Holiday seaons make me homesick....

Its my second favorite holiday of the year Thanksgiving.  When the whole family would come over to our house for the big dinner. Mom and I would fill our kitchen table with slices of bread to dry out for stuffing days in advance, and then spend time breaking and measuring them all into little cubes.  The kitchen and front room would switch places and we got to put the couch in the kitchen so that there was room around the table for all the family. Getting up with mom at 3 or 4 in the morning to stuff the turkey and put it in the oven so it could cook for what always seems like days. "You don't want an undercooked Bird" grandpa always says.  Then watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade waiting for all the family to come over.  Aunt Janiel making yams with layers of butter and brown sugar. Grandma making gravy thickening and all the kids trying to steal cheese out of the veggie try. All the older men in the family asleep in front of the football game.   The smells of that day take me home to a safe and very special house stuffed to the brim with family and friends.  That is a feeling i haven't been able to replicate, try as i might.

This years thanksgiving will be much different.  My family will be in Las Vegas.  Matthew is playing little league football and has been invited to play in the pig skin tourny in Las Vegas on Thanks giving.  So off we go to Sin City for the long weekend.  Im sure it will be fun, and I am very excited to be able to see my family.  Any vacation from the crap weather we are getting here in the great NW will be great.  We leave Wednesday morning and are sure to have a Thanksgiving to remember. 

Im kind of excited to find out what the BLACK Friday shopping is like in Vegas.  Not to mention thanks giving dinner buffet style could be amazing! And Matt could not be more excited to have Ryan and I there to watch him play some football. 

October come and gone

Amazingly i have managed to make it a whole other month without posting a word.  I guess it should make me feel better that no one really follows my life that closely to be concerned when i disappear.  I am sad to say that the harvest pumpkin gathering season passed me by compelely.  I didn't make it to a single pumpkin patch or manage to decorate my house at all.  I was sadly reminded of this by my husband who was glad he didn't have to help me clean up the mess. 

There has been a large amount of uncertainty for our family in the last month or so.  Bushwhackers, the dance hall/Bar/Resturant that Ryan's sister and brother-in-law have owned for the last 4 years is no longer in the family.  after long discussion and many many talks, Stacey has decided to turn it back over to the Original owners.   Saturday night was the last hurah for us. Its a very bitter sweet moment for me. 

When i moved to Oregon I quickly built a life and a suppourt group around the poeple i met at BW's.  My Husband being one of the most important.  I met him there, courted him there,  worked side by side with him there.  Its sad to see and end to another chaper of our lives. But on the other hand, i can't even begin to express how happy I am that our family time will be just that. FAMILY TIME. no more, hurry up and eat so someone can go to the bar, or the conversation revolving around that place and the business side of things.  It will definetly be a change, but one i will gladly except.

We have continued to paint every wall in the house that will stand still long enough. and we are arguing over carpet colors all the time. Its an adventure to own your own home.  I look foward to the holidays. 
We are going to be able to see my family again in November for Thanksgiving when we get to go to Las Vegas for a weekend.