HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS

Okay, I am posting this in response to a "chewing out" I got from a friend who knew that I had "made" most of my Christmas this year. She was patiently waiting for Christmas to get here so that I could finally post my creations (which for the most part, she has seen.) I, of course, could NOT post them, as they were for my kids and friends who read my blog every day. So here you have it...don't get too excited. I do have to say though, that it has been truly a labor of love to do these projects for my children and friends. There is nothing like a homemade gift...

LANDON'S NEW RAG QUILT (which he ended up having on him all Christmas day either napping or hanging around the house.) I was actually able to make this when he was home and busy watching ESPN or coming and going in and out of the house. (Boys are mostly oblivious to what mom is doing)
This year I made all of the girls (that's five) an APRON & MATCHING POTHOLDER. The apron is a reversable with Christmas fabric on the other side. They all got different fabrics for each side. That was the most fun part for me, picking out fabric that matched their individual styles. These I was able to work on while Michaela was in California for 2 weeks, and Tibi was in school. They all opened them up Christmas morning at the same time.

I also made the 3 oldest girls a QUILTED WALL HANGING. This one is Lexie's. Connie and Kira's have a different scene and say "Be Prayerful." These took a little longer, but were SO fun to do. I am in the process of doing a full-size quilt that has 12 of these blocks, all different, of course. It is called a "Be Attitudes" quilt, but have different "Be's" like "Be Warm, Be Respectful, Be Patient", etc.

On top of these projects, I also made all of the grandkids flannel pajamas. The three oldest also got a matching flannel pillowcase to go with their pjs. If the kids post pictures, I will steal and post them too. I also learned how to etch a glass cake pan to personalize and gave those to the older girls and to friends. Let's just say that I have been busy...so there you have it, Sherri! Thank you for reminding me that I just saved Kevin a lot of money this Christmas!!

CHRISTMAS 2008

Every year for the last 5 or 6 years, we have gotten together with our best friends, the Chappells, for our Christmas Eve gift exchange. We go over and have a yummy dinner of Paula's clam or corn chowder and then open presents that we got for each other. This year, our whole family, including the grandkids, came to Logandale for 9 days of celebration and fun at grandma and grandpa's house. The only one we missed was Sharrid, Lexie's husband, who only had weekends off. He ended up having to work on Christmas and the days around it, but was able to come for both weekends. He was the trooper for driving back and forth to Arizona both weekends. Here we are at the Chappells on Christmas Eve night:

Jonah gets a book, his favorite thing in the world!

Lotion and yummy stuff for the girls.

Gregg and his new "Superhero" jammies!

Jordan's new pillow, made by Vicki to match the blanket her mom made her for Christmas.

Kevin's book on Joseph Smith from Paula and Gregg.

Parker got "Superhero" jammies too.... like father, like son.

After our gift exchange, we headed into the game room for another tradition...playing the bells to Christmas songs. We are not very good, but we are getting better every year! We also have a white elephant exchange that ends up with all of us laughing.

Marce and Kira playing the bells.

Kira got in town and came straight to the Chappells. We were all excited that she finally got there.On Christmas morning, around 5:30 a.m., Santa showed up. We, of course, were hiding in our spots, which is something we have done ever since our kids were little. It's actually a tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation since Vicki's dad was a little boy. It was especially fun this year, as it was Jonah and Marcelus's first time hiding from Santa. We let the little ones sleep so that they (and we) would enjoy our day a little better. It was perfect...the boys were very quiet and watched as Santa placed some presents around and even ate some of his goodies we had left him. When he left, we all got out of our hiding places and checked out what he had brought each one of us.

Landon checking out his stocking:

Michaela and Tibi in their stockings too!

Levi woke up not much after Santa left and was able to join in the fun.

Eden took a little longer to wake up! She is the one that usually sleeps in.

After checking out our Santa gifts, we decided it was time to open up our presents. We always start with our gift exchange. This time we started from the oldest and went to the youngest, a first for us...

Peter and his book on gardening in Arizona. (We could use one of those too! Arizona and Nevada are twins, you know.)

