Our Christmas Lights

Jason did such a good job on our Christmas lights this year. He even put music to them. If you haven't driven by, you really need to experience this. Bless his heart. He just gets so into the holidays.

This one is for my sister Teresa

Two little otters floating around holding hands. This should be you and me, Deek! Love!

Our Fun Trip

Is it just me or is this the craziest Christmas season ever? It seems like there is not a spare minute in the day! I have been meaning to post pictures from our trip since we got back on Sunday and I haven't had time to even sit down to the computer. I wish I had time to give you a play-by-play of the whole trip because it was so fun. Here's the Reader's Digest version:

Dallin at Sea World. This is where the "Shamu Cam" that we watched a million times before our trip broadcasts from. Dallin is still confused about whether Shamu's name is "Shamu" or "Shamu Cam". Probably because we kept asking him, "Dallin, do you want to watch the Shamu Cam again?"

The Wildlife Park in San Diego. The kids loved it!

Disneyland!

Luke turns 50 this year. We're really excited for him.

We ran into my cousin Alisha and her new husband at California Adventure on their honeymoon! How cute are they.

Luke was so excited to see Mickey he ran up and started hugging him from behind before we could stop him. Mickey was less excited about whatever was happening to his rear end. He kept trying to shake Luke off, and when he finally freed himself of the people taking pictures with him, he didn't even give Luke the time of day. See if we ever watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse again.


Sad news about my neighbor from Burley. I hate to have to be the one to break it to my family.


Abby was such a good little traveler! It could have been a very hard trip, but she was so good and made it all worthwhile.

Thank you for the trip Grandma and Grandpa Yates!
Merry Christmas!

My obese gingerbread man

Do you ever feel like nothing you ever do turns out how it is supposed to? How hard is it to make a gingerbread man? I mean, I guess I could have used a recipe for actual gingerbread instead of my gingersnap cookie recipe... but gingersnaps are so good. And I wanted some cookies. So I thought, why not just put some dough in the shape of a gingerbread man for the sake of Christmas spirit and then I won't feel so guilty for eating a whole batch of gingersnaps all by myself. And the dough was so perfect. He looked just like the little gingerbread guy on Shrek. BUT, it was a bad idea. When I took him out of the oven, Dallin said, "Mom, he's FAT!" I blurred the edges of the picture so he wouldn't feel so bad about having his picture taken. It's more like a portrait this way. We didn't even bother to decorate him, we just ate him. He tasted pretty darn good if I do say so. But I think it is a message to me that I will look like that soon if I keep eating gingersnaps like I do...

Here are my homeless kids. I don't think they even knew they were supposed to be disappointed.

A cry for help

Hello. Does anyone have any good Crock Pot recipes they would be willing to share with me? I'm in a major slump here. Thank you in advance.

There's no place like Kansas

Last weekend I had the amazing and wonderful opportunity to accompany my husband on a hunting trip where we stayed with my sister Kristen and her husband, Steve, in Derby, Kansas. It was the greatest weekend of my life. Abby came with us, but the boys stayed home with Jason's parents (thank you Doug and Rita). Little Abby was such a good traveler and totally supported me the whole time we were there by watching me sit around and eat snickerdoodles and chocolate covered cinnamon bears and have so many fun adventures. Where to begin... shopping, eating out every day, talking and laughing for hours... it was just fun. One night we all went to Chili's in Wichita and Jason found huge chunks of glass in his pasta. That was exciting. I don't think they have ever heard of Robert J. DeBry, but they are about to. Then the next night we ate at a Japanese steakhouse like Tepanyaki (I forgot the name) and the little chef guy on the other side of the restaurant made the flames go too high and it set off the sprinkler system and nobody knew how to turn it off. We were just sitting there eating our food when all of these people came over to our side just drenched. The police and fire department came and everyone left except our table because we weren't going anywhere until we got our sherbet. So we finally got it and then we just sat and watched the poor little workers trying to broom out all the water while the sprinklers were still in full force. Talk about entertainment. Plus, Kristen and Steven have a trampoline, so that was hours of fun, too. I can't even remember the last time I jumped on a trampoline. I just love Derby. It is such a nice place, but I think anywhere that Kristen is is bound to be fun. I'm already planning a trip back over Spring Break.

A little friendly correspondence with my mail carrier

I got this little paper in my mailbox a while back and I came across it again the other day. I share it with you today in appreciation of my mail carrier. Bless her heart, illiterate as it may be. It reads:

Mail carrier: "You box need move to right spot"

Me: "Where is right spot?" (I was trying to keep it simple)


Mail carrier: "On you house left side. so if new house they can with together"

I guess we need to do this soon because we actually are getting neighbors on the other side of us, so our lucky little mailbox can "with together" with the other mailbox. I'm really excited because I don't know what that means and I think it will be fun to watch. I'm just grateful for our mail carrier because she left this note last spring when the ground was still frozen (that was our excuse to not move it) and she is still delivering the mail even though we haven't done what she asked. So we'll have to get around to it one of these days before the ground freezes up again and we have to wait another six months. Another little benefit of our correspondence is that I don't ever have to worry that she is reading our mail, because, well, that's probably not even possible. I love the U.S. Postal Service.