Christmas Season 2012

     After we were at Colette's, for breakfast,  we came home to open our gifts.  Then we went to Mike's because we knew they were having their Christmas dinner at about 2pm.  We had to be Jared's by 5 o'clock for his birthday party!  He was born on Christmas Day.  I was at their house and Becky waited until the gifts were opened and she even fixed breakfast before going to the hospital to deliver Jared!  Amazing woman!  We arrived home at about 8 o'clock, tired, but happy with the day spent with family.  The pictures of his party are the same group as the Christmas Party.  I wonder why? 
     Chuck doesn't have any family near, but my family love him dearly.  When he married me he acquired a large family.  He has been a great asset it helping each of them when needed.  Thank you, Chuck, a super grandpa and my soul mate! 
     It has been a year of blessings, good friends and a wonderful family!

Christmas Eve and Morning 2012

     Christmas Eve we went to Lance's for dinner and party.  At the end of the evening we opened the gifts we gave to each other.  Lance gave Becky a small notebook with coupons in it of things he would do for her.  Becky's mother is living with them.  Some said he'd fix dinner, do the laundry, give her an hour by herself and so on.  She loved that gift and did turn in the coupons! 

 Christmas morning, Caroline spied her Minnie doll!  She loves Mickey and Minnie.  It was so much fun watching her open her gifts!  We usually have French Stuffed toast for breakfast, but this day took LOTS longer to open gifts.  We finally ate at noon.  That was okay as we were able to see and appreciate each other's gifts.

    We are busy opening our gifts.  The gifts are thoughtful and we are thankful we can do it with this family.  Caroline watched a Mickey DVD all day, over and over.  Family members had to take turns watching it with her.  I can remember that Joleen loved the 101 Dalmatians She had to have it read to her every night.  We had to read it in the daytime too, if she was still!!!

Christmas Party 2012

 We held the Hancock Christmas Party on the 16th of December at Aimee and Jared's new house in Ballard.  Becky is holding Ryelyn, Lance, Amber, Rocky Sr., Jordan, Easton, Jessica (holding Curtis, Jace and Cade), Aimee, Chuck, Coleen and Tyler and George down front. Jared is taking the picture.

      See the cute Santa hat on the tree.  Aimee has a couple of flexible elves that she puts in different places in the house.  They spy on the children to see if they are good.  At the end of the day the elf rewards them with a small treat.  The elves are moved each day.  Easton doesn't know if they are spying on him or not.  Cute tradition!

 Rocky and his two sons, little Rocky and Tyler were here for the holidays.  It has been good to see them as they haven't been here for 17 years!!!  Auntie Colette always has a big smile for everyone.

That blue bundle Becky is cradling is Ryelyn.  It is good to get together at the Christmas Season.

 Jared decided to get in the pile up.  Why is Amber taking so long to take the picture?  She wants it to be perfect!

                                                                  My two darlings.

The highlight of the party is to draw a gift from the box, blindfolded.  You can exchange it for another's gift.  One gift is always more desired than another, so it is a fight as to who gets to keep it at the end of the evening.  It can only be taken from you three times.  That is if you get it back three times. 

December 2012

 December is Gingerbread time! I have made them for the last 57 years.  There were a couple of years after Jerry died that I didn't make them. One year, when I lived in San Diego, I baked the pieces and sent each of my children enough pieces to make their own houses.  When I have live outside of Utah,  I sent the finished house to them.  Traditions!  I hope they are passed down. This year I decided to teach how to as many of my granddaughters as possible.  About December 8th Becky and Jerika came and decorated their house.  I had cooked and put together a few houses.  I made a church with a light in it as I hadn't done that for a long time.

Making the houses is done in three steps.  One evening you make the dough and let it set overnight.  It rolls out easier and is not so sticky.  We found that if we kneaded in the flour until it was very stiff, before putting it in the fridge overnight,  it was easier to work with the next day.

