Merry Christmas 2013!!!

Well!  It has been quite a while….again….since I last posted!  No excuse.  This has been a very good year for us.  We've had our ups and downs, but we have survived and have been so thankful for the smooth stretches in our journey through the year.  This Christmas Season finds us feeling joyful and very content.  Excited for Christmas Eve and time with family.  We are thankful for the Lord's tender mercies and all the simple pleasures He continues to send our way.

May all of you feel the joy of the Season.  No matter how you celebrate it.  May you enjoy family and friends.  May you have good health.  And may a few magical moments happen here and there to keep your heart singing and a smile on your face.  And most of all….May you remember the One who's birth we celebrate.  I know the Savior lives.  He loves us and He knows each one of us.  I know this to be true.  Without a doubt.  It's true.

Merry Christmas to all of you!  Feel the joy.  And be safe.

     Okay!  So today I made my first loaf of french bread.  Yes, I did.  And...well...it tasted really good!  I made a double batch and rolled it into one big loaf.  It was as long as my big oversized cookie sheet.  After raising for an hour it was too flat.  So I pushed the outer edges toward the center of the loaf to make it a little higher.  And wouldn't you know it?  The minute I put it in the oven and left it to bake, it flattened out again.  It just flattened it's little self right out, just like that!  So!!  We ended up with a loaf of french bread that was about 24 inches long and 9 inches wide and maybe 2 inches high.  BUT!!!!!  IT REALLY TASTED GOOD!!!!!  We had left over stew with it and it was very yummy.  Kodi is laughing and making fun of my little old loaf of french bread.  She says you can't make a sandwich out of it.  But I say you can spread peanut butter or tuna on it just fine!!

     I think I'll try again tomorrow.  That loaf of bread has thrown a challenge at me.  Will it win?  Or will I?  Stay tuned.

     And I guess it's about time I wrote about our month long dream trip.  It was WONDERFUL!!!!!  A whole month to go see all of our kids and grandkids and we just loved it so much!  We even got to see our newest grandbaby before coming home.  She was born five days before we had to head back.  What a sweetie.  And Grandma caught a bug and had to keep her distance from her.  I was so afraid I would make her sick too.  It was very, very hard to see everyone else loving her and holding her and having to stay away from her.  But I was so grateful to be there and even get to see her at all.  The night before we left Kyran came up to me and put her in my arms.  My heart melted.  She was so tiny and so perfect.  I only held her for a couple minutes and tried to not breathe on her.  And then I gave her back. She didn't get my bug and I was grateful for that.

     All of our kids made us feel so welcome in their homes.  It was nice to see where they live - the ones we had never seen their homes yet - and it was especially good to be able to spoil the grandkids to our hearts content and get to know the ones who were so little when they moved away.  Then to finally meet the one we had never seen in person before was just wonderful.  This grandma came home with a full and happy heart.  I had been missing them all so bad.  I am content with it all now.  And that is very, very good!

     We traveled from our home clear to the Canadian border and even got to cross over it for a few minutes.  I stood with one foot in America and one foot in Canada and got pictures of that.  Now I can say I have been to Canada and Mexico.  Stephen and I went to Nogales on our honeymoon and spent a couple hours or so looking in the shops on the Mexican side.  Does this make us world travelers????

     Anyway!  This trip was a very good thing for us.  We loved being with our kids and grandkids.  Many special moments shared and heart's desires met.

     And we came home in a brand new pickup.  A Dodge Ram, Big Horn.  I know, I know.  The guys would describe it differently.  It's cherry red, four wheel drive, and soooooo much nicer than our Camry was - and I really loved our Camry.  We got it in Nampa, Idaho on our return trip stop over at Shane and Sherri's house.  Stephen disappeared one morning and I didn't know where he had gone.  When he came back he said he had been at the car dealership and had found a truck he liked.  He had been looking here in Mesa for a while and the prices here are a bit higher than up in Nampa.  Anyway, he had made an appointment to go back that afternoon when I could go with him and have me look at it.  I knew we had bought a truck!  We cleaned out our car and got it ready to turn in and after our meeting with the salesman we drove out in the pickup.  We drove home in BIG style!!  We had to buy me a little step ladder so I could get in and out of it.  And we had to buy big bins with lids to put all of our stuff in because we no longer had a trunk to take things home in.  Had to get tie downs to hold everything in place.  But that was all just a part of the fun.  We are still grinning from ear to ear and loving our new toy.  Ummmm...Stephen's new toy!  No regrets.

     After we got home Stephen made running boards for the truck so I don't have to use a step ladder anymore.  They really look nice, too.  He is so talented in making things like that.  When he went to pay his boss for the materials he had used to make them with they just told him to consider it a bonus and wouldn't let him pay them for anything.  Blessings!!

