McCall, ID

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Thanksgiving 2010 Mt. Hood

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Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful family trip to Mt. Hood and stayed in a rental house deep in the snow with Shawn's family. The house was spacious, yet cozy and served the people numbers well. With an not-as-spacious kitchen, but industrial-sized cookware and appliances, we had a yummy Thanksgiving meal and a ham meal and feasted on leftovers for the remaining time.

Sledding was right outside the house down the sloped road and proved to be quite fun as long as the kids paid attention to the bright red STOP sign at the bottom.

We were not far from the Meadows ski hill and right across the road from Ski Bowl, so two nights were spent trying those out.

A hot tub on an outer deck was a great place to warm up and turned entertaining when big globs of snow fell off the branches above.

So far, we're into a beautiful white winter and looking forward to Xmas vacation at Fairmont Hotsprings in BC and some time with my family in Colville.

Happy Winter everyone!

Happy New Year 2010!!

Road Trip 09

Still Alive....

Hello! We are still alive and kicking in the real world - just not doing so great in cyber world!! I've been working on a scrapblog for the last......um......3 months....AND (applause) I finished it today - I know, pretty amazing! You'll have to forgive me for it's length. I had to sort through 1,000 pictures to condense it to what it is.

It's been a busy school year already - Ashlyn's in 2nd grade and almost 8 - Cody's in kindergarten and doing great! (wow, I'm a poet) Caleb gets to be home with me for a few more years :)

Shawn and his brothers are keeping busy with building (which is alot to be thankful for, considering the economy). And I've taken on a full time babysitting job for a 6 month old boy (the son of Cody's teacher) and some piano students.

We've taken trips to both our parents this fall, visits to ailing grandpas, a large family reunion with Shawn's side of the family over on the coast, and plenty of other busy stuff. Fall has become rapidly cold, requiring a speedy recovering of the winter jackets!

So that's life in a nutshell..... hope everyone out there is doing well!

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July misc.

Auntie Leah came to town for several weeks in a row, so we enjoyed all the time we got to spend with her. No, this isn't really her hat, but it came in handy for the photo!
We retrieved our paddle boat from our Manson property, hoping to sell it this summer. While it's been handy, we took it out for a short time. Uncle Eric rode around with the kids for a bit.

Auntie Leah and Wade

This is the current house that Sanderson Bros. are building, looking at it from the lake. It's much further along now, but the most recent pic I've taken. The concrete wall out front will retain a pool with an infinity edge on it. The large door openings up top are for retracting doors. What an awesome place - and to think it's a vacation house!

Leah and Ashlyn had loads of fun jumping into the water while I tried to capture cool shots on my camera! Entertainment for all....

Leah got alot of bonding time with her youngest two nephews as she spent several weeks in town babysitting them!

Cody was all over the chance to have a quad ride with Rylan.

July 4th

For the 4th of July, we joined cousins Jeff & Rebekah and Shane and Deanna along with Chelsey and Theron for a long weekend down by Lewiston on the Snake River. I loved the view from the hilltop on our way there!

It's been so long since we've seen Eli and was fun to see how he's grown into a little boy! He enjoyed a little playtime with Ashlyn on the floaty.

Chloe so very nicely shared all of her little farm animals.

Cute little Eli

And adorable new little cousin Wyatt

Chloe and Ashlyn being good babysitters to Wyatt.

Chloe and Ashlyn are 4 years apart, but so similar in so many ways - like 2 peas in a pod!

The gals

Theron and Shane bein' cool

On the day of the 4th, Greg and Mindy Vance came to visit for the day along with Ross Wetherall and Dan Lawty. Ross played a little soccer with the kids :)

Mindy brought a festive flag fruit pizza - yummy!
Ashlyn and Cody had all the entertainment they needed with 2 dogs to "care for"! The dogs actually got tired of being walked :)

Is this a union job? One does the work and the rest stand around ?!?!?!

Eli played in the dog carrier - what a perfect playhouse!

The whole gang's here

It was so nice to be with a few that we haven't been with for several (or alot of) years:

Chelsey and Theron

and Greg and Mindy Vance

Summer fun in June

Dr. Ashlyn Sanderson is in the house!

Anything can be fixed - broken legs are a specialty. Toilet paper and tape makes for an extremely comfortable cast :)
Surgeries and x-rays are included. We are a cleanly organization, complete with face masks. Again, toilet paper and tape is so much more comfy than those stiff things that other offices use....

We took a long-awaited weekend trip to Randy and Amy's to see their beautiful new addition! Well, seeing them was a bonus too :) Cody patiently followed Tessa around the house with her mobile knitting project and helped hold her yarn.

Happy Father's Day! Is this the best way to spend it - or WHAT??!

Next Mother's Day, Amy - that's you and me!

What better place for playdough than an outside table, minimal clothing and a concrete floor that can be hosed off?!

This matching combo is on it's last legs with growing kids - Cody just wound up being the coordinate - sort of.

A few friends and a lemonade stand makes a timeless tradition carry on!

Leah's Grad June 09

We went to Sequim for Leah's graduation the day that Ashlyn got out of school.

We took a little drive out to 3 crabs, admired the view, the wind and ate some delicious halibut fish and chips.

Along the way we saw some interesting sites....a redneck limo at it's best.

The beautiful gradute! sniff... sniff... :) Of course, this picture was taken BEFORE she put on her BRIGHT YELLOW converse shoes!

It's official!

Kissin' the diploma - took 12 years to get that thing!

An excited exchange with her friend Louise

Hats off to you! ....literally.

Oh whoops, just a fake. So that pretty much was all for "nothing".

Ok, check out the color-themed converse.

Sisterly hug!

Hug from mom - that's their baby girl. They're both graduates - Leah graduated on to adult/real world life, mom and dad graduated on to empty nester life. At the beginning of our marriage 14 years ago, this moment seemed sooo far away.

Hugs from dad

An interesting outfit for a graduation - complete with a peacock hair color!

A beautiful view of the spit in Sequim

As we hiked down the trail to the water and beach, we met up with a cute little fawn and it's mother taking a stroll.

Me and my better half

Grandma S. and a smilin' bunch

Uncle Jason helped the kids make a fort from this wood.

An attempt at a cute photo....

A little early celebration for Cody's 5th birthday. A good time for cake since we were with family!

I maybe should not have posted this, but it shows the reality of birthdays sometimes! This reaction was really a first for us, and funny that it was caught on video!

A little birthday song....gone a little wrong....