Merry Christmas!

Twas the day of Christmas and all through the house
no one was sleeping not even my spouse.


The stockings were hung down the bannister with care
so grateful that Grandma Webber's van had stopped here.


With Nate holding cocoa krispies
and Meg in a pose



Rach, Katie & Anna have smiles that are froze.
When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter
I really didn't bother seeing what was the matter.
The presents were opened as quick as a comet
and next thing you know our poor tree had to vomit.

So out to the backyard we ran like a flash
to turn boxes and paper into hazardous ash.


The table was set with my fine Christmas wares
and the sparkling cider that bubbles the nose hairs

So from the kids table that was without fight,
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Thanks to our guests:Mom and Dad Webber, Ally and Wayland Williams, Wayland's mom and Grandma-LaNeeda and Jeannie.

Christmas Eve

Ever since we moved to Arizona, we have spent Christmas Eve with the Holt Cousins. In the small town of Blythe, CA, where Orson grew up, there was another Holt farm just around the corner. Orson's dad, Orson Sr. had a brother named Joe. Joe had 8 kids. 6 of those 8 kids live in Mesa or Gilbert. Orson really feels like a brother. We are so grateful to have these great families in our lives. We always have appetizers and dessert and we are never hungry. I was so busy eating, I took no pictures of the food. Then the kids act out the nativity while we read scriptures and sing songs.
The next generation of cousins.

Anyone who was in the ward before it split would remember Howard and Claudia Owens. Claudia and Orson are cousins. They moved to Queen Creek.

Orson was the narrator this year.

Alex Owens read the scriptures. He is headed to the Air Force, and we will miss him.

Anna was Mary.

This is Aunt Rose. She is the mother of the Holt Cousins. We love her. Ain't she sweet.

The other tradition we have is to sing the Grinch song. Ask Orson to do it for you sometime. He is pretty fabulous.

Here's our own Wendy Lou Who. What a cutie!

We returned home to our beautiful home. I love Christmas lights. We had deciede with our neighbors to put luminaries all along the sidewalk in front of our houses. When you only have five houses, it's not that bad. Thanks Spencer for lighting all those bags as we drove off to our party. I wish I had gotten a picture. When will I learn.






Finally, I love nativities. So, I thought I'd share mine with you. Enjoy!

Good Eats!

Is anyone else eating through everything that is coming through your door?



SEE YOU TOMORROW!

The Aristocats

Anna was recently in a play at school. She was one of the alleycats as well as a mouse. She really is a great performer. Enjoy some pictures from the night.

November 21,1966

This was a great day. It was the day my lovely husband was born. This was no ordinary event. You see, Orson Pratt Holt, Jr. came 12 years after the last of his four older siblings. And he was his Father's namesake. I choose to believe that he waited in Heaven for me. You see, I wouldn't be here for 2 1/2 more years. But, that was close enough. It worked out perfectly so that when he returned home from his mission and came to BYU, I was a sophmore and had just sent a boy out on a mission. God's timing is amazing. So, every year we have a family party and this year I made the cake. I love my new cake pan, and hope to one day be able to decorate it better. Happy birthday to you!

Happy Thanksgiving (the post that never ends)

What? Didn't this just happen? Well, Thanksgiving started early for us. The week before, my sister and her 5 girls came to visit us. They live in Utah and go to year round school and they were on their 3 week break. So, we benefitted, big time. Imagine 9 girls and one boy in the house. Fun, fun, fun! We decided to get Christmas put up the weekend before Thanksgiving for several reasons. 1. We were headed to California. 2. Thanksgiving was very late this year, and it would already be December when we returned from our trip. 3. I had 6 extra sets of hands to help put up decorations.
This is the kids tree. When we moved to Arizona we decided to put up two trees. One to hold all the ornaments we have collected through the years, and one to decorate any way I want. I'll have to post a picture of the other tree later.
The cousins really have fun together. They made sugar cookies.
Megan and Brenna
Kayla, Katie and Aubrey. We have many self portraits on the camera.
Sunday night we went to the visitors center at the Arizona Temple. Here are all the cousins. They are almost in age order(Nathan is holding the baby) From left to right. Brenna, Jayden, Megan, Emily, Anna (two days younger than) Lindsay, Kayla, Aubrey, Rachael, Katie, Nathan holding Kyana. This is happiness captured.
We traveled to my parents house in Cali on Wednesday. We pulled in at Midnight. Thursday morning I was up at 6:30 to run in a race. (I will do a separate post with that whole story).
Here is my brother-in-law, Robert carving the turkey. When he was done, I ripped the rest to shreds with my bare hands. Hey, you have to get down and dirty to get all that delicious dark meat.
The kids table, pre kids.
My sister Jenna. I wanted to put my head on her body, but I don't know how to do that. You get the idea, though.
These two are so cute. Megan is 14 months older than Brenna, but they have fun together. I think they will be life long friends.
The kids table, with kids.
Good eats with my cousin David and my Uncle Dale and Aunt Helen.
Friday we went to Hollywood. When you grow up 20 minutes from Hollywood, you just never go there. Here we are with the famous sign in the background.
We drove past Hollywood High School. I'm sure many famous people went there, but I don't know who.
When you go to Hollywood Blvd. you run into lots of characters. Just be warned that you have to tip them if you take a picture with them.
Grauman's Chinese Theater
My Dad's favorite movie when he was a little boy was a western called "Shane", starring Alan Ladd. Of course, we're more familiar with Alan's famous daughter Cheryl who won our hearts as one of Charlie's Angels.
Here's something you never see. A line for the men's bathroom. It was the day after Thanksgiving.
Here we are at the Kodak Theater. This is where they hold the Academy Awards.
We took this picture because this is the year my mom was at the academy awards. The other thing about growing up close to Hollywood, is sometimes, you actually know movie stars. My mom was this boy's date.You may remember him from Swiss Family Robinson or Old Yeller. Don't worry, they were both 16 at the time.

Picture Provided By: TeenIdols4You.comFor my own claim to fame, I was buddies with Wil Wheaton. He first starred in a movie called Stand by Me.
Picture Provided By: TeenIdols4You.comBut, he was most famous for his role in Star Trek: the Next Generation. We were friends in high school. I was a senior when he moved to our school as a freshman. I would take him to Burger King for lunch and tutor him in English. He was a cute kid.
To finish out our day, we headed to Universal City to peruse the City Walk.

At the end of the City Walk, you find Universal Studios. If you ever go to the L.A. area this is a fun place to go. The kids really enjoy taking the tram ride on all the back lots and learning about all the films and T.V. shows that have been made there.