Christmas 2013

 

 Christmas Morning. 

 Waiting for everyone to get up.

 Alex excited about his Mickey mouse.

 Opening up the ultimate, down sleeping bag. Joseph saved his points for quite awhile to get this.

 Oh, boy! They love their hot sauce. Couldn't resist this when I saw it. Thought they'd get a laugh out of it.

 Keith and Zachary with their lego creations.

Enjoying the morning with their new toys.

 Papa made a kitchen unit for Audrey for Christmas.

 Here are the ornaments that we made. Clockwise beginning with the stained glass penguin, which I made.  Joseph made the pattern and then I had the fun of cutting those tiny pieces.  The ornament with silver trees and red birds was hand painted Ashley.  Jessica made the  glittered bird ornament.  It has a blue heart hanging on the bottom which is hard to see in the picture.  Angela made the linen ornament with the delicate lace.  They all are so pretty and I look forward to enjoying them in the coming years. It will be fun as I look at each one and think of each of my talented daughters. This is what I like about our Christmas tree is that it is a tree of memories. Everywhere we have traveled we try to get an ornament unique to that area.  This years ornament is a hand painted duck egg that we bought at the blue bell Ice cream factory in Texas this past year. It also is a collection of ornaments that have been given to us as well. 

 yule log made which Jessica made.

 Joseph took the boys snowshoeing in the fields north of us where he showed them animal tracks in the snow.

Eric practicing his guitar.  I enjoy listening to him play.

It was a wonderful Christmas season as we had many adventures and just had fun having the family with us during this time. Thanks everyone.

An early Christmas

Since we wouldn't be able to have the whole family here on Christmas, we had our Christmas dinner early and had the Brother/Sister gift exchange as well.

 In the kitchen with final preparations.

 Audrey with all the Christmas bears.

 The girls and I did an ornament exchange this year which was a lot of fun.  It was fun to see the individual talents that the girls have come out in their ornaments.  (I'll post a picture of them later)

 Waiting to open their presents to each other.

 The little granddaughters were very helpful. Even Lizzie dog wanted to be included.

 Keith opening Lego creationary from Jeff and Angela.  Everyone enjoyed playing with it.

"As seen on pinterest" The girls like giving Eric a hard time.

 The new family saying.

Christine just knew that Jacob would get a rubber ducky for Christmas.  Keith made sure both Jacob and Mollie weren't forgotten.  Christine was so excited she jumped up and down. 

Mollie and her beautiful smile.

 

 

 A well known fact.  It is impossible to get all the grandkids to cooperate at once. Still a fun picture though.  What a joy these children are.

Thank goodness for snow

Christine was so excited to come to Utah so she could play in the snow.  Unfortunately we didn't get any new snow while she was here as she really wanted to make a snowman.  (It snowed the day after she went home.) She played for hours outside.

 The Chickens are enjoying a little bit of the grass.

 The boys found plenty to do in the snow.

Hmm. not sure how tasty that would be.  While the little boys were here, they were able to sled in the front yard.  Joseph helped teach Zachary to snowboard on our little hill.  It is perfect for the kids.

More from December-playing with the trains

We were able to have all the grandkids here during the month of December.  It was a great deal of fun having them here.  There was lots of pizza mountain, playing in the snow, and of course the trains under the Christmas tree.

 The Kids love playing with the trains and watching them go around.

 Christine watching the cows and chickens ride on the train.

Brian running the controls. Joseph has lights and sounds to go with the trains.

Jacob couldn't resist grabbing the cars as they went by.

 

"If only I had my own train set. How much fun that would be.. Sigh"



They couldn't resist playing the harp.



Papa and Jacob.

December happenings

 

The first week of December Joseph and I flew out to Missouri so we could be there for Zachary's baptism.  We flew into Kansas City where we rented a car to drive to the DeLeeuw's.  They had a massive storm that came out of the south, but thankfully it went just south of I-70 so we had good roads getting to their house before they were hit with snow.  It left in its wake very cold weather.  I had only brought a light wool coat with me so it was hard to keep warm when we went out. We had the opportunity to go to Zachary's piano recital.  As always we visited several antique shops.  I bought an ornament similar to ones that were on our tree growing up. Since we flew there I only looked for small things.

Zachary's baptism was really nice.  They had a lot of support from their ward.  Joseph had the opportunity to give one of the talks and it was really nice to hear Joseph share his personal feelings about his own baptism and what his membership in the Savior's church means to him.

While there we attended their ward Christmas party, which was very nice.  We were helping clean up afterwards and the Bishop came up to Joseph and said jokingly: "If you stay just one more week I'll give you a calling".  They really have a good Bishop.  Joseph and I often think of moving where the Lord could use us more.

We went to Bass Pro sporting goods store on Monday night while we were there as they were offering free pictures with Santa.  It is really a nice thing that they do. They had different activity areas set up for the kids.

 In the background is the train that the kids could run themselves.  Here they are at the shooting range.

 Brian and Trevor taking their turn.

 Brian with Santa.

 With Santa.

Zachary talking to Santa. 

They had a race track set up, remote control monster trucks as well as an archery range for the kids.

They also had a free ornament the kids could make.  I was really impressed that they would provide such a fun event for the community.

Our trip came to an end too soon but the Deleeuw's wouldn't be too far behind us as they came out to Utah to spend Christmas with us. When we got in Tuesday night we decided rather than having Keith drive down and pick us up we would try out the new trax line at the airport.  Since it was night the front runner only runs once every hour, so we had about a half hour wait going from the trax line to the front runner line but now we know how the system works and plan on using it again.

Thanksgiving at home

The year has come and gone so fast.  I thought I would catch up on the last two months. They were very busy for us with many obligations.  Thanksgiving was quiet as we stayed home this year rather than traveling.

Joseph getting ready to carve the turkey.  We had our usual flair. For us the pies rank above all the other great foods.  Joseph made a pecan/chocolate pie as well as a pumpkin  and lemon meringue pie.  Ashley brought a yummy chocolate cream pie with a shortbread crust which was really rich. 

 Eric and Keith passing the time waiting for dinner to be ready.

It was a nice day spent with our loved ones.  We have much to be grateful for, especially for the blessings of family.



Happy Halloween

Halloween was quiet this year as we only had the two granddaughters with us and no one to take trick or treating.  Joseph answered the door this year instead of me. Ashley came over and we made donuts and wassail as we always do, along with Sloppy Joes and deviled eggs.  We had quite a few trick or treaters for a change.  We only had two bags of popcorn leftover at the end of the evening.  We started to look through the cupboards to see what we could give out if we ran out of treats.   

Here is my little helper, patting out the dough. It is natural to have someone helping me cook. 

 We gave donuts away to some of the families in our neighborhood.

 Our pumpkin never turned orange but it still was good for carving. Joseph is getting lots of help.

 Keith spent this last year working on chain-mail as well as the complete outfit. 

 There are many hours in this as he made each individual link and then linked them together to create the chainmail. We quilted the fabric for the jerkin which also has leather straps with buckles. It was a challenge for me as well, as we had to design and make the pattern for the jerkin. 

  He spent the evening with a group of friends. 

Our new little granddaughter being held by her sweet mom.