Only 363 days until Christmas!!

I love Christmas - just in case anyone missed that memo!! In fact I love December. I am so blessed to have most of my family living really close to us and that we get to see them all often. I don't see my brother much and he lives fairly close but I guess we are both just too busy. Kind of weird though. We get to see Wayne's siblings almost every week, sometimes we skip a week of visiting for various reasons but we always see them at least once a month. It's nice to continue our relationship with them even as adults. It gets kind of hard sometimes because of the age difference in our kids but we make an effort and that's great.

Christmas was awesome this year - even though it was a bit different than previous. We were invited to Tyler and Karies in the morning to see what "Santa" had brought to the little girls. Syd looks so grown up with her new ipod! Savannah got an awesome little trike. Hopefully Ty and Karie will post pictures of it! Then we came home and waited for the rest of the kids to come by. The snow storm came in strong and overwhelming. It made for dangerous driving, I'm glad the kids all made it here safely. We ate, opened presented, talked and played. We had a great time. We gave Brandon the new Guitar Hero World Tour and he was kind enough to let everyone have a turn. Even Wayne sang which is pretty amazing in and of itself! Both sets of parents came to our house to visit this year (that was the different part). As hard as it is to transition to new traditions, I hope everyone had a great Christmas being with family. We missed Hayan this year, as she's in Korea with her parents. I hope she knows just how much we missed having her here with us. Maybe next year. Due to the crazy storm, Brandon and Jocelyn and Zach all stayed the night here and headed out the next day. Actually Zach stayed and spent the day with me. It was nice to have some good old fashioned mother/son time. He helped me "undecorate" the tree. We watched a movied and just chatted. It was nice to have some time with him, he's been so busy with school lately. It was a great Christmas at the Sexton house and I hope our family all feels the same. Tyler and Karie were so kind to share their little family Christmas with us. Thanks guys, you're awesome!

Congratulations Zach!!

Yeah, he did it! Zach graduated from WSU today with his bachelors of science in Microbiology. We are so proud of you Zach. It was especially nice to have his grandpa and grandma Larsen there to share in the joy. Jocelyn was the only sibling able to attend today, it was great to have her come and support her brother!
Grandpa Larsen graduated from Weber State, both Wayne and I graduated from Weber as well. We are not the school spirit kind of people but it was kind of nice to see Zach graduate from Weber State too. Hayan has been very supportive of Zach and his school and we are very grateful for her! We are happy to have her a part of our family. We know it takes a team to get through school. I am so grateful for Wayne! He has been so supportive of me while I've been back in school.
Way to go Zach!
Afterwards we had all the kids, Syd and Savannah and my mom and dad and we went to Famous Dave's for bbq. It was really good, but way too much food!

Our Christmas Party was a real "bang"

How do you create a Christmas party that will be a memory forever? Well we tried blowing up the prime-rib! I think we were successful. You see, the prime rib wasn't getting cooked, even after 4 hours, so with only 2 hours until the party, Wayne decided to crank the oven to 400 for an hour to "jump start" things. Well, after about 30 minutes he decided the rib needed just a little water and then we could take off for bowling while it finished cooking. It is such a beautiful prime rib by the way and we used our "old Ephraims" prime rib rub! Yummy! Back to the events of the night. So when Wayne added just a little bit of water, the pyrex pan he was cooking in exploded! Big huge bang! Glass everywhere. So much for the lovely prime rib. You can see it in the picture next to the dust pan. Yikes! In spite of our rough start we recovered pretty well I think. We hurried to the store and bought tenderloins, bacon wrapped them and grilled them up. Karie had made the funeral potatoes and Jocelyn made a salad. Hayan brought the rolls. It was a great dinner, just a little behind schedule and the evening kind of messed up bowling. We exchanged gifts with Zach and Hayan since Hayan is leaving for Korea on the 16th. We watched "Better off Dead" a classic! Kids had a good time I think. Wayne cleaned to oven on Sunday (auto clean), filled the house with smoke. Don't know if it was because this was the first time we had used the self clean on our new ovens or what, the oven really wasn't that dirty. After we got the glass cleaned up that is.

