Tahoe Ladies Tea & HATS * HATS * HATS

Our Tahoe Ladies went to Old town Niles for tea today. It was so much fun. The younger ladies had fun trying on different hats. What a kick! Tea was delicious and it was so good to see everyone. We missed not having Joy, Julie & Karen with us.

Asilomar

I love going to Asilomar every year for our Women's Church Retreat. It is just a wonderful place to view God's creation with wonderful friends, great scenery, walks on the beach, a bit of shopping and lots of eating. This year was so much fun because my friend Marianna flew in from London to make sure she didn't miss the fun. Then her friend, Peggy Sue joined us from Seattle. It seemed like a perfect way for everyone to have fun times together. We had gatherings on the beach, walks to Spanish Bay to hear the bag piper on the greens at sunset, many meal together, a fireplace in our room, and hanging out with long time and dear friends. We went into Carmel and those that love to shop did that and those that loved to walk by the water and look at what 5.9 million will buy for you did that. OK, just look at the pictures. It was so much fun. The Sea * The Lord This is in the Julia Morgan Chapel. The words spoke to me!

Here we are on the beach the day we arrived. We are just waiting for the sunset.

Fran Marianna and I are at Spanish Bay. We are once again waiting for the Sunset. A favorite pasttime.

Helen and I are enjoying the beach.

Peggy Sue, Fran, Jeanie, Helen, Marianna, Trudy and Me.

60th Birthdays & New Years

Don and Steve both celebrated their 60th Birthday at our cabin. Low key is how I would describe the celebration. Don and I went to Ducey on the Lake for his birthday as Erica, Andrew and Steve didn't arrive until the next day. . We had a great dinner. Then the next night for Steve's 60th, we went to dinner at Castellos. He even celebrated with a margarita. They wanted low key and they got it. So, here are the two birthday pictures. Not exactly exciting, but that sort of goes with the celebration.

We had a great weekend. We play lots of bridge and richman/poorman. We went for walks and took lots of pictures. We had a two hour photo session at the falls, which was lots of fun. So, if you like pictures, here they are. As you can see, I like pictures with people in them.

Christmas In Portland

Here are a few pictures to give you a taste of what a wonderful Christmas we had in Oregon. We had Christmas Eve at Chris & Jess's house with our traditional tamale dinner. Now Erica told me that was her traditional Christmas Eve, but because we have been doing it for so many years, it is our tradition too. Even Jess felt we had to make them. On Christmas morning, we made Nancy's Egg dish and her Cherry Roll. It was delicious. Then on Christmas evening, after naps, we headed over to Jess's parents house for a wonderful Christmas dinner. Jess's brother and wife had arrived Christmas afternoon from Southern California, so it was fun to have everyone together. It was cold in Portland, so we spent most of our time inside. We did take a few walks. But, if you scroll down, you will see some of the dancing that went on. I can never convince Don to dance with me, yet he seemed to jump right in and dance with his adorable grandchildren. Maryn took her Barbie's to Bethlehem

Lucy was more interested in the more traditional manger. The four Ballanti's

The Grandparents with Maryn and Lucy.

Here is Chris with his Cowbell. It's been in the family for 35 years.

Tamale Making

Dance Dance Dance Ask Don if the song "I want a Hippotomus for Christmas" is going through his head.