Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Off--155#

I have definitely had a wonderful holiday season. The pictures below sort of work in reverse order. Part of our Christmas treat to ourselves and to some friends was to take a limo ride to Nashville to eat dinner at the Opryland hotel and walk around to see the lights. Here are some highlights of that and of the rest of my Christmas...

Setting out to Nashville:Chris (a.k.a. Duckman), Izzie, Brandi, and Robbie

Though I partook of the Godiva, I skipped on the crown and Jack. All I could think about was how bad I felt after my last limo ride.

I promise I didn't imbibe. I'm just not photogenic. :) And, BTW, it's official, I'm definitely sick of my hair and going to change it up a bit. You can tell the hubby is really happy 'bout the pic, too.

Where we ate...

Robbie and Brandi peruse the deliciousness.

Checking out the Cascades conservatory.

The hubby waits for the limo. I had to take this from the hip to keep him from turning around.

I think Robbie had a little more to drink than I did.

A few nights ago, the weather was a little warmer than usual, so I decided to get out and play with my tripod and remote shutter release. This little house is down the street from my apartment and always has the most fun, happy Christmas decorations, so I decided to grab some shots of it.

Every year the little town where I live puts these lights on the highest tower in town to make this Christmas tree.

If you look really closely between the trees, you can see that tower of lights in the background. The foreground is the little pond in my back yard.

As we were waiting for dinner to get finished at Mom and Dad's, the kids decided to toss the football around for a little while. Here Michael takes his hand at it.

Grace looks on.

Sean

Mandy

Jessica

Mandy decides getting a piggy-back ride from her big brother is way more fun than trying to throw the pigskin.

The pictures from inside have some really soft focus which provided my two lessona for the night: I can't hand-hold for pics at a shutter speed of 1/20th of a second, and I consistently underexpose by about 1/3 of a stop. So the flash or the 50mm lens will come out next time.
Here Jess is trying to win her way into the family with her quick sense of humor.

Having already won his way into the family, the hubby shows his true colors.

I really hate this one didn't come out better. Shirley and Mandy are sharing a pretty good mother-daughter moment.

Just in case a solitary bow didn't win us over...

The Polly Pockets pool was a hit.

Noah inherited the bow.

Scott is not always pleased with his fiancee's sense of humor. The bow is SO not befitting a soon-to-be big city police officer.

My mom got me a version of the Bible called the "Doctor's Bible" and in these pics is writing the inscription in it.

My chest is bursting with love just going back over these pictures. I really am the most fortunate person in the world.

HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! MAY YOU FEEL AS BLESSED IN THE COMING YEAR AS I ALWAYS DO.