We traveled to Spearfish in August for the Sturgis motorcycle rally.  Mitch and Mike bought a motorcycle trailer and we pulled the bikes behind a very kind friend's truck.  The guys enjoyed the fact that they weren't totally wiped by the time we actually got to Spearfish, and they were even more grateful that they didn't have to ride the bikes home.  We spent a few hours riding each day, and Carol had taken some time off of work to watch Jackson for us.  Of course, we made several hikes up to Deadwood and had a great time people watching and playing 3-card poker.  This is our new favorite game to play there, especially at the Mineral Palace, which we have since found out is Dave and Carol's home away from home. :)

Mitch has been hard at work on one of our bathrooms since the end of September.  The job was a bit more involved than expected, as it was revealed that some of the floor joists and framing for the walls were rotting out due to water leakage from the original tile shower.  So he had to basically rebuild a portion of the very small bathroom, along with moving some plumbing.  Once again, we should have remembered our rule of thumb: it's going take 3 times longer than expected and might cost us twice as much as anticipated.  Fortunately, it's only been time consuming and not pocket-book straining.  He hopes to be done within the next week or so. 

We made another drive out to Spearfish for Thanksgiving.  All of Mitch's family was there, and it was great to all be together.  There was fresh snow for Zack and Kaileigh, who live in Phoenix, and they loved playing in it...they even went sledding a couple of times.  We had a huge dinner all together in the basement, which lasted all of about 30 minutes...with so many people in one house, we were rarely ALL in the same room!  It was a blast.

Lastly, Jenna and Mike had their baby 3 weeks early, born on Friday, November 30.  Lidia Belle Enderle was a long 21" and 6 pounds, 10 ounces.  She is still in the hospital and will probably stay there for another week while she continues to strengthen her lungs and acclimate to life.  She's doing very well and improving daily.