Christmas Memories

This Christmas was nearly perfect.  I cannot say why.  I just know that I found myself smiling more, patient with all the snowbirds and their "wonderful" driving habits, I was more friendly with all the cash register workers and started all sorts of interesting conversations.  It was easy to wake up each morning and be grateful I was healthy and had my wonderful family around me.  Here are my favorite memories and pictures of this Christmas season:

JADE - our pre-Christmas Angel - arrived just in time for the holidays - a perfect present for all of us who prayed for her safe and healthy arrival.

Christmas Celebration with Tyler, Jenny and Jade.  Since Tyler and Jenny were spending Christmas down in Yuma with her family, we had a special evening all together.  Jacque cooked up one of her amazing dinners, we ate on china (which Tyler had never seen before) and opened our presents to each other.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening.  Yes, 'Grandpa' held her the most!

We headed up to Pima to exchange presents with family and spent the afternoon with Grandma, Daryl, Eileen and their family.  Oh what fun the girls had.  Of course, they had to ride the motorcycles and the four of them (Jacque, Darleen, Aly, and Amanda) went on a 3-hour ride.  It was cold and these girls were NOT to be deterred.  They were prepared for the very coldest of weather....in Arizona that is!!  We were a little worried near the end, but they must have known we were headed to Casa Manana for dinner.  We sure enjoyed talking to Grandma and our family in Pima.  As a family, we decided that spending a day with Grandma was a tradition we wanted to keep!!  (The temple there is almost complete.  We are so excited about that!)

Christmas Eve is an evening of many traditions.  We meet at Grammy and Grampy's home for pizza to start the evening.  Try finding an open pizza place Christmas Eve!!  Then all the cousins get dressed up and while Grampy reads the Nativity story, it is acted out in full fashion.  We sing, we laugh, and best of all, we take the time to remember the reason we celebrate this glorious season! 

After the Nativity, each family shares their talents.  We have poems that are read, piano pieces are played, songs are sung.  It's alot of fun and takes a little bit of bravery to stand in front of family and share a talent.  This year, both Aly and Jacque sang for our family.  Aly shared one of her vocal recital songs, "One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose A Man" and had everyone laughing.

Then, at the end, Jacque and Chelsey surprised us all with a beautiful duet of "What Child Is This". 

I've decided that I have beautiful daughters with talents I hope they are always willing to share.  Everyone had fun and did well.  I only wish I had video of the Olivers as they race thru the "12 Days of Christmas" with actions and all.  It's so much fun and a favorite to watch!

This Christmas Eve, at our house was a little different.  Everyone kept waiting for everyone else to go to bed to put their "surprises" under the tree.  I finally threatened the girls and they kept their doors shut for awhile.  I think they were still up when I finally went to bed after helping "Santa", but I will never know. 

What fun we had trying to surprise each other the next morning.  They girls waited patiently while we took pictures and got ready.  With just the four of us, it's become so much fun to see the reaction of those we give to.  I watched the girls as they shared gifts with each other that each had taken extra effort to purchase.  (Poor Jacque!  Her original gift was ordered online and ended up being a sham!  Yes, she was scammed and lost her money and didn't have the gift she wanted...what a story to tell!!)  It is always hard to shop for Brad. The best gifts he receives are the sweet letters from his kids. He treasures each one of them!!

But for me, the family had to work extra hard to keep my gift a surprise.  After all, I'm not the best person to hide a gift from.  I almost ruined one of their surprises! (This is Jacque inserting a comment...she most definitely DID ruin the best surprise EVER. She invaded the off limits room and "accidently" saw one of the 4x6s flipped right side up under three stacks of papers on my desk.  Likely story)  HEY...what was that???

My kids worked hard to surprise me with extra settings of my china that had been discontinued almost 12 years ago.  My beautiful daughters also surprised me with a photo shoot of both of them together.  I think I had grounded Aly on that day....she was "late".  But it was a wonderful surprise! 

 After opening presents at our house, we headed over to Grammy and Grampy's house for a wonderful breakfast of chorizo, pumpkin pancakes and all the trimmings.  Our Grampy knows how to cook!!  Opening presents with all the cousins is so much fun!  We love to watch expressions.  Here are some of my favorites:

And after a wonderful morning?  We all go home for a long winters nap!  Dinner was our traditional turkey and all the trimmings that Grammy and Grampy do the absolute best.  We all help to put on a meal that is the best because we are all together....well most of us.  All I know is there are alot of pretty girl cousins in this family!!

I did miss our families that are far away (Aaron and Savannah is the deep cold, Tyler and Jenny and the Roberts).  But, with all the fun memories I have stored away, I am a happy and blessed person.  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Christmas!

Jade - the center of the universe...

and oh so beautiful. I think some of my favorite phone calls are the ones that start with Jenny saying that MY grand-daughter misses me and that I should hurry right over and hold and love her. OK!!  Jacque took more pictures as Tyler and Jenny brought home little Jade from the hospital.  This blog may contain a few too many pictures of this beautiful baby, but HEY!  I have one grandbaby and I intend to spoil...love...spoil her!!

