Valentines Decorating Fun

02/14/2015 by Pattie Leave a Comment

I’ve been remembering family fun times I’ve had over the years, as I dragged out all of the Valentines pink bins a few days ago. I have the old house all decked out for the big day. It is always fun for me to get out the pink bins of February and get reaquainted with my sweet hearts and cupids and roses and pink junk. And I think about times we’ve shared as a family, and all the love I have in my heart for all of the people in my life. And I think of how lucky I am. Remembering Family Fun Times; One of my many happy places spent with my kiddos caught in pictures. Here is little Danny, tubing in the mountains of California, probably near Big Bear.

Here in Utah in the dead of winter we usually need a little perk this time of year. Surprisingly though, this winter has been so mild and beautiful. I got on the freeway today at 8:00 in the morning and the sun was shining so brightly I couldn’t even believe it was February. It is like spring weather here, and I am LOVING IT!
I love you, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

I found a few fun Valentines things to get my little grandkids, who live all over the place. I have 6 of them now. And I went to the post office to send my Chicago peeps some little doo dads. I just HAD to get my son Devin these little Simpsons characters I found at the dollar store. He was such a funny Simpsons nut when he was in middle school. He could repeat literal lines of some of the shows, word for word. He had a Simpsons book we got him one Christmas or birthday. And he pored over that thing for months!! So cute. He’ll get a chuckle.
The Simpsons were a lot of fun to watch back in the day.
Remembering Family Fun Times; making Valentines sugar cookies is always a favorite of mine.

I love making Valentines Sugar Cookies with my family.[/caption] I got my little granddaughters Disney Princess and Minnie Mouse pencil sharpeners. I know they all love those in school cuz I see kids with them in my classroom. The teachers hate them because they open unexpectedly and the shavings all land on the floor. But I know the kids LOVE sharpening their own pencils at their desks.
So too bad, teachers! haha. Minnie Mouse and Disney Princess Pencil Sharpeners for my 4, 6, and 7 year old granddaughters.

I have so many memories of fun times with all of my children through the years. In my mind’s eye I can see them all laying on our giant trampoline (before trampolines were popular we had one, the only one in our neighborhood in fact). I had sent away for it from San Francisco, some trampoline company. We had so much fun on that thing. The boys would put the hose on it in the summer and a swimming pool under it and jump really hard so they landed down in the pool, and the hose would splash all over them as they jumped, letting go a spray of cool water all over anybody nearby. I have a picture of our whole family lying in a circle of heads in the middle of that trampoline. I think about how much fun we had on that thing for years.

Remembering Family Fun Times this Valentines Day.

I’ve got my table and buffet decorations all up. I remember taking them so many times to a place called Mother’s Beach near Seal Beach, California. There was a playground at the top of the beach, and there was, well, a beach with waves and water that was safe inside a kind of manmade little jetty. The kids LOVED that beach, and we spent many happy hours there eating our picnics in the afternoons after school or in the summertime. I’d bring a stack of magazines to read lazily in the sun. And every 15 minutes or so I’d have to chase down the beach to collect my 2 year old, who had a tendency to run away in a crowd. It was fun. And I have happy memories of going to the beach with my kids.
Remembering Family Fun Times…..Here’s Buffet Decorations for Valentines Day.

Sometimes we’d go to Bolsa Chica beach and make a fire in one of the firepits at dinnertime with friends. We’d roast corn in a big pot and cut up a watermelon and do hot dogs on a stick. Fun times at the beach. Newport Dunes was one nice place we did the dreaded camping. You can see from the picture below, that I probably liked this place better than a rustic woods. But I still remember my baby, at the time, cried all night long and we were whispering feverishly trying new ideas to try to keep him quiet. We were with a group of neighbors and friends we didn’t want to keep awake. But I still remember all the kids having a blast, sleep or no sleep. Kids are like that. Remembering Family Fun Times. Newport Dunes private manmade beach. We camped there I think 3 times over the years. A super fun resort!

I remember going camping at Yellowstone and at Newport Dunes and the Redwoods and even in Utah. I absolutely hated camping. I still do to this day. But the kids always loved it. And my hubs was such a great camper. He always made everything fun. And he would do all the work. I have never put a tent up by myself in all these years. I AM a bad camper. I admit that. 😀
Hiking and Touring a few summers ago seeing lizards, mountain goats and various flora and fauna.

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Marisa and Meg finding a squirrel or a chipmunk or something foresty.

I describe my worst camping experience at Yosemite. We ended up in a 12 x 12 “parking lot” campground on Memorial Day with campfire smoke EVERYWHERE so you couldn’t even breath, and lots of beer drinking campers surrounding us, and my 4 kids covered in mud running and riding their bikes around with our friends who had 7 kids. That was Yosemite. All I remember from that trip were yellowjackets everywhere and trying to keep my baby clean who just wanted to crawl around and get dirty. And all the people everywhere you turn. Yuck.

Yosemite and the Redwoods and Sequoia, we went to all of these, and I didn’t love camping at any of them! lol. But the kids did.

I’m thinking of the fun trips we went on where I actually had a blast. Probably everybody’s favorite was Hawaii. I’d beg, borrow and steal money to do that again with my family. We had 2 teenagers when we went and 1 middle schooler and 1 in elementary. Remembering Family Fun Times; Hawaii with the family was probably everybody’s favorite vacation spot. It was relaxing to me too. I loved it. But not as much as the hubs. He still talks about surfing Hawaii someday.
The Dole Pineapple Plantation maze and tasting the Dole Pineapple Whips. Yum. That was a lot of fun.

The plane flight was fun too I remember the boys watching the in flight movie thinking it was cool.[/caption] We had a great time seeing all the sights like the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Dole plantation where we went in the maze and had pineapple whips. And then the blowhole on Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor, and eating crab and lobster for dinner. But the best part for me was everybody buying surf shirts and pooka shell necklaces at a little seaside tourist shop on the beach. That was a fun memory.
Pearl Harbor tour and the U.S.S. memorial there.

