Olivia's Birthday and Baptism

We had two events in one. What a wonderful day it has been. Olivia turned eight and on the same day was Baptised by Bob. What a great spiritual day it was and we have all been so blessed. After the Baptism we had a luncheon at our house with Birthday presents and cake. Congratulations Olivia!!!

Christmas Holiday's

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Grandpa and Grandma Van Horn drove in from Utah on 24th. That evening we went over to Grandpa and Grandma Rutledge's house for there yearly Christmas Eve party. We ate, watched the kids open a present and played the elephant gift game (I think there were 47 numbers past out). We then came home just in time to miss the pajama elf delivering new P.J's to the kids.

We were then woken up around 6:30 Christmas day, to 3 anxious girls wanting to see what Santa brought them. Sonoma got a DVD camcorder (watch out U Tube), Kate got all new cake/cupcake decorating stuff, and Olivia got a Barbie Christmas. When then all sat around opening other presents eating my Mom's famous Orange Rolls and Monkey Bread YUM!

Over then next couple days we watched lots of movies, played the Wii and got plenty of horseback ridding rides in. Oh and Grandpa Van Horn got 1 Mt. Bike ride in.

We are so thankful for the wonderful blessings we have be blessed with and the opportunity to have the Grandparents here to celebrate the life of our Savior Jesus Christ. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a great 2009!

Christmas Picture that didn't make the cut

This is the picture that was the best one that was taken, but it didn't make the cut. Reason being is that cowboys legs were cut off. Every time that I see this picture it makes me laugh. What a great afternoon of laughing and joking around. I am in love with our horse cowboy, he just puts up with anything and doesn't really make to much of a fuss. He always is very aware. When my Dad and I were out of a ride the other day he was starting to get annoyed because we weren't going home and it was getting dark. It is funny how he is aware of what is going on. I am thankful for my girls and how great they are. I love each and everyone of there personalities. I am quite thankful for the family that I have.

Christmas Ballet Program

Our little Ballerina Olivia, participated in a beautiful performance with her ballet group. Her two cousins Rachel and Everann also were in the program. It was at Del Oro High School and it was a spectacular evening.

Christmas Cookie Contest

This year we entered the City of Newcastle's Christmas cookie contest. Each of the girls picked there favorite cookie to bake and then typed up the recipe to post in there annual cookbook. This was so much fun, we spent many hours and ate lots of cookies prior to the contest. The cookies were tasted and voted upon by our local citizens for best cookie. There were some great entry's. YUM!

Christmas Tree Decorating

I love decorating the house and our tree for Christmas. I love all the fighting over the kind of tree that we are going to get. I love pulling out all the oddments that the kids have made and gluing them back together to last another day. I love the oddments that we have purchased over the years that reminds me of when the girls were little and what our family was into that year. But I love the homade ones that family and friends have made for us. I think of all the long hours that they spent creating such a beautiful thing that hangs on my tree. My tree as you can see isn't fancy but it is a marker of love and kindness which is what Christmas is. Merry Christmas.

Sonoma's Birthday

Sonoma is officially 15 years old. Wow, what a day. We enjoyed a little bit of shopping, and then we all went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was soooo good and we had a wonderful time. We then went home and opened up presents. Can't believe how grow-up she is, 1 more year till we have another driver in our home. We asked her what kind of a car she would like and she said she would love to have a old pickup truck so that she could hook-up our small horse trailer and she and Kate could go ridding anywhere they want. Happy 15th B-day Sonoma!

Identity Theft

Yes, I am a victim of Identity Theft. AHHHHH!!!! It all started when I got back from my wonderful vacation in the mountains. As I was going thru the mail there was a package from Proactive Solution. I was bewildered as I opened it thinking why am I getting this? No one in our family has acne. As I read the invoice it said that they had charged my credit card 27.78 and on the 22nd of Dec they would send out another kit and charge my card again. I was frustrated because I couldn't understand why they would go and send me stuff and assume that I wanted it. Well it gets better. I called them this morning telling them that I didn't want it. The lady was confused, she said they why did you order it. I said I didn't. She said that it was ordered on line on the 24th of Nov. So then I got worried and looked at my account on line. There were 6 other charges from some strange company for all different amounts. So I call my wonderful Bank of America, they blocked my credit card and after an hour of being transferred I was able to put in a fraud report.

