Thanksgiving, friends, decorating, Christmas shopping

All decorated 💗 The tree skirt I made 50 years  ago
for my mom and dad 💖

Egg nog and brandy 

 Last Wednesday we got everything loaded up and were out the door around 0900 or so.  We headed over the hill via Highway 50 to Fair Oaks and my sister Linda's house where we unloaded the ice chests.  Then we headed towards the motel in Rocklin, CA.  We were settled in our room around 1500. 

Thursday morning, after eating hard boiled eggs and toast I brought from home we headed back to Linda's where Ken dropped me off and he headed out to KC's house for a little visiting. His yearly tradition. 

K.C and Sierra's daughter Rylee Mae and grandson Jed 💙💗 

Between Linda and I we proceeded to take over the kitchen and dining area, heating up foods etc. Her kitchen always looks so nice when we walk in and POOF it's full of food and no counter space LOL. 

People started arriving around 1100 and continued on. It was a really nice afternoon, visiting with family and friends. Eating way too much food! We were gifted with early birthday presents from our kids! A surprise to say the least 💗

Russell and Melissa 

Melissa and me, I've wanted to meet her for awhile 💙

Russell, Lori, John and Andrea

Jesse and Aaron💙

Adam and his mom Cheryl 💙

Adam

My sister, Wendy 💗

Tasha and Jesse

Diane

Wendy's husband Shawn 

Princess Cassidy 

Christina and Eric 💙

Thought I got pictures of most people..but I'm missing alot :( 

Around 1600 we headed over to Ken's mom's house for a visit (I didn't get a picture :(  We visited a while and then headed for the motel. 

It was dark and we're both not crazy about driving after dark. Russell was having his friends over and smoking a turkey. He had invited us to come over and spend the night. On the way to the motel Ken asked if we wanted to surprise him by showing up. I said sure, he got off the freeway but I mentioned I needed to get my jammies. Well, somehow after getting off, we actually weren't sure where we were. The motel is right off the freeway but we had to find the right road..uhhh. Laughable really as we spent most of life in the area. Night time sure makes a difference! 

Friday morning we took our time getting ready and heading out. We decided to stop at Edelweiss Restaurant in Auburn. One of our most favorite places to eat when we're in town. It was packed with people! As we were finishing our brunch Paul and Lisa Hatten walked into the restaurant. Hugs all around and a little chit chat. Lisa was friends with our boys growing up! Always one of my favorite girls! Her hubby is a sweetie too! 💙

Nice drive home, up I80 which isn't our favorite because of big rigs. We were home in the afternoon and got unloaded. John had a fire going, so over we went. They had tons of left overs so we enjoyed that with her family.  

Saturday we watched a little college football together and then got ready that afternoon to decorate the tree. 😊 That involves egg nog and brandy along with the Christmas movie "The Night They Saved Christmas". Tradition you know! 

Karen sent this picture of Mugsy and Lila. John had just lit
the fire so the pups were waiting for us to come through the gate
We didn't, because it was tree decorating night 😪

Sunday was a day for online shopping and doing some cleaning. Ken was outside putting lights in a tree so Karen is able to enjoy them from her house. He put up the new tree we bought for outside and then to my surprise he put lights on the outdoor kitchen! He made this girl happy! 😂💖

Later in the day we headed next door for Happy Hour and to see the pups! 

Today we headed to Reno for a Total Wine pick up. Carson City and Lowe's for a pick up. Then to Betsy's for linner. A great day! The winds were up so we stopped by Karen's store to check on her Christmas decorations on the roof..well, not anymore. We let them know, so they headed over with a ladder to get them down. 

Ken got a special early birthday call from our friends Al and Irene in Florida! They'll be in Amsterdam on his birthday so decided to sing to him early! 💙 I talked with son Bryan for awhile 💙

Once more, Thank you Ken for quitting smoking 34 years ago on November 22nd! He quit and figured he'd be spending the $$ no matter what. He puts $100.00 a month into a special account and on Thanksgiving he gives it to me to spend on NOTHING BUT CHRISTMAS! 34 years ago we didn't have a lot of $$, but I had to spend it on Christmas!💙🎅

Stole this from FB..because it's a cute pic of Russell and Lori 💕

We're home, it's 36 feels like 30 going for 18 overnight. Brrr..but we're nice and toasty inside with a nice fire going. 

Have a great night! 

