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Novemblur's Thanksgiving

  

November! 
Why are these days of mine blending into weeks and months of trying to keep up and hold on at the same time? 
There is no stopping time. Just moving forward with it.
So here I am looking back at the month again!
Some of it in order...some of it as I remember 
My mom came to town. We spent time eating lumch, visiting places I wanted to get to and knew she would enjoy.
First stop, a nursery over in Newhall :)



Next day, a picnic on the beach in Ventura with a visit to a
 Restoration Hardware Outlet :)


Sushi date with Clay and Mom

Clay and I watching the incredible fall sunsets here. 
We are at Valencia High School for one of Henry's marching band competitions.

Getting a morning with Lucy after an ortho appointment is a rare thing!
I love this girl and who she is becoming :)

Last days of flag football for Chester

This is his friend Gage from church, he plays up a division but had every game alongside Chester's every Saturday morning. 




Cousin Daniel with Uncle Clay and Chet on the way home from football

We took Grandma to the Huntington Gardens and Museum in Pasadena on Veterans day :)
It was enchanting!

part of the Japanese Gardens


photographer Audrey


He'd rather be playing sports or running around but he always is a good sport about me dragging him to see "the arts" :)


Henry took the lead with Grandma :)






some good looking teenagers right here!

Our new favorite thing in a museum is twinning with art :)

the Pinkie painting
looked like ribbons to me :)


Took Grandma to The Hat in Pasadena.
 Best pastrami sandwich!




Audrey at her Young Women in Excellence evening at the church

She has learned how to make jewelry so she shared this new talent of hers.
 She makes cool stuff!

Her YW group

Shifting gears back to the football field. If you had told me 20 years ago I'd be doing this, I wouldn't have believed it. But when Chester came into this world,
 I knew just by the way he tucked his sippee cup under his arm at 14 months old it would turn into a football. 
How does that even happen?

post season party with teammates at Topper's Pizza


Coach Arif was the best coach we have had yet. Positive, competitive, encouraging...of course, he got us on a winter league next week.
 We'll see if Chester can do football and basketball at the same time?


After the team party, Audrey got her hair cut and the stylist used her as a model for her social media accounts, pretty cute?

Up to this point, Lucy seems absent from the blog. She has been busy applying to colleges this month, having a full schedule for school, serving as a young women leader for her class, and now her senior varsity basketball season has begun! I am so excited for her. She looks so strong out there and confident.
 I love this senior business!

random photos...this wrap gets used on unsuspecting victims at any given time. Henry did this to Chester but mainly it seems Dad is the perpetrator!

Dressed up on a friday night for a trip to the Los Angeles Temple

The next day we passed the time before a tournament game for Lucy at an unofficial Los Angeles landmark.
Donuts are big in Los Angeles!

After the game we saw friends and spent 20 minutes at the beach :)





We had a week off for Thanksgiving and Lucy had a "Friendsgiving" for her girlfriends at school.
 So, I got to decorate a table :)

We met our friends and neighbors from Boulder in Carpinteria for lunch and hugs. I miss them! I miss all those good neighbors we had. One of the things I knew we had there and never took for granted.

giving Wyatt his 18th birthday present.
 Lucy and him were close friends through middle school!

it was a lego set, haha



Lucy, Wyatt, Henry, Audrey, Sophie, Mason, Chester

Michelle is just one of the best people I had the privilege to know in Boulder.
 We spent time talking about our kids, reminiscing about doing costumes for the Mesa Musicals and just what has been going on for everyone...and then the college questions!
 I miss her in my life. 



a great afternoon was had!

Onto Thanksgiving pie prep from the master baker himself :)

Grandpa and Emily


Dad and Ann came up along with my brothers Gerret and Kurt with their families!
It was a full house!

finally, some cousins her age!

Kaitlin, Lauren and Lucy


dinner time

game time!

Disney plus time!
(Uncle Gerret took care of that)

Chester and Connor :)


the mood

We really enjoy hosting Thanksgiving for friends and family!
 It has become a tradition, the kids love all the company. 

the kid's table
they had more fun in there than I thought they would!

pie time


my Dad and I


My brother Kurt, Natalie and the girls.
He just got his prognosis for his cancer....not anywhere else but his mouth! He has 7 weeks of radiation treatment. I am so grateful. We all are. He is still as fun as ever and his girls take right after him!

The day after we got snow! 
Crazy way to close out the month . 
But it definitely sets the tone for Christmastime :)







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