Blog Overload

Are you having blog overload yet? I am. I think I'm caught up. Finally. But I know that won't last long. I'll be behind again before you know it!!!
I received (for Christmas) two amaryllis bulbs from two different friends. I'm having a great time watching their progress every day. They both started as just bulbs, but they each now have about 8-9 inches of green growth on them. I'm eager to see them bloom, since I've never tried growing an amaryllis. From pictures I've seen, they're beautiful. I can't wait!!! I'll be sure to take pictures when they bloom.

Play Date

For Christmas this year, we got Libby (our crafting queen) some beads for making jewelry and perler beads. So she came over one day to let me work with her on her crafts. It's safer at our house where there are fewer little hands to mess things up! And before Christmas, Ellie asked Mark if she could come over for a play date with him. So Ellie came along, too. We had a fun time. And the girls both had to try out their shaving skills after watching Mark shave. No worries, they used a popsicle stick instead of a blade!

Eliza's 9th birthday sleepover

Eliza turns 9 on the 10th, so we took advantage of Christmas break and had her birthday sleepover between Christmas and New Years. We picked her up on Monday afternoon and the first order of business was shopping for her gift. She didn't really know what she wanted since she'd had such a good Christmas. We went to Target (her choice) and looked at lots of things. She finally decided on two pair of cute pajamas! She could hardly wait to get to our house to put a pair on. Then she wanted to go to dinner. She chose Old Country Buffet. And she wanted to wear a new part of PJs and her Uggs to dinner. We were fine with that. And then she chose to go to Mesa to see the temple lights. It was a fun time. One of the best parts was seeing the nativity display in the visitors' center. The next day for her birthday activity, she chose to go to Great Skate. She learned (sort of) to skate this past summer during her week with us, so she wanted to use her skating skills again that day. We spent a couple of hours here and she and Mark skated their little hearts out. For never having had a lesson, Eliza is quite good at skating. And she found she likes blades better than skates.

She's 8!

Emma turned 8 just before Christmas, so she's almost ready to be baptized. I've been working on a couple of projects for her baptism that use her pictures. Isn't her dress beautiful?? She'll be baptized this Saturday afternoon. It will be a fun, memorable day for us all.

Christmas Dinner celebration

The above 'ornaments' were Paula's 7gypsies Christmas project. I followed her tutorial and made my own. They're just pinned to my valance. I really like them!! Thanks, Paula.



























Every year we gather as a family on the Sunday before Christmas for our annual candlelight Christmas dinner/program/ornament exchange. This year Mark and I had to make some adjustments since we were in Flagstaff the two days prior to that day. We asked the kids to pitch in and help with the side dishes. And they did! Kamille provided her yummy from-scratch au gratin potatoes. Dan make his famous stuffing....he adds celery, onion, corn and sausage to Stove Top stuffing. Man, it's good! And Erin stayed up all night the night before making us some yummy Lion House dinner rolls. We appreciate her dedication and willingness to stay up so late for us. They were so light and tasty! And Aunt Dovetta brought cranberry relish and her famous broccoli/bacon salad. It's always a request when them come over!! Then everyone provided a Christmas goodie to share. We provided the ham and drinks. It was a tasty, fun meal. We generally use 'real' dishes, but this year we opted for paper plates so we wouldn't have to many dishes to do. We wanted everyone to be able to enjoy the evening rather than doing dishes. And we changed our candles a bit. In the past, we've used battery candles that are taper-like. This year we decided to try using battery-operated votive candles in some cute (Crate and Barrel) candle holders. They worked great. No fussing with batteries in and out of the candles and no more tipping over of the candles. We may have started a new tradition. We like to make the tables look festive so everyone feels like it's a special occasion, which it is! After dinner, we went to Sister Clem's caroling. For some reason we missed her last year, so this year she made sure we knew she'd be home so we could come by. She looks forward to our visit, and it's fun for the kids to connect with her. Then we had our traditional reenactment of the nativity. The kids are a lot more fun performing as they get older. Luke did a great job as the innkeeper. He had to have no coaching and responded at the appropriate time, "No room!" It was so cute. After that we had our ornament exchange. It's always so fun to see what everyone gives as well as receives. I think Mark got Dovetta the best ornament of the evening. It was a fully decorated ambulance....it sort of fits their year last year! Then Mark and I gave the grandkids their two pairs of pajama pants! They LOVED them. The couldn't wait to get changed into a pair and pose for a picture. I truly appreciate my family and their willingness to keep this tradition alive and fun. It's a most memorable evening for everyone.