Leaf Me Alone!

After we got home from Flagstaff for Brian's graduation, the Mabees stopped by our house to pick up their car. We were greeted by a huge pond of fallen leaves from our mulberry tree. The kids all pitched in and helped rake them up. That was a huge help to us. We truly appreciated it. And they had great fun jumping in the piles of leaves after they'd been raked.

Just Call Him "Master"!!

In December Brian received his Master's degree in Educational Leadership from Northern AZ University. Mark and I joined Brian and his family and attended graduation. We couldn't have been more proud of Brian and his accomplishment. Some of the pictures are a bit dark....the lighting in the walk-up skydome isn't good....but I think you can pick Brian out of the crowd. There were several of his cohorts who also graduated, so there are also some photos of them.
It had showed a bit the week before we left, so there was still some snow on the ground. And then it snowed more while we were in the graduation ceremony. We had some fun the next morning throwing some snowballs in the hotel parking lot.

Peanut Butter Balls

Every year, as per tradition, we make peanut butter balls as one of our family's favorite Christmas goody. I started making them probably 30 years ago and we've had them every Christmas (and a few other times) since then. They were especially good to send to the boys when they were on their missions, as they packed and shipped well. In the past few years, Erin's girls have assumed the role of my helper whenever I make them. So Ellie and Hattie (along with Erin and Ruby) came by on 'the day' and helped me. They're a great help and they really do know what do to!!

Gingerbread Houses

It's an annual tradition in our family to make gingerbread houses. In years past, I've bought a kit and assembled the houses and the grandkids decorated them. This year I was lucky enough to find (at Costco) pre-assembled houses. So the only thing left to do was to let the grandkids decorate them. And decorate they did!!! They all had a ball. I was surprised at how intense some of them got as to their attention to every small detail. And it wasn't the older kids who did that. It was the younger ones. Funny. Anyway, here are their end results (and some shots of them in the process).