Happy Tuesday!

Good morning friends.  Well, I'm still sick but determined to do a few things today.  This is the third day of temp over 101F.  But, I still think it's just a "bug" that has to run it's course.  And my knitting group meets this morning.  :-(  I was really looking forward to that since I haven't been there since the first week in December.

Well, with no further ado, here are my last Christmas 2011 pictures  This was our annual Bible Study Christmas gift exchange and potluck.  These are some of our closest friends in the world.  And before I'm asked, yes, this is at my house!

Some of the "spread" of food.  What is it that is said about church potlucks?  It's the best home cooking in the world!  Roast with all the "fixins", chicken enchiladas, fried chicken, deviled eggs, two kinds of potatoes, homemade salsa.  Yum.

 Barbequed sausages were added to the dessert counter because we ran out of room on the island.  Then we had homemade Russian Creme with Raspberry sauce, cookies and a pumpkin crunch dessert.

 Presents for our swap.  Have any of you done this? Each person has a number and chooses a gift in that order.  They can either choose a new unopened gift or "steal" a gift that they liked from someone else.  The gift can only be "stolen" 3 times and then it stays with that last person.  We do this every year and it's great fun.

 This is Mark.  He was home from Boise College for Christmas.  He's been coming to our Christmas potluck and exchange for about 16 years now.  But, all good things must end.  He's graduating this year and getting married in May.  He'll probably be pastoring a church by next year.  What a sweetheart.

 This is Marks mom Ellen, (on the right) and Kim.  Ellen is our housesitter extraordinaire!  She takes such good care of our baby Chloe and the house when we're gone.  And that's Neal in the back giving them both bunny ears that they're unaware of!

 Lana, Debbie, Mark and Dean.  Lots of good things to eat!  I know, I know, it's not popular to have magnets on the refrigerator anymore,  But, we buy a new one whenever we travel and it's one of our memory makers.  I figure when I get old, it may be the only traveling I do, to look at them and remember.  Also, they hold up our grandchilrens drawings very well!

 Kevin and Lana.  Kevin was legally blind his entire life until a few years.  A miraculous surgery gave him his sight.  Now he even drives! Lana is is wife and a wonderfully spirit filled woman.

 Neal, who is Dennis' best friend.  He's a little out of it on this particular evening.  He just had two wisdom teeth pulled and was taking pain medicine.  He didn't each much!

 Here we're getting all set up for the gift stealing!!!  Oh, that's Jenny on the sofa by Neal, (the left),  She's my best friend in the world.  I tell you, that woman would do anything for me, and yet we're complete opposites in personality.  Isn't it funny how that happens?

 Here's the other side of the group!  Now you've seen my kitchen, dining room and living room.  I don't think I introduced you to Bev.  She's the lady in blue on the right side of the picture.

 And this, my friends is the most stolen gift of the evening.  It's two C.D.'s of all the old Christmas hits.  We put it in the player and listened to the songs the rest of the evening.

My handsome husband, Dennis.  He opened five gifts that night.  Everyone kept stealing them from him.

And that's it!  The last Christmas picture for the year.  We took the decorations down on Friday.  I always like to have the house back to normal by the first of the year.  I'm so happy I didn't put it off until Saturday since I've been sick every day since then. 

Dennis went back to work today and life returns to it's own rythm.  I'm really going to miss him being around all day.  I counted the days and in the last 22 days he's only worked 6!  We were in Hawaii for 8 days and then two 4 day weekends.  I don't know when we've ever had this much time together and I've loved every minute of it.  Of course, he did work on vacation and also from home several hours everyday.  (Thank you ipad and cell phone!) but at least we were together.  One night, we were walking on the beach trying to take in the sunset and his phone rang. He talked for almost 45 minutes to a man from Australia!  He kept telling him that he wasn't in the office and didn't have the information he needed.  He would call his office the next morning and have his secretary fax the information requested.  The guy just didn't "get it".  He kept talking, talking, talking.  And...Dennis missed the sunset, but I thought it was beautiful!  So....he never really gets away but he seems to be fine with that and I get to be with him so it's all okay.