     Our trip threw my sense of time off.  Such a weird feeling.  I felt like I had totally missed out on summer.  We had been having such a good time with everyone that the time just slipped away from me.  And yet July dragged by.  And August came and school started and it felt like the holidays should be here!  I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't even September  yet.  And why wasn't it?  Why isn't the rest of the world catching up with me and my new time table?  I found myself about two months ahead of where we were at.  So totally weird.  I had to accept that it wasn't even Fall yet.  What a bummer!!  I so love fall.  It's the beginning of the holidays for me.  The anticipation of the good family times ahead.  Time is finally back where it belongs in my life.  And now I'm wishing it would slow down a little and not pass by too fast.  I want to enjoy the coming holidays and not just be swept through them.

     Life is good.  We have been so very blessed.  This spring/summer was so fun.  And now we are waiting for our 25th grandbaby to arrive.  She should be here any day now.  And we don't know when we'll get to meet her in person.  But we already love her.  And Stephen and I just celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary.  I love him so much.  I'm so thankful he is my eternal companion.

     Have a great day, Everyone!  Take a minute to count your blessings and to enjoy a simple pleasure or two or three!

YAY!!!!! : )

Yay!!!   One of the layouts I did for Scrapgirls won the March Monthly Layout Contest!!!  And I get a $10 gift certificate to their boutique!!!!!  I'm so excited!!!!!  Here is my winning layout:

Thanks, Hope, for the beautiful photo!!  And the memories it brought to me!  Click on the photo to read the journaling on the layout.

Got LOTS Done!!

Yes!!  We finally got our living room cleared out and straightened up!!!  I'm so relieved to finally have it looking good again.  Still have things in the dining room and spare bedroom to finish up.  But at least we can relax a little now.

Our new entertainment console arrived on Friday afternoon.  It turned out absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!  I'm so excited to have such a lovely piece of furniture.  It's well made, too.  We are super pleased with it.  Will have to get a photo taken of it to put here next time I write.

We got Kodi's art piece professionally printed out and matted for the Art Show down at MCC.  It turned out beautiful!  We are so pleased with how it looks.  She has to turn it in on April 4th and the show begins on April 9th and runs for about 10 days.  We think that some of the awards may be scholarships and are hoping she will get one.  That would be a blessing.  Here is a pic of her art piece.  You can click on it to see it better.

We are waiting to hear what Kodi's 10 days on the heart monitor showed if anything.  The EKG the doctor did was normal and all her blood work was normal.  So that is good.  He did diagnose her with Fibromyalgia though.  That didn't really surprise me as I have suspected that she had it for quite a while now.  I also found out in reading about it that Fibro can cause symptoms that make you feel like you have heart problems.  Tightening of the chest muscles and spasms, aching and chest pain.  I'm thinking this may be all that is wrong, but with the heart problems Stephen and Kyran have had, we don't want to take any chances.  So we are checking it all out.  Stress and anxiety can also cause you to feel like you are having heart problems.  So!!  Double whammy here for Kodi.  And we are hoping it's nothing to be worried about.

Stephen hasn't felt real well for a while now either.  So he has a dr appointment on Wednesday and we are hoping to get some answers as to what might be happening with him.  Kind of scary for me.  I worry so over him.  And Kodi.  It will be good to know what we are dealing with.  Could use prayers right now for both of them.

I have spent some time doing digital scrapbooking and have loved it.  I hadn't done any for a while so it did me good to be creative for a few days.

Here is Tyler's 2nd place winning Pinewood Derby car.

And a memory page of our Frankie.

Here are three using photos that my sister Hope emailed me.

One of Shane and Stephen R. with cousins Russ and Desiree.

This layout is one I have been wanting to do for a while.  The cute little Cox guys!

Kodi and Jayson celebrating their Graduations.

And one of just Kodi.

I had a lot of fun doing all of these and am hoping to do more over the next few weeks.

My Cuddlebug came today!!  Well yesterday...Monday.  It's now very early on Tuesday morning.  Yes...I'm up and not very tired yet...AGAIN!!!  Anyway, my Cuddlebug came and I'm excited to have it. I'm waiting on all the templates I ordered now.  Got them all at discount prices which made them much more affordable than regular price.  Is my Honey spoiling me rotten?  YES!!  He is so good to me!

On that happy note I'll end this for tonight.  Hope you are all doing well!  Don't forget to look for the simple pleasures in life.  And make a memory today!!

HEY!!

HEY!!

