Welcome to the Family, Rachelle

Our Newest Granddaughter, Rachelle Anita Stubblefield, was born on March 1st. Her parents are Micah and Sarah, with proud brother and sister, Jackson and Lacey. I had a great time visiting them in Arizona. Rachelle is a sweet baby, and well loved by her sibs. While I was in AZ, Micah and I took the kids to Joe's Farm Grill - featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins." The place was packed on a Saturday afternoon, with the order line going out the door. I had the best burger I think I've ever had which was worth the wait. Photos are on my cell phone, and as soon as I get them off, I will post here. I had a great time with the kids and got some nice cuddles with the new baby. Being a grandma is the BEST!

King Cake & Jambalaya

I keep hoping someone else will get the baby in their slice of King Cake, so I don't have to make it again. At least Bud got it, so maybe I will be the recipient of some fall-out good luck. Maybe next year I'll have more people over to improve the odds of someone else getting the baby. The Jambalaya was yummy. I just don't care for de-veining the shrimp. Whoever thought such ugly little things would be good to eat.
Happy Fat Tuesday to Everyone. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Biblical foundation for this practice comes from Job 42:5-6 "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

 
The Lyons joined us for Fat Tuesday Celebration.

 

Snow Days/Los Alamos

Unlike many we know, Snow Days in California consist of rummaging through the garage for old snow gear, collecting beat up sleds, maybe even wrapping your feet in baggies and then putting on your shoes, then heading for the mountains for a few hours in the snow. We "go" to the snow, rather than it coming, and coming, and coming to us. Chili and Hot Chocolate are usually involved at some point, as well. We spent an afternoon at LaPorte with the Lyons - kind of a preview day for the upcoming Church Mutual activity. The kids had a great time.
Then last weekend we traveled to Los Alamos, NM to visit the Tripps. They live in one of those places where the snow comes to them! On Saturday, we spent an hour or so sledding at a local park with a nice little hill. It was great fun! The one nice thing about living close to the snow, or in it, is once you are cold, you hop in the car and drive a few blocks home. Where we live, there are winding roads involved - but oh the views!
We reminisced about the "K-Mart Hill" that was behind our house when we lived in Iowa many years ago. I think it was more of a ditch than a hill, but our kids sure had lots of fun there with their sleds.
We sure enjoyed our weekend at the Tripps. When we visit our family across the country, we usually like to see at least one thing of interest in their locale. I recently read about these statues placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, across the USA. They were done in the late 1920's and are mostly along the old route 66 and I-40 and are intended to pay tribute to the pioneer women who sacrificed so much to settle the west. There are 12 Madonna of the Trail statues from Bethesda, Maryland to Upland, California. This one is in downtown Albuquerque, so we stopped to see it on our way to the airport.

Me and My Meat

Yes, I'll admit it - I've gone rogue. Sarah Palin has inspired me. If men can pose with the meat they have hunted down and killed, then surely I can pose with the good deals I've hunted down and scored on.
Actually, my daughter, Emily, is my inspiration. She is a champion couponer. The best I've ever done with coupons is to cut them out and watch them disintegrate in the bottom of my purse. When I do remember to dig them out, alas, they've expired.
Well, not this time! I bought 10 Healthy Choice meals with a $5.00 off coupon at Bel Air. At that time, as a "thank you", ConAgra generated two $3.00 off cash register coupons. I saved those puppies in a safe place, then waited for another good deal to present itself. One week later, Bel Air/Raleys was offering a $5.00 coupon off $20.00 of Black Angus Beef - for two days only (one being Sunday, so Saturday was my "hunting" day).
Yesterday, I went to Bel Air armed with my $5.00 store coupon (must register at Raleys.com) and my two $3.00 off ConAgra coupons. I scored $20.00 of fine Black Angus Beef for $9.00.
Too bad I am a Vegetarian!! Not really, but we do eat very little beef.
Today for dinner we had Chef's Choice Filet of Beef from Walmart that cost only $.68. Emily told me about the online printable coupon for $3.00 off these little guys. They were yummy!
Thanks to my husband for humoring me and taking my pic with my meat. At least he didn't have to take me on a helicopter with an expensive rifle to shoot these suckers. Or, I suppose we could have gone with Weezer into the wild and let her scare up some meat. I prefer hunting deals shrink wrapped in cellophane and gleaming under fluorescent lighting.

