Appropriately Named

Kinda makes you want to bang your head up and down, doesn't it?

Sometimes we can hear them practicing when we open our door. I was in a neighbor's apartment the other day and could clearly hear them playing. Thankfully they are respectful with their art, I have yet to hear them jammin' at late hours.

I've seen into the garage a couple times (even talked with one of the band members! no gigs yet but they are getting some songs ready) and they have amps, drums, mics, etc. all set up. It makes me smile when I hear them jammin'. Good thing these boys have parents willing to pay extra money each month for a garage so they can keep their music alive. :)

Hope they are wearing ear plugs...but I doubt it...

Sharing an Idea

Looking for a great activity? My friend MaryRuth put together an activity for the women she attends church with that sounds like it went well and was tons of fun. You can read about "An Evening of Love & Chocolate" here.

P.S. for those with ties to Naperville, Jacqui Hayden goes to church with MaryRuth and is in the food buffet picture. "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all....it's a small, small world...."

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You...

A couple weeks ago I received a visitor in the mail:

Meet Flat Stanley. He was a real boy until he was flattened by a bulletin board falling on him at school. He realizes that being flat is pretty helpful; when his Mom gets locked out of the house, he can go under the door and let her in. He also helps at school getting small things that fall behind the furniture. He's been really busy lately so he came to my house for a vacation.

His vacation ends April 16 and then I have to send him back to Utah to my niece who sent him to me. He's asked that he return with pictures and/or postcards for her to show her class the things he did while here visiting me. (I want a month long vacation like Stanley!)

I thought I would share the Flat Stanley's story/adventures here too; however, Shayla gets to read them first. After he returns to Utah and she's had him for a few days, I'll get his adventures posted here.

We've had a great time with Stanley visiting us. We have had fun taking him on mini adventures here in our new city and other neighboring towns. Thanks for sending him to us, Shayla!

A Promise from Me to You

Ahem, I place my mouse over my heart and pledge:

"I hereby vow that when visiting and reading your blogs I will leave a comment.
I know how unfun (yes, unfun) it is to put time into a blog post hoping others will enjoy the story & update only to discover
that I seem to be the only one visiting my blog and reading my posts.
I will continue to check for updates on your blog and when a new post appears
Therefore, yea verily, (as Dan would say) I will do my best to leave a note so you know I stopped by
and will no longer be an anonymous reader or observer of your life." :)

Thank you for your attention. I feel better now and can now go about the rest of my day.

Plink, Plink...

When we were all together for my family's Christmas gathering, my sister Annie (not Dan's sister Ann) suggested we all plan to gather in 2011 for a reunion. She and Tyler had picked a location and already started making connections for lodging discounts.
In the flyer Annie stated...
"THE PLAN: We've decided it's time we started having family reunions. We are getting rather large and it's harder and harder to get all of us together. So here's the plan: we want to host a family reunion in 2011.

"Our Family To Do List:

• Decide on a date. Options include summer, UEA, spring break, etc. Off season will be significantly cheaper.
• Plan attractions you want to see
• Gatlinburg
• Pigeon Forge
• Save your pennies for your airfare, food, activities, and rental cars
• Get pumped! Because Pigeon Forge ROCKS!"

This was not a lightly made suggestion. The flyer was very well done with enough attractions listed to tempt any individual. They even prepared our own savings jars to put our pennies in for the trip!

Well, since we don't have a money tree planted anywhere near us Dan and I have been putting aside our pennies, as directed. Sometimes we are able to put away more than just pennies:

Every little bit helps...

Look some we even saved some paper money...

Frequent flyer miles are also being reserved for this trip giving us more pennies for SHOPPING!

oh yeah...and eating and the rides and such too! :)

Family Reunion 2011 HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Christmastime 2009

Since spring is on it's way (well it is here in Eastern Washington...hope it is in your area soon too), I suppose it's high time that our Christmas festivities are posted. Better late than never, right?!

December was full of fun, family outings and festivities. Here are pictures and stories for the highlights:

Dan's sister and her girls decided to decorate a tree for the Pocatello Festival of Trees. Well, Dan and I couldn't miss the chance to see the final product of their creativity.

Here's Dan next to the Loveland Girls' Tree.

 This one had an oriental theme and I thought of my good friend Kara when I saw it.

(Kara's been living in Tokyo, Japan for the last 3 years.)

Highland High School's Senior Choir was performing the day we attended the Festival of Trees. Which meant our niece Emily was performing. So of course we would attend that concert! (Emily's the blonde on the back row with the big, beautiful smile on her face.)

It was fun to see into Kevin, Matt, Neal, Liz, and Emily Loveland there that day.

On December 16th my brother graduated with his BS degree from ITT Technical Institute. Dan and I drove down for the graduation ceremony. WAY TO GO KEVIN! I was so proud of him I had tears in my eyes several times that evening and I'm only his sister.