Well, we are still in a huge mess around here.  Have been painting and putting furniture together and dejunking.  I'll be soooooo glad when we are done with it all!  After tomorrow things will get some better.  Stephen R. is coming to put some wallboard up to cover the wall where the arched windows are in the north wall of Kodi's bedroom.  And he will be texturing it for us.  After it dries we will finish painting her room.  She chose a dark gray for an accent wall and a lighter gray for everything else.  Looks really nice so far.  We got her bed and two dressers set up in the last couple days.  Still have one smaller dresser to do tomorrow.  Got her big picture of the peacock put up on the wall above her bed.  It's really beautiful.  She also set up her new lamps and started working on her mirror arrangements.

Stephen has had a few days off work.  I think he has worked harder around here than if he had gone to work though.  It has not been a restful time off for him.  I so appreciate his willingness to get things in shape around our home though.  He is such a good Honey!  I could never do it all on my own.  Our waterbed dying on us began a domino effect of projects around here.  All of which have been nice to be able to do.  In spite of the work and chaos it has thrown us into!

Stephen and Kodi finally got Teddi Bear shaved and trimmed up this past week.  Her fur gets so matted and knotted up that we have to completely shave her down to nothing because you can't brush it out.  She looks like a roly-poly little rat - and I say that affectionately - running around here now.  For a dog who doesn't eat much she sure is a chubby little thing. And her legs are little toothpicks without all the fur on them.  I miss the cuteness of her furry little feet after we have to shave her and I'm always so amazed at how tiny her legs and feet really are.  Stephen always leaves her fur long on her ears and tail though.  And I love how we can see her little face.  Here are a couple of pictures of her with her new look!

Well, I hope everyone is being happy and content!  Enjoy a simple pleasure today.  Make a memory.  Give someone your smile.  And enjoy your day!

IT WAS A WATERBED CATASTROPHE!!!

Well.....the other night I could hear something in our bedroom but couldn't figure out what it was or where the noise was coming from.  But the next morning when I made the bed it felt wet when I tucked the blanket in.  So I lifted up the corner of our waterbed mattress and it was all wet underneath it.  Aaaauuuuugggghhhhhhh!!!!!  Upon checking around the bed I found the source of the noise I had heard the night before.  The water was dripping onto the carpet at the head of the bed.  I knew we were in big trouble.  Water under the mattress at the foot and dripping onto the floor at the head.  NOT GOOD!!!

SO!!!  I called Stephen and he took the rest of the day off work to come home and empty the mattress.  We quickly decided the bed was DEAD!!  A done deal!  No more patching.  No more, no more!!!  I figured we'd head on over to the waterbed store, pick up a new mattress, liner and heater and get us all set back up by nightfall.  But Stephen surprised me by saying that he figured it was about time we got ourselves a new BEDROOM SET!!!!  That we deserved a nice one as we had never had a new bedroom set before.  We've always had hand-me-downs from loving family.  Or, like our waterbed, leftovers from our waterbed store that we had years and years ago.  Our waterbed was a floor model in our store and we were happy to have it, but it wasn't brand new when we finally got it, or something that we picked out just because we liked it.  I got to thinking about how many years we've had that bed and was surprised when I realized it has been about 30 years!!  THAT is a LONG TIME!!!  Yes!  We did deserve a nice new bedroom set!!

Anyway, I was soooooo excited!!  We got the water all drained and threw everything away.  Then we headed to Kerby's to look at bedroom sets.  And we ended up with THIS!!

Isn't it just BEAUTIFUL!!!!  We loved the rustic country look it had.  And it is super well built.  It really fills up this small room, but that's okay.  We LOVE it!!  I think we need an electric blanket though.  I about froze to death last night.  I had the quilt, the throw, a comforter doubled up, and our old spread plus Stephen's snuggie like blanket over me before I could quit shivering last night....at three in the morning!!  Made me wonder if I was getting sick or something.  But it was just that I'm used to the waterbed being warm and nice all the time and this bed doesn't come with a heater!!

It's really true what they say....when you fix something up nicer or get something new, you find other things that need to be fixed up as well in order to make the first nicer/new thing look good.  We knew we would need new bedding as we were going from the waterbed to a queen size regular bed.  And as I was looking for something we would enjoy having, I found the quilt (which Stephen actually picked out!!) and matching shams AND two decorative pillows in a bundled deal.  Awesome!  Then....there was a matching throw!  And matching curtains!  Stephen let me add them to the order.  After I placed the order he came into the room and said....I guess this means we need to paint.  I said that would be nice!  He said...what color do you want to do it?  I said we had to wait and pick a color from the new quilt.  When the order arrived and I got the bed all made up nice I noticed how bad our ceiling fan looks with it.  I told Stephen that we needed a new one to match the color of the bed frame.  And he agreed.  So now we will be going to Home Depot to get a fan....hopefully this weekend.  We also had to get the carpets cleaned before the furniture came.  They were not in good shape and plus the water leaking all over the floor.  So I have been kind of laughing to myself about how it has all added up and up to make this room look so nice.  : )  Now if I could figure out how to get a new house to put this bedroom in.....wouldn't that be fun?!! HA!!!

