Foggy Morning

Justin went for a short ride this morning up Los Alamos Road and took some neat pictures once he was out of the fog...gotta love Sonoma County.

Justin's New Planes

My husband has been flying two of his planes across the street in the church parking lot. He recently bought two different planes that are electric, therefore they are very quiet and perfect for flying in nearby empty lots, etc. Today I went with him and took some video clips of him flying. He absolutely loves flying and he gets so excited when he shows me all that the airplane can do. When you watch the clips sometimes the plane disappears for a moment, but don't worry...it will return. One plane is a lot smaller than the other, therefore is harder to see.

Geek out for a moment and enjoy!

FYI: There was a man cleaning the church path and his water sprayer made a loud noise. The noises you hear in the video are mainly from the water sprayer.

Thanksgiving in Sandpoint, ID

For Thanksgiving this year Justin and I went to Idaho to be with his family. We spent the holiday in Sandpoint where his sister lives. Sandpoint is home to the second largest lake in the U.S. as well as Lighthouse dressings (just a few trivia facts). While in Sandpoint we did a number of fun family activities. We spent some time indoors together playing games and painting pottery. One night we were able to go to a wine bar in Sandpoint while Kasten enjoyed an evening of Mac N' Cheese and a babysitter (I totally remember getting to have Mac N' Cheese as well when I had a babysitter as a child :)). We took professional family photos one chilly morning, followed by brunch at a local restaurant. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day together that was a combined effort by all. Each of us took about 2 recipes and made them for Thanksgiving dinner. I was in charge of stuffing and butternut squash-just writing this makes me want Thanksgiving dinner all over again. Kasten was about 6 months older than when we had last seen him, and wow, how children change. Not that I didn't know this...but not until I was with him did I realize what a little man he is. He is so sweet and loves spending time with family. We had an awesome trip and look forward to the next one! A shout out to Nichole, Jeremy, and Kasten for hosting Thanksgiving as well as a house full of guests! Another shout out to Justin's parents for driving all the way from MT and for being so generous!

A picture taken from our hike.

We drove up to the ski mountain as there was no snow in actual Sandpoint. It was fun and so very pretty!

I know, I know...what a random picture, but these rocks were just so pretty.

He loves legos!

Tympano Night

A few weeks ago (I know, I know...I am behind in my posts) my parents along with some friends hosted a Tympano Party. Tympano is an Italian dish that takes many hours to prepare. It has a pastry crust with layers of Italian meats, pastas, vegetables, etc. inside. My parents moved their dining table into the living room and has somewhere around 15 people over. It was very festive and a great Pre-Thanksgiving. We also had a suckling pig that was so moist and full of flavor. This party was "fashioned" after the movie Big Night, which I sadly have not seen and do not know much about. I'll be honest, the pig was a little weird to see, but quite a sight at the same time. My mom made her amazing cheesecakes: triple chocolate, and lemon curd. After a filling dinner we all felt the need to have a piece of each...once again, it was a great warm-up for Thanksgiving.

I know, it's not a great picture, but it was the best one.

Halloween Party at our 'New' Home

On Halloween we decided to have a few close family and friends over to celebrate. We hosted a costume party (which I have always wanted to do) and passed out candy to the children in our neighborhood. Because of where we live, I figured we would get buses of children, but we ended up getting a pretty small amount compared to what I had in mind (thus the large basket of candy that resides in our living room...and yes I pick from it! :) We had fun watching Ryan scare the older children with his wolf mask and Justin scare them by laying half under the car stiff as a board as they walked up our path-silly, I know, but we have some hysterical photos! All in all it was a fun and relaxing evening with friends!

A shout out to:
My Mom for helping with the decorations-they were adorable!

Melissa for the wonderful photography and scrumptious dip

Jaime and Jared for being good sports and dressing up in Friends theme with us

Meredith and Ryan for making yummy drinks and supplying us with wine for our next event-the cookie party-yeah!

Photos courtesy of Melissa Morelli

http://www.melissamorelliphotography.com/

The four of us were inspired by a Friends episode...the one where Chandler is a pink bunny (Justin) and Monica is cat woman (Me) , Ross is Sputnik aka "space duty" (Jared) and Rachel is a "girl who bought a very expensive dress and won't be able to fit in it soon." It was one of those ideas that just came about from casual conversation, and before you know it you're actually doing it! It was very fun and I must say, I was very impressed with Jared's costume. I know, I know...I do not look much like cat woman...I tried to pull it off last minute because the thought of cat woman, aka spandex, did not spark much interest. Nonetheless, we had great fun and played the friends episode in the background...good times!

This picture just cracks me up!

One Adorable Home

When we were recently over at my parents house I had my camera on me and thought I would snap a few pictures of their home. My parents did a huge remodel last year and have been living in their "new" home for 10 month now. These pictures do not show all of the changes by any means, but are fun to look at.

They are building a shed in their back yard.

Mom's Birthday

I know, I know, these pictures are late! Better late than never right?? Sure!

For my Mom's birthday we went to SF for the day and enjoyed the musical Wicked, followed by an Italian dinner in North Beach. My Mom, Murray, and Justin were seeing Wicked for the first time, and myself for a second time. It was even better the second time-so awesome! My Mom loved the performance and had an excellent end to the evening eating her favorite style
of food-Italian. We walked around after dinner and enjoyed authentic
Italian dessert at a small little Cafe.

UHS Bingo Event

Recently I volunteered at Ursuline's 50th BINGO celebration. I helped Melissa in the photo booth that went along with the 50's theme. Guests of all ages enjoyed getting their pictures taken in themed clothing along side a cut-out of a 50's car. Justin enjoyed playing BINGO with Damon as well as getting a laugh out of the yearbooks from years past. I loved having Justin there (it was his first event)! It was fun showing him around my old stomping grounds. The family atmosphere that filled the room was neat to see. It was a great event for the whole family and I think that is very important in this day and age!

Ursuline clothing from years past and a current pom pom (you can add those to your pony tail to be more spirited ya know...and yes, I did that in High School. Morgan=Big Dork :)

Yes what you see it correct...senior football players dressed up in woman's clothing...and not only did they take pictures, but they also did a Karaoke number all dressed up-so pretty!

It wouldn't have been a complete evening without my husband taking part in dressing up. You can call him Granny Justine!

The decor was super cute and the soda and candy shoppe served one mean root beer float.

Clothing options for the picture taking fanatics!

DuVernay Wedding in MN

Here is the last round of pictures to post from our trip to MN for Devin and Jason's wedding. We had a great time dancing the night away and catching up with old friends.

Justin dancing with the mother of the groom-don't worry, he knows her:)

My goofy husband smiling for me as he gets his groove on!

Justin had a blast catching up with Mike and his girlfriend. We hadn't seen him since living in North Dakota.

The two troublemakers...we'll just leave it at that!