Another fun trip we had was going to see Niagara Falls in New York, and going to the Mormon Pageant and seeing Donny Osmond acting as Samuel the Lamanite. After the spectacular outdoor show he was signing pictures of Jesus with his autograph. My middle schooler asked why he was doing that. We all just laughed. Why was he doing that? It was really funny. We drove down the east coast stopping in Philadelphia to see American history sights there. Then on to New York City to see the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers (before September 11th happened) and some museums, and the Empire State Building of course. Maids of the Mist at Niagara Falls getting sprayed and screaming at the top of our lungs is one of my all time family favorite moments, though.

Remembering Family Fun Times. Maids of the Mist boat tour on Niagara Falls.

Everybody wears a rain poncho because you get soaked with water coming at you on 3 sides.[/caption] On that same trip we then down to Washington D.C. and saw the Smithsonian and all the sights there, including the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The kids all went into the gift shops and got little momentos. I still have giant silver and copper coins I got for use in my classroom. We still have metal Statues of Liberty we got from New York, and Liberty Bell bronze pencil sharpeners, and little mini canons we got in Philly after we watched a historical reenactment in Philly. They are still hanging around here somewhere.

Statue of Liberty trinket.

Being there was a lot of fun. I’d go back anytime.
Gallery Wall of fun memories , and with glittery red hearts and greenery in the cones.

When it is a holiday or a Super Bowl or New Year’s Eve, we get invited to parties by good friends we have. But the funny thing is, I always just want to hang out with my kids. We joke about going on their vacations with them, like tag-a-longs, Like Everybody Loves Raymond, buying the house next door to them. haha. Wouldn’t that be SO FUN! not really. I know what you are thinking.
Ball of Roses hanging on the great room door for Valentines Day.

We never know if they are serious when they invite us on their vacations. We’ve been invited to Disneyland from each one of our kids. But we’ve never gone…..yet. John imitates us going along on the cruise with my daughter’s family and her husband’s brother’s family, when they invited us. He uses his geek, nasaly voice and says “Hi guys! Here we ARE! Your sister-in-laws PAAAAREEEENTS!!” We both just chortle and roll our eyes. How bad would THAT be? But I would love to tag-a-long secretly. And someday I actually will. geek that I am…..

Kitchen Buffet covered in Valentines junk.

One time recently I dragged them all along with me on my trip to Lake Powell for the first time. All my kids had been there. And my hubs had gone multiple times with the boy scouts. I wanted to go. So we went to Zions and Lake Powell and I bought tickets for everybody to go see Aladdin at Tuacahn Outdoor theater in St. George. We had a really fun time seeing and hiking to Rainbow bridge, going to the Dam tour, and eating out every night. I would do that again, anytime. Someday, maybe in a houseboat. But for now, it was fun to stay in a hotel and swim in the pool.

Cliff jumping and swimming at Powell. We found our own little private pool.

Remembering Family Fun Times; Rainbow Bridge hike was fun too. Hot, but fun

. Jeff and Josie at Zions.

Touring through Zions National Park.

The whole family. Remembering family fun times this Valentines Day.

Devin and Caitlin at Zions.

Boating on Lake Powell.

Lake Powell was probably one of my most recent favorite vacations spots I have loved going. It is a magnificent place full of beauty that just mesmerizes you. And going through Zions National Park on the way to Lake Powell is the way to go. You get two great places in one easy trip. I want to go again soon. This summer Tuacahn has Beauty and the Beast playing. The girls would love it.

Tuacahn Outdoor Theater in St. George to see Aladdin.

Tuacahn’s Aladdin with real live camels was one of Tuacahn’s best shows ever.

Anyhoo, as I think of all the people and places I’ve loved this Valentines Day, the kiddos and the grandkids, my hubs and 4 kids, fill my heart with love and happy memories.

I wish them all the happiest of Valentines Days!

In my life, I love you MORE.

Love Yourself More this Valentines Day

01/21/2015 by Pattie Leave a Comment

Take this test Strong Life Test

I decided to join the book club in my neighborhood. I tried once before but I didn’t like the books they all chose to read. I’m not a Jane Austin fan like everybody else. I think her books are boring and too provincial for my taste. I like to read biographies and non-fiction more than any other genre anyway. So I thought it was interesting that this non-fiction book I’m reading now, had a Strength Finder test in chapter 7. I love taking these kinds of tests to show my strongest traits.

I love the song “TRY” song by Colbie Caillat HERE .

So it was a happy surprise to find out my two top strengths are CREATOR and TEACHER. Go figure. And the quiz said I probably mostly read non-fiction and that whether I write, draw, paint, sing, make presentations, or bake, I am drawn toward making things and creating things. Maybe this is why I have 5 different blogs. This hit the nail squarely on the head for me. Take the test above. It is fun!

We need to love ourselves more and be less hard on us!

I’m finishing the book Find Your Strongest Life this 3 day weekend. It says since I’m creative, I should walk around with a notebook in my hands, to jot down my creative ideas. haha. I actually already do that in some shape or form. I talk to Siri, I write stuff down in my blog, and I take notes. lol.

Women tend to be less happy as they age according to statistics. And statistics don’t lie.

The book talks about how when they did recent research on Women, and their descriptions of how happy they are in life, the bar graph had a downward trend as women got older! What the heck! But, it ran totally the opposite for men, as they have an upward swing as they get older. This is intriguing to me and a little upsetting too!

Why do we always feel like we are not good enough? We ARE!

I wondered why, in this day and age, with so many choices and so much freedom and economic ability we as women have, why would our feelings of contentment be lessened? It doesn’t really make sense.

But, as the book details, it has something to do with all the myriads of choice women DO have, and the judgements we make of ourselves, and the judgement we feel from others, and then there is always the guilt we feel. We do that to ourselves a lot as women. Men don’t feel as much guilt, nor do they feel so judged, like women do. That is a big part of it, according to the research the authors did.

