Thanksgiving Weekend in Spokane!

This Year we were in Spokane for the Thanksgiving weekend. Hayden sure had a good time with her "papa" and "gama"!!



She has them wrapped around all her fingers and toes! :) She has figured out that if she says "papa pease (please)" he'll do anything for her!

She discovered the step stool and decided to "help" gama make her coffee (hayden is now addicted to frothy milk!), help with Thanksgiving dinner and with dishes! She would love to have a stool like that at home, but I'm scared what she'd be into if we had one!

We did the usual 5 am black friday shopping! We went to: Shooter's Coffee stand (necessary first stop!!) then Fred Meyer, Kohl's, Toys R Us, Michael's, Macy's, Bath and Body Works, Gymboree, Children's Place, amongst other mall stores! All home by 11 am! Hayden rallied and went down for her regular nap at noon!

Papa got Hayden a train set which was supposed to be for Christmas, but he wasn't very good at hiding it, so of course he and Hayden had to get the choo choo all out and play! :)

Hayden also discovered Gama's Spice drawer. She grabbed each one, gave it to grandma to open and smell! All was good until she got pepper in her eye! :)

My birthday was the tuesday after the thanksgiving weekend, so Neal & Angela got me a yummy Just American Carrot cake! My favorite!! I think Hayden and Jeremy were more excited to try it, and it was very yummy!!!

Santa

My favorite (above)

pretty cute still!

Last year, Hayden went right to santa and even managed a smile in her picture. This is was a whole new story! A friend's father volunteered to be santa and a professional photographer took everyone's pictures. If Hayden would have cooperated a little more, they would have turned out fantastic! She did NOT want to sit on Santa's lap~ no matter how many candy canes he tried to briber her with!! :) Had I known I was going to be in everyone of her pictures, I would have done my hair and make up and maybe dressed up a little nicer! ;) Oh well...maybe next year!

Great Grandma Ester's 97th Birthday!

Great Grandma Esther turned 97 on Monday November 23rd! Her health hasn't been the best lately, so it was nice to get to spend some time with her and celebrate such an awesome mileston with her and just a few of her many family members!

Grandma and a few of her grand, great-grand and great-great grand children!

Hayden loved this dog statue...goofball!

Dick's Tree

Dick had ordered a tree to be planted at the lake property. He and mom had talked about where to plant it the same weekend he died. They had so many landscaping ideas and plans! Well, last week, the tree that he ordered arrived at the brewery. Mom knew exactly where it was supposed to go and put together a tree-planting party. Sunday we went out to the lake cabin to plant it. It's bittersweet being out there- everything was built by Dick and he loved that place- it almost feels wrong being there without him! :(

Halloween

Dick was going as mom's gladiator :(

Just realized that I haven't updated here much lately. Under the circumstances, my camera hasn't been out much. But- we did still celebrate Halloween. Hayden was a ladybug and we went trick-or-treating at Grandma Lori's Halloween party. She was going to cancel, but because Dick wouldn't want us to not have a party because he wasn't here, the party was still on.

We had a good time and it was fun to see everyone in their costumes.

Goodbye Papa Pepperoni

Today was Dick's funeral services. They turned out really nice. Travis drove Dick's Harley with my mom on the back and a huge procession of all Dick's Harley friends to the funeral home. The service was good- the pastor really captured Dick in his words. The video played was a tear-jerker, especially the pictures from mine and my sister's wedding. The link to the video is included- it takes awhile to load and the music isn't the right song (Dick's favorite song by the Dirty Birds was played with it at the funeral home). It was a packed house- no clue how many people were there, but it was standing room only, with a lot of people overflowed into the lobby where they couldn't even see anything! As the pallbearers (The Dick's Brew Crew) loaded the casket into the hearse, the bikers all revved their engines- that was SO sad! Then the Harley's all followed the hearse with Mom & Julie riding on bikes right behind him. Then at the cemetery, Dick was laid to rest next to his father and sister. We all tossed grain (for making beer) into the grave and onto the casket. Mom dropped a Dick's Beer coaster with a love note written on it too. People didn't want to leave. We weren't ready to say goodbye, that's for sure! Then the procession of Harley's and cars all headed to the brewery for food/beer/storytelling. We didn't get home until after 6pm and we left this morning at 9am! Thankfully, a good friend was able to watch Hayden all day so we wouldn't have to worry about her. I'm so exhausted...it's been one hell of a week. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend today and to those who weren't but still sent their condolences.

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