memories of Christmas - family

Just of a few of the 500 photos we took at Christmas. Love looking back and reliving the moments. Cute little Emmett - age 2 months - posing for a Christmas photo. Oooh this baby is just too cute ... eat him up.

Favorite shot - of mama trying to get baby to smile. Like posing a little rag doll.

Christmas Eve afternoon - when Aaron and Aimee arrived with the kids, I put them to work. I had saved this project for Bailee - putting bows on all the gifts I had wrapped. She did a just-like-the-department-store job.

Brookie got to make a Christmas tree on the Lite Brite. We found this toy in the game closet - I think it was Mike's or even Suzie's. Vintage lol.

Chistmas Eve - it's later now. We've all been to parties at other people's houses and now we're back together. Lucky us. Grandpa's helping the girls write their letters to Santa.

A Christmas Eve tradition - helping Brookie get tired. Here's Winston doing 100 jumping jacks with her. That girl's the ever ready bunny. We all got tired before she did.

Throwing out glitter-oatmeal Reindeer food for Santa's reindeer. The glitter shows them the way. The girls were a little concerned about Santa knowing they were in Logan - but he found them just fine.

Christmas morning - our traditional Rhodes Rolls Sticky Buns waiting to be baked.


Carter ate up the waffles we made. At 18 months, he was so much fun - a little Christmas elf. He just loved everything.

Christmas morning - you can see from his smile that this was one of Scott's favorite presents. Home bottled peaches from Suzie.

Christmas pj's. The girls got red fleecy pj's and the boys got black tee shirts. Mike was taking the photo. They opened them on Christmas Eve and wore them Christmas day.

My dad and Scott checking out Scott's new Kindle. Dad's really into learning about all the new technology. The Kindle kind of blows me away. It's Scott's second one - he loves it.

Little Carter just before he escaped from the boringness of posing for my camera. This kid's uusally on the run.

Suzie and Grandpa on their way to the mall to do a little shopping for Grandma.

memories of Christmas - decorations

Well, not to be in a big hurry, but here's my photo album of our decorations from Christmas just passed. :)

My Christmas decorations were up by Dec. 2nd this year - except for the stress-inducing, not-worth-the-trauma fake Christmas tree - but I'm not going to go there. This year, like every year, I tried hard to 'keep it simple.' lol. There are lots of things I love on the old dresser above. Cute frames with photos of my girls and my granddaughters, favorite metal birds and clock, and a vintage-y gold metallic Christmas tree set in a dotted pot.

Yes, I'm a bit of a collector. Above is a portion of my nativity collection. You can see the nativity from Japan and the very pretty Jim Shore set decorated with quilt motifs. In the lower left front corner is a charming little set from France called Santons. The villagers are lined up in a line to see the baby Jesus.


This is the end table in our family room decked with more pictures, three sweet WillieRay figurines, and a couple of glass jars filled with peppermints.

Notice that the tall jar is embellished with Adornit Clear Vinyl Stickers. After liking my jar a lot, I got a few more stickers (I work at Adornit), and I plan to smack them all over stuff all around my house. They add a little touch of cuteness that I love. Sometime SOON I'll do a whole post about these stickers.

I love, love, loved my poinsettias. They were so gorgeous. I usually get straight red, but when the high school cheerleaders called with poinsettias for their fund-raiser, I listened to all the choices and got four red and two 'jingle bell.' (Mainly because I didn't want that enthusiastic cheerleader to think I'm boring.) Well, the pink splotches on the red background made the most beautiful flowers and made me giggle everytime I looked at them.

Above and below - my window sill above my kitchen sink. I gathered joy and kept it there to remember while I did dishes.

Here (hanging over our big map) is the MERRY banner that I made for the Adornit Christmas Blog Party - remember how fun that was - we called it "Make It Merry." I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. There isn't enough time in December to languish in the beauty of everyone and everything striving to be better. If I could have a wish granted, I'd wish for one bubble of a day magically added to each week in December that's an ENJOY day, a JOY day, a stand-back-and-behold-the-wonderment day.

If I were a blogger....

