All Things December

In no particular order, here's some of what we were up to in December.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups.  Dangerously delicious and extremely messy!  These are definitely a rare treat at our house!

More peanut butter cup yumminess!

Morgan participated in our Stake Christmas Concert, Sing Noel!  She loved it!  The kids had been practicing since October, so we were excited to finally hear all of the songs that we'd been hearing snippets of for months!

 

Our stake also presents a live Nativity each year, complete with real animals and a real baby.  It's kind of a big deal for all the new moms because they want their baby to play the part of Baby Jesus.  No pics of the Nativity, but, here's these two silly kiddos!

Everyone is invited to donate their original nativities for the Creche Exhibit.  The girls found this one fascinating.  Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus are on the head of a pin.

Sadie's preschool group performed the nativity for Family Night.  The girls outnumber the boys in the group (a first for my kids at this age!), so she was a "Wise People." And, in case you are wondering, that's an official Sadie term.  "I'm not a Wise Man, 'cause I'm a girl.  I'm a Wise People."

Morgan's first grade class celebrated the holidays with a pajama breakfast party!  They played the dreidel game, made crafts, collected items for needy children, played bingo, and ate donuts and fruit!  Everyone had a great time!

Santa needs cookies every year, and the girls were not about to let him eat completely healthy at our house.  So, we made sugar cookies and decorated them with sprinkles!  And, thoughtful Morgan was sure to count out 9 carrots for each of the reindeer.

And, sometimes, this is the best picture you can get of your kiddos together.  Here they are, all dressed up for Christmas Sunday!  

Last year, at Grammy's house, an Elf magically appeared one day.  And, he came back this year.  The girls decided to name him David, and he was quite the entertainer!  He never ceased to amaze us with his hiding spots and sneaky tricks!  

Quick Skip Ahead in Time...

...and then, I'll jump back and finish December.  Sometime.

Just after Christmas, our awesome friends, the Nordstroms, came down to CA to visit family.  We had met at Wymount, when their girls were just wee little toddlers (younger than Carson).  

We moved to Colorado, and they moved to Indiana, and then Nashville, so our visits were few and far between.  But, while we were still in CO, they moved back to Utah!  They drove through Denver on their move back, and we loved seeing them.  Then, we would come see them every time we went to Utah to see our family.

Let's complicate the story a little bit more, and we moved to California.  San Diego was just far enough, that it wouldn't make sense to get together when they came to visit their family.  :(  But, then, we moved to Orange County, which, meant we could meet in the middle when they came down.

And, that's exactly what we did!

It was kind of (okay, it really was) a last minute thing, so we met at Islands in Corona.

And, after a yummy dinner (I love their tortilla soup!), we realized we weren't done hanging out.  But, we were in Corona.  There weren't any malls close.  So, we improvised.  

We walked across the parking lot and sat on the patio furniture inside Lowe's.  For about an hour and a half.  Carson tried out every chair and couch (and rug!).  And, just to be safe, Megan made a purchase, so we weren't officially loitering.  But, by the looks of all the employees that walked by us, we clearly weren't an unusual sight.  Most people meet up with old college friends at the Corona Lowe's, right?  

Thanks, Nordstroms, for coming to see us!  Next time, let's plan on the lake!  

The NEW Dishwasher!

Before we moved into our house, we knew we would need to replace the dishwasher sooner, rather than later.  It still worked fine, but, the racks were all rusty, and, at almost 13 years old, its features had a lot to be desired.  But, we also knew it would have to wait at least a little bit.  

Enter Home Warranty Program.  Somehow, we lucked out, and the sellers of the house opted to purchase the "super-deluxe" (not the real term) warranty for us, which includes all those little things that the standard warranties don't typically cover.  I was glancing over the warranty papers one afternoon and read that racks were covered.  (We had become accustomed to rinsing our dishes really well, but, a few of the prongs that were loose and rusty when we moved in, had finally exhausted themselves, thanks to the help of 3 novice dishwasher emptiers!).  

So, I called the warranty company 3 different times to confirm that our policy did, indeed, cover rusty racks (if you haven't priced them before, the bare bones racks, which these were, run almost $200 for the pair).  They sent over a technician to confirm and write up an estimate.  Then, the warranty company gave us the option to either have the racks repaired (i.e. replaced), or send us a check (must be the super-deluxe package...).  We obviously opted for the check, but decided to hold off a little while longer before purchasing our replacement.

