Grants Pass at Christmas - A Martian Christmas

I took an unexpected trip to Grants Pass last weekend when I saw reasonable airfare. We visited the Martian Christmas in Grants Pass so I took some fun pictures. Above is Elijah in Santa's chair. Below, Brielle and Adalei look so cute in the sleigh with the polar bear.

Pictures with Santa above and below.

A cute picture of Nate and Misty with the kids..........

There were large nutcrackers all over Grants Pass - Above, a picture from downtown Grants Pass and more pictures from the Martian Christmas below.

The girls looked so cute next to the martians since they were all about the same height!

In the picture above and the two below, notice the antennas. We all had a pair!

Shopping with Charity

Charity and I had a fun time shopping last weekend when she came to visit me. She said this was the first time ever that she wanted to stop shopping before I did. She needed a new winter coat and we found a really cute one at the first store. We kept shopping in case we found a better coat but never did. I hadn't planned to buy a coat but I bought myself three coats! I got a cute short black wool coat, purple wool coat, and casual black jacket. They are all really cute. When I shop with Charity, I always seem to find great deals and cute stuff. I'm so glad Charity could come for the weekend. We shopped, ate out, and watched TV. I sure miss her now that she is gone. She declined my offer of a photo of her for my blog..... I guess I should have had her take a picture of me in one of my new coats. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner. (I donated seven coats this morning to the Salvation Army.)

Sunny San Diego

I spent a week in San Diego to attend Leadership training. The weather was great and I really enjoyed the California sunshine. The highlight of my trip was going with Jaleen to Extraordinary Desserts. I had a Greek salad for dinner and a piece of the Viking cake for dessert. It was so good and I had a fun time.

Viking cake - An absolute necessity for chocolate lovers. Chocolate creme brulee and milk chocolate creme are hidden between chocolate cake layers. Crushed chocolate almond pralines surround this dark and dense torte.

Dinosaurs at Spencer's Birthday Party!

Spencer is now one year old also. I was excited to visit Sacramento and attend his birthday party. Ashley made the cake above and also the one below for his birthday party. One cake for Spencer and one cake for the party guests. (The party guests ate all of both cakes.) The kids at the party were petting the dinosaur above before it was cut but no one hesitated to eat a piece of cake. Both cakes were delicious!


A cute picture of the birthday boy at his birthday party!

In the pictures above and below you can tell that Spencer wasn't feeling well. He wasn't at all interested in his birthday cake. Ashley put him down for a nap after he started crying. I felt so bad for him not enjoying his birthday cake.

Spencer opened his gifts after a short nap and seemed to feel much better. I think Casey and Jenna got him the cute truck in the picture above.
A final shot of the handsome birthday boy, Spencer - above. If you're wondering who had the most fun playing with Spencer's birthday gifts, it's Weston in the picture below. See how happy he is! Weston especially loved the dinosaur books that Grandma Chandler got Spencer so I ordered some of the same books for Weston for his Christmas gift. These boys will have fun playing together.

The Outlet, Chuck E. Cheese, and Backyard Shots!

I was trying to browse at the Gap outlet while watching Paisley. As you can see above, she was quickly trying on the merchandise while I was trying to shop. She looked so cute I had to take a picture.
Above is Paisley at Chuck E. Cheese's and below is Spencer. Spencer wasn't feeling well so I didn't get many smiles from him.

Here is little Benson - can you believe it! Look at him holding on and having fun. He's just 7 months old and amazing.
Here's a good shot of Weston at Chuck E. Cheese's. He was moving so fast I had a hard time getting some good pictures of him. Below is Spencer behind his house in this car. He likes to push the car all around and then he surprised me by opening the door and getting inside.
Little Paisley below sticking out her tongue at her grandma! She's so cute! It was so fun to visit. I wish I lived closer.

Elijah Turned One!

It was really fun to be in Grants Pass for Elijah's first birthday. Since he has two big sisters, he had plenty of help opening his gifts. He started with the card I made him. (above)

Here's Elijah with two of the gifts that I gave him. He was content to play with his first gift so it took awhile until he opened up everything. Of course his sisters were having fun playing with his gifts too. He really like the ball (above) and took time to read the book (below).
Misty chose a teddy bear theme for his birthday and made him the cute teddy bear cake below. Elijah loves to hug the teddy bear and is so cute when he does that.
Elijah was a little slow getting started with his birthday cake. He didn't take long to lick his fingers!
Below, you can see that once he decided cake with whipped cream was good, he was really after the cake and ate quite a bit.
I love this picture of the cute little birthday boy so happy after having cake and ice cream!

Picking Pumpkins in the Pumpkin Patch

When I went to visit Nate, Misty and family a few weeks ago, I was able to go on a field trip with Adalei's pre-school to the pumpkin patch. It was really fun to see the happy children picking their pumpkins after going on a hay ride. I'm grateful that I could be there to do that. It was fun.

Nate, Misty and family in Grants Pass

This is downtown Grants Pass. True to its motto, "It's the climate!", Grants Pass has a Zone 7 climate with hot, short summers and mild but pronounced winters with sharply defined seasons without severe winter cold or humidity.

Grants Pass is where Pacific Northwest adventures begin! On the banks of Oregon’s legendary Rogue River, Grants Pass is among the greatest places in the American West for whitewater thrills, forest trails, fly fishing, friendly faces, and a dynamic local arts and entertainment scene.



This is where Nate and Misty live. It's a very spacious and nice 3 bedroom townhouse.















I took this picture on the way to the airport in Medford. It is very beautiful there.

Nate/Misty's Visit to Vancouver

Little Brielle just makes me laugh. Misty was talking on the phone and then I noticed Brielle sitting beside her pretending to do the same. Brielle was carrying on quite the one sided conversation. She is amazing. She calls me sometimes and it's always fun to hear from her.
Above, Brielle was multi-tasking - talking on the cell and bothering Elijah! He seemed to be happy about it.
Above, we went to Five Guys for dinner one night. It was good and I liked the fries. I think I gained one pound that night! Adalei kept singing "Five Guys Burgers and Fries." It was cute.
Above and below, some cute shots of little Elijah. He is so precious. I started calling him "mister, mister." I love his smile and his cute curly head of hair.

Above, a family picture without Elijah again.
The girls don't need toys at my house - they LOVE my shoes and spend hours wearing them and arranging them. I have a lot of shoes.......

Moving More to Grants Pass

Nate and Misty took a van full of stuff with them back to Grants Pass. I could not believe how much they packed in that van. There was even a small freezer full of food in the middle of the van. The girls couldn't see anyone except for each other but they had books to read and were fine being alone.
This is a packed van above................. Good job Nate and Misty!
Misty is a good sport. From the front seats they couldn't see Elijah and Elijah couldn't see anyone. I know they made the 5 hr trip with no injuries. Hopefully there wasn't any crying either. It was hard to say good-bye. I miss them so much.