KENTUCKY FAMILY AND HAIR

I have been very blessed with two best friends (who my daughters also love) here in Kentucky.
Amy Bettenhausen is an amazing woman.  She is intelligent, fun to be around and definitely a "kindred spirit!"  I don't know what I'd do without her.  She has lifted me up when I'm down.  She has encouraged me to be the best I can be.  And she has truly become a sister to me!
Jan Melanson is also sweet and talented.  She has taught me so much about homemaking (and taught my daughters as well.)  We enjoy spending time with her (at least once a week).  And she has become a dear friend as well.
So over the holiday we decided we needed an extended Kentucky family picture!  Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy (with a lot of help from Jan and a little help from me) made 9 skirts and 13 ties for all of our Kentucky family.  Sunday after church, we took a family photo!  My two best friends, their families, the boys (Chris and Hammond) and us!  It's a wonderful thing to be a part of a family - even if it's not a blood-related family.  (By the way, ties are WAY harder to sew/make than skirts.)

Kotten Kandy has developed a new talent.  Key Lime Pie wanted her hair to be done up like Anna in the new Disney movie, Frozen.  So Kotten Kandy did this beautiful "bun."  Pretty impressive.  Eh?

And since Kotten Kandy was jealous that she didn't have enough hair to make a bun she decided to see what it was like with hair...  Here's the result:

Life is good!  Here's our family pics:

CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY

Our traditional Christmas Eve feast and evening was wonderful!  There was way too much food, but it was delicious!  And we LOVE leftovers.

Our traditional Christmas jammies matched this year!  Even Scott and I got matching P.J.s!  It was fun!

We love opening our stockings before eating homemade sweet rolls....

This is our third year of a "homemade" Christmas.  Instead of store-bought items we made everything we gave each other (for the most part).  Check it out:

Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy quilted this wall hanging for us with a lot of help from their quilting teacher, Joyce!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  There are pin-wheels throughout in honor of the DeGooyer Dutch heritage....

Key Lime Pie made these "obsession" buckets for herself and her sister.  They came complete with posters of Hunger Games characters as well as Avenger heroes.

Kotten Kandy loved her new sweat shirt (sporting her Hunger Games character)

and mocking jay pin from her sister....

Kotten Kandy made this beautiful Swedish weave blanket for her sister....

Yes, the girls made Dr. Pepper jelly for their father.

The did it completely on their own.  And it's delicious....

I love my  new vests and holiday bunny.  The ears are interchangeable for the different holidays.

These blankets were NOT homemade... but the girls couldn't resist getting them for each other.  They did what my sister and I used to do.  They "acted" surprised that they got each other a blanket that they wanted, even though they were together when they were purchased.  Silly girls.

This were the most exciting gift...  My daughters and I are going to BYU Education Week this summer!

There is still one gift that I am not showing... because we are giving it to my family in two weeks...  Stay tuned for the gift Scott and I have been creating.  :-)

We had a fabulous Christmas!  After a quiet morning of gifts, we went to the movies.  We saw Frozen.  It was fantastic!  All of us loved it (and we bought the soundtrack today) because it is so wonderful!  It is one of Disney's best films ever.  We especially loved the sister aspect of the film.  I can't recommend this movie enough.

After Frozen, we spent the evening with our good friends, the Melansons, and their family.  The company was GREAT and the food was DELICIOUS!  We are truly blessed.

Merry Christmas to all!  And a Happy New Year!

SISTERS

The Melansons have two daughters who remind me so much of my own.  They are wonderful sisters and good girls, and my daughters look up to them a lot.  I'm glad.  They are great role models!

Yesterday we spent the morning with Katie and Nettie.  We made nativities and chocolate Oreo suckers.  It was fun!

Nettie and Katie - making the nativities

Katie and Key Lime Pie  putting together the Oreo suckers.

Kotten Kandy and Nettie decorating the chocolate confections.

Daughters and Sisters ROCK!

I love all of these girls!

Nettie, Key Lime Pie, Kotten Kandy and Katie

CHRISTMAS SUNDAY AND TALENTED DAUGHTERS

My daughters have been working really hard.  In the past three weeks they have made 8 skirts and 10 ties (with the help of great friend and mentor, Jan Melanson).  On Sunday we wore our skirts and Scott sported his matching tie.  I thought we looked awesome (if I say so myself!)  Not only did the girls make these stunning outfits, but they also contributed greatly to our ward sacrament meeting.  They sang in the choir, with the young women, and Kotten Kandy sang "I Wonder As I Wander".  (Her voice is gorgeous and really helped bring the song's message, about our Savior and His love for each of us, hit home.)  Key Lime Pie was supposed to play her violin - but accidentally left it at home.  She'll be playing it next week.

