A Treasured Christmas with Family

I love it when all the work is finished and the celebrations can begin.  Scott and Cass were able to come down for Christmas and so we began with the traditional Tomato Bisque Soup.  This soup is so very good but oh so much work that it only happens a couple of times a year with Christmas Eve being one of them.  Let the holiday begin!

The tree is decorated, packages are under it -- where are the people?

Christmas morning!  Cassie is the youngest and so gets to play Santa.  Time for laughs, smiles, and yep -- happiness over that special gift that was just perfect.  You will have to ask me personally about this one.  Having a photographer in the house makes it simple for me to succeed with at least one gift each year.  A new lens. 

We had purchased knife sets for several of the kids this year and Scott and Cass were tickled with theirs.  Her lap is covered with the knives and Scott is lovingly caressing the block.  There is a kid still in him as we discovered when he opened his gift from his wife.  And yes, he spent the holiday putting the whole thing together before he had to take it apart in order to get it home.

Later that morning, the Southern group arrived from Temple.  Now the house was hopping.  Gifts again of course, but we started with Josh's birthday gift since we had not been together for his special day.

Then it was time to get to work.  We had a whole traditional dinner to prepare and serve.  The girls had wanted to do Mom's menu as they remembered it and so dishes were being filled everywhere.  We also had a table to get set up as there were many more of us than our little four-seater could hold.  Two tables were added and then a huge tablecloth to make it all look so special.  I was very please with the effect.

Aunt Cassie was trying really hard to get Bekah to taste the cocktail sauce but she wasn't budging.  Don't the salads look pretty?

Dinner time!  I absolutely love these moments.  Yes it is crazy, but such a good kind of crazy.  I didn't have a lot of this type of opportunity when my children were smaller and so I treasure these moments as a grandmother.

As I said before, the youngest always gets to play Santa and so Josh got to hand out gifts to everyone.

Finally!  The kids thought we would never let them open gifts.  This reaction by Jacob to the remote control helicopter he had been asking for was priceless.  Since we had bought it, he didn't think he was going to get one after they finished opening gifts at home.  Yay Gammy and Grandpa!

Bekah is at the age where she loves clothes and so is becoming easier to buy for.  A hoodie with a gift card tucked into the pocket scored big time as well.

After dinner is one of my favorite times as the mess is gone and it is just time now for fun, stories, visiting, and games.  What is Aunt Cassie thinking here?

Now where to put everyone for the night?  Ah yes, utilize the back house.  After finding a spot for everyone to rest their heads we called it a night.

The next morning was spent relaxing and taking it a little slow for awhile.  Time together was the objective for the adults while teens liked to be alone.





 Jen and I set about to come up with a plan for what to do today and also shared a few great mother-daughter moments.  I miss these times and even though we live closer to each other, we seem to lose them.

This shot of my girls is too fun.

Now what to do with all these people for the day.  They need to get out and move around a little.  Ah yes, the zoo.  What could be better?  First stop -- the giraffes for some feeding.  This is always the highlight of any trip to The Dallas Zoo.  Grandpa and Josh were virtually inseparable for most of the day.  I love seeing them together and I especially love this picture.  I wish I knew what they were looking at.

We decided to take the Monorail Safari and see parts of the zoo that are off limits to foot traffic.  We filled an entire car with mostly smiling faces.  As you can tell, it is nice in Dallas in December, but still coat worthy.  A final stop at the Children's Zoo to play with the birds brought many smiles and experiences.

The birds were everywhere and we became perches for a large amount of them.





Even Jared and Josh were able to hold still long enough for friends to visit.

After a stop for a quick bite to eat --- we were off to Jumpstreet, an indoor trampoline arena.  Even Gammy got into the mood and jumped with everyone for awhile.

The best part was watching everyone play dodgeball though.  This picture is it for me.  Cassie is definitely indicating that "you are out" and I love it.

The next morning, Jen's family had to hit the road back home and so we said a heartfelt good-bye and were so glad for the time we had together.  Cass and Scott still had a couple of days here and so after a morning spent relaxing and "building", we decided to take a walk at White Rock Lake.

The day was beautiful and we discovered the flock of parrots nesting in the trees.  It made for many camera teaching moments by Mister for Cass and I.  Are they not beautiful?

Just walking and enjoying the sunshine was fun.  We wandered the shore and around some of the old historical buildings that are there.


I seldom highlight pictures of me, but my sweetie took a good one here.  I absolutely love this lake as it reminds me of my years back in Bigfork as a teenager. Obviously the lake is much smaller, but still great times.

The next day we decided to go back to the zoo so that Cass could see the whole thing since we had only covered half of it the day before.  Even still, her preferred first stop was the giraffes.  At one time she had wanted to work with animals.  Now she works for an airline -- I guess that is still working with animals in a sense.  People can sure be bizarre.

What a great day!  I have really enjoyed our time with them and am sad to see them go.  Oh - this outfit managed to get me singled out as a zoo employee throughout the day.  Too funny.

The Color of Fall - Texas December

Looking out the front door.  Is this not absolutely beautiful?  It is December after all.

I Think I'm Finished - Whew!

This is the end of my holiday treat making.  Fudge, Chocolate Mint Dream Cookies, Dipped Pretzels, and Wafer Mints finished out my list.  Whew!  It feels good to be done.

