Feast of St. Lucy

December 13th is the feast of our patron saint, St. Lucy. She is the patron saint against hemorrhages. She became even more special to us when my great nephew, Aaron, was diagnosed with glaucoma, because her name means light and she is also the patron saint of the blind. Many prayers were offered and St. Lucy proved to be a powerful intercessor because now Aaron has great eyesight and the clearest most beautiful blue eyes you could ever imagine. Needless to say we love St. Lucy and we love to make her yummy bread too! The bread is made in the shape of a wreath and topped with candles to symbolize the wreaths scandinavian girls wear on St. Lucy's feast. The bread is filled with lots of delicious butter, cinnamon and orange zest and frosted with an orange glaze. Delish!
Jake and Sam lit the candles and then we said a prayer and asked St. Lucy to take our prayers for good health and good eyesight straight to Jesus!

Then the boys blew out the candles...

and ate almost the entire loaf of bread!

Our First Blizzard

December 7th brought us our first real Flagstaff Blizzard. It was a doozey! We got two feet of snow in less than 24 hours, accompanied by 30-45 mile per hour winds! It was enough for ADOT to close the highway that John needs to travel home from work. Fortunately he was able to hop off the train in Flagstaff and a friend braved the conditions to bring him home to us. Will and I watched in the early morning hours as John walked up the hill to our house. He was sinking in the snow up to his thighs! Boy were we glad when he was inside, warming by the fire and our whole family was safe and sound together. Dad built Will a snow tunnel
Will gets a ride in his new sled
Nobody is too young to shovel around here!

Getting hit with a snowball is fun

Throwing a snowball is better!

Jake taking a break from shoveling

It's pretty deep!

These two guys moved a lot of snow!!

Caroling Day

On Saturday Dad hooked up the horses and wagon again for caroling rides around Cheryle's neighborhood. We have done this for several years now, but we missed last year due to rain. It was so fun to have family and friends together for this celebration.

Jessica, Anna and Grace
Silly Grace

Anna and her boyfriend Tyler. He is great! So is she!

Sandi and her grandkids!

Ready for caroling

Pop and Amanda

Pop and my cousin Stephanie and her kids, Olivia, Catherine and Luke. We missed Joseph!

Will playing in the flower beds

Jake and Ronan

Uncle Kenny, Olivia and Luke

My mom and aunties

Ally

Aaron sporting a super cool hat!

This was an especially fun day filled with laughter and family and friends. Actually it was an especially wonderful five days at home. Thanks Dad, Cheryle, Amanda and Matt for all your hard work that made it happen. Can't wait to be home for Christmas soon!!!

Parade Day

Will was happy to wake up to his new friend George

Amanda making the signs for the parade

Aaron just being his cute self!

Aaron with his godmothers Gracie and Anna

Only a Granny would let a toddler stir the hot chocolate...

and drink it from the spoon! Lucky baby!

Pop, Will and Joe get the horses going

My sister-in-law, Liz and niece Danielle riding in the wagon

My sister Kim holding Aaron who is all cowboyed up for the parade!

My nephew and godson, Phillip

Sam, Alex and Jake. They were supposed to be waving those candy canes and saying Merry Christmas, but they immediately turned them into swords! Sigh... My sister, Cheryle and cousin, Keith

Cheryle got cleanup duty.

Everyone on the wagon that Cheryle and Amanda decorated so cute!

Amanda, Kim and Aaron, who had had enough fun!

The wagon going under the TV lights. The kids were so excited to see themselves on tv! At the rear are Amanda and Cheryle carrying the "poop wagon". We thought we had a great system of tying the little wagon to the big wagon to put the horse poop in--but when Dad left Cheryle standing holding a shovel of poo literally, Amanda decided to pull the wagon for her. It was ok though, the crowd cheered Cheryle as she ran to catch up to us carrying her poop shovel! Jake putting away the jingle bells after a night of fun!

Surprise!

We flew home to Bakersfield December 2nd to surprise my dad. He was putting his draft horses and wagon in the Christmas parade, but was wishing his little grandsons could ride along in the parade. So as his Christmas present, my sister sent airline tickets for us to all come home and surprise him. Only dad surprised us! He showed up at Cheryle's door about 45 minutes after we arrived. Oh well! It all worked out and we still surprised him. Plus we got one extra day to spend with him! Jake and Will sitting on the wagon while Pop ties it down.
Will helping Pop work. This little boy loves his grandfathers! Both Oompa (John's Dad) and Pop are his favorite people. He was very excited to work and kept saying, "Pop, boots, hat, work!"
Aaron in his wagon.

Will pulling Aaron