The Girls

Daddy's Girls

18 Years... and Still in Love!  :-)

The Captain!

Brightness (My nickname from my husband)

Key Lime Pie - Isn't she Gorgeous?

Kotten Kandy - Isn't she Stunning?

I am really proud of my amazing daughters!

NATIVITY MAKING PARTY

K2 had a party today!  We made these nativities:

They had some good friends over....  and we stained, edged and glued these cute block nativities.  The girls also played Quelf, laughed and had a great time!  Glad they have some really good friends who help them choose the right!  I really like all these girls!
Here's the crew:

Key Lime Pie is in black.  Muffin is sitting between my gorgeous daughters.  Kotten Kandy is in front.

Egg Roll is in green (She's a foreign exchange student from Brazil) and, on the end, is Eclair!

Here's one more photo of the finished project:

CPS WORK PARTY

My husband works for a wonderful company, CPS.  A lot of people think that CPS stands for Child Protective Services, but in our case it stands for Containers and Packaging Supply.  Every year at Christmas time we get to go out to dinner.  This year we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  YUM!!!

Spouses and all!

Here's the entire crew (from left to right):

Will, Hammond, Carrie, Chris, Scott, Chelsea, Chris and Ryan

BETTENHAUSEN CHRISTMAS FUN!

Thursday night was our Christmas celebration with our "Kentucky Family!"  The Kentucky family consists of The Bettenhausen clan, the Thornton boys and Us!  It was soooo much fun to be with people we love and can be ourselves around.
The night actually began with a bit of a downer.  Hammond was hit by a deer as he was driving over to the Bettenhausens.  His car is totaled.  :-(  But Hammond is fine!  :-)  After a quick call to the insurance, we began our festivities.

We ate a DELICIOUS meal (made by Amy) of ham, potatoes, salad and rolls.
Then we opened gifts.  I was the most excited about the cross stitches I had made for each of Amy's children.  I worked really hard on them.  And they seemed to really like them.

Juice loves science.  So I knew he'd love a "space" themed cross stitch.  I designed it myself.

Nut is super athletic and loves running around with balls, swords or anything.  So the soccer boy was perfect for him!

Marmalade loves pink, purple and BUGS!  She was precious about her gift!

Apple Pie wouldn't smile for anyone this evening.  But he loves to play swords and always gets "boo boos" from it.  I loved stitching this renaissance warrior for him.  He actually loved his cross stitch and later put it up where "EVERYONE can see the best one!"

Jelly Bean opened his package with a little help from his mom.  He's such a sweet baby!  I'm glad my friend lets me claim him as mine sometimes!  :-)

The funniest gift of the evening went to Key Lime Pie from the Bettenhausens.  Here is her expression as she discovered what the poster said:

And here is the poster:

"What Does the Fox Say?!"

Kotten Kandy loved her gift too.  It was perfect for her:

The girls made Amy a holiday bunny.  The ears are interchangeable and change for each holiday!  She loved it!

A few days earlier, Key Lime Pie, Kotten Kandy and I helped the Bettenhausen make Christmas gifts for their parents.   They turned out great!:

Juice made cook-up pillows.  He was sooo funny when he found out he was going to have to use the sewing machine.  At first he was disgusted and said, "That's a girl thing."  Then he enjoyed learning so much he made two!  Those cook-up pillows are WONDERFUL!

Nuts made coasters out of perler beads for his family.  No more laying drinks on books or other items to avoid water spots.

Marmalade decorated pillow cases.  It's hard to see, but they both say "I love you Mom"  and "I love you Dad" complete with a frog and a tiger.

Apple Pie was perhaps the cutest "crafter" when we made the gifts.  He made chocolate chip cookie mixes with Key Lime Pie's help.  After every layer he would excitedly ask me to come see!

Finally the Thornton boys got the girls a game called Quelf.

We played Quelf after opening gifts.  It was a SUPER FUN game!  We laughed and laughed.  The best cards were singing holiday songs (which lasted a good 20 minutes and made for a happy and funny music time) and when Hammond had to pick his nose while throwing the dice and yodeling!  Here's the black-mail photo:

I can't post the gift we made for the boys and the Bettenhausens yet.... as some people who read this blog will be receiving the same thing.....  But here's a great photo of Chris since I didn't get one of him with other things...: