Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

All of us together at last!

Front: Jo and Mark

Back: David, Nikki, Adelaide, Sarah, Moses, Chris, Ayeresam, Beka, Jake, Hannah, Christine, Ben

Life is good.

Thank you, God.

For the first time........

Here, together for the first time, are our three grandkids! Left to right: Ayeresam (Jake and Beka), Moses (Chris and Sarah), and Adelaide (David and Nikki). All three of these little sweeties will be with us over Thanksgiving, and WE CAN'T WAIT!!! Love, love, love them SO much!

A new school year...

The new school year has been underway for a while now, so I thought I'd post a picture I took of Mark on his first day of classes almost two weeks ago. The setting is our front yard, and of course he's still using his John Wayne lunch pail. He's beginning his 23rd year at Philomath Middle School - hard to believe. Have a great year, Mark! Your students are SO blessed to have you as their teacher.

Adelaide in July

 I have been way too busy lately, and forgot to post pictures from our visit two months ago with David, Nikki, and their precious daughter Adelaide, who live near Aspen, Colorado. I decided to make our sweet grandbaby the focus of this post. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Above: Nutella on toast = YUM!

 Adelaide coloring while the rest of us enjoy dinner.

 Grandpa's hat on the Fourth of July.

 The happy family: Adelaide, Nikki, and Dave.

 Chillin'.

 A diaper makes a dandy sun hat!

 Pine cones are so cool!

 Gotta drink those last few drops of water after turning off the faucet.

Love that little girl!

Happy Birthday, Christine!

Today is our beautiful daughter-in-law Christine's birthday.

Have a lovely day, dear Christine!
We love you so very much. ♥♥

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Happy birthday to the best hubby on the planet!
I love you. ♥♥

Vacation 2011, Part 3: Happy 38th Anniversary!

June 30th was our 38th wedding anniversary, and we decided to spend it at Mesa Verde National Park, a place we'd never before been. Located in southwestern Colorado, Mesa Verde was the dwelling place of the ancestral Pueblo people, and the site includes over 600 cliff dwellings. It was fascinating, to say the least. Above: windy me!
From this view, the dwellings look so small, but after we hiked down to that level and were able to observe the ruins up close, we found them to be adequate to house the Pueblo who lived there.
Our guide explained how the Pueblo lived and why they might have eventually abandoned the dwellings.

After leaving Mesa Verde, we drove about an hour east to Durango. We spent some time walking around that very charming town's historic district before heading to the Bar D Chuck Wagon for our anniversary dinner (thanks, handy travel guide, for the great suggestion)! Along with hundreds of others, in a lovely outdoor amphitheater, we enjoyed a scrumptious barbecue dinner, served on tin plates, and drank lemonade from tin cups - chuck wagon style. After dinner, we were treated to a family-style stage show by the Bar D Wranglers. They were so fun! They sang cowboy and western songs from the "olden-days," and we enjoyed every minute of it. Such a fun way to spend our special day together!