I got some new decorative boxes at Joann's on Saturday.  Kodi and I decided that since we were getting new furniture...her Daddy got her a new bedroom set too...I know!  We just had such a fun time shopping that day!!  Anyway!  We needed a nice way to store things we use all the time.  Something that would work well for that storage and be pretty at the same time.  So here are my new boxes!

Aren't they pretty?  And they carry out the garden theme somewhat.

Well, it was Kodi's birthday on Monday.  My baby is now 23 years old!!!  It was just a quiet day for us.  I made a nice spaghetti dinner for her and we got some Dunkin' Donuts for dessert.  I still need to make her the rainbow Jello dessert she likes to have for her special day.  Will try to do that in the next day or two.  We just had too much going on to be able to make it for her birthday.  It takes about six hours or so to make.

And then Valentine's Day yesterday.  I hope you all had a nice one.

And that's about it for this time!  I hope you are all looking for the simple pleasures in life.  There are so many of them to enjoy.  Here is one of ours:

That's our Teddi Bear.  She can't quite figure out what is going on around here.  Her whole safe little world was just thrown into turmoil and chaos for a couple days there causing her to go into hiding behind the couch.  So much hustle and bustle with moving things around, her people gone for hours and hours and strangers bringing stuff into our house, that big noisy machine running across the carpets, and now the bed acting so strange when she is up on it.  No more jiggling around and a bit scary to get up onto and back down from.  She can hide under it though!  Funny little critter!

Take care, Everyone!!  : ) 

I CAN'T SLEEEEEPPPPP!!!!!

This is NOT fun!  I can't sleep again tonight and I'm tired.  I went to bed just before midnight and tossed and turned for almost an hour.  I told myself to relax and tried to do that.  I told myself to quit thinking and tried to clear my mind out.  Nothing worked!!  I am so envious of my Stephen who is asleep almost before his head hits the pillow.  I lay there listening to him sleep soundly while I watch the numbers change on the clock.  NOT FUN!!

So now I'm up.  Just took two Melatonin to see if they will help.  And I read my scriptures for a little bit.  I'm tired.  I just can't sleep.

Today I got up and did dishes and got the laundry going first thing.  And then I started dejunking my desk area.  I got rid of all the colored paper, stickers, markers and colored pencils, coloring books and crayons, stencils.  Took a big box of it over to our new neighbor for her girls to use.  I think they will have a lot of fun with it all.  I used to use those things all the time.  But my crafting needs have changed and I'm tired of having all that taking up valuable space.  Now I need to reorganize the shelves all of that came out of.  

My body feels like there is a storm coming or something.  My arms and legs hurt and ache.  My knees, my elbows.  And my hands are not feeling all that great either.  I think we are supposed to get some wind and clouds, but no rain.  So I must just be having arthritis pain from my busy day.  But I'm so satisfied with all I did that it's okay.

I found a bunch of photos in a box when I was going through things.  Fun stuff!  Kaitlyn was just a baby in them.  And all the kids were so little.  Brought back memories to look at them.  I need to do a few scrapbook pages on some of them.  Like the one of Rylin with the seat of his pant totally black with mountain dirt.  I have another pic somewhere of the little boys blowing bubbles into a hole they had dug on that camping trip.  They had totally filled the hole up with them.  And then there were the pics of Chad and Heather's kids riding their little cycles.  I really need to get busy scrapbooking!!

I did get a layout done this week.  I scrap lifted it from a gal on Scrapgirls.  And I'm real pleased with how it turned out.  Took me hours to do.  Here it is.

I didn't have a template or anything to work with on this one so it took a long time to get everything just right.  I had to get a couple template kits to make the shapes I needed and everything.  And of course, the kit with all the papers and elements in it.  Fun stuff to add to my stash!!

I got all my purchases burned on to DVD's this past week too.  That was a big job.  I had four DVD's that I thought were burned and they weren't so I had to redo them also.  Plus months of stuff I had sitting in the burn folder waiting for me to get to.  I really need to stay on top of that better!

We had fun playing games with Stephen R. and Karma and the kids last Saturday night.  They came and had dinner with us and we watched a movie and then played games.  We enjoyed having them all here.  Should do that more often!

Hope everyone is doing okay!  Be sure to take some time to enjoy the simple pleasures as you go about your day.  They make a day much nicer!

The Best in Music!!

This evening Kodi came downstairs to have Stephen and I watch and listen to some YouTube music videos by The Piano Guys.  Talk about fun and fantastic music that speaks to the soul!!  I LOVED it!!  Had to go on iTunes to buy some of the piano pieces.  And of course the more I heard the more I wanted.

