Quik Trip to El Paso

With Christmas just around the corner, we wanted Mark's family to have the Christmas presents we got them, so we decided to bring them to them. We missed seeing them for Thanksgiving here, so we wanted to go visit. It was a quick trip, but we got to see two Christmas programs, go to a Ward party and eat some yummy Mexican food. We got there Thursday afternoon after having a little car trouble on the way. Our brakes had a leak, but we made it!!

 Bolden's Christmas program. He had some awesome dance moves!

(He's the one in the center with the Santa hat and green tie!)

 Friday we had lunch at a delicious Mexcian food place!

 LaVerl had a sweet white jalapeno sauce on poblano peppers with pomegranates. All the food came with a really hearty soup, chips and salsa, rice and beans. 

 

Friday night was Wembley's school Christmas program. She goes to a little Lutheran church sponsored school with all Mexican teachers and mostly mexican kids! Their program was so cute, all the little kids in the different grades came out dressed as candy canes, pinata's, shepherds or angels. They sang their little hearts out and danced and it was the cutest thing ever.

 Wembley before they put her costume on.

 Milea and Daxxon were the only kids to come.

Wembley,  cutest candy cane ever!

After her program we rushed to their Ward party!

It was a busy, fun night. 

The next morning they all got up early to catch a flight to New Orleans where they will spend a few days, then they've got tickets to watch the Saints play Monday night football. 

THANKSGIVING 2019 (late post!)

We had Thanksgiving in Eagar this year, with only a few of our kids that were able to come. We still had a houseful and we had a great time. Tami's family came from St. George, UT, Lisa's family and Bret's family from Queen Creek, AZ.  The weather was awful, the wind blew hard, it was freezing cold and we got snow, (which the kids loved!)

I cooked a 22 pound turkey, a big ham, I made rolls, sweet potatoes mashed potatoes and gravy, frozen corn from the garden, my favorite broccoli salad, crab salad and 5 pies. Lisa made a yummy salad, Bret and Suzy made green bean casserole, delicious roasted brussel sprouts with bacon, drizzled honey and feta cheese, plus pumpkin bars, & Tami made the best banana/blueberry creme pies!

We had tons of food, but everyone was hungry because I didn't feed anyone lunch! 

 Lisa and I trying to make a cute 'turkey' veggie tray!

 The kids talked me into paper plates. It sure made clean up easier!

 

 We invited our friends, Tim and Trudy to come join us. 

The older grandkids loved having their own table!

 Bret brought his girlfriend, Suzanne Cummard home for Thanksgiving. She is super sweet and fits right in with our family.

We ate dinner, we played games, then we ate pie, and we especially gave 'thanks' for all our many blessings!

The next morning it snowed!  The kids were so excited, even though we didn't get much. 

Ivory, Lilly, Dempsey and Adlee- little girls cousins!

Dempsey and Lilly made a little snowman.

Landon wondering what it is?!

 Cute snowman, cute little boy!

 And our cute little Adlee!!

Bret & Suzy enjoying the snow too.

 

  

 London and Lucy playing.

Kingston and Blake loved playing together, even on the piano.

 Suzy fixed all the girl's hair so cute!

 Everyone but Ryne, he was out hunting with his sister and dad. 

(I love how little Colter got in this picture!)

 Just us girls!

 What a fun 5 days we had together. We have so very much to be THANKFUL for!

Hooray!!! Done at last!!

I can tell you that LaVerl is super glad to be finally done with all of our major projects this year!! We just finished the entryway!

It was a small area, but still lots of work!  Getting the old Mexican tile up turned out to be very difficult. 

 So our entryway was half wood flooring where it was over the basement, then the stem well of the house and then we added more cement to bring it out further. Where the wood was, the tile came up really easy!

 Where the tile was laid on top of the cement proved to be very difficult to get off! LaVerl had to rent a jack hammer!

 And the DUST!  It went everywhere! 

It covered everything in my house!  It was awful!

 Here is what it looked like after we got all the tile up.

 It was so rough and uneven, LaVerl filled the stem wall with cement.

 Then we had to poor some leveler on the cement part because it was so uneven.

 We had Shane, the guy that was going to install the flooring do it!

 We, I mean LaVerl, also finished putting the Trex upstairs on our balcony deck.  It looks so good!! I love it!

 After a few days of letting everything dry, Shane started laying the flooring down.  The Exciting first piece!

 And the more exciting last piece!

The trim by the carpet was a little hard because the entryway is still a little higher than the carpet, but not an inch like it was!

LaVerl had to fill in with mortar all the places under the rock that came off with the tile.

 We had to take all the trim off and restain it and buy new wider trim for around the base of the floor.

 LaVerl finishing the trim!

 Hooray for us for getting this done! It looks so nice and I love it! Also, its pretty exciting that our front door opens wide for the first time in 35 years!!