A Fowl Folly

Sorry - this is a long post, without any photos. Sit back, relax and read-on.
New Year's Day was eventful for us. We spent New Years Eve at the Runyan’s, making use of their home, while they were in Colorado. Our stake had a Stake Temple Day on New Year’s Day. What a great way to begin the New Year! We scheduled to be Ordinance Workers for the day, kind of bittersweet, as this was our last shift before our release. We thought it would be most convenient to be near the temple for our early arrival. The Lyons, and Jared came along too. Jared was kind enough to tend the Lyon’s kids, while they were at the temple (Debbie was not feeling well and stayed home with her critters).
We had been tending Gump for the Runyans – he is their 12 year old Dachshund. He was a perfect gentleman the whole time. We can’t say the same for our Weiner Dog, Weezer. She is a relentless pest. Gump was kind and patient with her.
We took the dogs to Folsom with us, for fear fireworks on New Years Eve would have them out of sorts while we were away.
The Runyans have two chickens – Cindy and JoJo! You may have read about JoJo a while back on Runyan’s blog. She is the chicken who swallowed a shoelace, causing some embarrassment and a big Vet bill for the Runyans.
We enjoyed pizza, snacks and games on New Years Eve, while sadly missing Debbie and the kids. We left early in the morning for the temple and the Lyons soon followed, leaving Jared in charge of 3 wild boys, one cute baby girl, two dogs and two chickens! He is amazing with the kids. Thanks Jared!
Jared got really frustrated with our annoying dog, as she kept going out the doggie door and pestering the chickens, safely fenced inside their coop, – a new thing for her. Gump got used to the chickens long ago!
Finally, Jared had to lock the doggie door and keep Weezer inside. At the appointed time, Jared loaded up the kids and met Emily and Aaron at the temple, as they came out and he went in. When Emily got back to the house, she saw the locked doggie door, and quickly opened it, fearing doggie accidents. Later on, they picked Jared up at the temple to take him back to Runyan's house. We still had a couple of hours to go on our shift.
When Jared got in the car, he found out Emily had let Weezer outside. She had no idea Weezer had been pestering the chickens. They debated who would win in a chicken/dog fight. Jared’s money was on the chickens – as Weezer is only a 7 lb dachshund. Emily figured there was no way Weezer could get the coop opened up.
When they got back to Runyan's they immediately went outside to find - no chickens in the coop and no Weezer in sight. They called for Weezer and she soon came around a corner – with feathers stuck to her face. Jared then found JoJo, the black and white chicken, dead in the side yard. Emily was horrified when she saw Jared standing there silently with both hands over his mouth, peering at the dead chicken. Emily didn't know whether to laugh, cry or vomit as she cried, “Oh No, Oh No, Oh No.” They looked for Cindy and found her hiding under the chicken coop. No way was she going to come out with a rabid weiner dog lurking about.
The Lyons figured they better get their kids out of there before they saw anything and they left for home, while Jared waited for us. When we got there, we all stood there mortified at the carnage and disgusted by our little dog! Obviously, Jared would have lost money had the bet been for real.
We managed to coax Cindy out of hiding, and I bravely picked her up and put her back in the coop. When I did, I noticed she was bleeding, and we found a good size chunk of her tail end missing. We were able to get a hold of Andrea and she advised us to “put her down.” Andrea was in the car with Megan, who also harbors chickens. I won’t explain their reaction here.
Unlike Weezer, Bud and Jared don’t have the killer instinct. They spent about 10 minutes debating the best technique for the surviving chicken’s demise. Neither wanted blood on their hands or clothes! I heard "ax, neck wringing, hoe, sledgehammer, etc, but upon seeing the tetherball in the backyard, I suggested garroting the poor thing. We looked for wire, but found a piece of rope instead.
Bud got a hold of Cindy by the neck and Jared attempted to get a rope around – no dice. In the frenzy of the moment, Bud just choked the poor chicken. He thought she looked pretty dead. I got a plastic garbage bag, and they put her inside. Bud stomped on the bag for good measure. Then they went to get the other chicken and toss her in the bag. Just when Bud tossed her in, out came flying Cindy! I was inside and heard Jared hollering hysterically – kind of a cross between revulsion and laughter. They let Weezer back outside, thinking she was better skilled to end things. I yelled at them to not let her do it – I didn’t want to further encourage her killer instinct. Finally, Bud got a hold of Cindy and held on to her neck for a good long time – til he was sure she had met the same fate as JoJo! Both chickens were then transported in the black plastic bag to a nearby dumpster – I found out later it was at the nearby Kindercare! Men have no regard for what is appropriate.
Needless to say – we are so very sorry Runyans! I apologized over and over. I had planned to have a big pot of chicken soup waiting in the fridge when they got home from Colorado, as a “thank you” for letting us use/abuse their home. I thought better of it! Maybe I should offer them Roy – our ceramic rooster who’s been sitting on our kitchen counter for 10+ years. I would, except I have him listed in our will for Micah. Micah would you consider donating Roy to the Runyans?

