CHRISTmas

Christmas came quickly this year.  It seemed like it was Thanksgiving one week and Christmas the next.  The tree has been up for more than a month, but I just don't have the heart to take it down yet. 

Last year at Christmas I blogged about a billboard saying Christmas is love, family, and Jesus Christ, so for the second year in a row I tried to take that to heart and do some things to simplify Christmas and focus more on those three things.

Early in the month I got busy putting together our annual Christmas letter/card and sent them off.  It seems like less and less people send cards anymore, but I love staying connected to our long distance friends and family this way.

Then I took simplifying Christmas one step further and did something different instead of neighbor gifts and extended family gifts.  Each year it has gotten more crazy as the neighborhood keeps growing and each year I wonder why we do neighbors gifts when there are so many better things we could be putting all that effort into. 

So this year instead running gifts around the neighborhood, we decided to have a neighborhood open house hot cocoa party.  So on one cold snowy day I delivered invitations to all of the 39 houses in our neighborhood inviting them all to our home the next Saturday night.

Delivering invitations in and of itself was a good thing as it gave me the opportunity to visit for a few minutes with lots of our neighbors and I was also able to introduce myself to a family that had moved into our neighborhood awhile ago that I hadn't met.

We felt like our open house was a success.  About half of our neighbors dropped by, had some cocoa, and visited with each other for an hour or so.  We even had a few neighbors we rarely see  and  a couple of the widows who don't get out much come.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and several people commented that we should do things like this more often.  So who knows, maybe we'll do it again next year. 


Another thing we did this year wasn't planned for, but just kind of evolved.   I had seen on the Daily Closer to Christ blog an idea to do 24 days of giving during the month of December.  The idea was to do something for someone else each day leading up to Christmas.

A couple of years before I had purchased this cute mitten advent garland for no specific reason, but when I saw this idea knew it was perfect.  So all month long we did little anonymous acts of service for others and then clipped what we had done to the back of each mitten.  It was a lot of fun...although it was a bit of a bummer when we paid for the person behind us in the drive up window and they had only ordered  fries and a diet coke.
 

We also cut way back on the presents we bought for each other and our children.  Each person only got a couple of gifts.  Shopping was kind of a non event for us, but we did a lot of other things together as a family.

All in all December was a lot less stressful and a ton of fun  I'm hoping we don't remember this as a Christmas of few presents, but as a Christmas of many more "gifts".

Tradition

I have noticed that after awhile most everyone who keeps a blog slows down on their blogging, so it's no surprise to me that I haven't gotten around to putting something on here for quite some time.  When that realization hits, or when someone who actually reads your blog comments wondering why you haven't posted, it's time for one of those catch up posts.  So here goes...

I have said before that Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.  It's my mom's fault because when we were growing up she always made it so special.  That is when relatives, who we hardly ever saw, would venture to Utah.  Mom loved to cook and this was her chance to do it all.  Our menu was the same every single year-turkey, stuffing, yams with marshmallows on top, potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, Jello salad, stuffed celery, olives, and pumpkin pie with real whipped cream.  The table was always fancy with our china, and we dressed up for dinner.  Over the years we have tweaked things just a little, but for the most part have pretty much stuck to her menu.  But I am a little embarrassed to say our rolls have not always been homemade and I am guilty of using the Marie Callender pie crust, but other than that we've pretty much done it right.

After last Thanksgiving, when we totally broke tradition, I decided that this year we were going to do Thanksgiving the way you are supposed to.  No Rhodes rolls or grocery store pie crusts at our house.  I knew I could do this because Heather would be here to help and it's a lot of fun spending time with her in the kitchen. We made everything from scratch, even the cranberry sauce, which I'd never done before.

Can I just say traditional pumpkin pie has never been my favorite because the moist texture kind of freaks me out.  So over the years I have made chiffon pumpkin pie, pumpkin delight, or some other pumpkin concoction instead, but since I wanted to do Thanksgiving right knew this year it had to be a real homemade pumpkin pie. To build up our confidence for all this Heather and I went to a pie making demo at Sur La Table the Saturday before.  They taught us some tricks for making a perfect pie crust and a brilliant idea for making pumpkin pie on a quarter sheet pan.  Their recipe and cooking it on a quarter sheet made the texture so much better and the pieces able to be cut in smaller pieces, so we decided we'd give that a try. 

