Cedar Hills Christmas Tour Successful!

Tonight was the big night...the Christmas Tour of our (and 5 other) homes! It was a fundraiser for an organization "Mothers Without Borders" which provides formula to babies in Africa as well as help for Women and children (especially orphans). I was hoping we could raise $1000.00 between all of our homes. We raised $2000.00!!

When our friends reminded us that we had said yes to hosting:), we started hanging garland and making the preparations.

Our pictures don't show it but the garland looked great lighting up the stairway.

We did start putting up all the trees right after Thanksgiving, but with things going on every day since then, we were barely ready finishing miscellaneous details when the first guest arrived! It all turned out so pretty and I can't believe I forgot to take pictures before we shut everything down for the night! Mikelle's Hannah Montana room turned out so cute and our neighbors even let us borrow their pink guitar and stand to place by Miley's life size cut-out by the tree. The tour was a great excuse to decorate all of our bedrooms with trees we have and just haven't put up in past years. Now we can just sit back, finish our Christmas cards, and then take the rest of the month off:)

More excuses to get even more Costco garland and a few trips to Taipan!

It was all for a good cause right?

More pics...only of the kitchen and entry

(as everyone had gone to bed before I remembered I hadn't taken pics)!

The table centerpiece reminded me of all the Christmas Eve's we spent as kids at Uncle Preston's and Aunt Linnea's home. They always made their home so inviting, festive, warm and cozy. I think that feeling sticks with you and you want to pass it on to your kids as well.

Each home on the tour had its own personality. We were house #3 with the "traditional" decor (specializing in red and gold:). We definitely were not short on those 2 colors!

Erika was house #1, a tribute to Charles Dickens/A Christmas Carol. She even had her boy dressed in a tux by a large hanging latern out front to greet you (speaking in complete character and with the proper accent). Girls at the door welcomed you and offered hot wassail (recipe to come:) Last night when we previewed each other's homes, they were just finishing hanging all of the vinyl sayings from the book (A Christmas Carol) around their home on the walls.

It was SO cute!!

Jane (house #2) always does an amazing job at whatever she sets out to do! Her home (Woodland Christmas theme) was rich and elegant with that Sundance feel of warmth and charm. She always goes beyond the surface for meaning and depth in all she does. She had things like frankenscence sp? and myrh displayed in her beautiful living room. Her tree and grand piano were spectacular! She served yummy pumpkin and also gingerbread cookies! (Will also need to get recipe)! She went to great lengths to prepare for this! She tore down wall paper in her kitchen and six coats of paint later...it looked great!

After our home was Kim's. She was a "Visions of Sugar Plums" theme. It was so fun to see her tree (one of which had huge candy ornaments) complete with oversized peppermint stick tree toppers. Her dining room looked like a complete tribute to dreams of all things "sugar and spice and everything nice." She has been preparing for weeks and we could tell. Santa was present at her home for a photo op that she would email to the guests. I believe she had a pianist and floutist sp? (flute player) as well. It was all wonderful!

A few homes away was #5 (Karen's). She has collected Nativity sets from all over the world (from travel and being missionaries etc.) and had about 170 displayed. Each one has a story and she was able to tell us a few when we visited last night. Her favorite one of all is a set made for her and her husband out of paper by elders who were inspired by her to "get in the Christmas spirit!" It was a great reminder of "the reason for the season!!"

Denise had all the pressure of being the final house #6! A driver (complete with a train conductor-type hat) drives you up to their estate in the golf cart since parking was limited. You can see the entire valley from her home and listen to the man-made "lake" and waterfall from her front porch. She coordinated youth from her ward to be hostesses at her home (complete with matching aprons). She has also been working since before Thanksgiving to prepare each room with her beautiful and detailed touches! (A pretty big job when it's 10,000 sq feet:) As one guest put it, "it was just perfect...not overdone, not underdone!" She and her home looked like a million bucks! She did a fantastic job helping to coordinate the effort of everyone. She also made donation boxes (to match each home) and also supplied us with luminaries so guests would know they were at the right home. She thinks of everything and follows through with perfection! Way to go Denise and everyone! We were honored to be a part of this! Things like this home show always make me crazy and stressed initially but I love the end result that you accomplished something worthwhile as well as gained and strengthened friendships through the experience.

So enough said...except for Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Where have we been for two weeks???

