fa la la la la la la la la la

Is that even the right number of "la"s?? I kind of got lost there.



We started our christmas celebrations in earnest last night. We went to the live nativity at Tuacahn. Nice, but man was it frigid!



Mike's parents will be here in a few hours. We'll have our big dinner and play games tonight. On the menu:

standing rib roast with homemade horseradish stuff and pinot noir sage jus
Pioneer Woman's hot crash potatoes
Pioneer Woman's whiskey glazed carrots - We had them at Thanksgiving and they were da bomb!
green beans
bread from the machine
gingerbread cake and fresh whipped cream
chocolate pie for Mike because he doesn't do gingerbread


Then the jolly dude in the red suit will come. We'll open presents in the morning and eat cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing.


Happy Christmas!

more snow

It snowed most of the night last night and we ended up with 3" or so of snow. Enough to really play in. So first thing after breakfast we blew up T's snow tube, bundled up and went out to the common area behind our house to play.

Thomas's snowman

snow angel

my snowman

T's snow train

hugging the snow man

Elfed Ourselves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

mad scientist

We got a gift from the in-laws (thanks, guys!) last night. Omaha steaks for Mike & I. What the in-laws did not bargain for was that it was just as big a gift to Thomas, even though he can't eat the food. Why? Dry ice.

And a few stills for the video-impaired.

Toroweap/Tuweep

A few weekends ago we ventured out into the Arizona strip to Toroweap point. The Arizona strip is the little section in the northwest corner of Arizona that is pretty much cut off from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon. There are some rough 4WD roads from our area out to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It is isolated and remote, without services and a really long drive because the roads are so rough. But gorgeous, unspoiled and totally worth the trip. You can read more about Toroweap point here.

O Christmas Tree

snow pics

SNOW!

Yay! it's snowing!! Not much is sticking to the ground, but Thomas and I went out to play this afternoon anyway. We don't get much in these parts, so we make the best of what we get! I took pictures, of course, but have to wait until the other computer boots to upload them. It could be awhile, folks. Just sayin'.

super nerdy science time

Who knew a little salt dough, dish soap, food coloring, baking soda and vinegar could make a kid this happy?

countdown calendar

Made this at our homeschool mom's project night last week. It's pretty cute and we've had fun putting up the new magnet every day.

chemistry!

Thomas has been wanting to study chemistry. And I've been putting him off like a good homeschooling mama. lol. I know he has visions of mad scientist-type experiments. I have visions of the house blowing up. Seriously, though, the real reason I've been putting him off is that I didn't know of any chemistry curriculum that was age-appropriate. Until now! Real Science 4 Kids chemistry

So when we finish up our astronomy text in the next few months, we'll start in on this. Yeah!

last Christmas

'Tis the season for old Christmas music!



I can't believe she had the nerve to wear that brooch to dinner! The video should've ended with her in a body bag!

And wasn't George the cutest?! Too bad he likes boys better.

yes, this is how we treat our guests

Uncle Ron totally humoring Thomas

thankful

Thomas & Aunt Christie

We had a great Thanksgiving, spent with family. Mike's parents and his aunt & her husband were able to come here to celebrate with us. The menu went off without a hitch. I got my ego stroked quite a bit by having it declared the best Thanksgiving meal *ever*. We played games, visited & ate too much. Those are the makings of a great day in my book.

just a few of the many things I'm thankful for:
my awesome husband
Thomas's improved eating
making good friends here
friends from GA who still keep in touch with us
a new church to call home
family who loves us

Thanksgiving prep

The turkey and all the ingredients are purchased. Well, except the fresh thyme. I really don't feel like running from store to store trying to find it either. I might put my mother-in-law on the case or I might just *gasp* use dried.

