Loving the Living Desert!

We decided to spend the first day of our 5-day Presidents' Day weekend at the Living Desert.

It was an absolutely perfect beautiful day! We had a great time.

Of course, the first thing we always have to see are the trains. Boys love trains!

Luke wore a jacket because he wanted to - he certainly didn't need to, as it was a beautiful sunny day and not chilly at all.

I love humming birds!

Then we went to check out the new discovery center. It is really nice!

There are a lot of hands-on things to do in there.

Then we went for a ride on the merry-go-round.

Those teen and pre-teen boys didn't want to go on at first thinking they were too cool, but the sure seemed to enjoy themselves!

Luke was the spider, and all the boys were the bugs caught in his web.

The Living Desert is a great place for boys. They seem to feel right at home there with the wild animals and all that dirt!

Up close with some wildlife.

It is a beautiful time of year to take pictures at the Living Desert, and it was also late afternoon, a really pretty time of day.

The desert plants are all starting to bloom with tiny little desert flowers. It smelled wonderful! In a few more weeks it will be beautiful!

Glad I brought my macro lens.

What a great day!

We love the Living Desert!

Plucked from the Ground

The other day, Dylan walked in the back door with these! Beautiful ripe, red radishes plucked right from the ground. Apparently he had had planted and grown radishes, along with a variety of other underground vegetables completely unbeknownst to me! I mean, I saw stuff growing in our "garden", but I just figured they were weeds. And being the fantastic gardener that I am, what did I do about those "weeds"? I left them there. Turns out they were not weeds at all! Good thing!

So good! I love radishes! Wonder what other fabulous things Dylan is going to pluck from the ground?

Gingerbread Houses

So, now that I am still trying to take off these holiday pounds, I thought I'd post this just to remind myself why exactly I am having to work out so hard now. Was it really worth it?

Um, yes!

My boys had a great time making their gingerbread houses this year. We always buy kits (I have never had any luck making gingerbread from scratch) and supplement with lots of extra candy, which is the kids' favorite part - the extra candy!

Yes, that is Caleb squeezing frosting into his mouth, which is why, at least for me, the gingerbread houses are purely decorative.

They really turned out darling! Good job, boys!

Wandering through the Holy Land

Still playing Christmas catch-up. But I had to post this. It was wonderful!

This year we went to the Living Nativity right near our house at a nursery on Darby Road. It was free and put on buy a variety of local churches. WE have seen signs for it in the past, but had never found the opportunity to go. This year we made it a point to get there, and we are SO glad we did! It was really spectacular!

First we had to wait in a long line because they take us through the nativity in small groups. But waiting in line is not a problem, because they have a darling and pretty fantastic musical puppet show for us to watch as we wait. It was all about Jesus, of course, and really very clever! They also have live performers singing Christmas songs. It would have been enough to come just to see the pre-show.

The whole nativity takes place in a desert nursery, beneath a grove of palm trees and olive trees. It is absolutely beautiful there with all the greenery and plants - the very kinds of plants that Christ grew up with in the holy land. It just made everything so much more authentic, and we really felt like we were transported to Bethlehem!

And it was a beautiful, mild evening! Really perfect. I just kept thinking that you couldn't do this in most other parts of the country. I felt so blessed to live here!

So they started by bringing our group under a lit up olive tree where Isaiah stood all lit up, and read his prophesy of the coming Messiah.

Then we walked on to a few rooms where we saw the angel come to Mary, and then appear to Joseph in a dream. Then, as we walked on further, we were accosted by a group of nasty Roman soldiers who read the decree from Cesar Augustus that we should all be taxed, and then gave us some trouble. They were really yelling at us! One got right in Derek's face and threatened to cart him off to prison for talking back. Taught him a lesson! It was really quite authentic.

Then we moved on the the little village of Bethlehem where we saw Joseph and Mary with a real donkey, ask for shelter at an inn, and get turned away. So sad.

But for me, one of the coolest things was coming around a corner to see a real flock of sheep and shepherds down in a little valley below us. There was a fence around them, for safety's sake of course. Then, suddenly in the hill above them, an angel, and then several angels appeared all lit up and singing!

And then we came to the stable where we found Joseph and Mary, and their sweet little baby. They were obviously a real couple with their own real little baby. I was so glad it was such a mild evening. There were animals too, and shepherds come to worship him.

