Thanksgiving

The girls and I headed over the mountains for our Thanksgiving tradition of eating, wagon rides and fancy dresses.  We picked up Mackenzie along the way this year as she has started at Whitworth college and needed some home cooking!  There are a lot of pictures I know, but there is a lot of action on a little farm in a little town

As soon as we got there (about 8:30 Wednesday night...my best time yet by the way) Cassidy and Sunny, Mom and Dad's new dog, quickly became best buds.

 The next morning we started cooking!  Mom had done a great job getting most of the big projects done before we got there, so Rylee and I got to work together on the deviled eggs.  It was pretty funny since for the last 3 months we have been working on being gentle and careful with eggs-we may have to do some retraining when we get home hahaha

While we got started in the kitchen, Dad, Cassidy, and Sawyer got busy feeding cows...or so they said-they also got a really fun sled ride!

 The workin' girls in our fancy new aprons
Sawyer, Jessica, Cassidy, Mom, Me and Rylee

 Friends Bobbe and John joined us and got right to work 

Papa keeping the girls entertained while we waited for dinner

John ready to carve

Let's Eat!

After dinner  it was out to the shop to get the wagon decorated

and ready for the Christmas Kick-off in the morning

The team - 4 abreast - is a beautiful sight.  Dad's girls work so well and we had full wagons every ride, with people willing to wait for the next run (15-20 minutes).  They are most definitely a huge part of the kick-off and what's so cool is that the rides are becoming tradition for families.

Soooo, Mom thought it would be fun to be part of the living nativity and she was totally right...IF it wasn't 36 degrees and raining sideways :)  But, look at those beautiful angles and a very wise inkeper

Me?  I got the job of getting Bette used to Izzy the camel - yep, that was my job and amazingly it went well...as long as there was at least 20 feet in between them

The next day, the wagon rides got cancled due to snow and slick roads.  We woke up to 36 degrees, by the time we got back to the farm it was 29, and after hours of fun in the snow it had dropped to 19, but we still had to drag the girls into the house...thank goodness it was getting dark

Chasing Papa

Rylee is in the black coat, Sawyer in purple

Catching snowflakes

And then the sledding began

Uncle Bryce did a great job as the "pusher" but I told him if anyone ended up in the pond he better be diving in after me!

Doesn't get much better then this

Of course, with this crew, there had to be at least one race

Jess v Mac

After sledding and dinner, Mom and Cass got dressed up to go to the annual play.  It's always a special night out for the two of them

The next morning we woke up to this...and 0 degrees!  The girls couldn't understand why they couldn't go out into the snow again and I told them we would think about it when it reached 20 degrees...we never had to have that conversation.  Instead we got to do some fun crafts and get some snuggle time on the couch before hitting the road to head home.

It was another wonderful trip and definitely the good stuff

Team Overalls

Our dear friends, Kate, Kevin, and their kiddos Claire, Daniel, and Jolee who moved to ID over the summer came back for a quick visit to help celebrate another good friend's change of command (he was stepping down) and to get a PNW fix.  We had a great time and got a fun birthday party for Daniel in the mix.  The twins loved playing with Jolee and Cassidy took full advantage of sleepovers and crazy creative fun with Claire and Daniel.

 Kate "got to do" baths, while I made dinner...I think she may have gotten just as wet as the girls!

 The Birthday craziness, outside scavenger hunt, inside crafts, presents and cake....who could ask for anything more, especailly with 12 kids in 4 families!

 The girls ganging up on Kevin to tickle with feathers

 Movie night gave us some wonderful snuggle time

 Daniel got a great nurf gun for a birthday present so of course Cassidy had to get hers out and we made the big living room window our shooting range....entertained for hours!

 "Dancing"...also known as chase!

 The big kids

 Chad and Jolee...did we mention we kinda like these guys

It was an action packed visit, complete with two trips to the walk-in clinic; Once for Kate to get some antibiotics for her awful cold and once for Daniel to get some stitches...he took a tumble off a log while playing at the beach.  Maybe controlled chaos....well most of the time!

Puddles

So what do chicks in the sticks do on a beautiful fall day after a lot of rain? Get a mud treatment of course
Rylee started us off on the way back from the barn by making it a point to jump in every puddle along the way (there were lots).  Then she found "the big one".  She was laughing so hard that all the other girls came back to investigate and then it was on.  They were having so much fun I had to run and get the camera.  I was worried they would be done with it by the time I returned, but seriously a good 30 minutes of giggles and wonderful belly laughs followed!  Sawyer prefered to "jump" her bike through the puddles, but the other 3 took my advice to heart "You aren't jumping high enough if you aren't getting water over the top of your boots"....yep, I really said that.
We had Cassidy's good friend Maddie with us, Rylee is in the blue jacket and Sawyer is in the brown jacket.

We'll take good ole' country fun getting dirty over city parks any day...especially after a good rain storm!