Birthday, Crabbing, & Christmas

This post is all about playing catch up! I am condensing most of the fun things we did in December here. ☺

Happy birthday to me!

On the 11th, I turned (gulp!) 45. Wow! Middle age!! Omid and I celebrated by going to Pine State Biscuits for breakfast. I brought my own candle, lit it & Omid snapped this photo. Do you want to know what is the perfect birthday cake? Biscuits & gravy! We had a delicious breakfast and it was a fun way to spend my birthday morning.☺

The weekend of December 13-15, we went crabbing & razor clamming. My dad drove down from Olympia to meet Ward & Omid on the morning of the 13th to go crabbing. I can't remember the exact number of crab caught, but I know it was over twenty. Lin, Tammie, Jeff & I had to work that Friday (+ the kids had school), so we all met up with Omid and gang later that evening. We ate tons of crab & fresh oysters for dinner. So delicious!

The next day, Tammie, Lin, my dad, Ward, Jeff & Omid went crabbing again. They didn't have as much luck, and only got one crab. I stayed behind with the kids & dogs. Matty and Austin drove Matty's Jeep on the beach and got stuck in soft sand. Uh oh!  A good Samaritan stopped to help dig them out and an hour later, two very relieved boys came back to tell us the story. So glad a $1000 tow was not needed! Matty learned a valuable lesson: stay off the soft sand!!!

We headed out for the razor clam dig at 2:30 p.m.  It was the Stevens' first time ever and we were excited to show them the ropes. We all got our limits in less than 30 minutes. Remy & Jack helped out too. It was a great weekend with lots of love! I can't wait until we do it again.☺

Clamming weekend at Long Beach, WA.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. We had a small get together with our friends. Omid made several fun appetizers and I made cranberry bliss bars for dessert.

 

Fun fact: Every other December, Omid and I rewatch the entire season of The Sopranos. Here are Nas & Matty posing "Soprano" style for me. So fun!

 Remy wasn't too keen on the idea of being picked up for the second photo.

 

We were so busy chatting, that I neglected to get any photos of the party. Jeff invited us all to attend Christmas Eve mass with him and his family at 10:00 p.m. We took up the entire back pew of the church. It was a very nice service.

We celebrated Christmas day at a party at the Stevens' home. So much delicious food! After dinner, We played poker and I was the big winner! Yay, me!

Jeff's parents, MeMe & Pop flew in from Texas, Christmas evening, just in time for the party.

The parents!

The kids!

This photo made me stop in my tracks. While I love the photo of us all together, I dislike the food/wine baby who showed up to the party. Photos don't lie....I have restarted The Shred!!!

December ended with my good friend & former Special Services coworker, Sharon, visiting from Texas. We had a lovely reunion at Lapellah.

♥

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am so looking forward to changes and new beginnings for 2014.☺