Christmas 2010

Tried out some new stuff on the front porch this year. The beautiful poinsettia ribbon came from Shinoda. I LOVE THAT PLACE! It's a designer's dream ware house of Christmas...like Hobby Lobby on steroids. I don't like the new lights with the blue hue...oh well...life is full of changes.
We deviated from Legos this year. The boys loved their little race track. Beck and Ryder love dancing to the little animated Christmas tree.
I am in love with this little "Stinky" the garbage truck. If my friend, Katie, hadn't showed it to me....we might have missed out on this fun toy. THANKS KATIE! Dan's family came early and celebrated this year as they won't be with us this Christmas.

The FUN has just BEGUN!!!

Christmas Party 2010

We all watched the kids play in the backyard. The favorite game right now is ...GOLF! Grandpa has little miniature golf clubs and whiffle balls for the kids to hit. The trampoline runs a close second. Here is Larkie's house.
Simona had her first experience with Gingerbread houses. She and Will graciously allowed the Cobb crew to finish this house....Sonia chose a sleigh and reindeer and the kids were so disappointed to not have a house. Simona took hers home and Grandma is busy today making a new house for the Cobbies! They can decorate it for FHE.
Almost finished.....
Dan chose the biggest house and put Andes mints for roof tiles...YUMMY...I will be heading over there for snacks. He took me to the SWEETIES candy store on Alma School. WOW! is all I can say to THAT store. Amazing warehouse FULL of every kind of candy imaginable. They even had a PEZ section. I had seen the collector's edition of Snow White and the seven dwarfs in New York for 30 dollars. I found it here for 20 at Bed, B and Beyond. SWEETIES had it too....same price. Hooray! The kids love to search for the dispensers around the house and when they find them ...they get the candy inside!!! I want to be a kid again. Grandpa and Grandma still have one more surprise up their sleeves with some candy from Denmark to be shared on Christmas Eve.
Here is the Christmas Cottage pattern....almost done. My favorite pattern so far....We sure did enjoy the Spinato's pizza. Another favorite for all of us...thanks to Dan for the tip-off on the best pizza in town.

Gingerbread

I found a darling cookie cutter on an "after- Christmas- sale" last year. 3-D sleigh. Made 18 of them for my women's group. It didn't hurt that they were filled with See's Candy, YUMMY!
The finished product! Smells SO GOOD! Better than any candle I have ever found....
We had our refreshments and then "cozied" up by the fire to learn about some of America's National Parks. Last year we studied about the Supreme Court.
What a blessing to have such wonderful women in my life........!

Christmas is coming.....

Just had to run outside and change out some of the frosted white bulbs we bought for Will's reception and put in the beautiful red ones for Christmas. My kitchen Christmas colors are red and white. I was so excited to go into Fry's for groceries last night and they were playing CHRISTMAS MUSIC! HOORAY!

Prelude to Will's Reception

Thanks to the Bella Life...I got this idea for hurricanes with candles. I took my old drink holders that we have had for years. Sprayed them black and the girls hot glued the copper fabric and roses with moss inside. We made fourteen of them. Perry and Sherman put them around the back yard for us. We had a fun family party the night before and got all the lights up in the trees.
Perry and Gina, once again, flew over a day ahead to help with the final preparations. He brought his new ipad and everyone had fun with it. He is an amazing artist, skilled in air-brushing, faux-painting, model ship building, plumbing, lighting....oh...the list is endless. He made me beautiful jewelry boxes out of stained glass. He used to be in the commercial art business. He worked on top-secret work for the Government with his technical drawings and as a young newly-wed going to classes at Art Center in L.A.... worked for an antiques/interior decorator and did all kinds of painting of furniture, etc. Perry is now an executive for Advanced Image Express and is one of the developers of Cloud2Mail.

Perry bought a cabin in 2007 and mailed us a key on a beautiful key chain with directions, etc. He is the kind of family that everyone should have. He and Gina also flew over for Dan's wedding and I will always remember the sight of Gina on her stomach gluing the rope lights to the pool decking for Joyce. Thanks guys!
Perry and Gina also helped to set up the tables when they were delivered. I LOVE my family. The musicians were so fun. I love live music so much better than a D.J. They fit perfectly in the Ramada. Keira was our photographer....her pictures will be so much nicer than mine, with my old camera LOL!
Simona loves black and white and picked this cake. We had a perfect evening except for that the caterer forgot some of the food.....they very kindly refunded us some money.

