Family, Football and Fresno

Today is unfortunately the last day of a much-needed five day weekend. It has been a busy weekend with us hosting Thanksgiving again, but a lot of fun.
Wednesday and Thursday morning we cleaned the house and got ready for company. This Thanksgiving was special because my aunt, uncle, and cousins from Colorado (hi Aunt Cindy!) came out to spend the day with us. We had a very nice dinner, with good conversation and lots of food. And, of course, the required group photo:
On Friday we did a little bit of shopping, although we didn't brave the malls. Getting up at 4am to shop isn't my idea of fun. Then Friday evening we left to drive down to Fresno and stayed the night at Katie's apartment. The reason why my Colorado relatives came out this year is because my youngest cousin, Corey, is a long-snapper on the Kansas State Football team.
On Saturday we got to see his team play against the Fresno State Bulldogs. I had never been in such a big college football stadium before. We had fun watching the cheerleaders perform their formations.
The whole experience was a lot of fun. Even Grandma had a great time! We didn't get to see Corey for long after the game, but we did manage to get a few group photos of the cousins.
We're looking forward to our next visit with the Adams family, which will be next August in Colorado when Meghan and AJ are married. It'll be here before we know it!
(In case the family is interested in getting copies of the pictures I took this weekend, they are available for printing or download at: www.dropshots.com/melanne)

Weekend Warriors!

At our house, there is no sitting around relaxing on three-day holiday weekends. We don't take our precious vacation time to actually go on vacation. And going to see a movie? That would be too much fun. No, on our three day weekends we work on the house! And this three-day Veteran's Day Weekend was no exception.

Logan's dad and stepmom arrived on Friday evening and stayed with us for the weekend. It was so nice to see them, and fun to have houseguests. But we worked!

Logan and his dad (with minor help from Sue and me) built a new front porch for us this weekend. Poor Logan is already looking forward to Thanksgiving break so that he can rest for a while, and I'm sure his dad is too! But the finished project is absolutely gorgeous- it just needs some paint. We can't wait to string it with Christmas lights. Here are some photos (before and after), along with a shot of our new driveway:

Halloween and a driveway

We had a fun Halloween this year. I took the day off and went with Logan's class to trick-or-treat at a convalescent home near his school. The kids were so cute, especially little Bradley who dressed as a shark! Logan dressed as a Nascar pit-crew chief, and looked very official with his headset and jacket.In the evening we went over to my mom and dad's house to carve pumpkins and pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. We don't get any kids at our house since it's on a busy street.Logan and I (successfully) attempted to change the oil for the first time in the Volkswagen this afternoon. The dealer was going to charge an exorbitant amount to do it, so Logan thought we should try ourselves. It was a little messy, but now that we know how it's done it'll be a fast job next time. And the car is running great.

In other news, we have a new driveway now that is big enough to fit both of our cars. The pictures below show the demolition of our old driveway and the readied site before the cement was poured. It was poured and finished this morning, but it was dark by the time we got home tonight, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to take a photo of the finished product. It's beautiful!Next on the home improvement agenda is remodeling the front porch, which will happen next weekend. We're looking forward to Logan's dad and stepmom visiting us to help with the project.
By the way, if you're reading this, leave a comment sometime so that I know I'm not just talking to myself!