Hotel Stewart

My mother in law always does a HUGE bird in the
oven and then allows Earnest and the rest of the
boys to deep fry another (smaller) turkey.
It's always fun to compare the two flavors and
it keeps the boys out of the kitchen and
away from the tv for a few minutes.
Smart move, Marie! :0)

We had a fun game of soccer on Turkey Day,
and the little guys played some football.

Our pyramid picture was so fun, two of
Jason's sisters decided to have their families
do it also. Do you notice anything funny in
the background of this one? Yep, that's my son
running perfectly through their photo! Dork!
Thank goodness for photo shop. I just thought
that the timing couldn't have been better to frame
him like that. Sorry Phillips family! Cute, Ty! :0)

We always love staying at Jason's parents house.
It seriously feels like a hotel. Wonderful pillows,
fresh towels and sheets, delicious food, and
WONDERFUL SERVICE! Thanks Gary & Marie!

One Great Thanksgiving!

What do you get when you cram

a house full of people, good food, and fun???

A bunch of CrAzY people!

Las Vegas was a blast, as always!

What I'm Thankful For...

I'm thankful for adorably thoughtful people!
My friend Angel, who has one of the funnest
blogs ever, Pickles On Pizza, is one of those
people. She lives in Greenville, MS and she
recently blogged about one of her favorite
treats. I told her it must be a Southern thing,
since we don't have them here. Well, guess what
was in my mailbox today? An 8 pack of her
favorite chocolate treat, Mallo Cups. We are headed
out on the road to Vegas in a couple minutes and
these arrived just in time for a tasty road snack.
Thanks, Angela!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Black Hills Christmas Party

My time and energy have been sucked away

by planning this event. I am the Ward Activities

Chair (a soon to be dissolved calling) and the

party is planned. I have one other lady I'll

be working with and we are feeding 200 a

full turkey dinner, having a 'Wise Men Still

Seek Him' program, and decorating for the

whole event. Should be fun....but BUSY!

I'll share lots of pictures after the shindig!

The awesome artwork is available here.

I'll post more on that awesome shop

later. GREAT vinyl shop!

Where, or where can they be???

This is a secret post! I cannot divulge the
location, time, or circumstance. All I can do
is ask you a question. Where would 3 teenage
girls be heading with rolls of toilet paper, shaving
cream, and toothpaste in the dark of night?
Riley, Kaylee, and Summer

Hint: They aren't going camping. :0)
Janae and I were the crazy moms that
supported this. Brings back lots of
good, fun, teenage memories!

End of soccer season :0(

Yesterday was a whirlwind day! We had the
baby shower after rushing from game, to game,
to game...as always. To make matters worse,
it was the end of the season, so each kid had a
little awards ceremony after their games. I
missed every single one. I did my part though.
Cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes. I
have never baked more cupcakes at one time
in all of my life! I should open a bakery! :0)

All of the kids had great seasons.
They get even better every year.
Now Sydney is playing basketball
for her school. She has her second
game tomorrow. That's fun to watch!

We are so glad Summer gets to play on
her Jr. High team. They start in
February and it will be COLD!
As for now, farewell soccer. :0(

Baby Bently's Shower

Our close family friend, Heather Coyner,
is expecting her first child. We were lucky
enough to get to throw her a baby shower!

We took a group picture of the 3 1/2
Coyner girls. They are the cutest family
and baby Bently has no idea how lucky
she is to have them as her own!
Brooke, Heather, and Linda

You know me...I love to throw a party!
We had fun with the girl theme...we even
borrowed the 'It's a girl' sign from
Becky. It was a leftover from one of
Libby's many showers! :0)

I spent all day yesterday in the kitchen, but
boy was it worth it! Yummy food is always
worth it. Am I right, or am I right!?!

I mentioned to Linda (Heather's mom) that a
little party favor would be great. Well, my
crafty friend took the hint and RAN WITH IT!
How adorable are these lollipop bath goodies!?!
I love having talented friends!
Now, I can't wait until January 7th
when we get to meet Lil' Bently!

Yummy, EASY Toffee Recipe

"You're welcome!"
Yep, I'm planning ahead!
This is delicious, easy, cheap,
& you probably have all of the ingredients
in your pantry already. This is Saltine
Toffee..and it stinkin' rocks!!!
Ingredients:
1 sleeve Saltines
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
chocolate chips
***That's it! I told you that you
probably already have everything! :0)

Line jelly roll pan with foil. Lay saltines
side by side to cover foil surface.
In a small saucepan, melt and combine
the brown sugar and butter. Let it
boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour brown sugar mixture evenly over the
saltines. Spread with back of wooden spoon.

Place in a 375* oven for 10 minutes.
Remove and sprinkle chocolate chips
over them immediately. Let sit for
1-2 minutes to melt chips.

Using the back of a rubber spatula,
spread melting chocolate chips out
over the toffee. Allow to cool completely.
Break into bite size chunks and ENJOY!

Your kids, grand kids, husbands, or
boyfriends will thank you!
They'll never know it's Saltines!

Suns Game

Sydney and Jason headed to a Suns Game
on Friday night. We bid on the tickets at
an auction at Syd and Ty's school. We
were shocked when we won. Syd was
really excited to go since her basketball
season just started. She just wrapped
up volleyball, & soccer ends this coming
Saturday. Wow, she is one busy girl!
OK, not the best pictures ever. Actually, they
are quite bad. :0) It took some major texting
to get my husband to take them. I
needed the pictorial memory.

The Suns won by enough points that the
crowd earned free tacos from Jack In
the Box, plus they were given vouchers
for free large fries at McDonalds. Needless
to say, they had a $2 lunch after her soccer
game yesterday (they bought $1 drinks at
McDonalds). Are we cheap or smart?
Smart, I say! :0)

Out of Africa

When you come to visit us (hint, hint),
we will make you go to Out of Africa!
It is a wildlife park that is less than 20
minutes away in Camp Verde. This was
our third visit...and we definitely have
many more visits to come.

You get up close and personal with
the world's coolest animals. No zoom
lens here, you're really that close!

All of the animals get fed around 3:00 on
Sun., Wed., and Fri. The animals don't
have calendars, so even though we went on
a Thurs., they were pacing back and forth,
growling, and excited for the food that
never came. It is an awesome experience!

They have Critter Corner, where you
get to hold and pet different animals during
the day. Yesterday the kids got to hang
out with this 'little' snake.
Good thing Grammy wasn't there! :0)

They have a show called Tiger Splash at 1:15
every day. Just before the show, all of the tigers
get a little rambunctious. I think they are all
showing off their skills so the keepers will pick
them to star in the show that day. There
were 4 tigers in this fence. 3 were pacing the
fence line just behind the kids and one was
lounging behind them on the roof of their
shade structure. None of them got picked.

They picked this beauty! She is new to the
Tiger Splash experience, which makes her a little
dangerous to the 4 keepers that are in there
with her. The keepers act as prey, enticing the
tiger to attack (in play) some pool toys. It
is amazing to watch her claws come out as she leaps
for her toy. The keeper enters the pool with her, too.
Summer has found her summer job when she turns
16! She was memorized. I'll call it now, but I
really think she will go into an animal-type field
in college. We'll see. Place your bets now. :0)

Just before Tiger Splash started, they let the tiger
into the pool area and she proceeded to mark
her territory....right there on my kids!!!
She barely missed. Thank goodness!!!

Our favorite part of the day was when they
had the hyenas in the pool enclosure later
that day. The keeper would tease them with
some meat and they would 'laugh' hysterically.
You have never heard a cooler sound in your life!

Summer kissed a camel...I almost missed
it. She had just released the carrot from her
teeth when I got in position to take the picture.

On the safari tour, we always love the
giraffe kisses!!! There is nothing better
than getting slobbered on by a giraffe!
No, Summer doesn't have lice or bugs
in her hair, it was light reflecting on her
head in this picture. :0)
Let's go to Out of Africa!!!

Syd's Tribute!

Sydney's class made a tribute banner
for Veteran's Day. They hung it outside of
their classroom yesterday. Since we had the
day off of school today, I made her run by
the school with me so we could document
it for Pops. We wish we were close enough
to hug him and tell him thank you in person.

Since we aren't, I hope he's
reading the blog today! :0)

Even though Grandpa Blaine has passed,
he is still our war hero! His favorite
great-grandchild never forgets him
either. This one's from your
'Angel Sydney' Grandpa Blaine!
Go hug a war hero today!!!

Family History

I have a new obsession! Genealogy! These are my grandparents.

Blaine C Warr and his beautiful

bride, Leona Barendregt.

She was 9 years younger than

him. Go, Grandpa! They both

passed away recently and they

are still constantly on my mind,

and of course, in my heart!

Even though Grandma suffered from

Alzheimer's, we have her siblings here

still. They have helped document and

pass on the stories of their parents.

This is Adrianus Barendregt who

came to America from Holland with

his wife, Trijntje Runia.

They ended up settling in Idaho where

they were farmers...some of their

grandsons are still there farming. :0)

This picture was from when Adrianus (on the

right) was in Ely, Nevada working the railroads

with his brothers Cornelis (left) and Simon.

Oct. 12th, 1910

This is a photo of Trijntje and Adrianus

with their first born son, Leonard.

This side of the family has an easy

trail to follow back to Holland.

My Grandpa Blaine's family wasn't as easy.

After working on it all night last night, I

have traced Blaine's line all the way to

the 1600's in England. I have a lot

more work to do, but boy do I love it!

I am using FamilySearch.org which is free

from the church and Ancestry.com which

has a monthly fee for documents.

My thanks go out to Leonard's

wife, Lois for posting these old

photos on Facebook! :0)

A perfect day!

Yesterday was Libby's special day.
Her daddy was able to give her a blessing
in church. She was awake during it and she
just stared into his eyes the entire time.
Seriously, she is one easy baby!

The Macbeth Family
They are all so beautiful.
My mom made Libby a beautiful
blessing dress, just like she made
for my girls. I love having a talented
mother. We reap the rewards, for sure!

They had a wonderful party at their house
afterward. We enjoyed ourselves immensely
and then we had to hit the road. That's the only
part that made it into a not-quite-so-perfect day.

California Again!

We headed to CA for Libby's baby

blessing. It's a very quick trip.

Of course, we headed to the

San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Brad's parents had flown in for the big day,

too. It was their first time to meet lil' Libby.

We are excited for the blessing and the party.
More to come! :0)