As we walked on there was a large grassy amphitheater and on the stage was king Herod's court. The wise men had come to inquire about the new born king. Then we followed them to find another Mary and Joseph and baby as they accepted gifts from the wise men. They were set among the huge clay pots that were for sale at the nursery. What a pretty setting!

Not only did they have horses, donkeys, and sheep, but there was also a real camel for the wise men!

At the end, they also had an empty tomb to remind us what the real significance of the birth of our Savior was. It was really well done and I felt the spirit so strong! I am so grateful that so many Christian churches would get together to do such a nice tribute to Christ and remind us all about the true meaning of Christmas! There were so, so many people there, and it made me feel good to know that this story is just as important to them and their families as it is to me and mine.

At the end there were some free little activities for the kids, and food (they asked for donations to help pay of the whole thing.) There was a guy there welding together little crosses out of nails. He gave one to each of my kids and they just looked at them like they didn't know what they were. They thought they were little swords! Heathens.

It was a wonderful evening, and we want to tell everyone about it so that they can come and see what we saw and feel what we felt! We will never miss this again. It is a new Christmas tradition for us.

A Stroll Down Candy Cane Lane

Every Christmas we love to visit Candy Cane Lane, know the rest of the year as Minerva St in Cathedral City.

Ornament Party

Early every December I have an ornament exchange party for me and 11 of my dear friends. Everyone brings a dozen handmade ornaments and exchanges them with one another, so that we all get to take home 12 different handmade ornaments.

But mostly it is an excuse to get together and eat yummy food and visit! I just love it! It is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and always gets me into the holiday spirit.

This year the theme was "All Creatures Great and Small," so I made animal shaped cookies in honor of the theme, which were fabulous with my famous white hot chocolate!

After we all had our fill, we unveiled our creature creations! Always fun to see what these clever gals come up with!

Shannan made us each a pair of turtle doves out of the pages of an old book, felt, and buttons.

Staci made these adorable lambs with clay and furry fabric. Adorable!

Shari made these sparkly dragonflies out of Mountain Dew cans, if you can believe that, along with glitter, glass and wire. Very cool!

Tara hand sewed these little owls out of felt. It was so hard to chose between the two because they were both so stinkin' cute!

Kristi, who comes some distance to join us every year, always makes her ornaments out of seashells. This year she made the funnest little mouse! Really clever!

My friend Michelle, who is quite the seamstress made embroidered ornaments with this year's theme on it. Every ornament had a different animal on it! Really great!

Me and my dear friend Dayna. Dayna likes to make ornaments with jingle bells, and this time she turned big red jingle bells into lady bugs. I loved them!

Above is a second ornament made by Kristi, the seashell lady. It is made with a large sand dollar and clay. Really striking! I can't believe she made 2 sets of ornaments! But I won't complain!

My sister-in-law Shirley amazes us every year with the wood ornaments that she and her husband make with the scroll saw. In years past she gave us and Angel, Mary, Joseph, and the Baby. This year we got the animals, a camel and a donkey. Soon we will have the whole set!!! I can't wait!

My sister Lisa made these turtle doves out of cinnamon/applesauce/glue dough and covered them in clear glitter so they look just like gingerbread cookies sprinkled with sugar. The small great!

My ornaments came out just how I imagined. I used kind of flattened acrylic clear balls to make snow globes of sorts. I found the sweetest image of a vintage greeting card with baby forest animals intrigued by a pair of tiny red stocking hanging in a tree. I added a bit of glitter to the trees and snow, and decoupaged it to the back side of the ornament. Then I stuck a miniature tree into the bottom of the ornament and threw in some fake snow and sparkly white beads. Around the outside edge I added sticky tape and silver micro beads and to the front added a few rub-on snowflakes. On the top I added some vintage scallop trim and ribbon, and a glittery twig of mistletoe and a glittered bird.

I love, love, love them!

And just to show my friends how much I love them, I always give them another handmade gift. This year it was these festive necklaces made from old chandelier crystals. I decoupaged holiday fabric on the back. I love them all!

I gave them in these little matchbox boxes that I made with decorative paper. I clipped a cute red cardinal bird on top, each with his own little message of joy. Inside the gift, as tradition, is next years' theme, so they can get started right away in gathering ideas. Next year the theme is Christmas Bling! I can't wait to see what these clever ladies come up with!