The ride home from the party . . .

Opening the front door ( there was no snow when we left )

Baby changed her mind about going out !

My frozen Wreath !

Looks like when you open the fridge ! !

The ride home from the Christmas Party was the scariest one we have ever had !

it took us 15 minutes to get to the party which was in Ogden and it took us 2 hours to get home !

When we left the party it started snowing and it was coming down really good ! Dustin and Stephanie and Brady all had to have a push to get to the corner because the snow was so deep ... we had a fella give us a little push to the stop sign.. we decided to take the car because it has new tires and we figured it would be "safer". . .well, we got on hwy 89 and headed home we made it down the hill to the bottom where the freeway is and south weber.. he were headed up the hill when a semi truck jackknifed in front of us .. and then cars went left and right and we had to stop . we slid up against the back side of the semi. We got stuck ! We were all panicking because if the truck slid down it was going to hit us and if the truck tried to go forward it was going to hit us with it's back end .. It's one of those moments when you smile at the kids with their white faces and say " Hey , anybody need a cookie ? " .. We rolled the window down and a man came over and said he would see what he could do to stop cars so we could try to slid to the side .. nobody stopped ... it was like every man for himself . since the windows were down ... we heard some not so nice words between 2 heated guys in their big ol' trucks .. Sarah's in the backseat saying ... what did they say ? I couldn't hear them ..

after awhile a sherrif came and he stopped traffic so we could slid the car in the other direction and go back down the hill .. we figured we would have to take the freeway home now because we can't get up the hill . when we got on the freeway the snow was getting worse and the kids were freaking out ... and then Brett was freaking out ... Lisa was calling us on the phone .. our car has that in car calling thing.. so , she was really loud and we were trying not to panic and tell her where we were... We got behind a guy from Nevada who doesn't know that when you get off an offramp and you put your signal on to turn left ... you don't turn right !! He almost hit the side of our car ! so, we pull into a gas station ... we were out of gas !! start to pump gas and then it breaks ... had to move the car to another pump.. Alan was in the bathroom so, he comes out and thought we left him ! we get gas and try to go home on another freeway.. so here we are trying to go up another hill on Riverdale Rd. and we get enough momentum and then the light turns red at the top of the hill !! so we slid down and spun the car a few times and then we decided to take a back road home.. on the back road home we passed the freeway and saw that they shut the freeway down ! good thing we weren't on it ! finally thru blowing snow and all that we get home and we pull into the driveway and everyone it freaking out at the amount of snow !! we get stuck trying to put the car into the garage ! the car wouldn't go over the little hill into the driveway ! Moral of this story .... we are going to get a 4 wheel drive car as soon as we can ! that EVO that Brett wants is looking really good now !

Christmas Party at the Ringel's 2008

Travis , Steph , Morgan , (Back) of Hallee , Venessa & Tylee and Dustin

My Nephew Matt and Alan

My Brother-in Law Travis

Mom (Kay) , Lisa , Brett and Sarah

Dad (Chris)headless body , Brady and his new Girlfriend Cassie

Brett and Sarah

This year we went to Venessa & Travis's house for our Christmas Party . It was on Christmas Day . We played the " Present Game" . This year we played a diffrent game that Steph had. (Usually we do the regular "White Elephant " thing ... But this year it was really cute & fun . . She read a story and when she said " Lefty" or Left we would pass the gift to the left and then also with the "Right". My nephew "Logan" is almost 3 and he was in the middle of the Present Ring... while Steph was reading the story and we were passing things left and right .. He was getting so mad ! It was hilarious ! He was holding his hands up and yelling " Stop" give it back ! I sat next to his dad "Dustin" and he yelled " Stop Dad ! don't do it anymore !! " we were laughing so hard ! at the end of the story you are stuck with what landed at you and then we open them up. I got a magnifying thing and then the trading began ! I traded with Sarah for a personal alarm for my jeep .. Trading is alot of fun ! Venessa's mom got the gift I brought ... a Mexican Marachie Band Calendar that I got from a friend at the post office ... It also had a day planner ! I threw in a new picture frame to make it a better gift ! Her face was classic when she opened it ! It was alot of fun ! We also played a drawing game too ... we all had a name that we drew from a bowl and you had to draw that person and then write your name on the back along with the name of your "subject" . That was a hoot too because Travis , Dustin , & Brady all have the same hair style and facial hair so they were so hard to figure out who was who ! although we do have a few artisits in the family so Everyone knew who Brett was because Sarah drew his eyes Huge and he looked cartoony ! I drew Morgan and everyone knew that one too but they were laughing because she was wearing a hoodie and I drew one on my picture... I drew it with stripes and her shirt with dots and it was the other way around ... she was laughing because her hoodie had polka dots and her shirt was striped !! my favorite was the picture of Logan ... it was a huge head with a stick body holding a car... we all got a huge laugh out of that ! Bryan needed more time for his though... he drew Venessa but she had no pupils. She looked like a zombie .. But Bryan told me that her eyes were closed.

We had lots of fun and everyone was nice to each other ...

Christmas & New Year's traditions

Most of our Christmas Traditions are the same as lots of other people. We're boring ! !

1. Try to watch a diffrent Christmas DVD every other night .
( We have ELF and Christmas story and my Favorite ... Christmas Vacation !

2. Drive around the neighborhoods and gawk at the Christmas Lights !
( We try to find a "Winner" of our Clark Griswald award !)

3. Drag out the recipie box and find our favortie cookie recipies !
( Chocolate Crackles , Sugar cookies , Peanut Butter , & Ewy Gooey Cookie Bars )

4. play Christmas music in the car , the van , The house (CD's & 106.5 fm)

5. Decorate the house inside and out ! ( I LOVE pinecones & garland )

6. go to a family Christmas party . . ( pictures inclosed of this years party)

7. make Christmas cards (normally we do this year I just got too behind ) . sorry

8. take cookies to friends & neighbors .

9. Christmas Morning we do stockings first and then open the gifts.

10. eat lots of junk and spend the day playing with what we got .
( traditionally we eat turkey & ham and all the fixings .... this year it was "Papa Murphy's Pizza".

Christmas 2008

The Front of our HOuse with the lights on !

OuR New BaBy " Paprika " !

Emptying the Christmas Stockings !

Miss Sarah making some Cookies !

Cookie plate all ready to take to work !

AHH !! Christmas is coming ! ! !

Christmas is on it's way again ! It's only a few weeks away and I have only made one Christmas card ! ! only one ! ! I did however make some Chocolate Crackles earlier than I usually do ! I got the lights up on the house and I am almost finished with the front door lights ! This is a picture of the family room taken last year ! When I can get the kitten to stay out of the trees ... I will take new pictures of the living room and the family room O.K. ! Right now the trees have holes in them from where she "Baby Kitty" has busted through the branches ... I have "holy" trees !! hee hee ... anyhow, hope all your holiday decorating is going smoothly !

Grandpa Donald Smith "Grandpa Sugar"

These are some pictures of my grandpa . On Nov. 6th , 2008 we lost him to pneumonia due to complications from having Myeloma (an incureable form of bone marrow cancer). He was an awesome guy ! I have to tell you a little about him . .

He married my Grandma on Jan . 5th, 1949. He was a great dad to 3 kids , Wanda ( my mom) Alan (my uncle) and Brenda ( my aunt) . He had 8 grandkids . and 3 great grandkids. He had a bachelor's degree from Wichita State University and he worked for various aircraft companies as a design engineer. He worked at Boeing, Cessna, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell.

He worked on the Space Shuttle projects and the Skylab. He also worked for KAKE TV in wichita and was a projectionist for various theaters in his younger days .

He was a photographer and he was awesome at it. He would always have a camera with him at all times. my whole life all I heard was " let me take your picture". and we would complain and fuss but he always got to take our picture. He had alot of hobbies .. he collected all kinds of radio stuff , stamps , & flower seeds .. he gardened and he learned Russian and German . His dream was to visit Moscow, Russia. My grandpa did so many things and was always at band concerts, football games , school programs and any other event we all had. He was very special to me . . He took me everywhere in Southern California !! I stayed with him & my grandma almost every weekend that I could . He took me on vacation to Kansas when I was 13 ... I will never forget that vacation that was so funny meeting all kinds of nutty realitives and visiting weird and unusual places along the way . . (Arizona - visited the Indians that live on a plateau ) saw the giant "Crater" hole in the earth .. climbed weird looking rocks in Kansas ( Rock City) . even saw the world's largest well somewhere I have no idea where .. He took me and my friend "Bekki" ice skating and had us try Shushi ! He was really good at playing "Skipo" ( a card game).

I was glad that he got to spend time with my kids and that they got to know the "camera guy" .. He would email me all the time with the funniest stuff and he would send me pictures of flowers and realitives .. I could always call him and tell him about anything and he would always laugh . I would send him all kinds of crazy cards that I made for him .

I will always treasure the time that I got to spend with him . He meant the world to me and I will always love him . He will be so truly missed .

"Just let me take your picture". . .

Words that I would always hear from my Grandpa. . .

Final result of the pumpkins !

Pumpkins with the lights on ! !

Pumpkins with the lights on . . .

Annual Pumpkin Carving

The Best idea came from Dad ! (Brett) got out the power tools to make things faster !

Bryan and his girlfriend carving out their pumpkins !

Alan (Onion ) popping the holes in his paper for his design !

Miss Sarah carving out her design on her pumpkin !

I'm the "Scraper" I scoop the goop and make them all smooth !

Making Halloween ! !

This is me making Bryan's halloween costume . He went as "StarKiller" (Star Wars "Force Unleashed" ) . I got into the costume box trying to see what we could recycle ! I have Sarah's TUTU on my head and Batman's glove sleeve things on my arms and I found the Harry Potter glasses ! !

CORN MAZE ! ! !

