Thanksgiving

We had a very full Thanksgiving day last week! As I said before, Devonna and Reagan are in town, and Aunt Barb and Uncle Keith also were able to join us (with Sedona, their poodle, of course).

Thanksgiving morning I woke up early to make the pies. I decided to make the pumpkin pie like normal, but also decided to make a pecan pie. I had never made one before, and it's a family favorite. Devonna gave me the tip to toast the pecans before baking the pie so that they weren't mushy. So I started out toasting the pecans according to directions I found online.

About halfway through the toasting time, when they were stirred. They looked so yummy!

Luna got up with me too and was my helper

Unfortunately, the online directions were wrong, and the pecans were burnt when I took them out of the oven. Doug got up soon after that and I told him about the burnt pecans. He got dressed and ran to Vons for me to get some more. I was so thankful he was willing to do that!

While he was gone I started on the pumpkin pie and made it first. He got back and I toasted the pecans correctly. I got both of them in the oven and we made breakfast.

Bagel bacon sandwiches :)

We got ready and then headed over to my parents. We brought Luna too o that she wouldn't be in her kennel all day

The table all laid out

While we ate she was in her kennel, but other than that she was able to roam around. She had fun playing with Sedona and getting loved on my everyone

We always laugh about the differences in our plates at Thanksgiving. Doug isn't a big Thanksgiving food person, but I am!

Doug's plate:

My plate:

Some of us took naps and the others watched Football. Then we ate the pie with fresh homemade whipped cream!

They were yummy!

We had to go home early because I had to be up at 2 in the morning to go to work. I went to bed at 8, but didn't fall asleep till around 11 I think. We were busy at work! We opened at midnight and I spent 8 hours refilling tables and wardrobers.

I took a nap and then went to my parents house to hang out with everyone. The weekend was filled with Gingerbread house making, football, family pictures, and leftovers.

This morning I woke up and saw this sunrise. I love how we have good views of both sunsets and sunrises!

We are so thankful for all of the blessings in our life. For a place to live, both of us having jobs and good health. For our friends and family that are in our lives. And especially for God's love and grace.

We are excited for this upcoming Christmas season. We haven't had a chance to decorate yet, but hopefully we will be able to soon!

Devonna and Reagan were able to come out for Thanksgiving, and Reagan has been eager to meet Luna. Ever since he found out that we have a kitten, he has been asking Devonna, "Where'd Chelle's cat go?" and "I need to see Chelle's cat!" So on Monday, they came over to meet Luna. He played with her mice with her and fed her treats from his hand. They both had a lot of fun.

I love this picture. Reagan started playing cat, so they're both going for the mouse here haha

Now I'm off to finish making my pies. The pumpkin one's in the oven now, and pecan's next!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meet Luna!

We finally decided to get a pet! Doug works a lot of nights and it gets a bit lonely. We aren't allowed to have dogs so we settled for a cat. They do have a couple of pros against dogs (but only a couple). For one, you don't really have to house train them. They are really quick at it, and with Luna, she already knew how to use it. Also, they're much more low maintenance in that you don't have to take them for walks. They pretty much entertain themselves. And they love to cuddle (at least this one does!). In fact, she's curled in my lap as I type this.

We're not really sure how old she is. She was born on the back of a hay truck coming from Bakersfield. We adopted her from the local humane society. So we think she was about 8 or 9 weeks when we got her at the beginning of November. She was so little. She's grown a bit since then but is still a kitten. It took us about a week to decide on a name for her and we decided on Luna Lovegood. I call her Luna Love for short. Or Kitty. She kinda goes by whatever we call her. Sweetie, hunny, etc.

