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December 31, 2010

IT"S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Now that Christmas is behind us we can look forward to 2011. I hope everyone had a great holiday. We had our two daughter's families down to our place at the coast for the first time for Christmas. Everyone arrived mid-day on Saturday, so we had half of Christmas Day with all of them. It was so much fun having everyone together. We were greeted by our eight-year-old granddaughter Paige who walked up to us with a huge smile on her face. It took us a minute to realize that she no longer had braces! Wow...she has such a BEAUTIFUL smile! I didn't think to get a picture, so next time I see her, I'll take one and post it. Anyway, I fixed a big turkey dinner with dressing, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie. Everyone really stuffed them selves with all the yummy food.

We opened Christmas presents too. That is always a lot of fun, especially for the granddaughters. I gave them books and got each of them their own Christmas tree ornament plus each family got the Wii game "Kids Dance II". They all loved that and spent most of the evening entertaining us with their dancing moves. We were very surprised when the girls and their families got together and got us a wonderful gift of three plays at the Coaster Theater. They have heard us talk about how much we have enjoyed the theater in Cannon Beach, and were thoughtful in getting us a gift that we will really use and enjoy! Thanks, kids! You"re the best!

Everyone spent the night and the next day Leslie and Jay left for home and Lara and Greg stayed for another day. The weather was wet and windy so they had to spend most of their time indoors. Lara and Greg took the two older girls down to the beach during a break in the weather while the youngest took her nap. It was really windy and cold but it gave them a chance to get some fresh air. Speaking of naps, Jordyn is nearly three and is getting to the point where she doesn't need a nap any more. She's in the "in-between" area where she looks and acts like she's getting tired, but then won't sleep when she is given the opportunity.

It has been raining and windy most of the week, but on Thursday the weather was clear and cold. It was just beautiful outside looking at the snow on the top of the mountain peaks nearby. Dave had to drive into Portland for a game broadcast on Thursday and he left early in the day because of the icy conditions. It froze Wednesday night and he had to defrost his Suburban before he could leave. It took him an extra half-hour to get in there - not because of the road conditions, but because of the people who insist on driving without studs, chains or 4-wheel-drive and then compensate for it by going 25 miles per hour! After the game, he stayed the night with our friends, Stan and Terri who live in Hillsboro and he made it back home by noon today. He brought some good news - Stan and Terri are coming to the coast this next week and will spend next Friday night with us.

Another reason Dave wanted to leave early was that he had several stops he wanted to make. He met Lara in Beaverton and then went inside to see a friend of his who manages the woodworking store where he arranged to meet her. As he explained it - he needs to keep up those relationships with people who have important jobs like "Woodworking Store Manager"! After that, he drove out to north Portland to the pilot's office to pick up some tide tables. Since his dad was a Columbia River Pilot, he gets to swing by their office every year at this time to get a few. They are very nice and they show the tides just about perfectly for our neck of the woods. After he left there, he stopped by another tool store (there's always time for that!) and still made it to the Rose Garden in time to set up for the broadcast. Not bad, considering how bad the roads were!

We have been invited to a New Year's Eve party tonight down at Kahrs'. Des and Donna are vacationing in Hawaii, but Dawn is holding down the fort and decided she'd like to have a few friends over to help her ring in the New Year. I sure hope I can stay awake till midnight! We usually turn in early on New Year's Eve so this is something different for us.