Wreathes

I decided last year that I was going to make it a tradition to make a wreathe for my mom out of our tree trimmings. Luckily we had enough tree trimmings to make two wreathes so I did one for my mom, and one for Mikes Grandma (who just passed away) and his Grandpa. So I spent the better part of the day making these wreathes, while Mike worked on putting in a new faucet which was quite an adventure which I will talk more about in a minute. Anyways, I think the wreathes turned out fairly good. I am excited to go put them on graves tomorrow. It will be nice.
This first one is for Mikes Grandparents. His Grandma LOVED red. This one I made with more of a messy look than the one for my mom. I almost think I like the messy look better. It makes it look fuller.

This one I did for my mom. I figured since last year I did more of a Christmas themed one... this year it would be more of a winter theme with blues and whites. I am still not sure how I like this one compared to last year, but it works. My dad is thinking about buying solar powered LED lights to put on the wreathe. That would be neat!

Now back to Mike's adventure. Our faucet in the kitchen was old, and sucked. It was to the point where it leaked every time we turned it on so water would end up all over the counters. So we finally decided to give in and buy a new Faucet. We are not really big fans of white, but we have a white sink so it only seemed natural to get a white faucet. Besides the one we liked only came in white. Just as a side note, if I ever build a house.... it WILL NOT have white sinks. I cant stand white sinks!!

Anyways... so Mike spends a couple hours getting the new faucet installed. The process was going fairly smoothly except for a few minor glitches with a few cuss words involved. He gets it all installed and the water turned back on... and turns on the faucet. Nothing comes out. He messes with it and still cant get water to come out. He then took the spout part off (since the spout pulls out and turns into a sprayer) and the water is coming out fine. So there is a problem with the spout. He had commented when putting that part on, that it looked used. So anyways.... off to home depot we go with the spout and our receipt. Luckily they were nice and swapped out the spout for us. Mike did NOT want to take the entire faucet back off again. So we got the new one on.... and it works!! Yay! It would have been horrible to have to take off the entire thing again... so I was glad Home Depot was fine about swapping out the spout. So now we have a nice faucet that doesn't leak all over the counters!! So all in all... it has been a very productive day!

Family Christmas Party

We had our family Christmas Party tonight. It was fun. Prior to the party some of us got together and made an ornament in honor of my Mom. We then went to Wasatch Lawns and hung the ornament on their tree they have there. They were doing the Luminary Services which was really neat. They had paper bags with candles in them lit up all over the entire cemetery. It was incredible seeing all those lights. I am glad we got to go to that.

This is not the best quality but this is the ornament we made on the tree at the cemetery. We wrote her name on it and also "We Love You Mom!"

This is a view of her grave and you can see some of the lights behind it.

This is the best picture I have of the lights. They seemed to go on forever. It was a sea of lights.

We then had the party. It was fun. Kari brought pizza for everyone. Shelley and I were able to hand out our gifts which was fun. Next we did a white elephant gift exchange. It was crazy doing that with all the kids but lots of fun. We also all shared Christmas memories and fun stuff like that. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy being around my family.



It was tough though not having my mom there. I was really missing her today. I had a minor break down (Mike says it was a major breakdown) this afternoon but made it thru. Mike was kind enough to go to the cemetery with me prior to the Luminary Services so I could have some alone time. It helped to be able to stand there and just cry. I really do miss her. It seems as more time goes by the less I am able to be in denial. I can't just pretend she is well and fine in St. George. I have to accept the fact that she is gone. It is tough to comprehend that she is really gone. It hurts to think about it. I still need her. I really miss her and Love her.

New Tradition

So I am starting a new tradition. Every year we get a real tree for Christmas (since Mike has always had a real tree at his house and wants to carry on the tradition). Part of prepping the tree is cutting off some of the lower branches so it fits in the tree stand. I decided that every year I am going to take the tree trimmings and make a wreath for my moms grave.

I have never made my own wreath before. I went online and did some research on how to make them. It didn't sound to difficult. I then went to a craft store and bought the metal frame for it as well as a stand. I also bought some bows and ribbons.

