Christmas Weekend

We headed north Friday afternoon for our weekend that is a start of 4 days off.  We were happy to see snow greeting us at the cabin.

 

We started a fire in the fireplace and settled in.

 

Saturday brought some cookie baking, dinner out and a drive through the wonderful Christmas lights while sipping on hot cocoa and coffee - eating said cookies!

Looking toward downtown as we left the restaurant.

 

 

Sunday we awoke to an email from Lois indicating that she would be coming into the local airport with a two hour window until her passengers were to arrive.  I had fun tracking her as she made her way across the country. 

 

 We made some fabulous treats with chocolate, peanut butter, caramel and pretzels nestled inside.
 

We couldn't go to the airport to see Lois empty handed, so I pulled together a little basket with the cookies from yesterday, the chocolate treats and some Christmas M&Ms for fun.

 

 A little sun in our eyes

 

Kendall looks right at home in the posh airplane

Checking out the mechanics of the plane

Lois brought us some treats from New Mexico

 

The time 'flew' by!  What an unexpected treat.

Back to Illinois

We had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Illinois where I lived from 1997 to 2003.  It was SO good to connect with old friends and attend church with them once again.

 

Friday night we headed to downtown Normal to the renovated Normal Theater to watch A Christmas Vacation.

 

Saturday we ventured to Springfield to the Lincoln Museum with Doug & Jenell

Lincoln's cabin - the early years

Courting Mary Todd

We were invited to the White House to join the Lincoln's in a family portrait

The White House

As we were leaving we spied the city bus decorated for the Christmas parade

 

 

We made it back to Bloomington by 6:30 for an out of this world dinning experience with Marge & Barry.  Doug & Jenell won the dinner in an auction and we were fortunate enough to be able to get in on the evening.

A beautiful table!

...and a beautiful hostess

The meal was spectacular - every one of the four courses

After dinner we enjoyed great conversation with Connie, Marge, Rick, Tim, Sue, Barry, Doug, Jenell, Mara and Chellie & Eric

We even found a few minutes to stop in at Scottwood where I found the beautiful tiny lights that look great on my dinning room table.

Sunday after church we were taken out to dinner by a gentleman that I send Christmas cookie to every year as a thank you.  He's 95 years old and won 6 gold medals in the latest state Sr. Olympics!

TV Appearance

Today on AZ TV I did my Fruit Dip.  Yummy goodness with just four ingredients that you mix together: 8-oz of Cream Cheese, 1 jar of Marshmallow Fluff, 3 T. Orange Juice and 1/8 t. ginger.  Add a more OJ to make it as thin as you like.

 

 

Since I took a vacation day, I decided to stop at the Outlet Mall on the way home to do a little Christmas shopping and get into the season.

 

The tree is the tallest Christmas tree in Arizona

 



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We always look forward to the lighting of the Courthouse the first Saturday of the month when they actually read the real Christmas story from the Bible and choirs fill in with appropriate songs.  Last night we managed to find a great parking spot and then dinner without needing to wait.  For a change of pace we changed locations and watched from across the street.  It was nice to see the 'big picutre', but we missed the connectedness of being up close. 

The cabin is also decked out for Christmas.  Can you tell it is my favorite time of the year?

I was feeling nostalgic this year, so Kendall took me to the most awesome hardware store and we picked up these old fashioned lights.  Then it just screamed for tinsel too - just a touch.

A couple years ago I took some of the really pretty cards and created ornaments for the tree.  Here are Emma and Rachel.

 

And I love the fireplace and the mantel.

Thanksgiving

The weekend went so fast!  We flew to Kansas to surprise Kendall's parents, as did his sister Torrie.  They had no idea we were coming.  The nephews picked us up at the airport and we were able to walk into Kirby and Darcie's home to surprise Mom & Dad on Thanksgiving afternoon.  It was nice to take a break from school for a few days.

 

Kirby's store was beautifully decorated for the holidays

 

We attended a 'door decor' class at Kirby's store, presented by Larry, the designer

A morning relaxing with coffee

 

In the Neighborhood

 

This is a sight we don't see every day. Kendall couldn't get to our house (behind the helicopter) because of the activity and I was still at work.  Unfortunately it was for a little 3 year old, visiting her grandpa a street over from us, who got in the backyard pool.  They tried to resuscitate her, but she didn't make it.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

Sunday Brunch

Uncle Bob and Aunt Lola Fay are back in town for the winter.  It was nice to have them join us for church and brunch afterward.

 

 

Universal Studio City

The welcome party for the conference was held at Universal Studio City, and it was a blast!  All the food, rides and arcade games were free to us.

 

My friend Jennifer who now lives in Boise.  Eating ribs at the Flintstone's BBQ.

My friends - Ben & Jerry

Posing with the crew of Apollo 13

The series of escalators that took us to the lower level for the rides and backstage tours

The bear I won getting a ball into the hoop.



Last Day of the Conference

We had an appearance by Max Page.  He is the little cutie pie that was the "Little Darth Vader" in the Super Bowl car commercial that just had to make you smile.  He has quite a medical history at the age of only 7.  He was born with a heart anomaly and has several surgeries already, the most recent one this summer to replace a valve.  He and his mother were quite articulate.

 

 

The last speaker was Mark Kelly, astronaut and husband of Gabby Giffords

 





LA

The Magnet Recognition Program was in LA this year.  It's allowed for time to connect with friends from across the country and experience new adventures.

 My room was interesting - the hotel is a Moroccan theme, but with a metal cactus in the lobby.

Glass door knobs - I love them!

A little bling at the convention center

A High School of the performing arts - one like Glee is based  on.

 Melissa Gilbert welcoming us to the conference Wednesday morning

 Guacamole created table side

 Interesting lights in the restaurant

Filming of NCSI-LA on the way to the convention center Thursday morning.  You can see we had clouds and some rain in sunny LA.

Mark Feuerstein, the star of Royal Pains Welcomed us on Thursday morning.  He was a hoot and the crowd loved him.