It Is Beginning To Look Like Christmas...

 The second week of December turned into "party central."  I attended my Broker Network delicious catered dinner on Tuesday.  That was followed by a bout with the 24-hr flu which kept Steve from leaving town for the week.  We were back to normal in time for the weekend festivities.

 We drove to CV to attend and assist with our ward breakfast Christmas party on Saturday morning.  The RS and Primary presidents planned a fabulous Grinch themed party and program.  In all our years, we've never seen anything like it.  It was "over the top" and lots of fun.  We had volunteered to cook several breakfast casseroles and we also enjoyed assisting setting out the food and cleaning it.  It was a delightful event.

 The Bishop and his counselor, Larry, hold pajama clad son and granddaughter.

 One of my best friends from my youth, Janet and her daughter Emily and granddaughter.  Janet recently moved in down the street.  They are part timers too for now.  How ironic is that?

 This was the hot chocolate bar--so cute and fancy.  The kids loved, loved it!  We have been drinking the leftover hot chocolate for over a week.

 Tiffany, the primary president, stops for a second to pose.

 The visit from the Grinch was amazing.  We have so much talent in this ward.

 After the party, we drove back to SL to attend Steve's annual party with Century equipment.  Here is a shot with the recently promoted sales manager.  The president of the company paid a tribute to Steve on his upcoming retirement.  He was honored just like he was an employee.  He is the only Case rep to ever be invited to the party and they have invited him for many years.

 Here's the boss, Ryan and his wife Tammy.  They were included in the group willing to be hypnotized by the after dinner guest.  They didn't make the cut, however.

 We enjoyed the evening very much.  Saturday evening, Britton tended Jameson at our SL place while Hilary, Adam, Jenna and Korinne attended the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert with the Muppets and Santino Fontana.  They took off early the next morning so Adam could carry out his bishop's responsibilities.  We left early for the Music and the Spoken Word followed by a repeat of the concert from the evening before.  It was fun to have Britton join us.  Steve performed a logistical miracle so that we could get out of the concert, get to our truck, and get on the road to CV in an amazingly short time.  We were able to arrive in CV in time for me to lead the music in sacrament meeting.

 Getting the tickets to the concert was a miracle in itself.  We were able to get tickets and so was Heather.  She gave hers to Hilary so that allowed those of us near SL to attend.  The program was so exceptional.  Its been quite a few years since we have had this opportunity.  We loved it.

 Here I am with one of the breakfast casseroles that I made for the ward party.  I am challenged to get photos loaded in the order I want.  Below is a Christmas present I gave to myself so that my feet will be cozy and warm throughout the cold CV winters.

 We drove back to SL on Sunday after church as I had an early morning walk-through inspection with one of my clients on Monday morning.  We did a lot of driving that weekend.  Most of the time, the weather was cooperative.  We did have some rain but nothing Steve couldn't handle.
During the week, I drove to the southern county to check on another house being built for some clients.  That gave me the opportunity to meet Ann for lunch and get essential oils for Heather. It was a nice day.  Throughout the rest of the week, I cooked and baked and visited "old" friends in the area who needed some holiday attention.  I also worked a little and prepared to do two open houses on Saturday since we planned to be in town for my family sibling Christmas party.

 Saturday evening was another highlight event.  All of my siblings were able to attend this year, including Jackie and Val who drove down from the north.  Two of the brother-in-laws were sick and unable to attend.  Ann hosted us for a very nice dinner and then we walked a block to the arena for a Piano Guys concert.  The arena was filled with 18,000-20,000 of their wildest fans.  We can't even describe how wonderful the concert was.  I have been a groupie fan of Steven Sharp Nelson and Jon Schmidt for years and I my admiration is still as strong as ever.  Our thanks to Ann for her generosity.  This was another amazing evening.

