♫ "Merry Christmas 2011" ♫

Lisa and I put this puzzle together in 2 days, after Christmas. It was a 'busy' puzzle and Lisa did the lion's share! I'm more of a finite puzzle sorter and tend to do backgrounds, sky and such. She's the master at people and buildings! She also did the entire frame! :o)
David and Angela and baby Avery came over Christmas day about mid-afternoon. They helped Lisa put this puzzle together. They did it in about 4 hours! Awesome job! :o)

Krispy Kreme's 'snowman' doughnut. Jordan picked up doughnuts for Christmas morning. Cute doughnuts!

Adelaide licking the frosting off her doughnut. She has a cute mustache!

Christmas Eve night and the girls are in their Christmas pj's! Cute girls!

Christmas morning. We asked Santa to stop by while we went to church. He obliged us and when we came home he had stopped by and left gifts! The girls were soooo excited!

Christmas morning and they're ready for church! Beautiful girls!

Kirsten was so happy with her gift! Lisa had her name this year and made her 3 more wonderful pairs of booties! Yippee! She loves them!

Diana gave Neil (mom and dad) a cross cut paper shredder and sonic toothbrushes for both of us! How very practical! :o)

Lisa with little Avery. She crocheted a cute head band with slip on crocheted flowers of assorted colors. Very clever and cute!

The gifts are all opened and I think in the mayhem or 'ripping off' wrapping paper the tree got a little decoration!

Jordan and Lisa and their girls came up and spent Christmas with us. We enjoyed having them with us! I've shared some pictures of some of our Christmas I think Lisa will be blogging so I didn't want to use all her pictures! :o)

Grandpa and Avery

Last night Avery spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa, her first overnighter with us.

She did fantastic!

She loves sitting with her grandpa!

Avery was 'fascinated' by our Christmas tree!

She liked reaching up for the branches and anything she could try to reach.

She loved looking at the lights and pretty balls on the tree.

Here she is looking right up at me.

Avery and her cuteness!

Daddy (David) left Avery off at 7:00a.m. this morning so he and his friend Andrew could go snowboarding on Crystal Mountain. PS-Avery has daddy wrapped around her little finger! ♥
Avery is 6-1/2 months old.

Grandpa with his girls!
Lisa made the cute sock monkey hat for Avery. This was taken just before it was time to go home.

Ahhh! Magic touch! Time for her nap!

Avery in the walker.

Avery thought she'd get up closer and personal to see her Auntie Kirsten.

From Grandpa's arms into bed! Sooo sweet!

I was changing her and couldn't resist taking this picture of Avery's cute, chunky body! :o)

Avery loves being in the walker!

We had not seen Avery in a month. It took her just a little bit to get used to us again. Half an hour later she was fine! It was so much fun having her today! She is so sweet and easy to take care of. She gives you the biggest dimpled smile! We also had Nala (Chihuahua) and she always feels right at home visiting Grandpa and Grandma's house. We love having her too!

Julie's baby shower - Baby girl Ward :o)

I love this picture of Julie!

Bob's sister Lesa Koger and her daughter (sorry, I forgot her name).

To Julie's right is her cousin Gina with her daughters Ava (younger) and Elise (next to Julie). Sofie is on the floor and you can see just a little bit of her pink shirt and arm.

Yummy food!

The day before dad and Kirsten and I left Utah for home in Washington, we had a baby shower for Julie. Her sister Michelle and I and Bob's sister, Lesa Koger had a shower for Julie. The baby is due January 1st but we decided to have the shower a little early before the holidays and things got crazy! She's having a little girl and after two boys she needed 'girly clothes'! :o) We decorated with lots of 'pink'! Lesa brought delicious food and we provided punch and desert. If you look on the table we had a 'pink piggy bank' for a centerpiece with balloons. I made a cute tutu for the pig. We gave the piggy to Julie at the end.

Everyone was so generous and Julie received many wonderful gifts. Now you may wonder what they are going to name this sweet little bundle of joy...'to be determined, still undecided!' Hopefully by the time they bring Miss Ward home, she will finally have a name. They have received many suggestions, but the name still remains ??? - a mystery :o)

Utah-Braxton's Birthday # '4' !

Braxton had his birthday party at 'Trafalga' where they have rides, games, etc. This is Tyler and Braxton's cousin Emily (I think) climbing the wall. She was like 'Spider Woman' all over those walls without any fear of height whatsoever!

There she is at the top and she did that several times!

They have a hard skill wall, a medium skill wall and an easy skill wall. This was the medium skill wall.

This is Lauren on the easy wall.

Lauren and Brynnly at the top of the easy wall.

Quintin and Tyler on the medium wall.

Look at the birthday boy, Braxton, 2nd from left, and that smile says it all, what a blast!

L to R - Lauren, Braxton, Brooklynn, McKenna, Zachary, Brynnly.

They rode the Frog Hopper over and over and over and squealed with laughter the entire time!

At the bottom! Whew!

Up they go!

Braxton had a ball!

Those who came to his special celebration were Braxton's family, Bob's sister Lesa Koger's family, and Julie's sister Michelle and her family and me, grandma. The kids had a blast! They had go carts outside and they kids loved it! They had laser tag and that was a hit! They had all kinds of things for the kids to do. Julie brought spiderweb cup cakes for everyone at the end. Yum!

Braxton got a 14-inch bicycle for his birthday. I had pictures and I don't know what I did with them. I've been through all of them and I must have deleted them. He wanted a bicycle so bad! (I know Julie took pictures and perhaps she will post about it later.) The neighbor had loaned him a 'balance bike'. It's a small bike without pedals. He was a champ on that bike. Braxton has 'no fear' and was quite the bicyclist on it! He loves his new bike and it has training wheels. I'm sure they won't be on for long!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Mayflower landed inside the tip of Cape Cod fishhook, 11 Nov/21 November 1620.