The one tradition we have incorporated that mom was never a part of is having pie the night before Thanksgiving.  We have done this the past few years and I think is the greatest idea ever.  Like most families you need many different pies besides pumpkin on the Thanksgiving menu, and the crunchy caramel apple pie I make is the favorite at our house.  So the night before Thanksgiving we gorged ourselves on apple pie and ice cream and saved the pumpkin for Thanksgiving when everyone is too full for pie, but eats it out of obligation. 

All in all is was a wonderful holiday.  Of course the best part was having our little family together.

I plan to blog soon about some other things we've been up to.

Conference Weekend

Last weekend it was conference, one of my favorite weekends of the year. 

How lucky we are to be able to stay at home and be instructed on how we can be happier, have more peace in our lives, and be a little better.  I always come away recharged but also feeling like I have so much to do...which is really not a bad thing.

 

The last several conference weekends we have spent in SLC, but this time we stayed at home and Heather, Nick, and Maylee were able to join us.  It made me realize how blessed we are and that no matter where we are, conference is wonderful...but it is even more wonderful when you spend it with family.  

 

Sometimes in the past we have a little trouble staying awake through all 8+ hours of talks.  Putting together a puzzle while we listened helped most of us stay alert.

 

Saturday morning we made some yummy cinnamon rolls and later we dipped caramel apples to have for a treat after the guys came home from priesthood. 

 

It really spoke to my heart when  Elder Hales reminded us that we gathered to hear the words of the Lord, now we are to return to our homes to live them.  That is what I intend to do.

Better Than Expected

After a seven year hiatus, we got around to planting a vegetable garden again.  We talked about doing it each year, then the spring would get away from us and before we knew it, it would be too late.  Not this year.

In early spring our neighbor brought us a load of sheep manure so we revved up our tiller and planted. 

And we are so glad that we did. 

Ray set up a drip system and we only had to weed the garden twice!

Our garden grew like crazy. 

We have eaten (and shared with our neighbors) lots and lots of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, corn, carrots, and beans.

I found a recipe for ratatouille and made it with pretty much all of the ingredients coming from our garden!  It was yummy...although it didn't look so pretty.

Our garden is almost done producing and we 're pretty sad about it. Why can't summer/fall last just a little longer...

Doorbell Ditching

Gotta love little kids.  We have the cutest neighbor kids.  They love to play outside, unlike a lot of kids these days.  The older boys are always out playing football, basketball, catch, or something else.  The younger ones love to ride their scooters, pick flowers, etc.  Often times we will find a little "present" on our doorstep from one of the little girls.  Sometimes it's a flower, or a dandelion with roots/dirt and all, or a picture that she colored.

One evening, Ray was home alone.  He heard our doorbell ring and when he went to answer it there was no one there, but there was a little folded up scrap of colored paper on the porch and he could hear some little girls over on the side or our house.  This is the note they left...

He thought he would have a little fun with them so he stood close to the door so he could open it and catch them when they came out from their hiding place.  When they did he opened the door and said, "Hey, are you girls ringing my doorbell?"  They giggled and said, "Yes" and then he said, "I'm not sure what this note says", and they responded, "Yes you do... it says you've been warned".  He said, "I've been warned?  Warned about what?  What does that mean?"  They didn't know how to respond so said, "Just a minute.  We'll get you another one".  They looked through their plastic bag full of colored notes and then picked this one.  As they handed it to him they said, "Here's a nice one"

Those cute little girls have no idea the chuckle we got out of this.

September, Really?

August was a bit of a blur.  Actually, the whole summer was like that.  It went by quicker than any summer ever. 

The last two weeks I spent spoiling my grandbaby and daughter.  I was in Cedar helping Heather out while she returned to wrap things up at her job and finish their move.  They moved in phases, which was kind of nice and kind of not.  It was not as hectic as when you pick one day and move everything like most people do.  But dragging it out for a month or more meant several trips for Nick and being without some of their belongings at one place or the other.  Subsequently, by the last week most of their stuff had been moved and we were left to "camp out" with no couch, bed, television, internet, etc.  We did have a card table, 2 folding chairs, a cool rocking lawn chair, two mats to sleep on, Maylee's stroller and pack and play, and our clothes for the week.  We only kept what we thought we could fit in our vehicle. It was a miracle we made it all fit.

