Christmas Eve

Monte and I decided long ago to carry on both of our families traditions of new PJ's for Christmas Eve. This year we decided that he and I didn't need any but, happily for me, he ignored that rule because he knows how much I LOVE PJ's! So here are all of us "lovely's" in our new duds Christmas Eve!

SpECiaL ViSiToR

Santa came and reminded the boys to be good 2 days before Christmas. Bed time stories were done and the boys were just getting the lecture on "heads down" and "NO talking" when we heard the jingle bells in our house! It was a very exciting evening! he brought them the first 25 Majic Tree House books!

Clyde

Seth

GiNgerBReaD HoUSe

Karen’s in town from Utah for Christmas…YiPPy!! We had their sweet family over for dinner and Family Home Evening. Ginger bread houses…I actually baked them myself again this year, I know I swore I wouldn’t after last year but…

Move in ready, don't ya think?

Kalena and the brethren had a great time. I swear more goes into their mouths than on the house. That’s the fun of it though…right?

CHriSTmaS, the time of GivING and CAroliNg to friends and neighbors.

An army of SaNTa'S and SnOWmeN graced our countertops until we made it out the door this year.

SaNTa!

How much longer will he Believe?!

Jack-ets first visit with Santa, as you can see he seemed a litle skeptical of the jolly old elf!

So often I start believing that the Dr's were wrong and the boys are in fact not identical and then someone snaps a picture like this! (Clyde is on the left and Seth on the right.) Santa came to their pre-school party, gave them presents and stayed for quite a while! And what a Santa he was!

Mouse soup anyone?

I am usually not one for lengthy narratives...but I promise, this one is worth it...read on my friend...

Have you ever known the type of people that just have to "one-up" you? No matter what circumstance you are in or what you are talking about they always have the worst, the best, the most disgusting story and it's always bigger and better than yours? Well, NOT THIS TIME BABY! WE WIN! We've had a little problem with mice the last month. No big deal...put out some poison...find the dead little suckers somewhere...and trash 'em...right?
DAY ONE: the boys had a friend over, the family room stunk! Me, "Does someone have to go to the bathroom? Is someone tooting in here?" I finally resorted to smelling each little boys fanny to see if they'd had an accident...friend included! Said friend sat on the couch, "Mrs. Gardiner? the smell is over here." Sure enough dead mouse behind the couch.
DAY TWO: fantastic Saturday...one of those where you actually get everything on your list done and the house is still relatively clean? I was even going to make dinner...imagine that cooking on Saturday! Into the pantry I go to get the rice...dead mouse right next to the open bag of rice. (at least he didn't smell) no chicken and rice that night.
DAY THREE: they're getting in through the pantry...they've chewed through the dryer duct...now replaced with metal
DAY FOUR: clean out the entire pantry
DAY FIVE: oh no...that familiar stench...under the kitchen sink...I was spoiling myself for my ornament exchange party by having a cleaning crew help with my house...I was under the kitchen sink (I couldn't really expose an innocent Mexican woman to my shame could I?) voila! in the very back of the cabinet. I entertained 5 sweet Mexicans, who speak absolutely NO ENGLISH, building up the courage to pick up that sucker...it finally happened after a chorus of, "uno, dos, tres!" amid a flurry of Spanish giggles
DAY SIX: "Why is that smell still under the sink?"
DAY SEVEN: "Monte it is YOUR turn, there must be another one under the sink"
DAY EIGHT: "You must not have looked close enough honey...it reeks!"
DAY NINE: "Then check under the dishwasher honey...you can't just keep the kitchen window open all the time!"
DAY TEN: I notice our dishwasher has a ton of gunk inside around the base...are we not rinsing our dishes well enough?
DAY ELEVEN: "GOSH, I just cleaned all that gunk from the dishwasher!"
DAY TWELVE: OK this is sick, now I'm scraping this crap out of the dishwasher..."by the way honey...it doesn't seem to be cleaning the dishes very well..."
DAY THIRTEEN: We have our widower neighbor over for supper..."Monte, could you unload the dishwasher?"

You see where this is going right?
We have successfully cremated, cooked, thouroughly washed, a mouse...after at least 8 loads of dishes. Our new dishwasher comes tomorrow morning at 9 am at which time all of the dishes in all of my cabinets will go through at least 2 loads in the NEW dishwasher...with a heathy dose of bleach. Until such time as everything can be sanitized we will be using paper and plastic!

