House Progress

I can't believe how quickly the house is moving along! It seems only yesterday that Josh came and dug the hole, cement was poured, and it was just a flat floor slightly above ground level. Now it has been drywalled, taped, and textured.

Mike's father and brothers came out and helped with closet organizers, trim work and laying the tile in the bathrooms.

Master bedroom closet

Mike, John, and James hard at work.

David and the trim work

Mike and I spent several nights after work filling in nail holes, caulking, and prepping for painting. The painters came. . .and now we are ready for cabinets, floors, lights, finish plumbing and septic system.

It is beginning to look like the end!!!! I can hardly wait!

Peanut Butter Balls

Mike's mom made the most amazing candy! Every Christmas we could count on containers filled with homemade peanut butter balls, fudge, butterscotch fudge, English toffee, and divinity. Usually there would be other types of candy as well, but the above mentioned were absolute. Her fudge was divine! Divinity the best ever! We loved the English toffee! The all-time favorite with the kids was the peanut butter balls.

One Christmas, several years ago, I asked Mom W to come out and stay with us and show me how to make her candy. Growing up, we didn't make candy so I really had very little idea of how to go about this task. She brought out her recipes and patiently guided me through the process. With her help, most of the candy turned out pretty well.

Mike's Mom passed just before Christmas a year ago. We have missed her so much. With her passing, the candy tradition would also come to an end, unless I took the task on and kept the tradition going. The recipes were unearthed, and my attempts at making "Grandma Wakefield's" candy began. Some of the attempts turned out really well!!! Others, not so good.

The peanut butter balls didn't look as pretty as Mom W's, but they tasted wonderful and were the coveted treat by my kids. The fudge was pretty dang good, I have to admit! The English toffee was OK, and the divinity--well, it tasted good but didn't have the same light texture Mike's mom was able to achieve.

I will continue to try and keep the candy tradition alive--and maybe, with time and practice, the results will almost match the candy we remember from Grandma Wakefield. The most important reason to continue with the candy tradition, is to keep Grandma Wakefield in our hearts and in our Christmas celebrations.

I hope the candy efforts will achieve this goal.

Christmas Eve

Lars, and his trusting companion Captain Shark, arrived early in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We didn't really have any big plans for the day, just hanging out and spending time together. We did have the traditional Christmas Eve present to open--you guessed it, pajamas.

Roux carefully opens his present--I don't remember any of the kids being this careful--trying not to rip the paper. Lars is offering any words of advise or encouragement that my be needed.

TaDah!!! Christmas Eve pajamas ( Heidi found these for each of the kids) and a funky frog!! Time for prayers, hugs, kisses, story, a few tickles, more hugs and kisses, then bed-time. Vi is on her way and will arrive sometime during the early morning hours. We will not rest easily until we know she is here, safe and sound.

One of the interesting moments for the evening was watching Mikie, Cherisa, and Lars figure out how assemble some of the special Christmas morning gifts. Mike and I watched and remembered all those late nights making sure everything was ready for morning, trying to understand the instructions, wondering where some parts were and why there were extra parts left over.

Finally, with some teamwork and mental output, the job is done! Everything is ready--now, we wait for Vi. A tired, and worn out Vi straggles in the back door, and we can now go to sleep.

Pre-Christmas, continued

I know these are out of order--it doesn't really matter. It was all fun and the days in the week seemed to merge together until we didn't know when one day ended and another began.

Deegan and Roux sledding begind the four-wheeler.

Roux thought it was all great, until they crashed!!! After a few minutes of reassurance and distraction, he was ready to go again.

A visit to Poppa's always includes going to his classroom and viewing the different specimens he has there. Roux was more interested in the fish. . .

than Julius Squeezer!

The kids made their own little pizzas for lunch.

Heidi let Roux stay at her place while Mike and I went to the temple. Nearly every Tuesday we take time off and work during the afternoon/evening shift at the temple. Heidi, and Deegan were excited to have Roux come to their house.

Sy decorating the glass door.

The cousins played, and played, and played in the snow.. .

ate some of the snow. . .

and played some more (I actually think the little snowman was made at our house, but who is keeping track?) Roux spent the night, like a big boy, at his cousin's house.

We had some things that needed to be done at the house, so we went over while Mike and Mikie pulled wire for the entertainment speaker system.

Mikie decided to borrow the stilts the drywall workers left. It sure made it easier to reach those higher spots in the room.

The week went by fast and before we knew it, Christmas Eve was here and Vi would be arriving sometime during the wee hours of morning.

Pre-Christmas

Way back in October, Mike and I made plans to meet Vi in Kayenta, AZ and bring Roux to spend the week before Christmas with us. For months we planned and the excitement grew. The date for the pick-up was set for Sunday, Dec. 19. It was the only day open for Vi and for us.

Sunday morning Mike and I were out the door by 6:00 AM. It had snowed all night and was still snowing. I was a little concerned about driving over Indian Canyon in our tiny little Neon, however, Mike is an awesome driver and I knew he would get us where we needed to be.

To make a long story shorter, we ended up coming back home and trading vehicles so we could take the truck. First, the car couldn't make in up the Canyon. Then some snowplows took us up and over, but the engine light came on in the car. We went back home, got the truck, and drove the Canyon again. We made it to Price at 11:30--we planned on meeting Vi at 1:00 and still had almost 5 hours still ahead of us.

Indian Canyon--after we went back to the house and traded vehicles.

The original plan was to meet for lunch at McDonald's in Kayenta. Obviously, the plan needed to change. Vi and Roux stopped for lunch, we kept driving. It was decided through phone calls and messages (thank goodness for cell phones) that both of us would keep driving and pull over wherever we met. Somewhere between Mexican Hat and Bluff we pulled over, gave hugs, packed up Roux and his stuff, turned around, and headed back to Roosevelt while Vi drove back to Phoenix.

Monday morning there was snow everywhere and Roux wanted to be in the middle of it. I don't know how many times we dressed in snowgear, played outside, came in to warm up, and started all over again. Roux loved, loved, loved the snow and I would have to bribe him to come inside for a few minutes.

It was so much fun to see Roux smile, play, and thoroughly enjoy playing in the snow. Even I was having fun in the cold, wet stuff!

Time for hot chocolate--we went through quite a bit during his stay.

Guess what is under the snow??? Snowmobile. My work car. The trampoline. And many unidentified objects.

Good thing we have access to snow removal equipment. Roux helped Mike push snow with the tractor. Once the snow was manageable, they switched to the four-wheeler with a snow blade.

Peanut butter cookies with mini-kisses on top. Roux was in charge of the kisses.

Roux helped me make family picture ornaments for our miniature tree. While I cut out and glued pictures of family members to make ornaments, Roux had his own set of pictures to cut out and glue. He had so much fun cutting out his pictures that he decided to work on the ones I had finished.

The finished masterpiece!! Roux hung the ornaments on the tree and was so proud!

The rest of the week will continue with the next post!

Catching Up

OK, I really have been horrible at keeping this blog updated. Maybe I should quit the whole idea--instead, I will try one more time to get updated and post on a semi-regular basis. So, here we go again with mass production postings!