Thanksgiving

This weekend we were able to reflect on just how blessed we are. We had a great Thanksgiving day. It started out early, getting the house set up for family. We put the turkey in the oven at about 9:30 but at noon the bird was still cool to touch! Yikes, so we cranked up the heat to 300 and let it go another couple of hours. Good thing dinner wasn't planned until 3:00. We were so happy to have both my parents and Wayne's parents join us for dinner. My mom made my favorite Thanksgiving treat - home made macaroni and cheese. She puts grated cheddar and milk in between layers of macaroni. The top layer gets a little crunchy and that's my favorite part. Everything was so tastey this year. Jocelyn and Brandon peeled 1o lb's of potatoes. We love potatoes!! Tyler and Karie brought the rolls. They were HUGE! Karie also brought us a bit of her first ever homemade lemon meringue pie! It was really good and not at all runny like mine always turn out. (sorry Grandma Larsen, I guess I didn't learn very well!). Zach and Hayan brought a Korean dish similar to orange chicken only made with pork. It was so yummy. It was a great addition to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. My dad made his famous dressing and Wayne's mom brought the yams and pumpkin pie. Wayne and I made 2 apple pies, 1 banana cream, 1 coconut cream and 1 raspberry cream. After dinner Sydnee insisted on helping with the dishes. She said she loves to wash dishes so if you ever have dishes that need washing "she's your girl". We played disney yahtzee and Zach and Brandon had a challenge to ping pong. I think I heard Brandon "kicked butt!" Is that right Zach?? Lots of food, lots of fun and lots to be grateful for! Zach got a new job after graduation working in a lab is SLC. He graduates in December with his Bachelors in Microbiology. Wow, way to go Zach!!

Another Sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa

Syd and Savannah came to the house last weekend for another great sleep over. Syd is such a great big sister and she loves to help her grandma. We played and laughed and giggled. We read the story "Tubsy" an old book that was mine when I was a little girl. How funny is that? Savannah has turned into such the talker! She loves to play on the new bed in the guest room. She thinks the new bed is hers specifically and she even said to me "Gramma - I love my new bed". It's still pretty high off the floor, so when it's time for sleep, Savannah sleeps on the floor - next to her new bed. Here she is playing with her blocks on the bed. I am so blessed to have these little girls live so close to us so that we can enjoy them! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and all of the kids are going to be here for dinner. This is the first time in a long, long, time that all the kids will be around for Thanksgiving. Working in healthcare it seems that one of the kids has had to work on Thanksgiving for the past few years.

I will post pictures tomorrow of all of the fun. We are having both my parents and Waynes parents over for dinner as well. It's so nice that the girls have been able to get to know their Great-Grandparents! Age is not kind and unfortunately we all must get older. It's sad to watch our parents get old and struggle with their health and their mind. It's nice when the little children can climb up on their laps and give them a big hug. Nothing melts your heart quite like the unconditional love of a child!

45 days until Christmas!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas! So as far as I'm concerned, bring it on! I'm not finished with my shopping but I'm working on it. I have some of my kids but I still have a couple more to go. Wayne and I won't exchange real gifts this year. We had an amazing summer of travel and fun and we are counting our most recent trip to Hawaii as our gift to each other. Not to mention the new entertainment center and the new 55" LCD TV!
Not to forget Thanksgiving and the need to be grateful for what we have. We are so blessed to have all 3 of our kids living close to us. We enjoy their visits and love having our 2 darling grand-daughters near by. Wayne and I are very blessed to have 2 amazing daughter-in-laws and 1 equally amazing son-in-law. We wouldn't trade any of them. We enjoy great health and the ability to go to work every day and earn a living. We are ever grateful for this. I'm grateful that we still have the company of both of our parents who live near by and we are able to visit them every Sunday. Some people think we are crazy to drive all over on Sunday visiting our parents when we could stay home and just have our kids visit us. We say we are blessed to have them and to have our children and grand-children know them and love them all so much. Family is very important and we cherish our visits with all of our family.
Thanksgiving will be great this year as we are celebrating at our home with all of our kids and my parents. Waynes parents are invited and they may come as well. The more the merrier, and the more great food! (Everyone is bringing something to share). Friday after Thanksgiving Wayne and the boys along with his brother Mike and his boys and my dad will all drive to Idaho near Soda Springs to cut our Christmas tree. Then on Saturday I will decorate it and I'm so excited! I bought new ornaments this year. Haven't done that in a long, long time. I painted our last ornaments and we've had them proabably 10 year or better. I was excited to do something a little different this year.

