~~CHRISTMAS IN DELTA~~

Rebekah made me a Chicken Roll Keeper. Grandma Janie had one she would put over a bowl to keep rolls warm then all we had to do was reach in where the wings opened and get our rolls!!! Katie put the chicken on her head (she didn't know what it was for)and said I could wear it for Halloween and give out treats from my head.....Thanks Bekah, I love it and I have it in my kitchen on the cupboard.

Christmas Eve morning they all went sleigh riding. I stayed home and cooked dinner. We didn't have a lot of snow left but the kids, big and small, had a good time, I think.

We were expecting a big snow storm that afternoon, but it didn't show up in Delta until Christmas morning. The kids all stayed late on Christmas Eve, they were making me nervous because we knew Utah and Salt Lake valleys would get hit. Sure enough they hit snow on their way home. We did have fun, lots of food and conversation, playing with the grandbabies, Lincoln watch my Living Scripture DVDs. I was so glad, after talking to Shawn, I thought I had goofed again. Lincoln liked them and Sawyer and Ezra even slowed down a minute to watch!!

We missed our 'out of state' families. It's not the same without them all here. Maybe some day.

Christmas was a good day, nice and quiet. A little too quiet. We opened gifts and ate leftovers. Just vegged out for the day. Thanks for all of the great gifts everyone...we appreciate each of you. And...now we can clean up and get ready to do it again next year!!!! ;-D

~~THANKSGIVING PHOTOS~~

A day out target shooting. Ezra didn't have a coat and he really didn't want to wear Grandpa's "orange" sweatshirt. Rob brought his co-worker with him. She has 5 brothers so she fit right in.

Later that day we fondued bananas and apples in chocolate. I have a little Hershey fondue pot Kevin gave us last year for Christmas. I think the boys and grandma had a great time!!

~~Snow Means Christmas~~

It snowed here Saturday. I was so excited! I love the snow, and even more so this year because I don't have to go to work or anywhere else. I can stay home and enjoy it. And Darwin was home with me to enjoy it too. And you all know Darwin, he was right out in it. He HAD to shovel the walks and he HAD to straighten out the house lights. (Which meant going up on the roof) Funny man. During the night someone or someones came and tried taking our reindeer from the front yard. Instead the big one came apart and I think the kids got scared and ran, getting away with nothing. Darwin was up before I was so when I came downstairs I found the big reindeer in the house!! I asked him if this was how he was going to keep it safe??? hahaha!! He actually had to fix some of the lights. So big deer is now back in the yard with the baby deer and all are staked down extra good. And you know some kids are not too bright?? It snowed and Darwin could follow their footprints to their doors.......dah! Of course he didn't, sometimes it's wise not to know who was out having good fun. It's not like we didn't cause trouble when we were 12. And our kids did their share. I remember Tori coming home scared because some farmer had chased her and the Basset kid and friends.....and who didn't go toilet papering???

I think we will be getting MORE SNOW today!! So I am going to bring in some wood and bake sugar cookies. And do some laundry, clean bathrooms, change bedding, wrap presents, shovel snow, mop snow off the floor, and start over when Darwin comes home.

~~DECEMBER 9TH~~

I thought today would be a great day to update our blog since it is our baby's birthday!!!
We can't believe Tori is 28 years old. I always think back to that day, she was two weeks over due and really wanted to come into the world!! I remember getting up and knew something wasn't quite right. Katie had been born c-section so it was likely Tori would too. Even though the doctors said not necessarily so. Tori was trying to come through the old incision. We called the doctor's office and they had us come right over and then sent us right to the hospital. While I was waiting for Darwin to come home from work to take me to the doctors, I made a phone call. Back then the General Relief Society board had a hot line with a thought for the month. I called that line and I can't remember who was giving the message but it was about Mary. The Sister remind us about what life was like back then and how hard it was for an expecting mother. No running water, no hospital, no Doctor, no cars, no heat, no pain pills or shots. Here I was scared and feeling so unsure of what was to happen in the next few hours. The Sister continued about how Mary left it to the Lord to watch over her little family as they entered Bethlehem. She knew everything would be all right. How great was her FAITH. Darwin got home and we headed out.
At the hospital, I was set up for another c-section. i had eaten 1 caramel earlier that day so I could not be anesitized. I was glad I had called that hot-line. I could not feel sorry for myself. I could only remember Mary. I prayed for strenghth to handle the pain. The Doctor did deaden
the lower half or whatever they did back then. Of course, it didn't completely work. ;( As I prayed, I heard the doctor decide to just go ahead. That's when I passed out. Tori was delivered and I was stapled up then woke up. It all worked out great.
I will always remember Mary and will always be thankful to her for her courage and example.
So Miss Victoria Ann Bills Thompson, Happy Birthday!!!