So here the lesson to my story. When you get a proactive box in the mail don't wait a couple of days to realize that your getting riped off from someone else.

In the end they refunded me the money and I have a new card coming in the mail.

The Joy of the Holidays

As a very stressful day ended and we were setting in for the night I noticed that our neighbor had put up there Christmas lights and the other neighbor had there tree up. As I stood there looking thru the window I felt a rush of happy. I am really looking forward to the holidays this year and the fact that the kids are getting older. It is very different to celebrate the holidays with older kids then it was when they were little. The presents are more thought out and they are interested in what I need.

This Thursday our community is putting on a Christmas cookie exchange and contest. I think it will be fun to join in. I love making Christmas cookies, but most of all my girls love to make them also. I think about when I was going up and helping my Mom make cookies. Then we would spend the evening frosting them, put them on a Christmas paper plate with colored scran wrap with a bow and label. We would then deliver them to all of our friends and neighbors. Since we live in a very small community, I think that the cookie exchange is perfect for our family.

I have also been thinking of what we will be doing for our charity project this year. This is hard since we don't have a lot of money, so that means that I have to get creative. I'm not that good of being creative but if forced I seem to do fine. And maybe that is what I need a little push to step out of my box. Hum I will have to think about that.

After Thanksgiving Camping

We were able to go up to Sierraville after my shopping spree and go horse camping. It was quite fun and very cold. Sonoma and Kate are getting so big, they just ride there horses everywhere. When they need something they just throw a halter on and go bareback. It really gives Bob and I sometime alone with Olivia. She helped all weekend cut a new horse trail up at camp. All she really did was guard the snacks and sing.

The pictures are of Bob and Olivia hitting each other with sticks. Luckily Sonoma and Kate were ridding there horses down the street to the local 76 gas station for candy (first time going off the property by themselves, I was very nervous). I am so glad that Bob is still juvenile enough to tease liv.

Right before we left Olivia found a blue plastic binder holder (not sure what the true name is). But anyway it made a kazoo noise, she buzzed that thing everywhere she went. She would even talk thru it. When we got into the car Bob told her she would have to wait until we were home until she could make noise again or he would throw it out the window. Well we stopped for a potty break and the minute he got out of the car she asked if she could blow her whistle. I told her to hurry it up before dad got back. As Bob headed back to the car she squealed "he's coming"! She was doing really good for most 0f the trip until she couldn't stand it anymore and blew her whistle. Bob put it up in his visor until we got home. Then it was no stop whistling for the rest of the night.

What a fun trip. I love going up there with Bob and the girls. It is so peaceful. We are very blessed to have a place to go and have fun.

Black Friday

Ahh, yes I am one of those Black Friday shoppers. I wasn't going to do it this year, due to the fact of low funds. But with the support of a wonderful husband, he encouraged me to go (I think it was all about saving money). Well I got up at 3:00 a.m. and hit Koals first. Wow what sales, but what a line. I stood in the check-out line for 2 hours, OUCH. Since Target is next door and I could get a cart instead of holding everything like I had to at Koals I thought that would be refreshing. After that I raced over to JC Pennys and Sears which are in the mall. Then ended up at Old Navy for the 50% off sales, I love sales at Old Navy ($10.00 jeans). I was finished by 10:00 a.m. I pretty much got all of our Christmas shopped for, but I also got Sonoma's and Olivia's birthday presents purchased. Yea for Karen the super shopper.

Thanksgiving Yum! Yum!

Wow what a yummy day. I spent all day cooking, cleaning, watching movies, and eating. Can I say what a perfect day. We had so much fun hanging out as a family and cooking. We BBQed our turkey, dutch ovened our stuffing, and put our green beans in little pies like chicken pot pies. We in addition to our pumpkin and berry pies made a banna cream pie which was a huge hit. Sorry if I made you all hungry, but it was sooooo good.

My Fun Sunday Baking Afternoon. YUM!!!!

