January doings.

Let's catch up on January, should we?


1st we had the school reflections projects due.  Nathan did well in the 3D art competition last year, however this year I was asked to judge that category this year.  So NQ entered an acrylic painting of his family playing in front of the red mountains.  The painting did not place, but I was proud of his participation.

Ashton also did a nice abstract piece

 One warm day we went for a drive around town (to find the street side orange stand) and decided to check out an old cemetery in Santa Clara.  It had a bunch of really old plots with those famous-like pioneers buried in them. Some 'born' dates dating in the 1700s.  

Ashton is one of the new Sunbeams of primary. His teachers Bro. and Sis. Brandan are great guardians of the class.  Ashton is happy there and can't wait to see his teachers.  The transition has been smooth. 

Nathan has broken down all of his Lego sets and now free creates his own inventions. This is a flying space ship he created. I took the picture for Shane as he was in Denver at his MVP invitational with the big wigs of Dish.  He had a successful trip and provided feedback and worked in workshops with the people who run the business.  He took tours, had dinners, and full meeting schedules every day. 

Zion Free Entrance day. NQ holding Ashton's hand down the path. 

This was a great entrance day, we spend most of our time at the river.  The boys threw rocks and explored the bank.  We'd all been a little under the weather and weren't up for a big hike, but very much up to seeing the splendid outdoors and getting some fresh air.

We had lunch at the lodge and skedaddled home.

That weekend we went to a birthday party for a couple of kids in our neighborhood.  It was out at Bishop Graf's farm.  the kids fed cows and horses, and roasted hotdogs and played with the bunches of kittens that were scampering around.

A friend at the school needed a Doctor Who cake for her son.  As I was contemplating how to achieve that, the thought kept coming into my head to have a girl in our ward do it. She an accomplished artist.  And the thought wouldn't leave me alone.  And with great results.  She agreed to 'paint' a scene for me on the fondant. It was great! So I made the cake, but she beautifully transformed it into an art piece.

Bee Lip and Ashton's Birthday

On Saturday the 4th of January the little boys and I enjoyed the Baptism and activities of Ben Harris!  Nathan was so sweet to watch over Ashton and Carter as Ben was Baptized in the font.  He rubbed little Carter's back and let him to and from the little chairs to the the viewing area of the carpet.  It was so sweet.

Right after another little boy was confirmed, Ashton stood up, folded his arms, walked through the circle of men getting handshakes, and walked back to his chair verbalizing that "I am a good boy!" before sitting back down.  (Adorable!)

After the church we went to Holly's house for a luncheon.  Ashton plopped down outside and ate his lunch, so I sat next to him and helped.  We retreated indoors for visiting and playing after eating. That's when I decided I would run out and grab his Root Beer and finish drinking it down.  I sat down, took a sip and felt something solid in my mouth.  I went to spit it out, and before I did, I got a huge buzz and sting on the inside of my lip! I jumped up and ran to the bathroom and I spit out a bee on the top of the can.  I managed to quickly brush the stinger out of my lip.  But the damage was done.  Joe's mom told me to put a paste of baking soda and water on it.  And I did, and that did stop the stinging.  However the next day my lip looked like this:

I spent most of Sunday sleeping off a Benadryl haze.  This was too darn bad because we missed baby Dallin Harris getting blessed that day.  But I was in no state to go anywhere!  In fact my lip got a bit worse than this before it started to recede. (Still today it's itchy and puffy) Anyhow, let this be a bee lesson.  Bee's do not freeze in St. George.  I never even thought to check the soda.  It never occurred to me that a bee would still be buzzing around in January.

Tidbit:
On Monday after school Shane picked Nathan up from school and they went to the Thor movie together.  Between the two of them they cleaned out an entire large sized bucket of popcorn.  This did not set well for Shane, but Nathan didn't have any vomit to divulge his gluttony, as his daddy did.

Tuesday was Ashton's Birthday!  The cute little Squirt turned 4!!

Shane had the day off so we took him to run errands and pick out some birthday goodies for him.  We went to Costco to exchange some pants and Ashton wanted to eat in and have pizza - so we did!  He was charming and visited with the people sitting on the table next to us. 

Opening the Skylander

He was able to open his Magna Charge Skylander early in the day and he carried him with him all the day long.  The two of us popped into the Party Land store, where he plopped this hat right on his head and wore it around the store.

