Jewelry Party

Aunt Julie is starting to sell Cookie Lee Jewelry, and she wanted to practice on her family. We went over to Grandma's house and enjoyed an afternoon with the girls. I am not much into jewelry, but it was great to spend time together.

All the many choices

Look how pretty Grandma looks.

Even Garrett got in on the fun.

Shopping & Football

The morning after Thanksgiving, Dad and I typically go shopping. This year, we didn't see any fantastic adds for things we wanted, so we didn't go. I did however go with my Mom and Melissa to Joann fabrics to catch some of those sales.

We had plans to go and watch the semi final's for football as David's team was playing Bellevue. On the way to the Tacoma dome, the Bellevue bus got into an accident, and the football game was delayed until the following Monday. We were all very disappointed, because the family would not be able to attend on Monday.

Instead, Mom and Dad took us to see Quantom of Solace - The new James Bond movie. It was good, and fun to go out as family.

At the movie theater

Jaren and Owen playing

After the movie, we went to the Old Speghetti factory for dinner. This was our birthday gifts from Mom and Dad for this year. It was great to spend the day as a family. Thanks Mom & DadMarcus and the little boys
Kaleb and Jaren
The whole family

Thanksgiving Part III

The festivities continue as we all continue to visit and play games. On the docket for games always includes an exciting game of 10,000 played with dice. Amidst the gaming, we visit. This year we reminisced about old games we used to play including skittles. The younger kids didn't remember what this was, so out comes the game board. The object is to spin this top, and have it go into different rooms on the board and knock down the pins. The more pins that get knocked down, the higher the points. It can keep even adults going for hours.

Here is Mom, she did pretty well on this turn.

Here are also a few more pictures of the cousins playing together, and more visitingKaleb

Becky, Marcus, and Garrett

Cute little Jaren

We finish off the evening with pie. I always have a tough time deciding between Grandma's Pumpkin pie, and Uncle John's delicious apple pie. Thanks everyone for making this Thanksgiving, and all the others before memorable.

Thanksgiving Part II

The adventure continues as we head back to Aunt Mary's for the dinner preparations. On the menu, we have a delicious feast including the items below. They were all very delicious.

Turkey
Ham
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing
Beans Almondine
Pomegranate Jello
Fruit salad
Broccoli & cheese sauce, and
Rolls

To tide us over between breakfast and dinner, we always have a delicious cheeseball, and Aunt Julie's bon bons. Ymmm.

The last half hour before dinner, is a little crazy as many people are working in the kitchen getting everything ready.The tables are setJason and John working on the mashed potatoes.and of course, Grandpa carving the turkey

Willie and Baily waiting for some of Grandpa's carvings to hit the floor
and the feast begins. :)We can't forget to thank Dad for doing the dinner dishes. Thanks Dad

After dinner, the family gathers around and we all talk about something that we are thankful for. Family always seems to be at the top of everyone's list, and that is why it is so great that we can all gather around and support each other. That is what family is all about. I am so grateful for family and being a part of the Woodward legacy.

Thanksgiving Part I

Happy Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite times of the year, and probably one of my most favorite holidays. Although I am a Lybbert, and I used to be a Poe, my mom was a Woodward, and thus I call this the Woodward Thanksgiving as it includes families from Grandma and Grandpa Woodward. I have only missed one Woodward Thanksgiving since I was born, which was last year (We spent it with Dusty's Grandparents in Yakima).

The day is primarily about food, family, food, games, more food, visiting, and lots more. It typically begins with breakfast. The locations move around, but the menu is pretty standard.

Pancakes
Eggs
Bacon
Biscuits and Gravy, and
Juice

This year Grandma and Grandpa hosted breakfast. It was tight, but we all love each other, it that just makes it better.

Grandma and Aunt Mary enjoying the food after cooking.

Uncle Jim working on the dishes.

Dad and Jim usually do the dishes, this year at breakfast, Dad could not come due to David's football practice, so Jim did most of them. Thanks Jim!Marcus and Becky playing with Owen and Jaren

Then like I said visiting. The regular people were there, Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad, John, Mary and Jim, Julie and Bondy, Jason and Mariah, and us, and then we were fortunate enough to have Becky and Marcus come from North Carolina, Melissa and Sam from Vermont, Jeremy and Brad from Idaho.

The Poe family is getting bigger every year, and it is difficult to all get together. This was one of the rare opportunities, and it was awesome.

Uncle Bondy was always one of our favorite uncles. He always seemed to have lots of energy and loved playing with us kids. It seems the tradition continues as Bondy was playing with Owen. He was rolling up newspaper and putting it in Owen's shirt so he couldn't move. Owen was laughing the whole time, and kept going back for more.

Happy Birthday Dusty!

Today is Dusty's birthday. Due to the date, it typically falls around Thanksgiving, and Dusty says his Mom used to make him a pumpkin pie all for him, and birthday celebrations are more a week long rather than just the day. In fact, he would rather I do not acknowledge him on his exact birthday, but celebrate around it. I think it is a little backwards, but if that is what he wants, that is what he will get next year. I already messed up this birthday as I made him a pie on the day of.

Sam, Melissa, and Owen enjoyed in the minimal festivities, and the pie was shared by us all. It was my first one, and Melissa helped a bit. It tasted great. Happy birthday honey. I love you.If you are smart, you can probably find out how old he is from the candles. Also, he insisted on vanilla icecream with the pie, and the turkey cupcake was from a friend at work. Isn't it pretty?

Visitors

Sam, Melissa, and Owen arrived to stay with us for a few weeks, while Sam is interviewing for residency. We will graduate medical school in May, and we are very excited to have the Blakes back in the Northwest. Vermont is way too far away, according to my point of view. We don't know exactly where they will end up yet, but wherever it is, it is will be closer, and that means I will get to spend more time with them. I can't wait. Until then, it will be great to have them in our home for a few weeks at least.

Capital Playoffs

David's football team, the Capital Cougars, are in the Washington state playoffs, and as we felt so bad about the Halloween game, we decided we should come and support him and his team on in the playoffs.  We came down early on Saturday and attended the Olympia gymnastics team practice.  Unfortunately, Dusty's work is currently short handed, and could not afford him the time to leave early to coach this year.  

He was feeling the itch to coach, and has been volunteering a little of his time to help coach at the evening practices in Lacey.  Surprisingly, it is only about 35 miles from us down the gym.  He is really loving the team, and feels like he can help them improve.  I always thought it would be fun to have my husband coaching with my mom.  They really do make a great team.

After practice, we had a little time to kill before the football game, so we went to Cabela's.  For those who are not aware, Cabela's is like the coolest hunting/fishing/anything outdoors store ever.  It is massive.  Dusty's company, Classic Accessories, makes covers for anything and everything outdoors, and they sell a bunch of their products to Cabela's.  Much of it is marketed under Cabela's brand, but they are actually produced by Classic Accessories, and Dusty helps with the packaging and marketing.  Here are some of their products on display at the store.

Boats made by Classic Accessories at Cabela's

The wild animal display.  This is the coolest display I have ever seen, they have animals from all over the Northwest, this is just a very small piece.

We then met up with Mom, and headed over the stadium for the game.  Capital played Meadowdale from Lynnwood, and it was a very exciting game.  At halftime, Meadowdale was up 7 - 0, and Capital had missed a number of 4th down attempts in the red zone.  Then in the second quarter, Capitol put it together and there defense did an awesome job of stopping Meadowdale, and then the offense stepped in and started scoring.  The game came down to the very last drive and the Cougars were able to stop the Mavericks and win the game.  Below are a few pictures from the game.  David is #13 on the sidelines.

Scoreboard showing a 14-10 victory.  Capital is off to Spokane next weekend for their next playoff game.  Good Luck Cougars!

The Votes are In

Boy, I will tell you, it is hard to be an elephant in a whole field of donkeys.  I am not sure the state of Washington has ever voted red in a presidential election.  It always find it amazing to watch the election results and know that the polls closed at 8:00pm, and that the state declared it's vote for Obama at 8:01.  I was not surprised, but disappointed as I felt like my vote wasn't even considered.  I knew however, that the local elections would be closer.  Unfortunately, I didn't win many of those either.  My wonderful state has voted to assist terminally ill people in committing suicide, and my county voted to increase the sales tax once again to over 10% to fund road improvements that we already voted on last election.  My state also voted in the same governor who spent all the money for the road improvements we already voted for 4 years ago on something else, along with all the other money in the state and more.  Obviously, more people in the state disagree with me because the things I voted for lost, but maybe this is my way of making my voice heard.

As far as the presidency goes, I may not have voted for him; however, he is now my president and I will respect him as the president.  Over the past 8 years, I was always frustrated with the people who bashed on Bush and disrespected him.  Now that the tables are turned, I vow to do my best to support him as the president even if I do not agree with all the decisions he may make.  We are fortunate to live in a country where we can and have the right to vote, and know that the results of the election are fair (for the most part.  At least we didn't have any recounts or hanging chads this year.)  I am glad that I voted, and even if the results didn't swing my way, my voice was heard.

Halloween and Visitors

Overall, our Halloween was a little bland; however, I did take the day off, and relax a bit.  We were planning to go down to Olympia, go to David's football game, and babysit David and Willie while Mom flew to Boston to pick up Sam, Lissy, and Owen; however, we changed our plans a little when David decided it was more fun to spend Halloween with his buddies after the football game than with his sister (I am so surprised!).  We instead stayed up here and met up with Mom and took her to the airport so she didn't have to ride the bus alone late at night.  

This also allowed us to pick them all up in the morning and avoided having to take large luggage, a car seat, and a tired 2 year old on a bus.  Overall it worked out really well; however, we did miss David's football game, which was disappointing as he got to play during the 3rd quarter, and all of the 4th quarter.  He made some great tackles, and we wished we could have seen him play. 

We did get to spend some time with the Blake family and enjoyed every minute, even when Owen woke up at 4:30am (time change from Eastern to Pacific time as well as day light savings was not a good combination).  We had fun playing cars, and catching up.  We attended church with Mom & Dad, and enjoyed a Sunday dinner, then the Blake's drove down to Corvallis to spend time with Sam's family, and we drove back up north.  We can't wait for them to come and stay with us during December.