Monday, December 30, 2013

What a fun day with nine guests in our home.  The older boys played video games and Rock Band.  Darrel's kids wanted to go on a Razr ride so James took them.  Later Addy wanted to go for a walk to take some pictures. Of course Ruby and Rowan wanted to come too, but they ran on ahead of us.  As we were walking only Addy said to me: "It's so beautiful here.  I wish we could live here."  So do I Addy, so do I!

As we were walking down our road James picked us up on the Razr. The kids, with Ruby steering, all wanted to go to Chocolate Lake because it's frozen.  That's where James took them this morning.  They had so much fun walking and running on the frozen lake.

 Ruby ready to brave the cold.

Ruby on ice.

Addy and Rowan.

When we were leaving a woman was walking along with two dogs.  Ruby yelled at her over the drone of the Razr: "Hey, no dogs allowed!"  I am not sure if the woman heard or not.  

Back at home we had hot chocolate and then Rowan wanted to watch The Wizard of Oz.  He always gets out my little mini Madam Alexander dolls I got at McDonald's a few years ago.

The starring cast of the Wizard of Oz,

minus Toto and the Wizard.

After the movie James and I went into town.  I needed to get appetizers for tomorrow night's New Years Eve party at the Dewitt's and James wanted to fix the Cat tire and get gas for the Razr.  I also bought the game Joshua got for Christmas, Boom, Boom, Balloon.  While we were gone the kids watched the movie The Croods.

Darrel made tacos for dinner and Brian made chicken fettuccini alfredo.  I had a taco.  Kim always works on a puzzle while she is here and of course the kids were interested but the puzzle was too hard for them so I got a 100 piece puzzle out and did it with Addy and Rowan.  Here is a picture of Kim's puzzle.

Chocolate in over 1,000 pieces.

I played a game of Five Crowns with Kim.  Addy came over and chose to help Kim, and guess what?  They beat me.  

Ed and Wes Miller came by to work on the heater.  They said they would be back again tomorrow.

We did a FHE on family and church history.  I told a story from church history and James told a couple from his familiy's history.   Ruby wasn't very interested.  She found the feather duster and was dusting everything she could find, including my glasses.  Here are some pictures I took:

Our fearless leader and teacher.

Ruby dusting the pine cones.

Rowan hiding under his blanket.

The older boys and part of Darrel.

Playing Boom, Boom.  Notice

Rowan covering his ears.

After FHE and Boom, Boom, Balloon, Darrel's kids came in our room and watched "The Rise of the Guardians."  The older boys and Brian and Darrel watched ASU get beat by Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl.

Facebook finds:

Joshua playing with his

Schaub cousins.

Max bought season five of The Mentalist

for Sheri with his Christmas money.

He is now the favorite son.

Eric & Christy Wanlass on
their wedding day over 20 years ago.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

April Allen and Sean Hunsaker were the speakers in church today.  April spoke on forgiveness and Sean on not being offended easily.  President Williams and President Van Winkle were both on the stand.  President Williams was ask to give the closing remarks.  He talked about preparing to recive ordinances and missionary work.

In Sunday School Brother Wilhelm did a review of the year and made a list of class members favorite scriptures from the Doctrine and Covenants.  He also encouraged us to read the booklet "Our Heritage."

The Priesthood, Relief Society, Young Men and Young Women, met together during the third hour to be taught by our bishopric.  The Theme: Family History.  We watched several short videos and were given a booklet entitled: "My Family Stories That Bring Us Together."  Children who know about their families and ancestors are more resilient and better adjusted according to a recent study.  It was a great meeting!

Kim, Brian, Joe, Michael and Alex arrived while we were at church.  They had lunch ready when we got home.  We had hotdogs and chili.  The roast I put in this morning wasn't quite done.  We had it for dinner and it was delicious!

I played Five Crowns with Kim this afternoon and indexed 100 names.  It was after 8pm when Darrel and his kids, Addy, Rowan, and Ruby arrived.  I watched Despicable Me 2 with them.  It was my first time.

Facebook finds:

Evan at one of his favorite places,

The Lego Store!

Christopher and McKell Hughes

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Gospel Study

"Each time you look in the mirror, see your body as your temple."