Trimming the tree for Christmas!

I really should have taken before and after photo’s of our tree out front so you could appreciate the difference, difficulty and time that went into it’s transformation! Maybe it is enough to know that we had to jump on, sit on, push in, cram all of the branches into the truck to make it fit just enough to get the tarp over it to be taken to the dump.

The happier healthier final product!

What's that I see? A house behind the tree?!

family HOME? evening

We didn't spend family home evening at home this week, or last week! We were challenged by our ward missionaries to canvas the entire ward boundaries inviting people to the Mesa Temple lights display. Each family in our ward was given a street assignment to knock on doors and pass out pamphlets. I was very nervous about it but the brethren were not, and it was a very exciting family home evening for us last week as we walked from door to door and talked about why and what we were doing. We encountered all types of receptions from people on their doorsteps as we spoke to them and were rewarded with the spirit of missionary work. This week we took ourselves to the light display and had a fantastic time. Grandpa Arnett was in charge of the temple lights for many years when Monte and I were newly weds and so they will always hold a special place in our hearts. In fact, Grandpa came out with us and enjoyed the beautiful lighting on the temple grounds.

The banana tree...it is traditionally decorated in green lights ever since I can remember...on the off year that it actually has bananas growing on it they are lit with yellow lights, no such luck this year!

Grandpa, just another of the "brethren"

another personal favorite of mine are the wise men on the front lawn.

4 Peaks

Thanksgiving to the extended Arnett family is much more than the turkey dinner. In fact many of us have been heard to say that we would rather miss any other holiday, including Christmas to be at the Annual Thanksgiving 4 Peaks trip. We've been doing this since I was a little girl. I remember bringing my grandparents up with us each year. A few years we even had to bring them in their wheel chairs. It is so nice to see how traditions can keep going for over 30 years...and there is no end in sight! As is tradition, the Saturday after Thanksgiving we pack up the ATV’s, guns, games, tables, chairs, steaks, treats, kids and all and drive out to 4 peaks to frolick! We ride, play and eat until we are sick and then we sit around the fire singing and talking. When we are done with that the fireworks magically, albeit illegally, appear and we watch the lights. This year 4 peaks was in a cloud and we played with the anticipation of the seemingly unavoidable rain that would come. However, we were saved from the rain and instead all 40 of us enjoyed a beautifully perfect desert winters day.

random pics

Bindy and Jack
Sara and Annie
Fidalis, Bill and William

Grandpa, Robert and Steve

Cynthia and Diane

Seth, Clyde, Rex

Monte Birk, Walter

Potato GUNS

Four wheelers

Some of the men on their way a little further out to shoot the guns without freaking out the little babies. Actually, it only freaks them out when they shoot their black powder bombs…man is that LOUD!

Fidalis, Monte, Robert, Robert Jr., William III, William Jr., William

No one is allowed on the bikes without the proper head gear! Well, mommy made herself an exception because the adult sizes were all gone and she wanted to take the boys out while Aunt Brindy had Jack and dad was out shooting!

Monte Birk loves to ride but is always in a rush to get back to his cousins to play. One ride seems to be enough for him as long as it is a fast one!

Clyde was a little more cautious on the four wheelers this year than the others. He took a short ride with me, declared it to be too fast, and then walked back to the site with his dad when we ran into him on a trail.

Seth was a pro on the 4 wheeler...he laughed the entire time and begged me to go faster...FASTER! But the best was on every singe bump when our fanny's flew out of the seat and he'd laugh hysterically!

CaMPfiRe SoNGs

Lest you begin to think of us as “normal’ westerners with our guns, 4 wheelers, jeeps, cactus, fireworks and steaks… I should inform you that when the lights go out and the bon fire is lit the adults and children, men and women alike produce Ding-a-ling songs, A Too Na Tee Tah, Primary music and patriotic hymns.

Clyde and Seth

Fidalis, Karen , Grandpa, Robert

Cole Family, Bailee, Elizabeth, Steve, Brindy

Cynthia, Bill, Alison, Kathryn, William

Ah-Too-Nah-Tee-Tah

FiReWOrKs
Plenty of fireworks this year thanks to Uncle Robert and Uncle David. (Uncle Bill and Grandpa usually provide the guns) The kids had their fill of loud noises, sparklers and bright lights.

GRaNDpA

Chief here gets us together and keeps it all going. I’m not sure if we’d all come each year if it weren’t for the delicious steaks he serves us.