One more choice in a Year of Nurture

If you live in Meridian

you've probably lunched here . . . . Miss Tami's Cottage and Tea  Room

Lots of fussy decor to gaze at

and a great place to remember . . .

I choose to nurture

uh huh . . . a good place to goof off

Happy end of the year to you all

I hope you choose joy in one of your moments

(They even warmed up the atmosphere for us by turning on the electric heater)

My friend and I made a date for yummy food and a great chat

We caught up on life

We even calendared a summer vacation

That should beckon me through the rest of the school year

 . . . I think I hear ocean waves

Go out on a limb

Taste a brand new flavor . . .  a creamy soup with salmon

I liked it

and get a load of that black bread

I could imagine I was in Germany

What a beautiful server

And don't you just want to Pin that darling apron of hers!

When I warned her she would appear in my blog

I think she rolled her eyes

Oh my..... people really do use tea cozies....really

We split our lunches so we could sample more flavors

Chicken enchilada

Spinach, sun dried tomato, mushroom quiche

Juicy fresh pineapple

And, yes Kristen, I chose to put down my fork between bites

Christmas buzz

Happy after-birthday Brinton
(his birthday is 12/24)
Our buffet dinner is over

Everybody watches as cousin presents start opening

The room is full of excited cousins
Audrey and Katelyn
anticipating
waiting to hear their names called

We missed our Clawson family
We did stop in the middle of the hubbub
to listen to the phone call recording
of them singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Thanks, Clawsons!
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day

Alisha organized our name-drawing gift giving

Bring something from your home to give.... that reminds you of your person

Tell them why the item reminds you of them

Karen's girls made and brought drawing books for cousins, Abree and Lizzie

Abree and Lizzie were delighted

They loved their matching books....and went right to work

Treyson got a flip-the-football-through-the-goalposts game

Oh wow

Tyrel invited his roommate to share the family gathering

Ammon's family is all in California

Welcome, Ammon

I did ask him if he brought ear plugs

Levi got into the dig-into-the-paper-and-find-the-treasure mode of the day

A car from a cousin  . . .  and a ball . . . .perfect

Snuggled up Amber and Daisylyn

Hurrah!   A "new" book from a cousin

Busy parents, Karen and Tim

Pretty good for the long haul......it's the end of the day and they are still smiling

Jason and Alisha

Their busy family enjoyed some community service projects during the month

connecting each family member with the Savior's spirit of helping others

 Micaela and Taylee

in the middle of it all

My only shot of Sterling is in the background of this picture.....buried under a gift, drinking a bottle of milk

And where is sweet Sydney in all of this?.....somehow I never got her in my camera's eye

Rylee roo

tender heart. . . . through and through

 

This is such a cute shot of Dean's face

Kind of symbolic of a daddy's laid back calm.....in the midst of life's action

We are all coming to the close of a long wonderful Sabbath day

Can you tell that Levi has about had it?

Pack up

clean up

Kisses, hugs, I love you's

See you New Year's Eve

You saw the "before" pictures

Here is the "after"

The word "contrast" comes to mind

My sweet home

quiet . . . 

noisy . . . .

then quiet again

But always a safe haven

Welcome home, kids

Babes in Christmas Land . . . . Posterity Blocks

Posterity Blocks

O-o-o-o-o-ohhhhh

They are s-s-s-s-so cute

This is what the grandkids made me for a gift/game

Aunt Amber helped them at an overnighter she had at her home

One precious baby face block for each grandkid

And a block for each set of parents

(circa courting time)

It's a decor item.....it's a game.....

Can you name all the little ones....or match which babies go with which parents?

Or set them up in order of birth?

(The posterity number and birth date

are on the back of each child's block. 

The wedding date

is on the back of the parent block.)

Ah ha

Here is one set of siblings

(They are not in order....can  you figure them out?)

I got tears in my eyes as I opened block after block

Oh-h-h-h-h......you are so cute, I kept exclaiming at each one!

I feel nostalgic at how quickly

every beautiful grandchild is growing 

 . . . . and grateful for the wonder of each child

Here is another family cluster

Even little brother's NICU tubes included

Just wanna kiss those cheeks!

Love love love them

Hey you cute girleeos

Each unique and precious

Amber made some blank blocks, waiting for Clawsons to add their pictures

(Bring pictures when you come, Clawsons!)

And there are blank blocks....for Tyrel's future

Here it shows the two things on the back of the child block:

Birth date

and

Birth order number

as a grandchild in the family

Here is the back of Sterling's block, grandchild #15

Thank you, Amber and grandchildren

What a lot of love crafted into a gift

Chrismas Eve with Grandma and Sister Memories

Angela and LaVora both gave mom beautiful poinsettia plants. 