Enough rambling.  I'm off to my recliner and my knitting for awhile and hope I feel better soon!  I hope you all have a wonderful day too.

Blessings,

Betsy

More Hawaii and Christmas Cookies!

Good Morning Everyone!

Thank you for the comments yesterday from Olivia, Carol and Kaylana.  It's nice to know people are really reading the blog, otherwise it gets boring just talking to myself. I do enough of that already!  You all have such interesting lives.  Olivia in beautiful Bavaria!  I'll bet Christmas is amazing there.  Kaylana in Latvia.  May I ask what you do that you live in such exotic places all the time?  And Carol, I'm so happy to hear about the little one being so much better and will be able to celebrate Christmas with you and the family.

It's been a busy couple of days around the Queen house, preparing for 2 adults kids and their spouses and 2 grandkids too!  No big deal-the cookies turned out terrible!  It was my first time with a new sugar cookie recipe. I mixed the dough last night and refrigerated it overnight just like the recipe called for.  They were supposed to bake 5-6 minutes and when I checked the first batch after 4 minutes it was already burned.  I still have to ice the remaining ones, but I'm not optimistic.  It's okay, I can always throw them out and run to the store.  In years past I baked about 20 different kinds of cookies every year.  Now that we're alone, Dennis and I do NOT need all those cookies so I hardly ever bake anymore.  I did want to give the grandbabies their own sugar angels from Grandma though.  Oh well.

Last night Dennis surprised me with my Christmas gift early.  I thought our gifts to each other was the trip to Hawaii, however he presented me with an ipad last night.  I charged it overnight and just tried to set it up.  I'm so horrible with techy things, I can't even turn the thing on.  Thank goodness our son is a systems analyst and great at all things computer.  Hopefully he can get it all going for me this weekend.  Now....I have no gift for Dennis.  Can you believe he said my gift to him is just loving him for all these years?  How did I get such a WONDERFUL man?  I am truly blessed.  He said the ipad will be easier to keep track of all my knitting patterns and blogs.  He has one for work and loves it.  I think lugging around the laptop for vacation made him decide to get something smaller for me.

Okay, with no further ado, more pictures of Maui!  Of course we need to begin with yet another sunset because I do love the sunsets.

 Here we are at what is called the "whale nursey" of Maui.  It's just off Maalea Harbor and usually there are many whales and babies, but this year we didn't see any.  It was still beautiful but we missed the whales.  Taking pictures of yourself is always an adventure.  Arms out, head up, (or down).

 No whales, but beautiful nonetheless.

 This sign is at the pull-off.  I'm sorrry it isn't easier to read.

 Another of us at the Banyan Tree in Lahaina.  The tree takes up the entire city block and is amazing.  I know there are a lot of pictures of us, but normally we take lots and lots of the scenery and none of us.  We decided before we left that we would take more of the two of us.  Our son in Japan has requested pictures of family this year because he misses all of us, so we decided to try to provide some from the trip for him.

This is the view from upcountry.  We were on our way to the Ulupalakua Ranch and winery.  The previous picture was taken just around that curve at the top left of the picture.  The condo we stayed at is one at the very right of the buildings in the middle of the picture.



 
This is the view from upcountry, of the island Molokini.  Lots of snorkeling and turtle watching out there.  The building you see is the Maui Prince.  This is the last hotel on the southern coast of Maui and the first place we ever stayed on Maui about 11 years or so ago.  It's very quiet and every room has a partial ocean view.  Very exclusive.  Very golf resorty.  We could never afford to go there now.  It's been sold and the new owners charge almost FOUR times what we paid for our room.  Isn't the ocean beautiful?  You can just make out the cinder cone on the left.

 The next two pictures are the Tedeshi Winery on the Ulupalakua Ranch.  It's the only winery in Maui.  Although we really aren't drinkers, they make a pineapple wine that you can't get anywhere else. Isn't it pretty decorated for Christmas?

