Christmas 2007

We are so blessed to have our kids living nearby so they can celebrate with us at Christmas. Some of our extended family also joined us this year. On the Sunday evening before Christmas, David and I visited many of our good friends and dropped off gifts and bags of mandarins from our orchard. Then we came home and lit a beautiful fire. Jocelyn, Oscar and their kids came over to enjoy the fire and some popcorn. We read Christmas stories to the kids and kept warm and cozy.

On Christmas Eve we hosted an open house for anyone in our extended families who wanted to join us. We had a full house and everyone brought lots of good food. Some of Anita's kids were in town and my sister, Pat, brought her boyfriend Terry from Utah to join us.

Christmas morning Karrie, Ryan and the kids came down the mountain in time for breakfast with granny Ellen, Oscar, Jocelyn and the Delgado boys. It was great watching their faces as they opened presents. Later, we opened more presents with Karl, Gaye and their family. Even Lindsey's dad and Maureen joined us.

Prime rib dinner was at two and we really had a nice time enjoying everyone and eating MORE. Pat and Terry brought my mom over and Angela, Lee and Lucy drove up from Glendale to join us. Altogether, I think we had 28. Leo and Vickie came over a couple of days after Christmas.
Here are some pictures, I know there's a lot, but, hey....it's practically my only post for December:

December Festivities

December has come and gone and nary a word from me was blogged. Maybe that says something about the goings on at the Bunting house the last few weeks. Our month was full, but fun. We worked hard to finish up the Casita enough to get Ellen moved in for Christmas. There are still things to be done, but she is now settled in her cozy chair and enjoys impromptu visits from all the great grandkids. She has been battling a cold but we started her on antibiotics and hopefully that will kick it. Today David and Karl got her satellite TV hooked up and adjusted. She can now begin many happy hours of channel surfing.

Maryellen's wedding was exciting and we are happy to have Brandon as part of the family. Last weekend another celebration was held for them in Fremont and they should have a trailer bursting with wedding gifts to haul to Provo next week. We wish them much happiness, but will miss them while they are away at school. This is the guest book/ favor table at the reception.

This was called the "Kissing Table"

This is the grooms cake. They also had a nice chocolate wedding cake with chocolate flowers and raspberry filling. All the food was yummy. David (my husband) , barbequed the pork loins which were served with the famous secret recipe "Bobby Q Sauce."

Thanks Jocelyn !

I finally got a chance to check my blog tonight after all the family left and discovered Jocelyn has created a festive new holiday look for me. Thank you so much! I love it. Thanks also for the birthday wish, although many of those pictures should have been left DEEPLY burried in the lost archives! Thanks also to the commenters.

Happy Birthday Cherie!

December 2nd is the birthday of the very best wife, mother, and grandma!!!

WE LOVE YOU TONS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

My family on Thanksgiving Day

I know I have been a blogger slacker. David told me today that I better post SOMETHING because he was tired of looking at Maryellen's skimpies, so here is a picture of my FAMILY. I'm not sure it is worthy of posting, but at least it's a picture and everyone is in it. I am grateful for that! We took some pictures after Thanksgiving dinner of our extended Bunting family for Ellen's Christmas card, and as an afterthought I said,"Wait!!! everyone come back so we can take just my family. They came unwillingly and hopefully David (Karl's son) took some better than mine. We plan to take some really good ones when Maryellen gets married. Anyway, we had a great Thanksgiving. I love getting together with my family and I have so much to be grateful for! All the grand kids are learning and growing so much.

I DID brave the after Thanksgiving sales. Among my bargains were a microwave and tile for Ellen's casita. David and I have been working on it a lot and it should be done in a few weeks. Today we finished the door and window casings, tomorrow...the roof, Friday the cabinets.

