November News

Well, the election was called for Joe Biden!!  Thank goodness.  Of course Trump is telling all his supporters the election was "rigged" and "stolen" from him.  It's unbelievable the amount of BS his supporters will believe!  I had to celebrate with someone so I risked getting Covid so I could go visit Paige and her kids in Vegas.  It was also an excuse to go and visit my parents since they are staying with Paige right now.  I was worried about flying and being in close quarters with other people but I survived and had so much fun visiting

I brought the babies these fun light up reindeer hats...they would NOT keep them on their heads for a photo:)

Paige and I went to get a massage.  The entire spa experience is so changed with everyone wearing masks and no pools or other amenities open...but still amazing to get a massage!

With my Mom and Dad

This boy is getting way to big to pick up!  Love my little Remy man!

Just hanging out with my buddies.  Man I love these kids:)

Someone asked me if I was going to cook dinner for Hyrum for his birthday and I said, "Me?  Cook dinner?  That would be about successful as Snoopy cooking Thanksgiving dinner for his friends."  So I made Hyrum just what Snoopy made for Thanksgiving...and I even drew a fun Peanuts inspired card for him:)

Hyrum's office co-workers all know how much he hates people making a big deal for his birthday.  So of course he went into work this morning and found "this" had happened to his desk 😁

Enjoying a sunny day on a walk around Vernonia

Vernonia, OR

Even with the virus everywhere we still managed to make it up to Mt. Hood for our traditional Thanksgiving get away.  Hyrum's brothers Jason and Jacob joined our family this year.  It was fun to have them visit.

Snow shoeing the day after Thanksgiving up on Mt. Hood...such a beautiful, sunny day!

I "forced" my kids to do some activities during the Thanksgiving holiday.  One night we all sat down with a YouTube video and learned to draw a turkey:)  I think they all turned out pretty great!

It's Fall Y'All

 With the world shut down for COVID-19 it's nice to look back on the last few weeks and see that we have been able to still do some fun things.

Sometimes I feel so cooped up in my house that I just need to drive to the beach.  I feel lucky that I live close enough to the ocean to get out and enjoy some fresh sea air.  Julian's friend Jacob Greathouse joined us on our trip out to the coast.  We didn't stay long, just an hour or so, but it was a great drive and wonderful to get out of the house.

Our final sailing adventure of the year.  Hyrum and I took our little sailboat all the way past St. John's bridge near Portland.  That is the closest we have gotten to Portland since we started sailing.  One of these days we will have enough time to actually sail all the way to Portland!

I took the boys to Camp 18 for lunch.  It was Jacob's first visit and I think he had a fun time.

My very last yearbook.  I have been creating the Patterson Elementary School yearbook since 2013...that is 7 yearbooks!  I always told the school I would help with the yearbook until my kids stopped attending Patterson.  This is Julian's last year (since he is in 6th grade) and I'm not going to create a yearbook this year because the kids are being home schooled due to the pandemic.  I feel like I put so much energy and time into these yearbooks.  I'm glad I was able to create a little memory for their Elementary school years.

I hosted book club in October.  We had to meet outside to make sure we could gather together without risking anyone catching the virus.  Luckily it was a nice enough evening.  I don't know what we are going to do for book club once the winter rains start falling.

I served up everyone's book club treats so that no-one would have to touch the same serving spoons.  I think everyone still enjoyed the book club treats:)

We pulled our little sailboat out of the water for the winter.  We knew we wouldn't be sailing again until the Spring when the weather warms up and this way we saved some money by not having it docked.

We took a family bike ride to the Mosier tunnels along the Columbia River.  The forecast said there was only 20% chance of rain...so of course it totally rained on us!  It was still a fun bike ride, I always like to find new trials to explore.

The view of the Columbia River from the bike trail.

Another escape to the Coast.  This time just Hyrum and I drove out to the beach.  It's really great to be able to head to the ocean when I'm feeling stressed.

I started babysitting little Joshua Elison again.  Both of his parents are school teachers so they need help during the day.  He is a year old now and loves to crawl around the house.  He is my little buddy on my daily errands and has been super fun to have around.

November 4th, 2020.  The day after election day and we STILL don't know who the next President will be.  My anxiety was going crazy, I had to take a sleeping pill on election night because I was so anxious I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep.  Donald Trump is the worst President we have ever had and I have lost so much faith and hope in my country because even after 4 years of the clown show that was his presidency, so many American's still voted to re-elect him.  What the actual F***America!!!!  I had to get a Panera "kitchen sink" cookie to help me cope with the stress.