Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

Our friends, The Popes had been invited to come for Thanksgiving. But drama hit our household when 2 nights before Thanksgiving our stove went out! Kaput! We had a 25 lb turkey to roast, rolls, pumpkin pies, candied yams, cookies and twice baked mashed potatoes to bake. We experimented with cooking in the tiny travel trailer oven-everything burned! We discussed the issue with the Popes and we all agreed it may be a rice and beans sort of Thanksgiving dinner.. :(   However, just in  time-Grady showed up Wednesday night with a used range which he had purchased off of Craigslist! Yay! The girls and I hurriedly prepped the Thanksgiving dinner for the next day!

 

Grady cuts the beautiful turkey- a gift from the company he is employed by

 

Autumn had brought a lovely salad, cranberries, little smokies and stuffing

 

Dishing up

 

 

 

Mama & Autumn catch up- it had been too long!

 

 

The Pope children took turns playing songs for us

 

 

We finished a lovely day by singing and praising the Lord together

 

 

Its was such a very special day with our very special friends

Our trip to Bend, OR with Nana

Nana rented a few condos at Sunriver to bless our family with a little get-away. Grady & Grant elected to stay home to take care of the animals and home chores. We had a lovely drive along the Santiam Highway, over the pass and into Sisters- a charming Western-themed town, just outside of Bend.

Taking a walk in Sunriver

Mandy reads to the girls by the fire

 

 

Up the stairs was a loft

 

Grace and Laura had fun peeking over at us into the living room

 

Nana, working on a puzzle 

 

Its finished!

 

The little girls helped with this one

 We had such a nice weekend-visiting, walking to the Sunriver shops and visiting the High Desert Museum

High Desert Museum W/ Nana

 

Nana treated us to a visit to the amazing High Desert Museum- 

Ryan, pretending to pull the bales of pelts to the wagon. These bales were sometimes upwards

 of 200 lbs!

We enjoyed walking around this mock California town, gold rush era

 

A fun band entertained us while we ate lunch. They were surprised we knew some of the old tunes they were playing for us- such as 'Swing Lo Sweet Chariot' 

 

The girls enjoyed feeling these furs which were on display

 

Ryan tries out one of the first John Deere plows

 

We all enjoyed this live Golden Eagle presentation

 

..we also really enjoyed the outdoor exhibit of a working farm in the high desert, circa 1909

  

Inside the old cabin we were able to handle these old puzzles

 

they had these old cans on display

 

..and books

 

Ash sits on the feather bed

 

A corral made of boughs

 

Time to head home

 

Lovely bronze statue in Sisters

 

We also made a stop at Dutch Bros for a smoothie

 

And headed over the pass toward home-where we encountered some snow! 

What fun! Thank you Nana