Wednesday 12/1
December is here and it's time to start decorating . . . .
Steve got out all the storage tubs and Linda began working on setting out all her Nativity's and other traditional decorations. It is a "work in progress" as it takes a few days to get everything set in place.
Friday 12/3
On Wednesday, Matt's daughter, Jetta, had her tonsils taken out. Today Linda went in to see her and help out around the house for a little while.
Jetta and her pooch, Diesel
We are experiencing one of our "inversions" that have . . . .
kept things a bit foggy for a few days . . . . In Boise, it was clear and sunny with beautiful blue skies !
Linda continued decorating today but experienced a sad moment.
Debbi made this Ukrainian Egg ornament when she was in middle school. She "painstakingly" worked on it for a long time, painting one color at a time, before it was finally done. This year, Linda hung it on the tree as she does every year, but soon after putting it on the tree, the hook came out of the egg and it fell off the tree and hit the wood floor. She was devastated.
On Thursday evening Steve & Matt left for Las Vegas, stopping over in Bountiful to stay with Kevin for the night.
This morning, Steve, Matt & Kevin left for Las Vegas -
Their destination . . . .
Trudi's house AND Allegiant Stadium
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| Kevin, Matt, Trudi, Steve |
These four Duck fans were excited to be attending the PAC 12 Conference Championship Game
Oregon Ducks vs Utah Utes
Things didn't turn out as well as they hoped with a final score of 10 - 38. Even though it was embarrassing, they enjoyed the excitement of just being together in this brand new stadium. We'll have to wait until next year to regain the conference championship !
They stayed the night at Trudi's, leaving for home on Saturday morning. They dropped Kevin off at his house in Bountiful then Steve & Matt continued on to Boise.
They were blessed to see this beautiful sunset as they traveled.
Monday 12/6
This morning we woke up to the 1st snow of the season
We didn't stick around to see how long it lasted because . . . .
we were off to the airport to catch a flight to Las Vegas via Seattle.
We saw Mt. St. Helens as we flew from Seattle to . . . .
Las Vegas
Just a few days ago Steve drove to Las Vegas - Flying is better ! Trudi, Charlotte & Morgan picked us up and we arrived at her house in Northwest Las Vegas in time for dinner.
We had a wonderful time visiting the Lansford's . . . .
Linda took a craft project for the kids to do -
A little snow-globe nativity.
We had Christmas with the kids
Cora, Steve, Morgan, Linda, Wyatt & Charlotte
Morgan's Octonaut toy
Wyatt's Amazon Gift Card
Cora's farm animals and stuffed jungle animals
Charlotte's Foot Spa
15 year old Wyatt, enjoying his virtual games
Morgan also enjoying some virtual games while Wyatt does his school work.
Charlotte lost a tooth and at 11 years old, she still gets excited for the tooth fairy to visit.
We visited one of our nieces, Kim (& Travis) Farnes. She lives just a few minutes from Trudi in NW Las Vegas.
Morgan & Grandma baked some Christmas Cookies - everyone got to have one . . . . mmm-mmm good !
Trudi & George have been renting a home since moving to Las Vegas and are now happy to have found a home to purchase. It's not too far from their rental, but is in a different Stake. They will have fun getting acquainted with and making new friends !
On Friday Trudi, Charlotte & Cora took us back to the airport so we could fly back home via Seattle. We made both our flights although the second leg from Seattle back to Boise was delayed for over an hour. When we finally arrived, Dave picked us up and we made it back to our home in Star shortly after midnight.
Saturday 12/11
It's nice to see Jetta looking well after her tonsillectomy and . . . .
burning the advent candle Linda made for her and her sister Sienna.
Steve spent a little bit of time outside today
He took the snow blower out of the shed and put all the "summer" yard equipment in, along with our yard décor. We hope we don't have to use the snow blower, but they are forecasting snow for the next few days, so we will see.
Tonight was our Ward Christmas Activity.
We had lasagna, green salad & dessert then sang some Christmas songs before . . . .
Visiting that Jolly 'ole man . . . . SANTA CLAUS !
Sunday 12/12
Tonight was our . . . .
It was very nice, helping to spread some Christmas spirit !
After the program . . . .
