Happy After-Thanksgiving!

I'm a little late, but even so, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We had an awesome time with awesome weather and extreme fellowship and fun with Kent's family in central Oregon. We got up bright and early -- ok, skip the bright part! -- on Thanksgiving morning and drove to Oregon to make it in time for a noon-ish dinner. We had no traffic leaving that early so we made good time. After a delicious dinner, a few of us took a walk around the field and came back to have a rip-roaring good time playing group games! Not sure I've laughed so hard in a long time! It was good, clean fun that was inclusive of all -- young and old. Speaking of old, we also celebrated Kent's mom's birthday and then when Cale got there, we sang to him, too! 60 years separates the two of them! Friday we all went out to the Hot Springs and spent the day in the pool and the hotel rooms that Larry and Sue so generously rented for us. The kids found a movie that kept their attention between swim times and the adults were quite fixated on the CNN coverage of the terror attacks on Mumbai (Bombay). I took a run around the complex before the day got started. It is high desert there and looking up at the hills I was wishing I could climb them, but not alone. On Saturday, I got my wish! Todd, Stan, Clay, Cale, Lane, Eric, Brent, Drew, Brandon, Bryson, Laura, Meghan, Mel, Larry, Kent and I -- and Molly the dog -- all took a hike down into and out of the canyon at the edge of their property! I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the long legs of some of those in our party!! The solid rocks at the top of the canyon -- well, let's just say, I very much appreciated Stan's hand in helping me up! And Todd taking the barbed wire gate down since there was NO way that I could straddle it with my short legs the way they had! I was very thankful for a couple of half-marathons behind me for the stamina and strength I had to find to make the climb! Later we all ended up at a hotel conference area with a big screen TV so that our Oregon family could watch the Civil War (Oregon State U Beavers vs. U of Oregon Ducks). They're all Beaver fans, so the girls, Tiana and Kaelynn, who had gone shopping instead of hiking decided to play a fast one and show up in Duck attire! They were almost booed out of the room!! :) Very cute. Sorry to say, the upset was huge and the Beavers lost. Had the Beavers won, they would have been headed to the Rose Bowl. Sunday we enjoyed sweet fellowship around the emblems at Larry and Sue's and then we headed out of town for a not-so-fast trip home. All in all, it is music to our ears to hear Tiana exclaim about how much fun she had and even having watched her keep up with her cousins and not complain! It is definitely something to be thankful for! Wishing you all a stress-free next few weeks!

Oh, and to see more from the weekend -- Pictures!