Let the Decorating Begin!

Imagining the 'charlie-brown' tree we would likely end up with when tree shopping - I was thrilled to discover that David "groomed" the back yard and this tree is a result of that. Yes - FREE, cut from our own yard! It's different, but I love it!
While digging for decorations, we unearthed a "pet costume" and Marina made both little dogs model it - Biscuit was too shy to appear here on the blog in that get-up, but we made Moka endure the photo shoot.
Friday night we had these 7 girls prep for the "White Knights" dance... pizza, glitter & giggles, then David & I loaded two cars and drove them to the school.
Tess, Stephanie, Maddy, Sam, Casey, Lauren & Marina

Holiday Greetings!

coming soon to your mail or inbox

Happy Birthday to ME!

It's a long, funny story (having to do with pj's and strange phone calls...) but, I'd had my eye on this awesome silver and Aquamarine ring at my local jewelers and the sneaky Allison got my sister and the others involved in surprising me with it.

HUGE thank you to all my wonderful friends (that includes you, Darlene!) for thinking of me!

My Dad & Jmom gifted me with this cookbook which my friend Kari had raved about, and I'm a big fan of the Barefoot Contessa - Ina Garten, so I am thrilled to have this book in my collection. I've already made 2 delicious recipes out of it!

My dear friend Vickie presented me with these cute mini roses during a small lunch gathering we squeezed into the busy week on Monday. Vickie, too bad you missed the waiter doing his "dance" for me... pretty funny!

My Girls...

Moka, Marina & Biscuit all wishing me a "happy day" this morning before school!

Thank you everyone!

xoxo

We are THANKFUL!

David & I on Thanksgiving Day.

We went to Las Vegas for a 5 day holiday/soccer tournament combined event.

We stayed at my in-laws' house where they graciously squeezed not only the 5 of us in, but 4 people from David's sister's family stayed a few nights too!

Tina, Marina (14), Stephanie (24) & Debbie

Debbie is David's sister, Stephanie is her daughter. They live in Southern California a 3-4 hour drive from Vegas. This is the night my Mom & Grandma Harvey invited us to all go on a girl's night out to see "Phantom of the Opera" at the Venetian. It was amazing!

(I'll post a 4 generation photo soon, mine didn't turn out well lit, so one from another camera is on the way!)

"Blue Man Group"

(see the one on the right?)

Another night, we dashed from the soccer fields to make it to the 7pm show of the Blue Man Group which was a special treat gifted to us by the Oldenburgs (Dick & Miriam).

It was a fun show, and the kids really liked it!

Thanksgiving a.m. we headed over to "Red Rock National Park", which is only about 15 minutes from the Oldenburgs' house. It was chilly, cloudy and misting a light rain, but we were determined.

That's Debbie, Peter, Marina, Dick & Stephanie in the front row; Me, Jordan, David & Ryker in the back.

Look at Pete using his brute strength to clear a path among the rocks for us! Way up on the far mountain of rock formations - Jordan & Ryker.

My Mom & Grandma Harvey "GG" arrived shortly after we got back from our hike. We all enjoyed some games and relaxing while the feast was prepared. Chinese checkers was a big hit this weekend. That's the board David grew up with. Notice Jzo and Marina in the background with their Aunt Debbie, playing "pounce" - a multiplayer solitaire game. "GG" taught us that game when my sister Darlene and I were kids.

Stephanie's boyfriend, Mark, is a professional motorcross rider/guy (what are they called?). He is sponsored partially by "Monster" energy drinks (which if you've followed my blog for a couple years, you'd remember David is addicted to them) so they surprised David with a late birthday gift of a hat and really nice sweatjacket. Mark was a trooper with our crazy family - they've been dating going on 3 years and he fits right in.

David and the kids ventured into the spa that night. The rain clouds passed that evening and you can see the lights of "the strip" in the view. (about 20 minutes away) Las Vegas got record breaking rain that day... a whopping .17" - they thanked us for that. Let's just say we were happy the sun came out the rest of the days.

This is just to prove we really DID start this whole trip because Jzo's team was playing in the Las Vegas Turkey Shoot tournament. They made it to the Semi-Finals, but had a crazy last game and didn't make the finals. It was fun anyway. That's Jordan sitting and yawning... maybe he had too much turkey the day before?

Marina had fun with a couple other sisters, Hannah & Katie who are 4th graders, were pretty happy the older 9th grader was so friendly toward them.

Marina & Stephanie salute you along with Captain Grandpa Oldenburg (yes, he was a Captain in the Navy!)

Thank you to Dad O. and Miriam for having us all those days, all the delicious food and letting us use their car, etc., etc. It was a really fun Thanksgiving!

A "Twilight" Birthday

November 20th was the night of a super fun party with about a dozen of my girlfriends. Not only were we celebrating 3 birthdays, but it was planned on the eve of the release of the movie "Twilight". Last summer, I got hooked into a group of women all reading the "Twilight" series of books. There are 4 books in all. I read them all in 8 days, couldn't put them down. It helped that we were reading and discussing them along the way, made it much more fun. Discovering they were releasing a movie this winter, we made a pact to go see it as a group.

"Bite Me"... yes, it's a vampire cake (red velvet inside!) if you don't get it, understand that it's part of the story.

Sybil, Leigh and Stephanie - all with November birthdays celebrated that night. Here's the really wild part - we went to see the movie that night - the MIDNIGHT show! I've never done that in my life... it was crazy, but fun. Yes, I was tired the next day!
Marcia and Susie hosted this event, and Sybil (right) is the birthday girl that I know the best of the 3 guests of honor.

I made this mirror for Sybil, but forgot to take a photo of it, so she did it that next week. Most people see a 'groovy flower' design, it's actually the shapes created by rotating an "S" around all 4 sides. It's one of my woodburned/painted pieces. I was happy she liked it!

Normal Life

My friend Kelly said, "go ahead and take photos" even if the family is just doing 'normal' stuff - so here are a few.....

Moka hangs out by me a LOT, so she ends up on the other side of my camera a lot as well!
David went up on the roof in mid November during one of the many sunny weekends to get the Christmas lights put up and avoid doing it in the rain. HOWEVER... we refuse to plug our lights in until after Thanksgiving. Not only the retail world jumps the gun on holiday decorating, but so many people in our area had lights up before Halloween, and lots more before Thanksgiving. I personally think that is WRONG!

Ryker working in the yard... all the trees are beautiful, but they also produce a crazy amount of leaves. Note: it's been a few weeks since this photo and we still have leaves falling!

Have You Ever....?

Have you ever?
Have you ever done anything on this list?

I got this from Kelly's blog, and since I left my camera in Vegas (David is bringing it home today) I can't update with all our fun photos yet... here we go! If you feel like it, join the fun and highlight the things that you've done on your own list or comment on some similarities or differences to my list. I'll make the highlighted things I have done in a purple text.



1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (okay, it was 3rd grade & I did the base drum...)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (sounds familiar, but could have been a movie)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (attempted, but not edible!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (how about a baby kangaroo? - ok, didn't 'hold' it, but saw it being born!)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (in park, or over the fence?)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (does text language count?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David (I have a similar one - better)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (have you seen 'shrek-Tina'?)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (only snorkel - very scary!)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (that's a personal question)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (they won't let me - always too small)
65. Gone sky diving (no, thank you)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter (does seaplane count?)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (okay, not really)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (mo-ped count?)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (what generation are you from?)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee