First Snow

We woke up this morning to snow!

The girls got busy making the first snowman of the season.

Thanksgiving

We continued our Thanksgiving traditions in Valley Center at "The Double-Wide" with quad riding, plenty of great food, games and good fun!

Everything was perfect with the exception of one missing food item. I always make sausage balls and apple pie, but apparently that's not enough anymore.... now everybody wants the breakfast "sausage ring" to be part of the tradition as well. No one had a problem letting me know that Thanksgiving was nearly "ruined" because of my failure to make the beloved "sausage ring." I knew it had become an Easter and Christmas staple but was not aware of the expectation for Thanksgiving! I wonder what would happen if I failed to make Toffee at Christmas??? We'll see if they all treat me right. I love my family.

There's so much to be thankful for..... God is good!

We Love Catalina

We're off to a weekend at one of our favorite places....Campus by the Sea on Catalina Island

Brandon is right on time to pick us up!

The guys start the process of preparing to scuba dive for lobster. There is a particular science to this I've learned. It begins with baiting the hoop nets.

Then it's time to take the baited nets out and set them to lure the bugs out from their rocks.

We all go out on the boat in the dark on this part of the adventure.

Four nets are ready to be placed in strategic locations.

Now it's time to begin the process of "suiting up"

Finally everyone is ready. The hunt is on!!! It was great for me to see how long this whole process takes so I don't worry when I haven't heard from anyone for hours.... Last time Zeek went diving "I had him trapped in some ship wreck at the bottom of the sea." Now I know what it's really like.

A successful trip for all. Check out Zeek's Tail!

The smaller of the two is just legal size. He's got quite a tail doesn't he?

We went on a boat run to Avalon and came across this pod of over 100 dolphin. It was so much fun. They swam along side us for quite a while.

The girls thought it was "probably the coolest thing they'd ever seen in their lives."

Scuba diving round two. Zeek and Brandon found a little octopus who played around with them for a while.

Kate, Shari & Molly went for a swim and played in the water for the afternoon.

Shari collected a few hermit crab friends, but is always sure to set them free.

All good things must come to an end. We had a great weekend!

Thanks to all our friends on "The Island." We appreciate you and love our visits. Looking forward to camp this summer.

Halloween Fun

The kiddos had a great time on Halloween! We went to the "Halloween Happening" at church on Friday with our friends the Richards.

Saturday night we went trick-or-treating in Laguna with the cousins, Pearl and Bailey.

Do you think they got enough candy?

Here's a Laguna Local! They really are characters!

Pumpkin Carving

The girls did the tradition of carving pumpkins. Shari found a picture of a Beagle to carve on her pumpkin this year. She solicited Zeek's help with the details. Molly carved hers all by herself. They both look great!

So Blessed!

Last week I had the honor and privilege of being with my friend Aimee to have her baby. How amazing is God and His creation of a perfect baby boy. I will forever cherish the memories we shared together and the birth of Baby Shane.

Lobster Success!

Got Bugs?

Yes they did! It was a first for both divers.... diving at night and catching lobsters. It's not as easy as it looks, but Zeek and Brandon got 8 bugs between the two of them. More than anything they had fun and look forward to many more dives and some tasty dinners. Good for us, Brandon doesn't care for lobster, so they all came home to our house. We're gonna be having some "surf and turf."