Thanksgiving Break at the Lake

The day before Thanksgiving 2013 we decided to head to the lake since Dan and the boys had no school as well as the girls. Richard decided to stay home. The rest of us had a great time. Here are some of the pictures of the action at Lake Nacimiento. The weather was nice, about 70 degrees. Everyone wore wetsuits and I stayed in the boat nice and warm. Austin was the one being flipped off the tube several times. Great day!

Sunday Thoughts

My blog has slipped my mind for a few years, and looking at it again has just made me appreciate that I did it even though it was for a short time. I love seeing all the pictures and it brings back memories I surely would have forgotten. So....time to get going and perhaps even backtrack. This week has been quite memorable with Camille home from her first fall semester at BYU and Thanksgiving. We celebrated with Dan's mom in SLO at her home. It was the first time since Dan's Dad passed away last December, and of course it was not the same without him there, but there was delicious food, love, and peace in our hearts knowing he was not far away. Mom cooked the turkey, made the mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing,and had many toppings such as homemade jam and cranberries, (fruit salad was forgotten with the smoke from mysterious turkey drippings in her oven). I made Lion House Crescent Rolls with the help of Austin and Madelyn forming the rolls, pumpkin pie with Madelyn doing the filling, Sinfully Rich Sweet Potatoes (my mom's recipe for yams), and Camille made her favorite--green bean casserole which was really french fried onions with a few green beans mixed in (she loaded in the onions...yum!). Dan helped clean up the oven drippings and then after dinner set out to put up a new zip line way back where the waterfall is under the oak trees. I found them after it was all up and ready to try. It really whipped you up at the end! I tried it myself 2 or 3 times. Of course, Austin has poison oak appearing already...kind of a family tradition and just in time to miss his first wrestling match if it spreads and is visible. Dan brought Camille home from Provo after his work conference in Sacramento and Las Vegas the week before. He spent Friday night in Provo and took Camille and her roommates out to Tecano's Brazillian Restaurant where meat was served on skewers brought around by the waiters as you pleased. Dan, Camille, and her roommate Tatiana drove home Saturday through Corona where Tatiana is from, and dropped her off, making it a 15 hour trip or so. We went to the lake on Wednesday, Camille saw Dr. Patterson to get her pre-mission physical paperwork done, a re-check on her TB test on Friday, out with Clarisse for Black Friday shopping, out with a boy named Ryan to see Thor 2, and our entire family saw Catching Fire -- Hunger Games 2 on Tuesday night at the Galaxy. I cleaned the garage or at least got it started enough to make it usable again, and it sprinkled a few raindrops on Friday morning. No real rain yet, and we are in a drought and desperately need the rain. Dan drove Camille to Tatiana's house Friday night from about 8-12 midnight and then home so he arrived around 4 a.m. Saturday morning. We had to get the Yukon brakes worked on and an oil change Saturday. The boys had a great time with friends at the Christiansen's house and then at the Kleinmans, and Austin went longboarding with Alec. The girls spent time with friends: Caitlyn at Aubrey's house and Madelyn had Juliet come over Saturday. We had a wonderful Sunday church meeting today with testimony meeting and I serve in the nursery for the last two hours and had plenty of help from substitutes and parents. Dan had tithing settlement today until 2 and then a break, so I made some very bacony fried rice which we had during his break. He went back from 2-5ish and I made the rest of my Chinese food menu, with General Tsao's Chicken stir-fry for dinner, which wasn't as much a hit as the fried rice. That's probably because I didn't deep fry it twice as directed in the recipe. (I just stir-fried it). I loved the sauce and trying something new, and was pleased with how tender the chicken turned out. Life is good! It's December first today--a new beginning and a time to reflect on the passing Fall season. I love Fall and am sad to see it turn to winter. It hasn't frozen here yet so all my Fall flowers are still in bloom full force. It is supposed to freeze Monday night so time to pick the bouquets!