Lessons Learned

We had a couple families over on Saturday evening for an omelette party and I learned two things...
1. I don't really like omelettes
2. If you have an entire party centered around a certain type of food, you should probably know how to make it before the guests are at your house.

Happy Anniversary to us!

A couple weeks ago, on Dec. 13, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful day including a morning trip to the temple, a couples massage at Sanctuary Day Spa and a delicious dinner at Tuscany. We had originally planned to go on a little get away somewhere close but, as it got closer, we didn't feel like the timing was right to leave the kids with a babysitter overnight. Despite the change of plans, it was the perfect day and it was great to have some time to ourselves. We were actually married on Friday the 13th. While some think this day is unlucky, we've found that is has brought the best of luck to us. The last five years have been better than we could have hoped for and we can't wait to see what the next five bring! I posted some pictures below that were taken during our engagement since we don't have any weding pics on our computer.

Hallelujah!!

We finally finished delivering the last of our neighbor and friend gifts last night! It's such a relief to be done. We are also done with the shopping for the kids with the exception of one gift that Santa's Elves had a problem with and will be delivering a week late. (The store was out of them and I ordered it online too late). :) Most of our Christmas cards have been sent as well. We hope to sit back, relax and enjoy our family the next couple of days without all the crazy hustle and bustle. Hooray! I've already made a goal for next year to have our cards and neighbor gifts done and delivered the first week of December. We'll see what happens. :) Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread House Competition, McGhie Style

Here we are at the McGhie's Second Annual Graham Cracker Gingerbread House Making Competition. This year, due to multiple scheduling conflicts with previous participants, some of the faces have changed, but the spirit of the competition remains the same... to kill and crush your opponents by making an all around superior creation. There is only one rule - everything on the thing must be edible. Oh... and there is a one hour time limit (which we sorta abandoned).
This year we were looking for revenge (since last year it was painfully obvious that we were beat out by more skilled, more creative and all around better graham contractors).

So, with the stakes high, and creative juices flowing, we set to work on our graham creations.

Disclaimer #1: Both of the other involved parties were first-timers, so cut them some slack.

Disclaimer #2: We have nothing against people living in trailers. In fact, some of our dearest friends from Provo lived in a trailer home. But as you'll see, this is no Provo trailer.... this is a good old fashion, southern redneck establishment, or at least that's what we were going for.

So, here are the results (and you can click on any of the images for bigger, more detailed versions):

Submission #1 by Sheldon and Nicole Martin - Frosty the Snowman's Mountain Retreat

Submission #2 by Rock and Whitney Permann - The Town Hall (aka the mall)

Submission #3 by Us- The Redneck Christmas Cottage

Anyways, the gauntlet has been thrown out and Sheldon has assured us they will be holding family graham cracker house building practice sessions once a month in preparation for next Christmas' competition. We say, bring it on.

So, I've included a few close up shots of our creation for anyone who is interested in taking a gander. And just to add to the spirit of the creation, all the forthcoming descriptions will be in the language you'd expect from one describing this:

This hyar is th' Driveway View. This hyar shot cappures th' essence of our li'l cottage, in a trimenjus pitcher kinda thin'.

Fum this hyar shot, yo' sh'd be able t'pick out a few of our favo'ite features:

#1 - th' profile of th' mounted deer haid
#2 - th' Jedtmas lights haphazardly strung (year roun' by th' way)
#3 - th' lawnchairs laid out in front of th' campfire
#4 - sum beer bottles strewn about th' front yard
#5 - a few frogs loiterin' about th' propuhty

Next we haf our Campfire View. This hyar sh'd give yo' a bit mo'e of a closeup t'pick outta few of th' afo'e menshuned features thet come stan'ard wif this hyar li'l baby.

This hyar is whut we refer t'as th' Crown View. Our creashun is ado'ned wif a stuffed an' mounted deer haid. "Whuffo' ain't it inside," yo' ax? Wal, it obviously'dn't fit too fine, an' shucks, eff'n it were inside th' neighbo's'dn't be able t'see it.

... OK enough of that redneck talk...

And last we have the Rear View. Now, let me just tell you, while this was totally unintentional (Steff was working on the wreath and campfire on one side, while I was mounting the deer head), it made for some of the biggest laughs of the evening. Once all was said and done, it was brought to our attention that with the strategic position of the deer head and the red, circular wreath, it almost made the back of the trailer look like we were impersonating not only the head of the deer, but also the rear end. Funny, but we can't take credit for that. We were simply adding a little more Christmas cheer to the cottage.

