December 31st 2009

Well, it's the end of a year! I can't believe 2009 is over! The older I get the faster the time flies. It's been a good year for our family. 
It was a wonderful Christmas. We enjoyed Kevin, Helen & Anabeth, and Misha, Jeremy & twins! It was so fun having them all home. Wish my other children could have been here also. I've decided I need a bigger house. With all my kids cooking, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. We had a delicious Christmas Eve Dinner. My Father, and his sister Harriet, and her daughter, Kay and Husband, Ed were here with us, as well as Helen's Dad, Billy.  We had ham, turkey, dressing, salads, potatoes, monkey bread, green beans, butter nut soup, and for deserts, Misha's famous Chocolate Mousse, Kilee's Banana cream pie, and Christtinas, pumpkin roll.  Back to our diets tomorrow~
We went to the temple to see the beautiful lights, and out to dinner at Cafe Rio~ Shopping, and more shopping! Jeremy put knobs/handles on my cabinets in kitchen and bath rooms, I love them! Kevin stayed up until 3:30 am putting together Myrle's new BBQ grill~Watched lots of movies! Went to see "The Princess and the Frog", "The Chipmunks, the Squeakuel" (spelling??? help Carie) Julie & Julia, The Blind Side, It's Complicated~ 
I'm posting a variety of pictures. It's so hard to get the little ones still long enough for good pictures! 

Kevin, Helen & Anabeth go back to CA tomorrow, and Misha & the twins will leave on Saturday, unless there's a blizzard (We're praying for one!) It will be a lonely time again for me---I plan to go to bed, and sleep until I'm over the loss and depression!

My Very Best Christmas

Someone asked me recently what was the best Christmas I've ever had?? Well at my age (Just had a birthday, so it's on my mind a lot!) I've had lots of memorable Christmases--But the one that comes to mind is when my Misha was born. She was born on December 13th, and I remember thinking after her birth that my life was absolutely perfect!! I had always wanted a son, and then two daughters--So I had exactly what I'd always wanted~Giving birth in December is wonderful to me, because it really made me think of the Saviors birth--How Mary must have felt to hold a sweet baby in her arms, and just the joy that your body feels after giving birth! I was lucky enough to have two December babies~ Of course all my babies were wonderful, as are all my children, but there was just something extra special about giving birth in December.
Now, here the challenge for all my blogger friends: What was your most memorable Christmas??
All my shopping is done/wrapped, shipped ( I spent 95.00 this year to ship to NC & OR!!) and under the tree. Now to start the baking, and candy making for my children getting in this weekend! I can hardly wait!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas~ and Santa brings you everything you want! XXXOOO to all my blogging friends!

Counting the Days Till Christmas!!

My Shopping is almost finished, and I'm counting the days till Misha, twins, Kevin, Helen & Anabeth come. Misha and the twins will drive down, weather permitting on the 20th, then Jeremy will fly down on the 22nd~Kevin will also be here the same day. My Dad will come to AZ also, as will his sister from OK, and my cousin and her husband! We're excited to have a house full~It gets pretty lonely sometimes, with just Myrle and I. Of course we wish all our kids could be here~ It's really hard this time of year, not to have everyone closer. I usually went home (Colorado) for Christmas, after we married, and had children--So even though we had a "home" of our own---Going "home" for Christmas, always meant being with our parents~Life is sad sometimes. I miss those happy times. Today I was listening to John Denver, Rocky Mountain Christmas, and thinking of my little ones, so many years ago. That is probably our families favorite Christmas Album. Nothing better than JD!!
Hope everyone has a wonderful, Merry Christmas~ It's been so much fun to read and get to know all my blogging buddies! Love you all!

Anabeth @ the park

Helen, Anabeth,Kevin & Chef Thomas Keller

Cole & Daddy

Miss Kora

Key Largo

We drove down to Key Largo, and looked around. Stopped at a sandal store--I have never in my life seen so many sandals! And most were really cute! However my high instep/fat foot didn't work with any of them! We ate dinner at a little place on the shore- Called The Sundowner, and watched the sun go down from the deck. It was beautiful. We had a bird watching us eat~

Atlantis

Atlantis was beautiful, and huge! It would be a fun place to stay. It has a private beach which would eliminate the peddlers we had to put up with~ It was also dead--Couldn't believe all the little foo foo shops inside that had no shoppers! We guessed everyone was at the straw market instead, where you can buy just about anything. Fake purses of all brands, fake watches, sunglasses and all sorts of local crafts, which I didn't need. Also newly released movies, which most of my blogging friends have been to see recently!

Taryn & Derik

NCL Cruise/Bahamas

We're in Miami checking it out now~ Yesterday we went to Key Largo--Ate dinner at a wonderful place there, with a beautiful view.It was wonderful cruising with Taryn, kids and Derik's family. Perfect way to do our first cruise! Of course we didn't get to see enough of them, and hated to leave them!

As pretty as it was, it just isn't Hawaii. I guess I really loved the people of the islands more. The water was beautiful in The Bahamas, but it was dirty elsewhere! On the beach there were tons of peddlers, selling every thing from jewelry, hair braiding to green (we're assuming that is pot?) The cruise ship was great~ The food was wonderful, and since this was free style cruising we could eat anytime, and anywhere we wanted to. We had our favorite restrauant we ate at everyday, and got excellent service from the staff. The first day we took off it was windy, and the ship was rocking some, it was a little hard to get the hang of standing, but didn't make us sick at all. It was great going to bed, and being rocked to sleep. We didn't have the rocking any other night, and I missed it. I would definitely do a longer cruise next time.