The Grand Finale of 2014

 We started December babysitting Zeus for Kathy and Troy while they went to Hawaii to visit Rich! It would have been more fun to go to Hawaii but Zeus was a lot of fun too. 

Though he doesn't look too thrilled being dressed up by Victoria.

 Victoria got braces!

 Who would have thought that Kaleb and Victoria would have braces on at the same time. It is an absolute miracle that we are affording this. 

Our orthodontist is wonderful.

 Victoria and I researched how to make authentic looking clay food for Barbie and AG dolls.  You would be amazed what is out there. Of course that is a post in itself. If you are interested, 

check out my Pinterest board Here.

We tried convincing Kaleb  to retire this sleep shirt. He found this at the thrift shirt when he was only 5 years old. It hung down below his knees. When he showed it to me I had asked him what he was going to do with that? 

He was holding it like a prized possession in his little 5 year old hand.

 He told me "I'm gonna sweep in it!"

So he has been wearing this shirt that says 

Peace, Love and Crabs from Joe's Crab Shack for 10 years!

 We put together this huge, awesome puzzle! We have a funny family thing that happens every time we put a puzzle together. Someone always wants to put the last piece in. 

Can you guess who?

 For years, he has taken a piece and has hidden it so that when we go to put in the last piece it is missing! Daphne and I finished this puzzle around 11 pm at night when we discovered that 2 pieces were missing! Uugh!

We baked cookies. 

Victoria was begging to use her Buffalo cookie cutter. 

Sure, why not, we'll just have Christmas Buffaloes!

I bet you never had Christmas Buffaloes before!

Sam did his best at keeping the floor clean.

Georgie discovered how fun it was to hang out in the Christmas tree while his house was being cleaned. Though he decided that the foliage wasn't very tasty.

 I had help with wrapping presents, which is always nice. 

Notice the direction of the trees on the paper...

We added to our massive collection of ornaments. Our neighbor Chris whittled the wooden Santa. It is amazing. We couldn't find Jared an ornament that related to construction so I sculpted a hammer from clay. Kaleb, of course has the green alien and the minion. He is getting quite a collection of brightly colored beings. Can you guess Daphne's? Yep, the cats, and a blue sea horse for Victoria. Daphne and I burned the snowflakes into wood cuts and Victoria painted the little snowman.

We have spent the winters living here watching trucks....sometimes city trucks.....pull into the library when no one is there and do donuts in the parking lot. We have always told my Dad about this. He told my Mom that he can't wait for the first snow because he wanted to do donuts out in the parking lot for us to see. So on Christmas Morning when we woke to SNOW!!!!!!!

 He called to tell us to look out our window!

Yep, there he was doing donuts in the parking lot sliding all around. He had to stop though because a couple times it actually looked like he was going to get stuck. It brought back all those years in our Jeep growing up with him splashing through mud puddles where the spray would be sent up 20 feet into the air! 

It was very entertaining!

 It was wonderful having Nana and Poppa at our house for Christmas.

 It was our first one together in many, many years.

 It was a good day spending it all together.

 It reminded me of all the blessings that God has granted us over and over again!

 The past few Christmas' have been very difficult for various reasons. Mostly for financial reasons. This was our first Christmas doing on our own....because we COULD! 

Thank you LORD!

 Kaleb....pretty excited about his ORANGE sheets! 

And Poppa happy with his new Popcorn Popper!

 My son, the Carpenter, made three cooling racks for me. He built them after a set that my mom has had for years! I am very proud of him and now we have plenty of racks to use on the table during dinner.

Victoria painted me this adorable snowman! I love it! I found this awesome frame and almost busted it to pieces when I slipped on a piece of ice on our drive way! 

Uugh! Nothing like jarring your whole body.....

 I love these next three pictures of Henry! 

He looks so cute.....

Kirk says they are all the same...but no...his tail is moving!

 Sam loves, loves, loves the SNOW!

 He always gets so excited when he realizes that there is fresh snow on the ground.

 We now know that my parents little dog Sugar, loves the snow too. She was an avid swimmer in Arizona and doesn't have a place to swim...no need, she has a yard full of snow! Who would have ever thought that she was going to love it so much. She was outside catching the snowflakes as they were falling. It was hysterical to watch.

 She has the perfect fur for collecting snowballs.....

 We call this snorkeling. In the pool she would make bubbles with her paws and then bite them. So now, she does the same thing but with snow.

We got in some night sledding which is always fun. It is really convenient using the library's parking lot lights and a nearby drainage ditch. We now have two new "metal" snow saucers. 

We have replaced about 4 or 5 plastic ones. 

We saved part of our tax return from Spring to buy snowshoes for all of us. 

Now we can hike Green Canyon year round.