If I were passionate about reading blogs, stalking blogs, and bookmarking blogs (which I am); and if I were extremely interested in the world of lifestyle blogging (which I am); and if I were starstruck by certain bloggers who happen also to be very good writers (which I am); and if I wanted to blog legally and honor copyrights (which everyone should); and if I wanted to expand my readership, and make money from my blog (which I don't really care about); and if I wanted to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in lifestyle and design blogs (which I don't, not at all) then I would go to this:

ALT

also known as Altitude Design Summit - taking place in Salt Lake City at the end of January - at the Grand America Hotel. Maybe I'll just go be a guest at the hotel that weekend and try to catch some glimpses of certain blogging stars that I visit sometimes. I know them from their blogs. I know their kids and what they eat for breakfast and where they go on vacation. (Strange world we live in.) Here are a few of the speakers at the conference with blogs that I like:

Victoria Smith, blogger at sfgirlbybay.com

Karen Walrond at Chookooloonks

Chelsea Fuss, the author of {frolic!}

Kathryn Storke of Snippet and Ink - a wedding inspiration blog (be sure to read her "favorites" posts - they were on her blog around the end of December - amazing photos of cakes, flowers, paper, events etc.).

And my personal faves - the cool originators of the conference and successful bloggers who are [woot woot] Utah women:

Sarah Jane Wright, artist and etsy shop owner from Sarah Jane Studios

Allison Czarnecki, the author of Petit Elefant blog and

Rachael Jones blogging at Black Eiffel

long walk part of gift

This story is dedicated to my friends who are fabulous women and teach me life lessons whenever we talk. Most of my friends are grandmas now, and I love hearing about the things they do as they 'grandparent' their kids' kids. (I have to add that we all LOVE the grandma experience, but we sure don't look or feel like grandmas lol.) Christmas can be especially fun, but also exhausting. The following story reminds me that everything we do - the preparations, the cooking, the shopping, the efforts to make things special, the tending, the cleaning, the unconditional loving...are all gifts that we give. This story was part of an article by Norman Vincent Peale that Norma and I used years ago in our Christmas workshops - the message has always touched my heart.

Long Walk Part of Gift

An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained why Christians were such giving people. The teacher said, “Jesus taught us that giving gifts is an expression of our love and friendship for Him and each other. Jesus said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35).

A couple of days later the boy brought the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty. “Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?” the teacher asked. The youth told her that there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found.

When he named the place, a certain bay several miles away, the teacher was speechless. She knew that it would have taken the young man hours to walk to the bay. Also, he would have faced many dangers from the jungle and rocky cliffs of the seacoast along the way. “Why, it’s gorgeous and wonderful, but you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get the gift for me,” the teacher joyfully explained.

His eyes brightening, the boy answered, “Long walk part of gift.”

{ Adornit Beginner Basics }

Happy New Year's Eve - a good day for cleaning up and looking back. Here's my December post that was on the Adornit blog. If you want to make a 'year in review' layout for your family, go to the Adornit Gallery here for complete step-by-step instructions.

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Since 2009 is almost over, I decided to do a scrapbook layout that reviews the past year. What a trip down memory lane! I enjoyed every minute of looking at photos, reading my journal, and writing up a monthly digest of 2009. I made a double-page layout with my journaling on one side and the photo grid on the other. Using Adornit’s recently released Lapreal Collection made my project a success. I used only two patterned papers - but they were easy to use and so pretty; I think I’ll use them again and again in other layouts. The paper on both sides is Plum Daisies. The accent paper is Lapreal Motif.

Being a beginner (of four years lol), I like to keep my layouts simple and quick! So I always reach for Adornit’s nicely-designed cardstock stickers. For this project, I used the sticker set called Family Heritage from Adornit’s new Family Heritage collection.

I also used a variety of sticker/journaling spots from two different sets: Family Moments and Together.

I spelled the words Raymond Family with Adornit’s Flirtatious Tiny Alphabet Stickers.

All of these stickers are so nicely designed that the layouts came together easily. And there are lots of stickers left that I can use on more projects-which I plan to do.

Looks like 2010 will be a good scrapping year!

{ collecting joy }

Joy to the Grandma...
Baby Emmett has come (to visit)!

This little guy - he can steal my heart in a minute. At ten weeks old, he's smiling and cooing and spreading love wherever he goes. I collect JOY and he's my best addition.
(Another special NEW item in my Joy Collection is the pillow that says, "Take Joy." Someone left that on my porch, and if you read my blog, I'd like to say a sincere thanks. It brought tears to my eyes. (There's a back story.)

what, I have a blog???

I guess one of the ways I "cut the crazy" was by not going near the computer for several days before and after Christmas. Now there's time to record some memories and indulge in writing my thoughts.

Ahhhh - I love the week after Christmas. The knot in my stomach is mostly gone and the unread Christmas letters are finally read and relished. I enjoy getting Christmas letters from family and friends and read through them quickly when they come, then set them aside so I can re-read them later when I have time to study the words and pictures. Even though I like Facebook, and I enjoy e-cards, I appreciate the luxury of sitting down with a letter in hand - smiling at the pictures of my friends, their kids and grandkids.

