November Adventures

 We started the month out with Hartland's staff retreat at Pismo Beach.  We have been at Hartland a little over four years and this was our fifth retreat.  We are so blessed by Hartland.  Zane spent a lot of time at the beach in the water and building sand castles and seaweed forts on the beach.

Riding the waves

Catching a big one

Sawyer, Parker and Zane

Building a sand castle with the big kids

All the kids waiting for the perfect wave

Hauling seaweed with Sawyer

Building a seaweed fort

One of Zane's favorite parts was watching the palm trees get trimmed around the hotel

Starting in October I signed up for a four week water color painting class at the Sequoia Community Center in Badger.  It's been a lot of fun, here are a few of my projects:

Pumpkins

Fall Leaves

Chickadee

Zane and I made a quick trip to Arizona to pick up a free couch(friends of my parents gave it to us!!)  We got to spend a few days with my parents and Zane loves spending time with his Grandparents.  We even got a lesson in Bowls, which Grandpa does a lot of in AZ.

Watching the Pro

Zane gives it a shot

Getting some pointers

Getting better

Zane found a pogo stick at a thrift store

Zane enjoyed cleaning Nana's fountain, he only fell in once

Zane and Gus

Working in Grandpa's shop

Dad's new dog, Dot, jumping through the hoop

Home with our new couch

Our Thanksgiving was spent at Hartland.  We did a shared meal with the Anacker family.  Josh made duck three ways and it was delicious.  I didn't get any pictures of the meal, but here is one of a pie I made:

It was a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie

At the end of the month we headed into the woods to cut down our Christmas tree.  Zane got to cut it down all on his own.

You can barely see Zane

Timber

All decorated and Zane put a train around it

We are excited for the holiday season and celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Christmas will find us in Colorado celebrating with Casey's family.  May you all have a very blessed Merry Christmas.