Holiday Visit

Today, 12/29/11, Bigfoot was visited by Ganon and Heidi's family, here in the Valley of the Sun for a few days seeking relief from the Utah cold. Rebecca went straight to examine the bonsai Christmas tree.

They brought the gifts sent to them from Megan's family to open. TJ got a book.

Sarah and Rebecca got lovable plush toys

David got a book

Ganon laughed as he unwrapped reflective tape to wear as he rides his bike on frosty mornings. (inside joke--he recently was hit by a car. Minor damage to bike and rider)

Heidi smiled at her Mary Kay good stuff. These Connellys say mahalo to the Hammaris

Papa got a little facetime (is that the right word Amanda?) with each of the four visiting grandkids. Here is his minute with sweet Sarah.

Big activity was the excursion to the VDO model train city

Aunty Becca (taking many, many photos with her little camera) and TJ watch the action

TJ was fascinated

David ran after the trains, soaking up the details of the huge layout

Big sister Rebecca helps little brother get a better look

Gramma and buddy David sit on her scooter

Then lunch at the VDO cafe

Princess Sarah in a pensive moment

This was a wonderful post Christmas visit on a warm AZ day

Christmas at VDO 2011

Valle Del Oro RV Resort is all about holidays and they go all out at Christmas time. There are lights strung on all of the trees, bushes and buildings. Our favorite decoration is this inflated RV with Santa and reindeer visible inside, and a license plate saying Joll E RV.

There are cheerful banners on the patio.

Here is Becca by the tree outside of the library.

We went to the little Post Office in the VDO office and got the package from Meg's family with presents for us. (The wrapped presents on the ground are really decorations)

This is the tree inside the front office.

There is a wonderful outdoor model train layout...

complete with water features and tunnels.

Here Gramma is decorating our tiny bonsai tree. We'd like a pine tree, but don't have room. The upside--it doesn't require many trimmings.

But Gramma isn't done decorating. She is stringing red garland with tiny white lights.

You see the outline of a Christmas tree? Say yes. Here Gramma puts a little blue star/ribbon on top.

And under this faux tree are our presents, waiting for the big day--two more sleeps.

Outside, Becca sports her Santa hat and Bigfoot sports matching hats on his mirrors.

We're not done yet. On our patio, we have a Christmas BBQ.

And here it is at night. Pretty cool!

This afternoon, JJ a nice Mesa friend, brought by some goodies from "her kitchen" Very Ono. She met us three years ago and became a fast friend, especially with Becca.

So we are rocking the Christmas Spirit. Sunday, after church, we will have Christmas dinner with 1000 of our closest VDO friends. Plus Ganon and Heidi's family will be here in Mesa for the holidays. We are having a blessed Christmas, and we wish the same for you.

Christmas Cookies

Last Saturday, 12/3, was the Ellsworth Ward Christmas party. Each family was asked to bring a plate of cookies to share. Becca selected a package of Toll House cookie dough at the store.

So Saturday morning there was a Muddah - Daughtah baking activity at our house.

The dough was pre-decorated, pre-cut Christmas cookies

Fresh out of the oven--ho ho ho

Becca was pumped. She helped with every phase of the baking. Here she is scooping the finished cookies onto the plate to take to the party.

Both muddah and daughtah enjoyed much Christmas cheer

At the party there were dozens of cookie plates. When the children started through the cookie line, Becca's cookies were the first to go!

De pamplemousse rose

This is a fun sidebar story to the visit of Aunt Catherine and Aunty Pat. They rented a "Park Model" here in the Valle Del Oro RV Resort. One of the features of this park is the citrus trees growing everywhere. Behind the little rental was a grapefruit tree. Here is one of the fruit that we harvested. Note the little color of pink near the leaves.

When Gramma opened the fruit (note her beautiful hands) we saw it was pink. We have had pink grapefruit before, but this was the first time we picked one.

The rig parked to our left is from Quebec. Jean Luke and Francoise are very friendly. They speak French as their first language. They taught me the French word for pink grapefruit is De pamplemousse rose. Fun, yeah?