Maryellen's Wedding Shower

Here are a couple of snapshots from Maryellen's marvelous wedding shower that was held today. It was hosted by Janice Faulkner and there were over 50 friends and family who attended. Lots of yummy food was served and everyone had a good time showering Maryellen with gifts and good wishes. She will be looking good on her honeymoon after receiving several lovely lingerie sets, including the scanty number pictured here made out of candy:

Gaye was hoping Maryellen would receive some "duplicates" so that she that she could offer to help her out by giving them a nice home , but no such luck. Instead, Maryellen received all kinds of useful and pretty things for her home, including this calendar made by Jocelyn:
We also found out how well Brandon and Maryellen know each other. Brandon was asked 26 questions and Maryellen had to guess what his answers were. I figured they would do pretty well since they had spent so much time together and when they weren't together they were talking on the phone. Well...it ended up being 17 out of 26. When Brandon was asked what kind of flowers would be at their wedding, he said,"Colorful?"
Next... the wedding on December 15

Lucy Marie Torres has arrived!

Tuesday morning I work at the temple, and this week I also had to sub for someone on Wednesday. I decided to book a temple apartment so I could just stay over. I had planned to study Spanish and do sessions on Tuesday afternoon and then go to Ikea Wednesday after my shift and buy bunkbeds for Jocelyn and Karrie. My plans were changed in a surprisingly nice way when my niece, Angela gave birth to her daughter Monday night. She arrived about a month early by c-section. Angela had already made several trips to the hospital in labor in the past weeks, but they had been able to stop it and luckily the baby wasn't born too early. I was able to go to Glendale after my shift Tuesday, hold her, and have a nice visit with Angela, Lee and their friend Joselyn who also came to see the new arrival. Lucy is absolutely darling! Her grandma, Carla, was one of my best friends in high school and married my brother. I'm sure she is dying to be here. This is her first grandbaby. She had planned to come later in the month when Angela had a scheduled c-section. I know there are a lot of pictures here, but they are for Carla , who is flying to California tomorrow, and Loren. Lucy is named after Angela's great-grandmother and is also known as "Lady Bug". She weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Here I am with Lucy.

Doesn't Angela look happy?

The new mom and baby.

Lucy got a hearing test while I was there.

And...she got hungry!

October Update

David told me his birthday has been over for some time and I really should post something new. Ok, I admit that I have been neglecting my blog, and it's not that I haven't had anything going on around here to blog about. Quite the opposite is true, in fact. Here's a quick rundown: We had a wedding shower for Keri Munn one Saturday evening and the Stake Harvest Festival the following Saturday, for which we cooked the meat (for 700 people). We shopped for construction materials and continued working on the Casita for Ellen. David is installing sheetrock as I type. Every now and then I have to go in and help. That stuff is HEAVY when you have to hold it over your head! In between was Ed Duffel's funeral, babysitting, temple work, sewing for wedding, yardwork (winter ryegrass and weeds), helping Granny and Grandma J. and Halloween. We also had some days with the computer down due to a broken fan. Life is wonderful! We are so blessed.

I loved watching Jocelyn's boys have fun last night at the Halloween Party. Super Hero Jared made the rounds several times to examine the pumpkins carved and lit up in the back of all the trunks. They squealed with delight while sliding and bouncing on the fun toys. I didn't get to the spook alley, but it must have been good because the fire department showed up (2 trucks and a bunch of firemen) after the silent alarm went off due to the fake smoke from the fog machine. Many people from the neighborhood around the church came and I saw lots of chili dogs and frito boats disappear. I personally handed out tons of candy from the back of my Jeep and saw every kind of imaginable costume, including Mommy Mummy Jocelyn (see above). The kids I have in Nursery were some of the CUTEST!

It was also during the last few weeks that we received word from Stuart Anderson about his cancer. Our hearts are full for him, Ann and their kids. I know it will be a challenging time for them.

Happy Birthday David !

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

It's David's birthday today so I found some old pics and made a "mosaic" of his 58 years. I love him a lot! We've been married 35 of those years and he's irreplaceable.

Casita Update

Over the last couple of weeks David has been working on the rough plumbing, electrical and gas. Above is the manifold for the water. They don't use copper anymore.
He's installing an electrical box here.

Jared helped with the gas line.

(Good luck Granny!)