Kales' Birthday at Hogwarts

Here Harry Potter (Kale) opening his present from Grandpa and Grandma Poulsen. Legos Harry Potter set with Hagrid's Hut and Giant Spider....just what he asked for....HOW DID WE KNOW??????????
Here is the teacher for the Transfiguration Class (Hannah.) The kids loved acting out an animal for the others to guess. The party was held at Grandma Brinton's house.
Potions class...Keira was the teacher (that's my famous purple wig.) Each child had a notebook for class that was "stamped" at the end of class. These are all of Kale's school mates and Eli, of course.
Grandma Gigi pauses from photography to pose with Harry. We have an electrician here today fixing the pool light and putting in new fixtures outside for Will's reception next Saturday. Let the count-down begin......

Halloween

Sonia hosts BUNKO just once a year....the kids come over to have a "sleep-over" at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We decided, for the first time, to make a Haunted House of Gingerbread.
I found a recipe to make molding chocolate. The kids AMAZED me with their artistry especially in making these realistic-looking pumpkins and cute ghosts, Frankenstein head and a bat. Lara contributed the candy-corn cookies on the side of the house. Ryder and Kendra came over too.
Our version of "Children of the Corn." BTW ....I have not seen that movie...just heard ALL ABOUT IT. Happy Halloween everyone.

New York

Had a FABULOUS New York week-end. Main purpose: Attend Kristina and Kellen's wedding in the Manhattan Temple.
Kristina is a singer-dancer on the New York stage. She actually started a dancing club in Cardiff to off-set her education expenses. I played for her to sing at church and elsewhere. I also accompanied her dance recitals at the University of Cardiff. Good times! Here is our table...Kristina is a "detail" person. Every table was labeled as a part of New York...we were Central Park.
She designed this "faux" ceiling to hide the basketball scoreboard, etc... She had one friend with a sewing machine who sewed the seams and then they wired the fabric to the walls. I love purple too!
Here is the radiant bride. She finished her Doctorate in Bio Chemistry while we were there. Her husband is working on his Doctorate in Math. She asked us to be her "other" parents after we helped her through some rough times over there. She will fly in to Phoenix Sky Harbor...just to say "hello and I LOVE YOU." She regularly commutes between Cali and NY. Kristina is a professor at NYU and Columbia. She is one of the most humble, kind, loving, generous, thoughtful people I know. You would never know she is so talented and smart....you won't ever hear it from HER. People flew in from around the world to be with her that day...we felt honored to be there too.

Melvina and Elihu Vinson

Here's the marriage license for my Great grandfather Elihu Vinson and his wife, Melvina Elizabeth Tippet. These are my father's maternal grandparents.
Melvina and Elihu Vinson. My dad used to tell me stories of how he spent his summers with his Grandmother down in Missouri. She took him every Sunday to the Baptist church. He said she made the most wonderful breakfasts. Fried chicken and biscuits and the "works." She had been playing a game with some children when she was a child and was carrying a stick. She fell down and the stick poked her eye out. She married Elihu when she was 16 and her mother gave her signed permission, as is stated on the license. I am told he was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. I will have to research that. I am so surprised every time I find a picture that SOMEONE else has posted on Ancestry. This picture I found in a Jones family group.

Ancestry dot com

I love Ancestry.com ...I have been struggling to find anything more on the Peterson family. Then last night after I taught the Relief Society lesson for Enrichment on Scripture study and prayer....I came home and shortly after midnight...FOUND....my family in another family line. Pictures and EVERYTHING!!! I even found this picture above of my Great grandfather's brother Mathais Christopher Peterson.This is my great-great-grandfather Nelson (Nis) Peterson and his wife Maria. I have a picture of her by herself but had never seen HIM before...WHOOT!
Here he is in his old age and you can see that the picture was taken in Bradford, Illinois. After visiting Denmark in August ...now I know why they sometimes put that they were from Germany or Sweden....that's because Denmark had taken over part of Germany and Sweden back in the day.
Here is the Nis and Maria Peterson family. I NEVER knew they had two older daughters, Emma Marie and Louisa. I am pretty sure that is MY Great grandfather, Martin Christopher, standing between his parents. Do you think she is holding the Bible? Count em'....NINE children!