Happy 21st Birthday Jacob! Congratulations Aaron! Decorating the outdoor kitchen and a great Sunday brunch here at home

Friday, November 18th was our grandson Jacob's 21st Birthday! He's our sailor over in Italy so no family to celebrate with this time. Not like he was looking forward to his first alcoholic drink as the age is 18 over there! LOL

My favorite pic of him and Allissa💙

A much younger Jacob 💗

Now for the last two grandsons to turn 18 in a few months and they'll all be adults! How can that be? 

Congratulations Aaron! He made the CVC 2022 All Conference team! He was only able to play 4 games because of a hamstring injury in June. A very impressive 4 games obviously! 👏

We headed for Reno Friday morning and made a stop at Total Wine, to stock up for the holiday :)  Then it was on to Gardnerville and Walmart for Thanksgiving shopping. A little stop for me at Dollar Tree (where everything is $1.25 now)  

Around 1300 we headed for Sharkey's and had our linner. Doug K, Ken had the fish tacos again and they were awesome!  After that time to head for home and unload those groceries. The part of grocery shopping I hate the most! 

We got that done and headed to Karen's for Happy Hour. It is so cold in the evenings here, we just stayed on the deck under some patio heaters she has. 

Saturday morning after it warmed a bit, I decided it was time to do a little decorating of the outdoor kitchen.  Even Ken, who is a big believer of no Christmas before Thanksgiving said it looks good! I on the other hand could easily enjoy Christmas for a couple of months before! Once it's over then I'm ready to take it down. 

Our evening was spent next door as John was home for 2 nights. There was a huge  fire! 

Sunday morning was freezing but I wanted to cook on the outdoor grill. Luckily Ken agreed with me and he went outside and built a nice fire in the wood stove in the kitchen. He got it going and I gathered the bacon, eggs and toast. There was a couple of mimosas poured too. It was a balmy 34 degrees when we had our brunch. The sun was shining, so it felt much warmer. 

The cold froze in snowflakes 💗 It was so pretty! 

My sister Wendy, gave me this Charlie Brown tree a few
years ago. This year I decided to turn it into a patriotic 
tree with red white and blue bulbs 

Ken made a warmer to keep bacon warm. 

Brunch in the sunshine! I told him we need to do this once  
a week when we're home. Of course the way we're burning
wood we're going to have to go away after the new year LOL. 

Afterwards we took our drinks in front of the wood stove for a bit. Ken was helping John with a project so he left a little bit later. I on the other hand, stayed in front of the fire, just enjoying 💕 I did cook an additional package of bacon for some of the Thanksgiving dishes. Then I sat back down, added more wood and counted my many blessings. 😊

Finally about 1330 I decided I SHOULD get up and do something. Right then Ken came home and said let's sit and enjoy the fire some more. He poured another mimosa and that's exactly what we did 😋

Eventually I came in and did some dishes etc and then later we went back outside and he made a great fire in the outdoor fire pit for a bit. Then it was time for dinner so in we came! 

Today I spent most of it in the kitchen getting ready for some major cooking tomorrow. A lot of prep work but think i'm ready to go for the morning! I will be cooking a stuffed turkey low and slow overnight tonight. Tomorrow a ham and Ken's cooking a pork roast. Side dishes will be ready too tomorrow. 

Ken's been working on a cover for the wood pile out back to make it easier to get to the wood. Happy Hour when he's finished. Now to some online Christmas shopping! You know Black Friday is everywhere today on Monday! Have a great evening! 

SNOW! Home, Thinking about Thanksgiving and a few pics of Aaron

 Sunday morning we woke to a beautiful surprise, SNOW! I know a lot of people don't like it, but we do as it only lasts a few days and we don't get it often. 

We've had the wood stove going all week as the highs are only in the low 40's. 

Champagne Sunday happened once again LOL. 

Ken tried to burn a huge pile of tumbleweeds he gathered up..but too much moisture!

We've been home mainly other than a ride to town for a few things. We know that'll change tomorrow or Friday as I've got to get stuff for Thanksgiving next week.  We'll head over on Wednesday to my sister's in California. Hoping to see most of the family 💙😀  We'll leave pretty early on Friday to get back home and beat some of the holiday traffic (we hope). 

I've been trying to do some online Christmas shopping, but I always get sidetracked LOL. Got a few things bought though. 

Ken's making an outdoor fire at Karen's so it'll be ready when she gets home from work. The pups are alone all day (except when Ken goes over to let them out) so we'll head over there to spend a little time :)

Few more pictures of grandson Aaron from when he was playing. 

