Feelin' the heat!

So I think our neighborhood is pretty competitive. Grayson and I went for a run this evening in the dark and couldn't believe how many houses already have their Christmas lights up. I feel totally behind! I have a strict rule that no Christmas decorations can be put up until December 1st. I know that a lot of people do it the day after Thanksgiving.....but until the month turns into December, I just can't do it. It just doesn't feel right. Maybe I am rebelling against all the crazy consumerism around this time of year. Don't get me wrong....I admit that I also will get caught up in it too....just not till December. I devote the whole month of December to Christmas, with decor and by listening only to Christmas music. Anyway, it seems like this year people in our neighborhood are putting up their lights early (except for my neighbor across the street.....she was totally on the same page as me). I am going to stick to my guns....come Saturday morning.....its all about Christmas. When I was a wee one I loved having Christmas lights up all year round.....that drove my parents nuts. Hey....maybe thats where I got my rule!
So, in the meantime I will try not to feel guilty by not starting my outdoor illumination process yet....maybe I will just get the boxes out and prepare for the total insanity that awaits me. Every year I wonder what I get myself into when I start the lighting procedure....it is such a time consuming thing that I HAVE to do....no matter what. I start acting like Clark Griswold! I'm sure I've broken several "electrical" rules too. Oh well....the end result is what keeps me doing what I do! I almost forgot to mention that I also do the lights at dad's house too! I must be completely insane. MUST HAVE LIGHTS!!


Happy decorating all!

Enjoying the Vale sun

The day after Thanksgiving we all got out on a small hike up Keeney pass just outside of Vale. The dogs had the best time in the world because they had acres to run fast and far. The day we left, Grayson got to get on Tony the horse and take a little walk around the driveway. He thought that was super fun and he loved every minute of it.

Thanksgiving Week in Vale, OR

Heath, Grayson , the dogs and I all drove down last Monday to Vale, OR to spend the week with the Boyles. Grandpa flew down on Wednesday and stayed till Friday evening. We had a great time visiting, eating and playing with everyone. It is quite the drive, but it was definitely worth it.

Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving morning we all went to Ontario, OR to run the annual Turkey Trot 5k. It was super cold....about 17 degrees....definitely not something I'm used to. It was a great way to start Thanksgiving since it gave us a little bit of an excuse to feast later in the day.

Sunny fall days

Even though we had that awful storm yesterday....it seems that our awesome sunny (but cold) weather is back. I am totally fine with that! (Actually more than fine!) Here are some photos taken from the past month or so.

Ok....I know these were taken inside, but I thought it was pretty cute.

Just swingin' and hanging with Dad-da

Helping mama with yard work. He loves his wagon, wheelbarrow and tools.

The Little Shepherd

One of the many unusually beautiful October days this year. Grayson tending to the sheep....one of his favorite things to do!

Our crazy fall weather is back!

For those of you that live in Washington.....you obviously know how insane the wind was today! It was crazy and loud! I really do enjoy the wind, however, I don't like trees falling down. It gets a little nerve racking when you see hurricane like winds whipping through the trees around your house. We got some furious winds that came off the lake.....which were evident when our neighbor across the street had the whole top 1/2 of their large maple tree break off. Heath watched it through the window as it crashed over the road and spilled some of its branches into our yard and driveway. So much for my lovely yard clean up last week. Well, at least I didn't really do the part where the branches landed. We were just thankful that the dying Maple in our front yard didn't decide to do the same thing. It really needs to come down soon....on our own time though!

Heath went and helped the neighbors clean up the road mess of tree trunk and branches with his chainsaw. Now there will be quite the mess to clean up this coming weekend.

We lost power at about 8am and we still don't have it. This isn't unusual since we are always the last to get it on. Sometimes we can look across the lake and see that the other side has it.....then maybe we will get it a day later. Hmmmm.....how am I typing this blog? Well, I can't go too long without my computer, so I have it hooked to the generator while the refrigerator takes a break. Of course we have Monday night football on also. Hello.....priorities!

The sky is super clear tonight, so we may have some sun tomorrow. I miss our unusually sunny fall weather. I plan on posting some pictures that we took during our awesome weather this past month.

A few thoughts today...

Its hard to believe that today marks the 4th anniversary of losing my mom and grandma in a tragic car accident. Sometimes it feels so recent, yet other times it seems so long ago. I've definitely learned a few things since then....which I'd like to share. I've also gone from being angry and sad about it to focusing on the positive aspect of what their lives meant to me and my family. However, I think that no matter how long the time, there will always be that empty spot in my life. I think the hardest thing that I often think about is the fact that mom could never see her grandchildren. She wanted so badly to be in that role of grandma and I feel awful that she didn't experience it. But.....I like to think that Grayson has met her somewhere along the way. I want Grayson to know who his maternal grandma was and instill in him the values that she taught us. I miss her tons all the time, but the pain of losing her has definitely lessened over time. "Time heals all things" is a really crappy cliche and I sometimes thought it was a load of BS, but I guess it has a little element of truth in it. Ok....now I'll share a few things I've learned from mom and grandma and also things I've learned along the way since.

• Love One Another.....its as simple as that! This was grandma's favorite saying and all of the family knew it!


• Be grateful! Be grateful for your life, health, family, friends, and even the most minor things in your life. Gratitude goes a long way.....it paves the way for more goodness to come into your life.


• Family and friends are most important....take time for people in your life, you never know when you won't be able to. Go have coffee with an old friend, play with your kids, and quit worrying about the darn house cleaning (this is hard for me).


• Be kind to people (and animals too)....do something nice for people when they don't expect it.


• Don't have any regrets....if you do, you have to resolve it or forget about it.....regrets will eat you up.


• Don't hold grudges and give up resentment with people in your life.....its totally not worth it for anyone, its silly and its very unhealthy.


• Be the best YOU, you can be.....don't settle for mediocrity, challenge yourself and set goals.


• Surround yourself with positive people.....don't hang out with toxic people (if you can help it)....they will suck the life right out of you.


• Take time for yourself....exercise, eat healthy, read powerful and uplifting books, meditate....whatever makes you get rid of stress and energize your life.

• Just have fun!

Well, that about sums it up for me. Even though I know these things I still have to remind myself on a daily basis. Thanks for reading my ramble! I love you all :)

Our new Lab puppy!

We had a fun Halloween night.....and picked up this stray Lab puppy while trick-or-treating!

Early last week sometime I asked Grayson, "What do you want to be for Halloween?" He replied with "dog." So I said "ok!" I had no idea what he was going to be up until then, but he clearly wanted to be a dog (or he had just seen one since we were in the car). I figured this would be a pretty easy costume since he already had the black pants. All we needed was a black turtleneck, a black cap, and some black furry fabric (for ears and tail). I have a hard time with wanting to be "original", so of course I had to make him an injured dog. I really cut back though because I was planning on attaching an I.V. to him (Heath thinks I'm a weirdo).

Grayson made a really cute Lab puppy! Too bad you can't see his tail!

Of course I HAD to dress up too! My original plan was to be my dad the vet (circa 1970's), but I couldn't find an old school lab jacket and I really didn't want to wear Heath's creepy mustache from the other night. So, I added some funky retro glasses & my curly wig....and called it good.