Faces of Christmas 2009

Christmas has come and gone with all the wonders and magic of a child. On Christmas Eve Dennis and I spent it at my Mother's in Blackfoot playing cards and enjoying the evening. On Christmas morning Troy and Laura flew in from Seattle, Tracy and Tyler from Idaho Falls and Tenille, Grant, Tanner, Chelsey, Tyler, Neta and Travis and Ryann all from Pocatello. All in all we had 24 people for Christmas Day. What an incredibly special time of the year! I love having my children and grandchildren around!

We laughed, played games, ate lots of food, cinnamon rolls, fudge, cookies, goodies, jalapeno dip and chips, ham, turkey, rolls, salads, played some more games, opened gifts, ate some more food, enjoyed each others company, ate some more food and played more games. The next day, we all got dressed in our coordinating t-shirts and had some professional photo's taken at the Taylor Crossing Building.

On Wednesday, keeping with tradition, we went to Lava Hot Springs to soak and enjoy the therapeutic water, followed by Hot Chocolate and Tater Tots at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.

We finished the week out by helping Grandma Ruby fix her new computer and some final nights of family fun and games. I will miss all of the laughter and excitement in the air. Thank you for a beautiful Christmas Holiday and making it very special for Dennis and I. We Love you all and appreciate the sacrifices that you make each and every day. I hope that the new year will be good to all of you. Abby trying on her "panties" on her head

Hunter enjoying his Dad's present - the annual gift "log"

Dakota and his Mom checking out the presents

Christmas isn't Christmas without transformer's - just ask Blake

Stacking the tires

Opening the gifts

Gifts at Christmas

Abby enjoying her food

The grand kids eating Christmas dinner on their special table

Christmas tree photo

Relaxation

Hunter getting ready to take the first "big" step New camera photo's

Christmas blooming

Goofing off in the Snow

Kaylee and the Christmas Mask

Idaho Weather

Christmas Cactus in Bloom at Ruby's house

Pizza at Great-Grandma Ruby's

Traditional Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Checking out the cupboards by Hunter - where did Grandma hide the marshmallows?

Girl's Christmas Tea-party

Handmade ornaments

Our newest addition - Elizabeth in her Christmas outfit

Just plain relaxing!

Oatmeal Jumble Bars

All: Here is recipe that my Mom and Tenille really like. I used to make these bars a lot when the kids were growing up so they would get their "oats".

Oatmeal Jumble Bars

3 cups Quaker Oats (Quick or old fashioned - I used old fashioned)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
One 10-12 oz jar preserves (I generally use raspberry, but the stores have a mixed berry which is really good)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In large bowl, combine all ingredients except preserves, mix well.
Reserve 1 cup mixture of oatmeal mixture.
Press remaining onto bottom of lightly greased pan. Spread preserves evenly over crust to within 1/2 inch of edge of pan, sprinkle with reserved oatmeal mixture. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, cut into bars. Makes 9 x 13 pan of bars. Put into an air-tight container. ENJOY!

2009 Thanksgiving

Several of us went to Blackfoot to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Perkes side of the family. We had a good time visiting and seeing alot of cousins that we haven't seen for a long time. We also celebrated Thaksgiving at our house on Sunday, November 29th. Everyone was here except Troy and Laura who celebrated at Laura's Moms.

These yams were "golden brown" - not burnt!!!!Jill's Mom and Grandchildren - they are the BEST!

The "infamous" Thanksgiving Candy Party - we also had a fruit party with apples and oranges and also a pie and ice cream party - Grandkids are funniest.

Scary Night

All: last night was a scary night. Dennis was excited about going to the climbing wall with the boy scouts, which he has done several times before. But, last night was different. He left the house around 7:00 pm and was home at 8:15 pm. I knew that something had to be wrong. Well, it was! He was in extreme pain, his face was white as a ghost. I ask him what was wrong and he began to tell me what had happen. I immediately put him in the car and off to the hospital we went.

While at the climbing gym one of the older scouts was belaying (can't spell) him down from the top of the tallest wall, around 30 - 35 feet high, and instead of hitting the brakes on the ropes, he tried to grasp it with his hands, and Dennis fell somewhere between 20 - 25 feet to the ground. He hit a 2 x 4 on the ground and was in extreme pain. At the hospital after lots of x-rays, pain medication it was discovered that he had fractured (cracked) the L2 vertebrae in his back. We were told that the only thing they could do was give him pain medication and to keep moving so he wouldn't stiffen up.

We arrived back home around 1:00 am on Wednesday. Dennis went straight bed, however, the pain was pretty bad so he took another pain pill around 3:00 am and another at 8:45 am. I picked up his med's at the pharmacy around 9:30 am and took them home - he was trying to sleep, but I could tell that he couldn't get comfortable. He has slept most of the day today. On top of all of that he cut his tongue really bad and has that nice taste in his mouth and can't eat very well. Anyway, this was a really scary night and I hope that he feels better tomorrow, but they told him it would take 4- 6 weeks to heal completely. I will update his progress later.