Christmas Eve 2012

We spent the evening over at Brook and Elton’s and had a wonderful time.  We had lots of snacks and sweets, good company and had fun playing with the little ones.

At bedtime they got to open their new pajamas/nightgowns.  Brea loved her gown and danced and twirled about.  Hayden didn’t ask for pajamas and wanted one of his other gifts.  Payton was all put out because hers were to big but maybe tomorrow she will like it when she is not so tired.  Hayden did put his on and wore them to bed and loved them when he found out he had two pockets and he could carry his phone in his jammies.

  

 

 

We were able to get a picture of Canyon and Evan in their new pj’s and gown also.

Merry Christmas to all on this Christmas Eve.  May Santa find all the boys and girls that have been good this year.  I know all of my grandchildren and my children are on the good list this year.

Happy Birthday, Angel Face

December 7, 1991 God smiled down on us and sent this special little Angel to earth for us to love and adore.  She has brought much joy into our lives.

This special angel has been called Angel Face by her grandparents from the first moment we laid eyes upon her beautiful face.  She is filled with laughter and wit and can make anyone having a bad moment suddenly only seeing sunshine and goodness.

We love you dearly and hope that your dreams and hopes will all be accomplished.  Set your goals high and remember you are a special daughter of our Heavenly Father and he is always there to hold your hand as you walk this path of life.

Have an extra special birthday.

November in a Nutshell…

Wow!! I can’t believe that I have not added anything to my blog since the first week of November.  It is not that we aren’t doing things, but rather the laziness to sit and do the updating.  So here goes with the month of November.

We went to Casa Grande the first of the month and found a field of cotton being harvested.  Wow…the machinery is humongous.  I was in awe at the way the cotton is picked.  The owner of the field stopped by and told us all about the process of cotton growing and picking.  What I found interesting is when the cotton is ginned 2/3 of the cotton boll is waste.  A bale of unginned cotton weighs 18,000 pounds.  I didn’t have my camera with me, but took these pictures with my phone.

 

These two pictures are of them releasing the bale of cotton from the tamping machine.

On Veteran’s Day free dinner was given to the Vet’s at several restaurants in the valley.  We chose to go to the Golden Corral in Casa Grande and we stood in line for 45 minutes before we made it inside of the building.  The food was good and we did enjoy the night.

Dick was able to get into the VA Hospital in Phoenix the first part of November which was 3 months earlier than his appointed time.  How thankful we are that he has good medical coverage.  We will be able to transfer him to the Mesa Clinic which is closer to our house.

Our Evan girl turned seven on the 9th.  I made her a quilt to wrap up in on cool evenings.  It was made from some fabric that Kelly bought to make a quilt for Evan before she was born.  Well I decided that she needed a new blanket from her Grammy so used that fabric.  Man does she love the blanket and sleeps with it every night.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I sent the package. 

I have been busy making a new style of dress for a yard sale that we are hoping to have this next weekend.  They are so cute and are made out of a t shirt and then you sew a circle skirt on to it.  This is the first one I made and gave to Payton.  Man she looked so cute in it.  I have four of them done and want to make 3 more before the yard sale.

Thanksgiving was very fun as we spent the time with the Curry/Bierhaus family.  Our dinner was early in the afternoon so our two shoppers could go stand in line to get new computers.  Wally World had a deal on a computer and sweet Nolan stood in line for Grandpa and Elton went for Brook.  They got in line at 3 and the sale did not open until 10.  They were #’s 3 & 4.  Elton did get two stools from the home department for them to sit on.  Thanks guys for helping these two get new computers.

We are slowly getting the Christmas decorations up.  Our first tree that Dick got ($20) looked worse than a Charlie Brown tree so he loaded it up and we found a tree on sale that really is pretty.  I did an old traditional tree and only have homemade ornaments on it this year.  I am please with the way it looks.  I still have the nativity scenes to put out and the village.

I was not able to go to Mom’s birthday party over the Thanksgiving weekend, but did send the quilt I made for her.  This quilt was a challenge for me.  I made the center, got it all appliqued and started putting on the strips and after 11 rows it dawns on me that this quilt is not square at all.  I take it to the bed and lo and behold if the upper and lower edges aren’t 2 inches on each side larger than the middle.  I rip out each row clear down to the center again.  Once more I begin putting on the strips and I measure each row so carefully .  I got to the last three rows and it seemed like everything was okay and WHAM something happened and the quilt started having problems once more.  This time I just said to heck with it and finished the quilt.  Dick said no one would notice, but I knew in my heart that Mom would.  Being that it was for my Mom, my heart was broken and I was so disappointed that I had to send her an imperfect creation.  I washed the quilt to give it a worn look like all the quilters are doing now and it did take some of the unevenness out and was not as noticeable.  This is the quilt before washing.

 

I have a utensil drawer that has been bugging me so bad for years.  When we moved down here it just seemed to be worse (only in my mind) so one day Dick made me a neat organizer unit including a compartment for my knives to stand in.  Man I love this guy and his crafty ideas that help make me a happy camper.  Don’t you think the end result looks much neater?

  

We received another granddogger at Thanksgiving when the Madsen’s got their new baby while in Georgia for the holiday.  She is a sweet little Yorkie and they named her Darby.

The last two months have been busy quilting months for me.  Hayden decided that he wanted a blankie to wrap up in and found some fabric in my stash for his.  When I delivered his blanket, Payton was so unhappy and just pouted so when I got home I made her one.  Well there was one more little girl that was sad so the next week I made one for Brea. 

 

I have finally finished my Christmas quilt and am so please with the end result.  It took me 11 years to complete it and it went from a queen to a wall quilt with a table runner and a candle mat.  I did not have enough of the printed fabric to make it any larger than a full quilt.  I love it on the wall as the pattern has a totally different design than what was originally planned. The patterns used are Cheerio and Northern Lights.  The pieces are machine quilted using the orange peel design.  I love these three new items to add to my Christmas décor.

      

Well that takes care of November and a very productive month of sewing and quilting.  The month of December is all about the holiday so will be doing more of the traditional baking and candy making.  Oh how I love the holidays.

Heavenly Evan Is Seven….

On November 9, 2005 in the early afternoon this sweet little baby girl came from heaven to grace our home.  Her parents named her Evan Makell Madsen.

I have always called her Heavenly Evan as I have felt that she was a gift sent to us from heaven by Grandma Harvey.

Evan has always been such a happy girl and brought joy into our lives.  When Evan was little, she would love to come to our house and stay for several days at a time.  Mommy would pack her backpack with several days worth of clothes because we did not know how long she would want to stay.

We always had to bake cookies when she came…

Our camping trip to Hyrum Lake was so much fun..

Here are some of our favorite times with Evan…

Happy Birthday sweet Evan.  We love you and hope that this is a very special birthday for you.  Love you more than you will ever know.

Oversized Hummingbird….

This morning I was sitting at my desk and looked out the window to find this woodpecker drinking from my hummingbird feeder.  His beak fit perfectly into the hole to partake of the sweet nectar inside.  It looked like he was holding on for dear life the way his body was curved under the feeder.

We get so many birds of different species here and they love the two trees that we have in our yard.  There are several hummingbirds that come to the feeder and I am enjoying the singing from the birds that is heard all day long. 

New Car for the Madsen’s

Early in October we purchased a new car.  It is a 2003 Buick Century.  This car is pretty roomy and looks like both our parents LaSabre’s that they had. 

We enjoy the car and are glad that we were able to find one in our price range with lower mileage.  The saddest thing about getting the new car was getting rid of our faithful white truck.  It is really missed, but we have tons of memories and pictures of fun times with it.

Cotton Fields

We have gone from this…..

to this…….

and harvest has begun.  Some fields have already been plowed and ready for the next crop.

Love living in this part of Arizona with farming and ranching surrounding me.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Today we had to go to Coolidge to license the van.  On the way home we decided to stop at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.  I am glad we did for it was very interesting and educational.  It reminds me of Mesa Verde in Colorado with the exception that Mesa Verde is built on the side of the cliffs and Casa Grande in on flat land in the middle of the harshest land in the southern Arizona desert.  It is only 7 miles from our home here in Florence. 

We go by it every time we go to Coolidge.  After 4 months living here today was that special day to stop and see what it was all about.  We watched a movie before venturing out to walk among the ruins.  You can go here to learn more about this exciting national park.

 

Poodle Skirt

This is the adorable poodle skirt that Kelly made for Evan today.  It is the cutest skirt and she is going to have so much fun wearing it to her 50’s event later this month.  Lucky girl to have a pink poodle skirt.

Canyon the Football Player…

This is the mighty football player and last week he caught a pass that helped his team win the game.  We are ever so proud of #15. 

Our Evan

Evan is so cute in her new skirt with her pink cowboy boots.  She sure does make a cute cowgirl.  This is what she wore to church today.  Isn’t she adorable?   Love this little girl.

Tiffeni’s Homecoming Dress

Wow!!! This sure is one cutie pie all dresses up in her new homecoming dress.  I bet all the other kids out there in Winnemucca wish they had this beautiful girl as their friend.

She is one beautiful girl…inside and out.  So proud to call her granddaughter.

Second Week of September Update

We have been busy this past week and all the different posts I had planned on doing just slipped through my mind and before I realized that nothing had gotten posted the week was over.  So here is an abridgment of the week in picture and word.

Sept 8th we went into Tempe for Brook’s final yoga class she had to teach before her graduation on the 12th.  I went to the class and Dick walked around the campus and read his kindle while waiting for me to finish up.  From there we went to find a Coomer’s store (similar to Quilted Bear in Utah).  I got addresses for three stores.  The first store was closed for good…no longer in business, called the other two stores and the message said the number was no longer in service.  What a bummer!!!  The day was not wasted because we found a wood store in Chandler where Dick can get wood scrapes to make more of these beautiful jewel boxes.

 

We are constantly on the outlook for solid wood tables or furniture (no pine, just hard woods) that he can break down for the wood to make them.  Aren’t they just gorgeous.

Sept 1oth I made a skirt for Evan and went to Wally World and got a shirt to go with it. I got home and was getting the package ready to send when I noticed that something was horribly wrong with the shirt…..

I either got into the “special girl” department or we need to stretch her left arm and make it longer to fit this shirt.  We laughed so hard tears were running down our faces.  We could see Evie trying on this shirt and busting out into fits of laughter.  Her sense of humor is like her Grandpa and Grandma’s.  We did finally find a shirt that has both sleeves the same length and can get her package sent this week.

Sept 11th was our 36th wedding anniversary.  Can you believe that it has been that long since we joined our lives together?  We have had many adventures along the way.  Some have been super, some medium and some the total pits but with those we picked ourselves up and trudged to the top again.  I honestly can’t think of another person I would want to spend my life with than Dick.  He has been so supportive of me all these years and has been the best husband any woman would ever want… not to mention the most outstanding father.  My children are the lucky ones to have a father that truly loves and adores them.  He is the greatest grandfather and lets each grandchild know they are his most favorite one.  When he talks with each one, I hear him tell them that he loves them and “you know you are my favorite”.  What a special Gramps he is.  I am honored to be married to this man.  He is totally my rock and strength.

                 (pictures taken on our wedding date Sep 11, 1996 and in 2001 on our 25th anniversary)

Sept 12th found us in Tempe for Brook’s graduation from her Yoga school where she is now a certified Yoga instructor, plus she also graduated from her schooling at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (Swiha).  This has been a sacrifice on her family for the last 18 months.  Without their support and dedication, she would not have been able to accomplish this task.  Her classes were at night and Nolan was so dedicated in watching the three little ones so she could get to class each night.  When Elton got home from work, he would take over watching the children.  This was a total family project in getting Brook through school.  She now is a hypnotherapist and is wanting to specialize in the medical part, specifically oncology.  She is an outstanding Yoga instructor and anyone that has the chance should take a class from her.  She is soft spoken, gentle and her classes are extremely fun.  Her ability to reach every class member is amazing.  I have enjoyed her classes and am waiting for her to open her own studio to take more classes from her.

(my beautiful daughter on her graduation day)

On Friday, Sept 14th, the three little munchkins came to have a sleep over while Mom and Dad went for Friday date night.  We ate teddy bear pancakes for supper, went to the park to play, went snake and frog hunting, ate a big lunch then their parents came and got them.  Grandpa got lots of hugs at the park cause Payton and Hayden kept running around and then would run up to him and throw their arms around him and say “I came for anover hug”.  They do love that Gramps of theirs.  I tried Payton’s dress on her I made for her to be blessed in 16 months ago and it still fits her just barely.  If they don’t get her blessed pretty soon it will not fit.  It was suppose to be tea length but not now. It fits a little snug about her chest and the elastic in the sleeves will have to be replaced.  If they wait much longer I will have to find the exact fabric and remake the bodice.  Here is a picture of her in the dress.  She wanted to “wear her dress all day cause it is so bootiful”  She is so cute and funny.

Today Sept 16th we went to church and had the best Sacrament meeting I have attended in a very long time.  The theme was on adversity in our lives.  All three speakers touched my heart and I left the meeting spiritually fed. 

This has been an outstanding week with lots going on.  We try to keep ourselves busy and think of our loved ones each day.