 It was quite the treat to wake up to so much snow on Christmas morning. 

We measured 7 inches by night fall.

 I love that we don't become hermits during the winter.

We celebrated the New Year with a game night, Nana and Poppa and left over fireworks!

We are discussing goals for the year and actually feel hopeful over our situation in life. I think we are recovering from the economy crash that we experienced when we lived in Arizona. We have been greatly blessed and can't live without God's plan for us.

We have discovered that when we try to do what we want, we just mess it up. 

His plan is so much better.

I can't wait to see what he has planned for us this year!

Merry Christmas

I can't believe it is the last day of 2013.

I am still stuck on Christmas. I feel like there are so many things that didn't happen. Not that we were busy. Mostly because of finances. We missed out on baking for friends and neighbors. We missed out on making everyone who is somebody an ornament. We missed spreading holiday cheer wherever we went. Well, we might have done that one. You would have thought that those things would have made for a lonely, tragic Christmas but it didn't. Yeah, job situations have made living day to day very, very difficult but there is no tragedy in that.

Our faith in our Savior has carried us through day to day. I feel that these past 5 years, we have been stripped of everything. Jobs, house, bank accounts, retirement......but not our Faith in God.

Our Heavenly Father has blessed us beyond anything that we could ever think of. We were headed for a simple Christmas this year. We knew it back in September and had prepared the kids for that. It took pressure off of Kirk and I. It is a real bummer to fail in your teenagers eyes. We were doing pretty good at looking like we really did know something and that we were all going to have a wonderful year in spite of what it might look like on the outside. We have always talked about how quality is more important that quantity, no matter what it is that you are talking about. Especially family relationships.

Our family was adopted by a Secret Santa....well, more like 40 people. And they blessed us way beyond the simple expectations that we had. It has been a very humbling experience. How do you accept such gracious generosity? How do you say "thank you" to something like this? How DO you say thank you to something like this. In our situation there aren't any words that describe how we feel. It is easy to feel like a loser when you don't have any words to say to someone who has blessed your family beyond anything that we could ever do.

But, that is how God works.

He does things that you just can't put words to.

God blesses us every day.

He has proven to us that the sun comes up every day and we will be taken care of.

I want to give our Secret Santas all the credit but I know that if God hadn't worked through their hearts, we would have had a much different Christmas. One that we were planning on. I think I like our Father in Heaven's plan better.
His was WAY more fun!

Aren't I cute?

Long ago.....before DOGS.....our dogs...this is where the cat slept.

I really don't think Henry knows that, so he doesn't

know how special that spot has always been for every cat that I have ever known. 

Otherwise, he would look more like he got away with something. 

Henry is just as spunky and active as he was as a puppy almost 6 years ago. 

A neighbor has a border terrier that looks just like Henry.

She was saying that they were thinking that with time their dog would settle down a little. 

HA!

Good luck with THAT!



Merry Christmas

Victoria, as some of you know

is our wild child!

I feel like her beautiful name is being worn out, we yell it so much.

I have to stay 10 steps ahead of her on a daily basis.

And then you mix in the excitement of Christmas

quickly approaching and you have a mixture of

sweetness and disaster!

Pickles and Ice Cream!

That's what she is.

For the past several weeks some would say she has been

out of control,

a bundle of anticipation,

hell bent on wheels.

We kept reminding her to pull it together or she was going to get

COAL in her stocking.

Victoria would respond as she would put her hand to her forehead,

shaking her head,

"I know, I am just so happy, I have a hard time obeying,

 I try to have self control!"

 Well, I think someone taller than me assisted Santa with his

list of naughty children.

Victoria got coal in her stocking.......again!

Her response?

" Usually I get a whole bag!

I only got ONE this year!"

I think she thought she was improving.

Speaking of staying 10 steps ahead of Victoria........

Before we left Phoenix, Kirk and I had discussed Christmas

and what our budget was going to be.

We came up with a dollar amount and decided that we would spend it on

one gift per kiddo.

As we were wrapping their individual gift, I realized that

Victoria's was the biggest.

Knowing her, I didn't want her to guess what her gift was.

At the time I was thinking that she would only have one gift under the tree and being a little kid

I didn't want any dissappointments. 

At the time I had no idea what was being sent by

Nana&Poppa,

 Uncle Josh & Aunt Jolie!

SO

I wrote on the tag that it was Henry's gift.

Of course she spotted it and immediately looked to see who's it was.

"Wow Henry, I wonder what you are getting in that big present?!

Every once in a while I would see her "chatting" with Henry about his

present and asking him if he wanted her to help him open it.

To her surprise it was her present

and a new horse(from Target)  for her American Girl dolls!

And Henry?