The passengers on board the Mayflower during its trans-Atlantic voyage of September 6 - November 9, 1620, the majority of them becoming the settlers of Plymouth Colony in what is now Massachusetts. Of the passengers, 37 were members of the separatist Leiden congregation seeking freedom of worship in the New World. The Mayflower launched with 102 passengers, as well as at least two dogs, and a crew of 25-30 headed by Captain Christopher Jones. One baby was born during the trip and named Oceanus Hopkins. Another, Peregrine (meaning "wanderer") White, was born on the Mayflower in America on November 20, before the settlement at Plymouth. About half of these emigrants died in the first winter. Many Americans can trace their ancestry back to one or more of these individuals who, 'Saints' and 'Strangers' together, would become known as the Pilgrims.

Celebrating the Pilgrim Spirit
More than one hundred years ago, a group of descendants of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, saw the need for a national society to honor their memory. The intention was to remember these Pilgrims who established Plymouth Colony. Today there are tens-of-millions of individuals descended from these brave souls. It is the goal of The Mayflower Society to join together people who share this heritage and to carry on the memory of our Pilgrim ancestors.

The Pilgrims
The group of 102 passengers who crowded aboard Mayflower for the crossing was not homogenous. Many of the passengers were members of the Leiden congregation, but they were joined by a number of English families or individuals who were hoping to better their life situations, or were seeking financial gain. These two general groups have sometimes been referred to as the "saints" and "strangers". Although the Leiden congregation had sent its strongest members with various skills for establishing the new colony, nearly half of thepassengers died the first winter of the "great sickness."

I got the above information from the Internet. On my father's side, he had two relatives (two brothers) that worked as ship hands to pay for their passage on the Mayflower. We are blessed that they survived that first winter where almost 'half' of the 102 passengers died.

I am thankful for their desire to leave England and come to America. I am thankful for my ancestry. They were true patriots to this country. They fought for this country's freedom in its infancy and we are blessed today to be able to enjoy that freedom.

My father died November 27, 1982 two days after Thanksgiving. He died on Saturday morning at 8:30a.am. That very same morning Pres. N. Eldon Tanner also passed away. He went with good company!

Utah Trip - Part 2 - Chris and Michelle's

While I was at Michelle's the kids elementary school had Backwards Day' and dresssed backwards. This is Brooklynn ready for school.

She had her shoes on backwards but changed them around before she left for school.

McKenna ready for school.

She's dressed backwards!

The school had a Crazy Hair Day'.

Michelle does such an outstanding job with the girls' hair!

McKenna sort of reminded me of Pippy Longstocking!

Lauren had more straw in her hair and it was cute, but being 11 she toned it down.

Brooklynn with cupcakes in her hair, complete with cherries on top!

Kirsten after playing hard! Yes, she made the car mess! :o)

I took this picture from Julie's. We also made buck eyes, peanut butter balls, at Michelle's house and the kids did a great job helping out!

Michelle in her Professor McGonegall (sp?) attire!

She had to help out at two parties, McKenna's class and Brooklynn's class.

I should have posted this picture a little further down. Oops!

McKenna's 3rd grade class and the other 3rd grade class had an Economic Fair where the kids had to make things and bring them to sell. It's the way the two 3 grade classes raise money for the year for their class field trips. They also learn about the environment and recycling, economics, etc. The fair ties it all together.

The other 3rd grade class.

Inside McKenna's classroom.

McKenna selling her Duct Tape wallets and coin purses. They sold out in two hours! Her class raised $300.00 ! Good job!

Michelle made these cute vampire mini pumpkins!

Our finished carved pumpkins!

R to L - McKenna's pumpkin with tongue sticking out. I think it was Brooklynn's mini vampire pumpkin. The next one I made with the blemished face.

R to L - My pumpkin, Tyler's Sasquatch, Lauren's heart.

R to L - Michelle's Mrs. Potato Head, so cute! Brooklynn's pumpkin and Chris' pumpkin.

Michelle creating Mrs. Potato Head

McKenna having a ball with her pumpkin!

Lauren working on the heart.

Tyler working on Sasquatch.

Here's our happy crew!

Kirsten's favorite place, patrolling the hallway!

Halloween - Lauren as a lady pirate.

Brooklynn as a witch. A good witch!

McKenna - Lady Vampire!

Michelle is the room mom for McKenna's 3rd grade class and they had a Harry Potter theme. She made this 'Sorting Hat'. She had all the kids names on cards and in a container and divided the kids into 4 groups-Griffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepump, Slytherin. I'm not sure I spelled those right.

They gave them Halloween pencils for the wands. They had a potion class and made 'Gak', They made made broomsticks out of their pencils for their magic class. They did such cute ideas. She could tell you about that.

Michelle helped in Brooklynn's class and she had to make 'bones' for the blood, marinara sauce. She made about 108 bread bones!

I love her eyelashes!

The kids scored big on Halloween night and had a bucket load of candy! It was a busy time while at the Gleeds household! What a blast!

While dad was there he was able to fix their sink and replace old outlets in their kitchen and one in their master bedroom. I loved going out to check on the chickens and helped collect eggs. They have 6 chickens and I wish I had taken pictutres. They are such beautiful chickens and I love their colors. The kids treat them like pets and the chickens don't mind being carried around. Roxy, their dog, is good with them. She's just a big old loveable dog and loves attention!