New Calling

Jocelyn recently received a new calling (to her dismay) as Relief Society pianist. I guess she feels unqualified. She has worried more about this calling than any job she has ever had. I think it will probably work out ok for her since Jared has been helping with quality practice time.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY - Primary 1984 "A" Street

This is Jocelyn's Sunbeam class. Her teacher had to bribe the three girls to sing and do their parts in the Children's Sacrament Mtg. Program. They were all SHY! (Can you guess who they are?)
Ryan's 10 -year-old class is pictured above. The one on the far left is a doctor now. The one on the far right is a lawyer. (Can you guess who?) Let's just say this group was together all the way through Primary and they were BIG trouble!

I was the Primary President at the time and I took these for an activity that I now do not remember.

Flashback Friday

My youngest sister, Teresa, had a birthday this week. So, this is a flashback from her wedding reception held in my parent's backyard in 1981. Jocelyn ( age 1) is smelling the flowers. Amanda and Aimee are holding the pink roses. Teresa is a wonderful sister. I wish we lived closer so I could see her and her family more often.

Stake Relief Society Dinner

Friday my fridge was crammed with 37 quarts of half and half, 21 pounds of bacon, 10 pounds of butter, 13 pints of sour cream, 7 pounds of sharp cheese, 21 bunches of green onions, and 12 stalks celery and.. stacked around my house was 90 pounds of potatoes and...

192 sourdough bread rounds... and
an ice chest full of various vegetables.
All this was purchased for the Stake R.S. dinner on Saturday.
We served:
Loaded Baked Potato Soup in Sourdough Bread Bowls
Vegetable Trays with dip
BYU Mint Brownies
Pumpkin Squares
As Jocelyn and I were hollowing out the sourdough rounds to make bowls, David had a great idea. POWER TOOLS! Here he is hollowing out a sourdough loaf with a hole cutter while I am protesting. He almost lost a finger.

This, on the other hand, was a great idea, and saved me cooking 21 pounds of bacon in my fry pan.

Here is part of my crew after it was all over. That's why they are smiling!

Here is the remains of the feast. We were asked to pack it all up for the Relief Society Presidents to take to those in need.

Here's the story:

Last Saturday our stake had an enrichment activity in conjunction with the Relief Society Satellite Broadcast from LC. It began at 3:00 p.m. with a musical program prepared by members from all nine wards in our stake. At it's conclusion, dinner was served, followed by the broadcast at 5:00 p.m.. I was asked to prepare the dinner by our past Stake Relief Society President. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a new presidency was sustained. Sister Phillips (old president) had suggested serving soup in bread bowls. At first, I was opposed to the idea because it seemed so labor intensive, but I like to do what is envisioned, so I agreed. Also, my niece, Maryellen, was considering a similar menu for her upcoming wedding reception, so I thought it would be good for a trial run. I'm glad she changed her mind, since it ended being pretty labor intensive. Also, they called me after I had done most of the shopping and passing out of ingredients to tell me to add 50 to the count. So, I had to do all the shopping twice. The bread bowls had to be special ordered in quantity, so I scoured every Vons in town the day before and bought all they had just to get 42 more. Thank goodness for all my wonderful family members who agreed to help me cook and serve! David, Jocelyn, Anita, Randy, Gaye, Karl, Maryellen and my other sister who doesn't like her name or picture to be blogged all were all wonderful helpers! Dayna and Georgette also came in to help serve and were greatly appreciated. We were so busy we didn't have time to take pictures during, so that's why have only the "before and after" pics above. It was yummy and I think everyone enjoyed it. (We didn't tell them the calorie information.)

2 New Grandbabies for Us!

March 3rd and April 1oth are both due dates for our grandbabies! We are delighted with the news that we will be adding these new little ones to the family. After their arrival we will have a grand total of 8.

Guess ???

What do March 3rd and April 10th have in common?

FLASHBACK FRIDAY!

Katie S. had this fun idea of FLASHBACK FRIDAY on her blog, so I decided today I would try it too. So here is a picture of David with a beard (from 1970's) and also a bonus, my dad and Uncle Dandy with beards too.

While I'm at it, I would like to wish a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Randy. His birthday was last week. I kept waiting for one of his blogging daughters to make a post, but I must have missed it. I saw Cooper walking and Baby A and B, which I'm sure Papa Randy appreciated, but nothing about dear OLD dad, who is MUCH older than me now!