In listening to Jon Schmidt play I got to thinking about my cousin Ryan Reilley.  Jon and Ryan kind of compose and play the same kind of music.  In fact, Jon's "All of Me" reminded me very strongly of Ryan's music.  Ryan's music is soooooo beautiful.  Some of his pieces just speak to my heart and it makes me cry as I listen to them.  I need to find out how to get in touch with him so I can purchase more of his CDs.  He has a beautiful gift where music is concerned.

I started putting Christmas things away today.  Makes me sad that the holidays are over.  I also finished reading "The Christmas List" by Richard Paul Evans today.  I started it about midnight last night and read until 4:30 this morning.  Couldn't put it down.  After sleeping for a while and then doing my chores I read until I finished the book about 10 PM.  A whole book in less than 24 hours!  Wow!!  It's a super good story for those of you who love to read!  I'm now going to read his book "The Last Promise".  We'll see if it keeps me up all night!

We made sweet rolls on Saturday.  Kodi mixed them up, I rolled them out and Stephen baked them.  That's what you call a family effort.  They turned out really good, too!  The recipe is one of my Grandpa's recipes.  He was a chef who really knew his stuff!  Everyone loved his sweet rolls.  When he and Grandma would come to visit us out in California, they always spent a day making lots of them for us.  I remember coming home from school and watching them make them.  Grandma carried on the tradition after Grandpa died.  And she always made a whole bunch of them at Christmas time to give to all of us.  I always looked forward to getting our share for my little family.  My family wishes that I would make it a for sure Christmas tradition in our home.  It's kind of hit and miss for us.  I really should be more diligent about making them.  Traditions are so important.  And making sweet rolls is a huge job.  About 6 hours worth of work from start to finish.  

Well, that's about it for now.  Take a minute to enjoy a simple pleasure today.  There are so many of them out there for us to enjoy if we will just look for them!  See Ya!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We had a quiet New Year just Stephen, Kodi and I.  Watched TV and movies.  Had a nice dinner.  Just took things slow and easy.  There were a lot of fireworks going off in our neighborhood.  A couple families were setting some off by our retention area and I stepped out to watch them for a minute.  Looked like fun.

Kodi is sick.  Our first illness for this season.  Cold and flu like symptoms.  I'm hoping Stephen and I don't get it from her.  But we shall see.

Our Frankie would have been 9 years old yesterday.  My heart still aches that we had to put him to sleep.

And Teddi Bear has been so barky today!  A lot of noises going on outside and next door and she has responded loudly to them!

We had a lovely Christmas.  We went to I Hop for Christmas Eve breakfast and had pancakes.  YUM!!  Christmas Eve was especially fun with Stephen R. and Karma and the kids here.  We had a nice ham dinner and lots of goodies to snack on.  Watched a movie, played the gift exchange game, played Puerto Rico, and then we headed over to see the lights in the Temple Garden and we also saw the Nativity display.  

Stephen made this really neat whistle out of metal that was the hit of the gift exchange game.  Both Michael and Stevie wanted it bad.  So Grandpa has to make another one so they both have one.

Christmas Day was quiet.  We went to church that morning.  The Ward choir did the program and it was very nice.  Lots of good music.  Then we can home and opened gifts and had dinner.  Watched TV.

Stephen had the whole week off from work and I so loved having him home.  We just had a very lazy week doing whatever we felt like doing.  

Shane and Sherri and their kids came on Sunday.  We went out to Queen Creek to Stephen R. and Karma's for visiting, dinner and games.  And then Tuesday night Kaleb was ordained to be a Priest and we went to that.  I can't believe how TALL he has grown!!  And that was all we got to see them.  But we are grateful for even that little bit of time with them.  Shane went home Saturday and Sherri and the kids drive home this week.  

I so miss having my children and their families here near us.  The grandchildren are growing up without us.  And we have three or four who don't really know us at all.  One that we have never met in person yet.  It's hard and sometimes my heart just aches because I miss all of them so.

I have three little green sprouts coming up in my flower pot where I had my violets.  The third leaf on each one is coming out at the moment.  I'm anxiously waiting to see if they are violets and am hoping they are not just a friendly little weed or something like that.  I have been so afraid that the violets were done in.  So we shall see in a few more days what is happening here.  I hope I haven't lost them.  These are the violets I brought from our house on 7th Avenue.  When Mom and Dad moved in with us over there, Dad dug a bunch of them up from their home and planted them at ours for Mom.  And I dug some up to bring here when we moved to our condo in 1997.

Dad planted some of the violets just outside my laundry room window over on 7th Avenue.  Some days I would go in there to do laundry and I could smell the scent of them so strong.  It would come up through the dryer vent into the room.  I loved that.

