A Christmas to Remember

After last year's Christmas by ourselves, we were thrilled to have such a fun holiday this year, with 3 of our 4 children and their families here. Brian came from Michigan, Brad, Emily, Braden, Dallin, and Trevor came from Oregon, and Tom, Amy, Jacob, Allison, and Gideon came from California. It was pretty much non-stop activity and fun.

Here are some highlights from our holidays. . . .

Beginning the Christmas season, the family Christmas party had some excitement-

a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Our tree got a new look this year.
Thanks to Amber, I got this idea for a new wreath from her blog.

The bannister had a new look

and the entry was ready to welcome our family home.

What would Christmas be without a trip to see the lights at Temple Square?

Brian surprised us with a visit from his caroling friends.

Love the gift of beautiful Christmas music! (Brian is the one with the Jazz Santa hat.)Oh the rivalry- BYU vs. Oregon State! A game-watching/pizza party was followed by

a birthday party for Emily- her birthdays are always exciting.

The centerpiece of Christmas this year- snowmobiling into Brad's family's cabin.

So cozy- the perfect place to get everyone involved in making popcorn garlands for the tree.

Ready for the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.

The boys all helped Brad cut the tree.

Grandpa gently drags the tree back to the cabin.

The name of the tree-decorating game is teamwork.

Cookie artists at work. Santa will get a workout finding us at the cabin. He'll need a snack.

Excitement could hardly be contained on Christmas Eve. The Nativity Story was re-enacted with gusto, our favorite Christmases were shared, and Trevor, Braden, and Dallin were too excited (and hot) to sleep. The new jamies were shed until morning.

Can you believe it?! Santa DID find us!

Love the sheer joy!

There were gifts galore.

Yes, there were surprises! (A beautiful CTR ring from David- a surprise because our new kitchen was supposed to be our Christmas- even though now, hopefully, the kitchen will be done in time for Valentine's Day.)

Brad's traditional Christmas paella.

Brian barrels down the awesome sledding hill on Christmas afternoon.

Back in Bountiful, the rest of the family joined us and we had the

excitement of gift-giving all over again.
Gideon meticulously unwraps his present as everyone looks on.

Another round of gift-giving when all the cousins, aunts, and uncles get together.

Reading Mother Goose Rhymes with Gideon, Allison, Jacob and their new friends

After all our family dispersed, we ended the year snowmobiling with friends

at Island Park, Idaho. Fun! Later, David and I snowshoed into Yellowstone Park.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Stay tuned. . . next up, a report on our kitchen remodel.)

Thank Goodness for Rather Large Blessings

We just enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season with Brian, Emily and family, and Amy and family. Needless to say, there was a lot of eating and dishwashing going on as we munched our way through the holidays. Thank goodness for a dishwasher, albeit one that is pretty rusted out. Imagine our surprise when this morning, one week after everyone left, our dishwasher gave up the ghost and just died on us. You would think that it knew it was about to be replaced. (The microwave must have gotten wind of it, too, for it died a couple of months ago. Thank goodness for my mom's old "dinosaur" model that was hanging out in our storage room!) Unfortunately, our new dishwasher will not be delivered until the first part of February, since the kitchen remodel has been delayed again. Guess we'll be doing the dishes by hand until then. We're one day into the new routine and I already have dishwater hands!

What I Did Last Summer- Part 2

In reality, it was “What We Did Last Summer.” David and I were busy all summer working on a variety of projects. It makes me appreciate how much we accomplished to see all the pictures we took, so we’ll share a few of them, beginning with taking down the two dead 30-year old fir trees in our front yard. About the time that we were trying to figure out how we were going to take down the trees, Brad and Emily arrived with their family. What luck! Brad is an expert in taking out trees! We are so grateful for him, his truck, and the help of our friend, Kimball. It was easy, when you have the right help, the right tools, and a beautiful day!

And, it was fun to have the “peanut gallery” watching from the sidelines.

Once the trees were out, we had someone come and grind up the stumps and roots so that we could landscape. This is the result!

We spent a great deal of our time working in the yard this summer, in the backyard. . .

and the front yard. . .

picking apricots (and making jam, juice, and smoothies). . .

repairing the mortar that had crumbled and trying to match what the rest of the brick looked like (not an easy job!). . .

and waging a “war” with all the deer who thought our new and improved yard

was their nightly smorgasbord.

We worked inside, as well. It is hard to believe that this is the stereo cabinet/bookcase that “lived” in our living room for almost 30 years. It has a new life and a new home in our office.

We painted an accent wall in our bedroom, added some great words by which to live,

and David trimmed the window with molding.

One last look. . . a favorite project because it gives just the right touch of splash and gurgle to calm and relax- a much needed element after all the hard work of summer. Now we’ve turned to grape juice and putting the yard to bed (David has done it all since I am doing my fall thing- giving flu shots) and we are about to start the next big project-

a new kitchen!

