Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Thanksgiving was GREAT fun. Would have been complete if the Bledsoe's or my parents could have been here, but having Taylor home was very nice.
Bob decided to smoke a turkey. Robert gave him a smoker last year, and Bob's perfected his salmon and ribs in it, so he gave the turkey a try. It turned out fabulously! Tender and moist!!! He didn't know how it would work, so he cooked one in the oven just in case. We have enough turkey to last us until next Thanksgiving.
We invited Robert's girlfriend Heather and the Roberts to come. The eight of us had a nice dinner! Too much food. Too many yummy desserts.
After we cleaned up we played several rounds of PIT. Oh, my goodness, so much fun. Taylor could hardly play he was laughing so much.
Next year you are all invited. The more the merrier!!!

(Everyone is saying.. "Jill, the dinner is getting cold, don't worry about the picture")

(Derek thought the Wii was much more fun than Pit.. But he took a good picture.. don't you agree?)

Thirty Three (Yup 33) Years!!!

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Can you believe we've been married for 33 years?
Time flies!
Our Anniversary fell on a Wednesday..boo hoo
But we made up for it on the weekend.
Look at the feast Bob made for me!
Thank you Sweetheart!
I wish you 33 more years!
Love you!

Shhh, their's a snake in the library!

On the first Tuesday of every month, the Library has an Animal from the High Desert Museum come for a visit! The librarian reads a story about it, give some facts about it.. and then they bring it out! Oh, and then after they dismiss the animal, they make a craft! Pretty fun!

First was a snake! YIKES
Then on Halloween week while the grandsons were here, guess Whoooo came next?

Who needs to go to the museum when you can see them up close and personal at the Library!

Derek Loves Tae Kwon Do

Two days a week we happily drive to Sisters to participate in their Adaptive Tae Kwon Do program. Former tutor Ashley's husband is the Sister's High School director of Special Education. He invited us last year to join in. Oh, we have such a good time. Even though Derek gets sweaty and winded, he smiles the entire hour class. Thanks to Sherrie and Master K... and Josh, we love coming to Tae Kwon Do!

;
We love to see Ashley and her baby Ryah. Ashley's husband is the wonderful High School Special Ed director at Sisters High School. He invited Derek to join in their program! Thanks Josh!

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We had a SPOOK-tacular Halloween

Living out in the country, we never get Trick or Treaters
I avoid driving anywhere on Halloween because of the crazy moms with their sugar crazed kids.
Well this year was different.  Rebecca and her boys came for the Halloween Weekend!!! Wow, the fun we had.  Rebecca had some photo shoots set up here in Bend, so she planned it all around this weekend.
Here are some fun times we had.  (I won't mention losing her and the boys in a CRAZY neighborhood, with a CRAZY amount of Trick or Treaters for a CRAZY amount of time)

Trey would challenge any of us, at any time to play him a round of tetherball.  He recently earned one of his own.  You wouldn't believe how good he is!

Halloween afternoon we went to a lot of our friends homes. It was perfect weather, and they got were able to meet some of Derek's friends!

Cute Mason and Paiten!

Who needs candy when you get a Rod Cooper handcrafted birdhouse? Wow, Trey and Derek have matching houses!

I loved Tian's Shark costume. His tail wiggled as he walked!

Some people go all out decorating their yards. This was in the middle of the day and they had their sound affects going. Almost too spooky for me even in the day!

Terry & Carol knew we were coming so they raked a big mound of leaves just so the boys could jump in it!

Gina got all dressed up and decorated her yard just for us! "Gina, this picture makes me laugh...I need to borrow the sweater someday!"

"Charlotte, this is a GREAT picture...Love the look!"

All this happened before noon. Naptime for Tian.. Trey too, but he's too big for that (Or so he says)!
Then it was off to "Bouncing Off the Wall" Before more Trick or Treating!

We went "store to store" down at the Old Mill. Notice Strawberry Shortcake. Trey loved seeing all the costumes. Robert met us there too, and then to the Bulletin Newspaper Building.

If that wasn't enough we finished off at the North West Crossing Neighborhood. Rebecca and her boys made friends.. (Thank goodness the "Friend" had a phone to use when we got lost)

All in all, and 4 lbs of candy later, it was the most fun Halloween we've had in a long time... well, since Rebecca was just a little girl!