Well, gotta go change the laundry loads.  And fix dinner.  Take care!  Say "Hi" if you come by to visit here.  Would love to know if anyone is reading my posts.  Thanks!  : )

I'm Back!!

Well, here I am again!  Just a quickie note though.  I finished our puzzle up last night.  I'm so glad to have it done!  Now Stephen and Kodi want to leave it on the table a few more days just to look at it and admire our hard work.  It was a VERY hard puzzle.  I call it a nightmare puzzle.  Everything was so swirly and the colors were all so mixed up in it.  Very difficult to put together.   Here it is:

Close up so you can see the detail of the swirling colors, but the flash kind of messed up that one part.  Click on the photo so you can see it even bigger.

Further away so you can see the overall picture better.

And here is our beautiful Christmas tree!  I love how it turned out this year.  There is no gold on it.  The ornaments are blue and silver and the lights are blue and clear twinkle lights.  But I love the golden glow this photo caught.

Close up of the ornaments.

We got a little bit of rain this evening.  We didn't even know it was raining!  But it did.  Just enough to get things wet and let us know it had happened.

Take care, Everyone!!

Cold, Rainy Sunday!

Hi, Everybody!  It's a cold, rainy Sunday here in my neighborhood!  And I'm loving every minute of it!!  The sky is all gloomy and the wind comes and goes.  A perfect wintery day!  Except for no snow.  I do so wish it would snow here.  We NEED SNOW!!  And icicles hanging from all the eaves of the houses.  A pond to go ice skating on.  Sleigh rides.  Christmas caroling.  And fires in fireplaces.  And hot chocolate.  And Christmas music playing while we read good books...... You know....one of those perfect picture postcard Christmases!!  The kind that are ONLY on postcards, in stories, in movies and on greeting cards.  I've heard those kinds of Christmases aren't real life though.  But I think if a person tried, it could be very real!  And I'd like to have one of them.  

Well, Christmas is only a few more days away.  I'm already feeling a little sad that it's almost over again.  At least it didn't rush by and leave me in the dust this year!!  We baked up a big batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday.  I still need to make sweet rolls and fudge.  I'll make more banana bread, too.  And I have three more presents to wrap and a stocking to stuff and then that's all done.  Then it will just be Christmas Eve dinner to make on Saturday and the traditions that go along with that.  We are having Christmas Eve at our house this year.

One of our traditions is to put a puzzle together as a family during the month of December.  One of those 1,000 piece kind.  This year Kodi picked the puzzle out - a fairy blowing bubbles and several of the bubbles have scenes in them.  Her wings are multicolored/patterned and very different.  It's one of the hardest puzzles I've ever done!  We have a big board we put the puzzle together on because the only place we have to do it is on the dining room table.  Having it on a board allows us to easily move it when we need the table.  Anyway, we started it right after Thanksgiving and we are still painstakingly working on it!!  But we are slowly getting there.  

Kodi got straight A's for her final grades this semester!  Yay, Kodi!!!  Not an easy thing when one of those classes is Latin.  Her other class was beginner graphics.  We are proud of her.

And that's about it for this time.  I hope all my readers have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  In case I don't get to write again before then.  

And that brings up another thing...Do I have any readers here?????  If I do, will you please stop in at the comments right below here and say a quick hi?  I'm just curious as to whether I'm sharing things with anyone out there or if I'm just talking to myself!  It would be pretty sad if I'm just talking to myself.  Thanks!

  

Okay.  Writing two days in a row here!!  Shock-ed and amaze-ed!!  But what can I say?  I downloaded all the photos from my camera this evening and had to share these of our Teddi Bear going for a ride down to MCC with Kodi and I the other morning.  She LOVES going for rides with us!  And she especially loves having the windows down just enough to get some good air going on her little face.  She goes from one side of the car to the other looking out the windows and pit stops between the front seats to look out the windshield.  It's so fun.  In these photos we have that back window down just three or four inches.  And she is loving it.

Notice the fur plastered back on her face!  So funny and sooooo cute!!

And.....we went to see the lights at the Temple this evening.  They are always soooo beautiful!  This year they have put the stage out in front of the Visitor's Center and have chairs set up on the front lawn for the evening performances.  I really like that!  They should have done that years ago.  Now the main pool area is free for just walking around and enjoying the main part of the gardens.  It's so much nicer this way.  Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took with my little camera.  Hope you enjoy them.  This first one is of the main pool area in the garden.

I loved how all the palm trees looked against the dark sky tonight.  

I didn't realize there were autumn colored leaves on this plant until my camera flash lit it up.

Soooooo pretty!!

This area was just glowing with green, purple, blue and a few whitish colored lights.  The color combination was so pretty.  The flash from the camera kind of took the glow away.  But I still love the colors here.

And yes, those are oranges on that tree!  

The Wise Men and their camels on the front lawn of the Temple Grounds.

