"Mom! You gotta see this!"

And that's how our Christmas started. Well, it started with both girls climbing into bed with us at 6:30 am; Becca was restless for breakfast (as usual) and went downstairs to the front room to turn on the Christmas lights. She came back upstairs without saying anything. Lovey & I did a sideways glance at each other, like, "did she not see what was in that room?"

Becca couldn't wait any longer. She was hungry! I asked her to check on the Christmas tree lights and to look out the window to see if it was snowing, and then we'd have breakfast. And that's when we heard her exclaim: "Mom! Momm! You gotta see this! Mom! Dad! This is awesome!"

MG was out of our bed like lightning, asking Becca as she ran down the hall and stairs, "What is it Becca?! What is it?!" And then Lovey & I heard her say "Oh my heck!"

Time for us to get a move on.

Christmas 2010: Santa (or the Grinch) brought us scooters!

It Christmas!

Mary-Gail & Becca's kitties play together

Mary-Gail loves her animals

A mad dash to open this joint present...

Two nerf guns @ ammo - awesome

These cute puppy-dog purses were from Grandma & Grandpa at the Beach (Tony's Mom & Dad). These purses have been a huge hit with the girls.

That Mary-Gail, she's such a clown!

I love this man. He has a great smile and a hearty laugh - it was a great day for us as we watched Becca & Mary-Gail delight in gift giving and gift receiving

Lovey gets the best Christmas present from his mom - Scrapbook pages. I love these pages so much - I get to see Tony's life before me: pictures from his childhood, days as a father to Ali & Avery, pics of his Army days...I truly cherish this gift. It is my favorite gift too!

Some of these pictures took Tony way back.

Becca was the gift giver to Daddy - she was so excited!

Mary-Gail helped out too, but couldn't use both hands to unwrap Daddy's gift - she's got a Ring Pop on her finger, come on!

Daddy got the gift he's wanted all year, a projection alarm clock. (The girls took scissors to Lovey's old alarm clock and snip! went the cord).

Mom & Dad came over to see us and the girls. Lovey rolled up the floor rug downstairs and the girls showed Grandma Pink & Pappy their quickly acquired skills on their new scooters.

Mary-Gail makes me laugh! She's jumping up and down on the scooter board, thinking she's doing one of those tricks the big kids do on their Razor scooters. She's a hoot!

Merry Christmas my lovely littles

"Santa will take my brain"

According to Mary-Gail, Santa is going to take her brain. That's right, her brain. She & Becca were painting, and talking about Santa. I snagged the camera and started to record Mary-Gail (Becca said she had to "focus on her painting, mom").

Mary-Gail painted a full sheet completely red (she said it was her "wall" - she does have a completely red wall in her room) and was painting another sheet of paper when I caught her on video. Mary-Gail said it was her brain and that Santa was going to take it.

*************************************************************************

In this video, Mary-Gail's brain picture has evolved into a cake (she's been talking about cake-her birthday cake-since March, 8 months before her birthday!). I told her I wanted to eat her cake, and she said I would get sick. Thanks for looking out for me baby girl. I love the interaction between Mary-Gail and Becca; they are best friends and treat each other with kindness (99% of the time - they're sisters afterall). My favorite thing is hearing Mary-Gail say, "Becca, I'm talkin' to you." She says this to me and Lovey all the time! And when Becca is talking about the bed she's painting, Mary-Gail was reminded of the time that she (Mary-Gail) threw-up in her bed, but quickly moves on to offer Becca more paper so she (Becca) can paint all the beds.

Becca asked Santa for a candy cane

Baby Becca next to a full size candy cane, 12/2/2006

Aunt Carol gave Becca & Mary-Gail their first candy cane (@ 5 days old!). Now here we are, 4 years later, and Becca's asking Santa for a candy cane.