Here's the graduate, AND Salutatorian!!!

So not every one was listening to the speeches...Nic...Nathan...

Some of the family who came to support Kevin!

Others were there in spirit...Ann's & Lynette's families...

(Dan's behind the camera. Also not pictured, Aunt Susie & Uncle Ed James.)

After the graduation we headed home, however, we made a stop in Morgan to see Amanda's apartment all decked out for Christmas. Dummy me didn't take any pictures so you'll just have to trust me that it was very festive and cute. (Man I wish I had her talent for decorating and colors!)

This year I decided to do some cooking and baking. I made "Jeansoyke Cinnamon Bread" for our neighbor gifts this year. The final count was 20+ loaves made and delivered. Good thing it's a very easy recipe and each batch makes 2 regular sized loaves. (As you can see, I figured out the hard way that I could get 6-7 small loaves from a batch.)

I also made two batches of Mrs. Claus's Clusters for different family gatherings.

(HUGE thanks to Beth Anne & Michelle for the recipes. Those who partook, mostly Dan and I, LOVED them!)

Since Amanda and Sid spent Thanksgiving with us, they spent Christmas Day with their mom. We looked at schedules and decided that the best time for us to get together was December 22-23. They came over the evening of the 22nd and we each selected a game we wanted to play.

One of the games played was Mario Kart on the Nintendo GameCube. I'd never played before and it was quite funny. I successfully came in absolutely last place every time I played. I couldn't stop laughing at my inability to get the car to go where I wanted it to go. I managed to fall off bridges frequently enough that the game just moved me to the other side of the bridge so I wouldn't have to try to drive across it. Thankfully we played in teams so my players didn't always take last place but I wasn't much help to my teammates...

Sid decided to leave the GameCube with us so I could practice before our next family gathering. I am proud to say that practice did pay off. I not only developed a blister on my thumb from my diligence, I also managed to move up the ranks to 4th, 3rd, and often even 1st! That was playing alone or against the other family members.

After all 4 games were played, we all decided we wanted to see if Santa would come early so we could open our gifts that night instead of the next morning. Amanda, Sid, and Dan all headed into one room and me to another. After awhile I came out into our living room to find this....

SANTA CAME EARLY!!!! I'm so glad he's flexible!

I went into get Dan, Sid, and Amanda to let them know and found this...

I think they were faking sleep but I'm not exactly sure how I figured that out...

 

...and this is what was acutally going on...

FINALLY we were ready to go see what Santa had brought...

...and also to OPEN GIFTS!!!!

Santa brought Sid & Amanda copies of the book The Scarlet Pimpernel. Now they'll know the whole story and not just the musical version.

The Brave Little Toaster from Sid...

Music Law from Amanda...

A blanket with sights of Pocatello from JaNae... (Part of home to take with us when we move to WA in January.)

A "Family" Frame to display pictures from Sid...Our new family photos will loo great in this!

A webcam for Amanda from Dad & JaNae... Now we can be cool and Skype with each other between Utah and Washington!

A book of Christmas songs complete with the guitar chords from JaNae....

Sheets and a pillow for Sid to take on his mission. from Dad and JaNae...

All-in-all, Santa was very generous, as was everyone else!

On Christmas Eve, Dan and I joined the Lovelands for their dinner and traditions. (Last year we joined Mark and Amy, so this year we decided to go to Ann and Kevin's.) A delicious dinner and retelling of the Chirstmas story.

Christmas Day arrived and we slept in...till my mom called and woke us up...at 9:00 am (the joys of being empty nesters). We had a casual day together playing Mario Kart, eating yummy leftovers and goodies, and visiting. Towards the early evening we headed out to Ann and Kevin's again, but it was just as they were leaving for their traditional Christmas dinner at Kevin's parent's house. So off to Mark and Amy's to play games and visit.

December 26th was family pictures for the 4 of us. Then back to Mark and Amy's for dinner, more games, puzzles, and visiting with all the Horrocks. Andy and Angela were there with their 5 children. We had people everywhere...again, I didn't take any pictures, not sure what was wrong with me. It was great to get caught up on everyone's lives and hear about Rebecca's Christmas phone call home.

Monday, December 28th, Dan, Sid, and I drove to Sandy, Utah for my family's Christmas party. We met at my sister Lynette's house. For dinner it was the Broadbent traditional Christmas breakfast; scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cinnamon pull-a-part, and orange juice. Of course there were LOTS of yummy treats to go along with the meal!!!!!

After dinner, the grandkids were playing and watching a movie while the children and grandparents played "Mafia." A very interesting game to play with family. Much was learned about each person and vendettas have now begun....(I'm kidding)

Amanda drove down after she finished work in Morgan. It made for a long day for her but we were so glad she would make that sacrifice to be there with all of us!

Here are a few videos of our Broadbent Family gathering:. (I promise I'm not playing favorites with videos & pictures...)