 Jackie and Val stayed at our place on Saturday night and we all left fairly early on Sunday morning to travel north.  It's a good thing we did as we encountered rain mixed with snow.  It was a bit treacherous over the canyon but we all arrived safely.
We needed to be there for the choir rehearsal prior to church.  As the ward music chairman, I followed the bishop's request and arranged for a lot of music to be performed this Sunday before Christmas.  The choir performed two songs and we had various groups perform six other musical numbers.  I also had to lead the congregation as the director was home sick.  It turned out to be a very nice sacrament meeting with Bishop Adam making very thoughtful and appropriate remarks at the beginning and end of the musical presentations.
I had invited Hilary's family for dinner planning to serve chicken.  When I opened the package, the smell was awful and it immediately went out to the garbage.  I was grateful that the kids were okay with a quick substitution of the old standby "tuna noodle casserole."  That evening, Jenna and Korinne went with me to a community inter-faith concert at the old tabernacle which is a charity event to the local food bank.

 We enjoyed our hour together.  The girls especially enjoyed the bell ringers.  It brought back memories of the days when Heather was in the bell choir.  This was a very nice concert which ended with the Hallelujah Chorus, one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.  Thanks girls for attending with me.  I think I will plan to attend again next year.

 The past two days, I have been busy baking and cooking again so we can give treats to our friends, neighbors, home teaching families etc. in this area.  I love all the Christmas preparations and musical presentations.  It's fun to take time to visit with those who may be lonely or under the weather.  I made lemon chicken soup for a sick neighbor here also.  I was trying to duplicate a recipe I had tasted at my book club Christmas exchange.  It was delicious.  I forgot to mention that party too.  I have loved, loved every single event I have attended this season.  It has been awesome.

 Monday night, it snowed.  Steve and I went up and down the street helping people to shovel their driveways.  We have several older neighbors to the north of us.  We substituted that for our evening walk and we enjoyed the camaraderie too.  We are happy that our health allowed us to do that.  Here is the picture of the snow out of our back window.  We love this valley.

 With more snow on the way tonight, I believe that we are assured of a white Christmas!  We are so grateful for our Heavenly Father's gift to us--the life and atonement of his son, Jesus Christ.  He is the reason for the season and we keep this uppermost in our minds.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Season is Here

 After showing a home to a prospective buyer on Saturday afternoon, we took Abigail and Tiffany to the airport for their flight back to Texas.  We always feel sad when we drop our loved ones off at the airport.  We loaded our stuff up again and drove back to CV Saturday evening.

 Sunday after church, Jenna and Korinne were happy to decorate our Christmas tree and they did a great job.  Britton looked up from his book occasionally to check out their progress.  He is determined to win a reading challenge called Beat the Teach.

 It is good to have a few decorations up.  It feels more festive now.  We enjoyed our Thanksgiving leftovers in the form of ham fried rice which incorporated a new technique I researched.  It was a nice improvement and as a result, the fried rice was a hit.  Everyone tried chopsticks.  Some even succeeded in eating with them.

 During the week, Steve worked in Seattle.  I worked on Monday and had a broker tour on Tuesday morning.  However, Tuesday afternoon was memorable in a different way.  My dental surgeon put four implants in my mouth that day.  Ouch!  This was not an experience I plan to repeat anytime soon.  I'm glad I had them all done at once or I might have chickened out on another round.  I really have recovered rather rapidly but still have to rinse, take antibiotics, use ice packs and be careful what I eat.  The left side of my face got quite swollen.  So as I did my sub for Santa shopping later in the week, I was dodging a bit to avoid running into anyone I knew.  I was not a pretty sight.

 Saturday, we enjoyed another day of beautiful weather as the temps were in the high 40's and low 50's.  Unusual for Dec. in these parts.  We put away our deck furniture, added some Christmas decor to the house, had a terrific walk and attended Britton's indoor soccer game.  Britton scored and had several assists.  It was a nice win at 10-0.  Jameson enjoyed watching Thomas the Train on his dad's I-phone.  Earlier in the day, we took Jameson and Korinne on errands with us.  At the end, there was an announcement in the store that Santa could be found upstairs.  We decided to check it out.  Jameson was happy to get a treat bag from Santa.  So was Korinne.  No one especially wanted to talk with Santa but the treats were great.  My phone photo was too blurry.