He looks so tired in this pic, waiting to go back in. His team is still in
the playoffs and I know he's missing not playing. 

Our #20 💙

Not too much going on here, so I'll call it quits for today. Happy Hour next door. The pups are waiting for us! 🍷🍺🐕 Have a great evening! 

Happy 21st Birthday Seth! Marine Corps Birthday! Veteran's Day! Ken's appointment and Veteran's Parade in Virginia City.

Happy Marine Corps Birthday! 247 years! 

Russell and friends always hold a Marine Corps Birthday party at Old Town Pizza in Roseville, Ca. The server, Sam (short for Samantha I'm sure) buys the cake for them and decorates the area they're in. Awesome, right! 

An awesome turn out of Marines! That's our Marine in the red shirt with a 
big smile on his face! 💙

Happy 21st Birthday Seth! 

Eric, (love the hat) Holly, Seth, Mason and Christina 💙💙

This was Seth's first "legal" beer, (Holly had to work).💙 Christina, Mason, 
Seth and Eric ...

Seth with his mom Christina 💗

Seth 21 with his Birthday Buddy, Owen 8 💙
This was a year or two ago, so a new pic is needed!

Thursday morning we headed for Carson City and Ken's lung appointment with Dr. Foster. It was all good! No masks required, and because he's about a foot and a half taller than me, he rolled over on his chair and gave me a hug. 💙 He knows I'm a hugger LOL. Ken will see him again in 6 months.    

We stopped at Walmart to leave a nice donation. Then we bought 2 turkeys and 2 hams at Raley's in Carson City too.  Cheapest price we've seen, 67 cents a pound for turkey and $1.79 a pound for shank ham.  

We headed to Betsy's Big Kitchen for linner and then home.  Karen called, but we were too tired and cold to get together for Happy Hour. The wind was up and temperatures were down! 

Friday morning I made a couple of simple egg burritos on low carb shells and we headed out for Virginia City, about an hour and half away from us. They were holding their annual Veteran's Day Parade and we love this event! 

It started at 1100 and we were there about an hour early or so. Virginia City is on a hill so we headed uphill (of course).  We found the bar we were at when the outhouse races were going on.  The Silver Dollar Saloon (known to locals as "The Sharft") is downstairs. Quite a few steps to get down there and then back up to the street. 

Wow! We were surprised at how crowded it was for 1015 or so in the am. Of course, we were there too LOL. Bloody Mary for Ken and Screwdriver, but made with Gin for me. 

At just about 1100 we went up to enjoy the parade, and that we did! The National Anthem was sung by a young lady with no musical accompaniment. It was awesome, brought tears to my eyes and to others around us! I hate the theatrical versions done! Pure, simple and from the heart! It was awesome!💖

You can't really see this little family's signs but they say 
"Thank you for our Freedom!" They held them up the whole parade!

Storey County got the Sheriff they wanted!

Navy ROTC

Some "vintage" Marines

This bar is in town somewhere..apparently well liked according to
people we talked with..

A great turn out for the parade

After the parade we went back to the Silver Dollar and had one more drink. Amazing to see the people in there! More were coming in so we left to head for home. 

We decided rather than stop to eat somewhere, let's go home, barbecue some burgers and fries and start a fire in the outdoor kitchen. What a great idea! 

My first day of UGGS..high of 38..

By the time we were eating it was around 1500. That's ok, it was awesome and we sat on the bar stools enjoying the view! About 1630 Ken brought up going next door and starting a fire and visiting with the pups! Great idea! Karen was happy there was a huge fire when she got home from work! We visited for quite awhile and then headed home. No dinner needed! 

An awesome fire at Karen's

Today we were mostly at home, other than a trip to Raley's where each of us got another turkey for the freezer. They say limit 1, so we checked out separately. They had no hams or I would have bought another one! 

Ken's been working outside getting things done and I've been in the house doing the same. I did change out the guest rooms bedspreads and put Christmas ones on 😀

Couple of updates here.

Grandson Aaron had an MRI on Monday for his knee. Torn ACL and Meniscus. Surgery in the near future, so his football days this year are done 😪

My sister Linda's dog Tank crossed the rainbow bridge this week. It was quick and painless for him, at least. Of course those left behind are the ones that do the grieving. 💙

Got a fire going watching clouds come in right now. We'll see what we get! 😁 Have a great evening! Thanks for reading! 💖🍺🍸

Last but not least, THANK YOU to our Veterans!! A special THANK YOU to our own! Russell, Jacob and Seth! 💙