Christmas - finally!

Since Brandon & Jamie were flying back home on Christmas day, we actually celebrated with our family on Saturday. We had Grove's Market sandwiches with the necessary fixings

(namely Cheetos!)

We'll try one picture before we open gifts --

Stocking time for the grown-ups!

The girls took over the robots the guys got

Then - off to celebrate with the Moosman family where eating is always a mustAfter too many years away from us, it was so good to have Adam & Tiff back

Who's ready for JINGO????

Peter scored (big time!) with the Jingo gifts!
Our handsome Nixon!
Wendy reading her annual Christmas story
We wrote letter's to Jesus, telling Him what we're going to give Him this year

We visited my Mother, and left a wreath

Oh, and Santa was gracious enough to let me open that little box afterall. They were earrings that matched the pendant and ring I got in Mykonos, Greece! Thank you Santa!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Grandchildren Party

We had a Christmas party for the grandchildren this year. It started out with a yummy dinner featuring their FaVoRiTe -corndogsEz moved himself to the "big" table, didn't want to sit with the girls this time (but Nixon did!)
Pictures around the Christmas tree --- take 1

Ha, I guess only in my dreams! But this one wasn't so bad

Story time -couldn't quite hold little Cate's attention we painted Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus

I was pretty pleased with how they turned out

Nixon had fun playing with the ball blaster

We watched, and had an interesting discussion, about the Nativity, then opened a little present

and played with them

and each other. It was so fun to have them all together again!

Oops -

Despite all efforts to try and turn my actions around and get that little package from Payne Anthony - I'm still managing to goof up.
Let's just say "I really did not notice that little pole while leaving the mall, but it noticed me!"

A few Holiday treasures -

The Holiday's are well underway and I am super busy with them, like you! Here are a couple of activities we've had so far. I joined these proud parents to watch Annie perform in her school program - She sang her little heart out!
Despite repeated efforts, it has been very difficult to coax any Christmas suggestions from Annie, and Santa, quite frankly, is getting a little worried. That is, until we were leaving the school and we spotted her "Christmas Wish List" hanging on the wall outside her door

Wow! A mighty list for a 6 year old. Maybe Santa wishes he didn't know what she wanted for Christmas after all!



My Dad, Curt & I attended a memorial service at the Mortuary who handled my Mother's preparations. They had the Jordan HS Bell Ringers perform, and Curt was chosen to come up and participate - and did he ring the bells!

and we lit a candle in memory of my sweet mother

We've also managed to watch these little ones once or twice, and we love to play games

Now, on with more holiday ---

There's still time ----

I found a little note on my front door from the "big" guy after lamenting over finding my name on his "naughty" list ---

Well, here's my little gift - from Payne Anthony Jewelers
Ok - it's a deal! I'll do my best and work hard, promise!

A busy Thanksgiving week

Headed over to visit the kids before the big Thanksgiving holiday because they weren't coming for Thanksgiving this year, and because I really miss them --- I mean who wouldn't miss these darlings!

The weather was FaNtAsTiC - especially since Salt Lake was getting snow! We headed off for an outing at the ZOO The sun was bright and the animals were active The Denver Zoo has Komodo Dragons. I've never seen them before. These are the babies. They were cute and kept us entertained for a while as we watched them get their nails clipped and jump all over the groomers. It was funny. There were also adult Dragons, they were not cute. They were amazing, but kind of freaky! One of our favorite things at the Zoo
Happy Feet! We rode the cool train - and measured our growth - We also made a trip to visit Dr. Bohn (our favorite dentist) and get our teeth checked and cleaned We made crafts
Cheesecake bitesWatched this little guy dismantle the dishwasher (sorry guys, but he was so determined)!
And decorated a gingerbread house
Are they not the cutest kids? See why we miss them SO much? Thanks B&J, LOVED the visit, and love you!
Thanksgiving morning, Curt and I started off by running a Thanksgiving 5K with Amy Oh yeah, our snazzy metals. I was very proud of Curt, this was his first 5k and he did great! Can you tell he has lost over 30 pounds? He's doing really good and I'm proud of him.
Then, on to the Thanksgiving feast. Oh yes, it was great ---
Peter is showing us his favorite dish --- a tofu turkey. It was actually pretty good!
So, how many of you had a balloon lady at your Thanksgiving dinner? If you would of had Thanksgiving dinner with us, you would have met Sharon, the balloon lady. She kept us, and the kids, occupied for quite some time - Then Gardner Village with the Elves and the Olson girlsWhere we found Santa's list -
and I did NOT like what I saw ---- My name (and Annie's) made "the LIST", ya know -- Santa's "Naughty List!" Can you find it? It's even spelled correctly!
Ok, I admit "I" may deserve to be on the list, but Annie was NOT happy about this one little bit. Marisa and her girls -
The elves were having a great time
So were we
It was a beautiful day but still a little chilly and we managed to find our first bit of real ice
Unlike the ice these elves were skating on We enjoyed our visit to Gardner Village - and the elves
Later on, the girls helped me decorate our snow village with "fake" snow

And we even had an "indoor" snowball fight (again --- fake snowballs).
But my fun was "real" and so is my gratefulness to be a part of such a wonderful family!