The Bledsoe Family Reunion Comes to BEND!

We were so excited that Marie & Larry Bledsoe and their children were planning their family reunion here in Bend.. We will do anything to have Rebecca, Justin and the boys come to visit! We were lucky enough to have the boys a week before (Justin's race/Chelsea's Dad's funeral), but they could live here permanently and we would LOVE it.
There are 6 siblings in the Bledsoe family. I think it was amazing that they all were able to come to town. The newest brother in law couldn't make it, but Wow.. that is so cool that the timing worked out.
While they were here we had a couple of nights at the fire pit roasting smores.

They took the Goodies Ice Cream/Candy store tour.

Many of the family checked out the sites of downtown Sisters.
They went caving. bowling, (Yes, Trey and his cousin's aged during the bowling games...darn those machines)...played minute to win it for Family Night,floated the river and went to the Deschutes County rodeo!

Thanks Bledsoe's for choosing Bend! Come back soon!

Mom turned 80. Time to celebrate!

My siblings and I thought it would be a good idea to have a birthday party for my mom. Although her birthday was in June, we couldn't all be together until the end of July.
What started out as a little party built up to be a whole weekend event. It all went so smoothly! We had such fun visiting with relatives & friends from the past. We BBQ'ed, had a baby shower, BBQ'ed some more and had a fun breakfast as well.
I'll post some of the pictures, and make little comments as we go!
It was evident that our family has fun together, and we ALL love mom and dad!

Friday Night we all met at Murray Park. We celebrated all the birthdays for the last quarter.. but since it was Shane's actual birthday.. all eyes were on him! (Shane, thanks for fixing mom's fridge door while you were there)

Our good friend Patty & Rodney, who lived next door to Grandma and Grandpa Garrett surprised mom at the park! She loves our family, and we love her as well. (She especially has a thing for Marshall)

We also hadn't seen Shanna Mae & Kellen since their wedding. Shanna Mae is the happiest, pregnant girl around. She has since had her baby Joshua.

There isn't a kid around that doesn't love Uncle Marshall! Where ever Marshall was, there was certain to be a following!
Saturday we had a nice breakfast (Of course it was enjoyed out in the carport.. yup, that's the largest area for all of us). We made so many trips over to Dave & Tamara's house for EVERYTHING (Extra chairs, Cooler, cookie cutters, bread pans) the whole weekend... we couldn't have done it without them.
The birthday party was a breeze as far as the food. We had Cold Stone cateer it for us. The man brought so many kinds of ice cream and toppings, waffle bowls.. anything an ice cream lover would want! Once we got to the church for the party, it was non stop people. Thank goodness we had mom and dad sit on stools! There was a slide show of mom's "life" showing (Thanks to my siblings), an updated family tree quilt hung for all to see,(Thanks to Chris & Ashley) and a time line of mom's life (Mark did a GREAT job)! We had framed pictures of mom's life on all the tables. It was like a big family, ward, friend reunion! Tons of fun! Mom is certainly loved!

We were excited to have 2 of our cousins come. I don't remember the last time we saw them. They have both moved to Utah, so we hope that we'll get reaquainted with them and their sweet families.

My siblings and I found friends from the past, and people from mom & dad's ward on Facebook. (Got to love that) Brent McPhie and Karl Jensen were two of our favorites! (Thanks Karl for bringing your sweet mom and Rube.. it's so good to catch up!)

Right after the birthday party, some of us ran to Chris & Ashley's baby shower. Those that didn't attend stayed for another BBQ/leftovers from the night before. Chris & Ashley's baby will be the best dressed baby!

Kari and Rebecca Burton gave the shower for Ashley and did a GREAT job!
I'm not sure where my camera was after that.. but that was it as far as the weekend with the relatives. Oh, Derek, "grandma" and I went on Thursday before the relatives got in town and listened to the Tabernacle Choir. Derek LOVES listening to them every Sunday. He was pretty excited to see them live and in person. (After the crazy time mom and I had trying to find a parking spot in downtown SLC, I needed the choir to calm my nerves.. and then I should have taken a CD to listen to them as I was trying to get out of the parking garage with the machine spitting out my money.. and a pile up behind me.. Note to self.. drop off mom an hour before the event and Derek and I will park 10 blocks away)

The weekend was most enjoyable. We need to go more often, that's for sure!