Merry Christmas 2024

This was our first practice/staging shot before the hair and wardrobe change. But Mike said he likes it better because the word "Favorite" is right over my head and I'm his Favorite. 

He did some secret Santa shopping and bought me an outfit. (I'll have to exchange it for a different size.) Other than that, there wasn't much of a gift exchange. We both got new Church shoes we shopped for a few weeks ago. And we received tons of neighbor gifts and goodies...some of which we have devoured.

A beef chuck roast and potatoes are in the crock pot for Dinner, but only Mom will be able to join us, as Eric and Matt both "have been smitten by the flu." I do hope it's a short 24 hour bug so they won't suffer very long. 

We look forward to seeing Damian, Tandy, Lexi and Ella later this week, and the rest of our kids on Jan 11th for Moms 90th birthday.  We are gonna have a party!!

Christmas in the kitchen

 I don't usually decorate too much in the kitchen. But I did this year!

Mr & Mrs Santa by the sink, with a box of received Christmas greeting cards. I missed sending them this year.

Cute containers and pinecones on the coat rack.

The reindeer jar usually has Whoppers in it. But we keep eating them. (Oink) Swedish Fish or cinnamon gummy bears go in the center jar...something red. But we keep eating those, too. The mini marshmallows last a bit longer. But only a bit. 

It was kind of fun to toss stuff around and make it more festive.

Until I needed to make applesauce two weeks ago. Then I had to move it all out of the way. Today, the counter looks quite cluttered. But in a good ( yum yum yummy good) way. PIE!

Apple, pumpkin, pecan. A coconut pie is in the fridge. Who needs a Christmas dinner? I'll just have pie, thank you very much!!

New Phone/ quick Vernal trip

 It took several days, but my new phone finally came in the mail. There was no repairing the old one. The water damage was too extensive, even after drying it out. It just won't power up. So sad. Luckily, I had a lot of information out on the cloud, and it was saved. I have pictures, etc. And I even was able to find on my new phone the Keep Notes app that I used for lists and so forth. That was a relief to find it. But I do have all my contacts back. I did lose all of the old texts and that's sad. There were many family photos and things in there. But, it could have been a lot worse! We didn't have to spend a ton of money for the phone, so that's nice. I do still have to get a case and a screen protector for it. But I am connected once more! Hip hip hooray!

Mike and I went up to salt lake on wednesday. We spent the night with Nick and kaylee. We met their new dog, Roz. He is a Maltese puppy and quite cute. We got to spend a little time with grandkids. 

Thursday we had lunch with Phil dixon. 

Then we drove on to vernal and visited with family and handed out Apple cider. We spent the night at Sally and devere's house. Friday morning we picked up pork and beef and drove home. Quik trip, but it was a lot of fun. No pictures, though. I'm trying out my new phone and it's Talk to Text Feature. It does not capitalize very well. :-) and I'm leaving it as is. I'm just relieved to have a new device. Poor Mike must have gotten very tired of me saying "Where's your phone?" all the time.

Mike and Roz snuggling.

Friends for eternity and fleeting phones

 Tonight  Kim and Terri Hunter came over to have dinner with us. Kim said something about he and Mike being friends in our pre-earth life. I think I can believe that! Some people just click. Some become dear, dear friends right away, and then they just stay that way. 

Eric and Matt dropped in for dessert afterwards. They were in town for a painting/art class with our friend Hannah Dawson ( Prussian Blue art designs).

It was fun to chat with them, too.  

Since I seldom think to take photos of our friends, I seized the moment tonight and we donned the Santa hats. 

However,

My phone took an unfortunate deep dive into the toilet  and I did not know it for quite a while. It spent some time in a rice bag, but now is at a repair place to see if we can salvage any of the data. I sure hope so. I'm missing it quite a lot, quite frankly. My tablet does not have my current and updated calendar. And I can't text the photos of Kim and Terri to them. But I can email, so I hope that will do! And I hope I can find them for this post, too. My first attempt failed to locate them. Oh dear.

Great evening with family and friends,  after a long-ish morning at choir rehearsal and afternoon in Temple office.  And a 30 minute nap this evening for me!

Another ER visit with Mom

 This time it was because she couldn't breathe! Scary stuff. 

She's back home after 6 hours of testing ( and lots of waiting) breathing treatments.

She's been resting at home and improving daily.

Mike and I attended a Gentri Christmas concert. They put on a really good show! Glad we went.

I got a few grandkids called this evening and had a good visit about my making a cousin book for them for Christmas. It was fun to chat for a bit. We really do have some nice grandchildren. Too bad most of them are so far away. Although, with technology, NObody need be far away!

