Merry Christmas everyone! Its one of the best holidays, I love the songs and all the good works that people finally seem to do when its cold and wet outside (and of course the presents ain't so bad either). I love getting to spend time with my family at this time of year; however I was sad that I couldn't party with my sister Stephanie and her family this year but their enjoying themselves with her husband's family in Reno, NV right now. We miss them and can't wait for the to get back to the valley.

Now let me describe all the exciting festivities that went on at the Stewart household last night and today.

To start we had a gorgeous dinner! Prime rib, green fluff, carrots, homemade rolls, smoked potatoes--DECL'ISH! Mom even got out the old dusty holiday candles to decorate the table, and after dinner Kimble helped to blow them out (eventually she got it after a couple minutes of trying).


Next Mom read to us from a Nativity Story book that we've had for years. Each page has an ornament depicting what happened on that page, and the kids always enjoy putting them on the tree.


Then Mom brought out the wooden ornaments and everyone got to color their own. Kevin got really into it.

(Karter liked stealing the markers, Kimble had me help her when she figured she had had enough of her coloring and decided to get her humble servant to finish , Jayden missed his ornament and went straight for the newspaper.)
(Wow, I actually got a good picture of Ryan while he wasn't making a face!)
(ps. this is my brother Ryan and his amazing wife Amy)

Mom had the night packed with activities to do, and next on the list was gingerbread houses. I decided I didn't need to make one because I had already made one with my friend Lara the day before (picture not shown) and sat out for this one. Everyone had fun though (mostly eating the candy). Karl and Madison made a mammoth mansion; Amy made a trekking truck, Heather made a humble home, Kevin made a cherubic cottage, and Kimble created a curious cave. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the master pieces.

The next morning, this morning, Christmas morning; Dad, Mom, Karl, Madison, and I all gathered in the family to open presents. That's always fun to see what Mom bought. Then Grandma Radcliffe and her husband Chuck, the Johnson's, Heather, and the Stewart's all came over for a wonderful breakfast of ham, cinnamon rolls, and homemade tamales. Afterward we finished opening presents. The kids were so cute!

(Ryan he been sawing and sanding in our garage for a couple weeks earlier, working on this beautiful heart shelf that his wife had asked for. We think he did a great job!)

Alright that's finally it for this reporter. I hope everyone has a great fun and safe Christmas and is looking forward to New Year's. Feliz Navidad!

Yes! Finals are over and Break is here!

Can I get a whoop-whoop?!

Boy was today fun (minus 4th period (test)). First hour we had a AZ state map activity; my team was done first; I love looking at maps. Then second hour we discussed Arizona government and had to guess the names of cities by clues given by my teacher. Example: A glorious bird.

Then 3rd hour was the joy of my day. My art teacher Ms. Kline brought in cookies and decorating supplies and we made beautiful cookies. (In my picture, I'm holding a silver drop sprinkle that I'm about to place in a specific place on my Christmas tree.)
Mine are: our personal Christmas tree, a candy cane, and my "Baby's 1st Christmas 1991" ornament. I had a lot of fun, and no that is not a blood knife, its frosting yum! And we had Secret Santa exchange. I got a manga (Japanese comic book) and chocolate! Then my friend gave her person this coded message with her name scrambled in it (seen here) and rice-crispy money. Pretty cute idea if you ask me!

After that was lunch where my friends and I had fun playing with our accents. Then 4th hour i bombed a test. 5th hour was seminary, asigned up to bring cookies and watched a documentary on the birth of Christ and how Heavenly Father wants us to give of ourselves. Good lesson. Finally in 6th hour mythology we had a review game, fun times fun times. I'm gonna miss that class!

That's all for my day today. I was sad it was sunny but was happy there were still clouds. And--o my gosh--I saw my friend's brother and he was wearing red and brown instead of white or black! I was so excited. But anyway...

Until next time. Tootles.

