Grandma Hovik

Sadly, this December Daniel's Grandma Hovik passed away. Daniel was able to attend her funeral in Utah. He couldn't say enough about how touching the experience was. How he was able to reminisce and enjoy the memories of his Grandma and see so many relatives together again.This is how I remember Grandma Hovik--that picture of her laughing--the time I've known her she's always been full of enthusiasm and zest! We will miss her.
Debra amazed me as she handled this event without her husband, John. He was in Hong Kong and nearly unreachable. Though they did make contact, he couldn't reasonably return for the funeral. I'm glad all the brothers were able to make it there to support Debra and their Grandpa.

Potato Guns

Daniel's long-time friend, Rand also abides in Arkansas. Rand and his wife, Sarah had us over to their acreage while we were in town for a new experience: shooting potato guns! Sarah's Dad has these guns rigged up--it's a wonderful combination of pvc pipes, hairspray, and a spark. If you have a hunk of potato in that pipe it'll shoot a good couple hundred feet! It was awesome! We had so much fun! Abby really got into it. If I knew how, I'd make her one for Christmas. Ok, not really.

We also got together with Rand, Sarah, and some of Sarah's family for gingerbread cookie decorating, lots of great food, socializing, and the BYU vs. UTAH game. It was so great--and we loved that BYU came out on top! (Dad, I really meant to email and rub it in, I hope someone else did!)

Arkansas Outings

After Thanksgiving we took an outing to the original Walton's Five and Dime. So cool to see Wal-Mart's beginnings! We picnicked in the quaint square downtown.

Aunt Heidi loaded the kids up with pennies to throw in the fountain...they are so lucky! A lot of wishes were made!
We also visited Pea Ridge for some civil war history.

Other kids got in trouble for climbing on the cannon. Somehow our 20 minutes of enjoyment was overlooked!

A Thankful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we were thankful for much:

A new-to-us dvd player that pretty-much-worked-kind of on our 12.5 hour drive to Bentonville, AR

An amazing turkey recipe compliments of Martha Stewart

Katie for sticking her arm all the way in to rub herbs...between the meat and the skin

Loving husbands who love us...and love carving turkeys (we think)
Awesome family to be with and who love to stay up late talking and playing games

Heidi for amazing pies
Cousins who were thrilled to be together

A fabulous yard for tree climbing and kickball

A beautiful home with plenty of space for us all
A new haircut (about time!)

Stunning weather...good enough for a walk to the gazebo and a rollicking game of hide and seek
A Norman Rockwell moment with children singing along toChristmas songs around the player piano
And the desire to do it all over again!

Abby's wish list

for Christmas:

cell phone

ipod

nintendo ds

laptop

something's wrong here.

you never stop learning

I ate at a friend's the other night and she was talking about how she always forgets to bake the shells until the last minute when she's making tacos. Um, what do you mean bake the shells? Yup, there it is on the back of the box. Bake the shells--three hundred something for 5ish minutes. And WOW. They are a hundred times better baked!!! Yummy and crispy and light. I always wondered why my shells seemed stale! I'd buy a box and eat them that night so they'd be fresh. Still stale. Sigh. Sometimes you just miss the memo. Thank you, Sheri, for changing my taco life.

By the way, I have been thoroughly teased by locals who knew this their whole life. But I am CERTAIN there are more of you out there who are picking your jaws up off the ground because you never knew shells from the box should be baked. Admit it.

scenes from a Ballerina party

Like...

the table (guests got to take a balloon home)
Ballerina silhouettes...

We traced these as guests arrived. They didn't turn out as dramatic as the American Idol ones from Abby's party as kids were doing some of the tracing. But it's still such a fun activity as you're getting going.
The best one...the cake...
the stickers...

Abby gave Eliza a sticker maker for her birthday so we made some name stickers. We had 3 guests--each had a 6 year old sister we also invited. They were our "helpers." (loosely interpreted) It worked out great.
We cleaned out Germantown Library's ballet section...somewhere for kids to sit and entertain themselves if they weren't interested in the activity going on. And, extra tutus!
games...

This is "guess the bundle." Tightly wrap household objects (shoe, phone, scissors, toy car) in tissue wrap, add a bow. Have a child pull one out of a gift bag and see if anyone can figure out what it is. Might be harder (thus more fun) than you think! Unwrap and see!

the big moment...
gifts and those who gave them...
mom, who had to wear pink too!...