Today I was cleaning my kitchen and thinking of the many times in the past month that I cleaned that kitchen in a HUGE HURRY. I mean if there had been a video of me literally running from the kitchen to my bedroom to the laundry room, it would have been quite comical. Max (our dog) would get so excited because he thought that I was playing with him, and he'd chase after me...which drove me crazy.

I had three parties here - my sewing friends on Dec. 2, Scott's office employees the week before Christmas, and then dinner (with a big crowd) on Christmas Day. Mike had a few informal gatherings too. There's always that unavoidable rush right before the guests arrive. You know, when you dump the sink full of dirty dishes right over the top of the clean dishes in the dishwasher and deal with it later. I'm not complaining - since I have room in my house for lots of people, I like to have events here and hopefully treat them to a nice time.

My gratitude is deep after a wonderful Christmas celebration. We loved having Suzie and Winston here for a whole week. We loved having the grandkids here and so appreciate that Santa finds them at our house and their parents go to the effort of hauling gifts back and forth. We gathered all my extended family together for a party at my sister's house on the Sunday before Christmas...including my brother Gary & Lesa from Japan. We had Scott's family here on Christmas Day and it was so fun to play games with aunts, uncles, cousins.

I just want to give credit to my kids for being so great - getting along beautifully, taking such good care of each other and their kids (my precious grandkids), and jumping in to help when they saw a need. And Scott - I love him beyond words. He goes with the flow, cares about everything I care about, and works extra hard to make it all possible.

Mike-ie likes it!

I found these Cadbury candies at the grocery store and bought a bag for Mike - he's always loved the Cadbury Mini Eggs and these are the same thing only for Christmas. He likes them. (He's hoarding the bag.) He doesn't have to worry about me stealing them; I call them Cadbury Ickies. I never liked the Easter candy either. I'm just an M & M's girl.

I quickly Googled to find an image for my blog and found this cute "candy review blog" and laughed as I read what the blogger wrote about the candy. I knew I liked her when she called them Cadbury Thingies. She made some good points...

"Irritatingly enough they couldn’t be bothered to name them. The package says Cadbury Solid Milk Chocolates with a Crisp Sugar Shell. What the? You call that a name? How about Christmas Cadberries?"

I was hoping they’d be just like the Mini Eggs. I opened the package and they smelled similarly inviting, like sugar and cocoa. But the colors, oh, they colors are just off. I don’t know if the photo above conveys it. They look like pencil erasers. Kind of chalky, not quite pastel, not quite vivid. Inconsistent, bumpy and just weird.

On the tongue they’re familiar. Soft and slightly cool, the shell is crisp and crunchy. The milk chocolate inside is a little tangier than the last time I had these. I was terribly disappointed to see that they have PGPR in them as well (bad transfat).

It’s odd how quickly my feelings can change, I have a hard time believing this is a bad bag. It might be the different colors or the PGPR (that could be in the Easter version for all I know) but they’re just not the same. I can’t give these more than a 6 out of 10 (the taste is okay but they sure don’t look tempting).

I gave you her whole review because I think it's so entertaining what people are "into" and how they sincerely pursue their interest.

Derek's graduation & my mom's 80th birthday

This snowy Saturday started with a wonderful event - my nephew's graduation from USU. The cold didn't even matter - our hearts were warm because of Derek's (and Nikki's) happiness.

At the beginning of the graduation, the basketball arena was filled with the sounds of a complete bagpipe band.

This is Nikki and her Dad - waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The day continued with a birthday dinner for my mom's 80th birthday. It was lovely - we had it at the Beehive Grill in Logan - good food and great venue.

My mom and my sister Merilee wearing the colors we love to wear. Mer took lots of mom's old scrapbook photos, scanned them, printed them as 8x10s, framed them, and placed them on the tables and around the room. (Mom has a fabulous scrapbook with 60-year old-photos that look perfect - a testament to good old-fashioned film.)

Tyler Stevenson, mom's youngest grandchild - with Mer's son and husband Zach and Val.
My mom and her sister Nadine Woodhead. They came from Salt Lake City - almost didn't make it because of the HUGE snowstorm. We were so glad they could come!

The three new great-grandkids. Derek and Avrie, Becky and Emmett and Craig and Sophie.
These two granddaughters of Mom, Michelle and Arika, were great helpers setting up and taking care of things. Michelle and Arika. Just so cute and pleasant. Michelle and her hubby Matt are awesome with Mom and Dad - helping them with things around their house and other stuff constantly. We all appreciate them.

