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Archive for Family

Top Ten Things I am Thankful for in 2012

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This year has been a busy and amazing year

for myself and my family. Since it’s

Thanksgiving, and since my family will be

together celebrating, I wanted to take the

time to share my thankful thoughts for this year.

1) My Dad’s continued improvement with his cancer treatments. He never, never, never gives up. The word perseverance has a whole new meaning for me.

2) Our family tree has expanded. We welcomed our granddaughter into the family almost two weeks ago. She is a beautiful, bouncing baby girl with a proud big brother.

3) The family members that are cancer survivors, and continue to remain in good health. My Grandpa, my Mom, and my baby boy.

4) So glad I got to escape to New York City with Travel Man for our vacation this year. We had a great time. I got to see the Statue of Liberty!! Crossed that one-off of my bucket list.

5) Getting to spend quality time with Evan this past summer. We had a great times at Camp Grandma. Lots of fun times, and good memories.

6) Seeing my sister three times this year. That’s really a great treat as she’s a mountain girl from Montana. Love spending time with her and chatting for hours on end.

7) Ever so thankful that my grandparents are on Skype. I love getting to see them and chat with them. My brother has graciously arranged a few group family calls. These are the treasured family times.

8) So glad that my Travel Man survived his boogie boarding accident with no serious injuries. Seeing him hurt made my stomach churn, and I don’t want to have any repeats. No more boogie boarding for that guy!

9) Watching all of my kids become responsible, hard-working, compassionate, and caring adults. This makes you feel so great as a parent.

10) There is a great amount of thankfulness that we are “The Party House” for our family. We love hosting the birthdays, summer cookouts, holiday dinners. It is such a treat to have everyone gathered for fun times, and good memories. No better place to be.

Wishing you and yours an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving together. If you are cooking and bustling about the kitchen tomorrow be sure and stop, and listen and take in the sights and sounds of your family and friends all around you. It’s a wonderful thing.

4 comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Holidays, Travel Man

10 Things I Loved About Visiting Montana

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Renee Spindle

View of the backyard.

A week or so ago Travel man and I had the opportunity to visit my sister and her husband near Missoula, Montana. The countryside there was breathtaking. Mountain ranges all around us, and a beautiful valley of rolling hills and farmlands. It has been way too long since I have been at my sister’s house, and Travel man’s never been there. We encountered some rain, some snow, and a few rays of sunshine too. The property where my sister lives is very wooded, and right at the base of the Bitterroot Mountain range. Gorgeous, gorgeous views. Unfortunately it was too cloudy for pictures while we were there.

So, in honor of our visit I have put together my top ten list from our Montana travels.

Sleeping for 8-9 hours at a stretch this is unheard of for me!! I normally sleep may 6 hours a night? I was told that this could have been due to the altitude change. I think it’s because The air was so crisp and cool, and I was so relaxed.
Leaferville – we got to see the changing of the leaves the moment we landed in Spokane.
Crisp, crisp cool weather. Highs in the 40’s, lows in the 20’s. It was glorious.
Snow?? Who knew! We drove through a snow storm on our drive from Spokane to Missoula. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen snowflakes so big.
My sister’s cooking – Wow!! Laura is a gourmet cook. We had a Lentil, Beef Stew, homemade coq au vin, and a delicious Butternut Squash Soup. Wonderful, warm delicious meals. Absolutely yummy!
Celebrating the “baby steps” of a major home improvement project. Laura and her husband are having their roof worked on. It’s been very stressful for them, and we helped them to celebrate the small victories of the project moving forward.
Wearing blue jeans, and socks and shoes. Changing up the wardrobe. Instead of the usual crop pants and tank top wardrobe! Oh and I did get to wear the scarf my mom made me too!
Sipping hot coffee and lattes on a chilly Montana morning next to the wood stove. Can you say mega comfort zone?
A couple of gaggles of wild turkeys roaming in the front yard.
Some cute little dear nibbling on some brush, also in the front yard.

These are just a few of my favorite moments from our trip. Of course I delighted in the non-top chatting with my sister. She is definitely a mountain girl, and loves living the country lifestyle. Maybe I’m just a smidge jealous on that front. We did have a wonderful time together, and lucky me my sister’s coming to my house for a visit this week. Just makes me want to jump for joy. Wishing everyone a great week.

What’s your recent, favorite family moment?

5 comments Posted in Family, Food, Travel Man, Travels

We had a Lovely, Positively Pink Day

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Renee Spindle

A few weeks ago, on a Saturday, my daughter, Hilary and I hosted a baby shower for Hilary’s big sister, Naomi. We were surrounded by family and friends, all of them ladies at this shin-dig, except for Evan and his cousin. It was a wonderful, sunny Saturday, and the planning paid off tremendously. Of course, all of us Grandma’s, Grammie’s, and Nana’s in the crowd were especially excited. For me there is nothing more heart-warming or meaningful than knowing that the family tree will soon be expanding.

We had lovely tissue paper flowers, a diaper cake, lots of pink tulle and ribbons, and even a crown for the guest of honor.

And we had the food! Deli sandwiches, chips, dips, watermelon salad (more on this later), pink lemonade punch, and a beautiful coconut cake.

We passed around a journal for everyone to write their thoughts and good wishes to Naomi and her family. It was a lot of fun, and will be a great keepsake for the new arrival.

Hilary headed up the game co-ordination, and I think we had the most fun with “The Purse Game”. In our game, we used a points system which made it a lot of fun to find out what treasures all of the ladies had in their purses.

One of the highlights of the day was Evan opening his “Diaper Dude Junior” tool belt. I saw this idea on Pinterest, and had to make them for Evan and his Dad. Both of the tool belts had a diaper, baby wipes, goggles, plastic gloves. All set for diaper duty. Evan was a great sport and thought this was a very fun gift. I’m sure once his baby sister has arrived he will try to put his diaper tools to good use.

My daughter and her family received a plethora of wonderful, amazing gifts. They will be ready for anything when the baby sister arrives.

This is all of the grandma’s that live in the area with the “mom-to-be”. We are blessed to have so many family members close by. The only thing that would have made this a positively more perfectly, pink day is if my Sister and my Grandma could have joined us.

We had a wonderful afternoon together, and are counting the days/hours Until Evan’s baby sister arrives. Travel Man and I are sponsoring a guess the baby date prize for the family. It’s turning out to be a lot of fun. We’ll keep you all posted on the arrival.

What’s your most recent and favorite family moment?

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Holidays

Halloween’s Past

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Renee Spindle

This being the last day of October, and Halloween I thought I would reminisce just a little with a few photos from the past. My kids have always loved costuming up for Halloween, and now Evan continues that tradition.

This is just a little mix of pictures from the past few years and beyond of our Halloween good times.

Evan loves to dress up and Halloween for him is such a treat. Here’s a few pictures of him from the past few years.

And some of the kids famous pumpkin carvings:

Some of my guys in their costumes:

And my favorite fall picture taken by my Travel Man a few years ago:

For me, Halloween is the first real signal of fall, which leads us to Thanksgiving, and of course the Christmas holiday season. To all of the ghouls and goblins out there have a fun Halloween evening.