See you Next Year!

It's really hard for me to get much sewing done with everyone home for the holidays.  I did manage to get a quilt started for my husband, who just celebrated his 50th birthday a few days ago!  It's going to be a bit late, but better late than never.

I also got to enjoy some much needed time in the snow with the family.  Batteries recharged! 

We were originally going to go to ski trails along I-84, East of here in Pendleton, but noticed at about 10:45am that the East side of the interstate had closed due to a crash.  This is unfortunately a way too common occurrence, as this stretch of road is notoriously treacherous.  We headed into the mountains North and East of town, and when we got back (after experiencing the heavy detour traffic on a normally remote empty highway), saw news of a tourist bus that had plunged off the highway and killed 9 people.  The survivors are now being cared for and housed here in town.  We have a small hospital, so many were flown to other towns.  Such a sad, tragic event.  I'm once again reminded of how precious life is.

One last big event to recap is that my oldest son shot his first elk on my husband's 50th birthday (a few days after Christmas).  Best birthday present ever for DH.  We (meaning my husband) decided to butcher it ourselves.  An elk is very similar in size to a beef cow, so we've already been very busy butchering and will be for the next good week.  We've plugged in a 3rd freezer, and between a whole deer and a whole elk, won't have to buy any meat for a good long time!