Thanksgiving '09 & Heather's Birthday & Anniversary Wishes to Blair & Heather

We decided to celebrate our Thanksgiving a little early so we could all be there. Danielle and Paul are hosting the "Fischers", Noelle and Aaron are heading for Omaha, Blair and Heather will be at the 'Olson's" and Abby and Dan will be at Dan's aunt's home on Thanksgiving. So Jeff and I thought we would start a new tradition of celebrating the Sunday before. This was great - we were able to relax and enjoy the day. We are very thankful for all the blessings in our lives!

--- along with all of this Heather also celebrated her birthday on the 14th!
--- and Blair and Heather celebrated their 5 year anniversary on the 27th!

Thanksgiving pics ---

Aaron helping Ean ride the horse.
Playing with Uncle Blair - Lauren and John.

A bale of pheasants!

Jeff and the group hunted on a group of five farms - 90,000 acres. They came home with a limit of pheasants and special memories of a very successful hunt.

Pheasant Hunting in Pierre, SD

Jeff has done buildings with Marty Kiehm for many years. After having been invited numerous times to go on the hunt Jeff finally decided to go. Marty flew his Cessna 340. They had a great time - the weather and the hunt were excellent - as I write this we are cleaning the pheasants. We plan to enjoy them on Thanksgiving Day at the cabin.

Long Lake Conservation Center - Quilt Retreat

Our annual quilt retreat was this past weekend. Karen & I made all the girls a special pillowcase to use for our retreats. Last winter I found the fabric in Phoenix - Karen & I then made them while we were at the cabin this summer at our "Beat the Heat Quilt Retreat." We enjoyed the process as much as giving them to everyone. Pictured is Karen, Pat, Abby, Jamie, Danielle, 2nd row - me, Kelly, Laura, and Linda! We enjoyed the time quilting and sharing.

Great-Grandma's group is growing!

We tried again to get all those babies to look our way - check the other blogs - someone-else maybe gotten a better pic of them all facing front:) What fun we all had.

left to right- Ean (almost 1), John (2), Lauren (2), Great-Grandma, Oliver (4 months), Natalie (4), and Avery (almost 1)

What a beautiful group of ladies!

All the "girl" cousins were able to attend the bridal shower - sitting - then from left to right;
Claire, Noelle; Chelsie (newly engaged:), Julie, Allison (baby due in February), Becky; Jackie, Abby, and Danielle!