Thanksgiving day

Beautiful day.  Cloudy day, but not chilly.  Hum, I wonder if it is going to rain.  Ehh don't worry about it.  Just enjoy.  The food was beautiful and fabulous and tasty. 

We had Shields, Cowleys, Fletchers, Williss'

Just look at that goodness.  We had the turkey smoked by a friend of ours.  

This makes me laugh.  Andre will hate it.  Ha

And yes it did rain big fat drops for about 3 min.  But that is enough to soak your food.
 So we were out of there.  

Bella, Ashlyn, and Hollyn

Nathan the story teller.  

Kim and Andre
We had a great day of eating and movies and kids playing and eating.  Thanks Cowleys for a wonderful day.  Happy Thanksgiving. 

Fiesta before Thanksgiving

A great family tradition that we have is to have a Mexican Fiesta the night before Thanksgiving.  This has worked out to be a great idea, with all the many families trying to get together the next day.  We can usually make this Wednesday dinner happen.  We always have Chimichangas, jalepeno poppers, enchiladas, salsa, chips, And pictured above, Martinellis.  A must.

My new Nephew Lucas.  Getting some bubbly.

Picture of the soon to be Patterson family.  Well at the time they weren't married yet.  But they are now baby.  Yahoo.  It is so awesome to have Nunu living out here by us.  Sorry Alli, we had to take her,  don't spit at your computer screen.  It isn't attractive. 

Oh, Jujo and momma.  Looking at the pretty lights. 

My lovely grandmother,  she pretty much looks the same as she did 20 years ago.  What an amazing lady.  I hope I can be just like her when I grow up.

Watching Mitt throw things down from upstairs.  Stinker.  But it entertained the Aunts.

Sweet mommy

Love this picture of Doug.  Hilarious. Alex is the torturer in the picture

Brothers.  Yes Lucas actually asked for this treatment.

talking about rings.  Ahh

These 2.  Lala and Valerie (Catter).  I hope they are always friends. 

Family Photo
Hawker Girls, no longer Hawkers in name. But always in spirit.  Not pictured is my half brother, Steve and his 2 kids, Carrie and Kyle.  And Kim and her husband Larry and their 3 kids, Sydney, Taylor and Cody.
Pictured is (left to right) Lindsey and David (Uncle Daybed) and their 5 kids, Sam, Phil, Valerie, Zeke, Julia
Amanda and Doug with their 3 boys, Alex, Lucas, Oliver.
Allison and Ryan with 5, Jeff, Leah, Tessa, Alana, Peter.
Nate and I, 6 boys, Tyler, Oscar, Wesley, Burton, Wyatt, Emmett
And the parents in the middle of the fray.
Thanks Mom and Dad for being there for us.  We love you very much.

What a Turkey

Back row is our little B.  Makes it hard for pictures.  They sang a couple of songs and then they got to have a feast.  Pretty cute little 1st graders.

What a doll

I love this picture.  Just makes me smile.  

So Awesome to have grandma there.  Amanda came to but didn't make it in a picture.  Come to think, neither did I.  I really need to think about that.  

My favorite boy had a birthday.  Yep Nathan.  41 years old.  Happy birthday to my best friend.  Many many more to come.

Halloween 2011 Spooky stuff

The Halloween Crew.  Knockin on doors and gettin some candy.
We headed to the Stratford for some Halloween fun with the senior citizens.  Everybody is happy.  

Ok.  You will never guess what Wesley is...  Well he had the idea for us to be Snow White and the 7 dwarf Zombies.  He was committed, all the other brothers, were not.  So here he is the lone Zombie.  I was wearing the Snow White costume.  Not pictured.  

Eating as he goes.

The superheros

2 floors of trick o treating.

And below are 2 of some of the birthday kids.  We also have Philip and Jujo born on November 1st.  

Lots of fun with the Livingstones.

Oscar's Arrow Of Light

2 for 2 so far.  Tyler and Oscar have their Arrow of Light awards.  They work hard for these.  Well the leaders work hard too.  I hear that the kids work harder as they get older.  The balance shifts.

Building the bridge to scouting. 

I look very imperial.  This is because I photograph really badly.  I always end up with a weird look or my big horse teeth sticking out.  Ha.

This is where he dropped the back of the pin.  Then, while I bent down to find it and get the dang pin on my shirt, he got his reward handed to him and I missed it.  Oh well.  This is why I need a designated 2nd shooter that things like this. 

Yes I got it!!
And yes that is lady liberty behind him.  

Congratulations Oscar.  On his way to Scouts.

Fall Break Get Away

My Men, Ah such a delight.  We had a great time in Pinetop, AZ.  Nate took the boys fishing 3 times and they didn't catch anything, but ask them what their favorite part of the vacation was, Fishing! ........ Boys!

We found a little play ground next to a big open baseball field and the day was delicious, overcast and cool.   

I laid down in the grass and the boys were jumping over me.  It was so fun.  I didn't even get trampled.  

He's bigger than he looks.  

This one isn't.  He's still little and we love him dearly.  I water marked this one, playing with ideas for when I do a little photography biz.  This isn't happening any time soon.  In a couple years.  I am concentrating my efforts on the home front.  These boys are growing so so fast. 

OUr BMW.  Ha.  She looks good in HDR.

What a beautiful scene.  It was misting a little and there are water droplets on the lens.

These last images were taken with my iPhone.  It just amazes me that phones can do with pictures.  

There was thunder and Emmett didn't like it one bit and he told it off.  There might have been baby cuss words.  It was hilarious.

TruHDR is the app and this is what it can do.  Love these images.  What a gorgeous sky.

We rented this house from some one on VRBO.  Check it out.  We have rented in Montreal, Canada and Newport Beach twice, Utah, Flagstaff.  All great experiences.  This cabin had a hot tub and it was so nice to have a soak after a long day of vacation.  

Side note, this was the first time that I planned out every meal and stuck to it more or less.  It was nice to know what we were eating.  It is a new thing with me to plan the meals ahead.  I am liking it alot.