God Bless us Everyone

The candy dish has just about been picked clean. The cookies are looking well, rather crumbly. Hmmmm, Christmas is almost gone for another year. I am always sad and happy to let it go. Some of the high points were...... (Hum with me to the tune of "My favorite things....") Girls in gold dresses with gold satin sashes,

Girls making cookies with grocery store dashes. Daughter that comes home with her husband who can play

These are some things that just make Momma's day....

Crafting with D'licia making sure we're real quiet-
Giving the gift-he seems to quite like it!

Opening packages, there was a real bunch,

Rachel likes her new laptop, we've got a hunch.

Brittnie and Reed come see us for dinner.

Brian makes Pizza, it's always a winner.
We toast with cranberry and stuff with a ham
Better stop eating or we'll break the cam!

When the dog sheds, when the cat yowls,

when I'm feeling sad...I'll simply remember this holiday blog...


and then I won't feel SOOOOOOOO BAD.....

(Until I step on the scale on Monday....)

Glitter, glitter everywhere....

Ok, it's December 2 and I am already sick, sick, sick of glitter. And fleece and glue sticks and little red and green ribbons and more fleece and glue sticks. I am CRAFTED OUT!!

I have been getting ready for the local craft show for a couple of months. The problem is that I can think of too many ideas and I really hate making something 49 times.

But I managed to crank out a few things and make a real BIG MESS in my studio. I was also waking up at 4:45 am and flopping out of bed with my glue gun under my arm....scary huh?
Thank heavens the big day came and the best part was just sitting there with my buddy Melanie and having a great yak. People even interrupted us and bought a few things.
Melanie and I go way back as friends and crafters. She was just a new mother when they came to Florida and she taught me to paint on wood (well she tried) and I encouraged her to sew pink stuff for her little girls. So, now we are so lucky to be in the same area together and her little girls are now growing up and she makes beautiful prom dresses.

Emma was there the whole time with us and entertained herself playing with the for sale fairies and conning her mom into buying a "magic wand"

The part I hate the most is sitting there watching the people go by and decide if your

hard work is worth the money. BOOO on that part. I admit I get a larger thrill out of giving away a print to my friends who come to see me.

But enough whining from the glitter gal around here.

And we are already talking about NEXT YEAR and planning our crafty strategies!

Just don't be surprised any of you that I might "gift" in the next year, if I send you something I just happened to already have....it might be covered in glitter.

p.s.

Here are a few pics of what I sold-or tried to....

Where the Buffalo roam.....

So, second graders need to learn all about Native American Indians. That is what I have been told. By my second grader. For weeks we heard lots about corn and berries and deer skins and jerky. They made vests and decorated them with symbols that told a story. They got very excited about wigwams and longhouses and totempoles.

I even helped build a teepee for the bulletin board and made my own version of a northwestern totem pole.

Soon the exciting day was upon us. My little blonde "native american" was pumped. It was fun to go and be there with her and her class for the "POW-WOW".

They had a Wigwam set up outside and the kids were able to sit inside and hear about the ways of the tribe.

I was impressed with the authentic dance that the chief guy did and decided that I could work off some major calories if I learned those steps. (Hey and I liked the bells too.)

But the song and dance Emma and her classmates did was my favorite. Hi-ya-na, hi-ya-na, oh, hiyalai-na. I can hear it now(.....someone is singing it in my ear.)

It was a great day and I am looking forward to Pilgrim day next year!

The summer of "ROCK N ROLL..." (or the Bishop really likes to rock)

(Kenny Loggins)

If anyone has been paying attention, we are starting to look like concert groupies. Except for the fact that the acts have been so diverse that it was a virtual potpourri of talent!

This late summer and fall we have been to see-

Brad Paisley

Martina McBride

The Charley Daniels Band

Randy Travis (ok, he looked REALLY OLD)

Cheap Trick (Dad let me off the hook for one night)

Chicago (mom's personal fav)

Kenny Loggins (it was about 40' with the wind blowing)

and not to be left out, WEIRD AL (thankfully Don took Neil)

Most of these acts were associated with county and state fairs so they were relatively cheap tickets and we had excellent seats thanks to Don. (no further back than the 6th row.)