If anyone was wondering (WTF) "where the freak" we have been for the last few weeks...I think my sis-in-law's famous line of "OOOOOHHHHHH....yaou don't ehven knowwwwwwwww" applies to us!! Hold on as I try to recall the organized madness:)

I guess we'll start with tonight...Thanksgiving was wonderful with the Dimonds at our home. We are just over 50 strong but 4 are on missions and 5 were ill:( After everyone left, the cornicopias made their way to the storage room

As well as the bags of fake leaves and autumn adornments that have decorated the home for the past 2 months...

...to make room for the transformation to Christmas. We can't set up before Thanksgiving as we are equal holiday opportunity folks, but it is tradition to set at least most of Christmas up Thanksgiving night. Mikelle went home with cousin Steffi for a sleepover and me and Christian did take a time out from decorating to watch Errand of Angels on TV and 15 minutes of Grey's Anatomy. Wow--I really miss out not watching TV:) I was "very thankful" to be "a normal person" and actually get to experience the holiday this year (without looking at my watch) as I didn't have to work at all (my holiday off). It has been wonderful!!

Although the holiday rush approaches and it is easy to get caught up in the craziness, I am so grateful for all of our family's blessings! It is always good to keep everything in perspective!

It was fun to celebrate Stef's, Liz's, & Cheri's b-day as well as the cousins party today with the Dimonds!

Kennedy found her new favorite Dimond cousin, Sam!

Let the feast begin! Steve is the chef in the family and did a wonderful job on the turkeys, gravy and yams! Everyone brought tons of delicious food and we chowed down! You can't tell from the picture but the Dimonds made over 35 lbs of mashed potatoes! WOW!

Moving on in random order:)...Mikelle's class was busy this past week with their "Greek Festival." Here is the "feast" which allowed them to try the foods of the Gods!

Thanksgiving with the Gus's (held the Sunday before Thanksgiving at the Porter Palace...many more details to come).

Back to the Greek Olympics...here are the "chariot races" held right after lunch before the kids got out of school for the Thanksgiving break! It was so scary to watch as there could have been some head injuries! I will have to recommend helmets for them next year:)

Cory and Emily "go at it" in the arm wrestling competition finals!

Two gorgeous goddesses from the Iliad!

Thanks Jenny Miller for letting us borrow "the real deal" for Mikelle's crown!

Mikelle's class put on a 30 minute play of The Iliad. She was Aphrodite and had some great acting skills if I do say so myself! They all did such a great job and all of the Moms can't believe "our babies" will be in Jr. High next year!!

The class created all of the props. I missed getting a picture of their Trojan horse!

Moving on...Did I mention we just had a new Smiths open (in the past 2 weeks) close to Micron?? With their double gas coupon savings, I was able to fill up for $1.39 a gallon. I had to take a picture as I couldn't believe it myself! Finally a little relief at the pump!

It looks like things didn't post "in the order they were received"--so here we are back again at the Gus gatehring. Aidan has claimed top spot for the new favorite Gus! We all loved holding him and looking at those blue eyes!! Way to go Cami & Jon! Yuh done good!

The next few pics are of the "biggest losers!" I wish I was the winner, but here are my fitness pageant/body building "wanna- be" shots!

Kimi kicked our rumps with her 11+ pound loss!

Me & Cami managed to get 5 pounds off (+ or - 4% right:) since the original deal went down at Scrapbook weekend. We were both happy to just have not gained any! We are trying for 5 more by Christmas...but after today's turkey dinner, you might have to make that goal: 10 lbs!

A cute photo op of Jon & Aidan!

More pics of "hot stuff" Kimi workin it!

Now on to the annual pie contest at the Gus's Thanksgiving! Matt & Kimi's was gone which should get a few extra votes right there!

Julie entered a delish peppermint patty type pie!

Ryan was savoring every minute of the U of U's win over BYU...and his last few minutes of reigning pie champion extraordinaire from last year!

Julie and I in that awkward "1st runner-up moment" where you are both hoping your family goes home with crown and pie champion title!

Mom and Dad enjoying the day!

The votes are in and the suspense and tension is palpable!

Who will win???

STEVE takes the cake!! (I mean... uh...deep dish pie!!) Julie comes in 2nd and Ryan 3rd!

I am so glad Steve won as it felt like the previous day and a half had not been used in vain!