This evening Matt's family came over and we had a nice Christmas dinner together and exchanged a few gifts. One of the gifts we opened was from all of our kids . . . .
We drove around looking at Christmas lights - it just seemed like the right thing to do. This home got pretty creative with camouflaging their bushes as cute little gnomes.
Wednesday 12/22
It has been a busy day !
Today we received a few pictures from Debbi. She is in Washington DC on a lay-over. Among other sites she and the flight crew she was working with visited were . . . .
The Lincoln Memorial . . .
Washington Monument and . . . .
The National Christmas tree at the White House.
Also, today Linda was once again busy making . . .
a couple hundred Gingerbread Cookies ! This time, for an open house. Our Bishop's son was married last week and will have an open house to celebrate the occasion next week.
Another exciting thing happened today. A box was left at our front door early this morning before we got up. It was from our neighbor & friend Blu Graviet.
In one of the boxes of "mom's stuff" Linda's sister brought to her at Thanksgiving we found the nativity set that her family had when she was a little girl.
It is very old and had some "battle wounds". Besides several of the bases being badly broken, the cow's horns were gone and the yellow camel's face was gone. All of the 16 pieces needed to be repainted. Linda asked Blu (who is an artist) for some advise on fixing them and she asked if she could try to fix them for us... she said it would be an exciting challenge !
The box left outside our front door this morning contained the entire set, all repaired and repainted . . . new horns on the cow and a new face on the camel - they look amazing. The whole set looks like new !
We are so grateful for Blu and her willingness to share her artistic talent with us, now . . . .
We are trying to figure out what to do about the Stable ???
For the last several weeks, Linda has been scouring "vacation home rentals" websites for a place to have a family reunion next July. Today we decided on one and made the reservation.
A fenced backyard was a MUST so that limited our options. We searched all around the west. Yellowstone, Lake Powell, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Cascade, St George and everywhere in between. We finally settled on a centrally located - Bountiful. We are already excited to have some time together.
Friday 12/24
It's Christmas Eve !
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| Matt, Jetta, Linda, Steve Jen & Sienna (missing Camrynn) |
An electronic picture frame with sharing capabilities.
Saturday 12/25
MERRY CHRISTMAS !
It's Christmas morning so of course, you have to have cinnamon rolls
Add a bowl of creamy oatmeal and you have a "stick-with-you-all-day" kind of breakfast !
We received our Christmas gifts from each other earlier this year . . . .
Linda got a new comforter set for our bedroom.
Then . . . .
This morning we found a few more packages under our tree.
A box full of a variety of "international sweets", a beautiful poem titled "The Greatest Parents on Earth" and a Burger King gift card... yum!
We thought we might have a White Christmas this year, but other than a few little flurries, there wasn't any snow today . . . . maybe tomorrow ?
We spent most of the afternoon & evening getting our new frame set up. As we talked to each of our kids during the day, we had each of them download the frame app to their phones then, got them paired with the frame.
They each sent a few "test" pictures to the frame from their phones - pretty cool !
At the end of the day,
We not only had a lot of nice "things", but were left with the sweet memories of talking to each of our kids and grandkids and hearing about their exciting Christmas day.
After all the fun celebrating Christmas early with our kids & grandkids . . . .
We enjoyed this peaceful scene on Christmas day.
Wednesday 12/29
There is a song that says "March went out like a Lion, a whippin' up the water in the bay". Well, it looks like . . . .
This year's, going out like a Lion, with snow, piling up, every day !
Sometimes the 'ole shovel just works better !
It's wet and cold but it sure makes a pretty picture.
Thursday 12/30
The snow continues to fall . . . .
and is beginning to pile-up a bit
Steve got the snow blower out . . . again . . . .
at the end of the day we had about 6" - a couple of inches+ yesterday and about 3" today.
Friday 12/31
It's New Year's Eve and after a relaxing day, we stayed up late and rang in the New Year by . . . .
First, watching the ball drop at Times Square
the first ball was dropped in 1907, 115 years ago. Today we use the 6th version of the ball.
We watched a little bit of the Boise pre-midnight festivities then finished up with . . . .
The exciting, 9th annual, POTATO DROP !
(we actually didn't get to see it drop... Dish no longer broadcasts the only network covering the drop . . . . NBC - disappointing for us)
From our house to yours . . . .
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year !
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