Yesterday I baked. I have not baked for at least 6 months. I made chocolate marshmallow with fudge frosting cookies, then sticky buns, and last of all pumpkin muffins. Oh my, have I gained 5 pounds in the matter of 24 hrs. Bob asked what was my deal, was the you know what coming or what???? I said that it is finally cold enough to turn on my oven without having to turn on the air conditioning, which will not happen until next summer. In our less than rich status we have done away with any kind of luxury items. I also needed to prove to myself that I can still bake really good. Like I said before I made pumpkin muffins, I got a recipe off the Internet. It was very yummy, but I am going to improve it. It called for a yellow cake mix, so now I am going to make the cake from scratch. I also have a pumpkin outside that is starting to get ripe, I am going to learn how to make it into pumpkin filling. I explained this to Bob and got an amazing response, blank stare and he shook his head in disbelief. I think I can really make pumpkin muffins from scratch. Once my pumpkin is ready I will let ya all know how it all came out of if I am truly crazy.

My Cowgirls

The girls had a chance to ride a mechanical bull at our local fair. It was amusing to watch the operator of the machine start it out very slow, and then he could tell it was going to take a whole lot more power to get these girls off. We asked them what they thought about it, and they both said they would rather ride there horse somewhere any day of the week. There new thing is ridding bareback to do any kind of chore or task. Sonoma gets the mail by just hopping on cowboy and ridding down to the mailbox. They go to friends houses to via there horse, they want to go to the gas station and get a treat. It's nice to know that they still love there horses and I hope it will replace the boy craze that most girls go thru. Wishful thinking.

Our Office Move Agian :(

Well we have moved our office again. I hate moving, I really hate moving. Especially moving an office. I think I'm close to an expert at this. We have moved our office 6 times in the last 11 years. It doesn't matter if your going from a small office to big or from big to small. You still have to delete furniture or add furniture. The thing I hate the most is that you can never get phone, fax, and DSL lines started, hooked up, arranged when the phone company says it will. It is either turned off earlier or started later than expected. This is very frustrating. I must say that with this last move we were very blessed to have the technicians from AT&T that we had. When they realized that it wasn't going as smoothly as it should have, they brought in help and only charged me a quarter of what it would have been. So a big thanks to AT & T for helping me not have a total mental breakdown. Also a big thinks to my Blackberry, I was able to get very important e-mails so that we could get some cash flow. I guess I can't forget the 2 main people that helped move me physically. Dennis and Mike a big thank you for putting up with my OCD of where furniture goes or doesn't go. You saved my b-hind.

Halloween Night

We went to Lea and Casey's for Halloween. We had a spooky potluck dinner, we brought chili with bread stick spiders. After dinner the Sonoma and Kate went off with Jessica and Natalie to trick or treat by themselves. Kate was an Elf, and Sonoma was still celebrating Homecoming with her black and gold. She complained that she didn't get candy from a couple of houses because they didn't think she was dressed up. They had a lot of fun with out parents overseeing them. Olivia and I went with the younger kids around the neighborhood, we were surprised at how many houses didn't have anyone home or didn't want kids. We did get to go thru a haunted house which was kid of scary. They did a great job and it was very fun. Bob on the other hand walked over to his brother Jim's house and drooled over his new hot rod. We all had a great time.

Kates Pumpkin Cupcakes

Katelyn got a new cupcake cookbook a couple months ago and has really been working hard at creating cupcakes. She did a great job on these pumpkin cupcakes, her frosting was fantastic. I can't wait till she has a new creation, we will all weigh 300 pounds by the time she is a cupcake master.

Homecomming

This past week was Homecoming week at Del Oro High School. We were able asked to participate in the the Homecoming Parade by donating our dump truck and trailer. So I asked Dennis if he would like to help out and Sonoma and I would tag along. We were given the JV Football players and they were great. Sonoma who is freshman this year, rode in the back for a little while and then came up front with Dennis, his son Alex, and myself. It was great to enjoy such a long standing tradition of driving thru our small town. There was such a large crowd cheering on our amazing school.

GO DEL ORO!!!!!!!!