Christmas Day 2009

Kids lined up...youngest to oldest

Santa has Arrived!

We had such a nice Christmas this year. It was snowy and cold outside and we were warm and happy inside. It was good to have a "chilled out" day hanging with the family. The kids were so much fun and we just cringe thinking they keep growing up and these days will not last forever. The best gifts I have are my family, health and the knowledge that Christ lives. Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Nativity

Friends and Family gathered 'round.

Christmas Eve was such a fun night. We started a tradition about 7 years ago with the Darrington family and Carol and Lynn. We gather together on Christmas Eve and we eat good food, sing songs, the kids perform on the piano or which ever instrument they play, we read the Christmas story from the bible and then we finish the evening reading "The Night Before Christmas," with everyone joining in.

Now that the Holdsworths have joined our circle of friends (for which we are so grateful) they have joined the tradition and for the past 2 years, we've had the celebration at their home. Mike & Susie had family in town from Arizona (Phil and Amy's family) so the group totalled 24 people. We had such a great time and I love that we can sit and focus on Christ's birth and the most important things in our lives...family and friends.

The True Meaning

(Here is a pic of my beautiful mom and kids in 2004, just as mom started getting sick)

So, it's that time of year when I start going crazy with all the shopping/projects/wrapping that needs to be done. It's also right about now when I think of my mother and how she captured these feelings so perfectly back in the 1970's. She wrote a poem when I was a young girl and it became family tradition to recite this poem every Christmas Eve, before bed.

I can remember my first Christmas in Utah, 10 years ago, after moving away from my family in Missouri. I was so sad that Christmas Eve to be away from my parents. I was so sad to be away from my mom and not hear her recite her poem. My husband, on the other hand, was very clever and thoughtful. After our Christmas Eve family scripture reading of Christ's birth, he hit the speaker button on the phone and there was my sweet mother, her voice ringing loud and clear, reciting her beautiful Christmas poem. My tears, that had been streaming for some time, turned from sadness to utter joy.

Even though my dear mother has passed on, it is still tradition to read her poem each Christmas Eve and it has more meaning than ever. I want to share her poem with you. I hope you will cherish it, as I do. This is the reason I celebrate! I love my Savior so very much. He gives me love, hope and strength. Because of His atoning sacrifice, I can return to be with Him and I look forward with anticipation to the day I can be reunited with my dearest parents.

The True Meaning of Christmas

The true meaning of Christmas, oh where can it be?
In the beautiful wrapped presents under the tree?
In the mounds of goodies we bake every year?
And then come the pounds we all seem to fear.

At times I forget what it’s all about.
In the hustle and bustle I just want to shout.
Give me more time! I need some more money!
At times I forget about my sweet honey.

Surely there’s more meaning to all of this rush.
I feel ashamed, I even blush,
To think that the true meaning of Christmas is pushed back,
To thinking of Santa unloading his pack.

Oh, there’s room for Santa and the spirit of sharing,
We need peace in our hearts in giving and caring.
The music so beautifully put down by pen, of
“Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men.”

A time to remember Jesus Christ,
How on the cross He paid the price.
He died to save us from our sins
And how much credit do we give to Him?

The true meaning of Christmas, oh where does it lay?
With baby Jesus, upon the hay.
The wise men came and followed the star.
The story’s been told both near and far.

A King is born and the Heavenly hosts shouted!
As the angels looked, nobody doubted.
A Savior is born, a day to remember.
And now we celebrate in December.

Kaye Harris

New Family Pictures

It was time for our bi-annual family pictures!! Everyone wants to gripe and complain when I make them do this....but it is so worth the fuss. The kids are growing up way too fast and I want to capture every minute of all their cuteness. I sure love my family!! They make life worth living.














By the way, my photographers are Kate and Dan at Peekaboo Photography in case you want to check them out. I love them. You can find their website on the right under my "Favorites!"

Black Friday Done Right

For once, I think I got Black Friday right! Instead of waking up way too early, freezing and spending my money on stupid materialist garbage...I skipped the shopping and spent the whole day with family. My sister, Tammy, and family went with us to the Peaks Ice Arena and the kids ice skated to their heart's content.

After a painful experience a couple years back, I've chosen to sit on the sidelines and watch the fun instead of joining in. Even though I'm sure Tammy would have liked to skate, she sat on the sidelines with me (under the heater....ahhhhh) and we caught up on life. It was nice to sit and chat.

Ahnalisse, Rachel, Morgan, Kelsey and Carli

Skylar, Ahnalisse and Jake

Tammy & Wendy

We spent the rest of the day watching movies, eating, chatting, eating and eating. Did I mention eating? (Now it's time for starvation for a week to get back down to my starting weight.)

Thanksgiving Feast

Our Thanksgiving was fabulous this year. My sister, Tammy, and her family were able to come up from St. George and we celebrated with a huge feast at my sweet in-laws, Carol and Lynn's, home. Joe's sister, Feather, and her family also made it here from Kentucky and we enjoyed the good company and delicious food.

Thanks Carol and Lynn for being so hospitable to my family and for all you do.

I am thankful for my life, my family, a warm home, food, clothing, our cars and jobs. I am truly blessed.

The Most Wonderful Night

Yes folks, it's that time again. Our favorite night of the year....Pie Night! Joe's Uncle Shirl and Aunt Toni were gracious enough to invite us back for pie night and it was just as delicious and enjoyable as ever. This year I brought along a posse (Sister Tammy and family) and we all ate to our hearts delight!

