MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

Tom & I hiked at Sara Park today. We love this hike.

Today we went about 5 1/2 miles. It was an absolutely

beautiful day. We hiked out to "Balanced Rock" point.

You can see by the picture below why it's called balanced

rock.

Self-Portrait out at the point. Set the camera on a boat

tie-up. Tom thought it was kinda dumb and we had to

squint in the sun...anyway, I love to squint in the sun

on December 17th and nearly 70 degrees!!!

Balanced Rock @ Lake Havasu


My knee brace pulled me through and I was happy as I
was a bit apprehensive since my knees have been giving
me grief lately. But just recently they've felt a little better
so thought I'd give it a try. Yay!!! It worked real fine!!!

Cookie Time

Malia pressed and frosted Spritz Cookies.

She had this great idea of making cookies to give out to
friends...I've done it plenty of times in past years and so
I seconded the motion and away we went...spent two
afternoons (evenings too) making, cooking, baking,
packaging, cleaning, etc. etc. Finished this evening
and so now we can start giving them away tomorrow.
(That's the fun part...well, yes, it's fun making them too)
but have to admit, I have an "achy, breaky" back at the
moment...too much kitchen time today, I guess!
I also made a new recipe this afternoon called:
"Mushroom, Beef, Lasagne"
(sounded interesting as I was trying to stay away
from a tomato sauce for mom's diverticulitis). We
will try it out tomorrow as we are having guests
over for lunch!

No-Bake cookies
(Tom & Daniel's favorite)

Almond Bark, Peanut Butter Blossoms

and Chocolate Haystacks...

Cookie Time - The finished Products!

They're finally finished...Yay!!! Lots of fun, but lots of work!

L. to R.

Oatmeal Cluster Cookies (No-Bake),

Soda Cracker Bars (like almond roca), Almond Bark,

Chocolate Haystacks, Peanut-Butter Blossoms

and Spritz (Butter Cookies).

The finished products!

Mesmerizing Morning Sky

The other morning I went out to get the newspaper

out of the driveway and was greeted by this awesome

morning sky...I just stood there and stared, then I woke

up enough to decide I needed to go get my camera.

Caught it just in time...

Can I RANT for a minute???

O.K. my rant is about parents that name their new baby a name that is incredibly dumb or just NOT FAIR? Why is this...a poor innocent, sweet little baby with a name given that they have no say over and it's pretty much forever (unless the child hates it so much that they go to all the effort to have it changed on their own) but in the meantime, for how many years they have to put up with kids (or even adults) making fun of their names...

Every Sunday our Arizona newspaper puts the "NEW ARRIVALS" listing them by first, all the girls, their parents names, the newborns' name and their weight. Yay! I always have fun reading this and seeing what people name their children. Today just seemed so unfair for some of these sweet little newborns...

There is listed under 'daughters' normal names like: (First and middle names included):
Grace Kathleen, Mia Lourdes, Sage Marie Spence, Rylee Jane, Peyton Leigh, Chrissa Sueann, Aliviah Nicole, Romina Elizabeth, Paige Brooklynne,
And 'sons' like: Garrett Edward, Garrett Dale, Brent Hamilton, James Johnathan, Franco Santiago Castanedo, Kaden Michael, and William Edward...

Then there's poor little Summer Julie Escobar (born in the Fall)...but Summer isn't t-h-a-t bad, but what about poor Romina Mu, or Monica Nevaeh Unique Lee and poor little Skye Raye Light. How many people are going to say, uh what....Oh, Skye, you give such a beautiful Light or Sky Light, you're much cuter than the sky light in my bathroom, or say she decided to go with her middle name instead so there won't be so many jokes and that doesn't even work, Raye of Light....why didn't the parents put "OF" in there as a middle name? And Son, Xander Ryder Comer (actually Xander is kind of cute) but the name doesn't exactly flow, he might be in 6th grade before he can say his name, and poor "Jose Guadalupe Maldonado" may learn to spell his name by 6th grade!

OK, enough of the ranting...I feel better now that I got that off my chest!

Dad (Grandpa) working on his TAN...

Catchin' some rays.

Everyday, dad lays out by the

pool to work on his tan. This

was last Sunday with all his

dress clothes on. I thought it

was so funny...he keeps talking

about working on his TAN.

Thanksgiving @ the Bogues

Ron & Archie cutting the turkey
Archie & Elinor

Malia, Cameron, Evonne & Dad making music.

Cruey on the saw and the others making music.

Mostly hymns...it was beautiful.

FRESH BUZZ

What is it???
Smile....
Derek had me "buzz" his hair
before he left for Seattle this
afternoon. Looks like he
plans to come back again in
January and start some college
classes.

Happy Thanksgiving Time...

I found this little lamp at the thrift store the

other day for only $5.00...what a bargain...

I thought it was so cute...did I need it???

No...did I want it???

Yes...so I got it, and it does

look pretty cute on the the entry table

with my "skinny" Pilgrims and

funny little turkey all decked out!

My "New" Thrift-Store Skirt

Awful 'self-portrait' but was happy to

find this white skirt at the thrift store

yesterday for $3.50.

It's no "biggie" just a silly little

thrift-store find!

Our Beautiful Sunsets the past two days...

The past two nights have been beautiful for

sunsets in the backyard...

They change so quickly...

actually within seconds or minutes.

Special Visitors

Kara & Esther
Malia & Kara
Making some beautiful music...

Stargazer Lilies

So, Malia's boyfriend, Austin sent these

beautiful flowers to the house for Malia's

17th birthday last Wednesday.

They are gorgeous flowers but I must say, I'm

not very fond of the aroma they leave, so I'll

just look them from afar...since they aren't where

I can see them anyway...as they found a home in

Malia's bedroom!!!

Malia's Bedroom "re-do" for her 17th Birthday

Cozy corner with a twin bed.

Her bed and new spread and curtains.

The "film-strip" I got her...seemed like a

good fit with her new color scheme...

black/white/silvery-gray/with some

burgundy!

Piece of artwork Malia purchased for her new

bedroom re-do...Nice choice I thought.

Black N White poster we framed....

LOVE Paris...yes sireeeeeee =D

Neato black candle wall sconce Malia

found on-line.

Another Sweet Birthday Gift

This sweet gift arrived in the mail today and you would

guess that it came from Seattle =)

Makes me feel a little nostalgic.

Harv and Linda sent this along with

a Starbucks gift card...How

SEATTLE can a person get???

SWEET!!!!

Another Beautiful Sunset Tonight..

I looked outside and saw another beautiful sunset,

however, I'm usually not quite quick enough to catch

it by camera in it's spectacular glory.

Awesome to think of God's wonderful

creation...

South Pacific Musical

Last Night JoAnn, Barbara and I went to the Musical:

"South Pacific" here in Havasu at our own "Grace

Arts Live"...main street theatre. It was done very

nicely with locals as well as 'out of towners'. The

next two coming up for the year in November and

December are "Nunsense" a comedy, and "The

Wizard of Oz". It was an evening enjoyed by each of us.

Pictures from when Ginny D. was here for a visit

Today, under the palapa...We were totally squinting

with the sun in our eyes...but Ginny wanted to get our

picture.

Tom (dad), Ginny and I walked from Rotary Park down

to the London Bridge...it was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed

showing Ginny the sights of Lake Havasu. It's such a

beautiful place especially when it cools down to the 80's.

Super windy day...but it's Ginny and I next to one of the

15 or so lighthouse replicas in Lake Havasu. You can

see the "chop" on the lake behind us!