1... Cowboy Bear

This is IT! My first grandma Lukie ornament. It is a little cowboy bear, with flowers, from 1986.

2... Barbie Ballerina

BARBIE!

3... Braided Beauty

Maybe this is where my love of braids comes from, 1987.

4... Happy Rabbit

Circa 1988. That's right, pull the string and watch the ears move up and down!

5... Puzzled, Santa?

This one is all class. An old school wooden puzzle circa 1989.

6... Rockin' Angel

If she can wear footie pajamas and rock the pigtails so can I! Of course, in 1990, I probably was.

7... Hula Girl

... and she's holding some flowers! Ahhhh.

8... Mr. and Mrs.

Today is a two for one! It's 1991 and I got this cute little set of matching Mouse-a Claus'.

9... Angelic Clam

I don't know anything about this other than it's from 1992 and it is beautiful!

10...Angel Bell

This angel is music to my ears! Her feet dangle and ring just for me. Oh 1994, I love ya.

11... Giddyup

Is it 1994 already? I LOVE this little tiny saddle!



12... ?

See this ornament? No, you don't, because I can't find it!!! I'll tell you about it. It is supposed to be a little red nutcracker. If you are very curious you can referance day 17 and use your imagination...



13... Crystal Angel

This little beauty is my ornament from 1996. See that lovely purple color that she is? Yeah, that's my lovely birthstone color. JUNE ROCKS! 

14... Pudgy Eskimo

This, too, is from my grandmas trip to Alaska in 1997. It's a squishy Eskimo (Inuit ?)!



Bonus: None today, It's Sunday. So, I'm going to rest.

15... Alaskan Doll

In 1997 my grandma went to Alaska and picked this cutie up for me!

Bonus: My Christmas Spider! It's inspired by this German legend-

On Christmas eve, a long time ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year... Christmas day, the day on which the little Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner on the ceiling. They had fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

The Christmas tree was beautifully decorated. The poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the little Christ child's visit. Then the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could wait until everyone went to bed and then get a closer look.

When the house was dark and silent, the spiders crept out of their hiding place. When they neared the Christmas tree, they were delighted with the beauty of it. The spiders crept all over the tree, up and down, over the branches and twigs and saw every one of the pretty things.

The spiders loved the Christmas tree. All night long they danced in the branches, leaving them covered with spider webs. In the morning, when the little Christ child came to bless the house, he was dismayed! He loved the little spiders for they were God's creatures, but he knew the mother, who had worked so hard to make everything perfect, would not be pleased when she saw what the spiders had done.

With love in his heart and a smile on his lips, the little Christ child reached out and gently touched the spider webs. The spider webs started to sparkle and shine! They had all turned into sparkling, shimmering silver and gold.

16... My Honey Bear

For 1998 I got this little honey bear. I love the way the "honey" looks like it is dripping down!

Bonus: This is also from Tahnia, from Jackson Hole. The difference is... this one is MINE!

17... Emerald Nutcracker

We are into the 90's! 1999 to be exact.

Bonus: Remember when I said that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was Kevins only ornament? I lied. Tahnia gave this to him this year. It's from Jackson Hole Wyoming!

18... Gilded Maple Leaf

My grandma went for gold in 2000. This a real maple leaf! I think of this ornament as a cool piece of art as well as decoration.

Bonus: My best friend when I was little, Leslie, made this for me one Christmas. It is one of my most cherished ornaments, I just get so happy when I unwrap it every year.

19... Sideways Snowman

Ok, I seriously can't get this to rotate. Anyway, this is my 2001!

Bonus: Me again! 2nd grade.

20... Spiral Shell Angel

This little angel is from 2002 also...

Bonus: I picked this up on a trip to Utah. It's made from salt crystals from the Great Salt Lake

21...2002 Olympics

2002 was the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. My grandma got me an Olympic themed ice skate from one of the Olympic vendors that year. I store it in a lovely box because I love it so much. If you were unaware, I LOVE the Olympics!!!

Bonus: Ahhhh, I love this one! I got this in Coeur d'Alene (as you can tell). We bought this on our Honeymoon, It's our first ornament together!

22...Santa Shell

2003... That year Tahnia and I went to the Longbeach Kite Festival with my grandma and Uncle Tod. We got to play on the beach, make our own kites, and tour cool Lighthouses. I think I came away from that with 6-10 new kites, a sunburn, and this ornament from my grandma.