We saw Santa at Trolley Square in Salt Lake when we drove to see the lights at Temple Square (Dec 10). Becca asked for a Candy Cane. He happily obliged and pulled a candy cane from his bag. Wow! Becca's wish was instantly granted. Mary-Gail asked Santa for a "pink present." Santa asked her if a candy cane would do. "Is it pink?" Well, then, hand it over Santa!


Christmas is almost here! Becca & Mary-Gail woke up to massive amounts of snow on Tuesday. We're talking m a s s i v e !! They were screaming through the house, "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" and when I tried to explain that it's Christmas time, and that Christmas is actually on Saturday, they refused that truth and raced to the Christmas tree asking (more like telling) "We can open our presents now?"


Of the 4 presents that were under our tree, only 2 remain. Yes, we've already opened presents. How could I deny Becca & Mary-Gail's excitement and thrill of Christmas?! I let them open their present from their teacher, Miss Jamie, Tuesday morning. She gave them books! A girl after my own heart.

Who's your FedEx Man?

Here's mine:

Lovey was making deliveries in JoJo's neighborhood on Saturday (mandatory work day with Christmas right around the corner), saw my car in her driveway, and stopped by for a surprise visit and a must needed break. Becca & Mary-Gail were happy to see him, as was I. I don't think they "get" what Lovey does, but I sure do: jumping in and out of trucks all day long, chasing the clock to deliver on time, dealing with idiot drivers and traffic, driving trucks in the summer w/no A/C - it's a brutal, very physical job, and Lovey's been working for FedEx (on and off) for over 20 years.

Lovey told us a funny story about a house he delivered to. I poured Lovey a large glass of Diet Coke, which I bought earlier (JoJo's house is a "BYOS" house {bring your own soda}). After Lovey finished his drink, he said no longer felt like "Driving Miss Daisy." Instead he felt like "Top Gun." Go get 'em Ace.

Lovey's break was over so he trudged back through the snow to his truck.

This week is crazy busy for FedEx (obviously). And even though Lovey is phyiscially tried after a long day of jumping in and out of his truck (today it was 14 hours!), he comes home with a smile on his face musters up energy to help me with the bedtime routine for Becca & Mary-Gail.

I love my FedEx Man.

Gone, gone, gone...the Guac is gone

This is for Formerly Phread...



Your Gourmet Guac was happily received Saturday evening. It was completely gone by mid-morning Sunday. (I regressed to my toddler days and licked the container clean). Delicioso!

Muchas Gracias mi amiga.

Gingerbread houses, except not with gingerbread

Gingerbread houses, only these are made with cinnamon graham crackers

(already made, perforated, and not as heavy)

I am so "last minute:" last minute decision making, last minute dinner prep, last minute, "hey, let's make gingerbread houses!"

I had been planning a family night to make gingerbread(graham cracker) houses, so I'd been gathering the candy and graham crackers. Yesterday I got the frosting and another bag or two of candy, and talked to JoJo about making gingerbread houses. In my mind I was planning it all out and inviting family over to participate. However, I decided last minute (read above) that TODAY was going to be the day. Today at 4:30pm. So last minute.

Becca, Mary-Gail, and I stayed home from church today. Becca had been a little sick at school on Thursday, and Mary-Gail had thrown-up twice at school on Friday (she's all better now though). And I haven't been back to church since my surgery. So we all stayed home in our PJ's, and I think that's why I decided today we were going to make our gingerbread/graham cracker houses. Becca & Mary-Gail painted and colored while I frosted the graham crackers into place and put them in the cold garage to harden. Even though they had almost 4 hours to harden, the little roofs still collapsed. Boo-hoo!

Reese's house was the first to loose it's roof, but she didn't get flustered. Instead, she made an "adobe house" (her words) and kept on adding (and eating) candy. Reese also created a garage (of frosting and candy) next to her house.


This project was perfect for the perfectionist! Rebecca scrutinized over where to put each piece of candy.

Everyone had about the same amounts of the candies to use for decorating (and eating). It turns out licorice was Cy's favorite of the candies. He was the quickest to use it all up. I actually think he hid it inside his house (see the red licorice peeking out?)

