Christmas 2009 - Girl's Party

I had such a great time preparing and hosting my annual Girl's Lunch & Ornament Party. This is my favorite thing at Christmas!!! I had so much fun planning the food, the table and the gift I gave each of them. I just wanted them to know how much I love them and how much they each mean to me.
I loved using my big jars filled with marshmellows and peppermint candies in the middle of the table with lots of green & red decorations.

This year I made each of the girls a beaded crystal to hang in a sunny window. I love crystals and I love the colors that come from the crystal when the sun shines on them. April helped me get the crystals beaded (we put crystals and beads on the string the crystal hangs from). Hopefully the girls were able to feel my love for them as I explained the reason I chose crystals to give them. I told them that when they saw the different colors coming from the crystal, I hoped it would remind them of how much I love them.


For lunch I had "make your own taco salad" with all the trimmings and sour cream chicken enchiladas. As ususal I had more food than we could eat - so the men of the family pitched in and helped us eat it. Dessert was brownies with peppermint ice cream and fudge sauce. YUM!


This sweetie (Shannon) drove several hours to come and attend the party. Bless her heart. I was so happy she came. It would not have been the same. She and her husband came on Friday night and had to leave Sat. night. I couldn't believe that they would travel so just for my annual party - but I was so happy they did. LOVE THOSE KIDS!

This is Lani & I and her little one. She picked an ornament that was a Santa manger scene. I bought one to match hers to hang on my tree.

April picked an old fashioned metal ornament that had a bird on it. She loves those kinds of ornaments and so do I. In fact, I bought a couple of extra's.

Shannon picked out a cute glass ornament that had a great shade of green on it. It is modern and I loved her choice. In fact, each of the girls picked out 2 different ornaments. Hobby Lobby was one of our stops and they had their ornaments on sale - so with their $10 limit, they each picked out 2 ornaments.

Fran picked out 2 pretty ornaments - pink of course which is great since I love pink myself.


Laura picked out 2 she loved. I love the bell grouping. She had a hard time deciding which I totally understand. There were so many choices! I love her choices.
I also found some ornaments that I fell in love with and had to pick up. But the challenge came when I had to find room on the tree for all the ornaments. I labeled each one with their name and date on it. At the rate I am going I will have to get another tree to hold them all!

The following Saturday I hosted the "Little Girls Lunch & Ornament Party"

I did a snowman theme for the little girls party. My sweet neighbor loaned me her Santa Claus placemats. They are so cute. The napkin is folded and tucked into the top of Santa's head to form the hat. So fun!

For lunch we had pizza and salad with all the trimmings with brownies and peppermint ice cream with fudge sauce.

Me & sweet Kaka! Love this girl.

Me & Monk! This girl is darling!!


These girls had a good time shopping for their 2 ornaments. Hard to choose. But they each picked out cute ornaments and we had a great time!!!


I love this time of the year. And I love my annual Christmas party! It makes my Christmas! And I love these girls in my life! They are my best friends and they probably don't know how much I love them and how much they mean to me. I'm grateful they put up with me! THANKS GIRLS!!!!

35 Year Anniversary!

It has been way too long since I last posted. All I can say is that life is busy and I have let time get away from me.

Also - my printer/scanner died, and my computer is on it's way out also. That is just what I wanted to have happen. It makes me sad - not sure when we will be able to upgrade or replace the scanner - but will work on it. The computer is going to have to be replaced also.

This Thanksgiving has been a great one. I did not have to cook the whole dinner. I just made pies, rolls and candied yams and went to our son & daughter-in-law (Jake & Fran) to enjoy Thanksgiving together. It was great and we had a good time. Fran is a wonderful cook and we enjoyed the food and especially the company.
There are so many things to be thankful for each day - and I love that we really turn our hearts and thoughts at this time of the year to things we are thankfull for. But there are things I am grateful for each day. My life has been so blessed! I have the most wonderful husband and children, children-in law and grandchildren-in-law we love as our own. I am most grateful for family and family relationships. They are the most important things.
And this year I am once again so very grateful for this guy:

I fell in love with Cliff 35 years ago. The anniversary of our engagement occurred the night before Thanksgiving 35 years ago.
The SMARTEST THING I ever did in my life was agree to marry him. I have been so lucky to have him in my life. He has made me a better person and has always encouraged me to be my best. He has supported me in whatever I have wanted or needed to do and has been my right hand, always there to help me. He listens to me talk and talk and patiently endures all my ramblings (which can be many). He is such a gentleman and I love that. I know I am important to him and he puts me first in all he does. How lucky could I ever be?

Cliff flew to my hometown the day before Thanksgiving in 1974 to spend the holiday with me. He had already asked me to marry him a couple of months earlier, but I was surprised when he surprised me with an engagement ring late that night.

It was hard to go to sleep that night and I got up early to help my Mom get Thanksgiving turkey in the oven and start the cooking. We had a lovely day with my family.
Friday we went to have pictures taken and spent the rest of the weekend just enjoying being together.
I will never forget the sadness and heaviness in my heart when I took him to the airport to fly home Sunday evening. The thought of not being together was heart wrenching. Long distant courtships are not fun :(

It has been a wonderful 35 years. Well, wonderful doesn't really fit. Is there a word out there that expresses "wonderful" times 100,000? I don't know that word - but if there is such a word - that would begin to describe my feelings for this guy.

That engagement evening led to this and I thank God everyday for this most blessed blessing. Somehow - I was put in a situation to meet an angel and be able to keep him for me. THANK YOU Heavenly Father for allowing me a wonderful life!

A Fun Treasure

This is my grandmother & grandpa Woodcock. They are standing at the table holding their 25th wedding anniversary wedding cake. They lived on a ranch on the Missouri River on the Missouri Breaks in Montana. There was a little column in the paper announcing their anniversary party. It was fun to read and I want to share a little from the article:
"...About 75 guests attended the celebration down on the ranch. A mock wedding was the highlight of the entertainment. Friends portrayed the bride, groom, best man, maid of honor and bridesmaids, the father of the bride, flower girl & ring bearer and the minister. They received many lovely gifts along with money and cards. A delicious lunch was served along with a three tiered wedding cake..."
I thought this sounded so fun. A mock wedding. I'm sure there were a lot of laughs and fun. My grandparents were married on 9-21-1927 in Hector, Minnesota. And 25 years later in 1952 had this fun party.
I found tonight the guest book and newspaper article and other pictures, but my one thrill was finding the following. It is just a sample of the many cards they got, but I love - LOVE old vintage cards. I picked out a few that I fell in love with to add to this post. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I love the colors that were used and the art work.
I must think of something fun to do with these cards. They have been stored in a box for many years and I think it would be fun to think of someway to display them and enjoy them now. Otherwise, they will sit in a box for another 57 years, buried. I love to enjoy these treasures. Any ideas? I am open for any suggestions.
Please enjoy.
I also found baby announcements at least 54 years old that I will post at another time. They were so fun to find.
I am grateful that my grandmother saved these. She and I both are the kind of girls that save things. Thanks grandma!!! Love ya!!!

He Started Young

This is my Cliff. Found this picture - I blew it up and put it on my bulletin/picture board in the office. He is wearing his Dad's irrigation boots. Those boots are almost as big as he is. Love the vest. He must have watched his Dad put on these boots many times to do the irrigating.
Cliff today still wears irrigation boots. We irrigate our place every 2 weeks in the summer and about 1 time a month in the winter. He does not wear a vest when he irrigates - he wears his bib overalls. He use to help his Dad here and when we were first married he would wear his Dads boots - but it was hard. You see, Cliff grew and his feet were a lot bigger than his Dads. They finally wore out and Cliff bought his own boots that fit.
I'm sure when he was this young he never thought that he would be wearing boots like that 50 years later.

Back to Sewing

I love to sew. There was a time when my children were young that I did sew quite a bit. I loved to sew dresses for my girls. And I loved to make matching dresses. It was hard to do that sewing during the day - so I would stay up really late at night and into the morning hours to sew uninterrupted. I loved it. Most of my skills were very basic - but I was happy with the results. And the girls seemed to love them.
Cliff bought me a new sewing machine when we lived in Wyoming. I was so excited to get it and had my Mom come over and help me figure out how to use it. And I did put it to a lot of use.
The last few years I have not been able to do much sewing. Taking care of parents, kids and life has put a stop to that activity except for occasional mending. But I have missed it and have started back on some sewing projects. I have made April a couple of things and have started a quilt top. I set up a sewing area and have enjoyed getting ready to do some sewing. My projects are spread out on the bed in the guest room to constantly remind me to jump in and enjoy myself.






My "old" machine now still works great and it brings back many memories of late night sewing. There is something about being creative that helps relax and calm the soul. When I walk by - it pulls at me to stop - slow down and come and do and refresh my soul.
So - I have decided to set aside an evening each week (if not more) to go in that room and sit down at my "old" friend and enjoy myself. We'll see what happens. What fun!

Camping - A Family Affair

Saw this picture today and it brought back a lot of memories. This is taken in the Shirley Mountains. I have spent many many days in those mountains camping with my family when I was growing up. I will eventually find some pictures from that time and post them - but for now - I was happy to find this picture. After Cliff & I were married for about 4 years, we moved to Wyoming near my parents and we spent our fair share of time camping in the Shirley's (as we called them). We were fortunate to have a nice camper to stay in which was great when you are camping with little children. We bought that camper about 2 weeks before April was born and took it out about 2 weeks after she was born. Many happy days and hours were spent in that camper.

My Dad made a swing out of a milk crate for the little ones to swing in and here is Shannon pushing April in the swing. Dad always made sure there was fun things for kids to do. We loved those camping trips and missed them when we moved away.

We have not been able to do any camping for a long time. I miss it. Our lives got busy taking care of parents, so our weekends were spent doing other things. We sold our camper and I miss it. I wish we had spent more time taking the kids camping. Jake was born after we were taking care of parents and did not get to do family camping like the girls did. He has been camping, but not like the girls experienced.

There is nothing like being out in nature and enjoying the peace and quiet and the beauties that God has created for us. There is something about being in nature that draws you a little closer to God. It is a good place to ponder and reflect on what is most important. When you leave and head home, you feel refreshed and ready to tackle life again a little more committed to do the important things, the things that really matter.

I am grateful that we did get to camp and enjoy those beauties and spend time together as a family. I don't know how much of that my children remember - they were little - but what memories they have of those times together I hope brings them happiness, for it was a happy time.

Our Sweet Jennilyn

33 years ago on this coming Thurday, our first daughter was born. Jennilyn was born on 6-25 and passed away on 6-26. She was born at 26 weeks and lived about 30 minutes or so. It was an experience I never would want to live through again and one I would never wish on anyone. It was scary and such a heartbreak!! Cliff was my strength, my testimony in God and His plan gave me courage and comfort, family and friends helped support Cliff & I through difficult times.
Cliff and I went to the cemetery on Sunday. It is good to go and ponder and think about family and God's plan for us. Cliff always cleans the grave stone and I take flowers. I wonder what she thinks of her Mom & Dad.
Time really does heal, lifes experiences and my belief in God and His great plan makes the experience sweet now. I often picture what she must look like and what she might be doing. I'm sure she looks in from time to time on her Mom & Dad. I know she knows how much she is loved and missed - but she sees things differently and with a much clearer perspective. What seems like a long lifetime does not seem that way to her.
I have her little bonnet and handprints and footprints that bring joy to my heart. I did have a lock of her hair in a special locket given to me by her grandmother, but it was stolen - the only physical thing of her I had. Even that loss has healed with time.
What I do have is sweet memories. A great pregnancy, the excitement of feeling her move and kick and hearing her tiny tiny cry when she was born. Those things cannot be taken from me and I cherish them.
A day will come when we will be united again. Her Dad and I have big plans for lots of hugs and kisses. She has 2 sisters and a brother to get to know and many family members to love.
Happy Birthday Jennilyn!!! I love you and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has such a perfect plan that will allow us our time together.