DECEMBER DAILY: Day 16

Katie and Becky received some flour from the school a few days before their off track time began. They have wanted to make their bread. They were instructed to make 2 loaves, one to keep and one to give away. I finally found a window of time that Katie could make her two loaves. Oh the aroma that came from our oven as that bread baked. I love the smell of bread baking. The loaves turned out beautifully.

In the afternoon was the "Bowling & Crafting Friends Party". Annette and I have taken turns hosting this fun little party. We had a nice potluck luncheon of soup, salads, rolls and yummy desserts. I have to say the ladies that come to this party are great cooks. We spent an hour eating the yummy food, visiting and laughing and then the "Yankee Swap" portion of the party began. There were some fun gifts that became pretty popular: a wooden handmade standing snowman, sherpa blanket, a cute metal snowman, an apron and cookbook set...But the big fun came with the swapping. So glad we all have a great sense of humor and don't take anything too seriously.








I am so very grateful for each one of these ladies . and their friendships that they have been so generous to share with me. Some of these ladies I have known since we moved to the neighborhood and some I have been blessed to get to know better this year. I have learned so much from these women. I have learned about loyalty, compassion, creativity...I am honored to have each one of these ladies in my life. A wonderful gift that I get to carry with me all year long. We ended the day with attending Belle's Choir Concert. The singing was quite beautiful, but by far my favorite part of the evening was Belle played the piano to accompany the choir for one of their pieces. She has not taken piano lessons for 2 years. The piano teacher we were using got quite ill and had to let her students go. It has been a little difficult to find a teacher. She has definitely comes by the talent of playing the piano naturally. I was so impressed at how well she played.

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 15

Spent most of the afternoon at Mikki's working on our last craft of the year. We made a cute Nativity. Susan, Annette, Lisa, Tammie and of course Mikki were there. I sometimes think if we just painted instead of giggling and laughing we would be done so much quicker. But the laughing is probably the best part of getting together.
I have really enjoyed going over to her house once a week and making something. The last few months have been so good for me. So many of those creative muscles have been put back to work.
The evening was mutual for Zack and Belle. Belle and the other Young Women in the ward celebrated the holiday. They had a $1.00 gift exchange, played games and sang carols. I sometimes miss being in the Young Women's organiztion. Belle came home with these pictures and it looked like so much fun was had. I am glad she has such great leaders and good friends in there.

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 14

Time to makes some minor repairs...the top of the "mommy" Christmas tree was not staying lit. It was happening more and more frequently until until the last few days when it wasn't on at all...GRRRR!!! Steve took the top off of the tree to see if he could figure out what was happening. Unfortunately he did not have any luck. Actually he got to the point where it wasn't turning on at all. So we decided for a couple of dollars we could restring some new crystal light and take off the old ones. In theory this seemed like a GREAT idea, until we started to remove the old light. There was a little plastic clip next to each bulb that held the string in place. This meant that I had to remove about 100 of those little plastic clips. Luckily Katie and Becky wandered into the room and I wrangled them into helping me out with my little project. They are fabulous helpers.
Before too long, we got all the old lights removed and the new ones in place. This put Steve back on the ladder to reassemble the tree. And the next thing we knew "ta-da" we had ALL the lights on the Christmas tree illuminated!!

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 13

After bowling, I dropped the girls off at home and set them up with some lunch. Then I was off to Annette's. We saw the cutest idea online for making these mini dry-erase boards from white plates. These seemed like they would make the perfect party favors. So we went to TaiPan Trading and got these cute white salad plates. Then we spent a few hours cutting out the words and fliagree from vinyl using the Cricut. It was pretty easy tranferring in the vinyl to the plates and then we wrapped all 19 of the plates using tissue paper, cellophane and pretty read ribbons. When I ack of plate ready for the get together we had planned on Thursday for the ladies we bowl with and have been crafting with this year.

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 12

Since Steve has to work on the Sunday before Christmas (which is when the Christmas program is at church) we decided to deck everyone out in their new Christmas outfits. My girls have grown up so much, there is no more crinoline lined dressed with lots of bows and frills. All 3 of their dresses looked much more mature. Belle even got an "actual pair of high heels". She squealed with joys when I revealed them to her. They are pretty cute shoes. And Zack had asked for a suit. So he received a nice black suit with a crisp white shirt.





