Family Vacation

Every Christmas break, our family goes on vacation together (including our Grammy) to the Oregon Coast. We rented a beach house for three days and four nights. We saw many sights, spent time walking on the beach, and playing nightly games.


Jason was especially excited about this trip because he got to golf on the Bandon Dunes golf course, which is ranked ninth in the nation. Here is a picture of the club house. Jason and I went out a day early before he and Ryan's tee time just to view the course. Last Christmas Jason bought a book about the construction of the resort and he knew all the facts. As we were driving in 2 miles from highway 101, Jason said his heart kept pounding faster and faster the closer we got. I thought maybe he was getting sick or something and so I asked why his heart was beating so fast. He replied, like a little boy on Christmas morning, "...beacuse I am so excited!)


Here is a view of one of the ponds on the course. Many of the back nine runs parallel to the ocean.

Jason is climbing up to one of the view points at Bandon Dunes. It was a WINDY and RAINY afernoon!



Jason and Ryan are enjoying clam chowder in a bread bowl and a prawns basket. They were starving and weren't too thrilled to have a picture taken while they were eating!

Here, my dad and I were warming up with a nice bowl of clam chowder.
This seagull is contemplating where his next meal will come from.

This is a puzzle that Jason and our Grandma worked on during our vacation. I am told it was a very tricky puzzle.

Tis' The Season

Our staff had a progressive dinner in place of a Christmas party. We had appetizers at Bonna's house, the main course (soups) at our house, and desserts and games at Brenda's house. It was SO much fun!!









It took Jason and I a while to get our house decorated and to make room for everyone. We borrowed tables from church, chairs from school, and moved most of the furniture out of the living room to make room for about 32 people....that was interesting!








We had SEVEN crock pots of soups in our kitchen, with plenty of room to spare. As poeople walked in the door their taste buds were tickled by the wonderful aromas of simmering soups.










Oh, the piles of shoes left behind those who entered!












Deciding which soups to taste proved tricky with so many selections.












Kristi, our administrator, is telling Kristina the potato soup that Mary made was one of her favorites.











Kristi and Mary take a break from "souping" for a quick smile!












Loraina and Tina are happily waiting in the soup line.












Yummo! The soups made tummies very happy!!












Some of the soups were literally cooking all day and were very warm. Here, Tina, Loraina, and Tana are waiting for theirs to cool down a bit.











Soups and conversation warmed hungry tummies!













After dinner, we meandered over to Brenda's house to have dessert and play games. There were five games to play in half hour rotations. We played Scrabble, Uno, Skip-bo, Yahtzee, and Word Yahtzee. Each person was given a scoring card and at the end of each game they wrote down their score on the card.

At the end of all the games each person totalled their scores and the winner with the highest score won the grand prize. The grand prize consisted of 4 passes to the movies, movie candy and several dvd's. There were also several other prizes for the next highest scores.The games were a lot of fun and each time we played with a different group of people, which kept things exciting and fast paced.






Jason and Brenda were the top Scrabble players. Jason had the highest total score at the end of the evening, winning the grand prize. Jason, Ryan, and I went to see that latest National Treasure movie as part of our Christmas Eve tradition.

Christmas Beginings

So Jason and I have never had a real Christmas tree since we have been married. When we lived in Sutherlin, Jason traveled north to U of O and I traveled south to school. During Thanksgiving and Christmas we were rarely home and celebrated at my parent's house. So this year we are actually decorating for Christmas, starting with our tree. Here are my dad and Jason pulling the tree out of the truck. However, this was a very tall large tree.

Jason ended up having to hack off three feet on three separate occasions. Next time we are going to get a much smaller tree!

The diameter of the tree was so large we were afraid it wouldn't fit into the stand. So with several hard pushes Jason got the stand on. Little did he know he would end up doing this three more times in order for the tree to fit into the house!

Jason was putting the final touches on the tree as my mom was cutting the hap-hazard branches from the bottom. I happened to snap this picture just as my mom let out a bit "uh-oh!" Yeah, she was being so effective and efficient with snapping branches that she accidentally cut one of the strands of lights completely! Luckily my dad and Jason were able to fix it. I was not looking forward to going into Roseburg for the sixth time that day for a new strand of lights!

Ahhh! Our first Christmas tree. I wanted to have a very elegant tree. The bulbs are gold, a frosted gold, burgundy, and a frosted burgundy. The shapes are a variety of ovals, bells, and circular bulbs. The lights are white and then I found sheer gold wired ribbon and that had burgundy scroll work on it. I took varying lengths of the ribbon and attached them to the top to give a cascading look. I was VERY pleased with the outcome!

Fall Housewarming

Jason and I have felt so blessed to have our home....it is truly the delight of our heart. We had our housewarming during the afternoon of November 17th. Ir was so wonderful to have our friends and family be able to enjoy our house. Many stopped in for the warm apple cider, snicker doodle cookies, and a brief visit. We had about seventy people throughout the course of the afternoon and it was a wonderful time. Here Alee, a former student of mine and current student of Jason's, and her mom gave us an absolutely beautiful wind chime.

Mary Naylor gave Jason and I a VERY fancy roasting pan, just in time for Thanksgiving, which we had at our house!

Here are all of the shoes of those inside! Towards the end of the afternoon, this pile grew to about four times the size as seen here.

Here are Kristina and I in the kitchen. Kristina is a first year teacher and Jason and I get a kick out of her....she is so much fun! We can't help but laugh out loud with some of the things she says and does :0)

Jason and Toby are talking golf, while later Riley, a student of Jason's, pause from the teasing for a quick picture.

Randy was plesantly surprised to take the leftover snickerdoodles home, as Tana joins the conversation. Gail said by the end of the weekend there were only four cookies the boys hadn't eaten. Compliments to the chef (me..hee-hee).

Susan, my teaching partner and closest friend (seen in the left with the gray coat) gave Jason and I a gift along with the red vase and candy canes. I LOVED the vase, and was so surprised! Jason LOVED the candy canes, as he seems to be unable to get enought of the pepperminty goodness around the holidays.