Nothin' better to do....

.....on a Thursday night..... Go to a Mystery Dinner.

Hosted by Spencer and Shana, we all showed up in "true character"....ready to solve the mystery and find out who really killed Judge Waylon Payne.

Shana and Spence put on a 3-course meal while we sat around the table eating and throwing out accusations trying to "figer it out"....

The cast of characters..........ready to get 'er done.

Ye haw.....good times. Ya outta try it some time.

'Tis the season.....

....for family, food, and fun and we have done just that throughout the past week. I've had a really hard time feeling the spirit of Christmas this year but as soon as the family started to arrive and the festivities began, I pumped up the the tunes and the non-stop fun began. Pretty late in the season for this to be the first time at the Temple to see the lights but I ventured up with Spencer's fam on Thursday.....Traci and Russ arrived Thursday night....

Friday night was our 3rd Annual Gingerbread House Competition....winner, me, proclaimed by me 'cause I was the judge and all of my little grand children wanted to win so badly and I didn't know which one of them should win and so I proclaimed myself the winner because I felt in my heart that none of them would get mad at their grandmother....right, wrong, call it what you want....I've always felt that losing once in a while builds character so we did a little character building that night but each of their little houses was a winner to me and it would have been hard to pick just one. There actually was a very minimal amount of grumbling. My many thanks again to JoEllen who works hard to put the framework together for all 16 of the houses.

Saturday morning was our hike to the red hill...a must on Christmas Eve. Kills time and tires the kiddies and gets them ever so ready to climb into bed at night....

...but the Homerun Derby that is usually on Christmas day was also on this day as Christmas fell on a Sunday....so everyone was even more tired by the time this was over....

...and Spencer being home for the first time in a lot of years went home the winner....and had the privilege of holding the Louisville Slugger bat in the group pic.

...then on to the Christmas Eve party at my Mom's....this year over 50 of us but we fit and had fun. After the usual great food, Colleen had prepared a "Minute to Win It" competition....

...where everyone enjoyed trying the various stunts....

....and the kids posed in their jackets from Great Grandma.....

....then on to my house for my "Grandma Gift" to the kids......

"You have to wait on the stairs until I'm ready"........

Money jars for everyone.....Three parts to this gift. 1. Something to put the money in. 2. Some money (a roll of quarters for each kid) 3. When it's filled up, come to me and I'll give you another roll of quarters. Now on to a new year. May your days be as merry and bright as they possibly can be. Happy New Year!!!!

What happens at Grandma's...

.....stays at grandma's unless you blog about it so here goes. The kids came over for the evening.

After a little pizza and pop....

....let's just say it turned into a "Shasta Blast" as I bought a bunch of those little cans of Shasta so they could each have their own can of pop (they usually waste the big ones)...and Drew had the idea that if you shake it really hard and chuck it at the wall, it explodes.

He begged me to let him do it...and of course, trend setter that he is, they all wanted to try it and as disgusting as it was and as wasteful as it was and as messy as it was....I didn't say no.

Grandmas kinda don't really know how to say no and it made them happy and it made me laugh....so what's a few half cans of Shasta if it brings momentary joy and laughter.

Jack got in on the act....look how proud he is. How could I deny a kid that joy?

Then the silliness began....three little girls in a big pair of pajamas...."help, we've fallen and we can't get up"......

...and I finally got my tree decorated...they did a mighty fine job.

We actually tried going Christmas caroling....didn't work out so well but we decorated some cupcakes, colored some pictures, played a little "Steal the Pillows" and by about 9....well, let's just say my love had run out and I was ready to have them put their heads on their own little beds. That's where mine's going right now...Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

To the sons in my life....

....I pay tribute this day because when I saw this picture of Traci's boys, I couldn't help but remember what fun it was to raise sons.......

Hers are every bit as different from each other as mine were.....

....so different that some would wonder if they came from the same mother.....

...but I'm here to attest, they are all mine; and these days I see George, Seth and Miller.....

.....and I'm so happy to have them close by, raising sons (and daughters) of their own. Love it, love it. But I'm grateful for my daughters too. They were "the icing on the cake" for me and raising them was a piece of cake.

It was great to spend a day this past week with Traci and her sons Scotty, Jakey and Max and Lauri and her daughter, Lucy. I'm a pretty happy grandma right now and count myself blessed to be able to watch my kids be moms and dads.

Gotta do a little back tracking...

....and mention that we really did have a nice Thanksgiving week-end. Just some random pics. Enjoyed Lauri and James here and tho' we all met at different places for Thanksgiving dinner, we were able to come together for some traditional Mexican cuisine by Lauri. Always love it...the food and the company.

Tres Leche, everyone's favorite.

Everyone pitched in to get the feast ready.....

Lucy's lovin' the whipped cream, Wells style....