Christmas tidings...

Christmas dinner: Steak, asparagus, carrots and quinoa...along with some good red wine.

Our traditional walk at Eagle Creek Park included many deer...

Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night...

Christmas Times

A family picture taken by Darrin, er, Kelsey???  (see Kelsey at the bottom? She thinks that she's taking the picture, but really she's turning the outside Christmas lights on and off. Brilliant.)

Dad untangling Nikki's hair for her....interesting way to bond with a teenage granddaughter!

Ryan and I playing with self-portraits.  This is the only photo in which he's halfway serious. 

An impromptu lunch with friends and family.  Cheers! (Nice red socks, Bob...)  

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!

Reflecting on friendship...

Through wine, cheese...


...and cookies!

Stripping Party.

You know, I expected a lot more enthusiasm when I invited Ryan over for a "stripping party." Even though he wasn't panting at the thought of stripping (wallpaper) with me, he was a great sport.


Not that you can tell in this picture, but I really got lucky with the color. I had bought really good eco-friendly (read: less smelly and twice the cost of normal) paint for my bedroom and it wasn't the right color so I had an extra gallon that I wanted to use up.

So.

I took that color in to our local paint store and asked the owner if I could add color to it. He wasn't thrilled about the idea - and couldn't guarantee what the color would look like combined with the coloring already in the paint. I told him to go ahead, that I would deal with it if it wasn't quite right.

I got SO lucky.

Thanksgiving memories

Jason and Helen came to town - and were introduced for the first time to Carter.


The girls do crafts on Thanksgiving afternoon...

Winter wonderlands...

Giving Thanks for Friends...

Prep: how long does it take to cut up a squash in your world???


Housemates working hard!


Digging in...Rosie brought apple pie.



Practicing with the singing bowl.


Watching the COLTS victory!

Is it cheating...

....to take photos from the TV to capture a historic event????



Our new president elect...


Oprah watches with tears of joy.


McCain shows his class in a very gracious final speech.

The Colts. Unplugged.

At long last, I feel like a "true" Colts fan...I finally got to experience the full effect of being around blood that runs blue and white. I used all 80 pictures available on my camera - so feel free to ask to see them if you want a more complete experience!

Pre-dancing and pre-game....happy about our evening plans!

Blue and white, everywhere...entering the NEW Lucas Oil Stadium, which has a retractible roof and also windows that open on the North end (see picture below). The roof stayed open, allowing the beautiful night air in, but they closed the end zone windows before game time.

Peyton pauses during stretching to shake a hand. Vinaterri looks good stretching on the big screen...and played a huge role in winning the game.

Game Time!

Fans...that's Brenda in the upper right corner - the whole group surrounding us has had seats together for years and are like family. She surprised me by knowing that I was from Michigan...

The snap.

The happy game-watchers, mid-4th quarter...and after the game, with Liz Wheat - Colt Fanatic Extraordinaire....(also an Alma alum!). GO COLTS!

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin-heads, Safety Officers and....Greg Hatcher????

Hope your Halloween is a little less corny than the three of us!

Beautiful running...

My nephew is headed to the state cross country meet tomorrow - as an "alternate," but an alternate as a FRESHMAN on a team that is consistently highly ranked in the state. Go Tyler.

These pictures are from a meet a few weeks ago in Brighton. Talk about a beautiful day for a run.

Pinckney's varsity team placed first that day; Tyler placed 4th in JV out of about 80 runners, and his time beat the 5th varsity runner!

Saving...

I felt guilty yesterday as the (very adept) deliverymen brought in my new refrigerator. One of them commented that it was a tight fit getting it into the kitchen, and hopefully it would be a long time until this refrigerator "died" and I needed another one......

Should I have told him that my current refrigerator hadn't "died" - it was just old, wasn't sealed well anymore, had mold on the seals and - most importantly - was inefficient, so I wanted a newer, energy star model???? And the deal I got on this "last year's model" was amazing??


Oh, the guilt of being environmentally conscious...

This picture was set up (for those of you who care) at the suggestion of someone who probably doesn't care if it was set up... :) Thanks for the idea, Ken, even if Gizmo didn't want to cooperate.

Missing pictures.

I expected to have some VERY cute pictures to post of my nieces and nephew in halloween costumes and accompanying face paint.

Too bad the memory card wasn't in the camera.

New digs all around...

I now have a wall of WINDOWS...and a COOL ORANGE CHAIR..... I love my new office!!

Why did the turkeys cross the road?

Because on the rainy weekend they wanted to be in Midland....


....meeting the new babies:


Carter James (look at that HAIR!), brand new son of Brad and Jill, and

...Anya, slightly less new daughter of Mark and Linda.

Beautiful babies!!!

Where do you start..

...when you haven't posted in so long?

I'll start with some Cheeseburger in Caseville fun -

A Cheeseburger in Caseville road race...with family in front (at least for the start!)

Our rained out Cheeseburger volleyball team - showing off last year's trophy!

A competitor preparing for battle.....

...but how could he paddle seriously when papa walked him out with his shorts rolled that high?

A close loss for the guys, but it was just because they got boxed out. Better luck next year!

Back to my house, with friends watching paint dry (literally).

The end result was worth it.

A very fun house-warming party was also heart-warming: good friends, good food and good music!

And last but not least, a friend heading off to new adventures - Good luck, Kevin!