Luckily, we didn't have to leave anything hanging out the window like these guys we saw on the freeway!

I just fed, changed, held, rocked, sang to, strolled, and took pictures of the baby all day long.  I had nothing else to do or to distract me.  Maylee and I got to know each other really well.

She changed a lot over the two weeks.  Her cheeks (and whole body) chunked up, and she got cuter and smiled more everyday. 

It was an exhausting couple of weeks, but so enjoyable.  It's so much fun to be a grandma!

Sugar and Spice

My friends tried to tell me.  I listened and I thought I understood, but there is no possible way to comprehend how quickly you can fall in love with your own grandbaby.  It’s a little like the love I felt each time one of my own children were born, but different because someone I love so much just gave birth to another person for us to love.  It is like the love is magnified. There really is no way to explain.

This sweet baby girl has stolen our hearts.

We think she is darling and perfect in every way. She has the cutest little “kissy lips”, squishy little cheeks, and bright eyes. She has the sweetest face we’ve ever seen. We spent hours last week just staring at her and asking ourselves how a newborn could be so stinkin’ cute. 

 

I have no doubt that every grandparent feels this way.  Life just doesn’t get better than this.

Then and Now

Last week I got to spend a few days with my daughter, who is ready to deliver our first grand baby ANY DAY NOW!  It was so much fun to see her and try to figure out ways to spoil her.  While I was with her, I got to thinking about when I was pregnant and how different things are today. 

It wasn't really THAT long ago.  Okay, maybe it was...the 80's were kind of a long time ago.

First, maternity clothes are so much cuter now.  I seriously wore what looked like a tent.  I remember trying to hide that pregnancy as long as I could, so the bigger the clothes the better.  I actually wore some of Ray's clothes when I wasn't going out in public.  Not cute!

Me, back in the day, wearing Ray's clothes

 

Cute Heather a few weeks ago

Heather has a wardrobe of DARLING clothes and not one of them looks like a tent.  It seems the more form fitting the better.  She has the cutest beach ball belly to show off through her shirt right now.

Back then we didn't have ultrasounds unless something was suspected to be wrong.  Not the case today.  Pretty much everyone uses one now to find out the gender of their baby long before the birth.  The first thing people ask when they find out a couple is expecting is if they are having a boy or a girl (although I did hear a girl recently say that they decided to be "old fashioned" and chose not to know).  With two of my three kids we did not know, and I kind of liked the surprise.  On the one we knew, personally I felt it took a wee bit of the excitement out of it.  Although as a grandma it's been pretty exciting to know.

Until recently I'd never heard the words "birth plan".  When it was time to give birth it just happened.  Everyone seemed to do it the same-you started having contractions, you went to the hospital,  you had an epidural, and the baby was born.  There wasn't really a "plan".  No one ever discussed being induced.  And back then hardly anyone I knew chose to do it "natural".  At one of Heather's recent appointments they said it was time to discuss her "birth plan".  I don't even know what that means!  I guess she has multiple decisions to make.

And all these people in the delivery room today???  When I had my babies, my doctor advised only those who were there when the baby was conceived should be in the delivery room.  Today there don't seem to be any limits.  Sometimes the entire family (and a photographer) are there to witness firsthand the miracle of birth.  I don't know...

I could go on, but it's wearing me out just thinking about it, and makes me glad I did it my way.  One thing that hasn't changed though is the excitement we all feel.  I was excited back then and today we all can hardly wait.  Just like then, these last days seem to be dragging by.

It is kind of surreal to think about my baby girl having a baby girl.  I really can hardly contain myself.

