O' Christmas Tree...

It is officially Christmas in our house. The tree is up and decorated.

We all gather in the living room while carols played on the radio. Steve unpacked the ornaments as I played photographer. We let the kids put up most of the ornaments, but Steve and I save the ornaments we have given to each other or ones that are from trips that we took together for us to put on the tree.

This year I gave Steve a Kermit the Frog ornament. It was during this year that we introduced the kids to old Muppets Show episodes and they developed a new love. And Steve and I talked about being kids and watching those episodes on TV. Steve gave me and ornament that was a wreath made of bowling pins, to represent my new found love of bowling.

After everyone was done hanging their ornament I stood back and admired our tree. I love all the memories that come rushing back as I look at the different ornaments on the tree. . . Places we have been, memories of the children in their different stages, gifts from friends.

So what are your traditions for your tree?
Or significant ornaments that are hung?
What makes your tree special?

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent's house. We woke up bright and early and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Ferron. Mom already had the turkey in the oven when we arrived and set out an appetizer platter for us to snack on as we awaited he feast. I made my corn souffle and an apple pie to do my part. Before we knew it, the turkey was out of the oven and it was time to eat.

Steve offered the prayer and we loaded the plates up with the food. Then we all had to say what we were thankful for, but could not say something that someone else had said. I like that a lot. I have spent the last few days thinking of some of the things that I am thankful for.

We had such a great time. We enjoyed eating the meal, but the conversation, jokes, and laughing was the best.

Even after eating all the pie at the Horton's the night before the kids were anxious to dig into the pie...what was scary is they wanted it right after dinner. The thought of eating anything after that HUGE meal made me a little queasy. We did eventually have the pie, but not until our meal had pretty well been digested.

Once the kitchen was cleaned up and the leftovers put away, we helped grandma and papa decorate their tree. It was nice to see the old ornaments from when I was child being put on the tree by my children. I could tell them the stories behind each one. I got to put the candy canes on he tree, these are the same candy canes that we have had for at least 20 years. My Grandma Sansevero loved having the candy canes on the tree and these are the same ones we had before she passed away 19 years ago. That meant a lot to me.

Horton Pie Night

Every year our neighbors, the Horton's, invite friends and neighbors to their house the day before Thanksgiving for pie and visiting. We have lived here for 4 years and have not missed a pie night yet. My friend, Wendy, spends two days making all the pies. There is such an assortment...Reese's Pie, Chocolate Ribbon, Lemon Meringue, Banana Cream, Pecan...

That's quite a task that she takes on. I enjoy the pie, but really enjoy the chance of talking with neighbors that I don't see as often. Steve didn't come with me this year, so I had a piece of Pecan Pie cut and reserved to take home to him.

My kids took full advantage of all the desserts... Zack had 7 slices of pie and Becky devoured 4 slices of the Chocolate Ribbon Pie. At one point Becky looked up at Wendy and said,

"I'll have to lay off of the sweets for a week after this!!"

A Maine Girlfriend/Our Decorated House

Since we are spending Thanksgiving at Mom and Pop's I decided to get my Christmas decorations up yesterday and today so that when we get Christmas will be all set up in our house.

When the kids got home from school yesterday that were surprised by Christmas tree up (undecorated) and ready to help out. Steve had Zack set up the nativity, but I don't remember the part where the Winter Warlock came to visit the Baby Jesus.

Decorating the china cabinet with different holiday dishes I have collected is one of my favorite things to get out.

For the past few years, I have also collected a couple of different Santas that are dressed as chefs. They are on display in my kitchen well, last year we found a Mrs. Claus to go with one of my Santas. What a fun display to have on the bar.

Okay, here is my little confession, it is not yet Thanksgiving, but I do have my Christmas lights on. Steve put them on last night and I could help myself and went ahead and turned them on tonight. I am beginning to get that Christmas feeling...I LOVE this time of the year!!! Next will be decorating the tree when we get home. What an awesome call I had the other day. My friend Melanie from Maine was in Utah to spend Thanksgiving with her son that is attending BYU and was thoughtful enough to call me and see if I wanted to get together for a visit. I was thrilled. We met this afternoon at South Towne Center and our first stop was a scrapbook store. There is not much scrapbook shopping in Maine and this was her opportunity to stock up. Then we went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch, drove to my house and visited with the kidlets and before I knew it, it was time to drop her off at her car and say good-bye. That little visit just reminded me of how thankful I am for all my friends.

Old Friends are the Best Friends

Yesterday, while I was at the Super Saturday Activity, I received a call on my cellphone.

The person on the other end of the phone identified them self as "Emily".

I replied with, "Emily who?"

She then told me her maiden name.

I was shocked.

It was my girlfriend from high school...she had been in my wedding and that was the last time we had seen each other,

12 YEARS AGO!!!

Emily told me she was on I15 and would like to stop by and say hi. She came to the church I was at...She looked exactly the same. That bright shiny face and blond curly hair. She said I looked exactly the same, but we both had to admit we had put on a few pounds as we had matured. She was only here for 20 minutes. Long enough to meet my children, see my home, give each other a hug, share a brief synopsis of the last 12 years, and finally a photo to capture our brief visit and then she was gone...

But she left me with a mindful of memories I had not thought about in quite some time.

