Good-Bye 2008!

I have tons more to blog, but I better get to the New Year's Eve celebration plans. Hope everyone has a wonderful night and that 2009 is the best year yet!

(As I sat here typing, I realized it will be 20 years since I graduated High School this June. '89 is Sooooo Fine!) How is that possible??? I'm feeling a little bit old!

Things about my 2008:

Put my house on the market Jan. 2008.

Chris started a new job in California while I stay in Texas.

Feb: Chris and I cannot be together on our 17th anniversary, first one he's ever been gone for.

April: My Austin tennis team wins their flight for the 3rd straight year!

I say good-bye to my great tennis team and partner, knowing I won't be here for next season.

I'm lonely in Austin, feeling like a single Mother with Chris gone so much.

Throwing myself a pity party.

Snapping out of it!

Whenever Chris is home to visit us in Austin, we try and do

Austin things, hoping we'll be leaving together soon.

May: Lots of visits from my sister.

Run another 5K with a friend.

Money's tight. :( Spend our time going on hikes and jumping on the tramp, swimming.

Do more Austin stuff, spend time with my parents.

Try to spend time with friends.

June: I visit California trying to find a rental with Chris, a much needed treat for us!

I cry as I get on the plane to return to Texas alone.

Football, swimming, playgroups, girlfriends, field trips, school projects....

School ends....baking in the summer heat.

July: Chris finds a California house, I jump for joy!!!

I begin selling furniture we know won't fit in our new house on Craig's List.

Pack my house, sell most of our un-needed furniture in a week.

Leave Austin, drive to California in 2 days.

Time from finding California house to arriving in California - 9 days.

Unpack my kitchen, master bedroom.

Fly back to Austin for Girls camp with K, I get extremely sick, visit my parents.

Fly back to California, finish unpacking my house, off to Las Vegas & Utah.

Come home, settle in, enjoy the summer, get ready for school.

So H~A~P~P~Y to have my family TOGETHER!

Sept: Settle everyone in school, take a deep breath, relax for a bit.

Oct: Austin house FINALLY sells.

Holiday season begins!

Meet new friends, visit with old friends.

Chris loving his job, but loving having his family here more!

Kids loving California.

My parents back in California too!

Things right in my world.

Wake up smiling everyday!

Glad 2008 is behind me, Learned and Grew A LOT.

Innumerable blessings bestowed upon me and my family.

Looking forward to a bright 2009 :)

The Real Christmas Eve

WOW, I look tired, and I was this evening. I had a ton of stuff left to do and we wanted to have our own little Christmas Eve celebration. While Chris was out running a last minute errand for a gift (Santa almost forgot Claire!) I whipped up some homemade Potato Cheese Soup, bread & appetizers for dinner and got a video. It was very cold that night and the soup felt good! We watched a movie while we ate soup from our new Christmas bowls. Then it was down to the business of why we really celebrate Christmas. We read from the scriptures the story of Christ's birth. We set out the cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer..... by then it was probably 10pm, the kids were off to bed (sleepover in Kathrine's room!) and Chris and I were just beginning to get things organized. I had a quilt to finish, one more project the kids had helped me with and then WRAPPING of everything. It was 1:30am before we laid down to sleep that night.
It was worth every minute!

Santa's Lap

Claire was miraculously friendly with Santa for this picture. We were walking by Santa's house, there wasn't a line and thought we'd drop in and take a quick photo. Had to talk the older kids into sitting in the picture. Thought it came out quite nice.

Very chilly out this day! Felt Christmasy.

The SweetSpot Baker's Workshop

One of the days we had our family here we went down to the Spectrum. We went to this cute cupcake shop. Who can resist a cupcake, especially when you can pick your own flavor cupcake, frosting AND toppings? We certainly couldn't! Thank you Uncle Greg!

In the beginning.....

working the toppings....

finished products.

For your dining satisfaction..... if you don't want to make your own.

YUMMY!

Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve Celebration :)

YAY! Family stayed down for a few days. Even Brad our eldest nephew was able to join us. Greg and Rozanne had a call from another of their older son's at JFK leaving for Buenas Aires that day. It was a sweet gift to them. All good news about him learning the language and being steadfast at the MTC. We were missing both missionaries and the rest of the Chavez's in Texas. :(

We decided to go with a Mexican Fiesta for our dinner. I was glad because it's easy and TASTY!! We had Chili Verde Nachos, everything homemade. I'm wishing I had some of it right now!