Skylanders in his hands - always

Mikey Cake

He loved it.

 I took him to look at all of the party themes so he could choose what kind of party he wanted.  He's been playing a Monster's Inc game on the Leapster, so he was attracted to the Mike and Sully display of party supplies.  (There wasn't a Skylander option) 

So the kiddo got Monsters, Inc. plates and Momma got an idea for how to decorate the naked cake waiting at home.

My lip is still puffy in this picture.

Once Nathan came home we got down to party stuff.  We had planned to go to Jumpin' Jacks, but we asked the Birthday Boy what he wanted to do most of all: Jumpin' Jacks or Pirate Cove Pizza.  The boy surprised us with :McDonald's.  We confirmed this about 3 more times before he got frustrated and said: I Just want to go to McDonald's.  So we did!  And the kid was Happy!  The boys played for just over an hour at the play place and ordered their favorite McDonald's food.  (Shane and I opted to eat elsewhere.) 

We got home and opened presents which included Monsters, Inc. snacks, Monster's Inc. Mike and Sully Roll and Scare toys, a new Batman Shirt, a little Lego vehicle set, and two more shirts and a pair of jeans.  This of course in addition to his Skylander.  After cake and ice cream, the boys went downstairs for an hour of Skylanders video game playing before showers and bedtime! 

Shane was afraid that we were being super lame for Ashton's birthday.  That McDonald's wasn't a great place to go, but I countered that the kid was HAPPY.  And that he loved it!  And not too worry- he had plenty more birthday's coming his way.  Plus, he had the option to go to two other really fun places and that was what he had WANTED to do.  So with that - I daresay he had a great and happy birthday.

Christmas

I've been working on the 2013 year in review book, and thus neglecting the blog. And a huge shout out to Weston Graham, who has once again agreed to tackle being my year in review book editor!  He's awesome.  And once he edits and a new Shutterfly Sale occurs, the BOOK shall be printed!  Hoorah!

Be assured we had a lovely Christmas! It was low key and peaceful. Shane had to work until about noon, but the boys were great.  They opened their stockings from Santa Clause and went right to work playing their new Skylander characters.  Nathan had a tear of brotherly love.  When Santa didn't get him the Skylander he wanted, I whispered in his ear it was because his brother had gotten him one and that it was under the tree.  Nathan's eyes welled up and spilled over with tears as he hugged his brother and praised him endlessly for being the "Best Brother Ever." 

Once Shane got home, we opened presents had Christmas Lunch: Ham, homemade rolls, au gratin potatoes, corn, Jell-o, corn flake wreath cookies, and sparkling grape juice, and then proceeded to play toys, watch movies and stay in pajamas all day. We visited with family and enjoyed a quiet day.

Our Snowman - rare to have so much snow

Ashton completed his first round of swim lessons. Loved them!

Our Angel Tree gift, picked by Nathan

Sampling the Christmas goodies.

The Block Party hosted by 94.9 FM. 

Petty boys Christmas get together

NQ's Lego Transformer

The boys in from of the gingerbread house they decorated

Grinch Party w/ Grandpa and Grandma Lenore

Santa and Lenore

The Christmas season was busy and filled with plenty of activity - as you can plainly see.  But the best part of the holidays were a special Stake Conference we had with Jeffrey R. Holland as the guest speaker.  He was powerful.  His message clear; Christmas isn't just about the Birth of the Savior - it's about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's not just about the little baby born poor and laid in a manger, but about his life, teachings, death and Resurrection also.  I cried, Shane got teary, and the boys did well to sit through the meeting.  Elder Holland blessed us to remember that Christmas doesn't have to be grand with more gifts, and more trips to the store and stacks of presents under the tree.  He told us to enjoy our families and the love that we have for each other, and to know that what we're doing is enough and not to feel the pressures of the season.  It was a great, great meeting.  And I have thanks for the young couple sitting next to us that shared their toilet paper with me while I cried. :)

The Petty's are feeling blessed by the year 2013 and looking forward to some good adventures in 2014.

Dad and Lenore get hitched!

So, I don't have many pictures from the wedding. (In fact, I only took the two pictures of Ashton, Shane took all others)  I'm hoping that we'll get a crack at the professional photo's and perhaps some of the other family members will share some of theirs, too.