Grandma got Nerfed

 

Ben got a Nerf Gun from Santa - and Grandma was a target. Grandpa has a collection of Nerf Guns, and now the 4 and under guys have their own. The war is on!

 



The usual suspects (Lyons, Runyans, Jared's Fam and G-Ma & G-Pa Hawley)came for Christmas Dinner. We had a great time, but missed the rest of the fam.

 

This was one of my favorite shots of Christmas - the sign of a "real" man. Aaron is doing dishes, armed with a disposable diaper in his back pocket.
This was the first Christmas Eve in about 37 years that we spent the night at home without any kids in the house. We got up early and went over to Lyons to unwrap presents with them. It was kind of odd going to bed on Christmas Eve without any children in the house, but also kind of peaceful!! And, because we did all the unwrapping at someone else's home, we were spared all the extra wrapping paper mess. First time I can recall our garbage can was not overflowing the day after Christmas.
We had the traditional Chinese Food on Christmas Eve, with our Nativity Story re-enactment. Those photos must be on Emily's camera. She will have to blog those. Then we did the traditional breakfast at Emily's house, and Dinner at our house. It made for a very nice Christmas Day. We feel so very blessed in every way imaginable.

Thanksgiving, 5K Turkey Trot & Family Reunion

We started off the long weekend with our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Not all of the family were there, as Josh and Courtney spent the day with Courtney's family and Megan was enroute from New Mexico - leaving her family behind (sad face). We had great food, and great company.



We kicked off the Family Reunion with a "No Chickens Allowed" 5K Turkey Trot on Friday morning, after Thanksgiving. It was a good way to burn off the additional calories from the Thanksgiving over-indulgences. It was a beautiful morning to run, after a much needed rain. The kids did a 1.4 mile run, while the adults did a 5K. We all ended up at Emily Lyon's home for juice and bagels. Aaron Lyon came in first, and I came in last - woohoo - at least I was there, and I finished.




Yes, we had the Family Reunion to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday. There were 72 in attendance. We had wonderful time. It was so great to see my parents enjoy greeting their children, many grandchildren (15 of 24) and numerous great-grandchildren
(38 of 60?). We played a Jeopardy game with questions about Grandma & Grandpa, we had many photo ops with each family, then each family put together a scrapbook page. We presented the album at the end of the evening. We ate dinner, had a variety show, and then had cake and Hot Fudge Sundaes, per Isabelle's request. It was a perfect evening. Thanks to all who made the trek to Cali. The grandchildren came from as far as Minnesota, Iowa, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Nevada and Utah. I know it was a sacrifice for many, but Grandma and Grandpa are still floating on clouds over the magnitude of the event.