The next day takes about four hours to roll out, cut and cook one batch of dough and 'glue it ' together.  Here are the end pieces with 'stained glass' windows.  The cooked piece is placed on tinfoil, then crushed candy is placed in the windows and then put in a 350 degree oven for a 2-3 minutes.  Watch them or it will melt too much and not be pretty.  The 'glue' is melted sugar.  It will bond anything.

The third step is the most fun as you decorate your house.  These two houses were made for Valentines Day.  One house is made from graham crackers.  The graham cracker house doesn't take as long to put together, but is fragile.

                               You use lots of flour.  It will brush off the cooked pieces.

Kami Dearing and her mom Tami came to do Valentine Houses.  They made darling houses.

Joleen and Raquel came and did the three steps.  See how their house has it's own personality.  Dec.10th Jessica, Curtis, Jace and Cade Spafford, Amber Dubiak, Aimee, Jared, Easton, and baby Ryelyn Hancock came to my house and decorated their Gingerbread house.  Jessica did the three steps this year.  I made copies of 5 house patterns, recipe and instructions for all of them this year.  Making the gingerbread house is time consuming, but rewarding in the end.  Your house will smell of gingerbread all Christmas season.  Traditions!!!

 This was done last year, but shows some of the items used for decorating a A Frame house.

Chuck made this potato and onion ben last year, but I wanted to show it.  The two bottom bens have hinges to pull part way out and the top shelf is for bottles.  I love it!  It is so convenient.  Thanks, Chuck!

November 2012

        Life is good.  We are so glad each day that we have each other at this time.  Thank you, God!

     Amber and George are happy additions to our family.  It's nice to have them close so we can enjoy them.  Amber has lived in Arizona since high school.  After her mom died she came back here.  Great!

 These two are the strength of our family.  They hold Family Home Evening almost every monday in the winter and every Monday in the summer.  Our FHE group has grown to about 30+.  A meal is pot-lucked every time.  That makes a lot of work for them to set up for the FHE.  We have gotten close to many that we wouldn't have otherwise.  I am grateful for them.  Thanks, guys!

 Curtis and Jessica have two sons, we see Jace.  Cade is somewhere looking at Christmas decorations.  This is a happy little family and we are proud of the way they are raising their sons.  Chuck and I are invited to all of Lance's family's gatherings and are grateful for that.  Otherwise we wouldn't get to know the families. 

Aimee is holding the newest Hancock, Ryelyn.  Easton is on daddy Jared's lap.  This makes 5 grandsons for Lance and Becky.  No girls, yet. Easton is a loving, well behaved little boy.  Colette and Jessica thought we ought to get together once in a while at a restaurant.  That way no one had to go to extra work for a get together.  So we made reservations at Bella's Italian Restaurant.

October Amber

Amber called one evening and said the wall plugin, that her dryer plugged into, had caught on fire.  Her landlord had an electrician come put a new one in, but it had ruined the plug. Chuck said that he would put a new one on for her the next day.  She purchased the right one and he did it the next day that was a Saturday.  We then took her to dinner at Pinn Willies for her birthday.  It is only about 60 miles away!!!  But we love their hamburgers.  They have the best flavor.  It is a fun place to go.  It is about 7 miles north of Duchesne, out in the cedars, with nothing else near.   The building looks like one from the early 1900's.  We love that place.

October Dayton 2012

      We didn't take any pictures this trip.  Earl needed another plugin out in his work shop, so Chuck did that.   Chuck had just had his right foot operated on five days before and here he was climbing ladders.  It didn't hurt his foot, but he was tired.  He heals fast.
      Dixie and I worked in her pantry, making it easier for her.  Dixie and I decided that we wanted to attend the Brigham City Temple.  After we go there we found that we had to have an appointment.  We were disappointed.  Next time Chuck and I go to Dayton we will make an appointment right away.  We had a lot of shopping to do, so we did that instead.  We ate at a Chinese restaurant and it was good. 
     We go to Dayton in October in order to watch Conference with them.  Kim, Deanna, and their son, Jason came between sessions and visited.  Kevin and Sharon always come over to visit.  Kerry and Jeri and family come while we are there.  It is good to visit with the kids and keep in touch with what they are doing.  Evelyn stopped by one morning.  She is expecting a baby girl.  She has grown up so much.  She is now a young woman.  She has matured a lot since she got married.  Remington, Jesse and family are in and out as well as Jeremiah. 
     Chuck is able to visit with Gary and family while we are in Dayton.  Some days it is just he and Gary.  One day we visited with Angela and Max as they were home.  Usually we take them out to dinner.

