It Can Be Cold Here

These pictures I took early am on Saturday the 27th. It froze during the night and when we got up the back pasture had a coating of frost on the grass. The pictures don't do justice to what it looked like - but it was covered with white. Dugan the Dog loved it. He kept going in and out and wandering.
Once the sun came up it didn't last long. But for Arizona desert it was great. Now, it does not compare to other places where the snow can pile up high and temperatures get below freezing - but for the Phoenix area - this is cold and fun to see the frost.
After growing up and living in the cold country (Wyoming) where the snow and cold temperatures are COLD!!! I love living here. I can run out and jump in my car to get to work without having to scrape off the snow and ice and heating up the car before I go, I can leave the house without bundling up in layers and layers of clothes, coats, gloves and boots. And I don't freeze and have a constant red nose and cheeks from the cold temps.
So for me - seeing this frost was winter enough for me. Love it here!!

Christmas 2008

We had a quiet Christmas this year. Jake & Fran had to work, Shannon & Ryan had to work and could not come over. So --- We were small this year. Missed them, but look forward to having them this coming Christmas.
Jake & Laura came for Christmas Eve dinner but had to leave to get to work and April, Cliff and I went to our traditional movie on Christmas Eve. We saw "The Day the Earth Stood Still". It was pretty good.
By looking at the above pictures you can see I did not get any pictures with "people". Silly, because all pictures should have "people" in them.
All in all it was a great Christmas. Quiet and reflective. The whole reason for the season is gratitude for the great gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The "Little Girl's" Christmas Outing

I had so much fun with my girl's annual outing, that I decided that I needed to do something for the "little girls" in my life. I consider them my grandchildren and it turned out wonderful.






These pictures were of the table settings. I did a "Santa" theme. The main Santa on the table wiggles and the girls loved watching him move as we listened to fun Christmas music during our lunch. The menu consisted of: Mac n' Cheese, heart shaped hotdogs, cut up veggies, watermelon and strawberry milk.
The table settings were cute. I got each of the girls a little nutcracker. They loved that - their Dad collects nutcrackers.

This is a picture of the desserts. Creme puffs with lemon or chocolate frosting, christmas tree cakes and peanut butter bars.

Here I am with my little sweeties.

Our matching Christmas braclets.




Pictures of the ornaments the girls chose. I bought one to match theirs. They actually got 2 ornaments. The first ones they chose did not have a second so I could match them, so they had to pick another one so I could get one to match. But they loved the first ones - and what can a Grandma do?-- she let them have 2 ornaments.


Of course I found some fun Christmas socks for them. I put them in a toilet paper roll and wrapped them. When they opened them, they just had to wear.

And you can see from this picture, that the socks didn't quite fit my littlest one. So maybe she will be able to wear them next Christmas.

I had so much fun this year on my traditional ornament outing. Starting this year I did a day with the "little girls". That will also become a tradition. I start planning and working on this activity early next year. It has become a highlight of my year.
I love the gals in my family. They bring me a lot of joy and happiness. They are mine and I plan to keep them forever!!!
Thanks girls for letting me have a fun day with all of you!

The Annual Girls Christmas Outing

This past Saturday was the Bigler girls annual Christmas Lunch and Ornament shopping activity. I started this tradition last year and have been excited all year for this one. Shannon came from CA to be with us and that made my day!



These are pictures of the table decorations. April helped me make the trees and we were happy with the end results. The desserts turned out great on the tiered plates. I also made chocolate creme puffs - filled with peppermint ice cream, carmel sauce and whipping creme. Yum! Yum! I also served a yummy Tomato Basil soup (from my dear friend Claudia), small grilled cheese and egg salad sandwiches, salad bar and dessert. We all felt so full, but not too miserable to hit the street shopping.

This is a picture of the Christmas braclets that I made the girls. That was fun and they loved them.

This is my daughter-in-law, Fran. Love that girl!

This is my niece Lani! She is like one of my own. Love her!

This is Shannon, my oldest - Love her!!! She made a trip here just for this day!

This is my April, my right hand - Love her!!!

Lani & Cheryl with the ornament Lani picked - stained glass candy cane.

Fran holding the penguin ornaments for Laura who could not be with us:(

Shannon and me with her candy cane ornament.

April and me with her bird ornament.

Fran and Cheryl with Fran's ornament - it has a lot of pink in it. She loves pink!

These are my special girls. We missed Laura my granddaughter. She wanted to be with us, but could not get away from work.
All in all it was a wonderful day! I was so happy to spend time and do something fun and nice for these special ladies. They are the loves of my life!!! This has become a great tradition. We already have our date for next year. Can't Wait!!

Kitchen Chaos - Cabinets are Done

I am so excited - the kitchen cabinets are done!!! It has been a long process, but so worth the work and time. My April has been so wonderful - she did all the work. She is amazing and very good at whatever she does. Bless her little heart!



The only thing left to do in the kitchen is to get some new rugs - you can see they are fraying a bit, we will be putting in a new floor - not sure when, but it needs to be done. And I hope to put in some can lights and replace the florescent bulbs.
This job has needed to be done for so long. I love to go in there and see the brightness and the cute knobs and handles. Just love it all!!

Kitty gets an Owie!!!

We get these awful things at our house. Not as many as we use to - but even 1 is way way too many. This year we had 7 scorpions in our house. AGH!!!!!!!! I can't stand these things. I have been stung a couple of times and let me tell you - it is not a pleasant experience.
Well, Penny kitty found one in the kitchen and of course thought it would be a great thing to play with. Cliff smashed the thing, but Penny decided to dash in and get it anyway. And -- she got stung. She jumped back and licked and shook her paw a few times. And this is what happened:

As you can see - her little paw swelled right up. She didn't fuss about it. I guess she can deal with it better than I ever did.
Maybe, if I am lucky, this coming year I won't get any of them. That would be a wonderful thing!