And I think my hearing is still intact..HUH? DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?

Suffice it to say that even though we are getting gray....rock and roll still sounds pretty good to us...even if I can't seem to get the knack of taking our pic together.

"Feeling and wearing Bluish-greenish, and glazed over"

So, I guess Dad SHOULD be a little afraid when he goes out of town. For some reason, I get the urge to go to the paint dept. at Lowes and haul some home. This week it was for the tv room that used to be the living room. And I wanted to do it "artsy". So when I went to Lowes and the paint guy said..."oh, that's too hard and really expensive", I just looked at him. RIGHT.

Just hand over the paint and BACK UP.

SO, I painted for 3 days straight and didn't cook or clean and made a really big mess. It felt REALLY ARTSY...

I got the first coat on and then headed back to the PAINT DEPT. for the second more artistic coating...different paint guy that was much more enthusiastic and helpful.

This entailed

"rub on, rub off and then roll over"

(have I mentioned that my right biceps are really buff now?). But it also took about a hundred trips up and down the ladder to tip my head too and fro seeing if I liked it. And a late night phone call to my friend to come and tell me if I should forget the 3 coat thingy. But I toiled and went up and down that ladder many times.

I hated it. AND then I finished it and I LOVED IT. That is until I noticed on the upper end of the tall wall there was a little edge I missed. Kinda ruined the whole thing for me....so, I went back up the ladder for one more swipe.

So, it was my goal get it all done and put back together before Don got home and see if he noticed. He did. I think he likes it. And I asked him when he is going out of town again. Cause I have been looking at the bathroom and it needs a new coat or two.

Summer's fleeting ways....

I know it was around here somewhere....what did I do with it? That is how I feel about how fast summer goes by. One day you know it is here, and then it is missing. Everyone is back into school and it is like a dream I had during my Sunday nap. Boo. Back to work.

So here are some real high lights of the few days of summer.

Taking the goof troop to SL for Brians recital. Yea, it was GREAT!!

Ok, so there is the cute wife of the guest organist....ahem, our daughter. Picture taker extradordinaire! It was a wonderful time.

Then there was Rachers sixteenth birthday! And she got her drivers license the same week

The the highlight of the summer came when we all met up at Park city for some real to-gether ness...ah, the joys of family.

What cute girls we have in our family.

Now lets go have some fun! Bowling in the ole Wilk.

Then it was back to SL for the tabernacle broadcast. It was warm but fun to be together..

ok, some of us had more fun than others! She just wanted to go for a dip.

We ended up seeing both hometowns and lots of family. Whew, good thing we like each other so much. We will have to do this again next year.

"the TREK of death"

The "Trek" talk started right after Christmas. Plenty of time to get all excited over making pioneer dresses and being outdoorsy and all. So the last week before launch time, found me sewing my brains out and worrying about which skirt matched which bandana. Ok, sue me, I have a "outfit" disease. I REALLY need to coordinate and accessorize. It is in my blood.

So by the time the actual trail time came, I had sewed 16 pieces. Three dresses, four skirts, three sets of bloomers, a slip, 3 aprons, and on and on. We were going in STYLE.

And we were honoring our great great grandma that went across the plains in handcart company number 5 after travelling from Wales. She was only 9 years old and the history said that she and her sisters cried at night from hunger.

Now I felt like crying at night, but it was not from HUNGER....

This was a hard trek. Rachel and Stacey and I worked hard. We pushed and pulled and ate buffalo stew (ok, it was BEEF.) And Stacey caught a fish with her bare hands. I killed it with a rock and then cleaned 25 other fish for squeamish city kids.

I went along as the "illustrator" and sketched a little and walked a lot.
I was proud of my girls and their effort.

I think their grandma would have been too.