Thomas Turns 29

A few years ago we started celebrating Thomas' birthday and Thanksgiving together.  Yesterday was our big party, and it was a lot of fun.  We had a nice turkey dinner and played quite a few games.  We went a little further in combining celebrations as we also gave Natalie and Thomas their Christmas money so they could use it towards the purchase of a van, and we gave them some gifts for the twin baby boys.  We definitely capitalized on putting as many "celebrations" together as possible this year.  It won't be long until the twin boys are born, so we are feeling "doubly blessed"  at this time of thanksgiving with many, many expressions of gratitude for all the blessings our family has been given and yet will be given!

Dinner is Ready!

I made Natalie stand sideways so
everyone could see how big she is
getting with those two babies.  She says
she feels like she is going to pop.

Dad is usually behind the scenes, but I asked him
to stand by Natalie long enough so I could get
a shot of him too.  He's been busy helping
Natalie and Thomas find a van for their
expanding family.

Dinner was yummy.  Maybe I shouldn't say that
since I cooked it, but it did hit the spot.

Time for Birthday Gifts
(Natalie gave Thomas tennis shoes and a jacket.)

Time for Baby Gifts
(Dad and I gave Natalie and Thomas  two matching sleepers,
two packages of newborn diapers, two boxes of wipes,
and two matching blankets.)

Time for Games
(We played pin gobble, gobble on the turkey,
musical chairs, throw the glow ring on the bottle, and
toss the tootsie roll pops in the pilgrim's hat.)

Everyone always seems to love glow rings.

It's Thomas' turn at throwing the
glow rings on the bottles.

How about some vintage soda and
a little Thanksgiving cheer by
wearing pilgrim hats?

We made two crafts; one was a turkey and the
other was a pilgrim.  Dad was in charge
of the glue gun.  They turned out pretty cute.

Time for Dessert
(Natalie made spice cupcakes that had pumpkin
and candy morsels baked inside.  She frosted them
with yummy homemade cream cheese frosting.)

It was a really fun party, and hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves.  We love holidays and we love to be together as a family.  It was great to spend the evening with The Ellsworths!

Natalie gave me Cali's kindergarten picture
when they all came over for Thomas'
birthday party.  She is a sweet little girl,
and I am happy I am her grandma!

Veterans Day in Washington

When I looked at the school calendar and realized that Veterans Day would be another three-day weekend, Steve and I decided to take a quick trip to Washington to visit Sheldon, Julie, and Jace.  I miss my daughters and their families, so we definitely try to travel whenever the school calendar allows for even the slightest break.

We flew into Seattle on Thursday night after I attended a school staff development day.  I was one of the presenters during the staff development meetings, so I was tired and definitely welcomed the idea of having some rest and relaxation far from Las Vegas and school.  It was cold and rainy the entire time we were in Washington, but we had a lot of fun in spite of the poor weather.  I managed to catch up on my sleep plus spend a lot of time especially with Julie and Jace.  It was just what the doctor ordered!

Friday we went to the zoo in Tacoma called Point Defiance Zoo.  Richard and Roselle drove down from Seattle and met us there.  We spent a number of hours looking at all different kinds of animals.  We seemed to especially enjoy the indoor exhibits the most which allowed us to get out of the cold, wet weather.  After the zoo we went out to eat at Panera Bread and then we did some Christmas shopping.  Later that night we all ended up at Julie and Sheldon's home for dinner and a birthday party for Steve.

Richard and Roselle spent the night with us at Sheldon and Julie's house and then headed home Saturday morning.  Roselle is in dental hygenist school, so she had to get back home to study for an online test later that night.  After they left we drove to Walmart in Shelton and did some grocery shopping,  Then we meandered over to Sheldon's optometrist office which is part of Walmart.  It was fun to see where he works.  He definitely looks official, and I felt proud of his accomplishments.  After he got off of work, we headed for Olympia to eat dinner at Red Lobster.  It was a fun day.  It was really hard to believe that Steve and I had to go home the next day.  The weekend went by entirely too fast, and it seemed much too soon to leave.