I decorated our Christmas tree today. Red and gold. Pretty, if I do say so myself. This year, I spread Christmas cheer into the kitchen, too! Some on the walls, and even on the counters. But I didn't swap out regular glassware for Christmas glass wear. I wore out! That's a LOT of trips up and down the stairs to do all that. 

Nativities, poinsettias, tree collection...that's about it. And it is enough.

Belated Halloween picture.

 I found this adorable picture of my neighbor's grandkids standing on my front porch. So cute. I think the mommy took it, as I found it on FB with her Fall Photo dump. Cute little family. I only know who two of the kiddos are. 

Thanksgiving 2024

 The holiday was either extended, or delayed, depending on how you look at it. 

We celebrated on Tuesday by having a lovely feast at Mom's residence. They host one each year. I got to sit next to a very chatty lady and hardly got to say a word to either mom or to Mike. But it was a nice meal and a good time. 

I have been working on some craft things for Relief society. Cards and gift tags. I have been on the phone and video chat with Gail quite a bit so she can hold my hand and walk me through those foreign things to me. That has taken hours of my time. 

On Thursday, Mike and I went to Our House assisted living again to eat with Mom.  It was the Holiday and a sparse crowd. They fed us leftovers from Tuesday, I think. We weren't doing anything at my house because Nick's family was supposed to be coming for Thanksgiving, but not until Friday. They had other family in town to spend time with up north. And then Emily ended up getting quite sick with a bad cold, so Kaylee and Emily stayed home and Nick and the three older kids came for Thanksgiving in Cedar City. They came on Thursday night. Friday we had another nice Thanksgiving feast. I made pies and turkey and potatoes and green beans. Nick brought rolls and fruit for salads. It was a wonderful feast. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it. 

We enjoyed the leftovers for lots of meals! 

On Saturday morning we hiked in St George. We had Eric and his two dogs come along with us. We were just up near his house. Red rocks and sunshine! What can be better? 

Later in the afternoon, Nick took the kids up to Park Discovery. They also went downtown to check on the vendors and activities there at a Christmas Festival of sorts. We went back later all together to look for Santa's arrival and the lighting of the main Street Christmas light decorations and the fireworks. We saw it all! The fireworks were really good. Short and sweet, but really nice. Lots of loud music, huge crowds. Nice small town atmosphere all the same. And then by 6:30 pm they were on their way home to Herriman. 

Mike missed out on all of Saturdays activities because his stomach felt pretty icky. Too much food? Hard to say. Rachel even threw up in the night after our Thanksgiving dinner. I'm hoping I didn't produce something in my kitchen that caused food poisoning, but they were the only two who were affected. But it was just so good, we can't help but overeat sometimes. :-) 

Mom made some holiday crafts ( a rare thing-- she seldom participates in activities there at Our House,).

These are the crafts I worked on for DAYS.

This is a nice, big, thick paper COLORING table cloth that Nick's Family brought.

We did NOT have COSTCO pie for Thanksgiving. However, at our Ward/neighborhood Christmas dinner December 2nd, they did serve Costco pies for dessert. Pumpkin and apple. Check out the size difference! My ' normal homemade ' pie compared to giant COSTCO ones. 

A pensive Rachel, overlooking St. George.

I like that they feel comfy and right at home, walking out of their shoes.

Main Street,  Cedar City, after Santa's arrival. Jane, Logan, Rachel. There were a lot of free activities and crafts along Main street. It was closed off downtown most of the day.

Mom Bought a Chicken!

 The Giving Machine is in St George. Since we had to go to St. George for a cardiology appointment, Mom and I swung by the Red Cliffs Mall for a bit on the way home. 

There's three machines, five other LOCAL charities to donate goods and services to, as well as the international Church- sponsored ones. 

I'm guessing people will be buying a lot of chickens, as it is the most affordable item in the machine that I saw

 But I didn't take the time to look at every single thing in there.

They can accommodate crowds, and I hope there ARE many crowds. I think there will be. I hope there are NOT crowds when Mike and I go back together later.😊

And we saw this license plate on the way home. 

Quick visit from Nick

 I caught my typical "four days after air travel" head cold Friday. I thought it was allergies from flower pollen. NOT. But they ARE still pretty. These are birthday flower replacements because the first original roses died on day 2( markdowns don't usually die so fast). 

Nick and kids arrived around 5:30 pm Friday. Nick was invited to participate in an ordinance with a good friend here in Cedar, so he came with the three younger ones. Just overnight. Rachel stayed home with her Mom. It's just a fast trip. They will ALL be back here for Thanksgiving.

The Little ones like car time and travel for the extended tablet benefits . Ha.

All three on tablets. I was not a fun grandma. No games or stories from me this time. Just sneezing in my room. 

Flipping frogs is similar to tiddley winks, so Nick taught them that game. They had read about the game in a story book at home, so it was nice to have some practical application.