We decorated with red, white and gold - it was beautiful.

I'm including this picture because it's so good of mom - and it's a rare (I mean very rare) view of the back of my head with my hair looking good. I'm very serious about this. This photo makes me happy.

Two cute little cousins - Avrie and Sophie - actually their parents are cousins.

Mom gave a very nice little thank-you speech. We sure missed those who couldn't be with us...Gary, Lesa and Kyle in Japan, Elder Brett in Japan and all the other cousins.

+ favorite book +

Today was one of my favorite days of the month - Book Club day. It's a pleasure to gather with women I admire and discuss a book each month. Today was not such a pleasure because I had to give the review - but I love the book - and so it was a time of reading favorite passages and sharing impressions.

If you haven't read Sue Bender's books, just stop what you're doing and click here for Everyday Sacred and here for Plain and Simple. When you finish, there is a third book called Stretching Lessons. I can wholeheartedly recommended these books for any woman - especially "older women" (although I LOVED Plain and Simple when it was published in about 1990 and I was young - twenty years younger). If you're thinking gifts, you can order from Amazon and get these books in time for Christmas! The books are beautiful outside too - the covers are appealing and there are drawings inside that go with the text to add a bit of delight.

Everyday Sacred, A Woman's Journey Home was the book I reviewed today. It's full of wisdom and life-learning examples from Sue Bender's life. She is a writer and a maker of pottery. She tells of her personal journey to find joy in everyday tasks. She shares examples of people around her who taught her valuable lessons.

She uses the image of an empty bowl as a symbol to illustrate what she is seeking. She tells how she learns to go forward each morning with a (metaphoric) empty bowl which is then filled throughout the day with whatever is given her - and she is grateful for it. The bowl reminds her to be generous, both to others and to herself. The bowl reminds her to not try to be perfect. It reminds her to start each day afresh and find, at the end of the day, that commonplace people and tasks have made the day sacred. Everyday Sacred.

Some things that rang true to me:

A quote by Helen Keller. "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."

"Begin a generosity practice. Including being generous with yourself."

"Expectations become definitions."

"To really listen you need a certain amount of relaxation and ease. Don't be so busy asking questions and getting ready to speak that you can't hear what is being said."

"Good deeds have echoes."

The book also suggested that SMALL THINGS can mean the most. I hope to remember that as I go through the next couple of weeks. There are people I need to visit, who don't need a gift, except the gift of attention and love.

= CONTRAST =

Yesterday we were HERE - in St. George, Utah. (It's a city about 330 miles to the south of where we live in Logan; it's in the southern part of Utah, near Zion National Park.) It was warm enough for us to take a short hike and for Pitt, Becky and Scott to do a little rock climbing.

Suzie and Winston came from Las Vegas - about a 1.5 hour drive. It was so fun to have our two daughters and their husbands with us. This photo while we were wandering on a trail through a gorgeous red rock area. Suz and Winston are goofing off for Scott's ever-present camera.

Pitt (Becky's hubby) had more serious business on his mind - he's a rock climber and those red cliffs were calling. Pitt is ready to go up the face of this rock while Becky holds the rope. I don't know the technical terminology - I just call it amazing!

Pitt on his way up. Look at that blue sky!

And for some real excitement, Pitt helped Scott rock climb - his first time! Scott loved it. This is Scott climbing.

Becky

Suzie and Debbie waiting.

It was also a special weekend because it was Suzie's first time to see her new nephew, Becky's baby Emmett. My parents, who have been there for the past month, also got to meet the new baby.

And then we came home. A seven hour drive yielded this reward: Snow on the ground. Winds blowing 40 mph. Temperature 20 degrees - with the wind chill...minus 14. What a contrast. Almost makes me cry.

Yule Moon

I have been rushing around getting my house decorated and other things done, but fortunately I've been forced to pause (by Scott who notices things I don't and always has his eye on the sky) and look at the moon. Have you noticed how full it is, and beautiful?

There are various names for the moon in December. It's called the Yule Moon, the Cold Moon or the Long Nights Moon.

The Farmers Almanac says, "During the month of December the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun."

To see the moon at its most amazing, see it in the early morning. Get up early - at dawn - when the sky is starting to get blue, but the sun is not yet up. (Because of the long night, it's not that early.) At 6:45 this morning the sky and moon were magnificent!

(This post is on my Cut the Crazy blog too. Painting by Tasha Tudor - one of my favorites!)