The star above the Nativity Scene on the east side of the garden area.  White lights this year and so pretty.

And that's it for tonight!  Everyone take care.

Wow!  I can't believe it has been over a year since I last wrote.  Now here it is Christmas 2011!  Didn't we just have Christmas a few weeks ago??????  I think time flies faster when you get older.  Sure seems that way.

I have mixed emotions as we get ready to say goodbye to 2011.  There have been exciting things happening in our family.  But there have also been some pretty tough things, too.  Like saying goodbye to a new little Grandbaby who would have joined our family in time for this Christmas but didn't quite make it.  We love him though, and know that a loving Heavenly Father took him back home because for some reason he just couldn't have survived and been healthy and strong at this time.  And we are looking forward to another new Grandbaby due to arrive around June sometime.  I call that "joy to temper the sorrow".

We also had to make the difficult decision to put our Frankie to sleep in July.  The decision to do so still haunts my heart.  But he had cancer in his leg and we managed his pain until the medications quit helping and then we let him go.  We miss him.     

Among the good things:  Kodi has finished her first semester of college.  She has loved her graphics class and was chosen to be a participant in the 2012 Art Show this coming spring.  It is quite an honor to be able to do this as only a few are chosen from each teacher's classes.  She was one of four chosen by her teacher and will be entering as an emerging artist.  We need to get her art piece professionally printed up and matted but we have until April to do that.  We are excited and very proud of her.  She also LOVED her Latin class and has done very well in it.  She takes her finals for that this next week and then she will be out of school until January.  YAY!!

It has been nice and COLD here the past couple weeks or so.  We've had some rain.  And snow in the north end of the Valley and on the mountains.  More rain is coming next week.  I just hope we really get it.

We are pretty much ready for Christmas.  Kodi and I decorated our tree with blue and silver ornaments and it looks beautiful.  We've never done a blue theme.  We used blue and white twinkle lights and I'm loving it.

And on that happy note I will end this entry.  I hope you all have a wonderful Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

OH, YES!! PLEASE LET THE RAIN COME DOWN!!

Good Evening!! So much to show you tonight!! First.....Stephen found this HUGE Wheaties flake in his Wheaties! It's DOUBLED over. So it's actually twice the size you see here if it were all layed out flat and not doubled. So we had to get a few pics of this gigantic piece of cereal for the record.

And this is a normal size flake next to the huge one! Remember...the big one is doubled over!

And yesterday, the wind started to blow and we found faces in the clouds over our neighborhood! So I just had to take some pics of that.

Then the rain came. But the big story of this storm was the wind. We had a whirlwind in our entry way by our front door just swirling away in that little corner. It went way up to the second story of our building.


And after the rain...the beautiful sunset and the gorgeous clouds.

All of these photos, by the way, were taken with my little bitty camera! Neat, huh?

And then about noon today, the rain came again. And what a whopper of a storm we got!! They said we would only get about .25 to .50 inches of rain around the state. Well, Mesa...by 3 PM had gotten 1.18 inches and it was still coming in waves. I'll be very surprised if we didn't get 2 inches plus before the storm ended.

The beginning of the storm.

And it just kept on coming down!!

After the first wave of the storm ended, this is how our parking lot looked.

It has been an awesome but kind of scary day. We got about three waves of this storm and there were some pretty mean looking clouds out there. Some had rotation in them and there has been a lot of damage done because of the winds. We had a little bit of hail here at our house. I was hoping to take pics of it, but we didn't get enough to take pics of it. Kodi and I went outside during the storm to get our photos and we both got drenched. But it was worth it.

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Hope you are all having a great evening!!

It's Our Aniversary Today!

Wow! 42 years today! And they have been good years. I wouldn't trade any of them. Sure have had our ups and downs during these years. I think our hardest trial was Stephen's heart surgery and all that has happened because of that. But I also see great blessings because of it. Blessings we never would have had without that trial. So I'm grateful for it.

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When I think of how many years we have been married and of how much we still love each other, I find myself hoping that our children realize what a blessing that is to them in their lives. The fact that we, their mom and dad, have kept our committment to being married and raising a family in spite of the trials and troubles that have come and gone. And the fact that we love each other more than ever before. And that our love just keeps growing as time goes on. This is a great gift to them from us. It's a part of their legacy. It really makes me happy to see them doing the same with their marriages and to see the love they have for their wives and children. Our family is truly very, very blessed.

Check This Out!!

For all you digital scrapbookers out there or those who would like to get started...check this out! Suzy Q is a super talented designer at Scrap Orchard and her kits are so much fun to work with. Here is her blog addy: http://suzyqscraps.com/blog/2010/09/01/fall-is-just-around-the-corner-sneak-peeks/ She has some new kits coming out soon and this link gives you a chance to win one of them.