Thomas's room is almost company ready. That was yesterday's major task. It turned into a major, desperately needed declutter session. I have finally convinced him to give away his Rescue Heroes. I've been trying for about a year, I think. We put lots of books up to save for any future grandkids, I guess. We put lots of books in a box for Grandma to go through for Miriam. We have another huge give-away box going. Oh, and 2 bags of trash. Geesh! Tomorrow I'll launder all his linens so that Mike's aunt & her husband can sleep there. Thomas will move to an air mattress in our room. I won't have time to do that on Thursday so Thomas will just have to spend an extra night in our room so they can have clean linens.

Today I'll finish picking up around the house and start the meal prep. I can't do too much until we get the turkey in the brine tomorrow and free up some fridge space. But I need to bust out what I can today so that tomorrow and Thursday aren't so bad. I like cooking. I even like cooking big meals. I just hate the cleaning up. And since company is coming, I'll have to clean before it's even all really finished. 1 meal, probably 3 times the kitchen will have to be tackled. Yeehaw!

On the menu:
brie, pecans & cranberries (that was yummy, Kamas!)
Good Eats brined turkey
dressing from my mom's recipe
mother-in-law's homemade noodles
the Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes (chosen for their make-ahead and reheat-ability)
the Pioneer Woman's whiskey glazed carrots (because they sound yummy!)
green beans
pickled beets
olive & pickle tray because my family always had one
bread from the breadmaker because I can set it up out on the patio & not take up oven space
cranberry sauce
pecan pie
pumpkin pie
chocolate pie

eye exams for everyone

Last week before the trip to San Diego, we all went to the eye doctor. When I called to make the appointment for Thomas, the receptionist asked if anyone else in my family needed to be seen. So I put myself on the schedule. When I told Mike he asked me to call and see if they could get him in as well. So, we all went at the same time.

Turns out Thomas does not need glasses! Yeah, those ones he's been wearing for 2 years that we've been fussing at him about wearing? Big waste of time and money. It all started out with his occupational therapist in GA trying some prism goggles on him in therapy one day. He immediately stopped toe-walking. So we made an appointment with the developmental optometrist they recommended. He got glasses with prism in them and a little prescription for farsightedness. The whole prism thing turned out to be a bit of a bust - it definitely wasn't the magic answer we had hoped for toe-walking. Last year when we had his eyes checked, the doctor had him do the chart with his glasses & didn't see any need to change the prescription. Lately, though, we'd been finding Thomas not wanting to wear his glasses & we had to keep after him or we'd find that he'd taken them off in the middle of the day. The doctor we saw last week had him do the chart with and without glasses. Turned out he could see better without the glasses!

Mike had a change in prescription, which we expected. He spent longer than I did picking out frames, which was kind of funny. The people in the office kept having him try on all these outlandish things. Dude, we all know you're going to get the conservative ones, so let's cut to the chase, eh? There was one retro, throw-back to the 50s pair that looked surprisingly good on Mike. He hemmed and hawed about those for a bit, but in the end, went with something really similar to what he already has. Hopefully these frames will hold up a bit better than those.

I went in with the hopes of getting contacts. The last time I had been to the eye doctor, it was a very frustrating experience. I got glasses all fine and dandy, but had really wanted to switch to contacts. The office never seemed to have the right contacts in for a trial and the doctor kept having me try some that weren't quite right and come back. Finally, after about 6 weeks of back and forth, I gave up. I stopped wearing my glasses because I didn't like the way they looked and I could see "good enough" without them. Lately, though, I had been getting frustrated with reading signs on the road and anything that involved reading on the television. I could do it, but I had to really concentrate to get things to come into focus.

Turns out that I barely have any prescription needed at all. But that if it bothers me, I should definitely correct it. Most people who wear glasses or contacts see so badly that getting close to perfect vision is such a tremendous improvement that they're happy with the results. I have close to perfect vision, but "some people just demand perfection". That cracked me up. Really, anyone who knows me would tell you that I'm a 'good enough' kind of gal. Anyway, this guy told me that I'd have a hard time finding contacts that made it perfect, and would probably end up frustrated with all the effort of contacts, so I should probably stick with glasses. Fine, but I had to find some glasses that worked. That had been my biggest frustration - finding glasses I liked that fit my ginormously wide face and didn't get all splayed out at the arms. The people in his office are good, though. They helped me find a couple of options that I actually thought looked good. Don't tell anyone I wear men's frames, though, okay?

