Mom came down this weekend for a visit. it was so nice to have her here, especially after a VERY hard week at work. There’s something to be said about the comfort a mother gives her child…. no matter what the age. I can’t believe it’s been since Christmas since I’ve seen my own mother. I was so glad that she came down during her spring break.

Originally I had planned on prepping the back yard for the next weekend when Eric’s parents, Bob & Julie, were going to come down and Bob was going to make raised beds. I changed my mind when I got up on Saturday. The week had been so hard and emotional the last thing I wanted to do was work. I figured the day would be a great one to go shopping with mom for plants and flowers for the garden.

Eric, Mom and I went shopping at Home Depot and a few other big nurseries for flowers and things. We finally ended up at Bethany Gardens, a local nursery. The stuff there was great. It was so nice to have mom shopping with us for plants because both Eric and I had no clue about any of it. It was hard for me to not pick everything that was in bloom because, as mom said, I’m into immediate gratification. She helped us so much in picking out everything we needed. It was a great birthday gift. Thanks MOM!

Today is Christmas! It’s sort of a funny day because it feels like Christmas but then it doesn’t too. Maybe it’s the lack of snow on the ground. I’m not sure. Eric and I and the rest of the family got up at a reasonable hour. Mom and Josh made it at about 9:30 and we had breakfast. Gosh I was hungry by the time they got here. Later in the morning mom and I drove to Yakima and picked up grandma for the holidays. It still feels different going to her apartment only because it’s anew place that she lives. It was comforting though to see all the same Christmas decorations up on the wall in her apartment. I couldn’t help thinking at the time how some things can make you feel at home. My grandma has lived in Sunnyside, moved to Kirkland, moved back to Yakima, lived in two different houses in Yakima and now she’s in an apartment and yet wherever she is feels like grandma’s house because of the pictures on the walls and decorations and things. I love my grandma. She’s been through so much in her life and has so much more to do. It was so nice that she could come to Ellensburg and share in the holiday. Yet again, I got to have the holidays with both families.

Once we got back to Ellensburg is was presents time. Funny how when I was younger I couldn’t wait to open present and now I have the ability to wait. We all sat around the tree while Julie played the elf and passed out gifts to everyone. It’s great to see all the gifts people got.

Mom was down for Thanksgiving this year again. It was so nice. It’s great when she can make it down and we can visit. I wish we did it more but between her crazy school schedule and my work schedule it’s hard… Not to mention the 4+ hour boring drive.

Mom made it here on Wednesday and surprisingly this time she didn’t call and say she was lost. She’s getting better. It was sort of funny on the way to Bruce and Kathy’s for Thanksgiving because she was telling Eric the thing that’s so confusing is that you go south on I5 for a bit and then north on I405 before you go west on 26. Eric was sure she was mistaken about that so on the way home we all paid attention to the signs and sure enough, you are going north on 405 for about 2 miles. Mom’s are ALWAYS right!

Friday we didn’t do a whole lot because I had to work at SBA until about noon. All us girls (Julie, Hollie, Mom and I) went and had lunch at Chevy’s. Their food is so good. It’s one of my favorites. By the time we were done we were all stuffed and headed home. Later that night all the boys watched the Sonics game while we either were on the computer, watching the game or chatting. I think the cutest part of the whole night was Miles and Baylee. Baylee behaved herself so well considering she’s not used to having a 2 year old run around and chase her. It was so cute. Baylee would have her ball and Miles would want her to drop it so he could throw it for her. He’d walk behind her and say “dop it Bayee” It was SO cute. That kid is too cute for words…

Mom ended up leaving Saturday morning after Bob and Julie came over to say goodbye and have breakfast and mochas. Its was such a nice and relaxing visit.

Thanksgiving this year was out in Corbett again at Eric’s aunt and uncles’. It was another great year. My mom came down, Josh was already here, Bob and Julie came down as did Jim and we had another combined Titus, Crosier Thanksgiving. It was so nice. We had the traditional turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. Kathy made the corn pudding this year using another recipe. It was AWESOME! It was really nice to visit with everyone and relax. I wish Kathy would have come out and relaxed with the rest of us but she’s the Thanksgiving guru when it comes to cooking. She did a great job!
Here’s to another great year with family.

Here’s a few pictures of everyone. (I’m trying the embedding pictures in here thing)

The other side of the table

Here’s a great picture of Julie and Miles watching cars go by.

Today Eric and his dad played Appletree, in Yakima. Mom, Eric and I drove from Othello to meet Bob so they could play. Mom and I went to visit grandma. I haven’t seen here in FOREVER so I thought it was a great opportunity to visit with her. Mom and I took her shoe shopping at the mall in Union Gap. I guess there’s no mall downtown anymore. They’ve all apparently moved out to the Valley Mall. Grandma didn’t find the shoes she wanted to we headed for lunch at this really nice Bistro. We all had this awesome turkey sandwich with cream cheese, cranberry, and almond slivers. It was so nice and tasty. After lunch we headed back to grandma’s and mom and I went down into the storage room to get all the family photos. I want to do some creative things with them. I really want to scan them all and burn CD’s of the pictures for all of us grandkids so we have them. Of course I’m sure I’ll make a scrapbook of sorts as well. Eric’s dad dropped Eric off and we headed back to Othello. It was really nice to catch up with grandma and see how she’s doing. I need to visit her more often.