He'sssss BACK!

Yep, look who moved back home.  Bo.  With $60.00 dollars left to his name, this boy decided that moving home would keep a roof over his head longer than trying to stay in Logan.  He will take classes here and try to get a job.  Then he will get all caught up and rich and head back to Logan next year.  He is a little worried about his social life...but I told him, "we are your social life."  For some reason, he is even more worried.

Mariah's Very Own Carolers

Well Mariah won the tennis game so Jarom had to pay up.  He came by with his sister and brothers and sang us all some lovely Christmas carols.  I'm pretty sure it was a win, win for both of them!

Mariah's Cute Photos

The Nutcracker

Mariah and I got to go to the nutcracker. Whitney Call was Clara in it so it was a big deal. Lots of Call cousins and aunts and uncles came. Betsy joined us because Dave decided he needed to stay for stake conference. It all worked out well though because Dave got really sick and we wouldn't have wanted him with us anyway. Ha ha. Mariah did get her pumpkin steamer at Kneaders and was in heaven.

Mariah's Cute Photo Shoot.

We had a poor college student wanting to earn some money take pictures of mariah today. These are a few photos that I took as Syd was taking the real pictures. It was cold but I'm thinking they will turn out very cute.

The Tree

The Jam Exists!

Last year we sent the infamous zucchini jam to the Whitings  in Virginia. Lezlee told us that it got broken and confescated on the airplane ride home. So we pretty much assumed the tradition was over. Not the case. When we got home Tuesday there was a lovely Christmas arrangement filled with random sprigs of christmastry and inside the lovely glass marbles was the true blue original jam!

Phone pics of Cado Call

A Few USU Visits

We had a few visits to USU to play tennis, exercise and explore.  Sometimes you just have to get out of the house.  We're glad we have USU to go to.

Cado's Christmas Call

 Oh dear, I don't think Dave or I are quite done being teary eyed over Cado's Christmas call.  The second we got his connection, Cado was wiping away tears from his eyes.  That immediately brought tears to ours.  We had a bad connection and Cado could hear us, but we could not hear him.  Cado spent half of his time typing answers to our questions and trying to get help.  When we gave him instructions on some ways to try to trouble shoot the problem, he replied with the line at the bottom of the screen!

 Even though we could not hear him, we knew exactly how he felt when we brought his dogs in.  Here he is seeing Captain and trying to talk to him.  Those dogs got three visits during our call!

 We finally moved upstairs and I called Cado on his cell phone.  He was able to talk into it on our speaker phone and then he didn't have to type any more.  We got to spend one hour with him. Some of the interesting things he said were:  1.  His ECCO shoes are already falling apart!  He is doing a ton of walking.  2. That he still only eats chicken soup stuff for meals.  3.  That he has only seen one other white person (except for missionaries) in any of his areas.  4. The food is really spicy.  5.  He ate a tamale from a street vendor once and got really sick!  6.  He basically eats pancakes, sandwiches and fruit...which the fruit is really good, and 7.  He has probably gained ab out 15 pounds and one pair of his pants don't fit anymore!

 After that hour finished, he asked, "How long have we been on the phone?"  When we answered, "One hour" he just started to cry again.  We knew that that must be his time limit and he had to go.  As we were getting ready to hang up the phone, he called my attention and through his tears he said, "Mom, mom, I want to tell you how sorry I am for being such a little "sheat" to you when I was home."  He went on to say that it has bothered him his whole mission that he had treated me that way and he wanted to let me know how sorry he was.  Now that was a moment that touched my heart and I will always treasure and it will most likely bring tears to my eyes for the rest of my life.

Christmas Morning

 Here we are ready to see if Santa made it.

 This year it just happened that Santa wrapped all of the presents.  So the stockings had a few surprises and candy, but the goods were under the tree. 

Bo and Roo are super excited you can see.

 Hunter learned the art of tearing paper.

 Bo got his kitten calendar.  For some reasons he loves those things.  Hates cats...but loves cat calendars.


                                                                                                      Brooke choose out a great supply of clothes for me on Dave's tab.  I like having a personal shopper!

 The annual family blogbooks were a hit.  (Well someday, I know they will appreciate all this time I spent at the computer!)

                   Brooke said she would love to live in exercise clothes every day.  So we gave her some more.

 My favorite gift was from DeeAnne and Marion Robinson.  She always makes something special when she has your name for Christmas.  This year she made us a quilt that says, "Hugs from Grandma."  The burgundy material comes from the house robes that Grandma wore 90% of the time.  So for all of us, that is what Grandma hugs felt like.  I fell asleep in it Christmas morning and don't think I have slept so soundly and comfortably in a very long time.

 Dayton got the old Monster Mash game back so that he can begin to teach Hunter how to play.  Dayton was a pro at this game.

And Bo, got a skill saw to work on the hundred skateboards that he and his buddy are making to sell.
Oh, and Mariah got a new phone and Dave got some awesome boots and a tennis bag.  I guess our picture taker (Dave) forgot these last shots!