Steve loves to cook, create, and try new things. He watches Iron Chef and all of the cooking channel shows 24/7--ok maybe only 1-2 hours a week if he is lucky but it is still his love!

He came home from work Friday night and said, "So, do we want to win this thing or just bring a store bought pie..." Of course I thought it would be nice to give everyone a little friendly competition, so he was off!

He had the whole thing designed on paper, bought a springform pan, learned how to do the waterbath baking of the cheesecake layers etc.

He pulled it out for the win! Julie supplied the gift card prize (and yes-there is $10 on it Julie:) People may have been a little bugged as they thought his entry was more like a cake--however, those were "brownie" layers that just baked a little more cake like:) Way to go Pop! Now the pressure is off for next year and you can have your hall of fame apron hung from the rafters next to Ryan's. You are amazing!!

Family pic at Annissa & Jeff's.

Moving on...we tested out the RS Enrichment bean bag-type insulator on the drive up to Tremonton. It totally worked! Our stuffing pan was still hot like it had just come out of our oven--after the 1 1/2+ hr drive!

We had just made the bags at the RS retreat held this month up the canyon at Mutual Dell. My VT and friend Lisa (also a nurse) and I had such a great time laughing as we made our bags and helped each other fill them outside in the freezing cold. We were getting a little giddy by the end but it was a lot of fun!

In other exciting news, Cameron is loving karate and can now do the Chinese splits. He just earned his "Splits Club" patch (to sew on his uniform) this week and is pretty excited! Way to go Cam! We are so proud of your hard work!

Mikelle's "Zeus at Olympia" won the school 3-D visual art Reflections! Pictures of Zeus move on to region! Way to go Mikelle!

Receiving her trophy!

Mom & Kennedy help with refreshments afterward!

Way to go Dell!

Christy Gunther put so much work into the whole night and even made a DVD of all of the kids' entries. She is so talented and does such a great job at everything!

Kennedy has been busy too with things like her Thanksgiving feast at pre-school!

We also went on the field trip down to Cabella's!

The girls remind me of young little Charlie's Angels!

I found a spare minute to enter the UV Magazine fitness challenge contest! As long as Kimi is dishing out the weight loss challenges, I entered to hopefully get picked to be followed by the magazine for the year! The plus is, you receive free nutrition and workout trainers! PICK ME!

Cameron likes to rub it in that he has a Beach Body!

Did he already mention that he has a beach body??:)

Moving on to some of the most exciting news of the week...Steve just found out he got the job he applied for! He will be the new Executive Director of HR for the new Canyons School District! Lots of work ahead but an exciting opportunity!

Another fun opportunity this month is that we were able to help Aunt Karen out and take part in a family assesment for one of her classes at BYU. As part of an activity, we had to build something as a family out of clay. We incorporated all of our interests on the plate!

Answering the questions and playing the games were fun and not as stressful as we thought!:)

More random pics and thoughts... we had the table set for a solid week yet only had time to eat at our bar one week! It was crazy! You sure miss out if life get's too busy to sit down!

Steve didn't really want this blogged but I had to remember how crazy this whole experience was this past month!! Our friend had asked Steve to be a guest vocalist with their bagpipe and brass band many months ago for this concert that was to be held in Nov. He had been practicing the words and his own rendition of Amazing Grace especially for this performance. He went to the dress rehearsal and everything. The night of the performance, we go clear up the the U of U and the bagpiper starts playing before Steve sang his part Acapella. It was too late to stop them and they played the whole song without his initial vocals. I was in shock--I couldn't believe that after all of that work on his part, (not to mention the lashing from our darling babysitter Mikelle), he was not even going to get to sing! It would have been so cool to start with him and then go to the bagpipes and brass band finishing powerfully! They just forgot him! It was so sad and such a waste of his limited time!! You live and learn though right:)

Last but not least, I was just put in YW as the 2nd Counselor.

A Sunday photo shoot with our Young Women!

We all matched that week--so we thought--why not?

I was only in scouts for 2-3 months and I will miss the boys! They are all such good guys!

We were just getting started with fun field trips (this one to Highland City's new offices). I will miss Sis Wardell. the wolves, and the scout committee but YW will also be a great opportunity.

A word to the wise...stay caught up no matter how busy life gets or you will be posting for 3 hours to get caught up! Until next week:)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you family & friends!!