ME! Now, it's back to the new year! My new year's resolutions are the ones I am always working on - being a better parent, getting to bed on time and having good health and being happy! I hope that this next year will be a happy one!

Christmas Dinner! I made up my own glaze this year - honey orange clove and it was REALLY good! We had all of the traditional. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, salads, breads, jello, pie. Mom and Dad and David came over for a little while. The kids and I set out the Christmas china that I have now officially had for 20 years (and PSHEW! nothing has been broken yet!). It was a good day and we were very blessed with everything that we had.

We saw Joe and Jessica and girls for a couple of days after Christmas. We went over to the church by mom and dad's and some of them "raced" 4-wheelers in the new snow. The kids had fun! I played piano for a while. We talked and ate and then went to "High School Musical III". The little girls greatly enjoyed the movie!

Celeste, getting one of her unexpected "gifts" that

I found on such a GREAT deal that I could not help getting one! She had been my Santa helper the day before running with me to help another family with a couple of gifts. I got one of these sweaters for the mom of the family but it was on such a great deal, I got one for her too!

Celina and her "hot" lava lamp

Celeste and her "froggies"


Alec and Sterling and their
"trick" pack of Oreos

This was Christmas morning. We decided to open our presents in the downstairs family room around the "santa tree" this year. They all received things they wanted and weren't expecting. Alec was quite shocked to find that part of the gift had been eaten by Santa! "You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not steal oreos! I'm telling you why!". And Santa had a strong eye out on his Oreos. We were very grateful to all of the people in the family who made Christmas a fun one this year! After opening gifts, we had treats of all kinds up stairs.

Other pictures of Thanksgiving! Celina and Tyler Kate on the couch before Thanksgiving dinner. I am by the Christmas tree upstair by the dinner table. Whew! we had finally finished the dinner.

"Santa, baby, I just want a date!" (Didn't I ask for that last year?)

"Well, if Santa wouldn't get me a date, then my kids decided to (but there is a story to it!)

When we were at Tara's house, she told us a story about a lady she knew. Someone gave her a "flat Stanley" - a paper card cut-out of a guy that she went places with and took pictures of as her "date". Well, when we were at Tara's on Saturday, my "present" was a flat Stanley. He got stored away and I came home after work, the following week, to find that I had an official date with "flat Stanley" (actually a poster of Jeff Gordon). They made spaghetti and had sparkling cider, chocolate cake and a box of chocolates. They set the table with my Christmas china and candles. It was really fun (especially after a difficult day at work!). Dinner is served, my dear!

"Hey, Santa, I would
LOVE a stereo for my
car!"
(un-huh!)

"Hey, Santa I want a cell
phone! Pronto or I will go
crazy!"
(No, it will be mom who goes crazy
from being asked so many times!)

"Santa, I would like CD's, stereo,
High School Musical...."
(Holy Cow, the gifts change when they
became teens and Santa only has reindeer
not cash cows!)

"Santa, I want a Blackberry Storm
and driver's ed"
(Driver's ed - maybe. Blackberry Storm
is that a type of ice cream?)

"Beautiful!" Let's eat!" "The perfect turkey!"

The kids and I went down to Payson, Utah for Thanksgiving. Tara and I spent Wednesday and Thursday cooking. The meal was beautiful and good! We were thankful for much! Later that day, Tara and I went out to Walmart and cased out their sale items that were posted for 5:00 the following morning. Late Thanksgiving night, Tara and I went on to LDS.SINGLES.Com and she "persuaded" me to send flirts. We had fun and were laughing really hard by the end (late night silliness). I was the critic and she was the more open one, I suppose. Anyhow, we got to bed REALLY late and didn't get up for the sales until 8:00 am. By the time we got to Walmart, it was packed and of course, the majority of the items we wanted were not there. But, I did get a couple of things for the kids so I'm glad that we went.

Saturday, Bret took the kids to Boondocks which they loved and they stayed the majority of the day. Tara and I went to the peppermint factory where we were able to buy stocking stuffers for the kids at a really cheap price. Then Tara and I went to Gardiner Village which is sort of like a mall. There are little shops that look like houses and they are set apart from each other. We went to a really fun candy shop like the one we went to in Boise. It had every type of candy you could think of. Then we went to the Christmas Shoppe which had ornaments and nativities of all sorts. I bought a little moose ornament with my name on it. We went to the bakery and had supper. Then, Tara and I drove to SLC Temple Square to see the lights. It was cold! Tara only had a t-shirt and I had a breezy sweater. We shared a light jacket and baby blanket to keep warm. We got some strange looks! We enjoyed jumping from building to building (to keep warm) all while enjoying the lights. We watched the tv commercials in the visitor's center that made both of us cry. We went up to the Christus statue and I looked out at the lights. It was a great day!

Saturday, Tara and Bret had rented out a clubhouse. It had a pool table, huge front room with a fireplace, kitchen and (my favorite!) a theatre room. We watched "Polar Express" on the projector and upstairs they could literally feel it when the train thundered through.

We had much to be thankful. My job even with the reductions and uncertainties and most of all, for family.