 Parked in our CV garage is a brand new car which was purchased the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  Steve had been researching retirement cars for months.  Returning from the bank on Sat., the 22nd, he stopped by the local Honda dealership.  There was a model there that had almost everything we wanted and it was slightly discounted because the new models were out.  Steve was excited so we went back for a test drive.  I got them to add a luggage rack for no extra charge.  It looked like we might be purchasing  our retirement car.  Later that evening, after we celebrated Korinne's family party with root beer floats, Steve returned to the dealership with his checkbook in hand.  Because of our schedules and the fact that they had to install the rack and prepare the car, we didn't pick it up until December 1st.  Whenever he retires, we are ready with our replacement vehicle.  I doubt it will get much mileage before that.  Nevertheless, we are prepared.  I think that we will like it.  It should be perfect for our runs back and forth to SL.

November Highlights!

We arrived home from China on Sat., Nov. 15.  Heather was in town for a foot zoning conference so we were able to visit with her over a bite at Cafe Rio as we had no fresh food in the house.  She left early the next morning for ID and I took Steve to the airport about 9:30 so he could work in CA that week.  I drove on up to CV for church.  Britton played a piano solo "I Love To See The Temple" in sacrament meeting.  He did an exceptional job on his solo church debut.
Steve continued to struggle with jet lag throughout his work week.  For me it wasn't as difficult.
He arrived back on Thursday and that evening Tiffany and Abigail flew in too.  Everyone was tired that night.

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day so Abigail helped Steve and I rake a lot of leaves in the yard.  We love all the trees, so the raking is worth it.  Abigail was an excellent helper and stayed right there with us until we finished the front yard.  Then Tiffany left for CV to prepare for the next day's big party.  We left shortly thereafter.

Saturday the 22nd was Korinne's birthday and Tiffany had planned a big party for both the November birthday girls.  They not only played dress ups, but had a photo booth, games, pizza, balloons, cake and ice cream.  Jenna and Korinne loved helping Tiffany decorate and set things up.  They all loved the party.

Happy 9th Birthday to Korinne.  Abigail turned 8 on the 3rd of November and has continued to celebrate the entire month.  That philosophy aligns with mine so I completely understand it.

Korinne is smiling over her root beer float which was the treat for her family celebration later that day.

We all attended church together on Sunday and then Steve and I had to drive back to SL as I had a client from California in town and I needed to show houses all day to her.  Tiffany hung around with Hilary's family on Monday.  On Tuesday we headed to ID in two separate vehicles.  Tiffany drove the Sequoia and took the old highway so she could stop at the Pepperidge Farm outlet store.  That place is a personal favorite for our family.  We left from SL and stopped only in Blackfoot to drop off some of our Thanksgiving items at Kathy and Brent's.  Then we stopped and picked up Shawn who flew into the regional airport.
Tiffany arrived at Heather's first and immediately the cousins started playing.  This Tickle Witch Parade cracked me up.

Abigail, Elsie and Quinn quickly planned a camping trip too.  Fortunately it was in the family room.

I had some food preparations to make for the Thanksgiving Feast the next day, and it is always a job keeping the crowd fed any day.

Sloppy Joes that I made ahead came in handy.  Steve is so happy with that meal as long as we add some potato chips.

Brinley does a little rehearsing for her musical number at the upcoming baptism.

The morning passed quickly and soon it was time to leave for Brent and Kathy's. There we gathered for a pizza dinner and then went to the stake center for Abigail's baptism.  When we arrived at the stake center, Aaron commented that he was baptized in that same stake center when he was 8 years old. Brinley, Anna and Heather left early and rode with us as we had to stop in IF to purchase Steve some dress pants.  Neither of us noticed that we handn't put his suit in with all the food, Christmas gifts, etc.  He needed new pants anyway.
Here are the happy shoppers.  We definitely preferred to shop the day BEFORE Thanksging than the day AFTER.

We also checked out some birthday items for Brinley and Anna's upcoming December birthdays.  We successful and we also found Steve a nice pair of slacks.

This was the sunset we enjoyed on the rest of the drive.  I took a bunch of photos but from a moving car, it is a challenge for me.

When we arrived at Brent and Kathy's, we were greeted by Hilary's family, Jake's family and Dustin's family.  They all joined with us in eating pizza, cake and ice cream and attending the baptism.  Cassidy, Dustin's oldest child, has grown up to be a beautiful young woman now.