We need to love ourselves more….and guilt ourselves LESS!

I’ve decided this year to not feel guilty anymore. And to apologize more and faster. So I don’t feel guilty. lol. Seriously though, I remember when my son Danny died in a car accident. I felt guilty for letting him drive to school that day when he woke up late and was going to be late. I had a premonition to just let him sleep in instead of waking him. Who knows why I wouldn’t wake him up though. But I felt that premonition. It was like a sixth sense. So I felt guilty.

I felt guilty looking at his math packets left on the kitchen table that he was trying to finish for credits that he needed to graduate. I felt guilty that he only reached Life Scout as I looked at all the merit badges he had earned, trying to reach his Eagle Scout. He had always hated scouting though. I pushed him just to get him to achieve life scout! So why feel guilt? Why do we do these things to ourselves? Feeling guilty after the fact is just silly. It was just sad. Especially on top of every other emotion I was feeling at the time. But that is what we do. We are SO hard on ourselves!

Every year I have my classroom kids write about what they love about themselves at Valentines time. We need to love ourselves more!

I’m not feeling guilty anymore for my messiness, my creativeness, (which causes my messiness) and my bluntness. It is the person I am. Why do women always over-guilt themselves? That is why we probably have less happiness as we get older as a whole. Although I don’t think I personally am less happy. We do have so many duties as women. I think more so than my mother’s generation had. She had the card club and the coffee klatch, and didn’t work outside the home. In my generation, our work is never done, We have a lot more of it, and we make it seem like what work we do is never done well enough! We need to stop doing that. We are enough!

Don’t let the storms of life color your world. Don’t try so hard.

I listened to this song on the radio called “Try” yesterday morning on the way to work. It is a great song by

Colbie Caillat

TRY is all about this stuff.

“You don’t have to try, try, try”….she sings over and over again. “You just have to “Get up, get up” and “When you’re all alone do you like YOU? You don’t have to change a single thing, you don’t have to bend until you break, you don’t have try so hard”.

She knows the heart of a woman. We think we have to be everything to everybody and be perfect, and it just isn’t so. We need to relax a little more and be maybe a little more tuned in to our own wants and desires. I know for me just going shopping with a $20.00 bill sometimes makes a bad day better. (I call it retail therapy with a little chuckle lol) Chocolate always helps too. And maybe going to get a favorite movie dvd and watching it up in my bedroom with some popcorn. Sometimes just going to a bookstore or the library and getting some books helps refresh my world view. Whatever it is, that time spent alone, helps me feel better about life, if I am getting the guilts or feeling overwhelmed, or just not very happy.

We need to give ourselves days off like that once in awhile. Especially if we are in the young mother stage, where you get used up and feel unappreciated a lot. My those clean toilets don’t really ever sing your praises now do they? No they don’t unfortunately!

Notice more of the delightful things in life that you miss everyday. This balloon launch was just down the street one summer day.

So take some time to take a leisurely bath, take some ME time, and find out why you feel guilty sometimes, or figure out a fun thing you can look forward to and set it up on your calendar.

We went to a party the other night and a counselor friend of mine was telling everybody research he’d read on happiness. He said there were basically 3 things we need to be happy. And it was 1) feel passion about the work you do 2) feel passion about something coming up that you look forward to (plan fun things) and 3) give back in some way (give service to others).

Those were the 3 things researchers have come up with. And they make sense. If you are unbalanced in any of those 3 you feel low. Some people give too much service and they get drained. Some people hate their work and don’t want to get up in the morning. Some people never plan anything fun and never have new experiences to look forward to. It has to be a balance of the three.

Remember to give back or give service to others once in awhile. That always fills my bucket back up. Unless my bucket is empty. It is a fine line, that giving to yourself before you can give it away to others.

So I am taking away from that that I need to appreciate myself and my work that I do. And I need to plan more fun stuff. (I already do that though, don’t I, maybe too much! ) I think they need to add 1 more thing to the list. Don’t put guilt trips on yourself for things that you are not all that great at, but appreciate your gifts instead.

Don’t beat yourself up about things that are not perfect in your life. “You don’t have to try, try, try”. It is a losing battle this guilt thing we do to ourselves. Accept your weaknesses and just forget about it. Make your strengths the thing you feel good about.

Nobody is good at everything. Nobody is perfect. Nobody is always put together. And nobody’s kids are perfect or good at everything either. We don’t lead lives of perfection and we shouldn’t be seeking after it I don’t believe. I think an escape to the cabin and skipping church once in awhile does me good. And although I feel guilty just saying that, I’m going to overlook it, and smile, remembering the good times we had there.

Find things that you love and make more of your focus on those things this year. Find the joy along the way more.

Take the test above. And focus on something about yourself that is a strength or that you love about yourself, a talent, a gift. And appreciate what you are good at. Go out and be creative, be a leader, do your craft, or be a fantastic teacher, or whatever your gift is. And give back a little something, and plan your calendar so there are happy road trips and getaways, or concerts or plays or whatever you love.

I’m going to try doing more of it this year. That is my goal. Less guilt. More creativity, more planning for fun, and a little more giving back. More joy in the journey. More happiness.

Hanging out at Bear Lake….happy times.

Happy Martin Luther King Day

01/20/2015 by Pattie Leave a Comment

I have kindergarteners this year. So I wanted to do a little bit of the activities I’ve done in the past but just make them a little simpler. My Martin Luther King posts from the last few years are HERE and HERE. These little guys did such a good job. I told them some of the stories of the civil rights movement, and nobody thought anything sounded AT ALL FAIR. It is amazing the adults of the time thought things were when 5 and 6 year olds can tell they weren’t.

They did a great job writing some Dr. King quotes and phrases for Martin Luther King Day.

I will put their art and writing up on the bulletin board! It is awesome!

I can’t believe these kiddos are only 5 and 6 years old.

