Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas everyone. I was a busy with moving and didn't mail out as many as I planned. So you get to enjoy a digital one!

joys of owning a house

Thanks Grandpa Jensen for the lawn mower!!

And a picture of my christmas tree and presents that have already been wrapped! I think my tree looks way better in real life (especially all lit up)!

more moving pics

Here is Steve with the Uhaul Saturday morning (Dec. 13th). He's out in the street that way because he was going to back up the Uhaul into our driveway.

Here is Steve and I in our new home on Friday night after cleaning, painting, and an overall stressful day. We are so grateful for our home!

First Nativity

I bought my first nativity last year after Christmas, on a great sale. I bought a wood one, so I wouldn't worry about Rebecca playing with it. So I pulled it out from one of the many boxes.

Here are all the wise men, angel, shepherd, Mary, Joseph, and animals lined up in a nice, neat fashion to see baby Jesus.

Not how I would normally set up the Nativity, but it works.

For Bebe

if you ever get a chance to look.

Rebecca is TWO!

We had a birthday party Sunday night for RJ. Here she is in pre-party.

This is her party outfit:

opening presents

blowing out candles and eating cake!

glowstick fun...I'll see how the video turned out and post it if its good.

We Moved!

Just wait until we have had time to make this even better! I've already started hacking away at the overgrown bushes out front and I'm going to repaint the screen door. I have to pace myself with the things I can't wait to do with my OWN home! We love it! The neighborhood is very nice too. We've had multiple people come introduce themselves. This couple who lives a couple houses up the street stopped by while I was hacking away at the bushes and introduced themselves and welcomed us. They also informed us that there is a family two doors up with teenage daughters and they are great babysitters. Good girls who make good grades. They were a very nice couple. She had just had heart surgery so she couldn't ride in the front seat, so she calls her husband Jeeves, because he is chauffering her around.

My grandpa Van Leeuwen turned 80 last month and I sent him the birthday card above. Then I made this Christmas card for him and sent it with 2 dozen caramels. It's his wife's recipe that I use. She passed away 6 years ago and I decided to start carrying on her tradition. Homemade caramels are so yummy!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Kids playing in the front yard in the leaves.

Deep frying the turkey. In this first picture you can see all the oil that spilled over the side.

Being safe and wearing protective goggles.

Girl's Weekend

I went on a girl's weekend the other weekend with my friend Lindi. We stayed at her parent's place in Aptos (Santa Cruz). We watched girly movies, had massages, drank tea and watched the sun set, went to the farmer's market, had a yummy lunch, did some sewing. We had a wonderful time!

I love Buffets.

When on my trip last month to Southern Utah, my FIL and I stopped at the Mandalay Bay buffet for dinner. I only got one picture of the food, which was delicious! This is actually dessert. A coconut cream pie, chocolate ganache thing, and a raspberry creme with fresh fruit in a chocolate cup. So tasty! Thanks pops!

Forbes

Restaurant week is when some restaurants that are a little pricey offer a 3 course meal for $20 at lunch and $30 at dinner. We decided to go to a steak house here in Danville, especially once we found out that we had the house. So to celebrate we came here and about 10 minutes after we showed up, our friends did too! It was such a happy suprise and fun to have dinner with them!

Halloween picture from the Danville Carnival.

I'll play.

Tina "tagged" me. Not really because she didn't actually name me, but I haven't done this and it seems like an easy post, so why not?

So, this is the 4th folder under my pictures and the 4th picture in there.

(1) The date I have on this is 4/2/08. I'm not sure how accurate, but I know the month is right. (2) Starting in the front and going back is Dayne (13 months), Rebecca (16 months) and Crewe (55 months :). (3) Cousins playing together in the backyard. (4) The two girls just love Crewe and each other!

So any family who hasn't done this, I'll tag you. Rules: 4th album, 4th picture, 4 things about it. Quick simple post.

Black Friday Shopping

With all the amazing deals going on today, we decided we couldn't pass them up and bought appliances for our new home. I'm grateful for the deals! I got way better appliances than I was hoping for! I'm not at home, so I will post later pictures of turkey frying.

more lists

Here is an altered notebook I did for myself, for my many lists.

More trip

These first two pictures are taken in the middle of Nevada somewhere off of 50 - the Loneliest Highway.

This is grandpa and RJ with the ducks and geese at South Lake Tahoe.

Square Card

Unity Square card from Hip Hop Thursday yesterday! So ready for Christmas time!!!! Thanks for looking!

In Utah

More pics form our trip. I'm completely covered in the leaves in this picture.

Grandma Jensen

Below is a conversation I got to overhear just a few minutes ago.


"Allen, come and sit down. I have something very important to tell you. And you need to sit because you may not like it."


A pause


"I wanted to thank you for providing such a wonderful home and a beautiful garden. I really appreciate them and you did a great job."


Now this is not the exact words, but for those of you who know Grandma Jensen, its pretty close. I am grateful that Steve's grandparents have been so generous to let us disrupt their quiet lives, while we have waited to hear about our house. And I am grateful for what wonderful examples they are in how we should treat our spouses even after so many years. Humor is a definite need in a relationship.

Sunset in Tahoe

On my trip last week, we came home through Tahoe and saw this beautiful sunset as well pulled in. Gorgeous! It was my first time to Tahoe. I like it, but it was cold!

Lists

This is a notebook I made for my sister. I did it back in the summer but forgot to post it. In my family we are huge on lists. My mom, my sister and I all have notebooks and make list after list of anything and everything. So I made this list book for Holly!

Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Doesn't get much better than this! Other than I should make homemade lemon curd to go in between the layers next time! I made this to celebrate getting our new house.

cake

RJ enjoying some cake at the family dinner after Uncle Rod's funeral. We are so grateful for all of our family and while this event was sad, it is so wonderful to see family. The silver lining on such events.

RJ and I are heading to southern UT tomorrow with Grandpa. Our Great Uncle Rodney (Steve's middle namesake) died a week ago and he is being buried in Parowan. We are stopping by Hurricane on the way to see Uncle Rowdy. It should be a nice trip.

The picture is from Halloween when we were watching Johnny's class parade around in their costumes. She is wearing Isaac's shirt (who is 7 monthes younger than her).