 This is a picture of the black lava flow from the 1700's.  The road ends just past this.  Well, it doesn't actually end,  but there is a section so rough that it makes your rental contract invalid if you drive on it.  Who can afford to pay for the car if it's damaged?  We never go past this point.  If you could continue, you would be on the road to Hana.

 The cinder cone by the Maui Prince Hotel with the black lava beyond it, then the ocean.

  That's it for today.  A few more tomorrow morning for you and we'll be all done!  Tomorrow I need to bake pies and prepare the celery, onions etc. for the stuffing.  I try to do as much as I can before the kids arrive so I can spend time with them, not cooking.  Then I'm going to make my homemade noodles and chicken for dinner tomorrow night.  It's my son's favorite dish and I always make it for him when he comes home.  I do love to cook for my kids!

Hope your preparations are all going well also and you remember to make time to think about the reason we celebrate!

Blessings,

Betsy

Finally! Pictures!

Whew!  It's been a busy morning.  Of course, when I went to the grocery store yesterday I forgot several items for this weekend when the kids will be here.  Must have been jet lag!  So this morning I was off to the grocery store at 6:30 a.m.  Then I had to shovel the snow out of the driveway when I got home.  I then vacummed and dusted the entire house, wrapped gifts and I just finished ironing 12 of my dear husband's shirts.  I had most of the gifts wrapped before our trip, but of course we  found several new things for our grandbabies and some small gifts for friends.  Tomorrow I'll clean all the bathrooms and finish last minute preparations.  Friday morning I'll bake the pies and the kids will arrive in the afternoon!  I'm so excited to see them all!

Mid-morning by best girlfriend called needing an emergency babysitter for her granddaughter.  Kaydence is six years old and out of school for the holidays and her mom and dad are both working.  Grandma had to work this morning unexpectedly so they were in need of a babysitter.  Kaydence helped me wrap presents and we walked to the mailbox together to mail the last of the Christmas cards.  She liked holding Chloe's leash while we walked.  She's now watching a Christmas video.

So with no further ado....some pictures from our trip.  I'll spread them out over the next few posts so I can enjoy the vacation longer.

Aren't the sunsets beautiful?  This was the view from our condo's lanai every night.  We would eat dinner while watching the sunset.

 Sorry for my husband's slicked back hairdo.  We had just been swimming and our hair was still somewhat wet!

 This is a more natural hair style for him.  But now he's squinting into the sun!  Never can get a good picture.  The one below is me doing the same squint!!!! These two pictures were taken at the black lava flow on the south end of Maui.  I think I read that it was from an erruption in the late 1700's.

 This is the living room of the condo.  Doesn't Dennis look excited there at the table.  We were playing a dice game called Farkle.  I'm standing by the lanai door.  The kitchen is there behind the breakfast bar.  Stainless steel large appliances except for the almond colored range and all the small appliances and dishware you could possiblly need.  There is a washer and dryer down the hall to the left.

 King size bed  and lots of closet space on the other side of the room.

 This is the floor of the shower.  Aren't those little swimming turtles cute?  They look like they're swimming toward the drain!  The walls and ceiling of the shower have the same rocks.  It's beautiful

 A few more pictures of the sunsets!  I took pictures every evening because they were just so beautiful.  It was hard to believe that Christmas was only a week away.  I'm used to snow, snow, snow at Christmas.

This was in Lahaina Town where we had lunch one day.  They had live music in the courtyard playing both Hawaiin music and Christmas music.  They were really, really good.  I wanted a CD of them but they were sold out.  Don't the Christmas decorations look strange with the sunglasses and green plants?

More pictures to come tomorrow.  Please let me know if they are boring to you and I'll try to cut back on them.

Hope your Christmas preparations are all going well and I'll be back soon!  Kaydence is getting restless for her lunch so I need to run.

Blessings,

Betsy

Home Again!

