Is Christmas really over?

Yes, Christmas is REALLY over! This is the number one question we get while we are cleaning Christmas paint from retail windows. This is the most dredded and despised day of the year for our family. It is tradition that all the kids help us scrape the paint from these windows. It is a painful, cold & messy job, but someone has to do it! The worst are these large silly figures they put on a few of the doors.

They are the most difficult to scrape.
By the end of the day your neck, shoulders and back are aching from pushing so hard.

We were armed for the cold on this New Year's Day (actually the day after) but to our delight it wasn't as bad as year's past. I have concluded that it was because the crisp wind wasn't blowing. The last two years have been absolutely miserable just because of the bone-chilling wind.

I am grateful for rubber-gloves, a water-heater for our bucket, my new beanie that covers my ears, layers of synthetic fabric that wick and keep me warm, and enough work to keep us busy.

This year seemed to go by much faster. I think mostly because it wasn't as cold and also because I thought Guy and I would be doing this by ourselves this year. We got Guy and Grant to help before they left town. They went to Provo to visit friends before Grant had to go back to Logan (USU)for school. Guy will be back in St. George (DSC) for school on Monday. Taylor and Sadie were excused this year for whatever reasons.

Do what you love, love what you do!

You may think it would be crazy to love cleaning windows. I don't love it EVERY day, but I do love many things it does for me. It provides for my family, keeps me in shape, I get to enjoy working outdoors not cooped up at a desk (been there, done that), we have great clients who we enjoy seeing, and I enjoy spending the day working with my husband. I also enjoy the schedule and flexibility we have together to do other things we love, together. Also, I love the feeling of productivity and being able to see it as I work.

Okay, back to the original subject. We have to drag these cardboard pieces around to collect all of the paint. This is what Christmas looks like after New Year's Day! I bet you never thought of it that way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

work hard, play hard, rider harder.

A White Christmas in Southern Utah

Wow, I can’t believe how much snow we are getting here! It is Christmas Eve and it is snowing again! I don’t remember every having a Christmas so white here in Southern Utah. So, my mom came down to visit for the holiday. She enjoyed relaxing, watching movies and visiting with all of us. On Christmas Eve, my brother, Mike, and his family came from Cedar City for dinner and games and then they took mom to their home for the rest her stay.

Amanda & Mike

clockwise from left

Greyson, McKenzie (neighbor), Sadie, Haislee and

Taylor ...seems to dodge the camera a lot lately...

(I'll get him)

Guy IV, Grant & Stetson (Amanda's brother)

Exchanging gifts with Grandma Linda before she leaves town.

Christmas eve Guy’s kids went to their mom’s and my kids went to their dad’s after our family festivities. By morning we were all gathered together again to exchange gifts and have Guy make our traditional Christmas breakfast of waffles and strawberries (Thanks honey, I’m tired of cooking).Mmmmm, Mmmmm Good

Matt and Chanel made it over for Christmas morning. They find it difficult to divide their holiday time with four families! Sounds like a movie doesn’t it? We were very glad to have them with us. They were working and got snowed-in when we had our gingerbread extravaganza.

*The Chef*

Matt, Chanel and Guy in "Christmas Jammies"

Sadie, Grant & Taylor in "Christmas Jammies"

Opening Gifts

I must have my family trained, finally! On Christmas Eve one of them grabbed a garbage sack and started putting all of the wrapping garbage in it before I mentioned it. It was definitely an easier clean-up this year. I am grateful for such a great time with my family.

Merry Christmas to all.

work hard, play hard, ride harder....

Building Gingerbread Houses in a Snowstorm....

We have an annual Christmas tradition to get together as a family and decorate gingerbread houses. We used to build them with graham crackers and boiled sugar which leaves wicked burns on your skin, but have given in to purchasing real pre-made gingerbread houses so we can spend more time decorating and not building. Each year it seems that someone has a creative block and gets frustrated or someone gets offended so at least one house gets abandoned before it is finished. Not the same case this year…All was going well, we had lots of candy to decorate, ideas were flowing from everyone and we were all jovial while creating our gingerbread village. It was a happy, colorful, sticky evening. By 9:30pm I was really enjoying myself and the fact that we were all still happy and my house was close to complete. The phone rang and we were notified that school had been cancelled for the next day. That changed the scene entirely. We were all buzzing anyway because of the white covered landscape outside our cozy home. It had been snowing since 5p but it started to stick to the road. We do not experience snow very often in Southern Utah so it is always a treat to step back and enjoy it while we can. It had snowed all day Monday (it is Wednesday now) but it didn’t stick to the road. It did leave snow on the lawn and it hadn’t all melted away yet. With this new snow fall everything was sticking and getting thicker by the hour. With no school the next day the kids abandoned their partially decorated gingerbread houses to go play in the snow with the neighborhood kids at 10p.Guy's colorful Cathedral (Eat your Veggies) Chrystal's cozy & chaotic creation

Taylor's flower, no star, no diamond, (he kept changing his mind!) decor...Sadie's Gumdrop GalaxyGrant's mov'n and "Shakn" mansionWhat started out to be a quaint village....

The kids were playing in the snow until 11:30p.m.
They were still beaming when they came home and they were sopping wet.This is a Christmas memory they will never forget. It took several days for the snow to melt away is some places.
This was a very rare no school snow day!

work hard, play hard, rider harder.

Jubilee of Trees

Sadie and I spent an afternoon together at the Jubilee of Trees. It is an annual fundraiser where trees are decorated and donated then auctioned at a gala dinner. It is very fancy and beautiful. The money is raised for the Jubilee home which in affiliated with the hospital. It is a home where out of town families can stay if they have a medical emergency and cannot afford a hotel.

I have attached a slideshow of our favorite trees/ornaments. I love all the colors, glitter, sparkle and festive ambiance. Sadie and I get some good ideas for our annual gingerbread gathering too. Not that we use any of them, but they inspire us. Each of our kids decorate a gingerbread house. They start out with great intentions and by the end of the night they are bored and just throw stuff on to get it over with. Hopefully this year they will have more patience. We'll see in a future post.

This is one of the ways that we get into the Christmas spirit here. It doesn't snow so it is hard to feel Christmas right away.

I went to Tuacahn (an outdoor ampitheatre) to participate in the Live Nativity this last week. My children had other commitments and couldn't attend. It was a beautiful experience that I hope they will have with me next year. I am the cubmaster in my neighborhood and several of our non-LDS families participated with us. It is a wonderful thing that even though we are different denominations in our scout group, we all celebrate Christ. The Live Nativity was a very reverent, majestic depiction of the birth of Christ. It is so simple and so great. My goal this year is to keep Christmas simple and memorable.

work hard, play hard, rider harder.