2006 Favorites

I have a tough time of picking favorites, but after some inspiration from cousin Andrew I decided that it is no use having favorites if you don't share them with others.

Favorite movies: Pride and Prejudice, Syriana, Casino Royal, The Illusionist

Favorite books: John Adams, Blink, Motherless Brooklyn, One-on-One CS Photoshop

Favorite magazines: Everyday Foods, Creating Keepsakes, Cooks Illustrated

Favorite cookbook: The New Best Recipe Book

Favorite websites: Epicurious.com, Blogger.com, Nick Jr.com

Favorite vacation: Dyer Family Reunion Maui (May 2006), New York (Oct. 2006)

Favorite dream: a guest house in the back yard.

Favorite restaurant: Al Forno (Rhode Island- it's rated top 50 in the nation and worth the plane trip)

Favorite take out: Tomato Soup from Ottavios (American Fork, Utah)

Christmas Morning


Here is a picture of the anxious group waiting to get at some presents. Wiley had woken up at five in the morning ready and excited. I had to convince him that it was still the middle of the night and to go back to bed. Wiley wasn't really into documenting this part of his morning. He just wanted to know if Santa brought him his Yellow Power Ranger. (The other three grandkids came a few hours later.)

Sticky MessWhat would you do to keep a child quiet? On the drive home from Reno to AF Ben and I were trying to keep the peace, and for a short while it was. We couldn't figure out why Rosie was so quiet. We discovered much to our dismay, that she had found an extra dipping caramel package from McDonalds and was sucking on the packaging. What you can't tell in the picture is that she has caramel all down her shirt, pants, and seatbelt. After she was that messy we figured what's the harm in giving her a sucker. It just gave us a few more moments of peace.

Sledding Paradise


There are many great places to sled at the cabin. And lucky for us we have a driver who will haul us up and down the hills over and over. This is Grandpa and Grandma's new two bench mule. All of the grandkids can fit.

Snow Fort


Ben helped make this awesome snow fort outside the Welch cabin. It had two exits and kept various kids busy in the afternoons spent up in the mountains.

Some Assembly Required

I can't get over the detail that the Playmobil brand provides. They weren't kidding when they said "Some assembly required" (109 pieces later he he). Thank goodness most of the pieces are to create this elaborate pirates boat. It was a great afternoon project for Ben and Wiley.

December 16, 2006 marks Ben's 29th, birthday.

I thought I'd write 16 things that I love about Ben.

16 He still opens my door for me.
15 He is smart, quick, and has a gift for language.
14 He is quick to forgive me.
13 He is obedient.
12 He always is thinking of my needs.
11 Great problem solver.
10 Dedicated to whatever project or task he has decided to take on.
09 Goal setter and achiever.
08 He is a good father.
07 I can still catch him singing German hymns to the kids.
06 He can build a great fort out of blankets.
05 He can bake and cook and does it because he likes to.
04 He knows how to put his family first.
03 Always learning, whether it be about CPR, cars, literature or other random subjects.
02 He can delicately put Rosa's tights on and laugh while doing it.
01 He loves me, an older woman.

We love EnglandEveryone knows that Ben and I love England. It was where we met and fell in love. Now we have yet another reason to continue to return to England. Our friends Karen and Jamie Gregson are leaving Utah to return home to England. The old ward at Wymount will never be the same without them. Luckily there is always e-mail and the dream of visiting England again soon. Tell William we are saving our pennies and nickels again. Karen, I must say, you always gave a moving lesson. Thanks for befriending me. Love you, Shazaa.

Christmas Memories from a Garage SaleI have been thinking about Christmas since summer time. I couldn't help it. My neighbor was having a garage sale where I purchased a Christmas tree, ornaments and lights for Shane and his room mates all for just $5. What a steal of a deal and I figured college kids could care less where a Christmas tree came from. In fact, knowing the tree is from a garage sale is what makes the tree cooler in the eyes of a college student. The cheaper the better right?

Later that same week an elementary school that was closing down was selling everything from globes to chalks boards. I know what you are thinking. Why the heck is Sharalee going to yard sales? Good question. I have no idea. I dislike looking at other people's junk when it is in their house, but for some reason I am mesmorized when junk is displayed on a lawn. Maybe, just maybe, I will run across some neat treasure. (Everyone knows I like to have garage sales more than I like to visit garage sales. I only went to these two the whole summer. I don't frequent other people's garage sales, unless looking for something in particular, I promise. I am my mother's daughter, I try to dejunk. Although my husband would disagree according to what is stored in our crawl space.)

Anyway, I bought a huge container of Christmas ornaments and lights at the school yard sale thinking that I would give them to Shane also. The way the garage sale went was that you grabbed a box and went to check out, regardless of what items were in your box. Once I was home I decided to see what I really had bought and was delighted to discover that I bought the perfect Christmas ornaments for Wiley and all of the ornaments still had the price tags on them (I don't know why they weren't used but I'm glad to have found them). As luck would have it the ornaments were stuffed penguins, (Wiley's favorite animal) stuffed birds, stuffed snowmen, all soft ornaments perfect for Wiley's tree.

We have a small Charlie Brown like Christmas tree that we put in Wiley's room. Shortly after Thanksgiving I laid out all the new ornaments and had Wiley decorate his very own tree. One of my favorite Christmas memories was laying underneath the Christmas tree and looking up at the lights and dreaming of magic things to come. So just after decorating the tree the first thing we did was spend the afternoon laying under his tree looking up into the lights and making up stories about penguins.

What are your favorite memories of Christmas?

Budding PhotographerSince Rosie was born and Grandma Shell bought Wiley a toy camera Wiley has been our little budding photographer. Being that our digital camera was a more recent purchase, I have developed many, many, okay I'll say it again, MANY photos similar to these shown unbeknownst to me until AFTER paying for the film photos.

His portfolio includes lots and lots of dud photos and then every once in a while, he actually gets one right. Thank goodness for digital.