I guess it's time for real life again isn't it?    Eight days on Maui was wonderful but now it's down to the wire for Christmas!

I'll try to post some more pictures of our trip tomorrow but for now I'm just passing through to let you know we made it home safely. 

Our flights were both late, (of course), so we didn't get home until after midnight.  Dennis had to be up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work so it was a short night for him.  I've been up and running since 6:00, laundry, sorting mail cuddling the dog.  Then it was errands. The post office, bank, grocery store, nursing home, drug store.  I'm finally home and it's almost time to think about cooking dinner.  Tomorrow should be a stay at home day to clean the house and bake a little.  The grandkids come on Friday so there's no time to waste.  We bought all of them a few things in Hawaii so there's more wrapping to do to!  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking of it.

Back tomorrow with more pictures. 

Blessings,

Betsy

Hawaii

Guess where I am this week?  One guess would probably be sufficient!  This is the view from the condo we're staying in.  Isn't it beautiful?  We're about 30 feet from the ocean!

 I thought this flower was absolutely stunning.  It was by the highway and I made Dennis stop so I could take a picture of it.  Flowers are absolutely everywhere!

These next two pictures were taken on the Road to Hana of Elvis Presley fame.  There are 617 curves and 67 bridges on this highway that is about 60 miles long.  The drive can be very scary at times but the views are worth all of the "white knuckle" driving.

We're having a wonderful time and have three more days here in Paradise before we have to return to the cold and snow in Spokane.  I'll see you all again next week!

Blessings,

Betsy



Some Pictures for You

Well, I've suddenly found myself with a few spare minutes.  I've packed all that I can, until I do the last minute laundry tomorrow, (you know, undies and such!).  Little "Miss E" is asleep right now too.  Very unusual.

My blog friend Teresa posted some pictures of some of her favorite ornaments the other day and I thought I would do the same.  I hope you enjoy them.  Most of the bloggers I read are such good photographers.  I am not.  My photos tend to be dark, blurry and cut off.  But, there it is, the best I can do!  :-)

This nativity scene is 47 years old.  It was given to me by my Sunday School teacher when I was 4 years old!  The wooden star behind it was made by my husband's cousin for us the year we moved across the country from them.  Each piece was hand cut and burned.  It makes the perfect backdrop for the nativity scene otherwise it tends to get lost in the tree.

This knitting basket was a gift from a friend last year.  Isn't it cute!  Knitting needles, yarn, buttons and thread.  Even a pincushion!

 This angel was made for me by Alex when he was 4 years old in 1992.  I cherish her.

 This angel was made for me by my son Jamie when he was 3.  He's now 28!  It has graced the top part of our tree for 25 years now.  It's one of my favorite ornaments.

Jamie also made me this pinecone and cardinal ornament in cub scouts.  It's about 9 inches tall without the ribbon!  Isn't it cute though?

 I bought 6 of these glass balls for our first Christmas 33 years ago.  We still have 4 which I think is doing very well since we've had 3 kids, many pets, grandchildren and a home daycare!

 This picture and the one below is of a sea shell angel a group of Japanese students gave me in 2003 when they stayed with us for the holidays.  They each wrote a message on the back.  Unfortunately without Alex I have no idea what the messages say!  I should have written it down in English when I was told what it said.

This is a little snowman "tree" that has each member of our family on it.  Dennis and I are at the top.  Jamie and his wife Crystal are middle left.  Mandy and Brad are middle right.  Bottom left are Caleb and Kyleigh our grandbabies and bottom right is Alex.  All alone.  I have more snowmen/ladies to add as more are added to our family.  I think it's cute and the grandbabies love to play with it when they're here.

As you can probably tell from these few pictures, I absolutely love angels.  I have several dozen of them around the house.  I love knowing that there are angels watching over each of us.
That's it!  If I can get the computer to work I'll try to post some vacation pictures while we're gone.  If I can't, I'll show you when I return.

ALOHA and have fun preparing for the holidays!

Blessings,

Betsy