I told the kids all about how blacks had to ride in the back of the bus, drink out of their own drinking fountains, and be refused service in restaurants. Nobody thought it was fair at all!

I told them about the fire hoses that were sprayed on people who were marching peacefully with signs because they didn’t like the unfairness of it all. They didn’t think that was very nice either.

I told them about the marching people did in large groups holding signs. They wanted to change things for blacks. It wasn’t fair the way things were. The key was that the marches were peaceful. Dr. King helped people to dissent without violence. Boy do we need some of Dr. King’s influence these days!!!

So maybe Dr. King day comes at a good time in our country. America needs to feel more unified and peaceful after the recent events in Ferguson and other places in our world. There is so much violence!

Show that you care……what a great sentiment!

Dr. King would be proud of these students who really got his message.

This one kind of resembles Al Sharpton! How did that happen? lol

I thought this one turned out great too.

We had a good day learning about a Great American Hero. Dr. King lives on even though he was assassinated.

Treat people kindly. That is one of his messages and a great take away from today’s discussions.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

We will try to follow his example this week and this month and always!

Martin Luther King day is this coming Monday, January 19th.

I like this writing paper I found on TPT as a freebie. I like the dotted lines for my little kinders to help them form good habits and proper handwriting. It is HERE at TPT. There were some cute coloring pages also.

Martin Luther King, Jr. art and writing for K-2. We read the poem and wrote phrases from it in Kindergarten today.

I liked these activities for Dr. King Day too. Check them out HERE at TPT. Another cute one with an “I Have a Dream” header for a bulletin board or a shared writing is HERE from TPT. A cute wordsearch is HERE too. Some writing stationery is HERE. All are freebies.

Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream quote was a springboard for writing our dreams for the world.

DIRECTED DRAWING of Dr. King…….INSTRUCTIONS: I do it on the board then turn and walk around to see who needs help. Some kids will have to try the head a few times to get the right shape. The directed drawing I did was easy. Tell the kids to use a brown, black, red and blue crayon only. Tell them to watch you do it first and listen carefully. Then they do what you did and WAIT for you to go on to the next instruction. Tell them to color in light even strokes using the side of the crayon. 1. First draw a large oval with the brown crayon. Find the middle of the oval and Add a nose that is like 2 small mountains or a capital M with a C on the left and a backwards C on the right. NO top on the nose. 2. Then in between the top of the head and the nose draw in 2 black eyes dark and round, but leave a little circle of white in the very middle. Then draw a half-circle arch above each eye in black. 3. Then above the eyes draw 2 bushy black eyebrows kind of like a caterpillar. 4. Then under the nose draw bushy black mustache like a caterpillar. 5. Then in between the nose and chin we will do a mouth kind of shaped like a rounded-at-the-bottom heart. Color it in light brown with a hint of light red. 6. Then put 2 ears on each side of the head even with the nose and color them in with brown. 7. Then use black and make circular swirls of black hair all around the head like a short afro cut. 8. Then draw a suit coat with a V neck in black but then color it in with blue, in an even direction. Be sure it is BLUE and not aqua. 9. Inside the v neck draw a red tie kind of diamond shaped. Then draw a small black W right under the chin, so it will look like a white shirt collar. 10. Then add some fireworks shaped like a plus sign and an X in blue and then go over it also in red. 11. Then put the name on top Dr. King. 12. Older kids can also draw an American flag on a pole.

Martin Luther King was a great American leader. We have so few that really stand out these days don’t we. I hope all the kids catch a glimpse of him on T.V. this weekend. Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Kool-Aid Playdough Recipe

01/15/2015 by Pattie Leave a Comment

Making Playdough out of Kool-Aid is so easy, I’ll never buy it again!

I had bought a pile of Kool-Aide packets to make playdough for my classroom. So my granddaughters each chose some colors (flavors!) and I mixed up a batch in about 2 minutes! Seriously, I’m not Kidding! It was FAST!

There are only 5 ingredients in Kool-Aid Playdough besides the water……

My Granddaughters picked out their favorite Kool-Aid flavors for the Playdough and I mixed up a batch of white. We divided it into bowls, and added the Koolaid last. It worked perfectly!

It took me about 2 minutes to mix up the Kool-Aid Playdough! Super EASY PEASY!

It is soooooo super quick and easy. It calls for the playdough in the mix before adding the hot water, but I wanted to divide the one batch into 4 colors. So I experimented with it and tried to add the Kool-Aide after it was all mixed up. It works!

Kool-Aid makes great Playdough….it smells so good!

Here were the colors we chose today for our Kool-Aid Playdough.

Do you think they’re getting excited to start mixing them up? Oh yes they were!

This is the before picture….nobody has rainbow fingers yet. 😀

It worked fine except for one thing; all our fingers were rainbow colors! It dyes you fingers pretty good, but after a few washes you can’t even tell. I should’ve taken a pictures of our rainbow fingers! What fun we had! And the playdough smells yummy too!

Meg chose Orange and Cherry-Red for her Kool-aid Playdough!

Marisa chose purple-grape and blue-raspberry Kool-Aid for her Playdough.

KOOL-AID PLAY DOUGH RECIPE

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 pkg kool-aid (unsweetened)
2 tablespoons cream of tarter
Mix together then add in:
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons oil

Mix and knead for 4 minutes or until cool.
We mixed it all in the Mixmaster for 4 minutes
then separated it into 4 bowls. Then we dumped
the Kool-Aid into each bowl so we’d get 4 colors!
Such a great rainy day activity.


Make some soon!

Why Amazon Echo and Superman are COOL!

01/03/2015 by Pattie Leave a Comment

We’ve been having a lot of fun with this VERY NEW and VERY COOL musical toy my hubs got me for Christmas. It just came in the mail on Friday. It is called the Amazon Echo. We can talk to it just like the iphone’s Siri. It answers your questions in a fun way. It can save your grocery list and help your kids spell their spelling words. But the best part is that it will play you your favorite music. It can be left on your kitchen or desk. It will play anything you feel like listening to. It will start and stop when you tell it to. It is amazing! Check it out!

