Christmas Party & Art

Our ward does some pretty awesome Christmas Parties and this year they asked Steve and I to help with the publicity. Steve promptly went home and commissioned a Christmas painting from Jessie. It turned out beautiful, as did the party. Steve photo shopped some words on it and turned it into a flyer. 

She wasn't done painting. Working through a major artist block she came home from seminary one day really excited and sat down and started drawing. She even asked me to hold my hands "just so" and took several pictures of them. She then went to work and came up with this masterpiece for her Grandma Blanding's Christmas present. 

Jessie hard at work.

Jessie hard at work.

Mayno with her painting.

Mayno with her painting.

Roof Leak

With the amount of rain we have been having an old leak which was fixed just after the new roof was put on, started leaking again. So during a huge downpour, Steve and Matt climbed up on the roof to try to stop it from leaking. Unfortunately it didn't work and we had to call the roofing company. It still is leaking.

Matt and Steve trying to fix the roof

Matt and Steve trying to fix the roof

My Messy Piano

For years I dreamed of having a beautiful grand piano in my home. Steve helped that dream come true. I still dream about that piano. I dream that the sun is reflecting off the high polish of the black finish. Unfortunately that dream is not coming true. Instead I have a piano that is dusty, covered in fingerprints, sometimes the keys are a bit sticky and there are always piles and piles of music on the cover. So much for dreaming. 

But really my dream has come true. The dream of musical children. I may not hear it all the time, but I see it when I go into my living room and see this:

This piano is well used. Four of five Christmas books are out because the kids want to play and sing. Three ring binders full of song Mr. Hirsh has composed or written out for them. Jessie's piece she composed herself. A few saxophone books Matt hasn't put away. Hymn books with broken spines because they have been used. Even pieces that I though we had hidden from the kids are found in those piles. Those piles means my piano is getting used and used a lot! And I love it. Chris even figured out how he could spend an extra four months in piano lessons while going to college. He was upset when we put together the next semester's schedule and couldn't swing time for his piano lessons. 

I'm glad I have a messy piano! May I always sit down to sticky keys, piles of music and an often out of tune piano. 

Christmas 2015

Christmas was kind of low key this year. Jason came home for the break and Kray and Alysia joined us for the day. We had a delicious prime rib dinner on my wedding china (maybe the third time we have ever eating off of those). Then watched A Christmas Story, read How the Grinch, sang songs and finally went to bed. Christmas morning Kray and Alysia joined us and we opened presents and went to Grandma Blanding's house. We visited with family and had a delicious dinner and the highlight was talking to Mike! He is doing well in Panorama City and loves being a missionary. Grandma's dog had puppies so we didn't get to see much of her.