Saturday, November 30th was the big day.  The ceremony began at 9:20 a.m. in the St. George Temple.  Dad and Lenore were married for time by a very nice sealer.  Shane and Lenore's oldest son Jared were the witnesses.  Miriam and I (the oldest daughters) were seated where the Mother is traditionally seated.   The group was small.  Lenore's five kids and spouses (one is away in Germany) and then Shane and I.  Also Uncle Ed and Aunt Mindy attended along with Myrle and Kevin Watts, I think they were awesome for coming!!  Keven made the joke that he and Myrle were Dad's Grandparents.  It was funny. 

The ceremony was short, sweet and to the point.  Afterwards we met more of the crew and kiddos outside.  We waited a while for pictures.  I joked that we were waiting for the nice set of stairs for our picture and that no one wanted to be seen sitting on the 'white trashy' set of stairs. This gave Uncle Ed a chuckle.  Really, the shadow across the set of stairs is why the photographer didn't put us on the 'less desirable' set of steps.  

The Petty family made it in a few pictures. Ashton was NOT agreeable to the whole idea, and we'll be lucky if there are ANY with him.  It's good I had the foresight to snap a few candid shots as we waited for the couple to come out of the temple. 

I, as mentioned in my earlier post, did the cake, and it was lovely.  The luncheon at the Alumni House was very nice.  It was catered by Kneaders.  And Charity (Lenore's daughter) provided a hot chocolate bar with marshmallows, peppermint bits, whipped cream, and Pirouette cookies to enjoy.  Unfortunately the hot chocolate warmer was a little slow in warming the hot chocolate. 

Miriam and Charity sang "Fools Rush In" and Nolan (a son in law) sang "Let's Fly Away" they did a great, great job!  Then Dad and Lenore did their first dance. Nathan covered his eyes and groaned as the Bride and Groom smooched on the dance floor. The couple cut the cake, they changed into their Honey Moon clothes, and then they took off towards Vegas. 

Or, to my house, we saw as we pulled into the driveway, to pick up a few things before heading to Vegas.

Brooke and Wes left from the lunch to go North for the LOOOONG drive home.

The rest of the day, I lounged.  I did nothing at all!  I was free of the holiday!  I was free of wedding worries!!  I was sad to have the family gone, but felt so relieved to have the weekend over!!  (Nathan did have sad little tear when we came home.  He was sad that everyone was gone.  And, no offense to the humans, but I'm betting he was missing Stirling most of all)

As I get more pictures, I will try to post them.  But for now, I hope you enjoy the VERY few we were able to capture.

Thanksgiving

Our Thankful Tree

The Splendid Holiday, Thanksgiving.  Thoughts of family, naps, turkey bowl, games, feasting, and all the time in the world to get it done, right?  HAHAHA!  That evil little thing we call time.  There's just never quite enough of it.  Even when you get started a week a head of time!  Of course, this year we did tack a WEDDING at the end of Thanksgiving - so I guess that DOES put a bit of frenzy into the weekend. 


Brooke and Wes BARELY made it out of Sheridan, as their boiler system went completely out as they prepared to leave!  Aghhghghgh!!!  Thank the sweet heavens for Wes's Dad who volunteered himself to oversee that the repairs were made!! He win's the best father award!

TWO Thanksgiving miracles occurred.  The first is that ASHTON POOPS ON A TOILET!!!   A real, true and beautiful miracle.  The second was the SHANE DID NOT HAVE TO WORK!!! Only one tech was called out on Thanksgiving day - and he only had two jobs.  AMAZING!!


So, a week ahead of time I made a stunningly beautiful wedding cake.  Because there was NO WAY I was going to squeeze that between Thursday after dinner and Saturday morning.  Thanks again to Thanksgiving miracle number 3 - THANK YOU KRISTAL for letting me store the cake in your freezer.  Our drop freezer went out.  I had it plugged in for three days, and no chill.  Good neighbors are the best!

Wes especially likes the 'poous' which is snood upside down.

Also ahead of time I made Grape Sparkle (Grandma Shepherd's slush recipe) and Grandma's English Toffee.  Hooray!