Bonus: This is Shalee in 1992. I made this in 1st grade, I'm pretty proud of that! Look at my use of color and texture, an artistic masterpiece.

23...Gilded Pine

It was 2004, a big year for me. I graduated High School... Well actually, that's all. That year I got this beautiful golden pine needle bough.

Bonus: This is for Kevin! He picked this out last year. This is the only way Kevin is represented on the tree, and isn't it cute!

24... Zebra

So, here we go! Day one of my Grandma Lukie advent.

I've decided to go in reverse chronological order, starting with the last ornament my grandma gave me. It's from 2005, it was decided that with my grandmas failing health this would be our last year. I remember going to a little Christmas shop in Utah. Inside I found a little tree decorated with African animals, and to my delight one of them was waving at me! Can you see his little arm up there in the picture waving?

In addition to my Grandma Lukie ornaments I aslo wanted each day to include a bonus ornament that has other special meaning to me. Since I did the last ornament my grandma gavce me I decided that it would be fitting to start with the last ornament I bought.

 It's from DISNEYLAND! can you tell? I bought it at the begining of November on a trip with Kevin to visit my sister-in-law Summer, and her family, in L.A.

The Advent

Merry Christmas!

Did you have any traditions growing up? The old pajamas on Christmas Eve? Milk and cookies by the fire for Mr. Claus? I love these! However, there is one special tradition that this year means more to me than ever. My Grandma Lukie ornaments.

Every year since I was born my Grandma Lukie bought me an ornament. It was always something that had special meaning for the year. It was either something from a place we went, she went, or had special meaning.

Since my Grandma Lukie passed away this last October I had an inspiration when putting up my Christmas tree. Over the next 25 days (as an advent of sorts), in honor of my grandma, I will feature a Grandma Lukie ornament. I love advents, and I love my grandma! This is perfect!



Just in Case..

Just in case you have been sitting on your couch contemplating the progress of Shalee's and Kevin's home improvement/remodel, I'll update you. You may have been asking yourself, what would they have decide to invest their hard earned money on? What is worth taking the time to improve?

BEHOLD!!!

No, we did not build Kevin a sandbox. Scruffy did some remodeling.

He got a hammock (far left corner)

A plant! To make it homey.

And a new hiding rock, lucky guy.



Mail-odramatic

There is nothing quite like pulling up and finding your mailbox MISSING!

I guess last night's wind storm blew over more than our patio chairs. My only question is what's your beef wind? Why chose to blow our mailbox under the giant trailer? Good thing Kevin is a real man and let me sit in the car whilst he retrieved it.

Do you think the mailman will know to deliver the mail to my kitchen table?  Also, if you were admiring the rusted beauty of our mailbox youare not alone. I too stare at it in wonder!

Thumbs Up

We have to celebrate life's little victories. VICTORY!!! I did it, I baked something good and I was so proud I let Kevin take some to work. Puffy, moist, chocolaty cookies. It also made seven batches, so I had A LOT of cookies to share.

Shall I share my reason for making these? I had 2 containers of Nutella on the brink of expiration. A travesty I could not endure. What's a girl to do? I Pinterested it of course. Here is the delicious looking picture that I found.

Click Pic to View my Pin if you like

Yum, right? So there I was, a Kitchenaid full of dough, a warm oven, and a desire to bake. I got to work and made these. There is a warm and gooey caramel center if you were wondering.

So, Kevin took a batch to his work the next morning. And guess what? I got a thumbs up... A thumbs up T-shirt! VICTORY!!!

A 2fer

It seems I've forgotten a couple posts,

so Imma Be (as the Black Eyed Peas would say),

squashing them together.

Tri-City Dust Devils

baseball

So, baseball is boring. But good food and good company never get old. Just kidding they both get old, but not me!  I'll be 25 from this year on.

OMSI/ 2 Year Anniversary

I would just like to say that the drivers in all of Oregon are terrible, TERRIBLE! As are the one way streets. But we survived and I can be proud to say other than that we had a fabulous time in Portland. We had the best burger ever ( and I'm someone who thinks a burger is a burger is a burger) at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I'm not kidding, even as I type this I just realized my shopping spree at H&M was TAX FREE, weeeeeeeeee!

Day two was a trip to OMSI (The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). Kevin went in his first Submarine and I went to outer space... I wish I went to outer space, instead I stood behind a plywood board and stuck my head through a hole.

Periscoping out the ladies... Hey!

Dive , Dive, Dive (that posture is horrendous)

Torpedos

Happy Anniversary to US!