Decorating....Boy Style

Sunday we hosted dinner for a new family to the ward and Doug's dental clinic. This, of course, makes one pause for a second before extending the offer. You have to ask yourself a couple of quick questions. Was the planned chili going to be enough for dinner or do I have something else at home that I can make? Exactly how messy is my house and can it be in presentable order with very little effort (it is the Sabbath)? Once you have done a quick inventory of your pantry and your house you either realize that yes, you can be the gracious hostess you see yourself as or nope, it's not going to happen this week.

One of the many positives of having older children is that my house is usually never in the "completely trashed" state. I can now do things like tell my children to pick up and have every expectation that they will. (You can ask younger children to pick up but it usually is a lesson in frustration, but you keep doing it hopes for days like these.) So when we arrived home from church and saw that there were only a few books and pillows needed straighted, I was a happy mommy. Until of course, I saw this.....

I have no idea how long these green gooey things have been hanging on my wall but I do know who to blame. It seems the boys were playing with one of those balls with all the tentacles coming off of it. Obviously, ours is a little old. For when it hit the wall over the fire place (why it was being thrown in the house is still a mystery) it left part of itself behind. Luckily, I found it before our guests did and our perfect image is still intact. (It shouldn't take too long for that to be shattered.)

Family Pictures 2009

Don't let the date on the calender confuse you these pictures are our family in 2009. Yes, they were just taken. Yes, my children are nearly 6 months older than they usually are when we take family pictures. But for my records these are the pictures for 2009.

I so rarely get a good picture with my boys....this time I got two!!!

My Little Men

Just Hanging Around

Dan the Blue Eyed Boy

Nate the Stink

Matt the Lady Killer

Doug and I can look presentable

Then he does something like this.....

that makes me laugh like this.

Happy Birthday Gran

As the eldest child of the eldest child, I have many wonderful and sharp memories of my grandmother. One of my very first is standing in her kitchen in Oakley, Idaho and asking her what her name was. This was a favorite game of my sister and mine because no matter how many times we asked she always answered with a smile "Granny Goose". From that time on Granny she was.

In fact many of my memories include Granny in the kitchen. She was an amazing cook. Her baking was legendary (cinnamon rolls to make you weep). She was always on the look out for a good recipe or cookbook. Oh, could that woman collect cookbooks. Two of the most used items in my house are family cookbooks that include her tried and true recipes (even if she did put them under other people's names). There are still times that I want to pick up the phone to get clarification from her on exactly the right way to prepare a family favorite. Gran loved having all her family gathered for a meal. She would prepare for a week in advance for a simple Sunday dinner (like any of those are simple when you feed so many) and the time table for a holiday meal could span weeks.



Gran was also a gracious hostess. As a young woman, she would "employ" my sister and I to be her wait staff at one of the many parties that she held for my Grampy's co-workers. I learned how to set a lovely table, to anticipate the needs of my guests, and make it all look so easy from those experiences. Although I'm not quite sure how much I helped. She always took pride in her home and her family.



Children always knew that Gran had a soft place in her heart for them. Not only was her door (and her candy cabinet) open to her 14 grandchildren but to children in the neighborhood and ward. My mom has said that she learned how to be a grandmother by watching Granny. No rambling story was ever too long, no scribble on a piece a paper was ever less than a masterpiece, and no accomplishment was too small for a celebration. Gran was never too busy, never uninterested, and never too tired (running after a metal hoop trying to hit it with a paddle). She passed down her knowledge to her grandchildren just as her grandmother had passed it down to her. You knew that you were going to have fun if Granny was around.



I could go on and on. Roses and daisies were her favorite flowers. She never cared for her birth stone (garnet), she preferred rubies. Her "vitamins" were chocolate covered raisins. She loved her little dog. Her backings on her tied blankets were always flannel. Her last jar of canned sweet pickles were always fought over. Gran could always talk herself out of a purchase by saying "we can make that". She referred to my grandfather as either "the man I love" or "the man I live with" (you knew when Grampy was in trouble). She traveled the world as an Army wife and cared for three children while my grandfather was deployed. She drew our family together in so many big and small ways.

I miss her all the time, but I know that she peeks in on me every once in a while. Just to make sure that I'm spoiling her great-grandchildren enough.

San Antonio Adventures

Adventures maybe overstating a couple of experiences we have had but it was sure a catchy title. We have laid pretty low since moving to San Antonio but we decided to take advantage of some of what the city has to offer this last month.

First was Doug's birthday dinner at the Chart House in the Tower of the Americas. This is one of those rotating restaurants. Now I have always thought that going to one of those restaurants was a little "done" and "unimaginative", but it was really cool. We were seated at a cozy table for two right by the window in a "corner" (they divide the restaurant in fourths with half walls). We were able to see all the Christmas Lights in Downtown and across San Antonio.

I did try to take a picture of Doug and I but they all turned out really bad, so you will have to make do with the wonderful food that we got to experience.

Our next outing was to the Natural Bridge Caverns. Most of these caverns were discovered in 1960 on a ranch just outside of San Antonio. We went on a 75 min guided tour through them and I didn't even freak out (claustrophobic). The boys enjoyed looking for bats (there are only a few that come out at night), hiking up & down through the caverns, and finding sculptures in the stalactites & stalagmites. We have this lovely generic picture because I didn't remember my memory card for the camera. Of course it was taken at the end of the tour when we were all sweaty from hiking through 70 degree weather with 99% humidity. (See the happy smiley faces???)

Happy New Year's

As I have stated before, Doug and I are not big party people. We enjoy getting together with friends but we are happiest at home with our boys. So how do self proclaimed homebodies celebrate New Year's Eve? First you have to give up on dinner and have pizza with wings. Then you start a never ending game of Monopoly with your kids. And if that isn't enough, pop in a family friendly movie to pass the hours to midnight. Do we know how to party or what?

We did add fireworks this year. We currently live in an unincorporated area of San Antonio. This means we have a separate bill for garbage pick up, we are on a rural postal route, and we get to set off fireworks like crazy. The boys had a blast setting off our fireworks earlier in the evening, but we were in for a treat at midnight. As the clock turned 12:00 the sky lit up. Everywhere we looked there was fireworks. We stood on our back porch with big goofy grins on our faces as we watched all our neighbors fireworks. I have never seen anything like it on New Year's. It was definitely a San Antonio experience. I just wish I could have gotten better pictures of it.