Happy 4th of July 2011

This year, our 4th was a little stranger than normal.  We celebrated with my entire family earlier than usual - one of my brothers and his family (at least his kids that are still living at home) have moved out of state.  And all their packing and such was taking place right around the 4th.  So, we had one last get together at their house early, complete with lots of food and even some fireworks at the end.

And then on the actual day, we had my parents and one brother over for a very small cookout.  Instead of going to see fireworks (our fireworks family - The Halls - moved out of state last year) we stayed home and enjoyed a show put on by Ryan and Doug.  Our state legalized fireworks to be shot at home just this past year, so that is what we did.  And I of course had a great time taking photos of the fireworks.  I love night shooting - and this one was a challenge since I've never really gotten good firework shots.

One of the desserts I made and took over for
the last big family gathering.  The other one
was homemade mint chip ice cream - that
picture did not come out very well.

One of many fireworks Ryan had fun
shooting off for us.

Doug & Ryan with sparklers. 

Just Had To Celebrate This One!

When I heard it was international donut day (back in June), I knew that we just had to celebrate!  After our summer Friday activities - summer movies, a science class, and on this particular day lunch with my parents and brother - we headed over to our nearest Krispy Kreme for their Donut Day specials.  We got a dozen donuts and ate one in the store before bringing the rest home.  Such yummy goodness!

Ryan by the Krispy Kreme trailer

2011 New Years Celebration

It's a Tradition.  Yep, that's right we have a lot of them.  And the last one for the year is always New Years Eve at our house.  My family comes over for an evening of games, food, movies and chatting (something we are all very, very good at).  So, here are some of the pics from New Years Eve.

Patti, Angela, my mom, Alice, Allie and my dad all had a fun
evening playing Mexican Train.

Sam was constantly on the prowl for any food bits.  This year we
had a turkey and wild rice dish, hot dogs in barbecue sauce and
a multi bean dish.  They were all so yummy.  Not to mention all
the chips, dips, chocolates, fudge, cookies and so much more.

The younger crowd playing games.

At midnight we went outside to ring in the new year.  Since
fireworks were just recently made legal, we had a few
fireworks as well.

I don't remember what these are called, but they spun around and
spat out sparks.  Pretty fun to watch.  Ryan had a great time
lighting them.  I even got in on the fun and lit a couple.

Ryan and a sparkler on New Years Eve

Christmas Morning

We had a very nice Christmas.  We did not get up super early - about our normal time - 6:45.  We got right to presents and then Doug & I had to get our dishes ready for the Christmas lunch with my family.  Doug made the turkey - which was fabulous this year! - and I brought the sweet potatoes.

Ryan checking out the tree.

The stockings

Ryan passed out the gifts this year.

The newest nutcracker for the collection - a skeleton.

Sam & I.  He was very interested in every single gift that was
being opened - you never know they might be food!

If Sam was a gift this is what he would look like.  Poor guy wearing
some gift wrap.

Ryan putting together his Lego minifigures.

Ryan immediately built his new land speeder.

And here it is all finished.

Like I mentioned earlier, we went over to my niece, Brooke, and her family's house for our family dinner.  It was wonderful.  Plenty of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, gravy and homemade rolls.  And please do not forget the pies - apple custard and one of my holiday favorites pecan!  YUM. 

Later that evening, my oldest brother and his wife came by with our gift.  We got to visit with them for a bit and then they headed over to my folks house to give them their gift.  We weren't far behind.  It was nice to end our Christmas day at my parents house visiting and enjoying more Christmas treats.  By the time we made it home, we were so tired and ready for bed. 

Thanks everyone for helping us to celebrate Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve

This holiday has been a very smooth one for some reason.  I would like to say it was due to really good planning, but that is probably not true at all.  Really, I think what it comes down to is just getting the stuff done that needed to be done.  I know how very simple that sounds . . . but let's be real, sometimes the simple things are the hardest.  This year, I worked on one or two projects everyday until everything was completed.  And . . well . . . it was super nice to have everything done & ready to go a full day and a half before Christmas Eve.  I cannot tell you how nice it was to spend Christmas Eve relaxing.  I'm hoping that I can do it all again next year - I guess time will tell.

Now, don't get me wrong, there were some projects that I really wanted to do this and did not get done.  But these were projects that were more for me to complete than anything.  And so, they will be ready for me next year to work on - because this year they just weren't meant to be completed.  And I am totally okay with that. 

Okay, okay so on to the photos - I mean, I'm pretty sure that's why you are here anyway - and not to listen to me ramble on & on.

As is our family tradition, we went to my brothers house for the evening on Christmas Eve.  We always have Mexican food for dinner, a Christmas story telling - and reenacting - singing and of course our fun family gift exchange.  My father also shared some memories of his childhood Christmases and how very different they were than we experience today.  It was a fun evening.

Our yummy Mexican Christmas Eve Fiesta

Now that is a table full of presents.  These are the gifts from the
exchange.  There were some pretty fun gifts this year - Lego set,
the biggest container of cheese balls you've ever seen,
a reindeer piggy bank, candy, socks and toys.

Another view of that massive pile of presents.

Ryan was the first to pick and got a box of
post-it notes - which got stolen by Kelly.
He then picked his next gift which was two
packages of sparklers.

When we got home, Ryan opened his gift from
his Grandma & Grandpa Harper - Christmas
jammies and a gift card to Walmart.

Ryan setting out some cookies for Santa.  He
was in bed by 9:30 ready for Santa to come
the next morning!

4th of July 2010

Our 4th of July was pretty quiet this year.  Much like the rest of our summer was.  We hung out at home, at some good food and then went to the fireworks with my Ben, Brittany, Baylee and Payton.  It was nice to see them.  We went and watched the fireworks at a local baseball field.  We didn't pay to get in, since we were only going for the fireworks.  And instead found ourselves a nice parking spot on the side of the street up against a farm field.  We had a great view of the field ahead of us.  That is until this very rude man decided to squeeze his SUV in between our car and the car behind us.  It was pretty funny.  It was a pretty small space.  Lots of cars driving down the street slowed down to check out the spot and decided it was too small and would drive on to look for another one.  Well, not this guy.  He had to park at such an angle that he ended up blocking our view from half of our car.  So, we repositioned ourselves and were all huddled together in one spot to see the show.  We did end up having a great spot.  The couple that got out of the car did everything that they could to avoid looking at us.  We got a pretty good chuckle out of it.

Ryan and Baylee hanging out in the car before the fireworks started.

Baylee and myself in the back of the car.

Doug, Melissa and Ryan

Payton, Brittany, Ben and Baylee

Happy Fourth to all!

This year, our plans to celebrate the fourth were very last minute. It worked out that my parents and brother and my niece and her family were able to come over for a cookout, swimming, movies and video games. I'm glad we got together from some fun family times. There were a couple Harry Potter movies that got watched, some Halo was played on the XBox, swimming and tons of yummy food to share!

Ranger & my dad:

My mom with her newest great-grandson:
Ben & Doug grilling the food. Ben prepared these totally yummy shish-kabobs (or however you spell them!):

Ryan was very excited to have Ben come over. That meant someone new to play Halo with:

Ben "rocking it" in the pool with Doug & Baylee:

Both dogs made it in the pool, with a little help from me, to hang out with Doug:

All the swimmers, including the dogs:

Baylee & Ryan playing with his Halo guys:

Ryan, Melissa & Doug ready to watch some fireworks:

Baylee fell asleep on the way to fireworks and never woke up. Here's Ben, Baylee, Brittany and Payton:

The Fireworks: