My Funny Valentine

I was at Fred Meyer today and bumped into a

Valentine display. I decided to look through them

and see if there was one that would be just right

for my "Valentine" this year. After quite a bit of

searching through the corny, the mushy, and the

totally disgusting, I found a really good one. All I

will have to do to make it just right is cross out

where it says "For My Wife" and put in

"For my Husband". That should be a simple fix.

Anyway, for some reason I thought about Pres.

and Sister Hinckley and what great "Valentines"

they were. I'm glad they're together again. I

doubt Alan and I will ever get this cute, but I

hope we'll always be "Valentines."

There Must Be 50 Ways to Leave Your Dentist

I've been going to the same dentist for over 25 years. He's looked down my throat. I've looked up his nose. I guess you could say we were close. And yet I think it's time to move on. I'm not sure how to tell him there is someone new. He's always been thorough, gentle, and a good one sided conversationalist. He seemed to know just what my gurgles, sputters, and guttural noises meant. But my nephew has started his own practice. I hear he's good and I want to support him. So, to my dentist of 25 years I'll just have to say... Thanks for the good times...the rubber dams... the goo in the throat for cap impressions... the root canals. But it's over and I want my x-rays back. Now if I can just get the courage to call him.

Batt Family Fun

Rebecca is home this weekend, so I'm learning to put pictures on the blog. Here are a few from the Batt Christmas Party. Better late than never, right?

Orange stick anybody?

Becca and Hannah with her sparkly pants from "The Package Man"

Stan and Ava

Logan (I think) showing off his punch face

Lydia, the little lady

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

Christmas vacation whizzed by as usual. After Christmas our days usually went something like this: Got up late, did too little, snacked too much, play games, went to bed late so we could get up the next morning and do it all again. It was great while it lasted.

Favorite events during vacation were:

Geri and Jason's wedding, wedding dinner, and reception. The ceremony was nice, Geri and Jason were adorable, the food was tasty, and the reception was beautiful. The only thing that keeps me from giving the whole thing 5 stars was THE KISS. What was that? I think they call it a peck. I guess I was just expecting more from such a "head over heels" couple. Now that I think about it though, I'm probably glad I saw less than I expected rather than more than I wanted to see. Thanks guys. Let's hear it for the happy couple. Yay!

Rexburg Temple Open House:
It was beautiful, serene, tasteful, inspiring, and wonderful. I hope everybody goes and takes a friend. I did feel a little sorry for the youth that were putting booties over every one's shoes. It was cold in those tents and trying to put those booties on someone else was probably awkward enough let alone trying to do it in the cold. Hats off to the youth and all the volunteers up there.

Batt Family Party:
We all agreed it wasn't the same this year. We missed Nora and the pizza definitely wasn't Gary's, but at least we had a party. It was fun to see all the "out- of- staters" that were home for Christmas and see how much all the little kids had grown. I did get a few pictures, mostly of great grandkids that I will try to post. That might come later when Lee and Kim or Rebecca are around to help. Cassie, thanks for putting the slide show together. It is always fun to look at old pictures. Where did we get those glasses and those hairdos anyway?

Spaulding New Year's Party:
As always we had good food and fun. Turkey and dressing ala Fern and MaryLou, baked potaoes courtesy of Gary and Angie, spinach salad from Tanis, rolls by Ellen and Grace, and Aunt Naomi came through with the steamed pudding and sauce again. I don't really know who made all the other delicious stuff I ate, but thanks. Ted brought some old pictures that were fun to peruse. Uncle Bruce is making a copy of one of Grandpa and Grandma that everybody should try to get. They were quite young in the picture, but it reminds you of that famous picture , American Gothic. All they were missing was the pitchfork. They were so cute. It's no wonder we are all so good looking. Family members that were there filled us in on the missionaries that are out and other family members that weren't in attendance. Grandma and Grandpa would be happy that their family has so much love and concern for each other.

Favorite snacks this vacation were: "slush", mint M and M's, bean dip, and a few treats stolen from Geri and Jason's reception. Hey, I wasn't the only one that filled a cup with treats to take home. (At least I only took one cup, E. B. and T. F. )

Games played: Yahtzee, Catch Phrase, Mad Gab, ETC., Go Wacky and Moods. I'm taking Moods to D. I. It just wasn't our kind of game. Go Wacky was okay. We might give it another shot. They rest were fun even if we still haven't found anybody that can beat Russell at ETC.

The holidays were great and it's a little sad they are over. My friend, Sylvia, compared it to a box of chocolates. When you first open them the box is full and there are so many to choose from you think they'll last and last. But before you know it, you open the lid and find you are just riffling through all the empty brown papers. The chocolates are gone and so are the holidays. Oh well, we'll get a new box of chocolates next year. Happy New Year, everybody!

Here I go!

I'm officially entering the blog world tonight, Christmas, December 25, 2007. I felt like I needed to add the exact date because of people like my son, Russell, who apparently wasn't aware that Christmas was on the same day every year. Last night, Christmas Eve, December 24th, he came to me with a desperate look on his face wondering if I had any extra gifts for family members that he could buy from me to give them. In his defense, I will have to say that he did try to find gifts for everybody, but Kings in Rigby just didn't have the perfect thing for everyone on his list. Rebecca and I bailed him out because, as usual, we did have extra gifts. Rebecca usually has extra gifts, well actually extra everything, because of indecision. She keeps buying things up until the moment of gift giving and then decides what of all her choices is the best. Then she wraps it, and I must say she is an excellent wrapper, gives it, and prepares to take everything that she didn't use back to the stores. I usually have extra gifts for everyone because of dementia. Either I forget that I already bought someone a present and buy something else or I buy it, can't remember where I put it, buy another one, and then find the one I lost. Anyway, everything turned out fun and fine except that Russell still owes me 20 bucks.

Dale and Angela and Mandy and Rachel came up and ate lunch with us. It is always fun to get together with them. We didn't have turkey and gravy and all the traditional stuff because, quite frankly, I was too lazy and couldn't face it. We had some really good pork roast cooked in green sauce. We just ate it like tacos. Angie made bean dip and a vegetable tray. Just to keep up a semblance of the traditional dinner we used to have at Nora's we did have crab salad. I missed Nora and getting together with everybody on the Batt side, but it was still a wonderful day. We had the Furness side of the family over later in the day. We were trying to change things up a bit so we asked people to dress up in ugly Christmas clothes. It was sort of a hangover from Rebecca's "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. We actually had a great response and are befuddled, I love to use that word, as to who the winner of the Ugliest Christmas Outfit Contest should be. We truly had some great contenders. We decided to put up some pictures and put it up for a vote. So please leave a comment with suggestions. (Sorry we didn't get a picture of everybody that dressed up)

It was great fun talking to Tyler. Lee and Kim conferenced in on the call, who were in Utah with Kim's family. We found out that Tyler is healthy, happy, and still the same weight as when he left. We also found out that Lee is healthy, happy, and 5 pounds heavier than when he left Idaho on Saturday.

Okay, I want to end this by saying thanks to Alan, Rebecca, and Russell for pitching in and making it possible to have two parties in one day here. I try not to flip out under the pressure of having a party, but I usually do just a little. Thanks to Russell for vacuuming, shoveling the walk and making the chocolate, mint cookie, cream cheese things. Thanks to Becca for wrapping gifts, and getting up. Thanks to Alan for loving Christmas so much it gets everybody in a good mood, for cleaning the driveway so well, and for taking like a man when he t-boned his pickup with the skidster. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Will it be Jayce for best baby?...

Chris, for brightest shirt ever?

Or Jay for most amazing?

Most like Cousin Eddy?...

Best family participation?

Most seductive?

Most likely to be confused with an ornament?

Most likely to be just confused....?

Just plain cute?

Most "special" couple?

Most likely to be used as next year's Christmas card?

Proof that wackiness is hereditary?