White Christmas!

They say statistically it rarely happens...but we actually had a "White Christmas" this year! It snowed all night Christmas Eve and lightly on Christmas morning. It was beautiful and just added to the already wonderful holiday season!



We started off Christmas with an early morning breakfast with Bry, Bre, Blake, Sean, Steele and I, while Nick and Chelsea celebrated with her family. When Nick and Chelsea joined us we could get the party started! As usual we had to start off with the family tradition of breaking through the "wrapped" door to the Christmas room!

Before "crashing through" the Christmas door!
The youngest child is always used as a "ramrod" to break through the wrapping.!
Bry and Bre

Nick and Chelsea

Blake...moving in on Chelsea!

Sean still wearing his favorite "ugly sweater"

Blake playing with Monte

Steele, with his "Grand Teton" book that Bry and Bre made especially for him.

I know everyone says it, but I really do LOVE this time of year...
I love... (especially in todays world) that we continue to have a day to honor and celebrate the birth of Our Savior!
I love the lights,
I love the snow,
I love the food... (need I say more?)
I love the music (I could play it year round...but I don't.)
I love the smells,
I love preparing all the Christmas goodies...and maybe sampling a few of them.
I love all the traditions,
I love wrapping presents (except for the ones left until Christmas Eve)
But most of all...I LOVE being with family! Merry Christmas Everyone and Happy 2008!

The Ugly Sweater Contest!

Have you ever noticed that the holidays seem to bring out some of the "ugliest" sweaters you've ever seen? Well, we decided to take advantage of this, and last year we started the "Ugly Sweater Contest." We drew names last year (so we had a whole year to find the perfect sweater) and then we opened them this Christmas Eve. It was a riot! I was impressed with everyones choices and creativity. (I did discover that it is much easier to find "ugly sweaters" in the women's section or the men's extra large section.) So here are some of sweaters...

Blake lucked out...his really isn't too bad.
Blake picked out Bre's...Steele loved it, he thought it was the perfect ski sweater.BreAnna drew Nick's name...I don't know if you can read it...It says: "I love my sister in law!"
Sean picked out Chelsea's. Pink is her favorite color!Bryan made Seans. It had a changeable panel on the front to adapt to whatever crowd Sean might be in.Chelsea added some personal touches to Steele's sweater.Nick worked very hard to "light up" Bryan's!Jon didn't have to do one thing to make Lauri's this attractive.And Jon LOVED his sweater! (Seriously, HE DID!)Steele found my sweater in the WOMEN'S sections at DI. Now, that probably doesn't seem all that funny...but what makes it funny is that it is HIS sweater! (We gave it to DI several months earlier, along with another good looking sweater he had.) Both sweaters were there at DI, side by side...in the women's department! (Here I am doing my best "Steele impersonation",
even down to wearing his glasses from the 80's!)

Now it gets even better...this is the exact same sweater that Steele was wearing in this picture, taken 23 years ago at my dad's 60th birthday party! Check it out!We're all looking forward to Christmas Eve 2008 when we can unveil next years "finest!"

Where's Monte Carlo?

Over the years, we have found our little dog, Monte Carlo, in all sorts of various places.

Sometimes we find him cuddled up next to Dalton,








Sometimes...we find him licking Nick's feet!?!








Sometimes...we find him bearing gifts,








Sometimes...HE IS THE GIFT!









Sometimes... we have a hard time finding him at all!
(Note the tail!)





But the other day, I came downstairs to find him in one of the most interesting places of all... there he was in the middle of the trash compactor! Apparently, the smell of Christmas food remnants was just too much for him! He proceeded to reach in to snatch wrappers one by one. (Check the trail!) But, as fate would have it, he went back one too many times! On his last venture, he reached just a little to far ...and plop, fell in! Although he was stuck, he seemed perfectly content to sit and rummage through whatever food wrappers might remain in there...a feast for a king!

The Train, The Train

About twenty years ago, when motion lights first came on the scene, Steele came home and said he wanted to build a "little train." He told me he was going to use motion lights to make the wheels turn and the smoke move. It sounded cute to me, so I said, "Great!" The next day he came home with 2 eight foot sheets of plywood and started his project. A couple months and 1,500 lights later...we had our train! It truly was the first of it's kind. Some people stopped to find out where we bought it, others took pictures of it and attempted to build their own. (We've seen a couple of versions of it here in our neighborhood.) Later on, commercial versions came on the scene, but there's no denying it... Steele's is the original!
About every 8 to 10 years we have to "re-do" the train! It's a huge job and one worth "noting." (At least to Steele and I!)
"Before" shots of the train. (It's hard to tell, but the paint is faded and cracked.)

First, all the lights come off. Then it is sanded down, painted with primer, completely re-drawn and re-painted. After that, there is the "small" task of putting all new lights on. (The first year, I put the lights on the train. I plugged all 1,500 lights in, end to end. ) We couldn't wait to "debut"it, but when we turned the lights on, they flashed for 1 second then went out. I had BLOWN the fuses in every single plug! (Lesson learned!)
I think if we had known how much work it would take to maintain this train, we probably never would have built it. But now it's sort of a landmark in the neighborhood, and the "show must go on."
Here's the final product! Merry Christmas!

It's SHOW TIME!

If you know me at all, then you also know I LOVE POPCORN! It is truly my all time favorite snack food. I can sniff it out for miles. I will give up dinner just to have "movie popcorn" at the theater and like a true addiction...I will continue to eat it even when I know it will make me sick! For several years now, I have been coveting this little "Popcorn Trolley!" But, it was too expensive to justify. I would walk by it at Costco or Sams and just waiting for it to jump into my Cart! Of course, that never happened. We'll guess what? A few days before my birthday Jon and Lauri brought over a GIANT box...and guess what was inside? MY POPCORN TROLLEY! I was so surprised and so excited! It is so much fun. Now I can make theater popcorn ANYTIME I want! So come join us for popcorn and a movie...it's show time!