A few days later, I was at Lowe's for something else (actually, the girls new beds, but, that purchase has been postponed due to the new dishwasher.  So, look for an update come Spring), and thought, "Well, I'll just walk through the appliances and see how much we should budget for a new dishwasher."  About 6 of the floor models were on clearance!  Yippee!  And, not only that, two of them were Bosch!!  

Never in a million years did I think I would own a Bosch appliance, other than my stand mixer that my mom bought over 35 years ago!  (Note:  It's still going strong...has definitely seen better days, as it's got a cracked base and I've had to replace a few whisks.  Brian promised he'll buy a brand new one when it dies....I don't think it ever will!)

Anyway, back to the dishwasher.  So, I talked to the sales guy (I remember his name--Joseph, and you'll see why, as the story unfolds), consulted Brian, and decided on my new purchase.  I had vaguely remembered back in June when we bought our other appliances, asking questions and really confirming that this was indeed, the lowest price they could offer me.  And, at that time, the lady took off an additional 5 or 10 percent, to seal the deal.  So, I asked the guy about the pricing on the dishwasher, and, he dropped the price even more!  I was stoked!  I paid for my new appliance, giddy as a school girl, and was on my way!  I would have a brand new dishwasher in 3 days!  

Sunday night, Brian and my Dad pulled out the old dishwasher and set it in the garage, so the delivery people would haul it away the next day.  Carson thought the hole was pretty exciting!

On Monday, they delivered the dishwasher and I'm beside myself!  I put aside dishes all day, thinking, "Oh, It'll be a cinch to hook up and we'll be on our way!"

Not so fast.  Here's what it looked like Monday night, about 11:00 p.m.  Notice all the dishes on the counter?  Apparently, when you buy the floor model, it comes "as is", which may or may not include all the hoses and cords for hook-up.  Not a problem.  We'll just go buy the standard parts and be on our way.  Well, Bosch may engineer a mean appliance, but, none of those parts are "standard."  Our first hiccup...the drain hose.

Tuesday morning, I went over to Lowe's, returned the non-Bosch standard hose, and talked to Joseph, who handed me the correct piece (free of charge--out of the new floor model!  So, to the next person who gets a deal, I'm sorry!).  Additionally, he helped me find the 14-gage electrical supply, not the "standard" 16-gage.

But, somehow, Tuesday night, the kitchen still looked like this:

After much frustration, things still weren't working out.  This time, the "standard" water supply hose (usually 5-6 feet) was too short, because of how it wraps around the dishwasher.

Wednesday morning, I dropped Morgan off at school and went back to visit Joseph at Lowe's.  He saw me coming into the store and didn't know if he should greet me with a smile or run!  But, ultimately, he decided to help me out, and, directed me to plumbing to find a longer water supply hose.

So, early Wednesday evening, the dishwasher situation looked like this:

(Carson was a little too helpful, so we resorted to buckling him in his seat and feeding him crackers!) 

But, by 10:00, it looked like this!

Thank you, Sweetie, for installing my new dishwasher!  I love it! And, I love you!!!

Christmas at the Lake

The pictures are blurry, because I forgot the camera and had to use the iPod at dusk, but, this is the type of "snow" we've had to resort to in Sunny California!  Notice the green grass on the edge of the pictures and the bare ankles with the tennis shoes!  The jackets and gloves are mostly for effect.  I was in a sweatshirt and flip-flops!

Soccer 2012

We spent every Saturday from October thru December at the soccer field for 3+ hours!  This being our first organized sport with our kids, we hadn't yet experienced the "kids' activities can swallow your entire Saturday....for months (years) on end!"  And, we survived!  I must say, I was grateful when the last game was postponed due to rain.  It gave me a week to catch my breath before going back one final week!

Sadie participated with a group of kids her age from church.  Most of them were from our ward, but there were also a few from other wards in the stake.  They were the Purple Otter Pops.  Every time she sees Coach Troy at church, she runs up to give him a big hug!

Morgan was placed on a random team, which, at first, I was pretty bummed that she wouldn't be with her friends from church.  But, in the end, it turned out great!  She was a Yellow Pirate and had an awesome coach!  He was great with the kids and they all had so much fun!  Morgan received the certificate for the Best Attitude (funny how she can turn on a happy face for others...just like I did at her age!).

And, Carson just tried to chase after the ball!  If he wasn't on the field, he was climbing on chairs and mooching snacks off of other people!  He was definitely a handful to entertain for that long!