We all squished together in our little house this year, but I'd rather squish and be here with everyone than have my big Texas house! I was happy to have almost everyone here and glad it was so relaxing and enjoyable. Isn't this what holidays are all about??

Thank you to Greg and Rozanne and family for their song. Gave our evening just the right touch!

Grandma Karen and Grandpa Larry came down for the evening and brought presents and lots and lots of goodies for everyone.

Cousins Come!

Two weekends ago we celebrated with Chris's older brother Greg and their family. We celebrated Christmas Eve early, because of his work schedule....I'm all for dragging out the holiday celebrations for as long as possible!
They came down early and attended church with us. We had a great time together. The kids played and ate and we were able to relax and chat. I'm so grateful for family here! The day before they arrived, my sister and niece had been visiting for a few days too!

We played games, cooked, hung out and enjoyed one anothers company. Let the Holiday begin!!

School Christmas Concert

Singing the carols of the season.

Smiling just for me. :)

Showing that Christmas excitment!

Enjoying Decorating

I think these photos speak for themselves. We had a great time decorating, even if we were missing Chris.
I was chuckling to myself when the tree was done. I let the kids have free reign. When it was 'finished' (meaning every ornament we own was on it) about 90% of the ornaments were on a 10% portion of our tree. AND the tree was continually leaning to the left as we worked. It was a masterpiece when it was done. I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but it was cute. I secretly 'adjusted' it (only how Mom's can) when they were all safely tucked in bed. :)

It was Kathrine's year to place the star on the top. When she'd finished she reminded me she'd be 17 before she'd put the star on again. Really stopped me in my tracks and had me thinking how fast these years are going!

Oh Christmas Tree

We picked a Christmas tree in record time this year. We had an hour set aside one Saturday afternoon and shi-zam! We were done after the first one Chris untied. I was willing myself not to have a picky opinion like I usually do. Fortunately, we were all happy with it and VERY happy with the price!

I sure do miss cutting our own tree down from a tree farm though.

Chris and Logan doing what I like to call, "Mans Work!"

Life Changers

Read these and ponder. I loved all of them. I read Anatomy of Peace a few years ago, I've read Believing Christ several times, and I'll be reading The Peacegiver again soon. I just finished it tonight.

Sing Noel

I was very excited/anxious to be involved in Sing Noel this year. I love singing, only Heaven appreciates it, but none-the-less....I wanted to be involved in this event. It's a Christmas Choir for our stake. From what I understand it's been going on for years. Here's one thing that's great about being new, you don't understand all the underlying nuances in a community. Had I known more about Sing Noel, I would have probably never decided to do it. Anyway, it's a pretty big deal. I only came to realized that on our dress rehearsal. I thought I was good enough to belong, but HOLY SMOKES....I was way out of my league. The thing that kept running through my mind was, they are dealing in a foreign language (music), and I have no idea what they are talking about! I had to mark up my music like crazy to understand half the stuff they were talking about. Aside from all the technical stuff, I really enjoyed practicing, and getting to know some new people in our stake. I also had the privilege of decorating the stake center for the event, and our own church building as well.

Taylor, Kathrine and Logan were in the production too. Claire and Chris hung out on practice nights and they were together for both of the performances. I loved doing this with the kids and even though I had to talk them into a few of the practices, it was well worth it in the end. They want to do it again next year. I'm on the fence as far as that goes.

My 2 favorite parts of the performance were:

1. When the youth choir came in and sang. I felt the spirit so strong when they sang and they looked like an army of righteousness. It was beautiful.

2. Was the song we sang 'Make my Life a Bethlehem.' This song rang in my head during our weeks of practice. My favorite line is....."In the manger of my heart, let Christ be born in me." This was the one song we actually had to memorize, during the song a slide show was played with the photos from "Reflections of Christ."

It was also very touching.

