On the 12th Day of Christmas.....!

Christmas as always stretches out in our family over about 12 days - sort of starts with the concerts and ended today with celebrating with Kyle, Kristin, and Karington. "Sleeping Beauty" snuggled in everyone's arms! Opop holding her.......

Dad gets to take a turn with a some "extra" formula.

Now it's Grandma Carol's turn to hold her.

No wait....its great-grandma Ruth's turn.....here's a BIG yawn..........!

And finally, mom gets her in the end.

Visit to Karington!

Maris and I drove over to Tampa to visit with Karington and Kristin and Kyle on Saturday. She's a whole week old now! Maris looks pretty smitten!

Oh my gosh.....we can see her eyes! (usually she's sleeping)

Is there anything better than kissing the top of a baby's head?

Everyone took a nap for a few minutes!

Awwwwwwww!

Christmas 2008

I love the candles in the dark church on Christmas Eve....singing Silent Night and Joy to the World. We sang 3 services.....and loved everyone of them! Had a yummy breakfast at mom's house and then presents.

Clothes this year were a big hit. Maris looks pretty svelte in his new sweater vest....

David sent us a jar of something....?????
Found out later it was peaches he made himself - we can handle that.

Kyle's gift to Maris of Magic tickets (at noon on 12/25) ...what a FUN game! Everyone was in a great mood and the Magic blew away the game with a 25 point lead. Sure made Maris happy!

Now we're off to see a movie with mom - Marley and Me. Kind of weird....no kids with us this year on Dec 24 or 25th, but we talked to all 3 several times. We'll be at Kristin/Kyles's this weekend to celebrate Christmas (a bit delayed) and smush on our beautiful new granddaughter! And of course, they'll all be here on Jan 8th - can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dancing Again.......

On the Sunday before Christmas, we had the opportunity to dance to "Mary Did You Know?" - one of our favorite Christmas anthems to sing as a choir. Since we had done this one before(danced it) - 5 of us quickly pulled it together. It was so pretty and touching (choked up even Maris) - very different from the concerts which are fun and energetic.

A new grandchild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so happy to share that Karington Jayde Nobles was born today - 5:45 am, Dec 20 weighing in at 7 lbs, 8 oz. and 19 inches long.

Kristin is feeling good (tired of course after staying up all night), the baby is fine, and Kyle is completely happy (well, he's tired too - he was up the whole night also). We are happy too (and much more rested)! They should be home by Sunday afternoon (Dec 21).

We met Karington this afternoon - she slept through the 2 hour visit. Apparently unfazed by all the company. What a little doll baby!

Yes - that's a head of dark hair under the cute Christmas cap. We understand her eyes are blue, but she never opened them while we were there.

Backstage for the Holidays at Disney with Mom

As an early Christmas present, mom and I took a 3+ hour tour today of Disney's holiday decorations - in the parks, resorts, and even backstage. There were about 40 people with 2 guides. All the inside facts and holiday traditions from around the world. We started in Germany....(Epcot)

Saw the Studios and Magic Kingdom.....the weather was fabulous - which just made everything even prettier. After 18 years at Disney -- even I'm impressed....100,000 poinsettas! Wow.

We finished up with a late lunch in France....our favorite restaurant at Epcot. Yummy rolls and creme brulee. And of course some real food in there too!

Chefs for the night

This year we didn't have Christmas parties at Disney and all recognition dinners were cancelled too. It's logical for cost cutting with the economic situation. But I wanted to do somethig nice for my managers...so had a dinner party at our house. It was a cooking party - complete with Chef Hats. Why does wearing a hat make it feel like you are REALLY a chef? Ah....the power of the costume.

Maris was the perfect host - taking photos, pouring wine. And of course, grilling the steaks.

And the food turned out great!

The dogs were entertaining as always....hey, drop some crumbs down here!!!!

Christmas Concerts!

The 4 concerts were wonderful this year. We partnered with 2 smaller churches so the choir loft was packed. Sorry I don't have pictures of Maris singing - what a bass! Over 4,000 people enjoyed the concerts - lots not from our church, so it's a good way to share with community.

Christmas Concert

Ths is the weekend for our Christmas Concerts at St. Lukes. With Maris singing in the choir and me dancing ....it's a very, very busy 2 days! 4 Concerts in 2 days....but we love it, of course. The dress rehearsal on Wed went really well so we're ready to go.

This year one of the numbers is non-traditional. It's an African twist on the 3 wise men with the song sung in Swahili. It's fun and REALLY colorful!
The "wise men" are several husbands and one person from choir. The guys have been really good sports about "dancing" with us (really walking and clapping).

But the best part is being with my good friends....Christine, Stephanie, Amy, Nikki, Wendy, Felicia, and Megan.

Thanksgiving and Kristin's Birthday 2008

Gorgeous day for Thanksgiving this year - sunny and about 70 degrees! I tried a new recipe for cornbread and apple stuffing - really good. And decided to order a pre-cooked turkey from Publix to save oven time. It tasted great .... but looked a little mangled. Maris figured it lost the turkey fight. Unfortunately, Kyle was struggling with a bug and felt awful so couldn't enjoy the feast, but we were glad he was there.

Kristin's birthday usually gets smushed into Thanksgiving....just like this year. So we ate turkey and then blew out candles. She picked chocolate pie for her "cake"....French Silk....yummm! It was so nice we opened gifts and ate dessert on the new porch.

Our gift to her was the stoller/car seat for the baby .... but she bought it the same day, so ours needs to go back to the store. Pretty funny when she announced at dinner "Guess what I got yesterday? The stroller!" We are were really quiet thinking "darn....!"

And Mom, Maris and I finished off the day with our other tradition....a movie. We saw "Australia"....pretty good! Some of the scenery (filmed in northern Australia) looked exactly like Mesa Verde near David's farm and other south Utah/Colorado rock formations. Really beautiful.

(Sorry no photos of Maris...he was taking the still pics and I was trying to record things on the video camera. But he was there!!)

Kristin's Baby Shower

On Saturday, Nov 15th, mom and I attended Kristin's baby shower for Karington...due in just over a month (Dec 29th). I brought the OJ and pomegranate mimosas - sort of a brunch theme. Karington will be one cute baby with all the beautiful clothes! Mom got her 2 lovely dresses and I made her a blanket to match the colors in the baby's room.

Kristin's hoping for Dec 20th, but we'll just have to wait and see!!

We can't wait to have friends over to enjoy the new space with us.

Finished the Porch Project

Our huge pine tree had to be removed this year so it wouldn't fall on the house during the next hurricane. So that evolved into an upgrade to our house. We added onto the back porch and completely landscaped the back yard. It's like a whole new room on the house - we love it!