O Tannenbaum

We bought our Christmas Tree!!!!  I always love choosing and decorating the tree.  The tree has some silvery-white leaves, it so awesome and pretty-it looks more wintry with the white colors.  Mom, Dad and I had a fun decorating session when I got home from school Monday night- we listened to x-mas music and dad made us tea!!

Decorating

vroom vroom-Thanksgiving @ Salton Sea

As we do every year-Dad & Wesley made sure she ran and then we packed up the good ole' trusty motor home (by 'we' I mean my family, excluding me-I was helping with other stuff), loaded up the bikes and quads and headed out to Salton Sea. 
It was a fun weekend of family, good food, GREAT s'mores, fun name games and of course, dirt biking. I had a fun ride out with Sharon and Sam on Thursday-working up an appetite for the turkey and sweet potatoes!!!  After dinner we hung out at the camp fire and played a celebrity name game-at first it was just Dad, Wesley, Sharon & I-but within a few minutes it was everyone-it kept us all entertained and in a laughing mood.
Here are some Kodak moments from the weekend!

Sharon's bike had a few hiccups-so it was kind of a group project

Sharon, Dad & Gary fixing the popped tire

(thank goodness for green tire goop)

Sharon & Wesley putting the pack tire on

 Meeka didn't want to be left out of the bike drama

Dad: the trusty lead mechanic

We did a little 'through' the bike photo shoot

Jr. Bike Mechanics

Thanksgiving Festivities

We hung a pinata

turkey time

taking a food coma break

family photo shoot

the 4 Montgomery kids

Name game time-we had such a fun evening

S'mores! (Sharon)

POKER RUN

Aunt Sherry & Mom

Superman Reyna

pyramid

they got an extra card by Sharon going in the water

1st team back

going over their pictures & cards

the poker hand

having a margarita waiting for the other teams

Meeka loves to sleep in the middle of the action

turkey, family, friends & lots of photographs

Family Thanksgiving was this past Saturday at my aunt and uncle's house.  It was a lot of fun and it was great to see some people that I haven't seen in a long time.  Getting together with family is always entertaining (in a great way), my grandfather is totally hilarious in his own way.  I was glad we got a snag a few pics with just him and the 7 grandkids:

For dessert I made a Pumpkin-Gingerbread Trifle, it was interesting. I had fun making it-Sharon helped me put it together, of course it never looks exactly like the picture, but it turned out pretty.  I don't think I'll make it again, but it was fun to try.

here are just some more photos from the evening:

Thought this was a very cute candid shot

During pictures Wesley kept is beer in a very convenient place

Awesome Aunt & Hostess

2 of my fav. guys

Apparently eating a giant turkey leg is very exciting stuff

siblings♥

sisters-Aunt Lisa wanted to try a floor pic-it was really funny taking them

The Family

the girl cousins ♥

music of the night

So this evening was very musical.  The TV show 'Glee' was on, which I love, so that gets us in a musical mood.  I recently purchased the new Muse song 'I Belong To You', which is totally AWESOME, along with some other new music.  Dad & Wesley don't really love Muse, but my dad listened and finally agreed that the singer had a good voice and he could see why I enjoyed this music.  So this conversation started us in on comparing different artists and listening to a variety of different artists.  We compared a few Steppenwolf songs to each other, Moody Blues, a little Beatles.  My dad listened to Afroman for the first time ('Because I Got High'-hilariously stupid song) and I found out that Wesley approves one one of my favorite songs on my play list (which is very rare) 'Fireflies' by Owl City.  It is such a happy song, as Wesley put it "It make you happy on the outside."
Later Dad and I were talking about songs and I mentioned 'Behind Blue Eyes', so we listened to the original version (my favorite version) by The Who, and my dad says they weren't as good in concert as the album...so from there he walked me though all the concerts he has been to.  I youtube'd them as he told me, becasue some I had never heard of, Jefferson Airplane for one and a few I can't remember.  Among the ones I do remember, Alice Cooper, CCR, The Carpenters, Santana, and a few more. 
It was just a really fun evening of googling artists and hearing about concerts in the late 60's and 70's.

rain, rain, go away, it's Williamsburg day!

South-east Virginia is being hit with the easterners call a "nor'easter".  It is really just a storm, and it is super cold and really windy.  Despite the cold and the wind, Mom and I rented a car and spent the afternoon and evening in Williamsburg.  We stopped at the Newport News visitor center, mainly because the center was located in a park of the most beautiful trees, but we also learned about how the trees change colors and what colors, it was interesting. 
We got to Williamsburg at 3:30 rushed into town to hit Basset Hall (was once the home of John & Abby Rockefeller) before it closed at 5. Then we went to look at the old hospital, which was one of the first mental hospitals on US soil. The hospital basement is used today as a Folk art museum, in which most of the art was donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, they were also the ones who donated 63 million to restoring Williamsburg to what we know today. After museums we had an amazing dinner at Christiana Campbell's Tavern, it was amazing. I tried pickled watermelon and had my first crab cake, which was more like a pie, I was so happy to have someone to share it with.

@Newport News Visitor center (above & below)

Williamsburg at night in the rain

Christiana's Tavern, so happy to have a hot beverage

waiting for the bus

back in the car, totally soaked and freezing, but in good moods