The rescue was a success!

Juliet was documenting the necklace retrieval so you can blame her for the pictures. I'm wearing my new tool/project belt that my sister-in-law Camille gave me for Christmas. (I actually didn't use it since I was only using 1 set of vice grips but it was so cute, I had to wear it.)

Getting the P-trap off and dumping it into the bowl.

Ta-da!!

Yeah! I cleaned it off and put it on! I was elated that the trap caught my necklace instead of it being whisked away!

And I was shocked at how easy it was! The whole process from start to finish took 5 minutes. I love it when a plan comes together!

Carrots and a lost necklace...

I love growing carrots in the garden! I haven't purchased carrots since July! I've learned that they can take sub-freezing temperatures without batting an eyelash too. I needed carrots for soup today and went out to the garden to pull some up! They just keep getting fatter. I'm planting carrots every year! They don't get bugs, the heat or cold doesn't bother them and they can sit in the ground for MONTHS and MONTHS until I feel like you need them! What an awesome vegetable!

I swear this picture was taken today. Juliet just found a swimsuit and insisted on putting it on. She's so ready for lake season.

And the other thing. Juliet and I were getting ready for church and she decided she wanted to clean my necklace. It's a gold and cubic zirconium necklace that Merril gave me. It was on Valentine's Day while we were dating almost 10 years ago. I stopped the drain and let her clean it. When she decided she was done, she unplugged the drain and let the water run out. My necklace went with it. I hope it's residing here:

I'll be taking the P-trap apart tomorrow to see. Pictures to follow. Yikes.

We need a little Christmas...

I really didn't take very many Christmas pictures because I was experiencing it instead of capturing it. I woke up at 5 a.m. to take the rolls out of the fridge to rise and saw Maxine with her blanket and pillow laying next to the tree. I asked how long she'd been awake and she said, "Since 3:30." So I took the rolls and out and we gabbed about Christmas. We looked at her stocking and there was a puzzle ball inside. The puzzle ball turns into an ornament for the tree when it's completed. We put it together until everyone else woke up.

I'm amazed we got it together at 5 in the morning. I took a few other pictures but nothing to write home about.

Christmas picture...

I try to take a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree every year. This year's picture isn't too bad! Jack's a little goofy but it was either this or him standing, laying, or sticking out his bottom lip because his blanket couldn't be in the picture.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Love from afar...

Merril's out of town working. But today, I came out of my church aerobics class and saw a young man, who works for Merril, holding flowers. I was like, "Hey Austin, what's up?" He said, "I know a guy who met you 10 years ago today..." and then he handed me the flowers.

I got all teary eyed because Merril remembered that 10 years ago today, my friend Ang set us up on a blind date. We were married 6 months later. Thanks babe!

Gingerbread...

Jack's last day of preschool before winter break was today. He came home with a construction paper wreath and a gingerbread house. I think he ate most of it already but when he brought it home, he was exceedingly proud of it!

And for some reason, he's taken to completely squinting his eyes when he smiles. Can you believe Christmas is in a week!

Where's Juliet?

So I sat down to play some Christmas carols on the piano for a few minutes. When I finished, I got up and it was really quiet in the house. So I started looking for the kids. Jack was downstairs by himself. I walked out the front door and no sign of Juliet. Then I looked in the garage and saw this:

Please don't look at my filthy Tahoe! It rained and I had to drive through a bunch of muddy construction! I'm washing it TODAY!

Now I don't usually leave step stools by the Tahoe and by now I could hear Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Christmas carols. I opened the door and found this little girl playing with the stereo.

She knows how to get in and turn on music. Scary. She's going to drive off one of these days.

It's important to get the volume just right.

Merry Christmas!

Free-zer...

Merril told me the other day that the deer he shot had been cut up and needed to come home. Hmmmm...bummer....that's going to require a freezer because I don't have enough space in my kitchen freezer. So I turned to Craig's List to scan for cheap freezers for sale. I found one for free!

It's clearly older and I'll probably have to defrost it every year or so, but it'll do for a while.

I like candy...

During the holidays, I like to make different cookies and candies. For a number of years, I made English or Almond Toffee. So Yummy! A couple of years ago, a neighbor brought over homemade caramels and I was dying to watch her make some. I made a test batch this year and they were so yummy. There was a break in the weather, so I decided to make a full batch. (I've heard you're not supposed to make candy while it's raining because of the change in humidity or barometric pressures. Either way, I test my thermometers with boiling water for accuracy before starting and adjust from there but just try not to make candy during yucky weather days.)

Melting the butter and sugars! You really don't want to know how many calories are in there. Just close your eyes and think of Christmas.

I use a variety of thermometers. This year, we tried out Merril's digital infrared thermometer. I had my kitchen digital thermometer in the syrup too because I like accuracy.

Making sure there aren't any sugar crystals sticking to the sides.

And now the pan of caramel. It needs to sit for about 8 hours before cutting and wrapping. During which time, I'm always a little pensive, hoping they'll turn out all right.

I'm bringing them to a cookie exchange party. (I know they're not technically a cookie but I think they go with Christmas. So yummy!

Get a tree, like now!

We usually head out to get a tree the day after Thanksgiving. Since we were out of town for the weekend, it didn't happen. So we decided to go for Family Home Evening. We grabbed Maxine after school and headed out. We drove to Jacob Lake and the road we usually take was closed. So we ventured down a dirt road and by the time we found some trees, the sun had set. So we had about 10 minutes of dusky light. We fanned out, found the tree, chopped it and we were back to the truck in about 15 minutes. It was the fastest tree-hunting expedition in our family's history. This was the only shot of the evening. Please avert your eyes while my children fight to hold the saw.

Now as many years as we've been going to Jacob Lake to cut trees, we've never seen the lake. I thought maybe the lake dried up years ago. I've asked Merril what's the deal with it and he didn't know either. We decided it didn't actually exist. While stumbling on the dirt road back to the highway, we found Jacob Lake! It's more like a bowl-shaped meadow that catches a lot of spring run off. This time of year, it was more like a mud hole but it was too dark for pictures and we were too far away. All I could get was the sign next to it.

And then tree decorating. I don't believe in dictating where my kids put the ornaments. It's too hard to convince my 2-year old that 2 blue balls shouldn't hang on the same branch. I just wait for them to go to bed and fix it. If I didn't, my whole tree would look like this:

I hope your Christmas season is getting a great start!

Thanksgiving up North...

We went to my sister's house (Jo Anna) for Thanksgiving. She was gracious enough to let us stay there. Dinner was fantastic, as were the pies. I meant to get a picture of us all at the table but it didn't happen.

The day after, we went to a movie. This is me and gorgeous little sister, Jess.

That evening, we went to a festival of lights. Everyone piled into the back of the truck to save some bucks. It was freezing so I'm glad we were driving with the heater cranked, except for Maxine. She wanted to ride in the back with her cousins.

After that, Jo Anna's band had a gig at a bar. I got carded at the door and had to show my ID. Did you know our state's driver's license glows under a black light?? True story. Jo Anna is the one on the left playing the red guitar. She sings and plays keyboards too. I know, uber talented!

Her husband, Boyd, plays a mean set of drums.

We stayed out until 1. Super fun and they were awesome!