Christmas Eve

Randy and Jenna.... crazy cousins (and Kolbe!)
Titan, Odis w/Peyton, and Kolbe.... sock monkeys from Grandma O
hummm, wonder what's in this bag
Odis finally got her yellow Hummer
Alicia, Ray, Titan, Jenna, Peyton, Kelly, Nathan, and Kolbe


Christmas Eve we all met at Odis' to make my mom's world famous Enchiladas :) Well, maybe not world famous but pretty popular with us! We have made this a Christmas Eve tradition for the past several years. Usually we do Christmas Eve at my house with a little program and we read the Christmas story out of Luke but this year we didn't want Odis to be alone so we took our tradition to her. A good time was had by all...... well, at least by me!

Making "shakut" and other fun stuff

Kelly and I were anxious to try out our Cricut so we made some attempts at Christmas presents. They didn't turn out too bad! I will be glad when we can get some more cartridges and make more fun stuff :) And.... of course.... Titan is helping with the baking. When I ask him if they were making brownies he told me "No, I making shakut" (chocolate)

When did I get so short??

Thanksgiving pictures

Where's the food??
Being silly
The girls
Ray
Odis and Kyle

and more......

Yum!
Double yum!
Alicia, Peyton, Kelly, and Jenna....beautiful girls
Auntie making rolls
Auntie and Kelly

Happy Thanksgiving

Odis and Oney
Watching the ball game
Someone is tired and needs a nap!
don't know who needed this more....Me or him!
First Thanksgiving! Same size as the turkey!! :)


We had such a great day. We couldn't get Odis out to either of our homes so Kelly and I decided we would bring Thanksgiving to her. We went over the night before and made our pies and a few other things then this morning we went back and did the rest of the dinner. Stacy did the turkey this year so when she arrived with the bird we had quite a feast. There were 19 of us from 3 weeks old to 83 years old and I think we all had a great time. I am so stuffed tonight that after this post I am going to bed and hope to sleep until at least 8:00 in the morning.

My Thankful list....totally incomplete

Being a mom. Being an Aunt. Being a Great Aunt. Being a daughter. Having a warm home in the winter and shade trees in the summer. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Restoration. Having wonderful friends. For all the places I have been fortunate enough to live. For the people I have met in those places. Different jobs and the things I have learned from each one. Lessons I learned from my mother. Lessons I learned from my grandmother. Lessons I am still learning from my son. The smell inside of a clean barn. Holding a new calf. Gathering eggs. Fall leaves under my feet. Green summer grass under my feet. Having the Priesthood in my home. Freedom. Cheesecake. Hot homemade bread with butter and honey. The smell of homemade bread with butter and honey. Listening to the rain on my roof. The smell of Eagar after the rain. The smell of rain on the desert. Children's prayers. Children's laughter. A living Prophet. Christmas decorations. Good books. Being able to read the good books. Music. Dancing. The Atonement. Hot Postum with Creme Brule'. My mothers testimony. Days with no pain. New socks. When the summer visitors go home. Massages. Foot rubs. Brand new babies, human and otherwise. Painted toenails. New shoes. Arizona sunrises. Montana sunsets. Camping under the stars. Falling stars. Sitting around a campfire. Hot showers. Clean sheets. Cinnabar perfume. Spring flowers. My testimony. Sleeping with the windows open. Catching the first fish. Hymns. Having gone to a drive-in movie. Pets, past and present. Early morning silence. Prayer. Ice cold Pepsi.

Fall

Kelly and I took all the kids and Odis for a ride up over the mountain to see the changing colors. We almost waited too late as a lot of the leaves had already fallen but we had a nice ride. Odis bought us lunch at Arby's and we took it with us for a picnic. We live in such a beautiful place.

More Halloween

halloween

Damian and Randy..... don't ask
Angie and Ashley

We had a fun time on Halloween. We had our 4th annual Halloween bonfire and quite a few of Randy's friends showed up. They would come and eat, leave, come back and eat, stand around the fire to get warm, and leave again. Works for me. I stayed inside and worked on painting my cupboards. Kelly and Ray brought the kids over so I could see them in their costumes and then they went to the party at the school. I tried to get more pictures of Titan but he wasn't in the mood to cooperate :) He told me he was a "bum bum bee" (bumble bee) and I just took his word for it! They all looked so cute. We had quite a snow storm a few days before so I didn't know if we would be having the bonfire or not but it melted off and the weather was pretty nice. Most of our leaves are gone now and the grass is brown. The mornings are crisp but the afternoons are beautiful. I love this time of year but how I dread winter. I only like the snow when I can stay inside by the fire and watch it come down. :)

A fun day

Today was a fun day. Kelly and I had hair appointments with Kelly Brown. I got my hair cut and Kelly got a hair cut and a weave and her hair looks beautiful. I'm trying to grow all the dye out of my hair and go "natural"...... which means gray! :) I may hate it but after 40 years of dying my hair I am just tired of it. I may have some red weaved into it but haven't gotten that far yet. I still can't believe how much gray I have and I am NOT going to have the beautiful white hair that my mother had. Hers was white, mine is gray. Bummer.
We had fun just getting "beautiful" and lots of visiting with no kids around. Kelly B. always does such a good job. It was a nice afternoon

Lately I've had some things on my mind. Things that are troubling to me and things that I don't understand. If there are two children and one of them is blond and blue eyed and the other is black, do you automatically think that the blond child is somehow more important simply because of their skin color? OR.... do you see two sweet and innocent children of our Father in Heaven?
Two years ago our family was blessed with a beautiful little boy. A little boy that, I believe, was literally prayed into our family. He is sweet beyond words and intelligent beyond his years. He is curious and mischievous and full of love..... and his skin is black. I fell in love with him the minute I laid eyes on him and that love has grown every day of his life. My heart bursts every time I hear him say "love you, Auntie", or I see him running to me, arms held up for me to hold him. I feel the same love for him that I feel for Kelly's biological children. He, like her other children, is a gift from God and a blessing to our family.
And yet, even in 2009, I see the looks when we walk into a restaurant or a grocery store and, unfortunately, even into church. I see the stares and hear the whispers.....the assumptions that Kelly slept with a black man. And what if her husband was black? Would that make it better or worse in these narrow minds? Aren't we all children of God? Aren't we all created in His image? My Mother taught me that we are, but it is clear to me that some people don't think so and that kind of thinking is something I will never understand.

Boys will be boys will be.......crazy?

What is it with teen-agers and saran wrap? So far this year we have had the steering wheel of my car, our front steps, Randy's entire car, and once again my car, saran wrapped! Last night Randy and Robert thought it would be funny to saran wrap a shopping cart to the back of Damian's pick-up. Good grief!