McNaughton Family Christmas Pictures

Since it had been a couple of years since we have had family pictures taken (and even longer since they have been of good quality), we really lucked out by meeting our friend Ashley, who is an awesome photographer.  She was more than willing to get some pictures of the four of us just in time for Christmas cards this year...and since it has been more than a rocky year (with Kira's illnesses, Jeff finding a job, and some personal struggles), we decided that we needed to focus on what we were thankful for, with family being number one on the list!

So, here are the results of the McNaughton Family Picture Session 2011...enjoy!

And finally, just to show it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, here is one with Mr. Koda giving a stinky look to the camera...he just couldn't be happy during the whole photo shoot!

Thanks, Ashley...you did an amazing job (especially with two unruly dogs)!  If anyone is interested in having photos taken by Ashley, you can view her photography page here.



Carving Pumpkins

....or punkins as I like to call them.  Last Tuesday night, Chase and Ashley came down to carve pumpkins.  This was the first year (in the nearly 14 years we have been together) that Jeff and I have actually bothered to carve a pumpkin together...usually we just buy them and put them outside but never actually get around to cutting them open and making them jack o' lanterns.

This year was an exception though; I guess it has something to do with Chase and Ashley who are still into all the holiday traditions.  Maybe their youth is rubbing off on us and keeping us young?  I can only hope so!

Anyway, there were three pumpkins that were opened up and carved all on the bar of our kitchen.  Even though I didn't do any of the carving (I left that up to my Engineer and perfectionist husband), I had a blast digging through the pumpkin guts and pulling out all the seeds to roast them in the oven.

Here we all are, getting into the Halloween season by carving pumpkins...



And it took some effort on everyone's part (especially Ashley, who was diligent with her design long after Chase and Jeff had given up), but here are the end results...

Ashley's pumpkin...

Chase's pumpkin...

Jeff's (and my) pumpkin (although he did all the work)...



So much Halloween fun...thanks for a memorable night!