Unwelcome Guest

Last Monday morning I was outside doing some yard work.  I worked my way around the front yard and went through the gate into the back when I came face to face with a very large bird.  I immediately turned around and went back out the gate.  I then walked all the way around the house where the fence is shorter and has slats so I could get a better look at what I had seen.  I couldn't see it from there and so began to question if I had really seen what I thought I had.  So I rushed into the house, grabbed my camera (so that I would have proof of what I saw), and quietly went out on the deck.  Sure enough down below me was a rather large peacock.  Upon further investigation I could see that it had left evidence that it had been there, if you know what I mean.  I immediately texted Ray a picture asking him what I should do.  He replied that I should open the gate and just scare it off.  I was a little afraid of what the peacock might try to do if I got too close, so I armed myself with a broom just in case I had to defend myself.    Of course I wanted to get a better picture, so with a broom in one hand and the camera ready I moved in.  This caused the bird to freak out and it ran back and forth along the edge of our fence and eventually jumped up onto the fence and over to the other side. 

At that point I thought my peacock encounter was kind of cool, because you just don't see big beautiful majestic birds in Roosevelt.  The coolness wore off quickly when the bird returned letting us know it hadn't given up on making our backyard its new home.  Each time we would go out back it would leave, but it was only a matter of hours and it would return.  And unless you saw it, you can't possibly imagine how much a peacock can poop!  There were droppings everywhere-on our deck, our fence, and piles covering the cement!  Just when I would get it cleaned up, it would come back and leave more.  Totally disgusting!

After about three days of this, I knew we were not going to be able to get it to leave, so decided to call animal control to see if they could trap it...or something.  An officer came, and of course the bird wasn't here when he showed up, but when the officer returned a few hours later the bird was  here and he told us it had been tormenting several nearby neighborhoods for some time and had been scratching up cars, digging up yards, squawking at night, etc.  He said something needed to be done and unfortunately it may need to be "put down".  That is not what I wanted to hear.  Can't you just catch a peacock with a net or something??? 

Well, apparently peacocks are hard to catch and hard to take down.  Somehow the peacock dodged what they were trying to do and hopefully it headed home.  We haven't seen it for a few days, but aren't totally convinced this is over.  One of the neighbors that it tormented before is out of town, and there is a good chance it moved back into their yard...

Making our own Fun

Living in a small rural community you learn to make your own fun.  Ray was out of town this week at a golf tournament with some guys and I figured I should be having some girl fun.  So I started  the following message to a few friends:

Me: Anyone up for lunch this week?

That led to this:

S:  Yes

C:  Anytime Thursday would be great for me.

Me:  Thursday doesn't work for me.  How about Friday or today?  I could whip up something and we could all come to my house.

R:  I am on a 500 calorie a day diet.  No day is good for me unless I bring my own lunch and that wouldn't be fun.  Go ahead without me.  xo

S:  Why are you on a 500 calorie a day diet?  That doesn't seem good for you.  We don't have to do lunch.  We could get together and talk for a couple of hours.  We could have carrot sticks and celery to munch on.  Or not.  We can just sip lemon water.  The point is to get together.  Not eat.

Me:  I say we do something Friday.  Maybe if the weather warms up we could go for a stroll and visit.

R:  Friday is fine for me, just tell me when.  Maybe we could play Bridge, Cribbage, or Pinochle.  Does anyone know how?

Me:  Actually I know how to play all three. 

S:  Oh my gosh!  This would take us into our old age perfectly!  I played Pinochle once and it was really fun.  But I don't remember how...and we can sip herb tea in china cups and saucers.

C:  Plan it and I will come if I can.

Me:  Done.  Come to my house Friday at 1:00.  We can play cards, visit, eat celery, and drink water from goblets or china cups.

R:  I will bring my spice cinnamon herbal tea.

S:  And I will bring my lemon, grapefruit, and lime essential oils.  Can we maybe learn to play Pinochle?  That would be fun!  Should we wear hats and gloves?

Me:  Hats and gloves are optional, just wear your "Roosevelt best" and don't be late!

So I spent this afternoon not having lunch, but playing Pinochle and laughing with my friends.  I am betting we had every bit as much fun as Ray and the guys did playing golf. 

Spring has Sprung

It has been spring break here.  Seems like it's been spring break for a month or more, depending on the school you are thinking about.  When I was in school, and especially teaching school, I loved spring break.  Even though spring break, for us, doesn't have anything to do with school any more, I love it for other reasons.  After all who doesn't like spring and who doesn't like a break?  It just sounds so nice.

