Our Saturday Before Christmas

Oh, Target.  I love you.  I especially love you when your things are on sale.  Like storage bins.

Duff and I headed out early.  He dropped me off at Target to acquire clear containers for our on-going get rid of the storage unit project (yes, during Christmas time no less....), and he went to Lowe's for one of those stupid new fangled light bulbs for the downstairs bathroom ceiling light and the other shelving unit.  I was waiting on the sidewalk when he pulled up to the curb.

Home to put it together and get that done.  Our first month's rent will be a wash because of having to get the organizational things to bring it home, but better than all of it willy-nilly all over the place.

Dusting and vacuuming.  Polished my silver salmon tray that I keep on the living room coffee table.  Gosh it cleans up well.  I should keep it up more often.

Adrianne finished all her remaining sewing projects for Christmas. 

Christine and Sammie went to the sample sale at Wet Seal at 5:30am.  She got a whole bag of clothes and her grand total was $29!  Christmas came early for her.  Haha. 

She had her Best Buddy holiday party tonight.  It was a dress up occasion.  She looked really pretty.  Her Best Buddy is Laura, a disabled high school girl with more challenges in life than you even want to hear about.  She is very guarded because of them and it has taken months for Chris to break the ice with her.  Laura misses her previous BB who graduated last year.  Slowly but surely Christine has made progress with her.  She gave her a best friends necklace and her favorite candy and Laura was very happy.  She chose to wear the 'friends' part and gave Chris the 'best' side.  It is satisfying to watch Christine in this role.  Watching her befriend and care for Laura and win her over and protect her and include her in things she does in and out of school has made me see her in a new light.  She will always be my little girl, but she is also on the threshold of young adulthood and she is gracefully making the transition. She really takes this seriously and cares about this girl outside of the school setting.  She had to take a pasta dish for the party potluck so I whipped up some mostaccioli and out the door she went.

Duff was at the ward cmas party cooking up all the burgers and dogs with his HP guys for the 50's themed occasion and I never made it.  Got several phone calls and then getting Chris out the door, the party was almost over before I looked at the clock again.

Eight days until Christmas.  5 days until Nats, Rob, and JOHN get here.  It's going to be so fun to have a little one on Christmas this year!  And I am missing Darla like crazy.  She loved Christmas.  Somehow she knew. She knew it was special.  She loved the mini lights, the candles, the fireplace.  She liked to lay down by the tree.  She could sniff out her presents under the tree, but never ripped them open until we gave them to her on Christmas morning where she danced all over in delight.  She loved the music.  I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.  I believe even animals--who are His creations--know the Savior.  I swear that dog was more human than dog.

Natalie Sworn In

Natalie was sworn in today as a lawyer.

We had to be there at 9am.  Downtown Phoenix.

Fortunately, Robert is down there quite a bit and knew how to avoid a lot of the morning traffic.

Downtown Phoenix is very beautiful.  The buildings are a combination of old and new and whoever designed the city made sure the transitions between them are smooth and compliment each other.  To my surprise, it was pretty lushly green.  The landscaping is quite smart.

This is a really big building with a large bank of stairs and railings leading up to the gold doors.

 Natalie was upstairs checking in and making sure all her paperwork was in order.

Robert and John were waiting downstairs in the lobby for us.

We had to go through very tight security.  Scanners, metal detectors, etc.

 The official program with her name.

 Entrance to the Supreme Court room.

 The courtroom is very old school and ornate.

Today the judges were 'en banc'.  That means that all of them would be sitting in today.

 The gal on Natalie's left finished law school and studied for and took the bar with a baby too.

They had a lot in common.

 Good Job, Nats!

Quite an accomplishment.

Almost done!

 The center judge was the only woman and she was in charge.  The candidates were presented to her, she congratulated them, and gave really good remarks.  If she had them written down, I would love to have them.  She charged them to be people of character and do right by others to preserve the things our founding fathers stood for and fought for and that our military continues to fight for. 

It was very moving.

 Natalie, Robert, and John.

"Yay!  My Mommy did it!"

(actually we asked him, "How big is John?  Sooo big!  It made for a good picture....)

 With Grandma and Grandpa.

They took care of John for months so she could study.

 We went to lunch after to celebrate.  Natalie wanted to go to Mimi's.

John wanted his Papa Duff to sit by his high chair.  He monitored the apple juice.

He has mastered drinking from a straw and loves it.

Target was nearby and Natalie and I popped in so she could get him some new swim suits and rash guards.  His swimming lessons start next week on Tuesday.  I picked up some flip flops, swim shoes, and navy crocs for him.  He had to sleep with them for his nap.  Haha!

Happy For The Weekend

My poor car hadn't been washed since before my trip to AZ to do canning.  It's a mess.  Just on the outside, because I try to make sure everytime I drive anywhere I clean out any trash or whatever each time I come home, so the inside is okay.  A good wipedown and vacuuming out and we're good there.  But the exterior was a sticky bug mess from two trips and around town.

1st stop:  Car Wash.  Had to ask them to run it through twice.  The bugs were stubborn.  I met the nicest older woman.  In her mid-70's.  We talked and talked all about how she moved here to be near her daughter from Cour d'lene, Idaho because she couldn't do the winters anymore.  It was so hot today, and we were both wishing we had some true fall weather and maybe even a little snow.  I'll probably never see her again, but I hope I remember what a delightful conversation we shared. 

Just look at that chocolate!  Now click on the picture so it enlarges and wave you hand so the smell gets right into your face.  Close your eyes and inhale.  Isn't it soooo good.  Nothing like that meliting texture on your tongue.

Nancy was ready for me to come and help get the baking cocoa divided up.  We measure it out in a bag in a bowl on a scale.  2.5lbs per ziploc bag which equals about a gallon.  That's a LOT of cocoa!  With 947 pounds of freshly made chocolate chips (semi-sweet, mini, butterscotch, white, dark, milk) the aroma was intoxicating on the drive home.  Breathe in deeply and look at the pictures above.  The top box is milk chocolate chips.  Creamy, smooth, milky. The bottom box is semi-sweet minis.  Silky, luxurious, deeply flavored.  I set out my gallon bags and scooped evenly until it was all divided.  My freezer will happily keep it safe and ready for all kinds of baked goods in the coming year.

Christine and I then headed for some shopping for Karley's birthday party tonight.  Can I just say, I love Target?  'Cause I do.  Karley got a Kindle so we decided on a Kindle gift card to buy books with.  Isn't that so much fun?  I think so.

While we were there, we did some Christmas shopping for John.  Walking the store aisles and exploring all the new things these days for toddlers was pretty fun.

I needed to stay awake to pick up Chris after the birthday festivities, so I watched mystery shows all night long to keep me awake.  I love a good who-dunnit.  And I like Keith Morrison on 48 Hours Mystery shows.  The cadence of his voice draws you in.

I'm happy for the weekend.  We don't have any big things we have to do or places we have to be and it feels nice to look forward to some down time.