Trick or treat

Trick or treat! What a wonderful trick or treat night. It was one of the mildest halloween's I remember. We had lots of trick-or-treaters, but none as cute as these two! Their grandma Kathy made these darling witch costumes.

Ooh, yuck!

Poor little Savannah has had quite the week. First she got stitches and now - well - ok it's a booger picking accident! She does look a little bothered by the whole thing. Rest assured, it did not last long. Once we got her clothes washed out, and Karie's sweatshirt washed out and little Savannah's face cleaned up, we were back in business. She is a wild child! She looks just like Tyler, but she's certainly related to her uncle Zach!

Autumn Sunset over Willard Bay

Last night I wanted to take some pictures of the sunset because after all my travels this summer, I am convinced that we are blessed to have some of the most incredible sunsets anywhere! This picture is proof of that. While I was there taking pictures at what I thought was just the perfect time, the sunset continued to get more and more beautiful with every passing moment. I just kept snapping pictures hoping to capture just the perfect shot. Although my picture is far from perfect, I still believe it is beautiful thanks to a very kind Father in Heaven who blesses us every day with such beauty around us. I hope you take some time to enjoy a beautiful sunset, it's good for the spirit.

Syd Savannah and Grandma Shel

Never pass up a hug!

Ty Guy with mom and dad

Happy B-day Tyler.

Peek-a-boo with Grandpa

Grandpa Wayne and lil' Savannah. Taken at Ty and Karie's house during Tyler's B-day party.

Helicoptor Ride followed by a Hawaiian "Pukadog"

Wayne and I are so happy we spent the money and made time for a helicoptor ride while visiting Kauai. We rode in an Hughs 500 which has no doors and only 4 passengers plus the pilot. It was absolutely amazing. We spent a little over an hour in the air and made 2 landings to wait out the storm. Landing in a helicopter on a mountain side is absolutely crazy! Wayne and I were shocked when the pilot said we were going to land to wait out the storm. We looked down and all we could see was trees and brush. The pilot was an ex-military and also an ex-narcotics officer. He is very skilled and we had a safe landing. We saw wild boars, purple phesants, goats and hikers along with hundreds of waterfalls, all compliments of the morning rain storm. At first I was scared I was going to get air sick, but I didn't. After our helicopter ride, we stopped a locals favorite called "Pukadog". They feature fresh squeezed lemonade and hawaiian hot dogs. You can view their website at "pukadog.com". These hotdogs are huge, placed inside a hole made in a bun. Filled with great sauce. Picture this : The grill for the namesake hot dog here has vertical hot metal spikes; doughy rolls are skewered onto the spikes, creating a puka (hole) and a bun that’s toasted both inside and out. One the three sauces (don’t miss the spicy jalapeno) and six tropical-fruits relishes (go for the pineapple) can be piped inside the bun, followed by a crispy grilled Polish Sausage or veggie dog. My favorite was the Hawaiian mustard but Wayne liked the papaya and pineapple. No matter, it's all simply amazing!

Can you say Hula Pie?!

What a yummy dessert Hula Pie is! We had this last night from a little restaurant called Dukes here in kauai. It starts with a oreo cookie crust, macadamia ice cream about 6 inches thick, covered with more nuts, whipped cream, chocolate and caramel syrup. To die for. I didn't get any pictures so maybe we'll have to have some again tonight so I can take a picture. We've been busy site seeing as well as snorkling. The boys got to go golfing 2 days in a row at a Jack Nicholas course. They have had a great time. Today we are going snorking again, followed by pictures at sunset and then a nice dinner. Tomorrow Wayne and I are going for a long awaited helicoptor ride over the island. This was a must do for Wayne. Here are a few more pictures with our friends Tammy and Randy.