So Monday I picked up my new glasses & went out Tuesday for a haircut. The glasses were definitely too hip for my daily ponytail. Whatchya think?

San Diego

Took off last week for San Diego. It was a trip we had been planning for awhile, just kept putting it off for other things. But, it was getting way past due for Thomas's birthday present, a trip toLegoland, so we finally got it together. We stayed in a surprisingly nice Travelodge in LaMesa, CA. Mike said it had recently been remodeled & used to be a Ramada - a step up the Wyndham food chain, I believe. Good room, very clean, typical continental breakfast offerings + the make-your-own-waffle station and super helpful staff. Incredible considering we paid $50 for the weekend nights and less for Tuesday - Thursday.

petting bat rays

feeding the bat rays

We rode this. A lot.

Journey to Atlantis - kind of a cross between a roller coaster & a log flume.

mama & baby koala

Thomas working on getting his license at the Volvo Driving School

Let's just say, you people should all be very frightened in 9 years.

Mike & Thomas on some sort of robot arm ride

Thomas driving the boat. Again - frightening.

They had this cool place where the kids could build cars, test & race them.

Here's Thomas with his creation.

Why, yes! We are homeschoolers.

We had a great time. We did 1 day at Legoland, 1 day at the zoo & 3 days at Sea World. It was a nice change of pace from the past several trips. Once we were done for the day, it was time to relax - no cooking or cleaning! Thomas liked Legoland the best. I really enjoyed Sea World. Mike enjoyed the trip to Trader Joe's where he bought 25 different varieties of beer to try out.

4WD

A few weekends ago we finally used the 4WD on the Escape. A friend told us about a road up to Browse. We started the day off with the intentions of going to the Arizona Strip, but decided to head to Browse before they closed the road for the winter. It was a good time and nice to get off the beaten path a bit.

an old fence - to hold in what?

crabapples

saw something under all the leaves - turned out to be these shoes

I can imagine that little girl got fussed at for losing them.

DANGER

DO NOT ENTER

POSSIBLE HANTAVIRUS

CONTAMINATION

Makes you feel all warm & fuzzy about the place, eh?

yet another camping trip, part 4 - yay the end!

So, we were in Fresno (you know, back in September when all of this happened, right?) and Mike had the Escape looked at & "repaired". That would be in quotes because the air conditioning worked for 2 days after we had it fixed. Turns out there was a leak when we bought it. There was a lot of dye in the system, so the mechanic could tell that someone had been trying to find the problem, gave up on it, charged it with freon and sold it. So nice & honest. Once we got back to St. George, we had it fixed again, so far so good.

Anyway, once the air conditioning was repaired, we headed to Yosemite. We saw a bear cub right outside the Mariposa Grove, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera. Enjoyed the park, driving around a bit before heading out to our campground.

We waited too late to get reservations for somewhere in the valley, & it was too cold up high for tent camping, so we ended up camping outside the park in a KOA. We spent that first night by ourselves, but were joined the next day by Kerri, Jesse & Miriam!

Half Dome

squishing Half Dome

Kerri & Miriam

mountain jay

Kerri & Elton John's doppleganger

We had a really good time camping with them, although I don't think Kerri is signing up for the adventure again anytime soon. Miriam isn't the best sleeper in the world, and it made for a long night in their tent. Me? I sleep with earplugs so I was pretty oblivious! We didn't so anything super-noteworthy. Just enjoyed our time together, hiked a bit, checked out the scenic overlooks, cooking dinner in the park picnic grounds & had an "illegal" campfire in the grill at the KOA.