The menu included Chocolate Peanut Butter, Almond Heart, Buttermilk-Lemon, Old-Fashioned Creame, Caramel Cream Apple Crunch, Hawaiian-Delight, Apple Raisin, Pecan, Sawdust Pie, Dessert Pizza, Weird Pie, Caramel Apple Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue, Fruit Tart, Maple Walnut, Pumpkin Pie, Rhubarb Pie, Cranberry Apple, Cherry, Blueberry, Apple Pie, Andies Pie, Black Forrest Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cheesecake, Mince Meat, Chocolate Cream, Banana Cream, Eggnog, Reeses Ice Cream, Cherry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cheesecake, Coconut Cream, Lemon Cream Cheese, Mint Chocolate Chip, Lemon Tart, Pecan Cherry Chocolate Cream, Frozen Pineapple, Frozen Raspberry, and Pumpkin Chiffon.

There may have been doubles of some. I think the total number of pies was 41. Incredible. They put so much work into this one night. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Thought I'd share some pics of this year's favorites....at least Wendy's favorites.

Red Velvet Cheesecake (Isn't it beautiful?)

Fruit Tart

Dessert Pizza

Frozen Raspberry Dessert

Susie's Birthday

My "bestie gal pal" Suze had a birthday!! Her b-day is on Nov. 11th, so we're already looking forward to a grand celebration on 11-11-11. Susie wanted a bathtub full of Thai Coconut Mango Sticky Rice for her birthday. Well...I'm a little too lazy in the kitchen so she had to settle for a large bowl full (plus an extra Tupperware container for later). We went out to eat at Tucanos to get our complete gorge on. Fun night with fun friends!

Love ya Suze. You are a huge blessing in my life. I love being silly and laughing my head off with you on a regular basis. You just make my life better!
This is Suze chowing on the sticky rice with her brand new hiking pack/water bottles. Pretty hot fanny pack, huh?

Wind Symphony

Being the stellar (definition: outstanding) mom I am, I forgot my camera last night for Morgan's symphony performance. She is now playing in the Wind Symphony and we are so proud of her. I can't believe how well she plays after only a year and a few months on the flute. Way to go Sis! 8th graders usually play in concert band but Morgan has worked hard and made it into the symphony. She is an outstanding young woman and I'm thrilled that I'm her mom.

Halloween

Morgan aka "Crazy Cat Lady", Joe and Wendy as SNL's
Spartan cheerleaders, Kelsey is a Hood Rat and
Jake was Darth Vader.
(Darn fog machine messed up the pic!)

This man's name will not be revealed (since he's paying
good money just for that purpose)!

Darrington's

Wendy, Jae and Susie

Joe, John and Mike

Mike and Suze had a Halloween Party this year and we had a blast! Lots of delicious food, dancing (with the funky strobe light), games and good people. We are so blessed to have awesome friends and our families to enjoy life with!!

Krispy Kreme Sickness

(Read with femmie accent...) Oh, isn't Joe so SWEET!

Susie looks like she's smelling her donut (which....in reality she
does smell all her food before she eats it! I love it.)

"I'm going to devour you and all your family too,
you crazy delicious donut!!!"

Doesn't Mike look excited like a little 10 year old?!? Good times!

So after eating a LARGE dinner last night we decided it would be a great idea to go eat some donuts. Can I just say, blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I still want to barf a day later. Too much yummy dinner + too much yummy donuts = major tummy ache. At least we had fun doing it!

"Anti-Pumpkin Carving"

Oh My!

Final product out in it's proper place.

So this afternoon we had our Second Annual Anti-Pumpkin Carving. Loved it! I have always hated the mess and hassle of carving pumpkins and last year I found these awesome Mr. Potato Head kits. The kids have fun, no mess to clean up and everyone is happy! The kids dug into the costume box and added a little style while they were decorating. It was a PaRTay "fur sure!"

Spiritual Bag of . . .

So our beloved Kelsey Kaye likes to make sure that we have Family Home Evening. For those that are not familiar with FHE, this is a Mormon practice and basically refers to a time that the family gathers together on Monday nights to have a prayer, sing a song and have a spiritual lesson (or at least a spiritual thought). This is encouraged by church leaders and Kelsey generally takes this kind of thing to heart. Most families have family members take turns giving lessons but Kelsey loves to take charge and is really good at coming up with activities or object lessons. No one else fights her for the responsibility.

This week it was getting a little late on Monday and we were reminded that we needed to have a family home evening. Kelsey prepared a lesson and we all gathered together. She gave us each a popsicle stick and asked us to write our name on the stick. She gathered the newly named sticks and stuck them in a sandwich sized zip lock bag. "This bag is our family when we are united and together. Can you think of some things that might pull us apart?", she asked. "Fighting" "Lying" "Doing bad things"... were some of the answers. After each answer she would shake the bag until a popsicle stick would fall out. After "we" were all out of the bag and scattered about she told us, "When we don't do what is right, we can not be close as a family and Heavenly Father can't keep us together. We want to be together and be safe. What are some things we can do to be together and be safe?"

The answers started. "Be kind" "Do what is right" "Pray"... After each answer she would put one of the sticks back in the baggy. She wasn't quite sure how to phrase the part about us being together. "When we do what is right, we can be together in the Spiritual Bag of Awesomeness."

I hope that we can all do what is right and stay in the Spiritual Bag of Awesomeness.

* The above story (retold by Joe) is not an exact account of the events that transpired but, it should be good enough to get the point across.

Night with Friends

We went out last weekend with the Darringtons and Holdsworths to celebrate a job promotion for John. John is now a Major in the US Army. Way to go John! You are our hero. We enjoyed a night of laughter while gorging on Indian food at Bombay House and then some yummy dessert at Little Gloria's.

Jake Gets Bobcat

Jake has been in Cub Scouts since July and has now earned his Bobcat badge. I'm so proud of this little guy!