My Classroom Door Decorations are a Winner!

Our High School always does a holiday door decorating contest. I always decorate my door but this year I wanted to win! So I went all out. I started with the wall outside the door and made a giant bed with all the kids faces (paper plate drawings by the kids) then Santa's sleigh with pictures of toys that the kids colored and the finale! - the door with my giant Santa Claus. The reindeer in the windows were made by some of the children. Aren't you impressed? We won 2nd place and a donut party for our class! Yes all I needed right now with my preschoolers was more SUGAR!!! It's amazing what you can do with construction paper!

Our Ward Christmas Party!

We got to take Liam to the ward Christmas Party this year! He had a great time and enjoyed just running around everywhere! He wasn't afraid of Santa Claus and was excited to sit on his lap! Fun times:)

Pictures of Nikki and Jared!

Nikki's Wedding

Carl and I drove up to Utah for my niece, Nikki's, wedding. It was a fun trip. You know how Carl and I are loving road trips these days:)
We look for any excuse to go on a road trip! Well, it was colddddd there! We were prepared, sort of, for Arizonans. The day of the wedding, it was so windy as you can see from the pictures. You can almost see the goose bumps on Nikki! But you can also see just how very, very happy and excited she was to be married to Jared. He seems like a great guy and we wish them all the happiness in the world! The first picture is of Uncle Gary with grandson, Caius, trying to keep him warm. Carl and I took a few moments in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple for our own picture. The last one is of Nikki and Jared as they came out of the Temple. (They are prepared for cold weather there and had capes for the brides to wear - I thought that was nice). I will post a few more pictures of our trip here.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Carl came up with this costume idea this year. Usually he wants me to think of something and do it all. Well, this year he came home one day and said "I have the perfect costumes for us this year!" Well he was a flyfisherman and I was his catch! I searched and came up with this. What do you think? I'm a Rainbow Trout - thus the pink stripe down the side. It was pretty fun and we got lots of compliments and laughs! Hope your Halloween was fun:)

Celebrating October Birthdays!

We have two family birthdays in October so we had a family dinner to celebrate Doug and Hannah's Birthdays. My baby is 22! Yikes! How did that happen? We had a great time together. The grandkids enjoyed being with everyone and we loved the happy spirit we all felt. Love our family so much!

Date Night with Liam!

Friday evening Erin had a GNO (Girls Night Out) Party so Papa and Grandma Lee had a special date night with Liam. We went to Freddy's Burger Shop and then walked around the Car Show. Liam loves cars so he was really into it. His favorite was the BIG MONSTER TRUCK! We had fun with Liam. He is such a busy guy and a very happy fellow. We love him so!

Carl's Dental Ordeal!

On Friday, Carl had some oral surgery.  He needed a tooth extracted and the prep work for an implant.  He really does not like to go to the dentist therefore, this drastic measure!  Well the surgery was supposed to be a couple of hours.  It turned into 4 hours in the torture chair!  He was not asleep either.  He opted to just have the local stuff and also opted not to have the prop for his mouth.  He is a stud, you know!  Well,  I was prepared for a real baby to deal with but he has been amazingly tough!  That's my superman for you! 

He has, however, not recovered as quickly as he would like.  He tried to go hiking yesterday.  Got up and ready to go.  Fortunately his truck was in the shop so my car was the only vehicle around.  I hid the keys because he is supposed to rest at least through the weekend.  Well after much consternation and whining he finally relented and went back to the bedroom to change.  In a short time, he was out staggering down the hallway asking why the house was spinning!  I knew I was smart for not giving in to him!  Well,  he has been more tired than anything and takes several naps a day.  He did go to church today and lasted longer than I expected.  We came home after Sacrament Meeting and he took a long nap.  He is not even swollen up either.  I would have expected for all that long work in his mouth and the fact that they had to cut the tooth apart in several pieces to remove it that he would really be puffy.  Not so!  He looks pretty normal to me and everyone else.

Well, on to recovery.  Hope it goes as well as he hopes for the rest of the week until he gets his stitiches out on Thursday.  Love you, my Superman!

Fall Decorations!

I love to decorate for the seasons and holidays! Since we moved I have had trouble figuring out where everything is stored. I finally found my fall stash on Saturday so I could complete my decorating. This is just the table decor. There are a lot of things throughout the house and outside. I love the way this turned out though. Happy Fall and Happy Halloween!

Granddaughters in Greer with Us!

