Christmas Time

We had a wonderful long weekend at the cabin. We packed up the cats and headed out early Saturday morning. We spent some restful days not doing much of anything except opening gifts, reading and sleeping. We found a Christmas Eve service to attend in town. It had the right blend of children being children in a Christmas pageant and beautiful singing.

The tree

There was a bird feeder in my stocking and the birds like it as much as I do. It is hanging off the deck and easy to be seen from the table.

This bird had to do some acrobatics to hang on, but managed.

This size bird seemed to do better.

We came back to town this afternoon to have Christmas dinner at Kendall's cousin Marilyn's. Wonderful friends had just arrived from Illinois - just happen to be Kendall's cousin and Marilyn's sister Marge and her family.

Caroling

In the true spirit of the season we went bundled up in coats, gloves and scarves and headed off to a Christmas party and caroling. OK, so it was only 58, but the wind made it feel really cold! Thank goodness we had hot chocolate to carry with us to help keep us warm as well.

The Happy Couple

Of course Kendall and I are THE happy couple, but last night it was more celebrating of the past 50 years.

Dinner at a nice Italian restaurant

A cookie floating on a sea of creme brulee. A sign of things to come.

Waiting by the fire for the boat to come back to the dock after dinner.

After the ride. I guess it can be considered an Arizona sleigh ride. We were wrapped in blankets and sported winter coats.

Donna and Larry with our Gondolier, Jana, who serenaded us in Italian.

Snow

Kendall's parents arrived on Thursday for a visit. Friday we headed north to spend the night at the cabin.

There was still a dusting of snow from earlier in the week.

The tracks on the door mat were so cute we couldn't disturb them!

We played a few games of Sequence using red and green tiles in honor of Christmas (Kendall's idea). Donna and I won the first game, but the guys came back with a fury and won the next two.

Celebrating 50 years this month.

Saturday night we had the Hesston College men's and women's basketball teams here for pizza and Christmas cookies. 18 pizza, countless dozens of cookies and a good time. Very polite kids. They arrived from snowy Kansas earlier in the day and will be here playing local teams for the next few days.

A Different State of Mind

The weather the past two weeks feels more like I'm living in Illinois or the east coast. This morning was actually cold and foggy. The temperature was in the 40's and there were lots of accidents due to people not knowing how to drive in the fog.

http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/stories/kmsb-20071212-apjc-foggymorning.b6658f7.html

Caramel Corn

Another picture of food, what can I say? This afternoon was the first attempt at my mother-in-law's caramel corn. It isn't quite as good as hers, but as Kendall said - "we won't be throwing that out!". It sure made the house smell good.

A Visitor From the Midwest Continued

The annual lighting of the Courthouse was held last evening at 6:00. They had a narration of the real Christmas story and carols intermingled, sung by school children from the county prior to the lighting.

The lights all came on and it was gorgeous! Of course it was a cold 37 degrees with wind too!

Ivan assisted with the fire starter tasks when we got back to the cabin. Then we played Yahtzee and had warm cookies and hot chocolate.

Frost on the car this morning and a bone chilling 24 degrees! My wonderful husband warmed up the car before we headed back to town and church for the first Sunday in Advent.

Kendall and Ivan

A Visitor From the Midwest

This weekend a college friend of Kendall's came for a visit from Goshen.

We greeted him on Friday with LOTS of rain and cooler weather. We had over 2 inches in less than 12 hours, that's almost 1/3 of our annual rainfall in a year!

Yesterday we headed north to the cabin. Ivan checking out a cactus on the way.

We decided to pause on the journey to find out what this compound was. It is nestled in the valley with not much around it and we've never stopped to see what it was. Thanks to binoculars we were able to discern that it was a dairy farm.

In the town of Prescott we were had a late lunch at Kendall's Famous Burgers.

Arizona Cardinals

This week I had all day meetings at a location close to the new football stadium. We were able to schedule a tour in the evening. Note the 'mean' new mascot from a few years ago.

Inside the visitor's locker room. We weren't allowed in the Cardinal's locker room or the cheerleader's locker room. It is the only NFL stadium with a locker room for the cheerleaders.

The famous field that lives outside and comes in for the games. It takes an hour and 15 minutes to roll in on 76 single HP motors that all start and stop at the same instant. it can only waiver 1/16 of an inch in its journey.

This is where the reporters hang out. They have additional seating plans for the Super Bowl when they are expecting 5,000 reporters.

It was a beautiful sunset that evening.

More Thanksgiving Happenings

I finally embroidered the block that will be added to the quilt Julie is making to welcome baby Noah into the world. It's much harder to thread a needle than it was 10 years ago!

Kendall surprised me with 6 poinsettias that brightened up the cabin. What a guy!

The city had a small light parade welcoming the Christmas season. OK, the picture is really bad, but I felt the need to post at least one. I guess i need a tripod and all the paraphernalia that Lois has!

We bundled up to keep warm! (self portrait)

Jake and Grace Take a Trip

Since we didn't have big plans for working this weekend and we were gone for 4 nights we decided to take the cats with us. Gracie complained on the ride up, but those of you who know her know how she loves to talk! The trip back was even more pleasant and silent as they napped and were quite adjusted to their crates. They liked hanging out in the bedroom and appreciated their beds.

They loved the new sights and couldn't wait for the blinds to be opened in the morning.

They like a Christmas tree no matter what town it happens to be in.

Kendall having a chat with the 'kids'.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend at the cabin. We went up Wednesday morning to prep for the meal on Thursday for 10 local family members who joined us for the day. The temperature was brisk and we enjoy the change from the temperatures we had been experiencing - upper 80's! Too many record breaking temps recently.

Kendall captured me as I was working in the kitchen and he was in the 'family room'.

The Bird on one of the checks to see if he was done. By the way, he wasn't. He needed about another 45 minutes.

The place settings.

A simple table.

I didn't get a picture of everyone this year, but I did manage to capture Uncle Del as he help to split some wood for the fire.

Second Printing, New Desk

I've moved my office upstairs to the old family room. Now I have a fireplace when it gets chilly in the winter and a beautiful view of the pool.

The second printing of The Cookbook arrived last week and 14 copies fit neatly on the bottom shelf.

Seasonal Prep

It will soon be that time of year again and the calendar is filling quickly so I decided it was time to start prepping for the Christmas season. I used the Gingerbread Boys recipe from the cookbook.

Cookies waiting to be frosted.

Cookies ready to go on the tree at the cabin and in the kitchen when the time rolls around. Kendall thinks it is such a waste of a cookie!

Out With the Old; In With the New

This weekend we had new carpet installed at the cabin. As you can see it had been a mismatch of odds and ends.

It looks so much better!