Shoot! Slade Christmas Party.

The Slade Christmas party had a nice breakfast and a new twist on how we played the White Elephant Game. There was a box that had circles on it. The circles had numbers on them. Then there were gifts that were all wrapped with numbers on them. We each took turns shooting the box with a pellet gun. Whatever number you hit is what present you got. You could open the gift or you take someone else's gift but only 1 exchange.

Derrik had basketball so he could not come but the rest of us went. Kamryn the hunter hit her target right on.

Mom the non hunting wheel chair bound hit her intended target straight away.

For some reason our oldest didn't know how to shoot a gun. What the heck!

Luckily her dad came and showed her the way.

She did great!

Too bad her hunting like a maniac dad MISSED!!! But don't tell anyone.

This is a rare picture. These 2 are NOT making out or even touching. Had to capture the moment.

Doug eventually hit his target and scored some play dough.

Lots of goodies to go around.

There were boy gifts too but for some reason boys didn't get boy gifts.

It  was a really fun way to play the white elephant game. Everyone liked shooting. 

It's Raining It's Pouring. Showers and more Showers.

Sadie's lucky enough to have 2 bridal showers. Her old friends from Coronado Ward through her the first bridal shower. Torie and Sadie have been friends since she was 5 years old. I was not able to go but I heard the food and games were a lot of fun. People were so generous and thoughtful. I sure miss some of my old friends from there. It is a place I will always call home.

I sent my gift with Kamryn. All these years I have been doing blog books I have secretly been ordering extras for my kids to give to them when they get married. I think she liked it.

The night before Sadie's second shower she got a bad case of the hives and was not able to go to work. She even had to go to Urgent Care for a shot. Her face looked like she had some serious botox and she had welts all over her legs and hands. She was a bit better for the shower. For Sadie's 2nd Bridal Shower it was given by our current ward members in Chandler Heights Ward. Again I wasn't able to go but I was grateful for the pictures taken. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful giving people. Sadie and Chad will have such a great start right off the bat in their new home. There was a great turn out and yummy food once again. My gift to her this time was a large afghan I crocheted for the both of them to snuggle up under on the couch.

Christmas 2015

This year for Christmas we downsized a lot! Each kid got 1 gift and something we would do for them and some cash. My kids are so wonderful in that they have never expected anything or been disappointed (at least openly) to our faces on what they receive. They are grateful for what they got. They are also very thoughtful in the gifts they give others. I have always loved that about my kids. I was not able to to participate in Christmas because of the amount of pain I was in and had to stay in bed but when Doug and Sadie got home from work they woke Derrik and Kamryn up and had a nice little opening.

Sadie and Chad got a nice set of pots and pans. I am sure it was more for Chad than Sadie since she hates cooking.

Next year we will be adding another one to our group. I can't believe Sadie will be married. I remember the first time I opened gifts at the Slade house. It was so much fun cause we would play games Christmas Eve all the way up to midnight and then open gifts at midnight. Then we would sleep in and then go over to my parents house. 

Sadie got our family a gift this year and waited for me to be the one able to open it. 

It was pretty exciting. It is essentially Google on demand. You just call it's name and it will answer any questions it can find and play music and lots of other stuff. All the guys at work had one and I wanted one ever since. We have had a lot of fun with it. It is new in its stages but it adds upgrades to it all the time. Even though talking isn't my best quality right now I can still do stuff with it through an app on my phone. 

Kamryn got everyone these mugs. They say the name of the person and then on the back that Kamryn is their favorite. Cute. Derrik got each one of us thoughtful gifts as well. 

Bishop and Denise gave me this picture that he drew for me. I love it.

Doug's gift to me was so sweet. It didn't come in time so he wrote me a note that it was coming. A few days later this showed up.

It is a super nice massage chair. He was so sweet and he came home after a long day of work and put it all together for me while I was sleeping. He said he wanted to help with the pain. He also baked fresh cookies and got me a hot cup of hot chocolate and left it in my room.

I sat in it all morning. It really helps. I love it.

Quick Trip

Doug thought it would be good for me to get away for a few days while he was off work and brought me up to Alpine. We left late Sunday night. When we got to Globe the canyon had a fatality car wreck and so it was closed. We decided to go around through Safford. To Alpine it isn't really that m much further and it is a much straighter smoother ride so I was glad. I slept most of the way and Doug said I talked in my sleep the whole time. Now if I could just do it in the day we would be going somewhere! He also had so many elk on the road he had to stop a million times. When we got to Alpine it was midnight. Doug left me sleeping in the car and got he cabin all warmed up and the electric blankets turned on.  Then he said I made him carry me into the cabin in the snow even though I have no recollection of the night. Let's just say I am on some good drugs.

It didn't have as much snow as I thought it would have had but it was cold.

I love sitting by a fire. LOVE IT. I remember as a little girl curled up on the floor next to the fire with a blanket and just laying there for hours. I love fireplaces better but you can't hardly find those now a days. There is something about direct heat that is soothing to me. I am grateful Doug got so much wood this fall for us to use. We kept it going the whole 2 days.

Ginger, Brian and Amber came up Monday for some of Doug's great grilled burgers. I was hurting all day and was not able to go into town as I had hoped so they came to us. We had a nice visit. I hadn't seen Amber in a long time and she looked great.

Tuesday we cleaned and locked up and headed into town. We saw Grandma Slade. I love Grandad Slade's Black and Gold Santa. He would not be caught dead with a red and white santa in front of his house since those are St. John's colors. Coaches blood runs deep. I really miss him. He was such a good friend to me. We connected really well. 

We also were able to see my parents and they were doing well. It was nice to see them even if it was only for an hour or so. Darwin had moved the day before to another town so we weren't able to see him or Denton. Hopefully they will come to the Valley for the holiday's so we can catch up with them.

On the way home we met up with Tony for lunch. His family was in Showlow Christmas Shopping so we were able to see them too. Showlow had a lot more snow! When we got to the restaurant it had just closed but Tony turned on his Lindsey charm and they happily let us back. We all got dessert and had a nice visit. They obviously knew Tony and teased him the whole time. When we were leaving and I was already out in the car the waitress asked Tony what was wrong with me. He told her and she said her good friend had the same thing happen to her and she was able to beat it. She said that from time to time she can feel it coming on again. She is going to get him her contact information for me to see what worked for her. Everything happens for a reason.

 Getting home was crazy. It was so foggy. It rained and snowed most of the way and it was slow going. I was able to sing a little in the car or at least hum so that was progress. We got home late and I went straight to bed.