Reese is seeking ideas from Gage's house. The building continues...

Gage started with a couple different designs, but ultimately settled on a house with surveillance cameras and barriers. Oh, it also had a driveway. Nice touch Gage.

This was Mary-Gail's happiest day! A day where we get to play with candy, decorate with candy, and eat CANDY. Whoo-Hoo! (Have I mentioned Mary-Gail had 2 cavities which were recently filled?) Mary-Gail's A-Framed house was quickly demolished and restructured in a straight line, providing more surface area to cover with candy. She's nobody's fool; that child is smart!

I helped Becca with the squeezable frosting and drew hearts all over her tin foil. She didn't want me to "mess up" her house.

Becca told me "Good job Momma"

Those silly Chrisman's!

Grandma Pink helped Bug with her house. Bug was eating the candy just as fast as Grandma could put it on the house!

Bug's house. Looks more like an over-decorated shed. I love that girl!


Pappy used his carpentry skills, design expertise, and patience as he created his and Grandma Pink's house

Ta-dah! Pappy built Grandma Pink the house of her dreams: "a one-bedroom bungalow with lots of natural light and a "breeze way" in the open rafters." Pappy even put a wreath on it to make it look homey.

More details of Grandma Pink's dream home: a licorice fence surrounds the perimeter; a licorice hedge leads up to the front door; hot tamales are "Spanish-inspired" tile shingles that edge the roof, with milk chocolate chips as accents; a giant lemon flavored licorice wreath hangs from the pitch of the roof, almost disguising the open rafters; and little red hots dot the walkway which is composed of fluffy white frosting. Pappy used a very broad color wheel to create his masterpiece. What a house!

Pappy said the two marshmallows standing up next to the home's entrance are him and Grandma, "welcoming everyone to their home." Awww, for cute!

(Just a few minutes later, Bug came along and ate the "Grandma" marshmallow!)

Lights, Temple Square and 11 years

Friday, December 10th was mine & Tony's ELEVENTH wedding anniversary. To celebrate we took Becca & Mary-Gail with us on a date! We braved the horried rainy/windy weather and ventured up to Salt Lake City for supper and to see the lights at Temple Square. We ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square (it has always been our stop when we go to see the lights, even when I was a little girl), and then we drove the short distance to Temple Square. As luck would have it we got a parking spot right next to the temple! Oh the look on Becca & Mary-Gail's faces when we got out of the car. Becca exclaimed, "there are millions and millions of lights!"

Mary-Gail saw the horses and the carriage rides and begged to go see the horses. Becca chimed in with her, and so instead of going inside Temple Square, we went to see the horses. Lovey, ever the romantic and sweet husband and father that he is, treated us all to a carriage ride. Mary-Gail nearly collapsed she was so excited!! She bounded into the carriage and began chattering about everything. Our driver, Mr. Chris, couldn't start his "tour-spiel" until Mary-Gail calmed down. We bundled up with the blankets and off we went. Our horses name was Tom, and he was just as vocal as Mary-Gail, with lots of "neighs" and blustering whinny sounds. Mary-Gail thought it was fantastic!

Mary-Gail got her wish - a carriage ride!

Did you know that horses can hear the stoplights changing? I kept noticing that our horse, Tom, would begin walking forward just seconds before the light changed green. Mr. Chris confirmed that the stoplights' sensor makes a high-pitched noise right before they change. The horses hear it and understand that the noise means "Go!" (That and Tom had been pulling carriages for 12 years, so he definitely knew the route and noises.)

Such a sour look on this tired girl's face as we wait for Daddy and the double-stroller

I snapped the picture of the nativity and turned around to see this beautiful statue.

It made me tear up. A Mother and her children...

The Salt Lake Temple

The headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

An amazing feat to build this beautiful temple. Worked commenced April 6, 1953, and was completed April 6, 1893 (40 years)

Angel Moroni, sounding his trumpet to all the nations...

Lovey showed us all a great time. I think next date-night the girls will want to come too!