- Elder Russell M. Nelson

"I invite each of us to evaluate how much we love the Savior, using as a measure how joyfully we keep our covenants."

-Elder Russell M. Nelson

I got up early to study and then to get ready to go to the church and clean.  We are assigned to work with: Chuck and Kathy Crane, and Jerry and Millie Scott.  We were there from 9-11, then James and I left for town.  I got a text from Kim.  They won't be coming until tomI orrow now.  Michael and Alex are sick and she wants to clean her house.  James and I had lunch at LaCasita.  Our favorite waitress, Charlotte, is on vacation.  I saw Jimmy and Carol Seay but I am ashamed to say that I didn't speak to them.  They didn't see me.  Perhaps that was a missionary opportunity the Lord prepared for me and I didn't take advantage.  I have some repenting to do.  Carol is my cousin.  She is my Aunt Dorothy's daughter.  Dorothy was my mom's older sister.

I do some shopping at Walmart while James goes to Panda to get our dinner.  While he is gone he also dumps our trash and gets some gas.  He is very efficient.  Soon we are on our way home.

This afternoon we watched a Christmas movie made in 1991 with Lauren Bacall in it.  It's called "All I Want for Christmas."  It was about two kids trying to get their parents back together.  Very cute.

James took the tractor and went down to fill the huge hole in the rode before Kim and Brian come.  He is concerned about our well pump because it keeps going off and on.  Hopefully we will have water while our company is here.  

I worked on my blog and made two loaves of banana nut bread.  James tells me it's his favorite treat.  I guess I need to make it more often.  

This evening we watched "Pete's Christmas", and "Kristin's Christmas Past."  Of course I fall asleep.  I got a text from Darrel.  They are coming up tomorrow.  Hurrah!  The more the merrier!  Wish we had more snow for the kids.  Tonight we missed McKell Miner's wedding reception.

Christopher and McKell Hughes

Facebook finds:

Playing Headbanz

I want one of

Friday, December 27, 2013

Today was what I call a recovery or "down" day.  No where to go, nothing really pressing to do.  I am a little concerned about Jared.  Yesterday during our visit he said he can no longer run because his knees are so bad.  He also said he thinks he must have walking pneumonia because his breathing is so shallow.  We will pray for him and his speedy recovery.

I paid some bills today, worked on my blog, and watched some T.V.  James spent most of the day working on his audit for the insurance company. 

Nothing exciting happening with the weather right now.  The highs are in the 40's and 50's and there is no snow or moisture predicted for the next 10 days.  There will barely be any clouds.  Kim will be disappointed when she comes up for her birthday. 

Our house was a wee bit chilly when we got home last night.  I actually went to bed shivering, which is highly unusual for me.  Things are more back to normal today.

I am not ready to take our Christmas decorations down until after Kim's visit. 

James and I watched a cute movie starring Haylie Duff.  It was called "Hats Off to Christmas."  '

Facebook finds:

Thursday, December 26, 2013

We got up before 5am to leave for El Paso by 5:20.  We did most of the packing last night.  James drove while I relaxed and dozed from time to time.  Since Bride of Pendorric was packed away I read to him from my new Sheri Dew book "Women and the Priesthood."  We arrived at Jared and Tricia's around 11 am.  We had to call Jared and get directions to their new house.

A little crisis had occurred before we arrived and Anna had run away.  We were greeted warmly by everyone else, including their new dog that they found, Bruce.  He's a big dog but he's very gentle.

James H. and Bruce

James and Molly seemed especially happy to see us.  The kids opened their gifts from us and from Lois and Dawn.  Emmy and Molly especially liked the Barbie dolls with the fancy dresses that Lois sent.  Molly put a Barbiedress on Emmy's Lalaloopsy doll, Bea Spellsalot.  Molly took me upstairs to show me her and Emmy's room and Anna's.  Still no Anna.  Emmy wanted me to go outside and play tetherball with her.  I deferred to James.

James won, but only because he was taller than Emmy.

He paid for it afterwards.

Bruce and James Hayden.

The back end of Penny.

My she has grown!

 James and Penny.

Molly showed me how she could pump herself on the swings.  She is very entertaining.

She also showed me how she could ride her new bicycle that she got for Christmas.