So she and I hang out when Doug is at work, and she hangs out with Doug when I'm at work. When we're both at work, she incorporates herself right on top of us as we cuddle and watch tv. I'd say she likes us :)

A week ago on Friday we had a storm come through. It looked really cool over the ocean. You could see where it was raining and there was sun streaming down to the water. I didn't quite capture it on film, but this is close

It's hard to get a good shot of her so you can see how big she is. In all of the photos she looks full grown

Especially when she stretches herself out on the couch

This past week I've been working a lot of evenings and have been bummed about how many sunsets I've been missing (fall/winter sunsets are the best). I did get to see this one, which was amazing. There was a layer of clouds above the waterline, and the sun just burst through them

I sat on the porch on our rocking chairs and enjoyed it. Luna jumped up on the one next to me to watch too

This past Saturday we had the pleasure of driving out to Palm Springs to visit Doug's Tutu and Papa. We met up with Doug's cousin Kyle and his girlfriend, Joy, and drove out to Palm Springs. We were laughing because we were driving through all three of California's climates. We started at the beach (well at least seeing the ocean)

Then went up to the mountains to get Kyle and Joy. They were at Forest Home, which is near Big Bear. The trees were changing colors and it was really pretty.

Then we drove out to the desert. We visited with Tutu and Papa and caught them up in recent events in our lives. Then we went out to Lunch at Mimi's Cafe with Papa. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.

We stayed about 3 hours and then drove back. We were returning to Ventura that night. Not only did we go into 3 different climates, but there were big temperature changes in that. It was probably low 60s here, and then at Forest Home it was 39 degrees when we dropped Kyle and Joy back off. In Palm Springs it was in the mid 70s.

We got home and went to hang out with our friends. We drew names for Secret Santa and just hung out and talked. It was a busy long day with over 8 hours in the car, but it was a lot of fun. This week is going to be filled with family, and it was a fun kick off to the week :)

Happy Birthday Doug!

This past weekend we celebrated Doug's birthday! On Saturday we had our friends over and watched the Never Ending Story 2, ate cake, ate pizza, and played some cranium. It was so much fun. The Never Ending Story 2 was so ridiculously cheesy that it had us cracking up and quoting throughout the night.

That day Doug took Allison and I to his work to try the kinect 360. Neither of us had tried it (and he didn't really like it). I thought it was a lot of fun. I liked the sports better than the dancing though. Much better than a Wii! We got pretty tired though, so it's also a good work out (much more so than other video games!).

We came home to a beautiful sunset. So of course I grabbed the camera and took a lot of pictures.

The aftereffect of a sunset is always the best part

I baked Doug's cake that morning and frosted it in the afternoon. He chose funfetti cake and I suggested having white frosting and then saw silver sprinkles at the store that I loved. Top it all off with black writing frosting and it was perfect! And delicious!

Lighting the candles

I moved a little too quick for the camera lol

Make a wish!

Cutting the cake :)

Sunday consisted of Doug and I looking for a pet. We're leaning towards getting a kitten because it's all that we're allowed to having. We're looking at the logistics to see if it's practical for us to get one. We figure we could keep the litter box on the porch so that we don't have to worry about it smelling up the apartment. I get lonely when Doug is at work so it'd be nice to have an animal to cuddle with. And when we go on vacation we figure that we can hire one of the high school students in the youth group to take care of it. Plus kitties are so cute and playful! We'll see though. We don't have one yet, but we went to the Humane Society yesterday and there were some cute ones. We have to wait for them to be spayed though before we take one home. Doug loves the playful ones!

There was a pretty sunset on Sunday night too :)

We also made caramel apples that night. This year we also added a bit of chocolate for even more yummyness.

Yesterday was Doug's birthday. We slept in a little bit and then his mom came and visited us! We got to show her our new place, some of our Europe pictures, and spend some much needed time with her. We went to lunch at Red Robin. It was soo good!

Last night we went to our friend James' house for a Halloween party-ish. We watched James' do science experiments for the trick or treaters and give out the candy (and refuse to give it to those who didn't dress up). His block is a really fun block for Halloween. It feels like a movie with how festive the houses are, how many kids are running around, and the general atmosphere of the night. A couple doors down they were giving out hotdogs and had a keg for the adults (Allison noticed a little girl trying to help herself to some and we stepped in then...) We went trick-or-treating ourselves then (I just walked with the group). Then we watched the end of the Charger's game (so disappointing!). Then we played Battle of the Sexes in which the girls won a game and then the boys won a game. It was such a fun night. All in all I think Doug had a pretty good birthday. He keeps saying that he's old, and I told him he can't say that he's "old" till his 50th birthday (which, even then is still young!). He's so funny. I love that man!

The Witch Doctor :)