The holidays are always busy for all of us! There were a lot of family outings and Christmas celebrations. And this year, both Shauna and Jessica had sugar cookie decorating events that I was invited to. Life is short, so we have to fill it up with things that make us happy. For me, it's taking care of myself; spending time with family and friends; enjoying nature; doing service; reading good books; and watching good shows with Mike!
Thursday, December 5th: A yummy lunch (and movie) outing at Lime Vietnamese with my dear friend Patti Waseta. Should have taken a picture of her face!
Saturday, December 7th: The Nativity Celebration for the community at the LDS Montano building featured nativities from around the world, plus a gorgeous Living Christ Room and a live Nativity outside!
 |
| Hannah with her grandpa at the Nativity event |
 |
Live nativity
 |
 |
| The beautiful Christ room |
 |
| Kara Eastham, the visual inspiration behind the decor |
 |
| Yes, I took a LOT of pictures! |
 |
| My sweet Jess enjoying the nativity displays |
 |
| Me and my girl Jess |
 |
Jess and her dad
 | Sunday, December 8th: Jacob's family at the Albuquerque Little Theater to see "Beauty and the Beast." The tickets were an early Christmas gift to our ABQ kids.
Tuesday, December 10th: Wendy's lunch outing and "Wicked" movie date with our kids and grandchildren--another early Christmas gift to our Albuquerque family
Elise with her cousins, Hannah and Sofia at Wendy's
Brandon, Hudson, Tyler, and Beau
Everyone was SO EXCITED to see "Wicked" at the theater
Brandon with his favorite cousin, Hudson
Hudson's getting so tall! Standing next to his Uncle Jacob
These Albuquerque cousins outside the theater
|
 |
Wednesday, December 11th: Ladies Lunch and Canasta
 |
Amy Brown's little girl, Zinnia tagged along. She was so good!
|
 |
I had Cheryl Moss, Becca Anderson, Natalie Taylor, Amy Brown, Vanessa Vanhille, Amy Norby, and Shauna Hobbs as my guests
 | December 11th evening: A visit from Julie Trapnell and her young women's class: Denise Browley's daughter, Dana, Lydia Vanhille, Sadie Clark, and Harper Clark. They came caroling and brought us a little Christmas gift. Afterwards, the girls played in the clubhouse.
|
 | Saturday, December 14th: "Beauty and the Beast" date to Albuquerque Little Theater with the Dunlap's. The outing was fun, but the actors and singing were not that great.
|
 | Sunday, December 15th: The Cuff family girls were precious with their musical number in sacrament meeting
 | And the ward Primary did a great job with their musical number too
|
|
Lunch with Jacob and Shauna's family at Bubba's Burgers
December 16th: Shauna and the kids make and decorate cookies for the Desert Willow Family School Art Nite fundraiser each year. This time, I helped. Those Hobbits are very talented young artists
Bright and fancy sugar cookies!
These last cookies show how tired the kids became from decorating--haha
| Tuesday, December 17th: A day to pick up the Dunlap girls for a cooking lesson. We made little English muffin pizzas for their family.
Tada! Finished cooking project ready to bake at their house
Thursday, December 19th: Tyler at his annual Art Nite fundraiser at Desert Willow Family School. The kids are always excited to show us their classrooms and their art projects. We were also happy to see Shauna's uncle Michael Wallace and her Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jerry Gonzales that night.
|
|
 |
| Brandon at Art Nite |
 |
| A quail figure that Elise made |
 |
| Lovely painted birds |
 |
| Braided rugs |
 |
| Cool framed art designs |
 |
| Ceramic art |
 |
| A little bird's nest/basket |
 |
| Beautiful Shauna does a lot of volunteer work for these events |
 |
| This bee was one of my favorites this year |
 |
| Serious little cutie pie |
 |
So many cool art projects!
|
Friday, December 20th: Dion's Pizza dinner outing with the Dunlap's and Jacob's family, plus sugar cookie decorating afterwards
 |
| At Dion's Pizza. What's with Hannah's goofy faces? |
 |
| Pretty Elise with her silly cousins |
 |
| Jess and her gorgeously decorated sugar cookies |
 |
| Best artistically decorated cookies by Shauna |
 |
| Seb with sugar cookies and frosting to eat--haha! |
 |
| Mike kept getting his finger in the photos! |
 |
Very Christmasy sugar cookies!
 |
Saturday, December 21st: Mike helps me make cookies for Oscar Garcia's baptism, which was on the 22nd. What a helpful hubby!
 |
| December 21st evening: Our neighbors and good friends, Mike and Dot Contois over for Canasta |
 |
| Mike's decent hand of cards |
 |
| Fun Christmas gifts from Sam and Kiley |
 |
| A beautiful Christmas gift from Durango Colorado from our favorite neighbors, Dot and Mike Contois |
December 22nd evening: Christmas breakfast dinner with our ABQ family, with gift opening afterwards. We had pancakes, hash browns, eggs, bacon, sausage, and fruit.
 |
| Tyler with art supplies |
 |
| This was supposed to be a pajama Christmas party! |
 |
| Beau with a basketball t-shirt he requested |
 |
| Beau being silly |
 |
| My sweet Jacob with his own electric card shuffler |
 |
| Monday, December 23rd: The girls spent the night and had fun in the swim spa, as well as playing "Barbies," having lunch together, and going to the movies along with the rest of Jacob's family. |
 |
| Watch out for Grandpa! |
 |
| Sunbathing to dry off. It was a warm winter day! |
 |
| Lunch at "Grandma's house" consisted of chicken nuggets, toasted cheese sandwiches, and tomato soup |
 |
| Posing with Sonic the Hedgehog display after the movie |
 |
| Tuesday, December 24th: Christmas Eve dinner with the Dunlap's and a drive through Old Town and two cemeteries to see the beautiful fajaritos glowing in the night |
 |
| Jess and Seb provided green chili stew from The Frontier, crackers and cheese, fresh veggies and fruit, hot cocoa, and Christmas treats |
 |
| Beautiful fajaritos at the cemetery |
 |
| Wednesday, December 25th: Christmas day with Vernon and Mother |
was bittersweet since Vernon was "cycling" and not feeling cheerful. Here he's eating a hearty brunch: eggs, hash browns, English muffins, and orange wedges. |
 |
| Time to open Christmas gifts, but Vernon didn't seem interested |
 |
| Baked spaghetti casserole for dinner |
No comments:
Post a Comment