Creativity at Work

Since we don't own a television, Mister decided to make a better antenna for my computer so that I could watch The Amazing Race.  Here is his creation -- and even better -- IT WORKS!

Amanda is moving AGAIN!!!

Looking back - it really was pretty funny.  I had no sooner made arrangements to share my flight benefits at the end of September and both Matt and Amanda called.  For Matt it was about the previously shared trip to Chicago and for Amanda - well she was moving AGAIN!  She had only been in Cheyenne for about 5 months but a house on the base had become available and they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.  So a "Help" was sent out -- and of course we responded to it.  Any opportunity for memories right?  Right.  So we flew up to Denver and picked up the car rental and drove to Cheyenne to help keep the grands out of the way so Amanda and Trent could work.  It was a great plan and didn't require a ton of heavy lifting on our part.  Woohoo.  As the movers were working, Ryan was taking advantage of an almost empty road to play in.  He and grandpa played for a long time while I entertained Caleb and Amanda went back and forth between houses.





Raef had been at school the day we arrived and so the next day, we took all three boys off to an event at the Laramie County Library.  The two older ones went to reading time and Caleb had some time to play with Gammy.











When we were finished at the library, we went downtown to the Cheyenne Depot Museum where they watched the trains on the tracks, saw a display of  great gingerbread train stations, and wandered the museum for awhile.  The boys found a great map on the floor and we told them to find Cheyenne by walking along the railroad tracks on it.  It didn't take them long and so a picture of the "boys" on the right spot shows their great orienteering skills.

A quick stop by the new house to drop off Caleb for a nap and we were off with Raef and Ryan again.

Our next stop was at a craft class at The Children's Village so the boys could make an advent calendar. There was a slight oops as it had to be signed up and paid for ahead of time and Amanda had not realized that.  Oh well, we took the boys outside to play for awhile, but it was getting pretty dang cold out and so it wasn't long before we bundled them back into the car and went back to the house.


Amanda had booked us a room at the hotel since they were between two homes when we arrived and it would be awhile before the new house was set.  It was a great place and we enjoyed it tremendously.  However ---- this is what we woke up to the next morning.  No wonder it had felt so cold.

Yep -- Snow and quite a bit of it actually.  We stopped to take a few pictures before heading back over to help out at the house.  It really was quite beautiful and the base is such a beautiful setting.  Amanda's home is rich with history and is easy to understand why she wanted to make the switch.

Antelope are everywhere here and they are not very skittish around people either.  It is major cool.




Here is Amanda's new home.  It is a duplex an she is on the side facing us.  The white area at the back is a mud room.  The house has 4 floors - yep 4.  It also has a grand staircase as you enter that accesses the 1st and 2nd floor.  There is also a hidden staircase that goes from basement to attic.  Fun.

This is the little circle they live on and the little signs in the front yard indicate who lives there.

One of the first areas to be set up was the toy room down in the basement.  I was able to grab a quick picture of Grandpa and Ryan as they were playing.  I LOVE this pic.

Raef had his first day of riding the schoolbus home to the new house so I was watching for him to arrive.  He had walked home with a neighbor girl and after saying goodbye came cruising up the stairs excited to play with us.

We had spent most of the afternoon helping unpack the main living quarters and getting things set up and believe it or not -- this house was livable.  It was great.  After a dinner out, it was time for bed and they boys knew we were leaving in the morning.  They were not at all happy that they were going to bed and after some very loud discussions with Mom and Dad, they were back downstairs to put up and decorate the Christmas tree.  Apparently, Raef had REALLY wanted Gammy and Grandpa to help.  Heart touching indeed and so his request was met with enthusiasm from all of us and soon we had a beautiful tree ready for the holidays and for us to leave the boys gifts under.  While here, we had purchased a new microwave and vacuum for Trent and Amanda and so they had already received their gifts.

This was such a good time.  It had been a LONG time since I had gotten to help decorate a tree with little ones.  Their excitement is infectious and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves watching how careful and thoughtful they were over the placement of each and every ornament.  It was really fun for them to find all the ornaments I had given over the years and place them as well.  Treasured memories.




When we return home and put our own tree up, it will be very quiet with just the two of us working on it.


We are very lucky grandparents!  That these boys want us to share moments like this means the world to us and we cannot wait until we have another chance to spend time with them.  Check out this absolutely cute shot of Raef and Ryan.  Adorable.

After making sure that the boys had completed all they could reach on their own and with our help, Mom made sure that everything was just so.  She had been working so hard the past couple of days and I am sure that decorating the tree was the last thing she wanted to do that night, but she is such a good mom that she gave the boys the opportunity to give us memories.  And that is the sign of an amazing daughter as well.

Soon it was time for us to say our good-byes and head back to the hotel.  This has been a very enriching stay.


The next morning we wake up to MORE SNOW!  Great - now we have to drive to Denver in it.  Life is always one surprise after another and so off we go but not without a few more beautiful pictures of the serene and calm air force base in winter.


This is our hotel and the little rental car that we got because we didn't see any reason we would need a 4-wheel drive.  Hahahaha.

And a snowy farewell.  Truly gorgeous!