Brooke and Wes didn't get out of Provo when they thought they would, so they showed up at about 11:00 a.m. Thanksgiving day.  No sweat.  I had the turkey stuffed with pine nut stuffing and in the oven, the rolls I baked the day before, along with making the pomegranate jello (sugar full and sugar free) and  whole cranberry sauce.  So the only things left were the potatoes and gravy and the grilled asparagus and whipped cream for the pies. (We bought pies this year, for shame.) Brooke and Wes provided some Welches sparkling juices that were tingly and fun to drink. However, its' still just amazing how many dishes you go through to get it all on the table!!  Dad and Lenore came early and we all ate lunch at about 1:00.  YEA for early Thanksgiving dinner.    The Grandparents took off to help Lenore's family get their dinner going, it was an evening meal.  We went on a Thanksgiving family walk with Stirling and sat outside to enjoy the warm weather.  The kids and dog ran around like crazy!


At about 5 we headed over to Natalie Berquist's (Lenore's Daughter in Law) house.  We had pie and visited some more.  The kids played outside and dressed up and enjoyed the swing set.  Ashton came out with a construction hat on and said, "Look!  I look like a cool guy!"  He loved dressing up.  One of the other grand kids latched onto Nathan.  He told Shane that Nathan was his new "Best Friend."  Cute little midgets!!  Brooke, Wes and left at about 7 to hit the movie.  But we missed it and purchased tickets for the next night.

Friday Wes, Dad, Uncle Ed and Austin went bird hunting.  Brooke and I took the boys to the Russ and Diane Watts brunch out in Coral Canyon at 11:30.  Lenore and Miriam were there with Miriam's three kidlets.  Plus Melissa and her kids were there and Diane's Daughter and her girls were there.  The kids jumped in the pool and had a fabulous time.  The brunch was tasty and it was good to see Merle and Kevin and relatives that I see on rare occasion.  After the brunch we went to visit Aunt Mindy and Summer and Sarah Shepherd.  We chilled on the couch and giggled and visited for a length of time.  The little boys were very happy playing dress up once again in the Shepherd basement.  The girls are so fun and I love seeing them!!

Later we took the kids and Stirling to the Dog Park to play and run and dash about.

I got a hold of a babysitter for the evening and we hit Catching Fire.  We didn't get home until almost 10:00 p.m.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Saturday the 23rd of November, Nathan had a Primary Program practice at the church.  After he finished up we traveled to the Dixie Center to visit the Jubilee of Tree's.  This is one of my favorite holiday events to attend.  I love the different glittering trees. They are so beautiful to look at.  Nathan, Ashton and I headed in  at about 10 to noon, when we noticed a large event happening in the center of the room.  Tables were roped off, an MC was announcing and hundreds of little kids were anticipating some sort of program.  We found out it was called the "Teddy Bear Picnic" and that there were a few tickets available, as the people who had purchased them had not shown up!  I asked the kids if they were interested in getting tickets - there was an exuberant YES from them both. We snatched up three tickets and rushed to our table as the program was just starting.

It was charming!!  The Dixie State University dance students preformed for almost an hour and a half.  They sang, the danced, there were some dressed up in animal costumes (giraffe, bear, duck - etc) and they came right down into the crowd and right by our table to interact with the kids.  The 'message' of the program was to "stop the wrecks" in the car.  (The Jubilee is put on by the Hospital.)  So the kids were told to not be too loud in the car, "no monkey business" no applying makeup or talking on the phone or texting for the driver...etc.  But even with the message, the music that the students performed was contemporary with some classics, and the dancers were HIGH energy and very well rehearsed. Nathan was grooving to the music and Ashton up and danced a few times.

Our box lunch was just right.  A little turkey sandwich, carrots and celery with dip, a fresh fruit cup, home made snicker doodle cookies, and bottled water. 

At the end of the program everyone sang some Christmas Carols and Santa Clause came to the stage.  The we all picked up our new teddy bears and did a parade around all of the trees.  Santa greeted everyone on the way back to their tables.  There were also wrapped gifts for everyone at the tables full of little toys and candies.  The boys were very satisfied with the experience.  And I loved it, too.  On the way out - Santa provided all the participants with a Bubble Gun, which we cracked out the next day, after the rain had cleared up some. 

I didn't get any pictures of the Picnic, but I DID get fun Bubble pictures the next day.

Well worth the $10 dollar admission!  Glad we stumbled onto it.  And perhaps for a few more years we can make it a tradition.