More Holiday Cheer!

We awoke Saturday morning to the news that we were going to have a second Thanksgiving celebration with Kevin's parents, who were heading home from Bellingham. We were charged with the task of getting the turkey started, and between us and Neal, I think we did a mighty fine job! It was a beautiful turkey, and tasted awesome, too! We stuffed it and everything! Yay us!

Not bad for our first try! It was nice to have a no pressure attempt, as everyone has already had Thanksgiving round 1!

Kevin learning the ways of hacking, ahem, carving the turkey!

Stir that gravy sir!

Voila! Dinner is served! What lucky people we are to have so much family and love to share! Thank you to Susan, Mark, and Neal for celebrating with us!

On Sunday, Erin drove down from Bellingham with Melissa and Joanne, and we girls all headed off to make wreaths at Bainbridge Gardens, one of my favorite new traditions! I love getting to spend a bit of time with Susan and enjoy all the the wonderful clippings from her gardens, and at the end of the day, I get to take home a wonderful wreath!

Erin, Melissa, and Joanne take a break from the wreath extravaganza. Joanne is a record pace setting wreath maker, and Melissa kept stride right with her. Susan, Erin, and I are a bit slower, but I still managed to get two wreaths done this year!

Wreath #1 for my door

And Wreath #2 for my mom and dad's door!

We headed back to Shoreline Sunday night, after we picked out and cut our tree down from the few remaining trees from the Christmas tree farm that Kevin's family had when he was young. Kevin and I love to decorate our tree, sip a little eggnog, and listen to tons of Christmas music! Our tree looks perfect in our new house!

I like this, Kevin looks like a giant!

Sadly, my wreath does not get to hang on the front door as I had daydreamed about, because when we went to put a nail in, we discovered that the door is actually metal! Whoops! It has found a nice home next to the door though, and I am pleased with how festive our house is beginning to look! Now to get started on all the shopping!

Turkey Day!

We headed to the island to spend Thanksgiving with my family after work on Wednesday. But first, Mr. Midge made his amazingly scrumptious pies! Two pumpkins and an apple, so beautiful, so delicious!


We arrived at my parents house on Thursday morning for a big family breakfast. Most everyone was there and awake for it, and we enjoyed hanging out with the munchkins before dad, Kevin, and I got down to the serious business of cooking Thanksgiving dinner!

Jackson got his first haircut last week, doesn't he look so handsome!? His curls were over 7 inches long when straighten out, it was definitely time to let them go. He looks like such a big boy now! And see Joe in the background, first time I've seen him for 5 months! He had a great trip to Europe, and I'm so glad to have him home!

My happy little guy! He finally said "ball" on Thursday, that was a tough one to get him to say. I think he is playing us all, and he can actually speak full sentences, but he doesn't think we are worthy of hearing them! :)

So cute! I love my little men! Nate has his first girlfriend!

Jackson loves coloring, although I think he likes throwing the crayons most! And he does it lefty sometimes!

The whole family minus me! We had such a wonderful dinner, and really enjoyed everyone's company. This was the first time we had to have a second table, our family has grown so much in the last few years, but we haven't all been together! It made it a lot more comfortable!

Kevin and I both had to head to work early on Friday, which was rough, but now we are back on the island at his parents' house, cooking up another round of Thanksgiving dinner while they drive down from Bellingham Thanksgiving with Adam, Erin, and Corbin. We're sad that we don't get to see them for Turkey Day, one of the drawbacks to alternating which holidays we spend with each family. We'll get the hang of it! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. " -Proust

Corbin Beach on Vashon

Susan and Mark have rented a cabin on the beach on Vashon Island for the summer, and this weekend we all piled into the cars and headed over for a lovely three day weekend. Susan, Mark, Adam, Erin, Corbin, Neal, his friend Grey, Kevin, and I all enjoyed the lovely weather, and the awesome little cabin. Some of these pictures are from the last time Kevin and I went over, which I never got around to blogging about!

The cabins were built in the 1940's, and are wonderfully rustic! It was like a real cabin getaway!

This is the bicycle in the tree on Vashon. 'Nuf said!

There is a fantastic lighthouse on the south end of the island, and we got to go inside and look at the Fresnel lens up close!

Visiting a sweet little produce stand

Our little beach bum!

Mark, master griller!

Of course there were games!

And beer and friends!

Whoops, ran out of room in the cabin, so Kevin and I pitched our tent next door!

Cool teepee!

Learned how to play horseshoes, and I'm not half bad! But boy are my triceps sore!

Gotta love the Corbin faces!

It was a great way to spend time with the family! Tomorrow, Kevin, Adam, Neal, and I are headed down to Portland to see the Sounders play the Timbers for the US Open Cup. Hopefully we won't get beat up or have any beer thrown at us. Go Sounders!