Snow & Holiday

Many years ago I moved to the Pacific Northwest from the Midwest. Growing up in the Midwest I experienced a few blizzards, many snowstorms, being stuck on a train for 2 days, shoveling driveways and sidewalks, wearing multiple layers of clothes to keep warm and being stuck in the car for hours just to get to work or back home.

So when I moved to the Northwest I knew my dealings with snow and ice would be limited. If I wanted snow badly enough I always knew that I could travel to the nearby mountains. But I never got into the skiing or snowboarding thing so I don't go to the mountains in the winter.

So last week when the weather started turning bad we spent a lot of time watching the news, waiting; looking; sometimes wishing for snow to hit. So when school was cancelled in the Will Valley Mon & Tues (12/15 & 16) we weren't sure how the rest of the week before winter break would pan out. We made it back to school for Wed & Thurs. I was glad we had school on Thursday as we had a school wide craft hour planned and many of us had gone to a great deal of planning to get our crafts ready. We did get to start our winter break 1 day early by having a snow day that Friday. I did get outside a bit and (of course) took a few pictures.

We kept track of the weather by watching multiple local TV stations. Watching how areas north of us were getting hit hard. Salem, Portland and even further north - Seattle area! State highways closed due to heavy snow and ice. Local streets closed as no access was available, or too steep for cars and buses to climb. Hubby needed to know how roads were going to be for trucking and DD was getting anxious as she was leaving on the 26th for Boston to attend an APO convention.

On Christmas Eve - DD and I spent part of the day getting the last of the food and running misc errands, making crab wonton purses, deviled eggs, ham roll-ups, and banana wonton rolls.

After we had dinner we put together a Gingerbread house. We had fun and it turned out cute. After that time to wrap gifts. By the time I went to bed at midnight every bone and muscle in my body screamed in exhaustion.

Christmas Day - I still love to watch the kids open their gifts. I still love to take their picture while they enjoy their gift. Of course as DS gets older he thinks of more interesting ways to avoid his shots. One of the best gifts of the day was when DH opened his gift of tickets to an upcoming CCR Revisited concert.

Dinner - if I do say so - turned out wonderful. The roast done perfectly!!! So yummy. A smaller group than normal and minus DH; yes he wasn't home for dinner. He had to leave for a delivery @ 3:30 the next AM. We sure missed him.

After people left and I was straightening up; DD's friends that were driving up to P-Town with us showed up. We discussed when we needed to leave for the airport. We weren't sure how long it would take as there would be frost on the roads and maybe all the roads wouldn't be clear. 2 AM!! OMG that was in just 3 hours.

None of us got alot of rest but - off we went @ 2AM. Thankfully we made it to the airport and got the kids checked in. I sure wished I had my camera in the airport because 1 of DD's friends was wonderfully hilarious while checking to see if his carry on bag fit in the rack to see if it could be considered "carry-on".

Last night I enjoyed hanging out with DS,

his housemate and his parents and a small group of friends for dinner, drinks and a few games. I love when the guys include me. They are all great people.

The kids that joined us are real sweet and very cute! I had a good time.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and hope the New Year looks promising.

All the best to you.

OSU Civil War Tailgate

For the first time in a long time I took up #1 son's offer to join him, his roommate and friends tailgating at the Oregon State football game. I wanted to go as it was Civil War and it sounded fun. No - I didn't have tickets to the game but I thought it would be fun to tailgate.


I would be taking DD and her friend . With #1 son and hubby being avid Oregon State Beaver fans and DD being a U of Oregon Duck; we have our own Civil War at home. :)
We brought some good food, good comfy chairs, big smiles and lots of enthusiasm.

Trying to get a good picture of my Civil War kids was an effort. Son is not a big fan of mom taking his picture. I am limited as to how many pictures I can take of him at any given event. I have to try and get sneaky about how and when I take his picture. But I really want to capture the fun and special moments of his life.

#1 son's housemate has no problem posing for me in the shirt son made and printed up for his friends. I love how he did pose with Jack. I like Jack - he is a great guy, lots of fun and was the first to offer me a ride on a four-wheeler this spring.

These guys make tailgating fun!

I was amazed at the spot they had gotten for tailgating. Really close to the stadium.

I walked all around the outside of the stadium and was so amazed at the amount of people that hang out before the game. WOW!!!


All in all I had a good time and took lots of shots. If you want to see more - go to my Webshots album.

Thanks guys for letting me join you.

Oh - here is DD the Duck carefully placed between two Beaver flags. HAHAHAHA