Perfect....absolutely perfect!!

Jade Nicolette Weech

We welcomed our beautiful new grand-daughter into the world today. She weighed in at 7lbs. 8oz. and was 20 inches long. She is beautiful in every way and brought tears of joy to all who saw her. Jenny and Tyler arrived at the hospital at 4:30 this morning, and at 6:15 p.m. Jade made her entrance. Stephanie was working and there to encourage, help, and basically deliver little Jade. I know this was another blessing to Jenny and Tyler.


She is not more than 15 minutes old here. She has wonderful, beautiful coloring and already we can see personality in her expressions. She has mastered the "pout" and we laughed when we saw her curl her perfect little lips!

After everyone there got to hold her and love on her, it was time to eat and get a much needed bath. Brad, Jacque and I went to the waiting room and after a little while we returned to this:

Of course, there are already so many people who love this little angel. She had many visitors on her first day. Jenny's mom - Barb, and her brother and sister - Tyler and Nikki were there. Jacque, Aly, Grammy, Brad and myself also had fun holding her. Tyler was very nice to share, but we could tell Jade already has both parents wrapped around her little heart.

Another blessing, another tender mercy...another miracle.....

life is wonderful!

Winter Formal.....Priceless!!

What do you have when you add the following??

One can of silver paint - WalMart - $2.99
One strand of pearls - JoAnn's - $3.99
1/4 yd. overlay material - JoAnn's (40% off) - $2.50
1/4 yd. lining - JoAnn's (40% off) - $2.50
Scraps of lace - FREE
One dress, on sale rack over the summer - $17.99

ONE AMAZING DRESS!!

I love when a "thrift" dress turns into such a glamourous formal. Aly had the idea to add little scrunches of lace with pearls that we spray-painted silver. All hand sewn, but wow!! That, added to the silver top I created to make the dress modest. It was a lot of fun!!

Our last Winter Formal. How many more times am I going to experience my "last" with my last? Her date, Jacob, was a true gentleman and treated Aly like a princess

She asked Grampy to make dinner rolls and London Broil, we served 6 couples at our house and of course, Aly looked like a million dollars!!


My Beautiful daughter!!!

Randomness..

The last month has been a busy one. That was BEFORE December!! Since this is part of our family journal there are some events I need to record:

Nov. 23rd - Jacque and a group of young adults from her ward were in charge of decorating one of the trees at the temple for Christmas lights. They named him "Albert". See how high the lights are?? That is NOT because they used a cherry picker. They had Jacque. Yes, she just scampered up that tree, gave the bishopbric a mild heart attack and strung those lights. That's our girl!!

Nov. 26th - This guy - cousin Mike Bunker-

always makes our Thanksgiving a little more funnier. He always complains about sitting with the "kids" and not at the adult table, but more often than not, he is laughing and entertaining the teenagers. Here is his "poem" he wrote for our Thanksgiving Day.

"Thanksgiving Rules" ... by Mike Bunker.
So I'm PACING the floor and I'm STARTING to brood
As my MIND fills with sweet thoughts of IMMINENT food:
Not of COLD, frozen pizza ... not of OLD, stale Tostitos,
Not the CRAP in my freezer (there are THREE bean burritos)!
Even the GREAT Chuck-a Rama will SOON be displaced
Let us START with the turkey: first a LEG, then a breast ...
(Some say WHITE meat is better, but DARK meat is best.)
There'll be BIG, fluffy rolls and a VAT full of stuffing ...
(Could it EVEN get better? HECK YES --- that is nothing!)...
Uncle TERRYL'S noodle gravy is the BEST thing in life.
Want an UN-biased opinion?? Just ASK my ex-wife!
Then there's VEGGIES and bread ... pumpkin PIE and desserts ...
(Yes, the PLAN is to stuff it all IN 'til it hurts.)
Since I JUST had my birthday, and I'm NOW 38,
Something MAJOR will happen, for which I'VE had to wait:
After WAITING my whole life, I'll FINALLY be able
to SIT with the grown-ups (not at the LITTLE-kids' table!)
So to ALL of my dear friends in A.Z. or Cali ...
Or FRANCE or Kentucky or the WHOLE Utah valley:
Be THANKFUL for the blessings that UPON your God pours ...
(... But just KNOW that MY MEAL will be BETTER THAN YOURS!!!)

Dec. 1st - Temple Concert with Highland's Choir. It was beautiful. A little different music for the temple, but always very good.

...and last, but not least is one of the funniest pictures I've taken. Not of people, but of my life. With a baby shower and a formal dinner (more on that later) on the same day, everything was thrown into the pantry. Food, clothes, blankets, decorations. We looked at it Saturday evening around midnight and just cracked up. It was the biggest mess I've ever allowed in ANY room. But it made me laugh. I love my life. I love the busyness. I love having the health to do all these crazy things. I love that our home is used for the happiness of others. I love my family.

Christmas is upon us. I am going to enjoy each and every day. I have so much to be grateful for. Now...to finish the decorations, start shopping and cleaning that room!