WELL!! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!

Well! It's about time I got back here to do some blogging! There I left you all hanging over my baby's 21'st birthday. So it's about time I caught you up on what we did.

Stephen went out and got Kodi a maple frosted donut on his way to work the day before her birthday. And that night - just in time for her 2:13 AM real birthday time - she was born at 2:13 AM on 2/13 - we lit a tea candle and put it in the middle of the donut and went into her room and sang Happy Birthday to her! Then we made her eat her treat before she could go back to sleep. It was really fun and I think she loved it. And of course I made her her favorite Jello dessert that takes about 6 hours to make. And she loved that too. Then her brothers and sister's-in-law gave her another party with a cake and candles and everything when we went out to Stephen R. and Karma's house for dinner that weekend. So it was good.

Here is a layout I did using the photos we took at 2:13 AM.




Stephen got the living room ceiling all painted. I'm so glad that part of the paint job is done. AND that he did it while I was asleep. I was so worried about him being up high on a ladder trying to do it

And we bought two new fans for the living room and dining room. They match except for the blades on the dining room one are a few inches shorter than the living room ones. I really love them - the fans - not just the blades. And the best part is that the lights in the dining room one WORK!!! They stay ON!! No more on and off stuff with the vibration of the fan! No more scary popping noises! No more being afraid to try to change the light bulbs and having them break off in the socket!! No more jiggling with vibrations til you think it's going to fly apart and demolish the room and everything in it!! It's really great!!! Sure was an adventure getting the living room one up though. Stephen was standing on the top of the six foot ladder trying to reach high enough to install it. I almost couldn't watch! But we got it done without any mishaps.

AND we finally got the carpet all cleaned. AND a new leather sectional couch!! YAY!! We are loving that! The sections on each end are recliners. Soooooo nice!! They are kind of a golden brown in color with a slight reddish tone mixed in there somewhere. I need to take a photo of it and scrapbook it, don't I? That and the fans. Yes. I do!!

And I'd tell you the story behind finally getting the carpets cleaned and buying a new couch, but it involves a tiny dog getting scared out of her wits by a visitor to our home. And she jumped up on the back of the couch and ran across the tops of the cushions pee-ing all the way. Drip, drip, drip. Poor puppy. So scared. I didn't have the heart to scold her. And the cushions didn't have removable covers so that I could wash them. So we turned them over to the clean side and when Stephen came home from work I said... I've made a decision. And I need to tell you about it. I can't stand this any longer! So!! We are getting the carpets cleaned and we are going out to buy a new couch! And we did!! Ooops! I just told you the story. Oh, well. Now you know. And it isn't like we didn't need a new couch. We were sitting on it one day...no one was jumping on it or anything...I promise!...we were just sitting there and CRUNCH! And the couch dropped a little to the floor. The front of the frame broke in two!! AND being a denim couch it was all faded and looking beyond awful. So what can I say. It definitely had died on us. The pee job was just the final straw. Thank you, Teddi Bear!! : )

Stephen's work has been keeping him real busy the past month. I think they have forgotten he is retired and only working part time. I really love having him home and don't like it when he has to work so many days in a row. And it's sooooooo nice to be able to just say...ask them for Thursday and Friday off so we can have a four day weekend! And he can do that and it doesn't hurt us.

He was able to take a four dayer last weekend when our Shane was here and we really enjoyed having Thursday afternoon with him. We played Phase 10 a good part of the afternoon and had ham and baked potatoes for dinner and then Stephen and Kodi ran him to the airport. There is nothing like having family for company, good visiting, fun games to play, and great food to eat, is there?!!

Have been working hard on my scrapbooking. So here are a BUNCH of new layouts that I've finished over the past few weeks. I've also thrown in some older ones. But a lot of these photos are from Tyler's baptism day and the family activities when Hope was there in July. Remember...if you click on the layout it will bring it up bigger for you. Enjoy!

Aunt Hopie...the Fairy Godmother of the Little People.

This layout was chosen as Layout Of The Week this week at one of my scrapbooking sites!




I love this series of photos. I actually made two pages but put them together for a double layout challenge. So if you divide it down the middle you'll know what the two pages look like. Love how this one turned out.




Hope sent me these next two photos on the computer. I saw Tristin's first and when I clicked for the next photo and it was Cydney with this look on her face I just burst out laughing!! Priceless photos of both kids. And it made Grandma's day!




HAD to get that blue tongue in there on a layout! Too funny.





Love, love, love this photo! So precious!!



I got a lot of comments on this layout. Everyone loved it.

Well, those photos should bring back a few good memories and some laughs too. Hope you enjoyed them. Take time to enjoy the simple pleasures. And if you look for them, you'll be amazed at how many come across your path each day. Bye for now!