October Halloween of 2011

  The Lance Hancock family usually has a Halloween Party, but in 2012 they didn't, so I though I'd add the pictures for last year.  I'm a monk with a ball cut to make my bald head.  Chuck is Bozo the Clown.
                                              Becky and Lance won for the best costume.

                                Jared is Batman, Aimee is Cat Woman and Easton in Bat Child?

These two opted out the costumes thing.  Party Poopers!

 Amber was a crazed patient.  She had needles and IV's in her arm.  She really was scary!

                                          Jessica was a darling Witch!  She had the cutest costume.  She and Aimee   always have fun game and of course we have food.

October Dayton 2011

 These little donkeys are in a yard, right on the Hwy in Smithfield, Utah.  They remind Chuck of his little donkey, Pepper.  He bought Pepper for $5.00 when he was 13 years old and turned him loose in the mountains when he went into the Navy at age17 1/2 years old.

 The raccoon episode happened in 2011, but I think he is so cute!  This is on top of the Baird home in Dayton, Idaho.  Dixie was afraid that it would hurt the dogs.  Really it is the other way around.  Jeremiah tried to lasso it, but it went down the chimney.  Earl called the Animal Control and was told that was his problem.  Interesting that raccoons like old chimneys and often have their babies in them.

                                                        Chuck is taking the pictures.

 When we sit on their deck that is on the east side of the house, this is the lovely, tranquil farm scene that we enjoy.  See the deer out there?

                         Now they are heading to the canal for water.  So fun to see deer this close.

Mountain Man Rendezvou Wyo Sept

This was their shopping cart.  It's a little bigger than our grocery carts, right?

This young man made his costume, amazing!

The Bag Pipers had two or three young girls in the group.  See the little girl laying a blanket down?  There was a basket to put your donations in.  Girls placed them on all sides of the group.  The Bag Pipers played through out the camp at times.  I was surprised that their white  boots stayed white!  It was muddy where they were playing, mostly sand, I guess.

Here is the way I want to travel at an outing!  She could make this Sedgeway go anywhere at any speed.  Sure makes going around the campground easier!

Diane and Scotty Meek Sept

Diane and Scotty Meek were gracious hosts when we went to the rendezvous on Saturday.  They showed us around the traders posts and introduced us to their friends.  They have been going to the rendezvous for ten years.  In order to camp in the traditional area all of your equipment must be of that period-1800's.

Diane has made all their clothes.  She has used the Lucet to make the cord on the shirt and her necklace.  As we shopped in the trader's area she carried her basket to put things in.  (There were no plastic or paper bags then.)  It down poured rain while we were shopping so we ran for cover in a trader's shop.  It only lasted about 15 minutes.  It did rain heavily during each night and that made the area muddy and soggy.  There is a little stream behind them that ran thru the trading area.  Quite nice .

This is their camping area.  Scotty made them a double bed and places to hang their clothes.  So much nicer than sleeping on the ground, besides it rained a lot. 

They purchased some more chairs while we were shopping.  Scotty made the chest to keep some of their food in.

See the barrel with Scotty's name on it?  The wooden soap dish and the wooden eating bowls are there.  Diane served us a lemon bar in the wooden bowls.  Fun!

Scotty found this charcoal burner and it makes cooking and heating water easier.  They have a nice clean, attractive, period camp.  So glad we got to meet them.  Diane is Colette's high school chum.