Thanksgiving

We had lots of delicious food, and we

lacked for nothing! Aaron and Susanna made the pies and delicious sweet potatoes. Sean and Krysten brought a beautiful green bean casserole. Many hands in the kitchen to help with chores, you'll see more of them in the next few photos.

I will try and list a few of the things we are thankful for in this post. We had a great weekend with family, friends and remember family and friends who are far away from us. Our biggest blessing of the weekend was that Owen got to come home. He had originally thought he was going to be unable to come but got leave at the last minute and totally surprised us on Saturday night, staying until Friday after Thanksgiving. It was a very nice visit with him.We are very grateful that Abigail is home from the hospital and doing well! She is gaining and growing and developing just as she should be! Isn't she beautiful?I am thankful that my grandkids live close by and that they are comfortable around us. Levi likes to sit on my lap, especially when he is tired. Here is Aaron mashing the potatoes. He loves to work in the kitchen.

These are my Mom's lightbread rolls, set to rise. They are truly delicious.This is salad that my Grandma Pat always made for special occasions. It is easy, pretty and tastes good too!Levi playing around in the living room with Nolan's toys. See the helicopter in the background?Milly got to hold Abigail for the first time. She is so sweet around Abby and loves her alot. I think Abby loves Milly too. Krysten holding the sleeping Abigail!Emily and Camille are my neices, they came out from BYU and helped out a lot. They also got to do some awesome shopping while they were here!Christopher, Sean and Owen are thankful for football! Chris rode out from BYU with Emily and Camille. He is a student there also!

We had lots to eat, plenty of folks to love and time off to remember our blessings. We especially missed those of our families who were away from us. Love you guys!

Expensive Week!

It has been an expensive week. I can't even add pictures of the dollar signs as I have nothing but my work computer to use for this post.

Saturday night Jan was working on the computer at home and we got the blue screen of death and it sounded as if a C-130 was taking off in our office. Good thing that we have the Blackberry and the work computers. Just can't do any Facebook or fun stuff.

Monday we got home and we had no hot water. I called Applewood plumbing (we had a coupon and had heard good things about them), they came out and dissed my old water heater and said to fix it would be $1100.00 and no warranty, and I should buy their club membership and get their $2200.00 water heater for only $1800.00. Also said I needed a new vent stack and I had a gas leak. Jan felt like we were over a barrell, but I said I am from West Texas and do not like being over a barrell, so I called Coffman plumbing(that we had always used in the past) and they came out and a brand new wh just like the first guys would be installed price of, wait for it.... drum roll please----$895.00. But he felt he could fix it and give it a two year warranty for only $495.00! I liked him better and better the more he talked. He said I had no gas leak and only needed a new vent stack for new construction or a bigger water heater than we already had. He also said that the other guys work on commission, SURPRISE!

Then poor Stuart sent us his weekly email and said that he is running around with a towel around his waist because all his pants are worn out. So Mr Mac is sending us a new suit of clothes for the emperor and also a new pair of shoes! Very reasonable prices and their service is outstanding! I highly recommend them for outfitting missionaries! They are in Utah only.

So I guess that Christmas will come thanks to the 2nd plumber and Mr Mac. We are very grateful for hot water, and will be shopping for a new computer soon!


See you then!

Abigail's furniture

Well since Abigail came a little early, I was definitely behind in my preparation for my third grandchild. I had promised Sean and Krysten a chest of drawers for the baby and I bought them a rocker. Well they needed a little sprucing up as they were old. The chest of drawers was Jan's when he was a child. His parents gave it to us when we got married in 1980 and we used it until we had kids and then it was for my kids to use. I had previously painted it red with red, yellow, blue, and green drawers and coordinating knobs, but that look was long ago in the dinosaur wall paper days. Anyhoo I've been reading a lot of furniture and decorating blogs, like missmustardseed.com, betweenblueandyellow.blogspot.com, and storiesofahouse.blogspot.com

and have been inspired by their work and their tutorials. So I gave some of their ideas a try.
All of them like to leave the tops in a wood finish and then paint/distress/antique the rest of the pieces. This little chest didn't get distressed because of the red underneath but I did go over the paint with a walnut stain and then wiped it off. The top got a walnut stain and then several coats of polyurethane. I took off the old knobs and bought some cute crystal knobs at Hobby Lobby on half price. I think they make it look a little more feminine. We used the dark walnut stain to match the color of the crib and the changing table. They are both a dark wood color.

I also lined the drawers with fabric using Mod Podge to attach and to coat the fabric. I remember using this stuff to decopage back in Jr. High School.
This is the fabric I used. I bought it at Hobby Lobby, and it was on sale also.

This lamp I had bought at a garage sale many years ago and it had been red, white and blue. I spray painted it white and mixed some craft paint and did the turquoise trim, and then I had picked up a self adhesive lamp shade at the thrift store for $.99 and used the same fabric and covered the lamp shade and added some ric-rac trim. I think it looks pretty cute! I am having a good time doing this especially since I never got to do a girl's room before.

The rocker is one that we bought on Craig'slist and it is an Ethan Allen rocker. It was painted a VERY dark green, almost black, with grapes and vines on it in a typical Early American style. Not Krysten's style though, so per her request it got a coat of the same ivory oops paint that I got at the Ace store near our home. It looks white until you put it up against some real white then it looks yellow. It also got a coat of stain that was wiped off. I am very pleased with the result and hope my kids are too. I have a mirror to go over the chest that will receive the same treatment of ivory paint and stain. It is very ornate and was painted a very shiny gold, but I think will look really cute painted ivory. I hope Abigail loves it. I have some more stuff to do for Milly's room next. It has been fun.

Sergeant Robison-Promotion!

This is for you Sergeant Owen Robison!
Congratulations!

I don't think these are in order, and I don't know who the other people are, but it doesn't matter cause this is about Owen!

The Man Said It Would Snow!!!!

The man said it would snow and sure enough it did! We got school cancelled too! This is what we woke up to and it had only just started when I got home from work last night about ten past eight. Nolan is outside right now testing his man versus wild skills!
Notice the swamp cooler still in the window. Procrastination prevails around here.

This is our 2nd snowfall of the season and both have been significant amounts. I've got to get my car in the garage, but where to put all the STUFF? It might be a long winter!

Baby Shower for Abigail Jo Robison

Well the little girl was born 8 weeks early so the preparations were not complete! So we threw a nice baby shower (if I do say so myself). I did food and decor and Susanna used her mad skills at recreation and came up with a few awesome games. I invited Krysten's friends from her ward and some of my old homies, who have known Sean forever. We had great attendance and Abigail received some very nice gifts. Thanks to everybody! Krysten's mom came to see the baby and coincidentally was able to be here for the shower too! That was great.
Abby is home now and spent most of the shower time in her car seat sleeping away. We are really concerned about RSV so we asked everyone to wash their hands and not hold the baby! She is growing like crazy, up to 6lbs 4 oz now. We have been very blessed to have her so healthy and well even though premature. Thanks everyone, but mostly Thanks be to God!