Winter Fun

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman. Once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall...


Daryn is a kid at heart. It doesn't take much to make him happy. Give him 12" of good packing snow and he's a happy camper. With the recent snowfall he decided to buid himself a "snowman". I don't know how he got it as tall as he did, but I had to take a picture of it. Daryn is about 5'10".


As fun as it is to build the thing, it's even more fun to knock it down.

The Working Man Spends his Money

Okay Bubba isn't really playing the drums, but it was fun taking the picture.


Drum man. Intense concentration required.

Sean got a job about a month ago with a market research type of company. He likes getting the paycheck and decided to buy a gift for the family. Yeah right, more like for himself and we just get to sometimes enjoy it. I did get to use it with him today and it was kind of fun. He bought himself oops I mean the family Rock Band for the X-Box. Of course it shows really well on our new TV, which means we get to watch play Rock Band instead of movies or TV shows. That might not be such a bad thing, but the jury is still out on that. He really gets into the game too.


Yes the jump/kick helps.


Sean with his best rocker face.

Christmas 2009

What pretty noise.


Celeste playing Christmas songs at the cousins' house Christmas Eve.

Christmas for our family was very low key. We did one large family present and then gave the kids cash for the rest of their gifts. Most of the gifts I received were gifts of service which was a nice change of pace. We went to John and Diane's for Christmas Eve. Didn't get too many pictures of anyone else except Celeste. Big surprise there, not. It was an enjoyable evening spending time with family. Of course with the snow storm we were pretty much tucked in for the weekend. Celeste didn't get to open her presents until Sunday evening. I was hoping they would stay a little longer, but Nathan wasn't feeling well so they left soon after. Even with all the wonderful time spent with family it was still a struggle for me. The Big Blue Monster has been in full force this entire month so, no it wasn't a good Christmas this year.


Celeste with her presents. She wasn't too sure about the penguin.

Pageturner's Christmas Party 2009

One of the gals, I won't say who made this fun bookmarks and gave us all a pair of reading glasses. Now when we read each other's books, we can mark it with the "mini me" of that Pageturner.


Just the girls.


John Naylor had to join in the fun.



Getting ready to open presents.

January 2010 marks the 15 year anniversary of the Pageturners. I can't believe it's been that long since we've been together. We have some pretty fun times when we're "discussing" the book of the month. It's a privilege for me to be a part of this group. The women I get to associate with are all great examples to me. I learn from these wonderful ladies all the time. It's a party every time we get together because we have so much fun together.

Xmas or Christmas?

This time of year one hears so much against the word Xmas. People say don’t take Christ out of Christmas. While I agree that is a valid point, I don’t think that is the intent of the word. In Germany back in the 17th and 18th centuries, in old parish records, when a birth, christening, or death was recorded and a person had the word “Christ” as part of their name, many times the scribe would replace that part of the name with an X. The X was recognized as a symbol of Christ. It represented the cross upon which He was crucified. This I believe was done in an attempt to not take the Lord’s name in vain with too much repetition. In other words it was a sign of respect. So now when I think of the word Xmas I view it in a much different light. Not only is it keeping Christ in Christmas, but it ties in the resurrection and the Atonement of the Savior with the celebration of his birth. At least, that’s what it means to me.

The Calm Before the Storm

Wheeeeeeee!!!!!


Swing me Mommy

I want to play with the ducks.

Some of the ducks had some very unique markings. Of course my photography skills don't have much to be desired.


Watching the ducks.


Love those ponytails.

I am really late in posting this. The last few weeks have been a struggle to get anything done. Sorry about that. A few weeks ago on Nov. 28 the weather in KC was absolutely beautiful. Cool, but not cold temperatures, sunny, and just right for enjoying the great outdoors. It was a day to be spontaneous. The perfect day for a picnic so that's what we did. We got KFC, the perfect picnic food lol and went to Antioch Park for spending some time together. Linda, Nathan, and Celeste joined in the fun too. I was with people I love. The sad thing is, the blue monster was in full force. I tried so hard to at least appear to enjoy the day, but it was a struggle. It was fun to see Celeste watch the ducks and go down the slide.

Toga Party

Rebekah is taking Latin 1 in school this year. For one of her projects this quarter the students were to make a toga and wear it all day during school. I have no idea when this assignment was made, but of course she waits until the day before. Guess who ends up making it since Rebekah doesn't know how to sew? You guessed it in one, me. She at least did the shopping for the fabric. Of course she had to put a little modern twist to it. Here she is impersonating a gangsta Roman. Oh and the student with the most bling wins something.

Missouri Indepence All mission picture

This will probably be the only picture I get from Daryn on his mission. He is on the row second from the top and five in from the right, not counting the Elders that are standing at a diagonal. Yeah I can't make him out either. He didn't tell me that when they had the big mission conference a few weeks ago that Elder Russel M. Nelson and his wife were there. Just a small minor detail, but that's Daryn for you.

CTR's Official Bday Party

It's a party!


The Birthday Girl


What party is complete without the presents?


Before the cake.


The Birthday Girl gets her own cake.


After the cake.


Let's open this one first.


Opening presents

Future Pickpocket?????

What child doesn't like to empty everything of a any kind of container. Granted it's usually a "let's just turn it over" kind of thing. Every once in awhile the toddler will take things out one at a time. First the gum.

Why that is I have no idea. One of life's unanswered questions I guess. This is Celeste choosing the later of the two methods. Yes I let her just because I could and it was fun to watch her.

Next comes the keys. Does she think she's going to drive already?


What else does Nana have in here?

Caught in the act.


I'm innocent I tell you. Of course she is. How could that face be guilty?

Young Women in Excellence

I had such a fun time tonight. Tonight was our ward's Young Women in Excellence program and it was absolutely wonderful. The theme was "I Believe". I find it curious in a way that even though the event is geared toward the girls, I gain from it too. The past year and a half has been one of great learning for me. One of the things that I have been trying to learn is to trust. In the bishop's remarks tonight he talked about belief and that is to have confindence in something or someone and to have confidence is to have trust or faith in that something or someone. I find it interesting that this was the theme for the evening since I have been struggling with this.