Christmas 2009

Christmas for me is always a difficult holiday to experience. Not because of Christmas itself, but because it just gets too busy for me to enjoy the holiday experience. This year I tried to scale way back (as far as the gifting went) and tried to enjoy the holiday season....stress-free. Ummmm I think it went much better!

Lucky for me all my kids were in town this year to spend some of Christmas with us. Amy and Scot spent the night on Christmas Eve to add a little "kid" touch to Christmas morning. Kevin was happy with that....meaning he wasn't stuck with just Mom and Dad on Christmas morning! Boring! Although I don't believe Kevin will complain about his Christmas this year. I must say it was really fun having Zack and Livy here on Christmas morning. Just to watch the crazy excitement on Zack's face on Christmas morning.

Santa and his Reindeer ate all our goodies we set out!
Zack was thrilled and excited!

Two Happy Little Boys!

We all had Christmas Eve dinner together. I think that is my favorite time. Food and conversation. Really just chaos at times! The sweetest after-dinner-activity was seeing the grandkids dressed up in Nativity costume and going through the story of Christ's birth. They are just priceless! They all want to participate and sing. We also had some talent from the grandkids this year....piano, singing and Kevin on the guitar.




As I sat back and watched I was very aware of time passing quickly...meaning my grandkids are growing up fast right before my eyes! A little emotional for me, I might add.... I don't want to miss a minute of their sweet little personalities, and their talents and abilities. They are all so different. I love them all! I am a little envious that I don't have little ones anymore. They bring such a fun, magical feeling at Christmas time. It's all about the kids!

We spent Christmas afternoon eating, opening gifts and enjoying the outdoor weather with the kids and grandkids. Perfect....sunny and a bit cool. No "White Christmas" here!

All the granddaughters have "American Dolls" now. Little Lucy wanted one so badly....I hope she was surprised and happy.

Official Start.....Wrestling Season 2009

Official....because today is Kevin's first wrestling match for the 2009 season. Since school started in September, he has been working, training, dieting, building muscle, sacrificing sleep and running in the early morning hours.....basically doing all he can to get into top shape. Tonight we will see the results of his hard work!

Now I can't say I am a "Fan" of all this wrestling stuff. It's a guy thing....for sure. But I do have to say I have watched Kevin sacrifice much to accomplish his goals. He has to maintain a certain weight to qualify each time he wrestles. This means he does not get to eat like a "teenager" very often during wrestling season. Not fun. This year seems extra tough for some reason. His junior year in school is hard and demands extra time and effort to maintain a good grade point average for those college choices. He is rarely home....and when he is...he is tired.

This year Kevin is wrestling 112 on the Varsity Team. Yep, he is slim, but has some pretty good muscle goin' for him and hopefully some good moves. Of course there is no picture with this post.....No, Kevin will not cooperate with that! I am going to sneak in a few photos tonight just when he is preparing to wrestle. Oh...he'll love that! Soooo here's good luck to Kevin tonight against Brophy (is that the way you spell it?) Go Toros!

Turkey Day

As it goes....I don't really like Turkey. What do you do on Thanksgiving then? Actually, I took a vote from my kids.....the choice was turkey or steaks! Believe it or not the steaks won, hands down! Then the guilt sets in. It's Thanksgiving! Where's the turkey, where's the tradition? Will my grandchildren's memories be forever tarnished? Soooooo my guilt got the best of me.

I made a valiant attempt at a Thanksgiving turkey. I even tried something new to add a little excitement to the process. I decided to "brine" my turkey this year. Brining is suppose to make your turkey moist and tasty! I had some help from the internet and then some pointers from a business contact of my husband's that we had dinner with! I was pretty confident! Might I say....it was a bit of an undertaking. I won't go into the details, but I don't know that I noticed any difference in my turkey this year. My husband commented as he was carving the turkey that it seemed quite moist. Hmmmmmm, don't think so! But, it was a beauty coming out of the oven! Good for a picture.



We planned a fun day together with all of my children and grandchildren. A big Thanksgiving feast, games and relays, a bike ride in beautiful weather, browsing over "Black Friday" Christmas ads, over-eating, and just relaxing outside while the kids played. It was a fabulous day together.

The "Highlight" of the day was some surprise "news" from Julie and Ryan. She hid a little message under my dinner plate. Yep....I was happy! I will just say it once (in public)....I have my fingers crossed for that little boy! Congrats!

When everyone comes over, we have quite a crew. It's noisy, it's chaotic, it's busy, but we love it! Here is our Thanksgiving Day in pictures.....!

