Monday, January 9, 2017

December Flotsam and Jetsom

Christmas is well behind us and I've almost got the decorations put away. (Yes, it has been a slow year for that.) But there are still a few photos tucked away in the archives that bring back all the Christmas glory. Today, we'll get all that on the blog and be able to officially move into the New Year.

I'm so proud of the older girls. They have reached an age where they can have callings in the Young Women's organization. June was the Beehive President all summer and did such a great job. Robyn was her secretary. When June turned 14, she was moved up into the next age level, but it didn't take long for both the girls to have callings again. They were both called as secretaries for their presidencies. They are really good, organized girls. I like to think they got a little of that from their mother.

When we went in to visit with the Bishopric, we amused ourselves taking 'weirdies'. I won't torture you with all of them, but this one of my head on June's body makes me laugh, because the hair matches up enough to be believable.


I really love my tree in the front room. Last year some of the lights burned out. When I assembled it this year, I considered buying a new tree. However, upon hitting the stores, I came home with more lights instead of a new tree. (Ouch, pricey trees.) I got the whole tree looking good. And the next morning, the top section burned out. Oh well, I wasn't adjusting any more ornaments or lights. It was good enough.


These goody plates below are the only evidence that we went caroling this year. We even drove really far out to see our friends the Mason's. They gave us hot chocolate and cookies and still no pictures. But we had a great time and learned the harmony 'Peace Peace' that goes with 'Silent Night'. I thought we sounded really good. Next year...'Carol of the Bells'. The kids have been dying to learn it.


I ran into Robyn's sixth grade teacher at the store. If you recall, she stopped teaching early because she was having a baby. It was so great to see her, and her baby...adorable.


Lunches still happen around here. I did the kids' first initial in lights and Pearl wanted to take a picture. I let her, but we need to work on focus. (It takes some practice.)


Ivory continues to have the same projects that June had three years ago. It is fun to see the differences in how they complete them. I'm not sure I ever got a picture of June's bottle person. Ivory did such a great job on hers. She read a Historical Fiction book called The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had. She really enjoyed the story and made her bottle into Emma, one of the main characters.


Our ward Christmas Party was very nice, made even sweeter by the fact that I was not involved in planning it one iota. My neighbor did ask to use my oven for potatoes which led to an awkward situation in which she dropped off potatoes and I didn't cook them. I honestly did not know she wanted me to. But it worked out in the end, and there were more than plenty potatoes for everyone, with extra to spare. I took a selfie with the girls.


There was also a photo booth. We got a family picture but I don't know where it ended up. But I caught these hooligans after.


Tyler and I also went to the Scoresby's party, one of my favorite events of the year. We dressed in our 'ugly' sweaters, chugged egg nog in a contest, made a fabulous sausage dip, almost won the Oldy Wed Game (we didn't get any of round one's questions correct, but we came back to get every single one in round two. It was close) and scored the game SPEAK OUT in the white elephant exchange. (Watching Jonny play that was worth it all.)


Tyler's DHI Christmas card was Trumpendous! this year. Some people were offended, but I thought it was one of the best ones yet.


Tyler caught this photo in ID. It is quite funny mainly because Kolby would like nothing to do with the Pipster. I believe they put her on him because he was sleeping.


Speaking of canines, our resident Moxy decided to leave me a late Christmas present. I don't think I appreciated it the way she wanted me to. (On the tree skirt too? Really Moxy?)


We got a puzzle done in the nick of time. We didn't start it until after Christmas, so I thought a New Year's one would be fitting. And when I say 'we', I mean me and June. We didn't give anyone else much of a chance. I think Robyn did part of the torch and the moon, but June and I finished off the rest in a day.


June got a trim right before the new year. In hindsight, we were doing something wrong because moments after this photo was taken, June almost passed out. I was evening her hair in front and she suddenly lost all color and slumped over. Even her vision blacked out momentarily. I have no idea what happened and she was okay a minute or so later. We kept her lying down most of the morning, and in the evening, she was right as rain.


Finally, we had mini Martinelli's on hand for the new year, so we took them outside and sabered them. The girls did their own. They loved it and everyone did a great job. Mark was over, so he did one too, and we even got Matt Warner, next door, to pop a top off a bottle. (He was a natural as well.)


And so 2016 slips into the past. Another folder closed in my photography file. It has been a good year for us. I'm already excited to see what 2017 has in store.




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