I BELIEVE !!

I believe...that the most important thing in this world is my family! I can't begin to tell each of you how much it meant to Papa and me to have you all here for our special Christmas Dinner, Nativity Pageant, Gift Exchange Extravaganza! I was so busy enjoying every blasted one of you that I didn't get many snapshots...but I believe you kids did...so I'm sure hoping your blogs are updated and include more family members - and especially YOU Erik - I want to see those great group shots at the end on the night! Somebody PLEASE post them! Anyway - here are the few I snapped.



Steele, Amy & Abi...thanks for traveling afar, and Luke - you and Rennie creating a convoy to get here was awesome! Jackson and Allison...believe me when I say thanks for being such good hosts to the St. Geo travelers - and we believe Luke's gang had a blast staying in "Harm's Way"!





Okay, and now for one of the best parts of the whole evening...we all got to meet Bobbie Brooks - your soon-to-be Step-Mother!
I don't believe your Dad could have found a more lovely, wonderful lady to spend forever with! PLUS, she jumped right in and saved Christmas! Believe me...There was NO WAY we would have been eating that wonderful feast at 6pm if it hadn't been for her and your Dad's help. Papa and I were in way over our heads!
Remember how we all lined up and circled the island - loaded with food?!

Yes, Rennie, I believe we can see your plate!

I still can't believe all 24 of us fit in the dining room, living room & island!
Jenny, Thanks for having your 6th Birthday Party at our house - well, sort of! Congratulations Sweetie!!



The Nativity Pageant was unbelievably beautiful kiddies...one day soon we'll get together again and watch the new movie - sorry I didn't get any snaps of the production - gee, what kind of a grandmother am I? Girls..help me out here - please post what you have!! You dad's did a great job watching the babies (and football) while the movie crew worked hard with your big kids! Thanks for so patiently waiting for the huge gift exchange - this was supposed to be a simple, homemade Christmas but wow...I guess when you multiply each person by 8 and then add all the grandchildren!
Anyway...Thanks for all the beautiful, creative, thoughtful gifts to us and each other - you ALL continue to amaze me!
After everyone left it was a little hard for Mimi & Papa to simmer down enough to get to sleep - what a busy fun beautiful day!
However...You girls KNOW that when you left I HAD to go through the big black bags of trash - right? After all, Little Jackson had lost a brown shoe and I didn't want it to get tossed out with all that mess! Well, let. me. tell. you...I ended up with a five foot high pile of smoothed out and refolded tissue paper (organized by color of course), several long red ribbons (yes, Ruth, they are SATIN!) But NO, I did NOT save the ripped up wrapping paper...the reconstruction process would have used up ALL the salvaged scotch tape...sure, it's lost a bit of its "tack", but it should be good for another go-round! Soooooooooo Jealous, are we?? You should be! Why do you guys think I INSISTED on having the party at OUR house?...all the left over roast beef, turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, green beans, squash & pie, PLUS all the GARBAGE!! Believe me - Papa and I feel like we really came out ahead this year!!




WAIT.............

Slam on your brakes and back up just a little bitty....December is almost OVER and so much happened before our big party, beginning with "The Kim's Julian Joint Birthday Dinner" @ Outback - "no rules, just right" (what in Sam Hill does that mean anyway?)!!

Then - Robin's flippin 25th birthdayWhat a beautiful little girl we have! COME HOME - WE MISS YOU!!

Then Miss Kylie turned 9!

so me and Papa popped in for a little private party - she LOVED the baggie of Box Top coupons for her school (more than her presents!)

Next...we watched Jenny & Jack while parents and baby sister partied in Vegas with Elvis. You can see how hard it was...
..stick 'em in a big tub of water and put a TV (not too close now) with a silly movie on...(hours of fun for the whole family!)

The next day was the annual AMOS (Arredondo, Mason,Organ & Smith) Christmas Party - it was good to see Jack & Ali, Mel & E and Sammy's gang there.

We all missed the Arredondo's


- did you guys know that Robin called me, crying, the other day because it dawned on her that this will be the very first Christmas in her entire life that she hasn't spent with her mommy? It is weird (but not as weird as the boys elf dance)..Anyway - this slide show is for YOU baby girl - pretend like you're in each photo - cause that's what I do - I'll miss you more than you can imagine this Christmas - Mele Kalikimaka Ruby!

...A week ago...
J&A attended the annual BHN Christmas party with me and Papa at Monti's La Casa Vieja - yum filet myself!

And 1 night ago we (as in the whole fam damily except for Sammy's gang)met at Pizza Mart
...for a bite
pulling faces at Mimi...