Enrichment Activity & Super Saturday

CRAFTS ACTIVITY IN FERRON

A few months ago, my mom had asked if I could teach a class for her ward's Relief Society. She had seen a project I had made called "THE EXPLODING BOX". So for the last few weeks I designed the project, bought product the pieces, typed up instructions and then assembled kits.
Thursday I drove down to Ferron and finally got to teach the project to 37 women. I was a bit nervous when we first began, but as I went along I seemed to get in a groove and I think over all it went very well. All the women seemed to complete their boxes without many mistakes.

SUPER SATURDAY IN SOUTH JORDAN

My friend Sandra and I had been asked if we could design a Christmas scrapbook for our ward's Super Saturday. So at the Expo in September we purchased the product and designed the pages and then we both just went on with our busy lives. I was busy during this week prepping for the exploding box activity and Sandra, bless her soul, cut all the pieces for our class...25 kits...last night I went to house and helped collate everything and got it bagged up.

This morning was our Super Saturday. Luckily the women that signed up for the class were familiar with scrapbooking and were able to assemble their pages from the display and the photo copies that Sandra made for them at 10:30 pm last night, we were able to gt some of the projects that we had signed up for completed.I would love to share what I made, but some of them are Christmas Gifts, sorry, BUT our ward did have some wicked cute crafts this year.

Dear Mr. President

The beginning of October , we were at my parent's house. While we were there, I was sharing with Belle some of the mementos I have from my childhood. I showed her a booklet about the White House and Ronald Reagan that I had received when I was 9 years old. I received it in response to the letter and birthday card that I had sent to the then President Reagan. She was so amazed that the President had sent me mail. So I told her she could do the same thing. So when we got home later that weekend, she put pen to paper and wrote to her letter to President Bush.

It was quite cute, she told him about school and her siblings and sent a school picture along with the letter. Weeks went by and Belle would check the mail for her response from the President. Both Steve and I told her that it could be a while before she would received a response. I wish you could have seen her reaction when I handed her the large manila envelope today as she returned home from school. Of course I took pictures before she opened the envelope.

She read and examined every word in the letter and was thrilled to get a photograph of the President "from" the President. As she put the letter and photo back in the large envelope she declared that this was "the coolest thing that has ever happened" to her. As her mom, I have to say, it was one of the coolest things for me to watch my daughters face light up when we received that envelope...so thank you Mr. President for making my little girl's day and a memory that maybe she will be able to share with her daughter in 26 years!!!

The Kids Version of Stock Trading

Last night the Trick-O-Treat candy came out. The kids arranged the stash on the table and then the trading began. It soon became obvious which candies were each child's favorite.

Becky is a Butterfinger girl

Katie is a KitKat girl

Belle is a Hershey girl

Zack love his Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

It did get a little loud as they kids announced what they were willing to trade and the others would respond with their counter offers. The most interesting trade was a HUGE rice crispy treat for 6 fun size candy bars. It was fun to watch the children play they game and make their trades. This is definitely one of those memories I hope they will cherish once they are older and parents themselves.

Christmas Lights

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Utah. And Steve decided it was the perfect time to climb up on the house and hang our Christmas lights. When I came out to give moral support, I found not only Steve on our roof, but Zack had joined him. Most years, when Steve gets around to hanging the lights, it is freezing with a chilly breeze, so this was perfect. I sat on my lawn chair, read my book and watched as the two guys stringed lights and extension cords around the house.

It was cool to watch the two guys in my life work together. Zack is quickly becoming a little man. I think he actually was a bit of a help for Steve. For those who read my previous post, no worries, we did not turn on the Christmas lights... but I am counting and its only 18 more days until the lights can be plugged in. I will post pictures of our house lit up then...

Christmas Music and My Blog Crush

So today, November 1st, I got into my car and drove to the store. I scanned the radio looking for a good song to listen to. And I found it on KOSY 106.5. They have begun to play their Christmas music. Now I know that they are some out there that find this quite disturbing, BUT I look forward every year to the playing of Christmas music on the radio. I enjoy Christmas music so much that I sometimes will put a Christmas CD in the summer. The music just makes me happy. I have a pretty good collection Christmas music, but there is something about having it 24/7 on the radio that just makes me happy. If there are any of you out there that are jonesing for some holiday cheer...

LISTEN HERE!!!

So yesterday I went to Laurie's BLOG. Her topic was BLOG CRUSHES. And as I read about her crush with Heather D. White and knew exactly what she was talking about. There are two blogs that I enjoy popping into.

The 1st was Laurie's own blog. She just seems so stinkin cute. She is very creative. And has the cutest family.

She has a second site TIP JUNKIE, which has some of the coolest ideas and projects. I love that she likes to show off her ideas, but even more it has been a place that she shows you what other women are doing with their talents. That so ROCKS!!! She seems like a person that enjoys life and has inspired me on days when I am lacking inspiration.

The 2nd one is Kristi's EVERYTHING IS PINK . I have been in love with this site since my first visit. She loves finding treasures at Goodwill. She has the 2nd cutest of girls (mine are of course number one). I have gotten to see some of the sites in Washington DC. She introduced me to Hannah Anderson catalog via her blog.

She has started PINK CHRISTMAS. It is a gift swap that she has organized with other bloggers. It is a neat way to reach out and get to know other women out there.


She also ran in her 1st marathon a few weeks ago. I have been so inspired by her accomplishment. She writes up her blog entries so well, that as I read about her race I could feel the pride she had in herself. I actually cried as I read about it.

I hope you will pop into these ladies blogs and see why I think they are so awesome. Or even share with me who's blog you love so I can add it to my list. I love the time that I live in. I love that we can log into our computer and meet and learn from other women.