~~HERO DAD~~

We have been up North the last two week-ends and each time your Dad has been a "rescuer".

The first weekend, we were heading toward the escalator in the Provo Towne Mall and a little 4 or 5 year old girl was standing there by herself. Her Grandma and Mother were going up the escalator and yelling at her to get on! Of course these days you don't know if you should help and get in trouble or run. I could tell the mother was being cautious and wondering what to do, did I mention she had a baby in her arms? But the frantic Grandma asked your Dad to bring her up to them. The little girl was hesitant at first until her Mom said it was okay. I wished I'd had a camera, she reached up and took your Dad's hand and held on til we were at the top and then she took her Grandma's hand and waved good-bye after saying Thank-you to him.

The next week-end we pulled into the Mervyn's parking lot at the University Mall. There was a college student standing in the empty space next to the one we pulled into. She was on her cell phone and you could tell she was very upset! She reminded me of our kids when we'd get the 'phone calls". Your Dad was smiling, he said, "Wait til you get out and come around, you'll see what's wrong." She had pulled her car over one of those cement dividers. She had called a kid to come help her. (Her licenced said Washington) It wasn't two seconds and he pulled up, he had two logs with him and a jack. But your Dad took charge and offered to help push the car back over the cement divider. He did use the logs. The poor girl was sooo thankful. She shook his hand and had tears in her eyes. And of course your Dad was the proud rescuer!!

What a guy!!!

~~Finished Project~~

Here they are. All finished!!

~~MY PROJECT~~

Just before going to Arkansas, we had bought a new TV stand for the TV. (that was dah) Any who, I painted the inside black and thought by time we got back it would be dry. (Actually, I put the back on right side out and had nailed the sucker on pretty good.) Needless to say the Family Room was a mess, in all of the rearranging, I decided to build a built-in bookcase. I have watched millions of the DIY shows, how hard could it be? Darwin bought me the wood and I was off. I had an idea of building a frame and raising it into the square. I cut out the carpet, and built a platform for this frame to sit on. So far so good. The problem was that I had put all of the books on the love seat right where I need to put my frame together??? And I WASN"T going to move those books one more time!! So I built the frame in the middle of the Family room. Darwin said he would help me get it into the square??? Okay, I measured three times and everything was all set----we raised the frame. BAM! We hit the low part of the ceiling! With some finagling we got it in place. Yea!!! Next we went on a quest to get the brackets and peg things to put the shelves up with. Remember, we live in Delta!! Argh!! ;( Losee's had some of the uprights I needed but not enough and they didn't have the little peg things. So I had Gary order me some, he said they would be in on Monday. Ya, right! I called after 11 just to give them time to find them, only to find out Gary went up on Monday to get his order and would be back around 3 or 4. :( Mind you, I came down with a cold Saturday, I got chilled out in the garage painting shelves. So I decided to wait and called on Tuesday, The uprights were there but the guy couldn't find the peg things. Fine. :( I felt like crap so I took some cough syrup and had a nap. I worked in between feeling good and coughing on the frame work around the bookcase. Wednesday I headed up to Losee's! The peg things were not in stock at the warehouse and had to come from another company, Gary said they should be here Thursday! Argh :( (So did that mean next week?) I did some errands and when I got home Losee's called. The peg things were there!! ;) Happy Day!!
I rushed home with my little $35 package of peg things and got busy putting in the uprights I had gotten that morning and the shelves!! I couldn't wait to get the books off of the love seat, I noticed the seat cushions were getting flatter and flatter! No worry though, they popped right back up with some fluffing. The books now have a permanent home and I can say I built the bookcase myself !! Mostly.....