Thanksgiving 2008 and Weekend

OMG!!!! Skip said this afternoon his stomach hurts ... and it is from us laughing so much over the past 24 hours :) We had a terrific Thanksgiving dinner out at Rick and Sandi's ... great marinated turkey that browned and cooked so perfect, ham, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes, stuffing, rice-n-artichoke dressing, umpteen salads, lots of pickles and finger foods ... and the best part??? I only took scalloped potatoes and some delicious dill pickle hors 'doeurves:

Take nice-sliced lunch ham, spread with cream cheese, wrap around a great dill pickle. press tight and then with a good sharp knife (... a Sanelli??) slice generous 1/2" wedges. Ryan made ours the night before and they were still great the next day even after slicing and overnight in the fridge.

It was great not to do my usual over-cooking :) And of course there was PLENTY of great food.

So we get home and Ryan and Skip decide to go back to playing FarCry2 ... a game they have been non-stop on since it came out at the end of October. Skip has been talking about wanting to set up a server game since they got it, but never sounded really serious. We all started talking about it and I was fiddling with online info about router settings and such. We made some progress and then decided to get really motivated and figure it out. Several hours later, we had it kicked. Up and running a dedicated server from Skip's machine in the shop, which meant that Ryan and Skip could both connect to 'their own' server from in the house. Most importantly, it meant they could load up some of the player-created maps and could choose which map to plan when.

Once it was working, they were a couple of happy campers and played non-stop from about 8:30 till 5am this morning. Killing each other, hollering, laughing like crazy, and having a wonderful time. We got up this morning, well ... we got up a little after noon and had breakfast at 2:30, and they have been having a great time ever since. We sat down to a delicious dinner at 9pm and they have placed a deadline of 2am for tonight's play.

Pinta's First Trail

Finally got the opportunity and managed to fight down the anxiety of considering a trail ride with unknown new friends and unknown new friends' horses. After seven and a half years I loaded up and went with Pat Richardson's to Joanie Koch's place over off Bigelow Gulch Road. It was awesome! So enjoyable and new friends who have very nice trail horses to boot! What more can a girl ask for???
It was crispy but we all dressed for warmth, and we were blessed with beautiful sun. We went for just under 2 hours which was perfect for Pinta. She was dripping sweaty when we got back ... poor girl had to figure out how to work ... lol.
A very enjoyable day and we sat and visited for lunch after while the horses relaxed a bit. Trailmarkers!