Emmy got a bow and arrow for Christmas again this year.  We got her one last year.  Here she is with Grandpa practicing.

Checking the Target

Tricia went out looking for Anna and found her but Anna would not get out of the car.  I finally went out talk to her and give her Christmas presents to her.  She did come over and give me a hug.  

We had lunch, a delicious taco soup, and after visiting for only two hours, we were on our way home.   We stopped in Silver City for gas, a potty break, chocolate and a drink.  We were home a little after 7pm after traveling almost 800 miles.

It felt good to be home.  We unloaded the car and watched a Christmas movie before going to bed.  Oh yes, and for dinner James made us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Let us enjoy family and friends as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

James and I read our scriptures and had family praery before he opened his gifts.  These are the things he received from me:  a new white Sunday shirt and yellow striped tie, two casual shirts, one long sleeved and one short, a pair of jeans, an electric razor, a camo beanie and a $50 gift card to Bass Pro, President Eyring's autobiography, and Elder Holland's book "In Times of Trouble."  

After our little gift opening celebration we went down to Sheri's to start the family breakfast and to open gifts with family.  Here is what Sheri's tree looked like last night:

The Gonzo's got a late start but the boys made it down for James's delicous sausage grave and biscuit breakfast, including Jared Ammon's friend Katherine.  We had Sheri, Kim, and Darrel's families all here so I guess Stacy and Paul and of course Jared's family were the only ones not celebrating this morning with us.

Here are the gifts that I received: my Kitchen Aid mixer, Isotoner gloves  and a family calendar, Cheesecake Factory and Outback gift cards, movie cup and tickets, Sheri Dew's book "Women and the Priesthood", sheep from Deseret Book, Trezise family pictures, and a Deseret Book gift card, "The Infinite Atonement", and "Constant Conversion" church books. From Lois a bag, embroidered pillows, a book of the History of America, Precious Moments and from Dawn a $50 gift card for a dinner and a movie.

The gifts that we gave: New sheets, and a night light and wax warmer for all our children and their spouses, for Adam a Harry Potter wand and Jack Skellington hat, Jared Ammon, Dallin, James, Joseph, Michael, Alex and Anna, hats and a $50 gift card.  Ben the Sky Rim game and a Vikings hat, Max XBox Live and a Cardinals hat, Addy BoPeep Lalaloopsy and a purple hat with hearts on it, Rowan Star Wars Legos and a Minecraft hat, Ruby and Molly an Olaf singing snowman and hats, and Emmy Bea Spells-a-Lot Lalaloopsy.

We gave Lois a mother's bracelet and a wax warmer, and Dawn a Barnes and Noble gift card and a sheep.

Evan in his shark hat and Rowan in his

Minecraft hat.

Playing with the Barbie's great grandmother gave the girls.

No, wait a minute, Sheri is playing with her phone.

Evan's Mario race track.

Michael with his loot.

One of the funniest gifts this year was the calender 

Kim made of Michael and Joe!

Enjoying gifts!

Ben trying out his new game chair.

After breakfast and opening gifts we went home and took a nap.  I tried to index but Joshua asked me to help put together the Spiderman Lego set I got him.  I did.  Here is what it looked like:

We also played Joshua's new game Boom, Boom Balloon.

I lost

For dinner James and I went down to Sheri's while they were gone to Ian's parents.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, and cranberry celebration.  It was delicious.  This is what Ian and his dad and brother got from his mom for Christmas.

Swat team "man" aprons.  

Paul made dinner for all of his family.  It was the classic "Dad" breakfast his dad use to make.

Refried beans, potatoes, bacon, eggs,

eaten with a flour tortilla and

a Pepsi.? 

James worked hard today inspite of it being Christmas.  He painted in the living room.  I love the new color.  He's not quite finsihed but it's going to look very nice.  Also, I think I failed to mention that we got new carpet in the center area of the family room.  It is so soft and clean and we really enjoyed it the night of our family party.

It was a nice Christmas but I am sorry to say that some got sick.  Michael has a fever and so does Alex.  I hope they get well soon so they can enjoy the rest of their holiday.

Facebook finds:

The Chestnut family from

our ward in Chandler.

The now live in St. George.

The littlest Hoose

The Hansen's from our ward

in Chandler who now live in Utah.