Christmas Morning at our House

It is magical to have a toddler on Christmas morning.
There is something so warm and comfortable- being together around the tree.
Next year we are cutting all the myriad of nuclear proof ties before we wrap- and thus avoid Coen crying while he waits a toddler's eternity while we try to gnaw our way through the packaging.

Oh- and this fabulousness happened too:

Christmas at Papa Ray's

Baking Weekend

So this year at the last minute Baking Weekend moved to Mom's house. Susie had heavy load in school so she only came for part of a day, Becky was sick so she didn't come at all, and TJ just plain ditched us. But Marika, Anna, and I hung in there and continued the tradition. And it was great. No thanks to all the party poopers. More crafting and less baking this year. And when Great Grandma Conley opened her gift apron on Christmas, she cried. And yes- my mom wears that sweatshirt every year. Not pictured- tons of eating, relaxing, Marika getting her hair done, and some more eating- and Anna, Marika, Kirtee, and I were there but no pictorial evidence.

Snow Day

Before Christmas we got a big snow. And it stayed COLD for days so the snow lingered and lingered (as did the ice on the roads). Coen loves the snow and as usual he went outside layed down immeadiatly and started to make snow angles. Beckett stood in the snow (at about his upper thighs- thought it was a solid surface, so he leaned over to rest his hands on the snow and went tumbeling in. This colored his feelings towards the snow and wasn't real thrilled with it. So here are a ton of pictures, but sadly, not the greatest light.

Couldn't you just eat him up? Yum.

He doesn't even barely get out of the door before he starts on the snow angle.

He looks so little, and by the way aren't their matching snow suits adorable?

Not in love with snow.

In love with the snow.

This was the initail fall. I am not the type of mother to scoop in and save the baby- I am the type of mother who takes pictures and laughes, and then cuddles the baby.

I may want to eat him, but he wants to eat snow.

This Christmas Eve we had another fabulous Clove Family Nativity. There were no gun toting sheep this year, actually there were no sheep at all this year. Coen found a Dalmatian costume and insisted the shepards watched their cows by night. Elder Nelson and Elder Grant and Uncle Doug were the wise men. Grace was King Herod wearing a "New Moon" crown- my favorite touch. The cow thought he was part of the holy family. The Shepard (Beckett) freaked out and refused to travel to Bethlehem. But over all fun memories. And isn't Annie the most angelic angel ever?

So I did a lot of crafting. Some on my own, some with Andrea, some for Relief Society. Here are a few of the things I finished. I didn't get pictures of the Relief Society crafts for Super Saturday, The two ornaments I made for all the cousins, the hydrangea wreath I made for the front door. I also didn't finish several planned things, but am hoping to find time to finish them in the next month, rather than packing it all up and leaving it to next year to add to my ever growing list of stuff I want to do.

One day all the girls came over and we watched White Christmas, and crafted, and ate and giggled. It was one of my favorite days over the Christmas holiday.

I was in charge of the Relief Society dinner. It turned out just as I wanted, wonderful food, relaxed, lots of visiting, nice music (provided by one of Sally's quartets). The menu: Cranberry Pork Roast, Smoked Gouda Twiced Baked Potatoes, Spinach Salad with Strawberries, Candied Walnuts, and a Blue Cheese Vinagrette, Homemade Rolls and Grandma's Green Jello Salad. Every one brought dessert to share- I loved the homemade toffees and carmels. I was glad the night turned out so nicely.

The following was the garland I started last year (you can see how far I got here). I loved how it turned out but couldn't get a good picture of it. It says Peace on Earth.

This is what I made when all the girls came over the top one is about 5 inches across and I made it for this great dress I just got that is a lot of grey suiting material and needs something bright and shiny to break up all that grey. The large one will go on the sash and the three little ones will be on the collar. The girls made lots of cute things, my favorite was a grey and bronze one with a cameo in the center. They were fun and easy and I think I will make a ton more.

Becky and Susie avert your eyes.

I planned on making three of these. I got the idea from this great website. I just got Harvene's done- so Susie's and Becky's will be birthday gifts. Theirs are much more modern and fun. I can't wait to show them to you. I just love this batiked fabric- so many colors, and so rich. The quilting is just random stitching back and forth in three different colors.

Upcoming...

So tonight I finally downloaded two months worth of pictures. So I have tons of thoughts, feelings, cute stories, and pictures to share. Months worth really. So hold on because I made a goal to try and catch up this week. And I will. I will. I know I will. I hope I will.