Took the Kiddos to a Corn Maze ! Black Island Farms in Syracuse, Utah . Totally fun ! It's not to far from our house . I have never been to a corn maze before so, it was something new for me too ! We were invited by Brett's aunt Rae to come and join her and some of her family . Brett had to work so , I took the kids and Bryan's friend " Lane" . They had lots of stuff to do there , We went down the slides and went thru all 3 phases of the maze. Sarah and I heard the boys talking in one of the mazes and the boys tried to find us. They told us to sing until they found us ... so , Sarah and I started singing the Veggie tales tune " We are the Pirates that don't do anything". of course we can't remember all the words so we did our best ! kinda fun singing at the top of your lungs in a corn maze ! They eventually found us and they had a MAP ! which was funny when we saw it because sarah and I went thru phase 1 in about 15 minutes and then we found out that we were being looped around the " O" in the Ronald McDonald House words ! We found out that it was supposed to be the biggest part of the maze ! We thought that we were just really good at mazes !

Brett's cousin Donna and her husband were there with their kids and she talked me into going down the slides ! They were really scary , and the second slide was a huge tube with bumps in it ! They wanted you to use those bags (nets) that you get oranges in ... for your bum to go down the slide ! Let me tell you . . . I have scrapbook paper that's thicker than those ! They looked like a handbag next to my backside ! but, we managed and when we got to the bottom the other adults told us to go again because that was the funniest thing they heard when we went down . I think I yelled " Whooooo Hooooo " really loud and then thudded at the bottom ! his cousin is alot of fun !

We all slept like rocks when we got home ! we are definitely going to go do that again !

Scrapbook Getaway Oct 2008

Scrapbook Getaway OCtober 2008 ! ! !

I attended the 2nd (for Me) scrapbook getaway weekend adventure Oct. 3-4 th at the Hampton Inn in Woods Cross ! I went with my sister-in-law Lisa and Brett's 2 cousin's " Donna & Stephanie " . This time around Lisa and I made our Halloween Cards while Donna & Steph made layouts of their kiddos .

At the table next to us was Brett's Cousin "Chad's " wife (Shay) and her mom and some Friends . We had a Great time ! we won some prizes here and there and we had treats and lots of laughs ! It's nice because there is no Hubby's and no kiddos . . Just some really cool moms who needed some "mom time". I was really proud that I made all my cards by the time we were ready to leave ! last time I was scatterbrained and only did 2 layouts and 2 cards ... I think Shay was up to 10 or 12 layouts and Steph and Donna had about 8-10 each ! they did some really cute stuff !

Lisa's cards turned out really cute ! I was proud of her for making little "fences" for her cards , she had to cut them all out by hand since we forgot our "big" sizzix machine ! and out of all the cricut machines & cartridges we couldn't find any fences ! we did learn some new fancy tricks with our machines though... they were taught to us by Shay's mom ! she is better than the Info-mercial lady on T.V. ! She's a keeper ! We had a Great time and now we are all talking about having "scraptime" at each others houses .. at least once every 2 months or so !

Layton Fire Department

Sarah and I went to the Kendall Bryant Day at the Layton Fire Department . It was really Cool ! We got to ride the "head on Collison" ride . and we got to "spot the Tot" .. that is where they have the parent sit in a car and see how far away a child is in your mirror before you see them behind a car. I saw sarah at 8 feet .. I thought that was kinda bad but the lady said some parents don't see a child till 18 feet or 20 ! We saw a grease fire demo and we got to see the SWAT team and they let you try on all the gear .. The line was really long so, I was sad that I didn't get to try on the gear ! We had Sarah's fingerprints and photo taken , we got to take all kinds of magnets, pencils, pens & do-dahs home .. The coolest thing was the rescue helicoptor !! That was my favorite part !! I will try to add the video that I took , it was awesome !

I realized though that this is the last year that we will have cool field trips since this is our last kiddo in her last year of Elementary school ... Time really flies !! on the 13th of October we are going to the Pumpkin Hayride at J&J nursery . That is fun too ..last year I dragged all the kids out there and we brought home 8 pumpkins . . and since these are big kiddos . . The pumpkins were HUGE ! I think our trash can weighed at least 250 lbs. the day after Halloween !

Sunday Fun at the Park !

Today we had a Family Picnic at the park . Brett's cousin's hosted the family get-together. We had hot dogs and all the side-dishes you could imagine ! We had a great turn out , it was alot of fun ! We played 6 matches of Volleyball and we played some softball . Some of the smaller kiddos played on the playground . We all had a blast and decided that next time we will bring proper shoes to play softball in ! Everyone had a Great time and we are all going to try to do it again before it gets to cold !

Old pictures . . .

found some old pictures that my grandpa had sent me . They are of me when I was little . one is of me and my grandma and the other one is of my mom with Terry and me !

We have a new niece !

We have a New Niece ! Tylee Jo Ringel was born today at 7:02am ! She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz. and she is 20 1/2 inches long . She has a full head of beautiful dark hair and she has the cutest little toes ! Her proud parents are Travis & Venessa Ringel and her brother and sister are Braxton & Hallee . They are all doing great and they are so happy that she has joined their family ! She will be so cherished by all !

New Blog in the works !

New Blog in the Works ! I have NO idea what I am doing ! It's worth a try I suppose !