He got a Squeeky Toy!

Though HE thought it was Priceless!

We spent the day lounging around and playing.

Baby Jesus has been so good to us this Christmas.

He is with us every step of the way

on this difficult journey that our family is in.

We wouldn't be surviving right now if he weren't with us.

I know some day we will look back on our situation and just be even more

amazed than we already are as to how we have survived these past four years
since Kirk lost his job.  And then me losing mine almost a year ago.

Things have been horribly tough but I have recently read

" It isn't what you get at the end of a journey,
 it is who you are at the end of that journey."



Christmas Eve

 I know that Christmas is so much more about the birth of Christ.

But

I can't not think about Christmas and Cookies

all in the same thought.

The birth of our Savior and

Sugar Cookies.

They are both sweet and save me from life's predicaments.

 Well, we have spent our first Christmas in our new home,

with our new church

and the same traditions.

But the traditions have been so much more fun with

crisp temperatures, snow on the ground, new surroundings

and a new outlook on life.

 My friend Kelly had done this with her daughter and sounded like a great idea.

So we had to make one too.

I wasn't sure if Victoria's foot was going to actually fit on a dinner plate

but it did.  She kept asking me

"you want me to step on the plate.......with paint?"

It turned out adorable.

Long ago we started decorating gingerbread men on Christmas Eve.

We have all looked forward to it......that is if I correctly planned ahead.

Though I do make a few stipulations.

1. Don't squeeze the icing out the top of the bag and make it all goopy.

That drives me insane and will make me into a "wicked Mommy".

2. Don't hog the icing.  I'm not making more so you have to share.

3.  Don't decorate more than your share of cookies.

I know I sound pretty bad.

Don't do this, don't do that.

BUT, there is so much laughter that goes on at the table

I don't think anyone actually hears that.

They are probably just saying

Alright Already, let me at it!



Winter Wonderland

 We are learning what it means to live in the

Cache Valley.

We woke up to ice crystals all over the trees.

It is absolutely beautiful!

 This is the street that our church is on. 

At the very end of the street you can just barely see the old railroad station.

 This cat was taking its dear sweet time sauntering across the street.

And then it stopped in the opposing lane and watched us drive by.

You gotta wonder what cats are thinking.

We are loving it here.

This is right outside of the church steps.

We know that God has a plan for us.

He is taking care of us in the midst of what should be the worst time

of our lives without jobs.

By the way, the highs today were a whole 23 degrees!

Makes me wonder what tonight will drop to.

Christmas Spirit

I has been years since I have actually looked forward to the

Christmas Season.

Our situation in Phoenix was so depressing

it felt hopeless.

Our house was cramped.

And the thought of "decorating"

would make my skin crawl.

This year, we should be hopeless in our situation

BUT

I am so excited about Christmas.

We managed to scrounge up enough money for one gift

for each of our children.

You would think the kids would be depressed over that....

only getting one gift for Christmas.

Not our children.

They are happy to be living in our new home.

 Christmas is exciting this year.

I didn't have the heart to throw out the little pumpkins that

Kathy grew in her garden......and I had to throw out my candles before we moved.

They would have melted just loading them into the moving truck.

So I painted them white, sprinkled a little glitter and plopped them

on top of my candle holders.

I love candles and the light they give off.

I am so excited to have window sills.

The cats and I.

We have lived without window sills for 17 years.

You really don't think about how much you would miss a window sill until

you don't have one.

Well, Christmas is quickly approaching.

The kids did get to do some shopping for eachother because

their Nana and Poppa sent them money

to shop for them.

But really, this year?

We see God's hand in everything we do,

in everything that happens.

He has planted us in a place where we will grow

in our Faith,

have Peace and Joy

continue to Love and be Loved.

To think that Jesus came

as a sweet little baby, with sweet baby smells

to save all of us.

Christmas Book and Craft

The Biggest Best Snowman

by Margery Cuyler

is a cute story about a little girl who is told that she is too small

to do just about anything. 

That is until her and her little forest friends

build an enormous snowman and

show her mom and her funky dressed sisters what they did.

I hated it when I was a kid and I was told, you can't do that,

you're too little.

I think that is probably why I have always let my kids try things

and use scissors when they were two.

(They never cut themselves by the way)

If I have to make a decision that really is because one of the

kids is too young or small, I try to think up some other reason

so I don't have to shatter their dream because

they are too little to do it.

 This idea for the snowman started with a mini pringles can that Victoria had.

We were both looking at the can as to what

we could make out of it.

And then I cut these wierd leg ties off the dog sweater and instantly

saw a snowman scarf.

Victoria is liking that she can use the cool temp glue gun

if she is careful.

 My baby isn't a baby anymore.

Adorable!