Signs of the Season at Home

I wish I had more Nativity Sets around the house. This is mine. It's still my favorite after all these years. I did see another one today, same artist....I really, really wanted to get it, I was hoping it was 50% off or something, but no luck. I'll have to wait for another year to add to my collection. I'd like to get one that has a separate Baby Jesus, so we could lay him in his manger on Christmas Eve.

Some other symbols of the season. I love FHE where we talk about all the symbols of the season and what they really represent. I'll be posting a bunch more later, but lots to do tonight. It's Christmas Eve. Santa has a lot of work to finish up and presents to wrap! Can't wait for the morning. I'm so excited about the gifts to give this year!! Lots of homemade projects!

Merry Christmas Everyone

Housekeeping Merry-go-round

Am I the only Mother and homemaker in the world who sometimes gets tired of the Housekeeping Merry-Go-Round? I was looking at these things the other day and wondering why I even put them away.....only to pull them out again and again and again, and again, etc. etc. Laundry just never seems to be done and put away long enough. When I was younger and more ambitious, I would have all the laundry done, folded, ironed and put away before any new dirty laundry would hit the dirty clothes basket. These days, I'm glad if I get it folded, ironed and put away. Dusting...the same thing. I'm glad Chris has never been picky when it comes to the house. I dust and 2 days later, it looks like I haven't dusted in weeks. Vacuuming lasts about as long as the kids are at school, same story with the bathrooms. Ahhhhh, I'm just venting a bit. I used to find such joy in keeping the house clean....probably because I could enjoy it's cleanliness for more than 20 minutes. I've enlisted more 'help' these days, but sometimes I ask myself if it's worth the effort. I know teaching the kids these things is important, but sometimes it takes the patience of Job to get these chores done. When my house was twice this size, I REALLY appreciated my housekeeper! There was no way I could get my house clean in one day. I'd tell her quite often what a treat it was to enjoy a completely clean house for an hour or two. At least here, it's just a couple hours to get the whole house cleaned.

Ok..I'm done. Guess what I'm off to do?
I'm off to clean the downstairs bathroom. Company's coming.

Follow the Star

After we walked through the creche display we headed outside to the back of the building and were able to see a performance of a live Nativity. Ooooooo, this whole evening was a walk down memory lane for me! I LOVED it. I remember when my old ward started this Nativity. A friend of mine was inspired, he wanted to bring a Living Nativity to our area. He called a friend at Universal Studios and they designed and built the props. He had the narrator of Pageant of the Masters record the version of the birth of Christ from Luke. Eleven years later, it's a little more elaborate than it was when I was in it. They now have an inn and more live animals. The costumes look pretty snazzy now too! I was compelled to take pictures of this because it has always been a favorite memory of mine. I was privileged to play the Angel one year, announcing the birth of Christ to the shepherds. I wish I had a photo of it, but I don't think I do. :( I'll have to dig around in my old photo albums.

After the performance, I snapped a couple pictures. When everyone had gone inside, I snuck into the 'actors' room and was able to see many old friends from my Foothill Ranch days! YAY, YAY, YAY!! I was in heaven visiting with everyone...showing off my kiddos, getting and giving hugs.... When we drove away that night, Chris took my hand and said, 'You're happy, huh?' I guess he could see it written all over my face. It was an all around sweet experience.

The new and improved Angel.

Great Saturday Night

Last Saturday evening we met up with friends to go to what they call, 'Candy-Cane Lane.' It was pretty impressive! I couldn't believe how decked out these homes were. They had so many decorations their entryways and driveways were covered with stuff. A few of the houses even had snow machines, blowing snow out. They had their grass covered with stuff that looked like snow and spot lights galore! The kids had a great time running here and there, and we even ran into some old friends of ours and chatted it up. It's always nice to run into someone you haven't seen in a long time.

Chris and Chris!

After Candy-Cane Lane we thought it would be nice to follow it up with what Christmas is really all about. We went to our old ward building and they were having 'Follow the Star.' They have a creche display. It seemed like there were at least 300 creche's. There were several people there talking about each one. They had one from India, Austria, Sweden, Thailand, Africa, Jerusalem, and many, many others. I felt a special spirit in the display area.....it could have been from all the nativities, or the million wonderful memories I had flooding my mind as I walked around the building and through the chapel. Maybe both! It felt g-o-o-d.....good to be home.
Like returning to something you've longed for.