sisters...

today i went to breakfast with my two sisters. we went to mi mi's cafe in provo. we had fun visiting and just being together (and i guess the food was good, too). who would have ever thunk that your sisters really would turn out to be some of your very best friends? (not me... especially when ginny and i had to share a room when we were young!) and, even though there is a pretty good age difference between each of us (i'm almost old enough to be marci's mother) we get along great and enjoy each other's company. thanks ginny and marci for a great day! we need to do it more often!!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

it snowed at least 7 to 8 inches today, of heavy wet snow. when i tried to pull in our driveway tonight after work, i got stuck. i had to try to back up and then gun it, to even get part way in. after about 4 or 5 tries, i finally made it into the garage. (this was after donnie boy, told me NOT to drive over the snow, before he could get home and get it plowed off the driveway... just what in the world did he want me to do, since i got home about 1/2 hour before him ? men! (one job i refuse to learn ~ snow blowing the driveway!!! :-) anyway... i just had to take a few pictures, because growing up, we never saw a "white christmas" except in the movies... (then it was black and white!). and really i was very excited to know that we were going to have a white christmas this year!

may your days be merry and bright, and may ALL your christmases be white!
merry christmas everyone!!!

"the most wonderful time of the month"

My daughter got this from her friend and i thought it was worth sharing.

sung sarcastically to "the most wonderful time of the year"

it's the most wonderful time... of the month.
when the kids won't stop yelling
and everyone's telling you be of good cheer
it's the most wonderful time... of the month.

it's the crap-crapiest season of all
with no peace for my hubby, i'm bloated and chubby
my "friend" comes to call
it's the crap-crappiest season of all.

there'll be husbands for roasting
blog fodder for posting
and carry a purse where you go.

there'll be advil and kotex
chocolate and no sex
and if i start crying you'll know...
it's that most wonderful time... of the month.

there'll be much tantrum throwing
and friends will be knowing
that "aunt flo" is near

it's the most wonderful time....
it's the most wonderful time...
it's the most wonderful time... of the month!

so...we're stingy and spoiled !

yep... these are our six grand kids. we are lucky in that all of them live not more than 1/2 hour from us. four of them have been gone to california for the past week, and we (papa don and i) don't like it at all! yes, they need to go see the other sides of their families sometimes, but even though we don't see them every single day when they are home, at least we know they are close! kendyl and ryker made it home late last night and siona and isley will be on their way home tomorrow morning ~ i'm just like an old mother hen gathering up her brood (aren't i?)... but i'll be happy when they are all home. even though it is total chaos when they are all here, i wouldn't have it any other way! this was our futile attempt at having a "family" portrait taken for christmas cards. we actually had 2 pictures that turned out 'not quite as bad' as the rest and we used the other one for our christmas card, only because the whole family was in it. (thanks, ginny, for coming over and taking the pictures, even though you thought that you were leaving your chaos to come over to total bliss. yeah... right!) hunter and ryker are always just happy to be here, and after the knock down drag out between kendyl and siona about who was going to stand by kamryn (yes, kamryn has 2 sides, but they both wanted to stand on the SAME side!) we finally talked them into standing on both sides and haley had to make a total fool out of her self to get smiles:-) but it worked! look at what cute little angels they all look like (and of course they are). why in the world, can't we have grand kids first?

why we have kids when we're young...

first of all, how could you ever dicipline, spank, or even get mad at this little princess, who is 3 going on 23 ? we had to run to provo and on the way back decided to stop at ''parker's'' to get a bite to eat. when i asked her what she wanted to eat, this is what i got..."well.. um.. i don't think i should get anything, because i think my family already has plans.? and just before they came over thursday morning i had cleaned the toilets and left the cleaner in them. she had gone into the bathroom and in a few minutes yelled at me and said '' gramma, i know what color blue and yellow make... green! i said "what?" and she again said "blue and yellow make green!" i said " now, how do you know that?" and she said "just look!" and did you know that "bambi" on dvd is the same movie as "bambi" on video? this little "princess" was adamant that they had to be different. and wouldn't give up until we had watched both. amazing !!! they really are the same!

tiffany bought chet tickets to the 'nfr' in vegas for their anniversary, and i volunteered to take the kids. now tell me... how in the world could you get mad at this cute little bugger? (i had to still the picture from tiffany's blog, cuz i was too busy chasing ryker to even think about taking a picture). can you see it in his eyes? he is all boy and so mischievous. when he would throw his food, kendyl would tell me "gramma, when he throws his food like that, my mom always spanks his hands. you need to spank him!" there is nooo way! i was trying to bind a quilt for don for christmas and as i was sewing all of the sudden something would come flying threw the air and hit me in the head, and then i'd hear this little giggle. so, so cute! i know i disciplined my kids when they were that age, but now i'm more 'mature' and can just sit back and enjoy.

another reason why you have kids when you're young, is because of 'gravity'. as you become older it settles more and it's alot harder to get up and down like we use to. so any kind of extra activity completely wears you out! it was fun to have them for a few days, and we totally enjoyed spoiling them, but we were also, awfully glad that chet and tiff arrived home safely last night! thanks, chet and tiff for letting us take them and hope they aren't too spoiled !

a charly brown christmas...

it was christmas eve 1968, and there was NO christmas tree at the 'winters'' home in tempe, az. that year, grandpa and grandma dodge, my uncle mike and aunt arvilla and their baby, shantele had come from utah to spend christmas with us. mike couldn't believe that it was christmas eve, we had six young kids and NO tree. so he grabbed dad and off they went to hunt for a tree. after a few hours of hunting, they found one that they had to pay a whoppin' $2.00 for. needless to say... it was a charly brown christmas tree. but never the less, it was a christmas tree and we were all excited about it (it was alot better than NO christmas tree at all!). as we strung the lights and hung the ornaments, the doorbell rang. there was no one at the door, but there on our front porch, was a huge box, full of all the trimmings for a wonderful christmas dinner (along with a few other things). did i say... that things were a little tight at our house that year, (and we all knew it!) ?

christmas morning we woke up, not really expecting anything to be under the tree from 'santa', but to our surprize... we each got a pair of home made p.j.'s (the best there is!) and we each received one other thing. for me ~ a blue alarm clock radio! it was rockin'! my younger brother steve, got a statue of a horse that was about 12" high. he was so thrilled with it, that he just knelt down by it and cried. (he had been eye balling it down at the corner drug store for the past few months). i remember feeling sooo grateful that we hadn't been forgotten that year. i don't remember anything that anyone else got that year, but the best gift of all was having grandpa and grandma there with us.

i can look back all those years ago, and appreciate more the 'secret santa' that delivered a special box that christmas eve, to a family in need.

merry christmas charly brown !!