Christmas Tree Times Three

I love to see lots of lights on Christmas trees. This year my three decorating projects reflected that love. Kevin hand picked and cut a beautiful tree to bring into work. It was decorated with a "Fishbowl" theme. Fishbowl is the name of our new computer software. We are still in the implementation stage with a definite love/hate relationship for Fishbowl at this point. However, we love our Fishbowl tree. I obviously wrapped the lights way too tight on my tree this year. I lost count at 2000 lights, had to make a quick trip to ShopKo to get more lights and can't have the lights on when we use the microwave or we trip a circuit breaker. The tree actually warms up the room!

The tree in Grandma Boots' livingroom also gives off some pretty good heat. She bought more lights this year and I made an emergency trip to ShopKo to get enough to finish her tree. I thought I wrapped the lights on all of the trees the same way I have in the past. I must have some pent-up frustrations that I took out on the trees. The branches on the live tree at work fought back by drooping as I added more lights. I was forced to use less lights on that tree but the artificial trees didn't have a fighting chance!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Where were we at midnight on November 20th? The premier of New Moon of course!! Thanks Cam!
On Sunday, November 22nd Lisa, Gayela, Carla and I sang in the choir at the Jordan River Temple Devotional.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with family at my house.

Candace Graham married Michael Funk on the day after Thanksgiving. I managed to get a picture of Melinda and Brent before my camera battery died. Candace was a beautiful bride and Mike was a handsome groom. You'll have to take my word for it! Stephen Graham's homecoming followed on Sunday, November 29th. Now it's already December 3rd!! The lights are up outside, two thirds of the lights are on the Christmas tree and shopping is far from completion! Busy, busy, busy!! Happy Holidays to all!

Phone Calls

I love talking to my grandchildren on the phone. A call last Sunday with Justin went something like this, "Grandma, I want to come to your house!"
Annika's part of the call made me equally as homesick for a grandkid visit. "I think you should come to my house the day after Christmas so you can see our Christmas tree. Grandma, did you write that down?" We need to plan a visit, kids! We could always meet in the middle in Rawlins......

Muu Muu Mama

One of the benefits of having family go to Hawaii is that they bring you back great surprises.
I love the new muu muu that Jamie and Dan picked out for me.
It doesn't get more comfortable than this!!

Jack O Lantern Champ

I went out to Carlee's house today to help her hang some pictures but more importantly to see Champ in his Halloween costume.
Carlee was much more excited about the costume than Champ!
It is amazing how subdued Champ becomes when Carlee dresses him in any article of doggy clothing. He seems to be telling us that it is not natural for a dog to be dressed in anything but his own skin.
I remembered to get a picture of Carlee's new patio. The new grass is taking hold very nicely too.
Happy Halloween!!

Here Comes the Bride

Carlee and Candace were two of the many babies born in the neighborhood in 1985. It seems like only yesterday that they headed off to preschool. Now Candace is engaged to be married! I feel old.
Last night I attended a bridal shower for Candace. It was fun to visit with her. She will be getting married on November 27th.
Candace received lots of different things to set up her kitchen.
Candace's sister, Melinda made some heavenly cupcakes for the shower in lots of different flavors.

My favorite cupcake flavor was peanut butter chocolate. The key lime cupcake looked pretty good too.

I enjoyed catching up with Melinda too.
Kim and Brent, Candace's dad and brother-in-law, stayed in the livingroom. Mike, Candace's fiance, was at school. We'll have to meet him on the wedding day. Congratulations Candace and Mike.

What's Cookin?

Justin enjoyed doing some cooking while his mom and dad were in Hawaii. Every time I forgot to lock the kitchen chairs together he would be found at the counter cooking up something.
"What are you cooking Justin?"
"French fries, Grandma!!"
One morning, while I was fixing Annika's hair for preschool, Justin got into the kitchen cupboard and found the sugar canister. He decided to sift some sugar. How sweet! He's going to be a great cook someday. That's what happens when I forget to lock the cupboard!

More Stuff

Before flying to Colorado to watch Annika and Justin, I mailed a box full of craft supplies that I knew wouldn't fit in my suitcase. Annika was so excited to get into that box that we started our craft projects before Jamie and Dan left town. Our first creative task involved foam. We decorated foam visors with foam stickers. Not too messy, right? Oh, we can make a mess out of anything.
Foam stickers ended up everywhere.
Yep, everywhere.
Annika took this picture of me in my finished product.
Our visors turned out pretty good, don't you think?

Haunted Houses

One day after preschool and lunch, Annika and I created some sweet but scary haunted houses. We attempted our projects while Justin was napping. Call me chicken but we made enough of a mess without him!
We used graham crackers, cream cheese frosting and lots of snack items to build and decorate our real estate.
Annika's pitched roof accidently slipped but she decided a flat roof was much easier to decorate.
Annika used pretzels to add a ladder to the side of her house.
Looks good enough to eat! After pictures were taken, that's exactly what we did!
Justin tried his luck with graham crackers and frosting too. He got pretty good at building sidewalks and sampling his work.

Spooky Surprises

While Mom and Dad were in Hawaii, Annika and Justin put together some spooky Halloween surprises. First they decorated the front window with cling on pumpkins, bats and witches.
Next we assembled Mr. Skeleton out of empty milk jugs.
Justin was our Quality Assurance expert, testing our project every step of the way to make sure correct assembly procedures were followed.
The wind blew quite severely the day we completed Mr. Skeleton so we did not hang him out on the porch as originally planned. Mr. Quality Assurance did not think that the glue and string attachments could withstand the beating the wind would cause.
Besides, it was much more fun having Mr. Skeleton hanging out in the house!

Salty Ice Cream is Yucky

I had a wonderful visit with my favorite grandchildren for nine days while their parents were in Hawaii. Dan attended classes offered by the American Dental Association and Jamie had a well deserved break from motherhood. We stayed busy one afternoon by making our own ice cream. What was I thinking? We poured Half and Half, sugar and vanilla in a sandwich size ziplock bag, put the bag in a gallon ziplock and added ice and rock salt. Then we began to squeeze our bags. When her hands got tired, Annika used her feet to mix her bag of ingredients.
Justin was more interested in taking pictures than making ice cream. "Say cheese, Grandma".

Justin opened both his sandwich bag and gallon bag. Ice cream ingredients combined with ice and salt. The whole mixture began to drip everywhere. It became apparent that Justin and I would be sharing my bag and I continued to squeeze. Justin adjusted the lights around the deck.

When our ice cream reached the right consistency, we grabbed our spoons, opened the bags and started eating. Annika's ice cream was perfect. Justin and Grandma's ice cream had problems. Somehow the inner and outer bags had mixed again and our dessert was very salty. Thank goodness Annika was willing to share. The next morning, while Annika was at preschool, Justin and I went to King Sooper's and bought some ready made Blueberry Granola Crunch Frozen yogurt. It was much easier and tasted better!