Fall, Christmas and End of Year

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!

Love, Dave, Carrie, Rachel, Joseph, Nicole and Elise

2013 is over?  How is it that times goes by so fast?  I am not ready to write "2014" on my checks.

Here's looking back over the past month and a half since my previous post. 

We've attended weddings! Dave loves them, he looks forward to them.

The first wedding was of our nephew Andrew and Kara in York, PA.

The second wedding was our niece Lauren and Nate in Charlottesville, VA.  Rachel was honored to stand as one of her many bridesmaids. 

Lauren and Nate's Wedding

It's extremely rare that all five Gay children are in one location together and with their parents.  So my bright idea was to have a picture taken.  Do you think any of them took it seriously?  I should have known better.

Girls night out with all the moms from our co-op.  Rosemont a local bed and breakfast and stunning wedding venue opens up to the public for tours during the Christmas season.  All proceeds from the tours go to The Laurel Center, which is intervention for domestic and sexual violence and AbbaCare, a non-profit organization serving women who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy.

 

This grocery cart was given to Elise for Christmas.  For months she has been saying, "I really, really want a food cart for Christmas."  Clearly, Rachel and I had way too much time on our hands Christmas Eve.  It was Rachel's idea, I'll blame her.

Finished product.  Yes, we made Rachel peel off all of the tape on Christmas morning.

Bright and early Christmas morning.  I think Rach would rather be sleeping.

This picture does not do justice to how big the tree was.  Anytime someone would walk into the room they always said, "That is the biggest tree ever."

On our way over to Grammy and Grandad's Christmas afternoon.  Elise received Bullseye from Toy Story for Christmas.  Jesse was from two Christmas' ago.

Of course we can't miss our holiday time with our dear friends (aka the girls I was a nanny for).  Elizabeth is now living in Norfolk and spending most of her time out on a Coast Guard Cutter.  Sarah is finishing her senior year of college in Chicago and will begin working as a nurse.  The baby Sam, is a junior in high school and continues to play soccer and swim competitively.  We all enjoyed a steaming hot pot of chili and the girls took all my kids to see the movie Frozen.  We LOVE visiting them.  My kids now refer to the girls as their cousins. 

Joseph's latest kill four days ago, a 9-point buck.  This one we are having made into a full mount.