As you can tell, we're extremely organized...chaotically organized that is. :) Despite the chaos, Lucy and Shayla did a great job singing!





It was great fun to have the Broadbents together! (All of us were there except Nathan who decided Sunny Southern California would be better than Snowy Central Utah...what's up with that?! We missed you, Bud!!!!!)

Spending time with family is the B-E-S-T, BEST! Especially during the holidays. See you all at our future family gatherings which we hope are sooner rather than later!

The 2009 Horrocks Thanksgiving Extravaganza

It was our turn to host the Horrocks Thanksgiving this year. This meant that we found a location, since our place wasn't big enough, made food assignments, planned activities for the between dinner and dessert times, set-up, etc. Knowing it was our turn, we did lots of talking and brainstorming to determine what would work for us this year. We opted to have dinner at our church building and reserved the Relief Society Room, Kitchen, and Gym beginning at noon with the plan to eat at 1:00 pm.

The food assignments for this year were as follows:

Dan-Turkey, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Cranberries, & a Dessert
Mark-Yams, Green Salad & Dressings, & a Dessert
Ann-Potatoes, Gravy, & Mom's Cranberry Salad, & a Dessert
Andy-Rolls & Toppings for them (let us know if you want us to take care of the butter), Relish Plate, & a Dessert
 
(Clearly each important Thanksgiving food group was covered...especially dessert!)
 
Here's a bit more of what was planned for the big day:
 
"After the feast has been consumed and whatever's left (if anything) is put away, we have several games planned. Some will require enormous skill and some will be no more than dumb luck, we'll even have individual events and team competitions, as we begin the Horrocks Family Thanksgiving Olympics. Prizes will be awarded to all winners....

There will also be paper and writing utensils so that we can all send greetings to Becky. We'll be sure to include crayons and such for those who may wish to draw her a picture.

Our plan is be finished early enough to prepare for Black Friday (everybody bring your Black Friday ads), those not interested in participating in the shopping mania, other games will be continuing."

We also asked the families for the following:

"Please send us a brief update on each member of your family (including Mom & Dad) with 2-3 highlights of their life since our last family gathering in July. These can be anything you think they would like our family to know about them. We will all be figuring out who's who with this information. We need these items by Friday, November 19th please."

The wheels continued to turn. Once everything was planned, we began gathering supplies and prizes needed.

THE BIG DAY! Dan and I went early to the church to set up:

When Amanda and Sid arrived at our place, we put them to work making the stuffing:

Amanda's watching and waiting for the water to boil.

The pot was aluminum so it took waaaaaaayyyyyyy longer than normal to boil. Yeah to Sid for figuring out the problem so the stuffing could be finished!

Dan and I tried to catch a quick nap before the big extravaganza while Amanda and Sid were cooking.

Then it was time for everyone to arrive!!!!!

On all the chairs were two puzzles for everyone to do--one was a word search with everyone's name, including Grandma and Grandpa Horrocks. The other was a crossword with the clues being the updates received about each family member. (The internet is such a GREAT tool for finding sites to make word puzzles for free!)

Everyone arrived, they took their seats, and began working on the word puzzles while waiting for the food to be put out and the prayer to be said...

Finally the food was all out....

Time to say the prayer...

(Not quite the 1:00 that was planned.)

...and not a moment too soon. :).

It was time to eat...but only after everyone finished the word puzzles!

Sign of a true Horrocks, games before food no matter the occasion! :)

After dinner, and before dessert, we then began the rest of the Thanksgiving Extravaganza!

Games; lightening, Yahtzee, dominos, puzzles-but not played in the "typical" fashion, they had Uncle Dan's twists and tweeks...

...of course scores were kept, another true Horrocks trait! Uncle Dan did his magical mathematics to determine the rankings for all 25 family members (including Cousin Kelli):

While the calculations were being made, others occupied themselves with other things:

The tallies were completed and it was time to hand out the prizes! No one was excluded, Cousin Rebecca, already on her mission in St. Louis, received a gift too; "Kiss Me" socks complete with mistletoe! Others received games, books, calendars, glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs, Thanksgiving centerpieces Dan and I decorated, mini photo albums...

...cars (Hummers to be exact) for the soon to be 16-year-olds

...and we can't forget the prize for Sid...our next missionary to head out into the field in only a couple months...

...THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS TO WAIT FOR HIM!

(Her banner says "Future Mrs. Sid Horrocks!" and she has a picture of Sid, which has been kissed, and a note saying "My Heart Belongs to Sid")

The food was eaten....



 In some cases just licked....








...a family photo of the Bert & Ione Horrocks Descendents (except our missionary, Rebecca):

...the leftovers wrapped and put away...

...time to head to our homes with full stomachs, uplifted spirits, fond memories, and anticipation for our next  Horrocks family gathering!