It really wasn't too difficult. I worried that it wasn't bushy enough but as I put things on I think it made it look fuller. Plus it wasn't real even but the placement of the big center bow helped that out. Then I just played around with the different decorations. The pine cones came off my artificial tree that I had in my apartment. It came with a bunch of pine cones but Mike didn't like them on the tree so we took them off. I am glad I never threw them away. I have been able to use them for all kinds of things. I think they look good on the wreath.

The center ribbon I also thought I would personalize. So I wrote "Mom" on the center part of the bow. Then one of the ribbons says "Miss You" and the other says "Love You". I like how it turned out and I like that it is personalized. It was fun making it so I am sure I wont have problems keeping this tradition up. I am excited to go put it on her grave tomorrow.

Suzy Homemaker

I have been trying to keep busy. It helps to have things to do to keep my mind off things. I am quickly running out of craft ideas. I have gotten some cute things done though.

I painted a rock for the family Christmas party next Saturday. That is going to be my home made gift that I am suppose to bring. I decided to do a cat because it is an animal I am really not much of a fan of so I figured it wouldn't be so hard to give it away. Well it turned out really good... so I am kinda sad to see it go. I decided to buy a basket and sew a little pillow for the basket that the cat sits in. Its cute... at least I think so.

It took me a few days to paint but I got it done today and sprayed the clear coat and made the little pillow bed. I figured it would make it look more realistic laying in a cushiony basket. I also made some goodies today. Sadly there were some casualties but oh well. We still have a decent amount of candies. We made divinity, Fudge, Mints, Snowballs, and Cookies. At least it kept me busy today. The weekends are usually extra hard for me because I am not as busy as I am at work... so thats when I have to do my craft projects.

So sometime this week I am going to put together a wreathe for my mom. I went to the cemetery today and there were so many wreathes everywhere. I figured I want to make one. I actually have the trimmings from the tree when Mike put it up. I just need to learn how to turn it into a wreathe. I plan on looking it up on the net. I think it would be a neat tradition to make a wreathe from the tree trimmings every year for my mom. My biggest problem is finding where everyone buys the little stand for the wreathes. I need to check a floral shop probably. I am hoping to run over to her grave Friday morning before heading to St. George to put the wreath there. She needs one.

So I am doing ok with things. I actually go back and forth. Sometimes it doesn't seem real... and sometimes it is all too real. It is hard to me to fathom that I will not get to see her physically again... that I have my whole lifetime (although you never know how long that will be) to go without her. I miss her. I still feel like I need her in so many ways. I even found myself thinking today after ruining the Toffee that if my mom was here it wouldn't have gone wrong because she would have told me the correct way to do it.

I have been reading a book called "Motherless Daughters". It is a very good book. It talks about losing your mother and the feelings and emotions you go thru. It honestly puts all my thoughts and emotions into words. It is really a good book.

I am a bit nervous for St. George. I am worried that I wont be able to handle it. Once I am there, I wont be able to pretend she is still alive and well in St. George. Its going to be hard to look at the hallway where it all happened. I really hope I can handle it. I think I will just have a hard time during the day on Friday. Friday night Linda and Shelley should get there so it wont be so lonely. Saturday morning my dad will be back from California as well. I just hope I can keep busy enough that its not too bad.

Normally Mike and I leave Thursday night so we have all day Friday to play. Usually that is when we go Four Wheeling with my parents. I am really going to miss those four wheel rides. My mom kept talking about a neat ride they went on that had lots of old abandoned cars (Mikes favorite). She really wanted to take us on that ride but unfortunately she was sick the Friday we got there the last time. That was the beginning of the end. There is so much I am going to miss.

Anyways... now that I got all depressed I better end this. I am going to go watch "Are You being Served" so I don't have to think about things anymore.

P.S. Like the new background? I spent a couple hours putting it together. I love it! I had to get rid of the fall theme I had going on and I figured if I did a winter theme I could keep it till February.