....and a few games.
Abi found a friend to hang on the other side of Auntie Allison


Then we were off to see the beautiful Christmas Lights and concert at the Temple.
The Nativity was AWESOME
On our way to the always wonderful Kimball-Merrill-Julian Christmas Party, we went to the cemetery to see Michael's headstone - as you can see, it turned out beautifully. The rain was drizzling and so many plots were decorated with real lights for Christmas - it was a lovely sight.



Lest ye forget...here are our "Gifts to the Christ Child" we wrote down and hung on the tree last year at the cabin...I believe you remember!
Steele - Love my babies...Amy & Abi!
Amy - Provide service for others - be a better disciple of Christ - Listen and obey the Prophet's teachings.
Abi - Be kind and share with others.
Luke - Show my obedience & patience.
Rennie - Be grateful & prayerful.
Lainie - Give to others.
Shelby - Show love at home.
Carter - Love one another.
Creed - Follow the Prophet.
Erik - I will be a better husband, father and person this year.
Mel - Choose to be happy everyday & be more of a servant.
Kylie - Be more obedient & make right choices.
Jadyn - Be less whiny & a big helper.
Sam - Attend Temple monthly, daily scripture study, fast with a purpose each month, be more paitent with my family.
Ruth - Have a better relationship with Jesus Christ & Heavenly Father through Prayer & study of the gospel.
Jenny - I will show my love for Jesus Christ by saying a prayer every night before I go to sleep and remembering to brush my teeth.
Jackson - Learn to say my own prayers.
Jackson - Keep all of His commandments the best that I can. Be a better missionary.
Allison - Be more faithful & trust in Heavenly Father's will for my life.
Robin - Serve with Charity, Love everyone, Seek service, Spread His gospel!
After reading all these and thinking back over these past 12 months - I must say that I think every single one of you has kept your gift in your heart and done just what you promised you'd do. We're so proud of you guys - we believe you are the jewels in our crown! Much to our chagrin...we notice that me and Papa and Lane forgot to fill out our own gift tags to the Christ Child...so let me just say that we are all promising to keep hanging in there - getting old is fun, but we forget stuff! Papa and I have made and reached our personal goals of daily scriptures, prayers, reading good books (yes, including Twilight) attending our monthly family temple day AOAP and trying to be nicer to each other and each of YOU. Just let us know when you think we're slipping!
This has turned into a HUGE post...so I'll just say...thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts and all your love. Hope to see some of you Christmas Day!

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Fabulous New Year my darlings!

Fresh Grilled Cat !!

Okay, kids...there's no picture to go along with this story, so just try to use your imagination. The day before Thanksgiving (Wed) we drove Grandma into work with us so she could get a perm and then travel with us down to Lukey's Ranch. Well...Mike stopped at Love's for some delicious gasoline, and Grandma and I sat in the Avalanche wondering what was so interesting about our ride..it seemed everyone was eyeballing the black beauty and we couldn't figure it out. Sure, it's a very nice pimped-out mode of transport - but the attention was unusually heavy that morning. Then Mike opened the door and pulled the hood release - I asked what all the fuss was about and he said everyone heard a cat and one fellow spotted it behind the grill. {well, I could've told him THAT...I heard it before we left our driveway, but thought it was UNDER the truck) So everyone joined in to extricate the furry freeloader. It was a beautiful black cat I'd seen in the hood, so we stuck it in the back end with the luggage and continued into BHN. Mike was going to let it go in the yard of the warehouse, but decided to turn around and drive all the way back to Maricopa with the fine feline. Oh, when we opened the tailgate, sure enough...it was sharpening it's claws on Grandma's nice red over-night bag! ( I pictured the scene from Grumpier Old Men when the cat was put in the car with the new upholstery!)
He returned an hour later and said the dumb animal just sat there on our driveway and wouldn't move - but it was gone 2 days later when we returned.
Soooo, the best part of this story is me telling precious Allison all about it and I'm using my hands to show the cat stuck behind the grill - probably screaming all the way down the freeway for 25 miles at top speed...and she says "why do you keep doing this? (and she mimicks my fingers spread across my face ..as the front grill of the truck) Isn't the grill like THIS...(and she puts her hands flat like a table top)...and I say WHAT? and she says..why didn't it just jump off? and I say WHAT? and she say's why didn't it just jump off the grill? and I say what the hell are you talking about? and she says...aren't you saying a cat was up on the BBQ grill you're taking down to Luke's? By then I'm on the floor...for one thing - why the hey would I be hauling a BBQ grill to the ranch? and second...well, there IS no second - it was just the most hilarious thing in the world watching her try to figure out the whole thing...she's so precious!