I was thinking the other day how happy I was that  the sun was shining and that the wind wasn't blowing.  It made me smile to wake up and hear birds, and I have enjoyed seeing the neighbor kids out playing in their yard.

As much as I enjoy spring, it also sets me into a bit of a panic.  Springtime means projects.  House cleaning, window washing, fertilizing, pruning, trying to decide if we are going to plant a garden this year, etc.  And it seems before we can even settle into spring our summer is booked!  How does that happen?

I've had a lot of time to think about my love hate relationship with spring while I have been out pruning the never ending bushes and trees in our yard.   Funny thing, what started off as a job I was dreading turned out to be somewhat satisfying.  So I got to thinking, I must figure out a way to enjoy this journey through springtime a little more.  At that moment I decided rather than focusing on how much there is to do, I should take inventory on how much I've done.  This little adjustment in my mind has done wonders for me and I has made it so I can hardly wait to get another project checked off my list and be a step closer to being able to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

I hope I don't drive Ray crazy when he gets home and I drag him to see each cupboard, closet, and shelf  that I've uncluttered, cleaned, and organized.   

Now I just need to get the basin weather to cooperate.

Overlooked Blessings

I met an artist last week who gave me her business card and on it was written the following quote:

 

I love this. 

I believe this is true.  

I know this is true.

It reminds me of the words spoken by Thomas S. Monson, "...if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness".

We just had a weekend overflowing with happiness.  Some of our children came for a visit and we cherished every minute.  We really didn't do anything special, just hung out together, helped each other with some projects, cooked some good food, talked, played games, and watched a movie.  It really couldn't have been much better. 

The Things I do for Love

While I was in high school I didn't get voted for anything, but the one thing I am pretty sure my classmates could have voted me for (if it had only been on a ballot) is, "The most likely to never go to a NASCAR race. 

Well, never say never...

Because of who I married, I have done numerous things I never thought I would, and attending a NASCAR race is one of them.  When Ray was invited to go to a race a year or so ago I suggested he take a friend, or a client, or a coworker, or a brother, or anyone other than me.  I had zero interest in watching cars go round and round a track for hours.  But after a little sweet talking, he convinced me to go.  At the time I knew nothing about the sport and had someone asked me to name a NASCAR driver, I couldn't.  Not that I know much after attending a race, but what I can tell you is that not only was it loud and crazy, it was exciting and very fun.

 

I found myself watching the race from Carl Edwards sponsor's suite.  Before the race he came to the suite and did a little question answer session.  It was easy to become an instant fan of such a nice guy.   Apparantly when he wins he does a back flip off the door of  his car.  Since a backflip would have been really awesome to see, I cheered my little heart out for him.  Unfortunately, he came it second place that day.  

It was amazing to see how the pit crew could change all four tires in a matter of seconds.

 

 

We chuckled at ourselves a few times since then when we've been traveling in our car and found ourselves tuning into a satellite radio station covering NASCAR so we could hear how Carl Edwards is doing!  I'm not kidding, people really listen to NASCAR on the radio!!!

I was reminicing about my NASCAR experience this weekend and was excited when I finally got to see Carl Edwards do that backflip (on tv). 

Now if Ray thinks he is going to get me to an Ultimate Fighting event someday, he's wrong.  That is where I really draw the line.

Day Dreaming

^{In a few months our lives will change when we will have a new person to love in our family.  We are giddy with excitement and can hardly contain ourselves.  Actually it has begun to consume a lot of our thoughts.  We know that even as excited as we are, we cannot even begin to comprehend the love we will have when we see this little one.  We are starting to realize how hard it will be for us to have our kids live hours away.  We are thinking about what kind of awesome uncles our sons will be.  When we are out and about we are fascinated with all the darling girl stuff, and we are already making plans about the things we will do together in the future.  That prompted this recent purchase by her grandpa.} 

^{We are planning that she'll love going to the lake like her mommy did.}

Happy Exhaustion

We just returned from a super crazy vacation.  We ate dim sum in Hong Kong, a few days later had a traditional Thai massage on a beach in Phuket, then a few days later were zipping over the rain forest canopy in Costa Rica.  After 50+ hours in an airplane, it felt a little like the amazing race. Not exactly the itinerary many  people would select (me included), but sometimes an opportunity presents itself and you go with it.

