our cute sleeper!

this guy seriously gets in the cutest positions when he sleeps.  he is especially cute when he passes out on our laps when we sit on the couch.  it's his favorite!  such a lover!

love, laurie

thanksgiving 2020

we celebrated thanksgiving yesterday with our families at my parents' house.  it was a nice quiet, small thanksgiving with just the six of us (plus aunt ruth via zoom too!).

we had a delicious feast and we'll have tons of leftovers for days.  it was so nice to be able to see everyone and to spend the day together!

believe it or not, i didn't take a single picture all day.  luckily ryan had his phone on him and snapped a few photos . . .

love, laurie

. . .

past thanksgivings: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

happy thanksgiving!

have a lovely thanksgiving and for heaven's sake, please be safe and sensible!

love, laurie

thanksgiving aerosmith parody

the holderness family is at it again brining us a thanksgiving-themed parody to an aerosmith song.  enjoy!

love, laurie

ice cream thief!

a few nights ago, we sat down in bed with some pumpkin pie ice cream to watch some tv after a hard day at work.  leko jumped up on ryan's lap, made himself comfortable, and proceeded to help himself to ryan's ice cream!  what a cute little ice cream thief!  look at that tongue!

love, laurie

a night out at the drive-in to see our nutcracker!

we worked hard on the production of the nutcracker that was filmed in our theatre earlier in november.  it was quite the undertaking!  this weekend, the final version of the film was screened at our local drive-in movie theatre on friday and saturday.  we made a little date night out of it and went up on friday after work to see it.  

since we were involved in the production, we got special parking privileges over the general public . . .  how fancy!  we sat in the truck right up front and center.  we packed popcorn and chocolate chips from home and had ourselves a grand time!  here are a few snapshots from friday night at the drive-in . . . 

later that night on the news, our local tv station covered the event.  we didn't realize that they had their cameras right behind us and ryan's truck was on tv . . .

it was a fun little date night and such a satisfying way to see all of our hard work pay off for the film.  the film will also be broadcast on tv at the end of december.

love, laurie

too cold for kitten!

when it's so, so cold outside in november that you would swear it's january you must wrap yourself up in a blanket to stay warm!

love, laurie

the cats of disneyland

 i came across this article this week, and now i must go to disneyland to visit the cats that live there!  bags are packed, kitties, here i come!

love, laurie

drinking out of a lettuce bowl!

leko is a riot because he always loves to be in the kitchen sink getting wet anytime we are preparing food or washing dishes.  a few days ago, we were washing off lettuce leaves.  leko realized that the shape of the lettuce leaf made a bowl and collected water.  he wanted ryan to hold it for him so that he could drink the water out of it!  what a silly little guy!

love, laurie

relaxing with kitten

on sunday evening we finally had the opportunity to plop down on the couch and vegetate for the first time in forever.  leko was all about it and took it very seriously!  he doesn't care what's on tv (season 2 of the new "unsolved mysteries" on netflix) because all he cares about is having an warm lap for cuddles!!!  the positions he gets into when he sleeps are hysterical!

love, laurie

celebrating 70!

we got together with our families on saturday evening to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday!  we had to take a raincheck and celebrate a bit later than usual since we were tied up with the nutcracker during the week of his birthday.  

for dinner we made vegetarian chicken pot pies with salad.  for dessert we made a pumpkin applesauce cake with cream cheese / whipped cream frosting.  it was so nice to get together to celebrate this milestone!

happy belated birthday, papa!

love, laurie

a big "thank you!"

the nutcracker kept us working day-in and day-out for over a week.  my wonderful mama came to the rescue and made us so many yummy meals that we could simply heat up and eat while we were working.  mama's kitchen was a godsent and really saved us.  THANK YOU, MAMA!

love, laurie

nutcracker 1 of 2 = done!

well, we sort of survived the first of two nutcracker productions at our theatre this year.  since we can't have audiences, both productions are being filmed and then broadcast on tv for the public.  over the past week, we set up, teched, rehearsed, filmed, and tore down the first of the two nutcrackers.

it was an absolutely looney experience.  i calculated ryan's hours for just this nutcracker alone and they came to a total of 105.5 hours!  i'm scared to calculate my hours.

we did it all for this production.  i don't think there was a single department we didn't have our hands in except for the fact that we didn't operate the cameras!

we're a little worse for the wear with exhaustion, swollen feet, sore muscles, aches, and lots of bruises.  i'm so glad it's over now.

onto the next one!

love, laurie