Sunday morning we went to church.  It was a good meeting.  It was nice to see where Julie and Sheldon go to church and to meet some of the people in their ward.  When we got home from church, we had a yummy turkey dinner, and then Steve and I were off to the Seattle airport for an 8:30 p.m. flight.  Wow, did that trip ever fly by!  We are excited that all the girls will be home in January when Natalie and Thomas' twins will be born.  It never seems like we get enough family time now that almost everyone lives far away.  We definitely snatch every spare vacation minute we can grab!

We had an amazing view of the moon coming up above
the clouds as we flew into Seattle.

Julie gave Steve and I both a pair of rubber
boots as an early Christmas present.
These are definitely a must in Washington
with all the rain and mud everywhere.

Here we are ready to go into Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma.
Hey, the rain didn't stop us from having a fun day.

We enjoyed looking at the elephants even if it was
wet and cold.

Isn't he cute?

Fall has definitely found Washington.
The leaves were so beautiful
everywhere we went.

Jace loved looking at the walrus, and I think
Roselle and Rich were interested as well.

Panera Bread was inside a mall near the zoo.  After we ate
a late lunch, Julie and Jace rode on the train that
went around the mall on the first floor.

Dad and Rich took Jace to Chuck E. Cheese while Roselle,
Julie, and I did some Christmas shopping at Target.

We had a fun 64th birthday party for Steve Friday night.

This is the examining room at Walmart
where Sheldon works as an optometrist.

This is the contact lens room at Walmart where
Sheldon works in the Vision Center.

We went to Charlie's Safari on Saturday evening.
It is a great place for children to play indoors.

Sheldon, Julie, and Jace were having a great time
bouncing on the giraffe.

This is Julie's yard by her house.  She was leaving for
a church meeting early Sunday morning.

I bought Jace an umbrella.  I tried and
tried to get a cute picture of him holding
it, and I think I succeeded with this one!

After church Steve took a picture of me outside Julie's
house.  It really feels like you are on vacation with a lake
practically in your back yard!

Before heading home in LV, we enjoyed a
yummy turkey dinner.

We are ready to eat!

Such good food, such good company,
and such good memories. . .

Julie is a good hostess; she served us pumpkin pie
before we began our long trek home.

Steve Turns 64

Steve's 64th birthday was on November 9, 2011.  The two of us decided to celebrate his birthday a day early by going out to dinner to one of his favorite restaurants which is Archi's.  We weren't disappointed; the dinner was delicious.  After dinner we drove over to Golden Spoon and enjoyed dessert.  I had been wanting some pumpkin frozen yogurt which they only seem to carry during the fall holidays.  It was a great evening, a fun date, and a perfect way to celebrate his birthday.

Steve at Archi's
(Thai cuisine)

Pumpkin Yogurt at Golden Spoon
(It doesn't seem like fall until I get
a bite of this yummy yogurt.)

The next day after our "couple date" Natalie invited
him to go out to lunch.  They enjoyed Sumari Sam's
and then headed for Chuck E. Cheese so Cali and
Ashton could spend a little time playing.

On Thursday, November 10th, Steve and I flew into
Seattle to spend Veteran's Day weekend with Julie and
Sheldon.  The next day we met Richard and Roselle
at the zoo in Olympia.  After the zoo we all drove back
to Julie and Sheldon's house for another birthday
celebration.  Julie planned a nice party
around a football theme.

Julie decorated the table with cute decorations.  We all
wore party hats.  We had soup and french bread for
dinner.  Of course, cake and ice cream was for dessert!

We enjoyed a number of games.  Here we are about to begin
our "football" word search game.

Here's Julie, Steve, and Rich ready to begin
the second game of the evening.  Each of us
had a turn at throwing the football four times
trying to knock down as many orange cones as
possible.  The cone closest to Steve was worth
one point.  The other cones are not pictured, but
they were worth 2, 3, and 4 points.  There was one
twist and that was you couldn't use your
dominant hand.

Sheldon made a yummy carrot cake for dessert.  Here's
Steve right before he blew out the candles.  Thanks Julile
and Sheldon for having such a great birthday party
for Dad.  It was a lot of fun.

Go Cards, Go!