Emma.....always happy to help!

Everybody helped get dinner ready

We had a few activities to keep the kiddos busy while dinner was cooking. These little cousins play so well together they love to be with each other.


Some cute little boys! Drew is sporting his trophy from soccer.

Amy planned some fun relays for the grandkids. They were all up for the
competitions! They ran all kinds of races to get their prize!




Some game winners!

Wow....I can't believe I have this many grandchildren!
(Oops and Livy is missing!)
They are all so sweet and so much fun to have over....I love em all!

Gotta have a picture of Livs!

And....the girls...I love em!
The weather was absolutely perfect for an afternoon bike ride!


Happy Thanksgiving!

A Planting We Will Go!

Ahhhhhhh This is my absolute FAVORITE time of year! The past week I have been busy in my garden (flowers, of course) and planting pots all around my yard. My winter grass is beautiful, my oranges are beginning to turn orange, the birds are singing and I am LOVING every minute of the fabulous weather. I knew there was a reason I lived in this dusty desert. It seems to come alive this time of year. When it is 115 degrees outside in July, I will come and look at these pictures.


My house is ready for visitors.....any takers????? Thanksgiving is coming Utah people!

The Sewing Retreat....Among Other Things!

For the past several years, my sisters and I have gotten together for a fun "sewing retreat!" It started off as just...."Let's meet up and sew a quilt together." Now, it has turned into a yearly expectation. I am the only sister that lives away so it does take some planning and preparation.

Over the years we have sewn some pretty fun, incredible quilts together. Each year we decide on the quilt we will be making. That is always a tough choice. If I may say.....there is always an unspoken competition between us. We always have to have the CUTEST! quilt. Sometimes we choose the same fabric and sometimes we are on our own. Whatever the case, we have a blast together...laughing, sewing, eating, staying up late and catching up on life's busy times.

All of my sisters are talented. Some more than others hehehe! My mom is primarily responsible for the sewing addiction that we all have. But it is a talent that we all enjoy together. (Most of us, that is!) I do have one sisters that is ohhhhhh, I will say a Career Woman! She giggles and scoffs at our need to "Pet" all the fabric that we come home with. She kindly rolls her eyes and really cannot tolerate our infatuation with the fabric "bug." But we do still love her!

These are some of the quilts we have made together over the years!

This was our first! Done in blocks that are cut apart
and sewn back together.

"Kansas City Troubles" This one is not yet finished.
We made several unplanned trips to the fabric
store to get it "just right!"



This is my absolute favorite! #3

FLOWER POWER! This was a blast!

"Block Party" Hmmmmm do we like?

"Flutterby" A Moda Creation...love it!

I wanted to make this quilt because I just loved
the fabric. It took me awhile to finish this one
after I stowed it away in my cupboard.

Did I forget any of them? Each one of them were fun to make and I have made it a point to finish them all....A few of them still need some attention. But these are fun memories with my sisters.

This year we got together during the first week of October. My sister, Linda, always hosts the quilting event. She cooks for us (always delicious), sets everything up, battles her doggies and children, and manages to finish her quilt first! I can never figure that out. I think she sews in the middle of the night when the rest of us have gone home. Fess us Linda! I will confess that I am the slowest sewer in town. Just the way it is....and I love it! I cannot hurry or be rushed during my quilting time.....hmmmmmm no big surprise! I love the tedious nature of piecing a quilt together and taking my time.

This year we made a 30's quilt. Neither of my sisters had ever made one, so the decision was made. Truthfully, I was luke warm, as I have made several 30's quilts. But this one looked very cute and I was happy to use my scraps that I had accumulated over the years. Whatever we sew turns out to be so much fun! And this was no different, and yes, I was the last to finish!

This quilt was different because you had to lay the WHOLE thing out before you sewed it together. It was sewn "on point" and you had to match the squares or "cards" which was the reason for laying it out before you began to sew. That process took almost one whole day! Read on for the fun we had together.

My youngest sister has joined us.....she comes when she can, she still has little ones!

Remember the doggie duty?? It is like having another child.....!

We are never disappointed with our "Cook". She always fixes yummy meals!

A Side Note....Linda's grandson walked in with this!!! Yikes! the Hunters had returned home with their Elk. This was "leftover" I thought it was a picture worth taking...hehehehe!

Kathy's Quilt

Yep!!! She finished first!

We had such a fun time together this year and everybody finished their quilt. I think that is a first! It is really fun to share some time with my sisters. I don't see them often and I end up thinking...."Why don't I do this more often?" Until next year.....!