Finally- a few photos

These are just a few of the cookies that Danelle and the girls and I made before Christmas. It was so much fun having them come down to bake and make candy. We all filled several plates to give to neighbors and friends.

These are just a couple of spots that show some of my decorations. I love our rock fireplace wall, and enjoy putting greenry up there and lights to show it off. The old window is on top of my kitchen cabinets and I love it. It came from my parents...

This was Sally and Reta dipping chocolates at Jason & Sally's home the first weekend of December. We had sooo much fun. Sally thinks she's pretty special getting to learn candy making from such experts as my mother and Reta.

This is an old window (again from my mom's) that I cut vinyl lettering for and made the wreath. We donated it to the Rupert Sharing and Caring. A man that works with Janell at Farm Bureau actually bought it, so that was pretty cool.

I'll load more as soon as WalMart gets their machine working again so I can pick up my CD...

I am so sorry.

I learned last night, that my daughter-in-law, Robin, lost her father this weekend. I am sure she is devastated as they lived very close to each other and she worked for his insurance agency. My heart just goes out for her. I'm sure she will be lost without him, and I know her boys will have a hard time because they spent so much time with her dad also. When you are a single parent trying to raise a couple of boys, it's nice to have your father close to help when you need it. Not that she needed a ton of help, she's pretty independent. But just knowing you have that support and available help is reassuring. Robin...I love you, and want you to know that you'll always be a part of my family. Please let us know what we can do to help you through this time and forever!
My prayers are with you.

Snow, Snow, Snow...and wind

We always have wind in our area, but when we get snow and wind, it's never good. On Christmas Eve, we got both. Our kids were lucky to make it out. Christmas morning, Jeff and I had promised to deliver a Christmas gift that our grandkids had bought for their parents clear back in July. We had it in one of our basement bedrooms, covered with a big quilt. We loaded it up on Christmas Eve...I broke the tree stand on my basement tree trying to move it so we could bring it up the stairs in back. So I had to lay the tree down and just leave it. The wind and snow were terrible, but we got it out there, covered in my pickup, then backed into the shop so we were ready to go the next morning. We were really wondering whether to try going to Albion or not Christmas morning (in the dark), but Jeff felt like we couldn't disappoint the kids. So we thought our best bet would be that state highway...to the north of us. Terrible. Cars off the road, and I noticed something in front of us through the clouds of snow...we were really hitting them trying to break through...a white van...in our lane...just left...no flashers, no park lights, nothing! We were so lucky that I happened to notice it. Anyway, with every drift, we were thinking...we should turn around and get home while we can...but kept going. When we finally made it to Burley, it was much easier the rest of the way. It was so much fun to see the Jone's family open all their gifts. Thanks for letting us be a part of that.
My mother fixed Christmas dinner, but only about half the people showed up. Too much snow. Friday was awful also, but finally on Saturday the snowplows came by. Our 4-wheeler with the blade and chains on the back tires worked wonderfully though. Had an awesome Christmas. Thanks to everyone!

Happy Holidays

Just a quick Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's. I have pics to upload, but just didn't bring the CD to work. Maybe tomorrow.
As most of you know, I only have dial-up at home, so do all this type of stuff before or after work. Today we're so slow, I thought I'd just do it real quick.
I'll try to bring some photos for tomorrow, and write a little more in detail how my holiday preparations have been going.

It's a mouse!

Okay, no picture for this story, but thought you all might get a kick out of it. I've only told a couple of people, and they die laughing....so.
Last Saturday, as I mentioned in my post, my mother, Jeff's mom, and I went to Sally's house and dipped our homemade chocolates, made English Toffe, maple candied walnuts, 2 types of fudge, 2 types of bark, chocolate covered popcorn,etc,etc,. I had a box with my dipping chocolate, the papers for the peanut clusters, etc....when I came home it was after 7:00, and I went to set the box full of the stuff we didn't use in my pantry, and saw a mouse! We've never had a mouse in our house since we built it seven years ago! So I'm freaking out...we didn't even have a mouse trap. So I ran down to my mom's and got one. We set it, and everytime I had to open the door I'd be afraid and just peek in until I saw we hadn't caught one. By Sunday morning, when we still didn't have one, I was really starting to get bugged. We ran to town and bought more traps, some of those bars...which we put in the shop, garage, and hay shed. We figured the mouse must have come into the garage and then into the house while we had the door open carrying stuff out. No mouse still Sunday. On Monday...no mouse at lunch time, so after work when we still didn't have one, I decided to tear into it and just get it cleaned and find the dang thing! Well, as I cleaned, I couldn't believe it...no mouse droppings, no nibbles on anything...guess what I did find though...a roll of the brown paper cups had fallen out of the box, rolled across the floor, and I just saw the movement and thought it was a MOUSE!
Jeff said..."We did all that for a piece of paper?"
Well, paper is better than a mouse!

Here's some pics from Nashville and our shopping trip to Boise

This is Kylie in her car seat while we were going shopping in Boise

Sorry...forgot to change directions. This is inside the Gaylord Opryland Resort. They put up millions of lights for Christmas, and the whole thing is enclosed like an atrium. It was soooo beautiful. Loved it there.

One of their Christmas trees that were lit up for the Holidays. They have water falls everywhere, and everything is so gorgeous. It's hard to imagine the time and money they must spend on decorations.

This was taken in Ryman Auditorium. I can remember seeing this backdrop while my dad watched the Grand Ole Opry. It was pretty cool! This was originally a church...which held over 6000 people. Bigger than any church I've been to before, including Winchester Abby in London.

I promised I would upload some photos from my trip to Nashville, and finally got some pics saved for it. In the meantime, the girls and I took our annual shopping trip to Boise. We didn't think Sally was going to make it (with the new baby and all), but she just brought Kylie along with us. I could not believe how good she was. All day...in and out of the car...and she never cried one bit. It was great fun, and I did manage to get a couple of names off my list. It's always nice going with the girls, because they have ideas for the kids. Just not nearly enough of them!

I'm still working on that list, but it has gone down a wee bit!

Festival of Trees

Friday night, Whitney danced at the Festival of Trees. She looked so cute. Sally had a friend come over and fix her hair all up, and they put make up on...eye liner and everything. She was really proud too.

On Saturday, I had to find 4 other ladies to help me work at the Festival of Trees, so thank heavens for family. Margene (my sister) and Ashley Johnson (my niece), Janell (my sister) and Danelle (my daughter) all came to help me out.

Afterwards, Sally, my mother, Jeff's mother, and myself spent all afternoon and into the evening dipping chocolates and making candy. Yummmmm.