Connie's new VANS. (a tiny size 5 1/2)

Kira with her new Narnia 2 DVD, and her slippers from LLBean.

Lexie got what she wanted, a new sign for her home. (Thank you Shannon!)

Michaela and her piano book from the broadway play, WICKED. This has become one of our favorite CDs to listen and sing to around the house and in the car. Great music...

Tibi gets a gift card to Aeropostale, and a necklace.

Landon got another set of mini helmets, plus a shelf dad made to put them on for his room.

All of the grandbabies got a pair of pajamas grandma made for them. Eden, of course, got a pink nightgown. The three older ones got a pillowcase to match their jammies.

A likely scene during vacation time...these four sitting on their chairs watching either a "Baby Einstein" or Disney movie.

The big kids getting into a heavy duty game of Nintendo 64. (We're pretty old school at our house!)
Connie didn't even make it to the end of the day!

Neither did Jonah!

Look at that beautiful face... little Phoenix.

Tibi and Michaela toasting to another great Christmas!

50 Random Things

1. Do you like blue cheese? It's Kevin's favorite, I like it more now than I did before.
2. Have you ever smoked heroin? No. (Who would confess this anyway?)
3. Do you own a gun? I don't. Guns and me don't mix. (personal reasons) Kevin has a couple.
4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I haven't been to Sonic in ages, but when I go I get a blast. Hmm, boy!
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not really. I jump every time the gyno first touches my leg before an exam though.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I would like to say that I don't like them, but when you are hungry, there's nothing better than just mustard on a hot dog with a warm bun.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? I can watch "White Christmas" over and over again ...Those Barbie legs!
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Mostly water.
9. Can you do push-ups? Maybe 10 if I'm lucky. My arms are weinies. My legs have more muscle.
10. Age? 50 big smackeroos!
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring, and the CTR ring that Connie and Kira gave me years ago.
12. Favorite hobby? Right now it's quilting. I love scrapbooking too, reading, and baking. I just have to pick a different hobby every day, and things would get done around here.
13. Favorite Actor: Probably Tom Hanks. But I love Bill Puhlman in While You Were Sleeping too.
14. Do you have A.D.D.? No. I think I'm on the total other end of THAT spectrum.
15. What's one trait you hate about yourself? I'm a procrastinator when it comes to calling people on the phone. Mostly people I don't want to talk to.
16. Middle name? Don’t want to share that one on my blog.
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact time: I got Connie and Kira's gifts done last night (sooner than I thought, yay!), I have to go grocery shopping before everyone starts coming, and I don't have to make dinner tonight because we are eating at our ward party.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday/today? I didn't buy one thing yesterday, although I tried to pay the power bill twice. (It's a crazy time of year.)
19. 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, water, and mostly water.
20. 3 Current worries? Staying healthy for the next 2 weeks, finding time to shop for the last things, and hoping everyone gets here safe.
21. Current Love right now? Making homemade gifts for Christmas.
22. Favorite place to be? Home, with the tree lights and the jewelry tree on.
23. How did you ring in the New Year? We will probably go to the Chappells again and shoot off fireworks in the road, and eat and play games all night too.
24. Where would you like to go? Maybe to the cabin when it's snowing.
25. Name three people who will complete this. All my people already have. Maybe Angie.
26. Do you own slippers? Yes, and they are disgusting! Baby blue, and pretty ugly.
27. What shirt are you wearing? My trusty gray Old Navy sweatshirt, it's 6:55 in the morning.
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I've never done it, but it probably would be nice for those hot Nevada summers.
29. Can you whistle? Not as good as I used to before I got my braces on. I used to be able to whistle real loud with my fingers and all. (Sometimes it sucks to have beautiful, straight teeth!)
30. Favorite color? Bright, beautiful colors. I also like cranberry red, although I can't wear it.
31. Would you be a pirate? I wasn't a pirate growing up, (that was OCEANSIDE's mascot, but now I am the mother of 6 pirates!
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I usually don't sing in the shower, but today I just might have to practice my song I'm singing tonight at the ward party.
33. Favorite girl's name? I love Tibi's name. She always gets compliments on it.
34. Favorite boy's name? I like the name Landon too.
35. What is in your pocket? No pockets in jammies.
36. Last thing that made you laugh? Can't tell you, but I can tell you it wasn't me!
37. Best bed sheets as a child? I remember having bed sheets, but that's about it.
38. Worst injury you've ever had? When my finger got smashed in a school door when I was a Sophomore in HS. Yoouza! That hurt so bad, that I didn't want to look at it when it happened. When I finally did, my finger was like hamburger and I was leaving a trail of blood. It throbbed for 45 minutes straight while I waited in the drs office. (Kevin said that I must have injured my head at some time because he had to remind me of that experience!)
39. Do you love where you live? Yes, for so many reasons, and No, for other reasons.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2
41. Who is your loudest friend? My new visiting teaching companion, Marshelle. She even tops me.
42. How many dogs do you have? One (Kit)
43. Does someone have a crush on you? I doubt it, although Kevin's always calling Gregg my boyfriend.
44. What is your favorite book(S)? I love The 5 Love Languages, I SO get it when I read that book. Now I just need everybody else to get it.
45. Where were you born? Camp Pendleton Naval Base...a whopping $7 birth.
46. What is your favorite candy? Maybe Bit 'o Honey (little ones), or See's California Brittle, dark.
47. Favorite Sports Team? Love to watch the BYU Cougars, and the Phoenix Suns before they traded Raja Bell, what's with that? At least Steve Nash is still there. When he goes, I'm done.
48. What songs do you want played at your funeral? Not planning on dying, but if I had to choose, probably "Each Life That Touches Ours For Good."
49. What are you doing at 12 A.M.? For the next two days, I'd better be sleeping. But come Friday night, probably watching a Christmas movie, or working on a project.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? "Only two more days of this!" (5 a.m.)