So as I have done in the past, I made sure everyone was dressed and ready 30 minute before church so we could get some family pictures taken. I took individuals of everyone. Belle showing off her "sassy" side, Zack exuding a little GQ and Katie and Becky showed me that even though they are getting bigger, they are still very much my little girls. And of course, I turned my camera over to one of the kiddos and had them take a few snapshots of my and my best friend!!

After dinner was done that evening and dishes were completed, we put on our coats and walked around the block to the Harrises. There home was being used to collect donations for the Road Home. A few of the ladies organized this event for our neighborhood to participate in. The idea in itself was wonderful. They did send around a letter suggesting that people participate in this activity in lieu of neighbor gifts. I'm sure many people consider this a great idea, I am not one of them. I mean the service idea is AWESOME and I was happy to participate, but the neighbor gift idea just did not sit well with me. I enjoy doing my neighbor gifts. Part of the reason we moved her was because we wanted to have neighbors. I don't care if I receive anything FROM my neighbors, but I truly enjoy giving gifts to those who have been kind to my family and I over the past year, letting those who I know, but maybe haven't done much with lately, that I still adore them. So Steve and I decided that we would do a little of both: donate to the neighborhood service project and give a few neighbor gifts.

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 11

My friend Mikki shared this great idea for a craft. To make a Christmas Tree t-shirt using ribbons. But instead of making it myself, I had Katie and Becky make their own. They chose the ribbons and then ironed them down. Then they used my sewing machine and stitched the down to make sure they did not lift up.




They did such a great job. It wasn't too hard a project and I know they are 11 years old, but Istill think of them as my babies and that they couldn't possibly be able to do things on their own.

I love all my children for their sweet spirits and what they bring toour family. So it shouldn't surprise anyone when I say I just adore these two girlies. They enjoy making and creating as much as I do. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me these two "crafty" angels.

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 10

For the last 5 years, one of the highlights of the season is the Duve's Christmas Party. We have been blessed to have this couple as friends for 6 years. We play games and go to movies with throughout the year, but this is by far my favorite thing to do with them. They invite other friends from the neighborhood and the ward to their home for an evening of conversation and good food. But the highlight of the evening by far is the White Elephant exchange portion bring to the of the evening. The $5.00 gift we bring to this party, we look for throughout the year. Some of the gifts are usually silly, gross, or just plain HILARIOUS. This year was not a disappointment. We saw a Tupperware container with goldfish, a pair of "Booty-Pop" underwear, a "Bump-It" hair accessory, 2 "Hill Billy Handbags", a talking Christmas wreath, a 7X pair of men's tightie whities, poop made into a bird "sculpture", a t-shirt with one couple's picture on and they autographed it, a pair of Jazz Tickets for the game that was being played while we were at the party, a Grinch stuffed animal, a Santa Mr. Potato Head, a bottle of Martinelli's with a flask, a large bag of gummie bears, and so much more. But by far the FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen was a set of antlers mounted with different Christmas ornaments hang off of them. Oh that's not all...two of the ornaments, when squeezed, "tooted" Christmas songs.









Steve and I went home with the Mr. Potato Head and the Martinellis with the Flask. The action we took in acquiring "the spud" did bring a little controversy. It has been given the name "the Weber" if an item is stolen from a person, then said person steals from their spouse so that their spouse can reacquire the originally stolen item. We feel so HONORED to now have a been awarded such a prestigious accolade. As usually, the party was fabulous, GOOD FRIENDS, GREAT CONVERSATION and MUCH LAUGHING!!

DECEMBER DAILY: Day 9

This is actually one of the school activities I really enjoy attending, the South Jordan Middle School Band Concert. This is Zack's 3rd year playing the oboe and I think the best part is watching the look on his face once he has completed the piece. The audience begins to applaud he looks like it is all for him, and I think that is awesome.
On top of performing 3 pieces with the Symphonic Band, he also performed 2 pieces with the Jazz band. He is definitely one that"feels" the music as he plays. He is bopping and bouncing as he plays the notes.