Monday, January 11, 2010

A Dash, a Smash, a Crash, a Bash, a Clash and a little Christmas Cash!

Christmas may be over but not at my house. This year has been crazy! I am just now getting myself together and getting things put away and finishing up my after Christmas shopping for next year. For the last 5 days I have been taking care of Jenny's kids as she and Shawn have DASHED off on a Christmas gift cruise. Wow how lucky are they?

Jenny and Shawn Brown on Crazy Night.

The craziness really all started just before Thanksgiving when myself and 4 other women set up the nativities display at the Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors Center in a crazy DASH to the finish line of Thanksgiving. I have been involved in this event for 4 years now and it seems that it is getting easier each year. Still tons of work but definitely worth it. It takes us about 5 days to set it up, the sets are displayed from Thanksgiving until New Years day. Thousands of people come into the visitors center to see them and I so love sharing my nativities this way.

One little vignette in the room of about 100 sets.


Shortly after Thanksgiving Jenny decided to put together a boutique in our barn. What was I thinking? We cleaned and moved stuff for at least 3 weeks before we could use the barn, it too was a ton of work but I think it was a successful BASH for the amount of time she had to advertise. I know I got some cute things and a clean barn in the process.


The Boutique in the Barn BASH was not the only bash of the day, unfortunately the night that Jenny and I were setting up the event, Lacy Jo Brown SMASHED her thumb in the car door hinge. It was quite the sight and she did have to go to the hospital and get it stitched up. The doctor described it as a partial amputation and open fracture. Samuel Jr. is operating on her right now trying to get the last of the dead skin off. I think it will look OK in the long run.


Totally drugged up Lacy Jo.

Then of course there was the Christmas Eve trip we took to the neighbors house to participate in the living nativity that they put on each year. It was great! Samuel and I walked with Chantal and Clarissa and their families up the street all the way to Warner to the Johnson's. (It's only about a mile but in the dark the whole way it seems like a good hike.) The kids got to be in the play we had hot chocolate and treats and then headed home. We got all the way home and as Chantal and family walked up the drive way little Susan tripped and fell head first into their car bumper and CRASHED her head again requiring a trip to the hospital and a few stitches. She will be fine and luckily the injury lines up pretty nicely with the other scar on her forehead.


Mischievous Little Susan.

Well we were not done yet. Samuel was in his usual last of the year push to get out contacts to clients when on his way back from the post office ran broad side into another car. The CLASH was totally his fault and he got out apologizing like crazy. He said the man said no problem, it's Christmas don't worry. Samuel said, "I think I hit Santa."


No picture available of the actual accident, Samuel didn't want any evidence of the event to remain.

The only one left out of the fun is Charmaine, she remained in Ames saving her Christmas CASH. She and family had fun playing in the frozen spender that is Iowa. We really missed them.


These are Charmaine's men on Christmas morning.


So that about brings us to today. We had a few cases of the flu and a few more run in's with the doctor but all in all we did pretty well to be intact, well, and really quite happy. Life is full of challenges and they just don't stop because we are busy and for sure they don't come when it is convenient. But who cares? Life is so sweet and the Lord is really good to us, we love each other, we recover, we bounce back and then we get on with it.


This year we did have an addition of 3 new members to our family, here they are. We only hope that all of you had as much fun as we have, Merry Christmas to all and a Very Happy New Year.



This is Bou Cathryn Baxter in her Holiday best! Clarissa and Logan's baby.



This is Jack Roy Brown, Jenny and Shawn's newest edition.

And this is Gordon Kent Jones at 4 weeks old, he is our biggest new born so far. He belongs to Chantal and Brian.