For the long holiday weekend, Steve and I went to St. Louis to be with Chad, Heather, Kyra, Skye & Dane.  I didn't feel bad at all about missing a staff development day plus a regular day of school in order to extend our trip making it a five-night vacation.  We left Las Vegas Wednesday night, and we returned Monday afternoon which was Halloween.  The girls didn't understand why we had to leave before trick-or-treating Halloween night, but responsibilities in Vegas were beckoning us home.

As luck would have it, the St. Louis Cardinals were in the World Series Playoffs in St. Louis for Game 6 and 7 playing against the Texas Rangers.  Although we didn't go to either game nor the victory parade and ceremony that followed a few days later, we were totally engulfed in "Cardinal" spirit.  It was completely fun to see an entire city support their team by wearing red Cardinal gear throughout our five-day stay.  At stake conference one of the speakers even mentioned the Cardinals and recited a small chant. 

Besides enjoying baseball and "Freese" who is now my favorite baseball player, I was able to get all of my Christmas shopping done for Heather and her family.  I felt happy about that accomplishment!

We also enjoyed four different parks, two lunches out, stake conference on Sunday, a Halloween party at Kyra and Skye's school, and a Halloween party at church.  It is always fun to be in Missouri and especially fun to be with family.  I definitely don't feel like I get to see them often enough, so thank you, Nevada, for celebrating its birth on Halloween giving me many more days to travel in spite of it being a school week.

On our first full day in St. Louis we picked up Kyra & Skye
 a few hours early from school so we could go shopping. 
Claymont is the name of their school.

After leaving school we headed for a cupcake store where
we enjoyed yummy cupcakes that were
decorated for the fall season.

Next we went to Shoe Carnival where I was
determined to find a pair of boots.  The
girls had fun trying on high heels while they
patiently waited for me to finish
my shopping goal.

St. Louis is a beautiful place especially in the fall.
We enjoyed wandering through Bluebird Park after
spending a few hours shopping at a nearby store.

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves
(Bluebird Park)

For Halloween Kyra and Skye were go-go girls, and Dane
was an astronaut.  The girls' school party and the ward party
were both on the same night and had similar agendas.  We
enjoyed trunk-or-treating at both parties.  Dinner was
served at both parties, but Heather opted to make homemade
chicken-and-rice soup for us at home instead.

The principal at the girls' school is a total Cardinal fan. 
At trunk-or-treating, he had his car decorated with Cardinal
 items like bats, balls and banners.  He had a real fan blade
 mounted on the top of his head.  He kept saying as the
children followed him in the costume parade,
"What kind of fan am I?"  The children yelled
back, "A Cardinal fan!"

Our sweet grandchildren enjoying Margaret
Stoecker Park after spending time shopping

On Saturday when Chad had a day off, we headed for
Castlewood State Park. It is a huge park, and it is located right
 in the middle of town.  It had a river running through it. 
We enjoyed a walk along the river edge watching and
hearing a train traveling in the distance.  Later
 we tossed a football back and forth on a grassy field
while we gave the kids a chance to play on the park toys.

At Castlewood State Park as we strolled along the river's edge,
we came upon these totally crazy large vines wrapped
from one tree to another tree.  One vine almost looked
like a huge swing or definitely a seat for some
outdoor resting and relaxation.

After Stake Conference and Sunday dinner,
we headed to Central Park.  It was a cool,
brisk evening.  The kids had fun throwing their
football in the water and then chasing
 after it further downstream.

The small creek pictured above led us to this big pond.
 In the background is the Chesterfield Mall and the YMCA. 
It is hard to believe this is in the middle of town. 
It felt like I was out in the country; not in a big city.

Chad, Dane, and Kyra were brave enough to walk
along this cement barrier.  The clouds were so
beautiful making a really pretty reflection
 in the water right before sunset. 

After walking around the pond area at Central
Park, we headed over to this statue
called "The Awakening."  The kids climbed
on all the different pieces, and ultimately we
ended up playing a little football in the well-lit
parking lot before heading home.

That's one big hand!

Steve and I had a plane to catch Monday afternoon.
Saying good-bye is hard to do, but I always have in the
back of my mind when my next trip will be!

Kyra's 3rd Grade School Picture
Eight Years Old

Skye's Kindergarten School Picture
Five Years Old

Dane's Preschool Picture
Four Years Old