The weekend, finally. Thank goodness because there was stuff I wanted to do and school was just getting in the way! Of course nephew-sitting wasn't part of the list of things I really wanted to do, but it was fun anyways. The boys are so cute! Here we are in the car while Steph ran in to get pizza (McKay wasn't in the picture mood at the time, but Parker and Dallin were all for it).


I was sad though while I was watching them though because by taking this one picture it evaporated all the rest of my battery so i couldn't take anymore pictures for the rest of the night, o well.

Then on Saturday, my friend Christy came over! It's always fun hanging out with her. She works at a veternary clinic that boards animals. I love it when I get to go with her and help with the animals. This time there were 4 dogs and 1 cat. The cat's name was CC and she would love to hang on your shoulder (as seen) and apparently liked to droole on me, hence my shirt in wet.

The dog is Bleu, he was adorable and would get very defensive while on your lap. While he was sitting on my lap, Christy reached out to him and he snapped at her. But when I let him go he went to Christy's lap with no problem. He was cute.




So that was my weekend up until today. So far I've gone to church (had a great lesson on not procrastinating and figuring out my priorities) then came home, had lunch, figured out my car isn't worth as much as it once was 7 years ago, and am now typing up this. Fun.

Tootles.

I wake up, get ready, go down stairs and what do I see? The most beautiful sunset! I just had to whip out my camera and take a picture. After all, what else is air pollution for?


Plus, o my gosh! IT WAS CLOUDY! I loved the fact that I could walk around outside and not have to squint my eyes! This picture was taken out the fire escape balcony outside my seminary classroom, pretty view of the mountains.


Lunch was indeed interesting if nothing else was. I was sitting in the art room when my friends Chanda came in, got a yard stick, took off her shoes and stood on the table. She's really into everything Japanese like I am, and loves samurai fighting. Here she showing off her sword fighting skills. Her dance is very graceful and relaxing to watch; if I didn't have things to do, I probably would have sat and watched her all hour, unfortunately I had to leave.

Anyways, most of my day was all the same: went to class, Mom picked me up, we dropped off my carpool buddy, and went home. However, it was interesting when I opened the door to the house and was knocked over by Madison's music blasting from the computer speakers upstairs (okay that is over-exaggerating a bit, but it was loud), luckily it was a good song.

That's all, tootles!

The average school day involves lunch with my buds. Top to bottom is Will, Haley (bending over), Katie (sitting down), and the back of Gayle's head. They are awesome people and some of the greatest people in the world! I love hanging out with them everyday! Except Lara is standing behind me and skipped the photo taking, fooy...


Finally, I'm feeling the Christmas spirit (a little later than usual though). On Monday we finally got the old 7 foot tall, fake tree out of the dusty attic. Then in the morning Mom put on the ribbon, ending tonight by putting on the ornaments. I've been tryong to convince her to leave 'em off because it would be easier with all the little kids running around and because it takes forever to put them up and take them down. However, she could not be persuaded otherwise and so here we are!

...Unfortunately the house lights still aren't up... I'll make sure to get that fixed by the 25th! C:


Till then. Tootles!

Hello Internet!

Finally, I have succeeded in establishing a way for my friends to know what's going on in my life while I sit back and relax. Also this is for my family; I hope that by having this blog I can share with my brothers and sisters who no longer live with me what's going on back here at the Mother Ship.



Not much has happened today, though I did have a driver's ed. test (got a 88%) and preformed a play in mythology class with my friends.


This is my friend Lara (yes we have the name "written" name, however, they are pronounced differently) with the mask for her character, Daphne, from the Apollo myths. I was Coronis, but i don't have a picture of that mask to show so sorry but no image for you.


Oh and this is Jayden, Madison's little boy at this exact moment.

Ain't he cute?! I just want to squeeze him! (Except that would wake him up so I don't think I will...)


All righty then! I have an art show to go to this evening. 7:00pm at the Mountain View High School Library (I have 7 pieces in it). Until my next post.

Tootles!