Columbus Day Weekend

For Columbus Day, I had Monday off from school so we when up to the White Mountains to see the fall leaves and enjoy some cooler weather. It actually snowed on us on Friday evening as we were driving up! There was snow on the ground for the next morning for a bit but it all soon melted. The weather was definitely nippy! We stopped in Show Low for some bread (which I forgot to bring) and I picked up a nice warm coat. Good thing I did! It was beautiful there. Ben and Shanae joined us for the weekend as well. We enjoyed playing with the girls and eating out. I've noticed that the last few times we have been to the mountains, that it takes a day to adjust to the altitude. Carl and I both spent a good part of Saturday taking naps. We did not see as many colorful trees though. There was a terrible fire, the Wallow Fire, that destroyed thousands of acres of trees so the middle picture shows what we mostly saw on our drive through the mountain roads. It got very close to Greer, where we stayed. Several mountain homes were destroyed. It will take a long time to recover. Even the streams were badly damaged. The fish dyed from the ash that got in the streams so the fishing is gone for some time now. Carl is especially sad about that:(

Pickin in the Pines

We took advantage of the weekend and went to Flagtaff for the Bluegrass Festival called "Pickin in the Pines". Erin and Liam tagged along. Erin's favorite guy was playing and she was so excited to see him. (Sam Bush) It was a lovely day in Flag. Nice and cool! A real relief from the heat of Phoenix. I wore my purple cowboy hat to get into the swing of things. Although I think tie dye is the real thing to wear for these events! There was an overload of tie dye there. Liam loved dancing. There was a section set up for dancing on either side of the stage so it was fun for him to be included with the other kids and people. Nice getaway!

The fruits of my Labor!

I decided that I really wanted to learn to make jam. I acquired all of the supplies last year but was too scared to try it on my own. Well, this year I bit the bullet and went for it! This is my second batch of raspberry jam and it is so cool! I was so surprised that it wasn't as hard as I thought and I didn't even burn myself or break anything. I'm excited that I can do it! I am anxious to do peaches next! Woohoo! for me!

Labor Day Weekend!

We enjoyed a nice Labor Day weekend with some of our Ward families in the cool pines of Pivot Rock Canyon camping. There were about 10 families who came and we all enjoyed playing and visiting in the coolness of northern Arizona. It did get a little warm in the afternoons but at least it was not 110! We took two tents. Why you ask? Well it was just by chance that Carl threw the backpack tent in the truck at the last minute. Good Thing! We started to set up the full size tent that sleeps 3 or 4 people when we discovered that the ring for staking the poles was missing. That's what happens when you loan out your camping stuff to your kids! Carl was aware that it was loose the last time he used it but I guess when Doug took it last it came completely off and he forgot to tell us. I'm glad that Carl had the thought to throw in the smaller tent. We had a nice air mattress that filled the whole inside but it was the most comfortable night's sleep that I've had in a tent! Yes I did take a nap in my nice recliner camp chair. How can you resist grabbing a snooze with the nice cool breeze and the sound of birds. It was so fun to share the area with our Ward friends. We shared movies, treats and even had our own Testimony Meeting on Sunday morning. It was wonderful! We really hate to get back to the heat and back to work. At least it is a short work week!

New style!

I have been trying to get in style a bit. I really like the ruffly look and high heels. I have not usually been so interested in style much before but I really like the ruffles. I don't like high heels either because they seem to make me feel off balance. Haven't worn them in a while. Well I found these cute, cute shoes and I needed some Sunday shoes. They have about a 3 1/2 inch heel that's sort of a wedge look. I especially love the ruffle on the toe and the peep toe style. I'm still looking for just the right pair of peep toe red shoes! What do you think? I actually have been very comfortable wearing these.

Colorado Vacation!

Carl and I were able to get away for a ten day vacation to our favorite spot. The wild flowers were still spectacular even though it was well past their optimal blooming times. The weather was perfect. Showers in the afternoon daily and cool breezy days! I even had to wear my jacket a few times because it was chilly! We drove up to Pitkin and Tin Cup and of course stopped at our spot - Cumberand Pass - to take our yearly picture. We sure missed having our family though. Almost everywhere we went we remembered something that we did with the kids when they were growing up! It was great to be together almost continually for that time but we did spend a little time apart. I had an 80 minute massage one day and then I went white water rafting on the Upper Taylor River one day. Pretty much the rest of the time we were together. It is great to be with my best friend, my husband! We look forward to retirement in a few years yet. Sure hope we can get our family to go next year. It will be our 20th year of going to Colorado.