My sister Jackie drove down to join us for the baptism too.  We were so happy to see her and have this opportunity to visit.  Thanks, Jackie, for making that extra effort.

Abigail was very excited and willingly posed in her baptismal suit with a beautiful, special towel that was a gift from Kathy and Brent.

This is a nice group of  cousins and second cousins who attended the baptism.

Front row, Cole, Jantzen, Quinn, Abigail, Anna, Korinne  Back row:  Britton, Cassidy, Parker, Riley, Brinley, Jenna, Tanner and Jameson  In the middle are Elsie and Oakley.

Kathy and Brent coordinated with their Bishop to have him conduct the service and have the ward mission leader fill the font.  We really appreciated their service.  Family members took care of all program items.  Heather played the piano.  Tanner conducted the music.  Anna and Jantzen said the prayers.  Brinley played a violin solo.  Jenna and Kristen gave the talks.  Shawn performed the baptism and the confirmation.  All of these things were beautifully accomplished in less than 30 minutes.

It was a very spiritual event.  Everyone did an extremely nice job and Shawn gave a simply beautiful confirmation blessing to Abigail.  I was very touched by the whole service and loved being there in this "heavenly" atmosphere with so many family members.  This was truly a spiritual highlight for me.  I appreciated everyone who supported Abigail and contributed to this most memorable event.  Abigail, we love you and are happy you chose to become a member of Christ's church on the earth.

The next morning we were back in reality land.  In spite of a little conflict, we were still happy and excited to spend the day at Kathy and Brent's again for our Thanksgiving celebration.  Thanksgiving at Kathy's is our favorite family holiday.

What's not to love?  Adam makes his fabulous rolls.  Kathy does the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, pretzel salad and an amazing variety of homemade hand dipped chocolates and candy.  Everyone else brings, veggie trays, fruit trays, homemade root beer,  yams, dressing, ham, beans, salad, cranberries, pies and cheesecake.  You mix in the kids' crafts, organized by Tiffany, plus bowling,  fireworks and a piñata provided by Brent and Kathy and you have ONE AMAZING CELEBRATION!  Brent asked everyone to name something they were thankful for.  I'd say THANKSGIVING with so many family members.  AWESOME!

The weather was so mild that some of the boys played soccer outside, Jameson and Oakley become best buddies and played everywhere including outside and a few of us really enjoyed our after dinner walk wearing jackets instead of bundling up in total winter gear.

The bowling alley was very crowded with our family and two others so we only had enough lanes for the kids to bowl.  I don't know if any adults were really disappointed.  The bowling alley folks have promised to give us an appointment next year.

The bowling machines malfunctioned so we didn't have accurate scores.  There were a few tears over unrecorded strikes and spares.  Brent just kept the trophies until next year.

Then we had fireworks, the piñata and dessert back at Brent and Kathy's.  We really did pack the day with celebratory activities.  Our thanks to Kathy and Brent.  As usual they were supreme hosts.

Friday, we hung around Heather and Aaron's and ate some more.  No one went early shopping but a carload of the men went to the Army/Navy surplus store to check it out.  A few of us went to Cal Ranch in the afternoon.  Many had walks around the neighborhood enjoying the pleasant weather.

A few movies were watched and a lot of Wii games and dancing took place.  We never did get around to baking cookies.  We just didn't need any more sweets and the kids were having lots of fun together.

The next morning, we took pajama pictures before we left to take Shawn to the airport.  Then Tiffany, Abigail and I drove the Sequoia and Steve drove the pickup.  We made a couple of stops at Kohls looking for a particular birthday gift.  We scored.  We also stopped altogether at Maddox Drive In for lunch.  Tiffany and I love their chicken.  Yum!

We gathered for one last family prayer together.  I love praying with our family group.

I believe Hilary and Adam's family left directly behind us.   It was soooo fun to be together.

All the cousins sat on the stairs for a photo at my request.  I never have too many photos of our grandkids.

Thanks Heather and Aaron for letting us all crash and hang at your house.  It's great that you can handle such a big group.  We loved hanging out in our pi's!