Christmas Day 2009

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve with the Luiz's

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas eve with Tammy

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas with Candi

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Saying Goodbye to Grandpa

On Saturday, the weather man had called for a huge storm. We woke to beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. The Sun was shining and it was Divine.

We had a huge gathering at Grandpa and Grandma's house, good thing the sun was shining, there wasn't enough room for all of us to fit. At close to two we all caravan up the road to the cemetery for Grandpa's services.

This was the view from the top. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun shining and the valley in view with the mountains as a back drop. It was so lovely.

This is Grandpa...He was put into the ground after the services.

This is Grandma and Uncle Joe. This is right after the services. They hadn't gotten anyone to speak for the services. Aunt Irene asked Jeffie if he would, but he just didn't feel right about it. So they invited any one who wanted to share to share a story about Grandpa. So after a few minutes of sharing, the family and friends were invited back to the Grange for a potluck get together.

The girls~Kaylee, Lynsey, Michelle and Chelsey

Grandma and her dear friend Lois. Aunt Malita told me this lady was the only female that Grandpa ever hugged that wasn't his wife or daughter!! :~)

It was a good visit. Jeff was able to see all of his family and they were able to talk and share and have good memories together. It was a nice time, a sad time, but a nice time.

Thank you Grandpa Joe for the memories....and for loving my husband.

Toby Mac, Relient K, B.Rieth and Stephany Smith

On Sunday, after church we planned to go to Salem for a concert. My sister and I had heard about this concert at the Jeremy Camp one we had gone to last month. Toby Mac is a Christian musician, I had gone to see him before with my sister, but I was incredibly ill and missed most of the concert. So, this was going to be a make up concert for me. This time, Sis and I talked about bringing the kids along with us. You see, Toby Mac doesn't sing nice, quiet, stay in your seat, songs....he plays like he means it. With passion! This concert series was entitled Winter Wonder slam. Well, you know how I love Christmas music and we had gone as a family last year to see Natalie Grant's Christmas concert and really enjoyed it. So sister and I planned a great trip to enjoy this concert. Sister, Bugg, Peanut, Puddles, T-Rex, Curly and Honey Bunches of Oats and I all piled into the suburban and headed north to the Salem Fairgrounds. Some of the peoples in the car were afraid I was taking them to an outdoor concert. Especially after record setting low temps this week, they were a little nervous *evil grin*. The concert was in the new Pavilion at the State Fairgrounds and it was great. I had ordered tickets on line and had to pick them up there. The doors weren't open yet and the line was 8 people wide through the parking lot and into the road! But, after picking up my tickets we found out we had to get in that line. It was just a little chilly as we wound our way into the Pavilion. We were general admission seating because I didn't pay the extra money to sit on the floor *mean lady*. So we grabbed coat tails and rapidly headed up the stair well. We actually found relatively close seats pretty quickly. It was really cool. Sister then went out to find merchandise and the rest of us played around taking pictures and waiting for the show to start.

Curly, me and Puddles
Sis and I

Honey Bunches of Oats and Peanut

Curly and Bugg

Puddles, T-Rex, Bugg, Honey Bunches, Peanut, and Curly

This young man is named B. Rieth, not pronounced like wreath. He has a very nice voice and should be making a wave in the Contemporary Christian music scene here really soon.

This young lady is Stephany Smith. Her music was very rock and roll and very loud and very hard to understand. She was just a moving on the stage and Curly says, "WOW" (not in a good way). Bugg says, 'she's starting to scare me', so I guess we won't be looking for her albums.

This fine bunch of lads is RELIENT K. They are a great group that have been around the teen scene for a while. They were very good, wishing they would have been able to do more. They did the most Christmas music. One of their band mates was unable to continue in the tour, so they were having to change things up a bit. But, they were a pleasure.

This, my friends, is TOBY MAC. He is so good.

I really don't know what I can say about him, but he really got the crowd going. The best thing is.....he loves JESUS!

He is in the middle of the crowd here singing. He just jumped right on down there and sang from the audience. Later he jumped off the stage and into the audience, thankfully they caught him and he body surfed back to the stage!

Trying to get out of the parking lot took longer than driving back to the freeway. We stopped for gas, and hot chocolate for the kiddos, coffee for the adults, a potty stop and home ward bound we were. We got in a little late. Thankfully I didn't have to work today. I took a "mental health" day. I need to take those more often. ;~)

Christmas Program

My hubs loves to sing. It is one of his favorite things to do. He also likes to make up songs, about the girls and their activities, but for this, he sang real songs. He joined the Christmas choir production, they have been practicing for quite some time. Along with the music this year, there was a play. A journey to the manger was this year's title. Here are some pictures of the story....

The choir singing...hubs in the back row there....

The people of Renaissance....

Our lovely friends... grandmother and granddaughter sharing a duet

Mary singing her lullaby to baby JESUS...

The children joined in at the end of the program for a song all together. It was a great production. I understand it was standing room only on Sunday afternoon. Job well done, actors and singers.