The Day After Christmas Party

It was the day after Christmas and all through my house

we were cleaning and cooking for :

A Party of Hill Cousin's...

We had a festive Mexican dinner of tamales, rice,

beans, enchilada, chips, salsa, salads and yummy desserts.

(sorry my pictures did not turn out of the food.)

..in this picture,(left to right) is the youngest grand child Ally,

Jeana(my sister)Nina (a cousin) and my father.

Cousins: Leslie, Angie, and Gary

Here is my Uncle Sheril (my mother's twin brother)

He is the patriarch of our Hill Family.

Cousins: (left to right) Jeff, Kara, Diana, and Von

More cousins: (left to right) Tracy, Liz, Nicole, Adam and baby Evie

Aunts and Uncles: (left to right) Aunt Ann, Uncle Sheril, Aunt Kathy,

Uncle Richard, Aunt Vicki

more cousins...Christopher, Tracy, Mark and my dad

I could not have asked for a more special time to eat,

drink, and mingle with all these wonderful people.

I love them all...(and all those that weren't present!)

The Christmas Card

It's time to get the Christmas card ready and mailed out.

Every year this is a love-hate thing with me.

This is really the "swede's thing...

He loves to micro manage this undertaking and frankly,

- more power to him-

Dallas' friend took these photo's last Sunday when

there was a heavy thick fog hanging

over our yard, it was in the mid 20's!

I think it added to the imagery.

Wishing you all a heavenly/earthly

MERRY CHRISTMAS

From

Joel, Melanie, Katlin, Ariel & Dallas

~

DeVry Holiday Lunch

Recently I posted on my Facebook status,

that my company holiday party would be a potluck luncheon.

I think my post came over as negative, not that I was disappointed

that we were not going to a restaurant or some activity to

celebrate the season, it was because the mood in

the office had taken on a very somber atmosphere.

I wasn't sure if this lunch would be a happy one?

But thanks to Sarah, who is positive and

a happy person, our luncheon outcome was successful.

Sarah is our campus Career Service Director,

she is the one who helps students find

a job in this "hard to find a job" environment.

Here is the set up of our lunch.

Appetizers, salads, potatoes, ham, roasted chicken, desserts.

Can you tell by this picture the

different personality types I work with?

Here is the Sandy, Utah DeVry University Staff (minus one).

HaPpY Holidays!!

Table Top Tree

The inspiration for my table top tree came

from a recent Martha Stewart segment.

This Birch tree was made by one of

Martha's craft directors; Hannah Milman

I love how she used the Martha Stewart "Woodland" line of ornaments.

She had availability to fresh moss..

(living in Utah, I don't have that available

to me in the nurseries this time of year.)

~~~~~~~~~

This is how is how mine turned out.

A few months ago the swede and I

found a downed Aspen,

we used a log from our cuttings and I gathered

blue spruce limb and red berries from my dad's yard.

We drilled holes in the trunk and anchored it to a base.

I found the tin planter at a thrift store for $2.00

The bulbs around the base are narcissus(paper whites).

~~~~~~~

The picture below is a star I made out of

milled wood sticks glued together.

I hot glued juniper limbs on it to give it a more earthy look.

Tis the Season!

Christmas Past

It is fun to look through old photo's,

you just never know what you'll find and when you

do there is more to the photo than just people's pictures.

This photo is circa: 1963 (or there about.)

It looks like Christmas time.

This is me and my siblings playing a game

(on the left back-notice I am picking a bowl of nuts)

(check out the back right of picture to see the game)

SKUNK

SKUNK was played with these instructions:

DESCRIPTION
Each player rolls two dice as many times as desired during a turn, earning points
equal to what is rolled on that turn. A player passes the dice at any time. If one
skunk is rolled, then points earned on that turn are voided and if two skunks are
rolled, then all accumulated points from all turns are voided. Penalty chips are a
part of this game too. The first player to get 100 points or more wins.

I must have been around 5 or 6 years old.

I don't remember playing this game...but I love looking at

the fabric of the table cloth and the awesome

wallpaper we had in our home.

I hope to post a few more nostalgic Christmas photo's.

Return to Reality

My trip to Houston over Thanksgiving was really relaxing...

with crafting, cooking, shopping, decorating, zooing, and

playing with the three adorable grandkids.

I think I haved landed...

(Houston airport)

Special day "zooing" with grandkids

we ate really bad pizza and stuffed our faces

with cotton candy and dip n dots

Aubry and kids

Finn wanted a Daisy bebe gun for his Christmas gift.

(guess who bought it for him?)

He also picked out the LSU pillow pet that he is trying to mame.

Farren loved her Christmas shirt...

we made together the headband while I was there.

After our Thanksgiving feast we

skyped the "swede" and Ariel back in Utah.

(can you see Ariel with her mouth wide open?)

Great memories...can't wait until next year!

I am grateful...

...for everything

(Kate Greenway Illustration)

May you feast in good health & comradeship!

Sunday Dessert

This what I made today to celebrate "Pre-Thanksgiving".

Brown-Bottom Butterscotch Cashew Pie

Click above to get the recipe.

I served everyone a small slice, this is a rich flavorful dessert.

ENJOY!

Deep in the Heart-Texas Bound

Busy sewing this week because....

I fly to Houston to see my three little munchkin grandchildren!

Not sure what I am going to bring to

FINN (he is 10 yrs old now)

the girls are getting these dress-up skirts

I picked up the Christmas tree skirts at the Dollar Store

and found the other items in

my sewing room.

(loads of stuff there..)

Total cost: $3.00

I gathered the the tree skirt added a ribbon sash around the waist,

sewed rick rack and tinsel on the bottom.

I added little red pom poms for the berries on the holly skirt.

When I get there I hope to make them each a head wreath.

I have packed alot of fun things to do with them.

Keep watching because I will be blogging.

Adobe Halloween Event

On Friday, the family and I attended the annual

Adobe(Omniture) Halloween Event.

Katlin is now up with the executive branch.

This event has become bigger and better each year

although, is is amateurish, it's

great to see how

creative the different departments can be.

The community comes out in full force and

dresses in full Halloween costume.

The Safari Girls

Dallas and friends

Joel(AKA) Steve Jobs

The belated Steve Jobs

Tess, my niece aka

Jessie and her son..

Reily.. aka..Woody

Adobe's different department plan and execute

their "theme" for this haunted event.

"Where The Wild Things Are"

Story time:

Dr Seuss

**I found these little green people

somewhere between Harry Potter and Toy Story.

Harry Potters:

Wizzard room

Toy Story:

Katlin as Barbie and Ken was a tad gay.

Alice in Wonderland

-this dept spent the most money.

It was located outside and had elaborate

scenery and decorations.

Corn Maze:

I give this one the award for original scare.

There were over 5,000 attendees,

ice cream cones, cotton candy, popcorn, and of course

buckets full of candy!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Yummy Pumpkin Donuts

The aroma will "stir your senses",

while these donuts are baking.

~

My caramel apples for 2011:

toppings are:

Roasted pecans chopped,

Dark chocolate,

Crushed Oreo and chopped roasted peanuts

Toasted coconut.

Halloween

is only...

day away......