The lighting for these pictures is horrible, but it was still really cool to get a four generation picture of our men! Stanley, Clair, Ryan and Pierscen.
Pierscen was quite happy to see Great Grandma H too. Pierscen was quite a fan of the food at this feast. He devoured almost all of my "Mormon potatoes" (to my understanding they are a twist on the funeral potato) and ate a bunch of my sweet potatoes too. Cute little bug.
I haven't done my hair down for forever, so I figured I would grab a picture. Proof that it's not always in a ponytail or bun. Just 99% of the time.
Pierscen loved playing with the nativity set at grandmas. I have been searching various websites for this particular set (Little People by FisherPrice.) It's not hard to find, but it's rather pricey.
Below is Pierscen and Kristopher enjoying some banana together Saturday morning while the boys went shooting.
That afternoon we went up to Cabelas again. Must. Have. Elk. Sandwich. Sadly, they ran out about 2 people ahead of us. Lame! I can only blame myself. I insisted on going running at the rec center before hand. Had I not, we would have been there early enough to not have a problem. Sad day.
Saturday night we went down to the Riverwoods with Necia, Bill and kids to see Santa. They had a really pretty house set up in the middle of the shopping area and this Santa didn't cost anything for pictures!
Pierscen was pretty tired at this point, so he didn't have any smiles for Santa, but he didn't cry either. He really doesn't care about strangers at this point. I am sure stranger anxiety will settle in at some point, but for now, he is good with pretty much anyone holding him.
This short little clip about sums it up. He totally zoned out. Time to move on. Thanks Santa.
Sunday we had dinner with Ryan's family and he invited over his old school pal Robert. Robert has gone camping with Ry's family a few times. He is a great kid and we haven't seen him in quite a long time. After dinner and putting P down for bed, we slipped out the door to spend some time at my parents. We spent a few hours there just chatting away. It was nice.
Unfortunately, part of that talk was discussing what to do with my dear old cat Cassie. Best we can calculate she is about 14. She has had a massive abscess in her mouth/cheek for a while now. She is still eating, but she has lost a TON of weight and is basically skin and bones. She only goes out if mom carries her outside and she had been peeing on my parents bathroom rugs for a while. It was pretty clear that it was time to have her put to sleep. It is a hard decision, and no one wants to do it, but it was time. Considering she really is my cat, I told my parents that we would do it.
So the following morning we came to the house, picked Cassie up and took her to the vet. It was absolutely the right thing to do, but I cried and cried and cried. Ryan even cried a little too. Not for the cat. But for me. I have a lot of great memories with her. She was a great comfort and companion when I first moved down to the basement when I was about 12. She lived a really great wonderful life.
It was definitely an awful way to end the trip, but I am grateful that I was there to do it. I know my parents really didn't want to be the ones to make the call, especially if I wasn't there. I will miss you Cassie.
After saying goodbye to both sides of the family, we stopped by the mall to say goodbye to Necia since I didn't get to see her the night before.
It was an incredible trip. I am so thankful for family and the great relationships that we have. There are a lot of us, but that just makes it all the more amazing and wonderful. We truly are blessed.
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