Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! We had a fun Christmas Eve with a surprise visit from the Reimans. They got stuck in Rawlins last night so they didn't make it out to get Scamp until today. There was still a lot of snow and they got stuck on our street. We dug them out and invited them to stay for Christmas Eve dinner at the Lambournes. First we played some Ping-Pong, I was able to hold my own with Steven, Jim, and Dave. They all wanted to take my paddle home. We had a great time. After they left we all opened Andy and Emilys gifts and now we are all wearing them. I will try and post a photo later. Hope everyone else is having a fun Christmas Eve!!

Merry Christmas Eve ~ Good Jul!

Hope everyone is having a peaceful Christmas Eve, we are just waiting until it's late enough for Santa to come.
We made our nativity cookies, the kids did feel funny about eating a baby Jesus cookie though.
But that was better than what happened on Thanksgiving when I gave them turkey shaped sugar cookies to decorate. There were turkeys with X's for eyes, headless turkeys and some with gun shot wounds from pilgrim hunters. All the red frosting was used up, I shouldn't have made red frosting, esp. for 12 and 15 year old boys.
We decorated the chapel with 200 poinsettias again this year from Jerry's research project, that was fun, and last night we went to the Burton Ward annual Christmas Eve party that they have been having every year since 1902.
Merry Christmas!

Nice day at the beach

We had a great day in Santa Cruz yesterday building sandcastles, flying kites, and playing frisbee at the Boardwalk (no rides were open), then had some chowder out on the end of the wharf, then checked out the tidepools at Natural Bridges and enjoyed the sunset. Beautiful weather - in the low 60s.

Colorado Holiday Blizzard

If you haven't already seen we are having a "Holiday Blizzard". So far we have about a foot or so and its still coming down strong. We got out of school and work early today but we are hoping to have all of tomorrow off!! Maybe Friday too!!! Here are some pictures I just shot of Mark and Tori playing out front. Our steps are buried. I shoveled 1/3 of the driveway and by the time I was done it was already covered with a few inches soo I gave up. Wish you were all here for our wintery wonderland, white Christmas!!!

Here are a few more photos from our fun in all the snow!!

This is snow wall/fort
Tori buried by Ben and Gracie.
Our neighborhood...with a snowmobile going down the street..!!!
Mark in the Snow tunnel...

The backyard, the trampoline almost covered..!! Don't worry the bunnies were all in the basement...

Tori and her friends ready to go sledding for the day!!

Toll Question Answered

It's a Boy!

Scout Uniforms

I have some scout stuff that needs to leave my house. I'll give it away unless someone out there would like it.

One Shirt size S - short sleeve
One Shirt size M - short sleeve
One Shirt size L - Long sleeve

One dark green pants size 16 - 28 waist - very very big hem so it could be used by any height.

Any takers?

Love, Mom

(There is so much STUFFFFFF in this house)

Another question answered

It's a girl!

Okay: Questions Answered

Jerry and Jailynn have their answer!

The Day After, Idaho

While the Califonia Thanksgiving crew were out on the beach we were just the opposite, drinking hot chocolate up in the mountains in the snow hunting Christmas Trees!

Mayflower Kinfolk

We just finished watching "Desperate Crossing" about the pigrims and then browsed a bit online and came across some interesting info about other descendents of Mayflower passengers. Kind of interesting:
http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Genealogy/famousdescendants.php

The Day After: Nov. 24, 2006

There were so many pictures taken of this Sandcastle city that it may show up on some sites. People would stop and ask questions and circle the whole village. I tried to get Ted to pass a hat, so we could pay for our parking meters but, he never did it. He was a very good 'tour guide' and loved to answer the questions of those taking the Rockwood Castle tour!

Another fun one

Here is one for you, this kept all four of my kids entertained at the same time for a couple of hours this afternoon. I'm not sure how Kris finds these things but it is kind of fun. I thought someone else might like it too.

http://www.linerider.com/

Christmas Quiz

Mom, you're sure to enjoy this - I was looking for a new song to play in church on Sally DeFord's website and she's got a "Scriptural or Non-scriptural" Christmas quiz. Some of them seem funny when you consider that a lot of people probably think that there's a scripture about a boy playing his drum for Jesus.

http://www.defordmusic.com/christmasquiz.htm

I got a 20 - a few are kind of trick questions.

Norm's Wedding

We went to Norman Nelson's wedding on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed the chocolate fountains-with strawberries, cookies, truffles and so on for dipping. Jacob really enjoyed the cotton candy too. Norm and Melissa were really happy. We were glad to see Katie and Bryan there but just missed seeing the Akis and Julie Place.

Christmas List

Here is this years gift exchange list.
Does everyone still want to do that?

Jailynn to Katie
Bryce to Jailynn
Andy to Bryce
Nate to Andy
Katie to Nate

Consumer Report

Consumer Report

I subscribed to the on-line consumer reports (we need a new refrigerator, stove and flooring so I needed information) It doesn't include the car data. So if anyone needs anything consumer reported - let me know

Surprise Party

First off - I'm glad this is getting used! It's like pulling teeth trying to get the Burtons to post stuff on the blog I made for them.I had a great birthday tonight (I had to work so the day wasn't that great though I saw my youngest ever advanced glaucoma patient at 10 years old!) Em planned a surprise party here in Morgan at a pizza place called Deb's Spicy Pie (we didn't go for a long time because we thought it was mincemeat pies or something). I didn't suspect a thing until I was driving home and things started to click. I really thought we were going to have my party next friday. I was 100% sure what was going on when Jacob said on the way there, "Stop when you see the balloons, Papa." The staff at work even knew and didn't let on. All the Burtons were there, Scott Walton & his family, Katie and Bryan, and our neighbor Tim. It was really nice. Too bad we couldn't start it at 11:11. I can't believe I'm 34. Em did a really great job, it made me so happy. Hope everyone had a great Veterans Day! I'm going to wait a few minutes to post this at the right time!!

Disney World Trip

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Disney World.




This is the boat ride to Magic Kingdom.



This is at Epcot



Tori with Mickey and Pluto...!!


and This is the House and funny car we rented.

2nd Annual Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot

I found a race there in San Jose on T-day. So the Challenge is on. Who will join me for a 5 or 10K?

Happy Birthday Andy -

Tomorrows the big day - but are you celebrating today on your day off?

So how old are you anyway? Do I have to do the math?

It's not raining at all and it has not rained very often nor have we had even one big rainstorm. It rained for two weeks before you were born, Grandma Hales was there waiting for you and she went crazy with all the rain.

It was raining the morning you were born; cleared up soon after so that Dad could go golfing with the stake - not a good memory.

Talking about Baby Names...

I was thinking it would be fun if we give these three cousins matching names. Andy already has a Bible theme going so we could go with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Andy can have the Abednego so he can have his "A" initial he wants, I'll take Meshach and Nate can have Shadrach and have a Shack Attack boy. Don't worry, Just kidding.

Fun Baby Names

Remember how we were talking about people who name their baby's after where they made them? We were talking about it at church and about the Jensens who do that and have kids named Canada, Boston, Madison (that's the county we live in so she must have been homemade) and their latest this summer, Malibu.
Anyway right after we were talking about it in R.S. it was announced that a new baby in the ward was born and they had named him Stockton (like Stockton, California) and we all laughed and said that they needed to go on some better vacations.
I thought it was funny.

Winter Ski Trips

When are we all going skiing together, and where.
I would love to ski with the grandkids again, Jailynn.
The mountians are calling me.
Mom and I will be doing some snow shoeing this year, we look foreward to it.

Daddy Jay

Thanksgiving 2006

What is everyone doing for the Thanksgiving weekend?
Let us all know.
Daddy Jay

Questions Answered

Nate and Carrie have their answer!

Salsa Chicken

No new posts? Well, here's what we had for dinner tonight. We've been making this for the past five years, it is so good and so easy.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
4 tsp. taco seasoning mix
1 C. Salsa
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 9x13 baking dish and arrange chicken in it. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with taco seasoning. Cover chicken (top only this time) with salsa. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes until chicken is done (juices run clear, etc.). Top with cheese and bake another 3 - 5 minutes. Serve with spanish rice or just by itself. Tastes great as leftovers too.

California Bean Dip

Looking for something new for the holidays? We've been making this bean dip for a few years now and it's always eaten up pretty quickly when we take it to a party. It's relatively low in fat - just the salad dressings.

2 (11 ounce) cans white corn, drained
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Italian-style salad dressing
1 cup Ranch-style salad dressing
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro (or 1 tsp dry)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix it all up in a medium bowl. Chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight, before serving with tortilla chips.

(We've had it with yellow corn and it just isn't as good. Get the small cans of Green Giant white shoepeg corn. Also you can use any type of italian and ranch - we use 3-cheese ranch by Kraft because there's no MSG.)

How to post on the blog

You just write it kind of like an email. To get to the "post" place click on the upper left corner where it says "Blogger". If you're not logged in it'll ask you to log in first, then it brings up the Dashboard. You click on the green "+" where it says "new post". You can edit your posts from here too. Click on the little photo to upload a picture in your post, like this:

If you hit preview before "Publish Post" you'll see if it looks right. After you hit "Publish Post" you don't need to hit the "Republish blog" button to add it to the blog. If you want to comment on or respond to someone's post, hit the "# comments" link and write a comment instead of creating a new post. That's kind of the whole idea.

And let me know if anything is unclear or you can't figure it out. Hopefully this will be useful in helping us keep in better contact with each other and know what's going on with all of our families.