Dylan in his Little Superman outfit. He’s the apple of my eye.

Superman taking off as he is rather camera shy…..snicker….

I am in wonder of modern technology. I am living the life of the Jetsons (a childhood cartoon…lots of robots and spaceships). Marty McFly was right in Back to the Future. It is not out yet in general distribution. We won an invitation lottery and were invited to purchase it for half off the $199 price. What a great gift. I love my new Amazon Echo. It’s the bomb.

Taking Down Christmas Makes Me Sad

12/31/2014 by Pattie Leave a Comment

I really don’t like it when I have to take down the Christmas decorations. It is so pretty in the house during the holidays. It takes me a solid week to get all 15 of my bins spread out around the entire house. And it takes a day to put it all away. That doesn’t seem right somehow.

The coffee table in the den is cute little snowmen.

My kitchen table is all snowmen decor too. They make me giggle.

My kitchen is red and white for the holidays. Mrs. Claus and her cupcakes and the Nutcracker music playing just make me smile.

I hated putting away all this darlingness.

Dessert buffet. I forgot to take pictures after we had all the brownies, cookies, cream puffs and cupcakes on these platters. bad me.

Drink station at the holiday parties. We have sodas and lemonade sparkling cider and all kinds of yummy things.

My light up snowman wall hanging I keep up all January. My little grandson loves looking at it.

I love this little snowman above on the left. He changes colors from green, to red, to blue. It’s fun to watch him when it is dark in the entry hall. He gets to stay all January.

I luckily have a few bins full of January decor. Otherwise the place would look really depressing and sparse. I have lots of snowflakes, snowmen and some blue and white glittery ornaments I save to put in glass jars for January. And I have my light up snowman from Christmas I leave up all month long too. He is cute.

I have pictures in cute holiday frames I only put out for one month a year. I hate putting this one away, it is so cute of my oldest son and his little family.

Some more guest tables I had set up. I had cute Santa chairbacks for this card table. The little kids all wanted to sit here in the Santa chairs, even though I had 2 little kiddie tables! lol.

Advent Tree filled with gingerbread man lollypops for each day of the month leading up to Christmas.

I set up lots of tables when I had a family dinner party recently. This was the little kiddie table. I had two of them. I brought some projects and crayons from my classroom so the kids could color gingerbread houses.

Here’s the gingerbread houses and the cute, kid’s table.

The only nativity I put out anymore is the unbreakable one. If I put out any of my others, somebody loses a head or a leg. This year it was a wise man. Too bad I wasn’t the wise woman who left him back in one of the Christmas bins.

Stairs going up to my bedroom. I will miss these cute, long-legged mice smiling at me on the way up to bed.

It is so easy for me to forget the reason for the season. Here is another unbreakable nativity my son Devin brought me back from Armenia, where he served a mission.

I have tried hosting parties for family and friends always hoping that everybody has a good time; but I’ve learned that some people won’t have a good time no matter what you do, and that isn’t your fault. You just try to enjoy yourself and hope that everybody else does the same. But it is kind of out of your control.

Another one of the adult tables set up for dinner. I loved the glittery runner and holly berry placemats and simple Christmas colors and decor here.

And I have good memories of My daughter playing Christmas carols and us all singing along with her.

I have learned not to have huge and high expectations for Christmas gifts and all the drama it can cause. If people like what I gave them good, but if not, I just leave the receipt at the bottom of the box and they can return it and buy something else. And I don’t mind at all. I used to do that when my mom bought me clothes I didn’t like. And it was fun to go shopping after Christmas was over.

Another dinner party table set up. This one has Santa placemats and gingerbread-men salt shakers and candleburner.

Some of these snowmen decorations I will leave up through January. I have 2 light blue bins to house my January decorations. I got them out today and started the taking down Christmas process.

Stockings hung on the mantle. I will miss these pretty ones my daughter made herself for her family. They are staying with us this month waiting for their house to finish getting built. It has been a wonderful time to be able to see and play with my grandkiddos daily.

All these end tables will go back to being just blah looking after taking down Christmas is done. Sniff.

My cute kitchen counter. I will miss the bright and happy Santa stuff.

And I will think back fondly on having The extended family doing the nativity and Christmas caroling together with them.

I have tried to appreciate the little things this year. I have loved seeing little messages my 7 year old granddaughter leaves on my office whiteboard every time she is in there. It has gotten to be such a funny interchange. I look forward to seeing any new thing she has written. Sometimes they are generic funny thoughts. Sometimes they are messages to grandpa. Sometimes they are notices of things coming up in her classroom, like the time she was worried about a fire drill and the screeching alarm that made her nervous. (snicker) And sometimes they are all for me. Lucky me. I love her so. This particular one her little sister wrote to her, sharing the love. So sweet.

So even though Taking Down Christmas makes me kind of sad, I have little gems like this to brighten up my day. And the little things I’ve seen and experienced remind me of how good it is to celebrate the holidays. I know if I only lean in a little more often, I will see the little gems that are happening all around me. Things that make me smile like these things do.

Great Grandpa and great grandson enjoying a photo op (NOT) … and there are TWO WHOLE generations in between! Someday this photo will be even more precious to me than it already is.

Cousins enjoying their matching bigwheel trikes. There was a third cousin missing this day. But someday they’ll all be together again riding them.

And these little gems, these little moments in time just make the little letdown of putting away Christmas, a little bit better to me. Things just look a little brighter after all. Here is all 6 of my grandkids blowing bubbles on the deck outside one day during the holidays.

And I won’t soon forget the Monday night we all went to Hogle Zoo for Zoolights with the entire family. It will be one of my favorite memories this holiday season. And those are the things I will think on, as I am taking down Christmas.

Putting up January….snowflakes and snowmen.

Not quite as cute as all the Christmas pizzaz……

But winter is here….with all that snow and so I will embrace it I guess. Snowmen make it more bearable….:D

Now the front entry doesn’t look AS CUTE as it did previously….but it’s filled with January finds…..snowflakes, snowmen and cute little grandbaby pictures in January frames.

Changing out all the red and green for blue and white……

And January placemats, snowmen, and snowflakes……

I wish you all a very happy New Year celebration. Think about all the fun you had this week and month. We are so lucky and blessed now, aren’t we? Happy New Year!

3 Styles of Paper Snowflake Making for Kids

12/26/2014 by Pattie Leave a Comment

The other day at school the 4th graders had hung giant snowflakes made out of 6 pieces of white, copy paper, all over the front office foyer. It was so beautiful! I got on google last night and looked it up. And look what I found! This is the coolest, easiest snowflake to make ever. And so I am making these to hang around my house week when I take down Christmas and the house looks dull and dreary. They look pretty Easy.

Snowflakes made from paper. Super easy but fun for the kids on a snowy day. We didn’t want to go outside on this cold, wintery Utah day. So we stayed inside and played instead.

This GIANT snowflake was from the Scholastic site and tutorial is HERE. At my school these are lining the ceiling in the front office foyer. They are soooooo beautiful! Kids made them too! So cool! And they are just made from 6 pieces of copy paper! Super CHEAP decoration for winter!

Q. What kinds of math do Snowy Owls like?
A. Owlgebra. Haha. I love a good joke.

I found many tutorials for these giant snowflakes on the web. One Tutorial with pictures is HERE at Paper Zone Blog for how to do a cool, giant paper snowflake. I used 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper sheets. You could have each of your kids do 1/6 of the snowflake. Another one with cool photos is HERE at A Cup of Calm.

A Cup of Calm had cool pics to guide me through it!

You start by using a perfect square of paper, just like in Japanese paper folding, or doing a square snowflake. Then you fold twice. The side where there is a single fold you cut 4 lines almost to the edge, that line up with the side with the long side of the triangle.

SNOWFLAKE 2 – My Kindergartners made cute, LITTLE snowflakes using coffee filters folded 3 times then triangles cut out of each edge. These were a part of our Frozen Party activities we had HERE. Depending on the child’s age you could do one of these 3 styles of Snowflakes.

Fold the square diagonally to form a triange. Then fold that triangle in half again to form a smaller triangle. Unfold carefully. Attach the 2 outside tips of the square to each other in front. Then attach the next tips in back with tape. Then the next tips in front with tape. That the last inner tips in back with tape. Do this 4 or 5 more times. Attach the ends together with a stapler. You will have a 5 sectioned star snowflake or a 6 sectioned snowflake. hang up in the center of your room for quite a breathtaking display.

Just staple all the 6 parts together to form the snowflake! All Done!

A fun interactive snowflake making website with magic scissors that cut a new snowflake every time is called Snowflake Barkleys.com HERE is the link. It’s a cool and fun website for the kids to get an idea how to cut a snowflake.

Snowflake Bentley is a book I read to my class each January. He was mesmerized by snowflakes. He made them his life’s work as a photographer. They are so beautiful and interesting
Another Kind of Paper Snowflake making is using just strips of paper. I used about 12 for each one, but you could use less, maybe 8 or 10. There is no particular size. I used a sheet of copy paper.

Snowflake 3 Tutorial Step 1. Cut an 8 1/2 x 11 paper into 1 inch strips the short way. I got 11 or 12 and placed them into an even pile. You can use any size really, longer strips will make a larger snowflake; smaller strips will make a tiny one.

Snowflake Tutorial Step 2. Put into 1 pile, fold in the middle and staple into the middle of the strips Then fold the first corner down and glue strip to the center near the staple. Then do the next one of the strips the same way gluing a small bit into the center as you go.

Paper Snowflakes…Continue folding each piece down to the center and glue. Go around the whole pile of strips.

Snowflake Tutorial Step 3. When each piece of the snowflake is glued and dried, hang a string from your light fixture or ceiling fan to decorate the table area. Use lots of different styles of snowflakes to decorate.

You can use colored paper in the springtime to make hanging flowers too. Or use 2 colors like red and white for Valentines Day or green and white for St. Patrick’s Day. Or solid pastels for a baby shower would be really cute too!

Snowflakes made from just copy paper. So easy. We also do snowflakes the old fashioned way using coffee filters and folding them 3 times and cutting out triangles. We’ve had fun making snowflakes today.

Here are some funny winter riddles to brighten up this dreary gray weather we are having. Ugh! I have to search for things to give me strength during the coldest month of the year in Utah.

Winter Riddles to give you the giggles!

Q. What did the big furry hat say to the warm wooly scarf?
A. You hang around while I go on ahead.

Q. How do you keep from getting cold feet?
A. Don’t go around BRRRfooted!

Q. Where do seals go to see movies?
A. The dive in!

Q. What kinds of math do Snowy Owls like?
A. Owlgebra.

Q. Why is the slippery ice like music?
A. If you don’t C Sharp, you’ll B flat.

I have a snowflake book by W.A. Bentley that has pictures of thousands of real snowflakes he took with an old fashioned camera. He proved that no two were alike! Each one is different and unique. It’s one of the truly amazing facts of nature! I love snowflakes! They are a cheap and easy decoration for winter. And a fun way to pass the cold wintery afternoon!

21 Frozen Party Activities

12/24/2014 by Pattie Leave a Comment

Here are 21 Frozen Party Ideas I used for a winter party in my classroom, and also for a little grandkids’ Frozen Party we did the weekend all my kids were home for the holidays. We had lots of fun!

A Fun Frozen Party Game is Pin the Nose on Olaf

5 Crafts to Make

1. Blue, glittery slime making. Check out the recipe HERE is the recipe.

To make this slime recipe you will need…

1 Part Elmers Clear School Glue
1 Part Liquid Starch
food coloring and glitter

2. Snowflake Making using coffee filters – 1. First, fold a coffee filter once like a taco, then twice like a piece of pizza and a third time like an ice cream cone. Cut out little triangles along both sides leaving the tip and the curve alone. Unfold to reveal a snowflake!