I wish I would have prepared a little better for our trip. If I ever do something like this again, I will.  I will study up ecology, botony, and the history of things we might see.  I wonder how much more I could have learned.  Everytime we travel, both Ray and I wish we could speak a foreign language.   Regardless, it was so much fun.  I find it so interesting to see how people in other parts of the world live.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Costa Rica, do it!  Not only is it beautiful there, the weather was perfect, and the people are lovely and made us feel so welcome.  They have a saying there, "Pura Vida",  that means pure life.  That pretty much sums up how we felt while we were there and it doesn't get much better than that!

A Few Favorite Things

For the last few years at the end of December I reflect back and come up with some things that I discovered during the last twelve months that I love.  Here is my list of things for 2012...

City Creek-Whenever I go there I feel like I am stepping out of Utah.  There is an energy there (and in all of downtown) that I love.

Daily Closer to Christ Blog- Reading this blog lifts my spirits and inspires me to be better.

Spilling the Beans-A super healthy cookbook I bought at Costco.  It has made me a believer that you can make most anything with beans in it.

Quinoa-It's hard to describe, but I feel so healthy when I use it in a recipe.

Greek Yogurt-Another food I feel healthy eating and it's yummy!  Not the plain though, it needs honey or something to sweeten it up.

Clinique Chubby Sticks-Color and moisturizer all-in-one. Make-up usually doesn't excite me, but I have several of these. One in my purse, makeup bag, church bag, etc.

Downton Abbey-I don't remember how I heard about this show, but it's addicting.  I have even gotten Ray hooked.

Stone Ground Bakery- My friend told me about this bread store.  They sell overruns of the bread they make for restaurants for $2 a loaf!  In my opinion the best is their rustic sourdough, but you have to get there as soon as they open to get a loaf or it's gone.

Memory Grove-Being right in the city, yet not. A morning walk there is my favorite way to start the day.

Sur la table Cooking Classes (the ones taught by Lesli)-One of the best things I did all year!  Can't wait to do it again and take Heather or a friend.

Amazon Prime-Free two-day shipping! What's not to love?

Blue Lemon-Simple, but yummy.  It is our go to restaurant when we are in the city.

Steals and Deals

Years ago I prided myself on being a bargain shopper.  It was when we lived in Salt Lake, the land of good shopping.  I bought the kids' clothing out of season, when it was on clearance, and always got a good deal.  There was something satisfying about buying their clothes at Gymboree or Z.C.M.I. and paying so little.  Then we moved to Roosevelt, the land of no shopping, and I had to resign myself to the idea of having to pay full price for things when we were out in the city.  When I got a good deal on something it was mostly because I got lucky.

Things have changed a little for the better with online shopping and all, and occasionally I still find a good deal, but not like I used to.  Until last week...

I was in Macy's making a return from Christmas and while I was there I walked by the Christmas decorations.  As I slowed to see if there was something I couldn't live without, a clerk mentioned to me that everything was 90% off!  That caught my attention.  I had been planning to buy another tree, but didn't get around to it and really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on one before Christmas.  Seeing that they still had trees I decided to check it out.  Of course if you buy a tree you are going to need a tree skirt, decorations, etc.  About 20 minutes later I was headed out of the store with not one, but two (because Grandpa could really use a new one too), 7 1/2 foot prelit trees (originally priced $595), a tree skirt, and a ton of ornaments for a TOTAL of $121.  Not only were the decorations 90% off, but the morning I was there everything was another 15% off!  The bottom of my receipt showed this..

Can you say, "Almost free?"

Apparently, like mother like daughter.  A couple of days later I received an email from Heather with this picture of her purchase at Old Navy.

Score!!!

Why oh why?

There are days (usually in January) when I wonder why we live where we do.  Today was one of them...

People who live in warm places, like California, really have no idea...

Then I remember we live here because of the great people.  Otherwise no one in their right mind would want to live in a "Basin".