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Friday, December 30, 2011

Tis the Season


I actually paid Jacob $5 to sit on Santa's lap. I'm the one having growing pains... ;)




7 Mile Beach- Jacob's favorite place in the world!
Jacob with cousin Ty at A Christmas Carol play!!





Cinnamon Creme Syrup Neighborhood Deliveries- Jacob is our runner. What are we going to do when he grows up?
Annual Deerfield Christmas Program
New favorite appetizer- Walnut Date crostini with English coastal cheese


Christmas Party

It'a always fun to have a reason to get together for good food, great company and fun games.
Linda gave us all marshmallow guns, which was hilarious ;)
Best cooks I know!

La Jolla Groves

Christmas Eve's Eve dinner with friends at my favorite restaurant= happy mom.
My new favorite appetizer thanks to Pat and Karen ;)
Stuffed Gorgonzola Crimini' mushrooms... mmmm.

Caprese Salad was fantastic


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Stake Activity Day

Our stake primary activity day theme this year was Plant, Grow, Bloom. What a great day. Hundreds of darling little girls came to 4 classes on modesty, (testimony class below) friendship and integrity. This is our favorite activity of the year I think! ;) We had our best turn out ever this year.
Journals for testimony class

Candy seed favors to put in their bag of treasures. They made something in every class- journals, bracelets, pens and took home modesty hangers (hanger with a quote about modesty to hang in their closet as a reminder every morning when they get dressed)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Merry Christmas!

What's up in 2011

Elise is a sophomore at BYU and absolutely loving her time there! She serves on the board for the Liahona Children's Foundation, a charity endorsed by the church that works with wards and stakes in South America to provide nutritional supplements as well as educational needs. She works on promotion, advertising and the web site.

She was able to go over the summer on a Humanitarian trip, and had an unforgettable experience. I was a nervous wreck with 9 flights and traveling all over Peru and Ecuador.
There was political unrest in Puno that was preventing them from reaching a village, but members from their previous area traveled on an overnight bus with them and stayed in the hotel they would be safe and reach the members that were waiting for them. Talk about service.
One of the most touching experiences for Elise was when members would gather and dance and sing when they came and present handmade gifts to them. All from people who have literally nothing. It was an unforgettable experience for her. The little girls were soooo excited to get their nails painted pretty colors in between sessions. Pic: Elise drying a little girl's nails... ;) happy heart picture. She was also able to visit Machu Picchu which was a big highlight!!
Elise came home just in time to watch Jacob for 3 weeks while Lynn and I were gone, then found a job at a call center taking polls and customer service feedback.
She hated it to say the least, but got the job easily typing a crazy 120 wpm with out mistakes. I knew texting and fb had some sort of purpose! ;) She had been waiting on an opening at Novell with Lynn, but the company was bought out over the summer and intern hiring on hold.
She stuck it out at work for a month and then was recommended by her boss to interview for an editing job in Orem. She was thrilled to get the job as an Editor in the corporate office and happily retired her phone skills for good. She has a cubicle, security badge and a boss named Jan. Kinda feels like "The Office" ;) She works with a good friend which makes it fun. Elise has become quite the crafter and enjoys projects, pinterest and cooking.

Jacob is in 5th grade and loves (to put it mildly) his teacher (who is a man) I have to say Mr. Wells is the best and I am already sad for school to end next year. Jacob really enjoys math, reading and computer science. This is the age of jump drives and lap tops I guess!
Minor League Baseball was lots of fun this past summer and his team took 1st place! Jacob hit a home run during one of the championship games and played pitcher and 3rd base. Tackle football was a thrill and he loved every minute (ok, maybe not the two a days) He was sooo proud to be a Caveman football player and they went to the league championships taking 2nd.

Jacob has become fashion conscience this year and enjoys shopping-- a lot. He is worse than Elise was! He told me he has to look good for "the ladies" ...oh wow, what am I in for with this little latin lover? He went though a fedora phase recently- as you can see...

Lynn & I celebrated our 25th anniversary traveling through Italy for 3 weeks. We started in Rome and rented a car traveling and eating all through Tuscany and Umbria, over to the Italian Riviera through all the food towns like Parma and Modena and ending in Venice. It was a magical trip and I think the most romantic one too! We look back on those memories with great fondness. We stopped off in NY for the weekend on our way and really enjoyed our visit with Jeff, Juliane and kids!
Novell was bought out this summer and ended up being a great thing. Lynn is very happy with his work, although he is spread thin and there is always more to do than hours in the day.
He took a week off work in Sept. to help get ready for the opening of Five Guys #5 store in Buffalo NY area. Store #6 is slated to open in the next few weeks. This month he took another week off to replace our tile and carpet with hardwood. He did a fantastic job.

I do pta, room mom stuff and help in Jacob's classroom. I love my book club and we've had some fun adventures this year! I started Italian lessons and took a night class at uvu with a good friend. So fun! I need to keep learning so I have an excuse to go visit again ;)
Lynn is still serving as stake executive secretary and is always engaged in that work, and really enjoys the great men he works with. I serve in stake primary and love the women I work with and the wards I serve. I loooove primary!

I had a health scare this month and more than anything I realized how fortunate we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the priesthood available to us. As I was reading about the angel who brought the news of the Savior's birth to the shepherds I loved the feeling of anticipation that came with that news and feel the Christmas season carries that same anticipation of accepting the glad news of the gospel with all it's blessings. Have a very Merry Christmas!

With love,
Debbie, Lynn and family

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Book Club Dinner!

An evening with women I love was just what I needed! I hadn't laughed that much in a long time ;) We missed Jennifer who was at temple square. We reviewed the book A Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman, but mostly laughed, made memories and talked about our family traditions.
Milk & Cookies Dessert

Centerpiece of branches with snowflakes and ribbon I am in love with from Tai Pan.

Neighborhood Annual Party

This was the 12th annual neighborhood luminary walk and party. So much fun!! Santa, cocoa, cookies, bonfires and hay rides! I couldn't even get Jacob to pose with Santa this year. The same Santa comes every year, real beard and everything. I remember when Jacob used to run behind Lou Hall's home to see if he could find santa's sleigh and the reindeer.

Lynn loading up the next group to head out for a ride to see the neighborhood lights.
Hot chocolate break

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving came so quickly! It was wonderful to take time with family and enjoy the holiday weekend and remember all we can be grateful for. After dinner the adults had a discussion led by my father on Abraham. It was really wonderful discussion and great to get everyone's perspective.


Is there such thing as enough food? Never!
Kids table
Jacob and I made mini pies!!

In keeping with the mini theme, we made mini cheeseballs you can just take and put on your plate with some crackers.Giant Cupcakes- go figure. These were pumpkin carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Elise making her famous chocolate brownie trifle
Flavored butters