More Pictures

This was our history of the Christmas Card Room. Stacey Fisher, our resident artist helped the children make a card.

Our Carolers were minus a tenor because he got a migraine on the drive to the church but they sounded beautiful in spite of his absence. What talented singers! I hope you are enlarging all of these pictures!

Chrissy, Robin's wife was another hostess. She bought herself this amazing costume over the internet. They looked great.

Trena and I learned lots of new things about sewing as we tackled the Old Fashioned Santa Suit together. What a project! Santa shared the room with Gary and told the children about an old-fashioned treat called a Christmas cracker. All the primary children got one at the conclusion in this room and everyone got an old fashioned candy stick.

OOPs, I guess the last Santa statue we were borrowing never showed up! Oh well!

An Old Fashioned Christmas...What Fun!

I haven't blogged in a long time and the following pictures will help explain why. Last night was the ward Christmas Party that we have been working on since before Halloween. I have had LOTS of help. Ariann has been a trouper. I litterally mean "trouper". We have been all over creation looking for treasures to turn into costumes or props. What fun we've had! I think we managed to "make a Christmas memory."

Gary was Clement Moore, the writer of Twas the Night Before Christmas. He read the story and everyone got to see the beautiful pictures on a power-point presentation.

Jerry and Carol Wilson were 2 of our 6 host/hostesses. They actually rented their own costumes and they looked fantastic!

This was our quartet practicing for the song that introduced the theme. "Have An Old Fashioned Christmas this year."

Here, hosts were introducing Charles Dickens who told a little background of "A Christmas Carol."

This room was our doll maker shop. Melanie Ambs' character told the story about when she was a little girl living in a mining camp in Colorado with her father. Supplies were scarce and the snows were deep. That year Santa brought her a doll carved from a white potato. It was such a beautiful story and she told it so believably that it made me cry. After the party Kaity said to me, "Grandma, my favorite part was the 'doll story'. It made me cry!" We were in different groups and saw that performance at different times so Melanie must have had a beautiful spirit with her each time she told the story.

What a Full Day!

Why can't I remember that when I select the pictures they always come up with the last one first?! Anyway, it was a full day today. Schools are out this whole week so Ariann, Kaity and I went thrift store hopping. I have been working like crazy for the past 2 weeks putting together costumes for the ward Christmas party. The theme is "An Old Fashioned Christmas" and I need 13 victorian costumes for women and 9 for the men. Thus, on our budget, the thrift stores and garage sales are truly our best option. Today we hit the jackpot! The picture of the "plain" hats were found in the very first store for only $1.99 a piece and they are perfect. Now I have all I need. The pictures of decorated hats are examples of what the "plain janes" will become. When we finished our treasure hunt, Kaity came home with me and we made Ritz cracker turkey's (aunt Renie's idea). We had fun and think they turned out very cute! Lastly, we spent about 2 hours sorting through a HUGE bag of costume jewelry a dear friend gave to me. It was the last of her grandmother's collection. Evidently there were bags and bags that she has gradually given away over the years and LUCKY ME, I got the last bag. She volunteered to help me with the costumes (including a Santa suit) and knew I was using old jewelry on the hats. I am thrilled to be the recipient of the treasure and Kaity is thrilled with my rejects! I'm exhausted but still have 2 capes and a skirt to sew tonight or I will get way behind schedule. I wish my sewing machine was not being so tempramental!

More of "If You Give a Moose a Muffin"

I forgot this picture. Enlarge it to get an idea of the setting. It was really cute! Then read the post below this one. We had a great time. The only thing that could have made it better would have been having Zach, Rachel and Emily with us. YUP, even Emmy would have liked it!

If You Give a Moose a Muffin

Before the doors were opened to the theater, we waited in the lobby of the Shakespeare Theater and enjoyed some of the costumes on display.

The kids lined up after the show to get the autographs of some of the characters in the play.

I should have made sure I had read the kids a couple of "classic" children's stories before we went. Namely: "If you give a mouse a cookie" and "If you give a pig a party". This play had references to the two stories but it wasn't neccessary to know them--it just would have been fun for them to have some background.

My friend Terry Trombley and I thought it would be fun to take our grandkids to see the theater production, "If you Give a Moose a Cookie". Terry's grandchildren are all out of state but many children in our ward love her and think of her as their adopted grandma so she had arranged to take Ava Knight. Sadly, Terry's father passed away last Sunday and she flew immediately to Michigan. As a result, Ava's mom Ila went with us. The kids seemed to have a great time. It's a small theater so all the seats are good. The cast involved the children and a few little hams really got into it. They hollered things out to the cast and it was fun to watch the characters "adlib" to make their outburst remarks work into the script. Kaity says she wants to take acting lessons!

Lot's of fun on Halloween!

Our little Halloween spooks! Hyper before they even started the candy hunt! Well another Halloween has come and gone and that means another ward activity under my belt. What a zoo! Wed. night was the traditional Trunk-or-treat and for the second year in a row we also made it a chili cook-off/cake decorating contest night. It was impossible to count but we think there were about 300 people. Not enough tables in the building to accomodate but everyone was a good sport about the chaos! Lots of people had done as we requested and brought their friends and neighbors. Next year we will have to move it outside. The fire marshall would have shut us down! Good thing he didn't make a surprise visit! Hope our little spooks in Salt Lake had a good time tonight as well!

Bishop putting on a brave face and trying out my Kitty Litter Cake. It looked disgusting but some people said it was delicious. It wasn't the disgusting presentation that got to me. It was the texture!

Ariann's cake was an adorable graveyard! She won one of the four prizes and there were 18 amazing cakes. I thought she deserved to place but I promise I had nothing to do with the judging!

A shot of Travis and Gary at the chili table.

It's the New Me!

These pictures are for you Aubrey.....Proof that I really did something drastically different! For two years now I have had kids at the high school ask me if I am Mrs.____________'s sister. I have "subbed" for her a few times and her kids always ask me that, but this year, a whole new batch of 9th graders asked me that question when I was "subbing" for a teacher in an entirely different subject and part of the building. I had to believe there must be something to it. She is a very nice lady (that must be why they think we're sisters...... lol) but she isn't particularly attractive (so our looks certainly can't be the similarity factor......again, lol) Anyway, I decided that I must be in desperate need of a make-over. Now, here's the sad part: Ariann and Aubrey couldn't agree fast enough that I needed a new look and they have never even seen Mrs. _________________! Poor woman, she must have the same dark circles and bags under her eyes. This week I'm going to hit a cosmetic counter (if I get a day off) and see if someone can work some magic on my face. Here's hoping! Ariann went with me to get the haircut. I needed the moral support. Maybe she'll be willing to help me pick out the perfect eye shadow and lip gloss. Actually, concealer is what I really need! Does anyone know what product can erase about 10 years? I'm open to suggestions. Just don't recommend a plastic surgeon. He's not in my budget!