A VERY Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a great time over the Thanksgiving holiday. Megan, Andy and the kids arrived on Tuesday evening and the fun truly began. It was so great to see Drew and Kayley, I could hardly stand it! Matt came on Wednesday so the immediate family was complete.

Thanksgiving Day the festivities continued with the arrival of Kevin and Julie, Larry, Jody and Lane, Angie, Jake and sweet little Jesse. I made all the traditional Thanksgiving fare and Julie added crab stuffed mushrooms, Angie a salad and Larry and Jody brought pumpkin pies. No one walked away from the table hungry....well, maybe Drew. He told me he only likes pizza, hot dogs and yogurt. :-)

Everyone went home on Sunday so Mark and I found it very quiet on the farm that day. I was once again going through grandchild withdrawl for several hours!

I flew back to Phoenix today. Had a long stop in Denver but finally arrived here around 2:00. All my patio plants were dead. Several nights of freezing temps did them in good! It is NOT supposed to get that cold this early so I was really surprised to find my geraniums and tomato plants all goners! :-(

I hope everyone also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and am sure everyone is getting ready for Christmas now.


Some videos from our week together:

Baby it's cold outside!

Only in the upper 20's here in Iowa! Thankfully there is no snow or ice. That would be much worse although it would be prettier to look out the window! I had forgotten (not really) how dreary winter can be in Iowa with everything brown and the wind howling. I think the worst part is rarely seeing the sun. Why does the midwest have so many cloudy November days?!?!

Oh well, the weather will not be a concern once my children and grandchildren arrive! I am looking forward to that day immensely! I plan on having the Thanksgiving dinner here and my brother and some of his family are coming. Haven't checked in with my other brother yet to see if he can come. Must do that Kevin!

I am a bit upset that our upstairs dish receiver is not working and they cannot come fix it until the 27th! Nine days without a TV would about kill some people off I would think! Fortunately, the receiver in the basement is working. I wish I had stuck with DishNet as we never had any dish problems with them. It seems to be constant with DirectTV. Grrrrr.

Well, until I have photos and videos of everyone when they are home I guess I will sign out. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!

Fun with sis

I had a great time with sister Sharon during her visit to Arizona. I took her to the airport bright and early this morning for her flight to New Mexico so she can visit her son Erik and his children before heading back to Florida.

She arrived last Wednesday and stayed with Lisa that night. I picked her up in Mesa (Lisa's home)on Thursday and we went to my home for the rest of the day and evening. Friday morning we hiked and then met Lisa and her sons Nick and Aaron for happy hour at Dos Gringo's in Old Scottsdale. She went home with them for the week-end. Then Sunday I drove back to Old Scottsdale and met Sharon, Lisa, Aaron (1), Taylor and Dan for dinner at Oregano's. Megan, it is still is as good as you remember!

Sharon came home once again with me and stayed until her flight this morning. We hiked three times despite my broken little toe. I couldn't get my hiking boots on so I threw on my Teva's and away we went! We also worked in two visits to Terravita, Sharon's former home in Scottsdale. She was able to see many old friends so that was great for her and them! I think they wished she still lived there. :-) I don't know if the feeling is mutual, though. Sharon seems to be very content in The Villages of Florida!

Now it is quiet and I look forward to spending Thanksgiving in Iowa and seeing Drew and Kayley. I cannot begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to that!!!

Some pics from her visit:

Our good friend Marilyn at her home in Terravita


Hiking at Squaw Peak in my sandals


Dinner with friends at Terravita Country Club

Feeling sorry for myself

I think I broke my little toe yesterday morning. :-( I plowed in to a step ladder, barefoot, and today it is black and blue and I can only walk with a limp. Sharon comes here on Thursday and we were all set to hike. Ain't gonna happen... I am trying to decide if I should see a doctor but I recall always hearing "there is nothing they can do for a broken toe" or was that a broken nose? Anyway, I am not a happy camper and am cursing my clumsiness! My mom was always severely stubbing her toe so maybe I came by it naturally?

Halloween

Well, I am glad that is over! I never did get too fired up about Halloween and this year was no exception. For the first time in my life, though, I had trick or treaters! Living on a farm in Iowa doesn't work well for little goblins and the townhouse we lived in the last three years we saw "maybe" ten or so kids. The street we are on now had a huge turnout. I ran out of candy and had to shut the light off! Next year I will have to buy more candy or head to a movie. :-)

I sowed the winter rye grass in the back yard and will now watch to see if it grows. I also planted a lantana along the west wall and decided to try two tomato plants in pots. I am going to be in Iowa November 18-30 so I am worried about the pots not getting watered while I am gone. I think I will run landscaping drip lines to both pots so they don't die while I am celebrating Thanksgiving.

I do my 5.5 mile hike every other day. I am hoping to work up to every day but will start venturing out to other trails so I don't become bored with this one! I don't know exactly how many different trails there are in the valley but I would bet money that I could go a LONG time and never take the same one. Some are just not comfortable doing alone, though. I like the ones with lots of people on them and no mountain lions! :-)

Since I missed out on seeing Drew and Kayley in their costumes I stole some pictures from Megan's FB page. Drew actually wore his Thomas the train costume for trick or treating. Hurray!