Trophy Wife? Really?

I divert. Next up was going to be "What I Did Last Summer, Part 2." However, when my husband says he is having a hard time getting used to my new look and he feels like he has a young trophy wife, I just have to divert....

While we were in Seattle, David had Julie make an appointment with her hair stylist because after seeing Julie's cute hairstyle, he thought I needed a new "do." After so many years of the same hairstyle, different lengths, I guess it was about time. I was ready, but I've always worried that I wouldn't be able to deal with layers, etc. A bob is about as easy as it gets, so that's why it's been around for so long.

So, I spent an hour with a real stylist, instead of the usual 20-minute visit to the Great Clips girl who cuts my hair. Wendy (we're now on a first-name basis) cut it, styled it, and taught me how to do it myself. This is what I looked like right after the hour we spent together.

There was a bit of a learning curve with doing the hairstyle each day, but I'm doing pretty well and it's taking less time each day. Here I am the next night, with Julie, as we take off to the ballet, "Romeo et Juliette."

The big test was doing the "do" after I washed it. But, I survived and this is what I looked like today after going to Church.

Funny.... I never imagined the "stir" I caused by getting a new "do." Everyone at Church gushed over my new look and some said they didn't recognize me until they saw my face. (Too bad I didn't get a "new face," as well!) Even the Counselor in the Bishopric who was conducting today took the time to tell David how much he liked my hair! I have to admit, though, the best compliment of all was David saying that he was having trouble getting used to having a trophy wife! Really!

What I Did Last Summer- Part 1

School has started again and this time of year makes me remember many essays I had to write or pictures I had to draw about “What I Did Last Summer.” So, in keeping with this tradition and with empathy for any of my grandchildren who might have had a similar assignment, here's a (mostly) photo essay of what I did this summer or, rather, what WE did this summer, for David was involved in almost every activity of the summer.

We started the summer doing an Irish jig across the "Emerald Isle" with four fun traveling companions (still need to figure out how to do a slide show with music!)

and ended (a bit into September) with a Seattle shuffle. (We're tending grandkids in Sammamish and

then we'll move over to tend Jessie, my sister’s dog, on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill.) Sandwiched in the middle, we spent some time on the New England coast-

in Maine

New Hampshire and Massachusetts (loved Rockport!)

ending with several days in Boston, for a business conference.

When conference sessions were done for the day, we rode the subway all over Boston seeing fun places, including a visit to John Harvard at, of all places(!), Harvard University

and taking an historic walking tour with "Capitol Cal."

What better way to end our trip than with a rousing cheer for good ole Paul Revere, by the Old North Church!

Visits from our daughters Emily and Amy and their families were big highlights of the summer. Here are a few photos that you might not have seen on their blogs. Emily's family arrived first and we had fun times in Salt Lake

and lots of fun times at our house. Who knew that we would have some
serious bird watchers, especially Braden!

Amy's family arrived and it was one big sleepover!
There was time for sister chatting and playing together at the park

and a fun day at This is the Place Heritage Park.

Braden had a rendezvous with Brigham Young

and the kids got to try Pioneer crafts, including dipping candles.

After our previously documented visit to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple (worthy of another look!)

it was time for some backyard slippping and sliding, a B-B-Q, and, of course, s'mores.

The next morning, the cousins said "Good-bye" as Brad and Emily left for their new home.

Tom and Amy and their family were around for a couple of days and we enjoyed some time at the Rec Center

and celebrated the 4th of July by cheering

for our favorite runners

before checking out the local parade.We loved having our family here! It was a fun, crazy, wonderful time! What is left is lots of memories and some priceless pictures, including this wonderful image...

As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words!

YUM!

I am a sucker for carbs- pasta and breads, in particular. Love, love, love Artisan Breads- especially when they are freshly baked in the country of their origin- i.e. France, Italy! So, when I was passing the time in an airport recently, I zeroed in on a newspaper article about a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Five Minutes! I was all over that! When I got home, I checked out the book on Amazon.com, read all the reviews, and found a great deal on a new book in Amazon’s “Marketplace.” The book came in record time! Unfortunately, other projects have gotten in the way of trying out the 5 minute bread.

Finally last night, I whipped up a batch of bread, put it the frig as instructed, and after I came home from work today, I cut off a hunk and made up a loaf. It didn’t exactly take 5 minutes, since it was my first try with such a wet dough and I had to go dig through my food storage to find a can of cornmeal (the “ball-bearings” for sliding the loaf off the pizza paddle onto the baking stone), but after all that, Voila!- Artisan Bread, out of my oven!

The loaf looked pretty great for a first attempt and the finished product had a crusty, crunchy crust and soft interior. Yes! Bountiful (Artisan) Bread. . . . YUM!