Christmas Band Concert

Tonight was Landon's concert where he was able to show off his skills from going to Jazz Band rehearsal every morning at 6:30. (If you have to get up that early, you should have something to show for it.)

Here's Landon in action...I happened to get him at the best part of the song, (for drumming, that is.) His sisters will especially be excited about this, even the ones that never drummed. He looks pretty good, doesn't he? (Sorry about the added sound effects...a mother is entitled to get excited when her son does an awesome job on his fill!)

"ROUND AND ROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE..."

We finally found a night that we were together enough to decorate the tree. It was 8:30, and Tibi still had to shower, but we got it done. It gets different every year almost, as the numbers dwindle down to the last two kids. Michaela even missed out this year because she is still in California having more fun with Marc anyway. We LOVE to decorate the tree... it is one the highlights of the season for us. Mostly because we get to put the White House ornaments on. We have decided that we need a 2nd tree in the house for all of the decorations we have had since Kevin and I were young marrieds, because those memories are not yet ready to be thrown away by the kids. The problem is that none of them go with the beautiful gold White House ornaments that were given to us every year by grandpa and grandma while they were in Washington, D.C. If you look close, you can see how pretty they are...they actually end up being the prettiest thing in the house in December...(no kidding)

CALIFORNIA....there she went

Michaela and Marc are at it again... they can't stand that they are not together, so off she goes for a visit to California. This time we let her take the 2nd family car by herself and told her to come back in 2 weeks. I haven't heard from her yet...I DO know that she made it there, but other than that, I'm sure that she is spending every moment with her honey. I'm not even sure if she got to see her big sister Connie and her little family while they were also there for the weekend. Maybe she'll even pop in to see her grandparents while she is there. Who knows? She'll have to get her fill in this week though, as Marc starts his new job on Monday. Maybe THAT'S when she'll go visit grandpa and grandma! You have to admit, these two are way too cute...

HERE IT IS!!!

Well, here it is...the much anticipated, very requested slacklining debut of Bruce Willard. (I'm not sure he'll try this again any time soon) Sorry it's sideways, I am still new to digital cameras. Didn't know that you have to take video right-side up in order to post it right-side up. Better than nothing, I guess...