...months and months...

Hey!  Here I am.  Boy has this year been a blur.  Six months since my last post!  An awful lot going on here.  New grand baby, wonderful trip to Italy, youngest daughter's wedding, and BAM!  Now it is a week until Christmas.

I know that I owe you a whole whack of posts and believe me I have a lot to tell you.  But those stories are for another day.  (Probably after the 1st of the year).

I did want to share something though that happened this past weekend.  It really warmed my heart.

Every other year we have a Christmas party in our barn.  It's a really fun, relaxed afternoon with many friends and family members.  It's a casual thing, people dress in jeans and warm coats.  The barn has heat but it's a big barn and it takes a long time to heat it up!

Each year that we have this party we ask everyone to bring a toy to be donated to kids in our community that are in need.  This year we chose to work with Tuality Hospital.

They specifically asked for games and toys for kids ages 9-12.  This age range seems to get less donations than other ages.  So when we sent out our invites we asked for game and toys for them and boy did the gifts roll in!

Legos, Sorry, Monopoly, Scrabble!  I think we got 9 Apples to Apples games!  I am so thankful for our friends and family and am especially thankful that they are so generous.  I packed up all of the toys and games yesterday morning and headed to the hospital with them. (My car was jammed!)  The hospital was really happy to see me!  They were so appreciative and it felt so good to deliver this gift.  

In a matter of days we will be heading to our house at Sunriver for the holidays with the entire family.  I am really excited about this!   Can't wait to celebrate the season with the grandkids! I think there will be some sledding in my near future...

 I leave you with a little gift~

Elliet and her first Christmas tree.

Until next year, happy holidays!