The Holiday Season Begins~

The Holidays Begin...We headed off for California for a fun filled week of seeing the grand kids, Zach and Sara only to discover....

What better way to start your holiday season than with a initiation of the porcelain throne? Not exactly what we had in mind, when we flew to California to spend a week with the California crew hoping to bask in the sunshine and do some shopping, golfing, pedicures, etc., etc.. (the list went something like that).  However, that porcelain throne became our best friend that week.  Each and every one of us!

Joe and I had been there 1 day when Sara and Mason came down with the "GOMBOO". Then, the next day it was Zach and Carter, followed by Stephanie. Funny thing is that Joe decided he was going to get out of dodge to avoid it; so he left and got a hotel. BUT, that same night the Gomboo visited him! He paid to use a 'public throne' so to speak. We all had a good laugh at that. IRONIC ISN'T IT?  hee hee

After a few days of feeling like you are a corpse, WaLAAA it is suddenly Thanksgiving!  And, being that we have a son that is seriously considering becoming a Chef; we opted to try out his speciality since Ashley and Paul were doing the Draper side this year, and Cory was unsure of his plans.  And, let me tell you that Zach can COOK!  We had a very nice dinner and though it was a small gathering, we enjoyed the day.....

Chef Zach doing 'his thing'

The hHoliday table just before we carnivorously devoured all his hard work

Mason and Munga (Steph)
Mason said we should all do a picture
with a funny face, so we did!

Sara doing the pose Mason requested

Joe doing what he does best... lol

Zach and his 'horse' shake lips

And, then there was Carter...
We couldn't tear him away from Toy Story 3.

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS TO RIGBY IDAHO WE GO.... to see our darling granddaughter PresLee.  We left for Idaho early this morning, after getting home last night from California.  We had to complete our Thanksgiving weekend grand kid fix!  :)  We have missed PresLee so much, and it was such a delight to spend a whole day with her! She has grown so much, and we can't believe how smart PresLee is (she can recite the ABC's, spell her name, sing a dozen songs, name off almost any animal you can think of, etc. etc) and she is full of giggles, likes to tease and has so many of her father's expressions and mannerisms that is was a little deja-vu in a good way of course!! We miss our son Josh so much, and she is such a little female version of him it just melts our hearts.

PresLee after opening a gift of foam blocks we brought up

Examining the blocks

She said she had a 'hat'.... too cute!

She discovered how much fun our dog Rawley is

Deciding she wanted to kiss him

C'mon Rawleeeeeeeeee as she would say

Gotcha!

PresLee would sit on the dog, and snuggle him over and over

making a creation aka mess?

AND.....the best part is the live action we captured since you cannot see how darling the kids are until you see them in action....

We are so, so, so thankful for our family- each other, our kids, grand kids, spouses of kids, parents, in-laws, siblings, grandparents, and all those that we wish were still with us. 

Now, it is time to get out the Christmas decor, and put up the tree...sigh.