A few Goals for 2009-It Can Be Done

See this spread?

My yearly assignment for the extended family Christmas Party, layered bean dip. It has layers of refried beans, hamburger, salsa, onions, tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole. Wanna know the secret????????

Well, this year I am focusing on frugality and food storage so I decided to make my dip this year with mostly food storage ingredients, as far as possible. I used:

First I smooshed up the home canned beans in my food processor and spread them on the pan, then I took my home canned hamburger meat and heated it up a bit on the stove, then sprinkled it on top, then I put cannery salsa on top of that and some cheese I had frozen in my 3 month supply, then I cooked it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then I topped it with green onions from my garden.....the tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole were purchased. (I figured I shouldn't go too far with my powdered sour cream.....ha)

This year I plan on sharing more ideas, successes/failures on our quest to be more frugal and work on and USE our food storage in real life ways. Happy New Year!

Day of the Ultrasounds

Today I woke up with dread and anticipation. How could that be? Because bright and early I was scheduled for the d.r.e.a.d.e.d. p.e.l.v.i.c. u.l.t.r.a.s.o.u.n.d.

"Ma'am, please drink 32 ounces of water one hour prior to your scheduled ultrasound."

Right-o. I can do that. Mission accomplished.

"Arrive 15 minutes before scheduled ultrasound."

Sure 'nuf.

45 minutes later, I am acutely aware of my overfull bladder.

"Ma'am, we seem to have misplaced the requisition for your ultrasound, it will just be a few more minutes....."

Uhh......yeah.....starting to sweat.

A few more minutes later, my name is called, I shuffle back to the room.

30 minutes later, bladder empty, feeling slightly violated, I exit the facility.

Results? The doctor will call.

A few hours later......the phone rings......

The MUCH ANTICIPATED ULTRASOUND RESULTS OF THE LATEST GRANDCHILD!

The results?

PINK!

Happy Birfday!

To My Middle Sister........

You do know that all the top models and actresses use blurry lenses when they have their pictures taken to appear younger on camera???? (worksforme!)

Christmas Photo Essay

Christmas Eve Tradition: Fajitas

Beware of overtired, crazed woman with large knife cutting fajita meat.

The delicious spread......complete with refried beans creating copious amounts of intestinal gas...but surely yummy at the time.

Your mouth is a convenient place to stuff a chip while folding arms for the blessing on the food.

Christmas Morning

Grandpa Santa passing out gifts. (don't forget your glasses so you can read the gift tags)

How many children can we cram on their Pottery Barn type train tables to prove how strong they are? (tables hand crafted by Grandpa Santa for way less than Pottery Barn charges!)

These children were definitely NOT on Santa's naughty list this year...Santa's workshop created:

Tutus for little girls and Darth Vader/superhero capes for little boys....

Pretty aprons for good big girls!

Warm, cuddly quilts for families.Pretty intense games of Mario Kart

We missed ya' this year Elder Steve, but next year this stocking won't be empty!

Santa helped us create warm hearts, full stomachs and happy memories this year!

Huge disclaimer: Quilt tops were created months in advance and sewn on the sewing machine, and my confession........no neighbors received goodies this year and Christmas cards did not get sent......Gasp!

The Call

Well, since we have been Merry Christmasing and I've been decluttering today, there isn't much time for blogging these days, but trust me I have about 11.5 billion photos to edit to share-mostly not taken by me......but one of the most important things about our Christmas Day was The Call. (capitalized of course)

We were SO lucky. We got TWO CALLS! One in the morning with all the fam, and then another wonderful, quiet one in the evening just with mom & dad. (with mission pres. permission of course) We even got to visit with his companion in Spanish-a sharp young elder from Barcelona, Spain. Our Steve is on the right and his comp is in the middle.

It was so fun to hear from him and see his spiritual growth and maturity and yet he is still the fun-loving good ol' Steve. Our evening call was wonderful and the main topic of discussion was his release and the plans..... Guess who's going to Nashville, TN???

Mom & Dad of course to pick him up and take a little tour and escort him home. So we are highlighting the day of April 6, 2009 for a quick (ha) flight to Nashville, then the next day, a wonderful temple visit with the elders, then the next day we get to keep him for good and meet some of the wonderful people he served. Then it's home to AZ and the welcome from the fam.....So you can see we have some exciting times coming in 2009!

Merry Christmas

"Christmas is more than trees and twinkling lights, more than toys and gifts and baubles of a hundred varieties. It is love. It is the love of the Son of God for all mankind. It reaches out beyond our power to comprehend. It is magnificent and beautiful.
It is peace. It is the peace which comforts, which sustains, which blesses all who accept it.
It is faith. It is faith in God and His Eternal Son. It is faith in His wondrous ways and message. It is faith in Him as our Redeemer and our Lord.
We testify of His living reality. We testify of the divinity of His nature. In our times of grateful meditation, we acknowledge His priceless gift to us and pledge our love and faith. This is what Christmas is really about.
To each of you we extend our love and blessing. May you, wherever you may be across the world, have a wonderful Christmas. May there be peace and love and kindness in your homes. May you husbands smile with love upon your wives. May you wives know the sweet joy of being loved and honored and respected and looked up to. May your children be happy and filled with that indescribable magic which is the spirit of Christmas. May those of you who are single find sweet companionship in the knowledge that you are not alone, that Jesus stands as your friend. He came “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79).
To each of you we extend our love and blessing. May it be a happy and wonderful season. We leave a blessing upon you, a blessing of Christmas, that you may be happy. May even those whose hearts are heavy rise with the healing which comes alone from Him who comforts and reassures. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
So said He in His hour of great tribulation: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
In the spirit of that great promise and gift, may we all rejoice this blessed Christmas season." Gordon B. Hinckley

Grandma's House

Today we went to Grandma's house for a party. First we made cards for our Daddies....Then we made a Santa ornament.

We even got to play legos with this big boy with messy hair. He's pretty cool. He knows lots about Legos.

Next we decorated our very own Christmas tree. The best part is eating the stuff we got to decorate the cakes with.

I like to put my candy on very carefully.

There were lots of us kids there, all cousins. We had a good time!

I like treats!

Then we played outside in the warm sunshine on Grandma's grass. We had to watch the little ones so they wouldn't run in the street.

It was us little boys against the big boys in football so we needed a good huddle...

I had fun at Grandma's house. Let's do it again next year!