Family Pictures

Tyler at dinner after Ron's funeral Brandi, Tyler's son and Sherryl

Mama, Mark, Grandpa and Grandma Smith on their 50th wedding anniversary.

James and Marjorie

Jo, Alex and Aaron

Dinner after Ron's funeral Glorie, Martin, Eileen, Shirl J, Me, James, Marjorie, Grandma, Camille, and Grandpa

Logan, Tristin and Taylor Sunday morning after flying to Utah

Curtis taking our picture Christmas day

Curtis and Christine Trying out my new camera Christmas day

Thought I would post all the family pictures I got this last holiday season. Let's see how many I can get in here. I am still figuring this out so I hope it comes out the way I want it. I thought I had a picture of Breanna but couldn't find one.

A new craft

I found a pattern that is basically a 1/2 circle of material sewed together and folded to look like a Christmas tree. It was easy to make. I decided to put a star and ornaments on it so you would know where to fold it to get the desired effect. With all I had to do this season, I only got 6 finished. Maybe I can do more for next year if I start after the first of the year.

Trying something new

I wanted pumpkin pie last night. I got out my favorite recipe that tastes the most like regular pie. As I got into making it, I was out of pumpkin pie spice. I was also out of ginger and cloves which I don't like. I looked up what was in allspice. It comes from a berry plant in Jamacia. It is like cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Interesting.

I loaned out my glass pie pan. It has not been returned yet. The smaller one that I have wouldn't hold all the pie filling. I got out the muffin tin. The whole recipe of filling fit into the 12 cups. After it was cooked, it divided perfectly into 8 servings of a cup and a half each. Very cool. I took one in my lunch today. What a treat.

I love it when I try out new things and it works.

Apple Trip

On the afternoon of October 3 we went for a ride up to Oak Glenn for our annual apple trip. There had been fires a couple of weeks earlier. I heard that they had evacuated homes in Oak Glenn. We called to see if things were open. They said come on up. We are all here and open.

So we had a lovely drive up there and didn't see any fire damage at all. We drove into our favorite place to get the apples and were very discouraged to see cars packed way back up the road. When we got up there we drove around and saw a huge line out the door of the barn. We were lucky to get a very close parking place. We walked in and found the apple guy. They had the 2 bushel of golden delicious to bottle and a bushel of huge jonagolds to eat that we wanted. We waited while they boxed them up and found out that the line out the door was people waiting for donuts. We were able to drive up to the side door and they put the apples in the back.

We went right down to the Little Dumpling restautant. I walked in and got seated immediately. Jeff got the last apple dumpling for the day. That is what he really wanted. He said it was yummy.

After dinner we went to the art gallery. Jeff likes to visit it every time we go. He said it is his mom's fault he likes to look at art. The artist was working on a large painting of ahelicopter dropping water on the fires in the mountains by his house.He picked out a bobcat picture to have framed. We also picked out a pretty picture of floral trees and a house in the background for me. We will go up and get it this weekend. (Oct. 17)

We went home the other way from where we came. We saw alot of fire damage going home. One side of the road was really burnt alot and the other side was not touched. It was the side of the road the houses were on. We wondered if they had started back fires to stop the progress of the fire at the road. Thanks to the firefighters.

All in all it was a great apple trip.

Happy Birthday to me

I have decided that the only number we are going to remember in connection with my birthday is the number 12. That is the day of September that is my birthday. Also my favortie time of year is from April 20 to September 12. During that time Jeffrey and I are the same age. This year for my birthday I went to the reader's festival sponsored by the Mission Viejo Library. They had author's come and talk about their new books. I went to a section with Lisa See talking about historical fiction. Then to a section with illustrators including the creator of the newspaper comic strip Drabble. I grabbed a bit of lunch. Then I went to the section with Mr. Henry Winkler. It was very good. I was a little disappointed when I thought is was going to stop talking after about 20 mintues. He opened it up to the audience to ask questions. It was very interresting. He took questions mostly from children. He is a very big advocate for children. Mr. Winkler has co-authored a series of 127 books about a 4th grade boy, Hank Zipzer, that has dyslexia. After the section. I went and bought the 1st book in the series and stood in line to get it signed. After about 20 minutes they said he was walking around I was bummed, I thought he was done. He was actually walking down the line signing books for everyone in line.
I was tired and so I went home. Curtis and Christine had come. We went to Golden Spoon and then to the Mission Viejo mall for the Apple store and my birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy.
After we got home that evening I got to talk to Marjorie, Alex and Scott. I always enjoy talking to my children
All in all it was a wonderful birthday or my own special day as I am now referring to that day.
Next year I want to have a birthday party at home with games and cake and ice cream.

Playing with Aaron

While I was in Utah for Marjorie's bridal shower, I got to play with Aaron. It was fun watching him help with the laundry. We also built block towers, and played peek-a-boo. I certainly enjoyed my time with Aaron, Alex and Jo.

Marjorie's Bridal shower

Genifer Adam Bacher gave Marjorie a bridal shower Saturday, August 1st. I was able to go and be there for the fun. It was great to talk to all of my side of the family and meet James' family. We played a couple of games and each wrote a bit of advice on a paper flower that was put into an arrngement. We all brought our favorite dish and a recipe to build Marjorie's collection. Since I flew in I was not able to make anything so I had an edible arrangement delivered that was full of yummy fruit and some chocolate strawberries. There were some really tasty dishes and we all had a good time. I am so glad I was there. The best part for me was the smile on Marjorie's face and the cute twinkle in her eye when she talked about James.