Frozen Party Cookies – Make “Sven” Reindeer Cookies

3. Face Painting using glittery stencils. I found some really easy glitter stencils at Target for $6.00. They include 3 colors of glitter, stencils and a tiny bottle of face glue and a powder paintbrush to dab on the glitter. They are reusable! HERE are some from Kohls. They were easy and the girls loved them!

Here is the Kit I used for Glitter Face Painting. It was $6.00 at Target. I recently found another one for $5.00 at T.J. Max. They had a Frozen Glitter Tattoo Art Kit at Kohls for $9.00 recently too. Check it out HERE.

Glitter Face Painting for the Frozen Winter Party. It was a fun activity.

Glitter Face Tattoos. Marisa wanted a peace sign. She was probably thinking of Peace on Earth!

My cute granddaughter I did some swirls and doo dads with makeup for the Frozen Face Painting.

4 .White playdough with glitter “Snowball Playdough” and free printable tags for the playdough HERE at Yellow Bwnliss Road. I will just use ziplock bags and tape the tags on. If you make this at home you could use little baby food jars and wrap a blue glittery ribbon around each one with the cute tags. Tutorial for easy Playdough is HERE at Patties Classroom.

KOOL-AID PLAY DOUGH RECIPE (for snowballs leave white)

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 pkg kool-aid (unsweetened) Use blue raspberry for blue dough 2 tablespoons cream of tarter
Mix together then add in:
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons oil

Mix and knead for 4 minutes or until cool.
We mixed it all in the Mixmaster for 4 minutes. Easy Peasy!

5. MAKE A BRACELET FROM BEADS using white, light and dark blue, and purple and pink beads and chenille stems. Add an enamel snowflake in purple, blue or pink to each one. These are easy to make for even young children. Use pony beads from the craft store or walmart. The faceted clear beads in blue and purple are pretty to use too. Get the enameled snowflakes from Oriental Trading for $6.50 for a dozen charms. Or find them at a bead store.

Make bracelets from pony beads and chenille stems. These were green ones for earth day we did in April, but I’ve done them for Valentines with red, pink and white, for Easter in pastels and Pirate day in black and white. They are really easy for kids to make. Use special foam beads from Oriental trading for more choices in beads.

4 Fun Games to Play
6. Snowball bowling with white whiffle balls. Use printables taped on each blue, plastic cup and draw numbers on each cup for challenge points. Kids could add them up to see who has more points. I taped OLAF cupcake toppers on 10 blue plastic cups.

Frozen Party Games – Snowball Bowling

I placed 4 on the bottom, then 3, then 2 then one on top to knock over or to bowl. I bought a few bags of white whiffle balls to use as snowballs from the dollar store. But then at the last minute I couldn’t find them. I think I put them in a “safe place” I wouldn’t forget. Do you ever do that too? haha. So at the last minute I raided the white socks drawer and put 1/2 cup of rice in each old, white sock and then tied a knot. It worked great! Simply made bean bags!

Frozen Party Games – Snowball Rolling or Throwing was a blast!

We tried putting these cups in the traditional bowling pattern but it wasn’t as fun as the loud CRASH effect you got when you threw the beanbags. I think with whiffle balls it may have worked to bowl.

My kindergarten kids LOVED this game. And my 2 year old grandson loved it too. Every time we set up the cups he would sneak over and knock them over before anybody got a chance. It was so funny!

Here’s my beanbags I made at the last minute with 1/2 cup of rice tied inside of old socks. They worked great!

Prizes for the Frozen Party were card games, pencil and eraser sets, books, blue and pink mini-finger polish and giant, blue gumballs in a tall jar.

7. Pin the nose on Olaf the Snowman. Olaf coloring page is HERE. I Blew it up on an overhead projector and then traced it with a black marker on white paper. Then I cut it out and glued it on blue poster board for Pin the Nose on Olaf.

Pin the Nose on Olaf game. I used a document camera to blow up a coloring page of Olaf HERE at Family Disney. Then I traced it and cut it out and glued it on a blue poster board and added black buttons and eyebrows and stick arms.

Punch out some die cut snowflakes or make some out of white paper to put around the edges. I made up the sign too for this “station” or center.

Pin the Nose on Olaf Game was the sweetest game to watch the kids do. All the kids who played it had a blast.

Cut out the carrot noses for Pin the Nose on Olaf. Let kids write their own names on them with black Sharpie. Then give them a piece of tape and cover their eyes with a sweater cap or snow hat, twirl them a few times and let em go!

Pin the Nose on Olaf. Here is One of my cute little granddaughters in her Elsa costume getting ready to play!

In my classroom we wrote about “People Who are Worth Melting For”. We had everything from dogs to little sisters and of course grandma and grandpa!

Olaf Frozen Art Project turned out easy peasy. I had the shapes cut out. (3 white ovals sized properly, orange carrots, white tooth, black mouth shape. Kids did arms, eyes, and glued on round black paper buttons. I die cut snowflakes and each got two to paste on. I would add 2 round legs next time and a few black sticks of hair.

Cute little Olaf the Snowman Art – I forgot about his hair though! My bad.

This is kindergarten writing. I am very proud of my kiddos!

Great handwriting guys! Woo Hoo!

Olaf the Snowman makes a very Cute Kindergarten art project! We just forgot to add 2 legs and hair! Woops!

Some cute stationery with lots of FROZEN ideas and free printables I found HERE at Frugal Homeschool. The paper below I just added an Olaf free printable HERE to some cute paper I already had. Then I typed “Some People are Worth Melting For” on the bottom.

Who do you think is Worth Melting For? I have all of these Olaf art projects and writing ready to go for an after the holiday bulletin board! They will go up on the wall in January.

