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.