A veritable forest of Christmas color on mom's dining table. 

She loves flowers.

O-o-o-o-oh!.

A box to open from Jocile and Richard....

she quite likes the mystery of wondering what is inside.

We had the treat of an IHOP dinner.  

I thought she would choose fish, since she loves it and doesn't get the chance to eat fish much.  

Nope.  She looked at the great picture menu and was firm. 

She wanted bacon and eggs.  She relished that crispy bacon.

For me....it was roast beef and mashed potatoes.

When we finished, we took a ride to see the lights

and said hello at Kevin and Jana's house.

Back to her home......

you know how she touches and caresses fabric, appreciating it?   

Well, here she is doing just that.  

So soft . . . . this cushy fabric. 

This is what was in the box from Wilsons.

Try it on, Mom! 

I helped her practice hooking up the bottom of the zipper and pulling it closed.

Oh, so soft and comfortable

Now that's a cozy grandma . . .

A little bowl of nuts for snacking

The Sister Memories by her side

And some BYU-TV for watchin'

Hurrah!   I promised myself I could break open my packet of Sister Memories on Christmas Eve. 

Thank you Jocile for doing the facilitating this year. 

(volunteering, reminding, receiving, copying, organizing, packaging, sending)

Here is me checking my watch.  Not waiting for Christmas morning this year..... 

7:30 pm, I choose to start reading.

Jocile attached a note citing that our Sister Memories tradition is on our 14th year . . .

sisters sharing a written memory with one another,

as our gift to each other each Christmas. 

Yea us!

I have a fat binder, filled with these treasures.

I feel blessed.

May the reading begin!

Trying Something New

 Kale chips!

Have you ever heard of that?

That was our appetizer

Tasted OK.. . . .

How does one prepare kale chips?

"Massaged", I was told with some kind of yeast plus a touch of pepper, then dried

Nanette and I had lunch where her friend works

Shangri-la Tea Room and Cafe

where Overland Rd ends in the east end of Boise, overlooking the bench

 Munch a bunch

yes we did

Oh my goodness, Nanette, you  match the decor

 Shangri-la bills itself as Boise's only all vegetarian restaurant

Here is Nanette's veggie burger

and chick pea/bulgar salad

 Falafel for me

At first I thought it was a Christmas word

fa-la-la-la food

No..... little chick pea patties and a load of veggies tucked into the pita bread

Again......quite tasty

Here is the inside view

My falafel. . . .  exposed

I'm proud of myself . . . .that was totally different from my usual choices

I can check something off my bucket list that wasn't even on there yet!

Our visit also included a couple of hours of art play at  my craft table before we went out for lunch

Thanks for the visit, Nanette

I Love Miniatures!

Been seeing this cute craft on Pinterest since I first got on

I am so entranced by things tiny

So.......it was the perfect candidate for a quick craft at Girls Night

I laid out the parts and we worked (played) at making them......assembly line style

Cut....cut....glue....write.....glue...glue....snip

Krissi added that ending "snip"

After this picture was taken

she cut the bookmarks appropriately shorter

even making the tiniest little "v"

in the end of the ribbon

Too dang cute, doncha think?

Pinterest Party..... Daughter Night

It's Pinterest Party time

We each brought a wrapped gift we had made . . . . inspired from a post on our own Pinterest page

We drew names and gave the gift we brought to that person

First to open her gift was Alisha's out of town guest

Krissi.....our adopted daughter for the week

To Krissi, From Candice

Two t-shirt scarves

One tubular

One curvy 

Wow......so versatile

How DID you do that, Candice?

 To Alisha, From Karen

Shower curtain rings

turned into delicate tree ornaments

 Presto chango

with the cutest tiny jingle bells attached

To Karen, From Alisha

Jenga key rings

Add a screw-in eye hook and a metal ring

decorate with stickers or cute paper

Voila!

 Can't have too many BSU mementos!

 To Candice, From Krissi

Seasonal popcorn with recipe

Melted almond bark with crushed peppermint

 Happy momma

says she loves peppermint

Yum

 To Amber, From Mom

Three royal crowns

from painted and stiffened lace

 And a fantasy dancing scarf

Have fun!

To Mom, From Amber

Oh yea!   I've always wanted to know how to make my own lipgloss

Vaseline plus some shiny and a bit of scent

in the handiest little containers

Plus a hefty bag of Hershey kisses

Look at this classy presentation

OK....we all agree

THAT WAS FUN!

So . . . . . . . what is your next "to do" from a Pinterest page?