Until next year...

Another adventure with my kids

I stopped at the grocery store on my home from the gym this morning. I didn't bring my wallet and only brought 2 $10 bills inserted in a piece of paper in one of the zipper pockets in my bag. I wanted to go to the store then so I could come home and put C down for a nap and clean the house without having to go back out again. I was getting some stuff for a party we are having tonight and chatting on the phone with Matt trying to figure out what we needed. While I was distracted with the phone conversation, C got in my bag and in the zipper pocket and pulled out the paper the money was in. He must have thrown it on the floor along the way somewhere. After I got off the phone, I noticed he was playing with the paper the money had been in. Of course I searched and searched but the money was long gone. So, I have a bunch of groceries in my cart and no money. Out of guilt, I tried to walk around and put them all back in the right places and, of course, the store is packed with people. The whole time Winston had been whining about wanting an ice cream cone from the deli. I kept telling him no and finally got to the end of my rope and turned to him and said (in a very stern almost yelling voice) "Winston! We are not getting an ice cream cone. We don't have any money! Please stop!" Just then, I heard someone say "Hi Steff." It was the YW Pres I had served with in our old ward. I was pretty embarrassed and tried to act all happy to see her. I'm sure she heard me telling W that we didn't have any money. So, we are almost finished putting our stuff back and Winston starts yelling "We don't have any money. We can't buy any food!" Keep in mind I am in my grubby workout clothes with my hair in a messy ponytail and hardly any make-up. The kids are in some random sweat outfits I threw on them in my rush to get to the gym on time and they are covered in the frosting from the free cookie from the bakery. We were looking real nice...real nice, Clark. By this time I was on the phone with Matt and he was getting big laughs out of the whole situation. He said any minute someone was going to come up and offer me money to help buy my kids some food for Christmas. I forgave him for laughing when he offered to run to the store during his lunch hour to get the stuff we needed so I wouldn't have to venture back to the store with the kids today. Matt told me I needed to blog about it. So...there you go. :) I hope Charlie enjoyed his $20 ride in the race car cart at Macey's. Merry Christmas to him.

Our Thanks and Love to You

Dear Friends & Family,

Rather than the traditional letter of comings, goings, events and even non-events, we thought we’d change pace a bit. This year we simply want to share our love and our thanks and our wishes to each of you for your friendship, love and kindness. All this has truly made a significant difference in our lives in ’07.

For us, the year 2007 has brought pinnacles of fun and happiness, while also stretching and pulling our family beyond what we thought possible. Through it all, we’ve been backed by an all-star supporting cast of family and friends… namely – all of you. For the fun, help, support and prayers, we want to thank each of you in a much more personal and sincere way than a letter, but alas, for now, this will need to suffice.

If you’re interested in some of the happenings of this little McGhie family, feel free to browse this blog, which we’ve used to keep track of a lot of our events over the last while. You’ll find entries detailing our first cruise, a week spent skiing in Canada, our first garden, Charlie’s comings and goings, numerous camping and boating outings, swimming at the neighbors, backyard s’mores parties, Winston starting pre-school, birthdays, and a few other ‘whatevers’ thrown into the mix.

We wish all of you the happiest of holidays and again express our love and thanks for all that has been done in our behalf, from simply babysitting (which we understand really isn’t so simple with our kids) to the fasts and prayers.

With Love,

Matt, Steff, Winston & Charlie

Fun with a Snowman

Saturday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. A good eight inches of snow covered everything as far as the eye could see. It was a vast sea of undisturbed fluffiness. So, being the appreciators we are, we bundled up the kids and headed out for some snowman fun.

Now, as some of you are aware, I have a great respect for Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) and his imagination. His snowmen rank high on my list of favorites. So, with all this snow and not much else to do, Steff and I decided to take our own shot at making a 'Calvin Snowman' of our own... This particular creation comes from his 'Snowman House of Horror."

Side view...

As we were wrapping up, our neighbor came over to see what we were up to. I'm pretty sure he thought we were totally demented. He did manage to chuckle uncomfortably and say something to the effect of the neighbor kids not being able to sleep at night. I'm also pretty sure the words demented and twisted were used in his dialogue as well.

Anyways, we had a pretty good time, some heated 'debate' and got really cold toes. Ah, what a season....

By the way, here is the original idea we used.... so you know its not just our demented (or twisted) sense of humor: