their house. Bill had her party early this year as everyone will be gone on the 31st the day of her birthday. The highlight of the party was the quilt that Grandma Jean Marie made for her. She makes all the grandchildren a quilt on their 16th birthday. I think this is the prettiest one yet.
(Picture)

December 21st

Tress and Sharon drove half way to Eugene to meet Kim and to take Pam'ela back to Salem with us to spend a few days with her Grandma and see her cousins. We had a nice dinner at the restaurant while we visited with Kimmy. Kallie Mae went with us and she and Pam'ela spent the night at Gramme's house. Kent was at the beach for a couple of days and came home later in the evening. He called to see if we wanted a snack when he got to town, thinking they would want some ice-cream. They surprised us by wanting mozzarella sticks and french fries, so that is what he brought them. Go Figure! They had so much fun, they even watched some TV with us. We went to bed about eleven and they stayed up most of the night. Tomorrow night after Breanna's birthday party, all the granddaughters are spending the night at grandma's house. This is a annual thing we do, this year we are having Ray spend the night.

December 17, 2007

Today is Sharon's birthday and all she wanted to do was stay home and cook dinner for her kids. So that is just was we did, the girls said they would cook us dinner, but she wanted it here at home. All of the kids and grand kids were here except Kimmy and her family in Eugene. We cooked a big roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. The girls brought dessert and we had a good time visiting. We planned to play cards (our favorite thing to do) but with school the next day, we ran out of time. Birthdays in December are so fun, getting to open presents before Christmas. What fun it is to get together with family!

December 8, 2007

Saturday, Tonight is the Christmas Parade of lights, Sharon's family usually meets at her home and we walk downtown to watch the parade. We are babysitting Bodie and Blaize tonight while their mommy and daddy do some Christmas shopping. Ray is in the parade, so Lisa came over and we carried some chairs and pushed the stroller with Blaize and hot chocolate to the parade. We got a great spot with no one in front of us. Gene joined us when he got Ray on his float. The weather cooperated with the parade this year and we had a great time. After the parade we went back to our house for more hot chocolate, coffee, and cookies. Tress and Cory joined us after they were done shopping. Blaize bumped her eye at home somehow, so she had a real shiner,(picture) but she is a very tough little girl and it didn't seem to bother her any.

November 26th

Monday 26th Tress called us tonight to come over after dinner and help them trim their Christmas tree. When we arrived we saw Tress had her hands full with two eager helpers digging in all the boxes wanting to hang ornaments before the lights were even strung. Sharon and Tress hung the lights while Kent untangled some of the lights and took pictures. This was a fun thing to do and since we don't have a tree for our house, Sharon is enjoying helping and watching the little ones do theirs. They always seem to hang all their ornaments in the same place and if you quietly move one, they immediately notice it and move it back. I remember the days of 4 little helpers a year apart in age helping me trim the tree. After they went to bed, I moved things around a little and didn't worry too much about it being perfect. The joy of a tree is decorating it together. I always had a lot of home made things made in school they could hang and rehang and feel a big part of the family tree. I had some very small Santa mugs and when the tree was done, they drank hot cocoa in them while we looked at our beautiful tree with the lights shining so pretty. When I baked Christmas cookies they drank hot green tea out of these same tiny cups.When I was helping Tress with the tree, I found it has been a few years since I have watched little ones do it their way and I found it hard to leave it alone and not try to move everything into place. I think that is why God gives us our children when we are so young, so we can have the patience to let them help and the wisdom to see the beauty of the tree through a child's eyes.

November 23 thru the 25th

We got up early with the kids to go to Tillamook for our annual post Thanksgiving day shopping spree at Fred Meyer. The socks are always a great buy and Kent likes the free apple cider and donuts they serve. He goes back several times while Sharon finds plenty of things to look at and buy. On our way home, we stop at a coffee shop to buy our lattes and special coffee drinks. As soon as we get home, Kent starts getting his big bird ready for the oven. Sharon is his assistant cook, she does all the chopping of the celery, giblets and those eye watering onions. Together we make quite a team in the kitchen and the dinner is very good. Dee Dee and her family gets here early afternoon, so we all have fun together while the bird cooks. The kids love the beach and spent a lot of time digging big holes in the sand and playing ball. We can see them from the house and all the tourists walking the beach with their dogs. The adults always go over to Nehalem for chicken and Joe's and cold beer one night at the tavern. It is the best broasted chicken in the whole world and it is tradition to go there every trip to the beach. We stay at the beach until Sunday and them we will all go home. We will all be back for the 4th of July.

Novenber, 22

Today is Thanksgiving day and we are certainly a very blessed couple with both our families to spend the holiday with. We were up early cooking our big breakfast for Sharon's family. Kent started his job of cooking the bacon, it takes a lot of bacon to feed this hungry bunch, especially when they start sneaking pieces when they arrive,. Sharon made the sausage gravy for the biscuits and gravy the guys all like so much and then she started the French toast. Some of the kids arrive early to help with some of the last minute things and we all gather in the kitchen taking turns turning the hash browns, making more coffee and serving mimosa's to the cooks. Lisa brought a breakfast casserole, Tress a fresh fruit plate, Billy the biscuits and Pammy the champagne and orange juice. With all of this food plus three pans of Carmel cinnamon rolls, we really had a great breakfast. (pictures) Shelby got the ugly candle this year to create a centerpiece with. She made a pumpkin turkey with Indian feathers representing our first Thanksgiving. It was very creative and quite pretty. I think Ray got the candle in his stocking this year, so he will be in charge of the centerpiece next year. We do this every year and it is a lot of fun.(picture) After breakfast we retired to the living room and we read the ads for the big shopping tomorrow. After the kids left, we headed for the beach stopping at the casino for a short visit. Tomorrow we will have a turkey dinner with Kent's families.

November 13 through the 21

We are both so busy since we got home, I wonder how I had time to work such long days at the shop and do all the things we are taking all day to do now. Sharon loves to go to the shop and see the girls and the customers while Kent goes to Portland or the beach to do things or see his grandsons play ball. We schedule our doctor and dentist appointments for when we are home, as we get older, there seems to be more of them each year. LOL For years, Tress and I have baked frosted sugar cookies for her work, with me being gone in February we decided to make them in November while I was home. We made all sizes of heart cookies and made them pink the same as if it were Valentines day. It was fun and they flatter us by telling us we are the greatest cookie bakers ever. We also made cranberry oatmeal and chocolate ship cookies for Kent and my family. Bodie grew up in the kitchen baking with Nonnie in his high chair, so he is a big help and enjoys it so much, but now we have little sister Blaize who is 2 and she is a handful but wants to help also.
On the nineteenth we went shopping for the food for Thanksgiving breakfast and dinner.Kent had to go to the beach the next day to get a patio door installed and Sharon stayed home and practiced her skill at making Carmel Cinnamon rolls. That evening several of the kids showed up and we inhaled them. On the 21st, I made 4 more large pans of rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast the next morning. The girls always come over to help set the table for breakfast and we have coffee and sweets when we are done. We ate more than one pan of rolls. so I wound up making one more batch that night to be sure I had enough for breakfast and to send some home with everyone.(pictures)