Our Thanksgiving in the mountains

Location: Auberry, California

Population: 2, 053 +/-

Temperature: 45 degrees (during the day!)

Pets: 3 dogs, one cat and lots of wild coyotes, cats, birds....

View from my parents' house: Beautiful

We made the trek to "Grandma and Grandpa's Mountain" for Thanksgiving this year and it was a great, memorable trip. We enjoyed cold weather, good food, rural living, some sniffles (okay, lots of sniffles), and even some snow!

*****Warning: LOTS OF PHOTOS AHEAD*****

Posing on the driveway before a little mountain-side jaunt

We did a lot of relaxing.

A boy empties his pockets.

Grandpa getting schooled (sorry, Dad) by Paige in a fierce game of Slamwich

What a delish feast we had! Can you believe this was the only photo I took all Turkey Day?

Dad and I spotted this bluejay one morning when sitting on the porch.


Morning frost

One of the highlights was the tractor rides from Grandpa Ben. Dad and Sandy own 12 acres on the front side of this mountain and he took everyone for a tour.



Our perfect snow day at Shaver Lake, about 10 miles up the mountain from Dad and Sandy's place. We used to come here when I was little--snow in the winter and camping in the summer. We met my brother, Jared and his 3 kiddos there and had a great time.


This was a prime sledding, snowball-making, and picture-taking location.

Have the time of your life much?

AIM!

FIRE!!

Handsome cousin, Elijah

Lauren having a snack

Twin sis, Rachel, finishing a run

Don't the girls look just like their Mama?

The dream of snowman building had come true.

Gavin's line of the day: "It's not done yet." over and over as he added more snow to the snowman.

Trevor was having more fun that it appears...maybe because this was about a half hour before he lost his lunch...

Handsome husband, thank you for loving me when I'm pregnant and puffy.

Dad, Sandy, Us

On our last day, we met Jared the kids "in town" (Clovis) for a movie, "Tangled", and some Maggie Moos. Cute movie. Good ice cream.

Me and my little bro

On the last night we went out for yummy pizza.

Ready for church.

I just love this picture.

Thanks Grandpa Ben and Grandma Sandy (and Beatty, Wiley, Easy, and Maui) for letting us take over your lovely home in the mountains for Thanksgiving.

(Sorry we left our sniffles with you.)

Pilgrim Preston

This pilgrim must be storing turkey in his cheeks, fer sure.

FHE Chronicles: The Thankful Pig

This is how we counted our blessings this year for Thanksgiving.

During a Family Home Evening night, I presented the Thankful Pig. We talked about how just like counting the money we put in piggy banks, we can also count our blessings.

We left Ms. Thanks (it must be a girl since it's pink) out all week and the kids snuck little grateful messages--even Gavin with his colorful and abundant little scraps of paper.

The Monday night before Thanksgiving, we went around and read the thankful notes we found in piggy. There were notes from, "I am thankful for the baby in my belly." to " horses, books, food" to "I am thankful for Star Wars."

We'll see her again next year.

School Talent Show

Paige sang a lovely rendition of Annie's "Tomorrow", and, boy, I wish I knew how to download a video...I should know how to do that. In the meantime, her darling sun-in-the-eyes poses will have to do.

So proud of our brave girl.

Much more brave than I was at 9.

Fer sure.

Paige's Purple Pirates

Volleyball, Season 4...

...and it is getting more fun each season to watch her skeeeelz.

The Pumpkin Patch and Farm

On Hallow's Eve, this is what we did:

Then we went home to carve pumpkins (no pictures) and during the lighting ceremony (no pictures) on our front porch

Preston's cute little bare foot was stung by a scorpion.

(no pictures)

So, basically, we rang in Halloween with a bang.