For Thanksgiving we went to Mark's Aunt Shelly's house. Shelly and her husband Travis were such gracious hosts and we had such a good time. It was pretty much a Gray family reunion, minus a few family members. Definitely something that needs to be done more often. Thank you again Travis and Shelly for letting all of us take over your beautiful home for 4 days.

The Thanksgiving crowd.
The Gray siblings and their Mom, Grannie Gray.

Almost all of the cousins.

Poor Wes, he got harassed by Korie the whole time. Good thing he is such a good sport about it.

Kinley getting a little love from Owen.

Erika and Kinley Shea

Morning bonding time in bed with Holly, Grannie, Missy, Sunshine and Kali

During our visit, I was fortunate enough to go visit some of my family as well. I have a handful of relatives that live in the Tahoe and Grass Valley area. The girls and I made a morning trip to Grass Valley where I got to see my Grandma CC, Aunt Kelly and Teri and cousins Amber and Jessie. It's been way too long since I have seen them, probably a good 7 years. It was soooo great to see them. Like Mark's family, they are such a great, kind hearted group of people. I wish we lived closer...correction..I wish THEY lived closer ! Also, it was finally discovered who the heck little Kinley Shea looks like. My Aunt Kelly's baby pictures were on the wall and she looked JUST like Kinley Shea!

Happy Thanksgiving

We are heading out of town to celebrate Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a blessed holiday.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
-JFK

Happy Birthday to Kali. She is 3 years old finally. She's been talking about it for months. Kali is such a special little girl. Her smile lights up a room and she has quite a personality. Honestly, the biggest personality of any little kid I have ever met. We love you Kali Marie!!!

Kali at 1 year old

Sweet Kali at 1 day old

Time to open presents. Princess jammies for the Princessa

Snow White is her favorite Princess lately. Thanks Aunt Sunshine and family for the cool dress! Hopefully she never ends up living with 7 little men.

Another new bobby from her Grandma. Thanks Grandma and Papa.

Mark baked and decorated the cake himself. How many little girls can say their daddy baked and decorated their birthday cake? Bet you didn't know I was married to a closet Martha Stewart. That man can do anything, really!

In addition to celebrating Kali's birthday this weekend, I was lucky enough to a get a little vacation. Mark surprised me Thursday night with a chunk of money and an "agenda" which included meeting my good friend Michele Friday morning to head out of town for a girls weekend. Mark thought I deserved a little getaway. Michele and I spent a great weekend in Bend, OR. Bend is such a quaint beautiful town and the perfect place to visit. Michele and I enjoyed pedicures, good food, a movie and tons of shopping! If you haven't been there...go! I recommend staying in downtown or the Old Mill District. Every building has so much charm. I think most of the buildings, old and new, were constructed of brick. Here are a few pics! Thanks Michele and Mark for the great weekend.

Michele in front of a house in downtown. Most of the houses were this cute.

McMenamins, which is an old school converted into a cool restaurant, hotel and movie theater.

One of the many beautiful buildings downtown. This was the church across from our hotel.

Daddy's Home!!!

We are so happy to have Mark back home. He had a good trip to Reno; our little stud-muffin bull took second place!

Looks like one little girl missed her daddy

I have been meaning to take a picture of this. Probably not very exciting to most but extremely HUGE deal to me. This is a pic of the making in process of our house foundation. Most likely it will be a few years before the house is done, but we have to start somewhere and as I am learning, this is the biggest step of all! Wohoooo!

No need to buy toys

Yep, that is one black shoe (of Kali's) on Kinley's foot. She is setting a new fashion trend.

What do they say about women drivers?

Kinley hasn't quite mastered forward yet.

Why do babies always put things around their neck?

Anything she can find that will fit over her head...well...that's what Kinley does with it. Here she's got a clean pair of her daddy's undies. Nice!!!! Mark left yesterday for Reno for 4 days. There is a big Red Angus cattle auction and show there. Can't wait until we can all go do those kind of things together as a family. In the meantime, we girls will hold down the fort and Kinley can walk around wearing his undergarments as a sign of how much she misses her dad.

Halloween Fun

Korie walking in the annual school Halloween parade down Miner Street with her buddy Abigail.Korie was Taylor Swift this year.

Pooh bear Kali on the sidewalk watching the kids. Where is her Sissy?

This was my best attempt at getting a picture of all 3 girls. We had 2 little tired cranky ones.

Friday evening we went to a Halloween party. This is the adults opportunity to play a little dress up. I was Hannah Montana, Mark was Billy Ray Cyrus and Michele was Lola. It was fun even if we didn't really look like any of them. The best part, although a little frightening was seeing Mark with a mullet. What were people thinking back in the 80's?

Little Indian Princess and Taylor Swift

Lola and Hannah in da house!!!

I can't believe I let this strange looking guy hold our baby. What was I thinking?

Sweet nibblets....it's Hannah Montana her friend Lola and Billy Ray.

Kali having a great time modeling her sister's wig at home.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!!

Taylor Swift rocks!!!! Rumor has it she's making an appearance at the P Bar on Friday and Saturday with some of her famous friends possibly. More to come.....

The girls think this video is hilarious for some reason. They laugh hysterically. So, I thought I'd share.

This lovely shirt is a project of Korie's that she made at school. We all got a good laugh out of it. Needless to say, she won't be strolling through town wearing this. Mark was thrilled with her creation, as I am sure you can imagine.

If you look closely, you can see Kinley's eyes smiling...yes, her eyes really do smile.

Korie's new accessory

Our little Korie Bug got braces this week. She's been asking for them for a long time. Is this a phase every kid goes through? Are braces some sort of rite of passage for those that need them? What is so fascinating about having metal train tracks on ones teeth? Anyway, now that the temporary pain has set in, she still thinks they are cool but is looking forward to when they come off or at least to when the pain goes away.

This best thing about October...

is the visit to the pumpkin patch

Her shirt says it all

Kinley loved walking around stomping on all of the vines

I found an extra special pumpkin to carry home

Some days are stressful and hectic. At times, I feel like I am managing the WWF. Fortunately, our kids give us frequent moments like this that remind me that it's all so worth it.

Looks like another "bobby" lover

Kinley carried this around with her all day today for the first time. She wouldn't let it out of her sight.
Here she is reassuring her bobby that she loves it, giving it a little snuggle.

Mark and Korie on a morning ride.
When Korie and Mark got back to the house, I went outside to open a gate for them in front of the house. Kali came running from inside the house telling Mark "I wanna ride!" We tried to tell her no at first and then she got very upset and started crying.

Mark is such a good daddy. She even got Brewster feeling sorry for her.

Are you asking yet why Kali is in her underwear and if it's warm enough for her to be outside in them? She refuses to ever wear clothes and NO, it wasn't warm enough to be outside in just undies.

Looks like Kali got her way.