Christmas 2009

Christmas Day. What more can I say. It was restful, relaxing, fun, entertaining, thrilling, fulfilling, and wonderful!!! First, let me say that yes, we spoke to Jed. He's doing so good! I have a feeling that he is one of those missionaries that does everything right, and strives to do better all of the time. (That would be his perfectionism from his father kicking in! A good trait!) At the moment, he has a spanish companion, and teaches LOTS of spanish investigators. Does he speak spanish? Oh no! But he loves it...and is getting where he can understand what is being said. He's a zone leader, and he is enjoying that responsibility also. He's also getting transferred this week, so is a little anxious to think about a new companion and area.

Next, on Christmas Eve, Don's boys Todd and Blake, his parents, and Josh all came over for dinner. We had my traditional feast...funeral potatoes, Honeybaked Ham, red jello w/whipped cream, corn, rolls, chocolate cake w/peppermint whipped cream on it. YUM! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it! It was such a special meal with all of them. (Brent was flying in from Cancun, so he missed it. Boo Hoo, right?!? Yes, I'm a little jealous he got to go to the warmth!)

Josh spent the night, and we were glad. It was strange waking up to not many people in the house. Last year we had Josh and Jake, and this year just Josh since Jake got married. Times change! Throughout the day, all of the kids and Don's parents came over. Unfortunately, I didn't grab the camera (and Don didn't either) when his kids were here. So we have no pics of them...just believe me that they loved their gifts! lol.

We had such a good day, and felt so blessed to share it with our children and his parents. It was very nice. We all pieced on the leftovers from the dinner from the night before, and I made up a 7 layer dip, and some cheese balls. Yum, yum, yum!!!

Me, Don, Nadine, and Larry. We took this pic using our new tripod for the camera! Yeah!

Jake and Britt...always clowning around!

Josh...not quite sure what to do, since he was the single guy here. Gotta find him a wife!!! :)

Jenny and Rusty...what a cute pic of them!

I hope that your Christmas Days were as nice as ours was. Love you all!

Babysitting!

Dec. 19th we got to watch our grandchildren. We had a good time together! We put together a puzzle, read books, sang, snacked, and watched movies!!! We had so much fun with our two little guys...but they sure wore us out! We were happy to have mom and dad come to pick them up.

Dec 12...A Fun Luncheon!!!!

As you can see...we had a lot of fun!

It ended with my mother passing around a plate of pinoche and fudge...both homemade. That just made the afternoon for me! I LOVE my mother's candy!!! There is nothing like it!!! (Then she sent us home with some!) Good food and good company! What more can I say? (Oh yeah...we missed the Idaho family!!!)

Tyler!

My good friend Lorrie's son returned home from his mission on Wednesday Dec 2.

It was so fun to go to the airport and see him, and to see all of his friends and family that also showed up there. A good portion of his friends were there. It was an amazing show of friendship and love.

You have to understand, Tyler almost did not go on a mission. Many of us wondered that when he did decide to go, if he would remain out there. I'm so proud of Tyler, for sticking it out, and for giving the 2 years to the Lord.

This means that Jed will now be home in 6 months!!! Woo Hoo! Then the gang will all be complete: Jake M, Jacob G, Jacob E, Clay, Jordan, Jade, Tyler, and Jed. All returned missionaries and all really neat guys!

December is also my Angel month!!! Dec 2 was Amy Rebecca's 28th birthday and Jesse will be 16 on Dec 8. Hard to believe that either of them have been gone for that long. It's hard to imagine what they are doing and where they are. I still miss them and wonder about them. They are my two little angels!

Thanksgiving Blessings...

We had a great time on Thanksgiving!!! I took off Wednesday to prepare for it. I made cute little name tags, and cooked and baked. Our dinner included me, Don, his parents, Josh, Jenny, Rusty, Jake and Brittany. Just 9 of us...but it was just wonderful!




We had such a good day. I loved it! It was fun to prepare for the company, and to cook again. I just don't get many opportunities to do that. (one bad thing of working full time!)


Jenny and Brittany decorated the table for me.











The food was delicious...but I forgot the dressing! I'm a ditz sometimes! Well, at least no one complained, or even noticed until I mentioned it!

Everyone was gone by 6pm, and I crashed on the couch! You forget how much energy that it takes to put on such a big spread! It was such a great day though. Well worth the effort that it took! I'm so blessed to have such a great family!!!