Emma Marie b.1861

Louisa b.1864

Lawrence Peter b. 1865

Mathais Christopher b. 1869

Henry Lawrence b. 1871

Martin Christopher b. 1874

August N. b. 1875

Nicholas b. 1879

Edward b. 1883

Here is the answer to my most recent prayers.......I have been blessed!!! I signed up for the series of classes at the Mesa Family History Library.

More of Denmark's Open Air Museum

There is a lot of German influence seen in the exteriors as well as the interiors. Some farmers left to go to sea and came back with many treasures from other parts of Europe. This can be seen in the furniture, wall paper and beautiful tiles on the walls.
Windmills were brought over from Holland.
A gardener was working nearby and stopped to point out some details. He seemed to really like the little white shutters above the door. I like that as well as the beautiful windows. Okay...I'm thinking Gingerbread House now...this is the beautiful Lace Makers Cottage and school of lace- making. Young girls would come and apprentice here.
They would sit in a circle and the glass orb hanging in the center of the room was to provide extra light through reflection of the light from the windows or from candle light by night.
Be still my heart.......this house has a set of BLUE WILLOW CHINA.....I have the same pattern in miniature.....this is definitely in my blood. There is a poem that goes along with the blue willow legend....

Two birds flying high,

A Chinese vessel sailing by.

A bridge with three men, sometimes four,

A willow tree, hanging o'er.

A Chinese Temple, there it stands,

Built upon the river sands.

An apple tree, with apples on,

A crooked fence to end my song.

The actual legend is of lovers running over the bridge to escape the young girl's father who disapproves of the match. His servants give chase over the bridge and shoot the lovers. Their spirits soar upward in the form of the two birds seen at the top of the pattern.

Open Air Museum Denmark

The open air museum contains homes, buildings and farms from all over Denmark. The buildings range from the 16th century right up to the 20th. This is the inside of a farmhouse with a large farmhouse table to seat the family and farm help. They use a lot of red and green. AAHHHHH CHRISTMAS COLORS!
Farm building.....what did I say about the RED and GREEN.....? Lots of lovely thatched roofs. It is similar to what we saw at the St. Fagan's museum in Wales. These museums all have free entrance to the public.
Darling little beds in the walls with doors to close for privacy. These were actually more like pocket doors......look at that.....more RED and GREEN!
Here is a bedroom with little shutter doors to close up the beds. I had to pose by the little cradle.
This is a farm building with storage below and sleeping quarters above for farm workers to sleep as a cooler spot in the hot summer time. Notice the grass and plants growing on the roof.

Denmark

We got a little city map at our hotel and starting our walking tour ...when we came upon what looked like a parade.....we followed and these guys led us right to Rosenborg Castle.
Rosenberg is in the heart of the city and houses the crown jewels and a whole lot of other priceless treasures. The Danes controlled Sweden and part of Germany at one point in time. They also controlled the Baltic Sea and therefore were able to import and export as well as charge all vessels a fee to pass through. The Kronborg Castle is the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet. I didn't have my camera for our bus tour of Fredericksborg Castle or Kronborg. We got to see the fabulous chapel of Fredericksborg and all the original Carl Bloch paintings. Our tour guide didn't know who the artist was. We told her and she didn't believe us....when she got downstairs and asked at the front desk....she found out we knew our stuff. All because the church got permission to use his paintings and they are seen in all of our church magazines and manuals.
Copenhagen....the Parliament buildings.
So many people were on bicycles....it reminded me of Beijing.
We got to Thorvaldsen's Museum with only ten minutes to closing. The kind man at the door let us in so I could see the Christus, he didn't charge us and I literally ran down the long corridor to snap this shot as well as the 12 apostles. Bertel was quite well off and had many rooms full of art objects that he had collected throughout his life. I was surprised at how dirty these statues were. It brought tears to my eyes to see it in person.

Garden Wedding

We have worked on the back garden for three days. Cleaned the pool filter and pond filter. Drained the ponds and back washed ( my favorite part) and mowed the lawns.
Raked all the pine needles and cleaned out the bushes (also full of pine needles.)
Scrubbed the bench, bridge and all the flagstone steps (bird bung!!!)
Now to chlorinate the water.....NO MORE FISH TO CLEAN UP AFTER......WHOOT!
Now its all ready for the wedding in less than 48 hours from now. Too bad we will be on a plane to London as it happens. Hope the bride and groom don't roast...they are getting married at 11am. I would have chosen the evening myself and had twinkle lights in all the trees and bushes. Oh well......I can do it my way for Simona and Will!