8. Freeze Dancing to “Let it Go” song. Play the song and let everybody dance or move around the room. Then quickly stop music and everybody freezes. It is fun. Good 1st game for ice breaker.

21 Frozen Party Activities; Frozen Bingo Game was fun. We used calling cards with the characters written on them.

9. Play FROZEN Bingo. The free printable Bingo Cards are HERE at Oh My Fiesta. There

To Play FROZEN BINGO, I put out little cups of blue Hersey’s kisses with snowflakes on them. They were great for Bingo Markers.

I found Frozen Fruit Snacks to use for prizes for the Frozen Bingo Game. I also found a big bag of giant, light blue bubble gum balls and put them in a tall jar. The kids could choose gum or fruit snacks when they won a round of Frozen Bingo.

The only bad thing about this game is that there are only 3 picture cards and I needed at least 5 cards. So I printed out 2 of each and then cut out a few squares and changed positions with 2 of the 6 cards. Then I glued each onto light blue cardstock and put each into a page protector so it would keep its shape. I used the words on the 4th Bingo card as calling cards.

Party Snacks and Foods

10. Blue Jello Squares. Just use half the water to make jiggler jello. Cut into squares and place in a bowl.

Frozen Party Food Table; we had gummy bears and Jelly beans, M and Ms, Gumdrops, Carrots, donuts, Chex Mix, Taquitos and Guacamole (forgot to take a picture). You could also order a few pizzas and make your life easy. I make some killer guac so I had frozen chicken taquitos in the oven ready to go.

11. Carrots “Olaf Noses” and apples and fresh oranges sliced up were easy and healthy snacks. I bought Chex Mix and had Candy for decorating Olaf the Snowman and Sven the Reindeer.

I had a bowl of baby carrots (Olaf noses) and this big bowl of Chex Mix as well as cut up fruits on the snack table.

I printed out a cute little OLAF printout and taped it to the Blue Hawaiian Punch. The blue gumballs and kisses are in the background and front area.

12. Punch Blue High C or Hawaiian Punch (Blue colored) with 7 up or Sprite.

13.Kettle Corn Popcorn Balls or Colored White and light blue Chocolate Popcorn. You can also drizzle with Blue candy melts in the Popcorn.

(Just melt a 1/2 cup of blue disks in the microwave. Then drizzle over microwaved popcorn). In my classroom I just did 4 bags of kettle corn and gave each table a bag and a big plate of cut up fruits.

SVEN Cookies from Frozen made from Nutter Butter Cookies. These were easy for even the very youngest of my grandkids to make with just a little bit of help with the icing. The nose and eyes are mini M and Ms. The antlers are small pretzels. The moms just put a blob of icing where needed.

The “SVEN” Reindeer Cookies turned out pretty cute. Kids made these!

13. Sven (Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Cookies) cookies with round pretzel antlers and M & M nose and eyes. Even my two youngest granddaughters could do it with mom’s help (2 year olds). Easy way to do the icing is put 1/4 of the white tub if icing into a ziplock baggie. Then use sharp scissors to cut a bit off the tip. Then seal them and roll them up and squeeze to get a dot of icing.

I got these cute, blue, square plates from Target. I placed all the things needed to make the Sven cookies and the Olaf donut snowmen on the plate for each partygoer.

The Olaf Donut men had 2 toothpicks ( I used colorful ones) and 2 orange Mike and Ikes for the nose and belly button. Then M and Ms were eyes and buttons and a gummy bear cut down the middle (not all the way) and opened up, made the “scarf”.

14. Olaf powdered donut making. Use 2 white mini donuts, a Mike and Ike nose and belly button in orange, Little mini M and Ms for eyes and buttons, break off a curved pretzel for smile, and use colorful toothpicks for arms. Easy!

Olaf the Snowman Donut Making Station….These cute plates and cups were from Target too. I love their children’s dinnerware. They are SO cute and inexpensive I have a set of 4 for just about every holiday.

Olaf Donut Snowmen and Sven Reindeer Cookies. The smile on Olaf is from a broken pretzel (just check the bottom of the bag!) and the “scarf” is a cut-open, Sour Patch Kids gummy bear. You could use just about anything; a strip of fruit roll ups would be good too, or gummy worms cut down the middle would be even more fun, and longer. We improvised on the scarf.

15 White Cheese Sticks with Olaf stickers on them or Olaf faces drawn with black Sharpie markers.

Loving Mountain Life had a cute idea to use Sharpies to draw Olaf on some white mozzarella cheese sticks. Here is a picture. I ran out of time and just layed the cheese sticks on the table in a bowl. But these would be good to add a healthy snack to your treat table!

21 Frozen Party Activities

I popped a box of Chicken Taquitos in the oven and made ahead some fresh guacamole.The moms and dads loved the taquitos and guacamole and you don’t need extra plates since they are a finger food. I also bought a bag of Chex Mix and a package of mini carrots (Olaf noses) for munching. At school we had orange and apple slices and microwave Kettle corn. You could also add pizzas.

21 Frozen Party Activities – Make a Frozen Christmas Tree!! Isn’t this one super cute? ….Keep Calm and Let The Storm Rage On…..Good advice!

3 Party Invites and Take Home Favors.

16. Coloring Pages HERE at Media Cache. I used for the party invitations for my FROZEN party. I added a date and time and what to wear/bring. Also you could send coloring pages and some colors home as a party favor. More coloring pages can be found HERE.

I found all these FROZEN coloring pages online as free printables. I had the kids come choose one of these and color while they were eating their finished donuts and treats.

17. Party favors could be “make a snowman” kits with bag toppers. The kit includes 3 large marshmallows, 2 pretzel sticks, some mini chocolate chips for eyes, mini M and Ms for buttons and an orange Mike and Ike for a nose, and 2 toothpicks for arms. I used colorful toothpicks.

I bought giant coloring books for my grandkids in the dollar section at Target for take home gifts. They included a little tiny pack of colors! SCORE! For my classroom kids I just had snowman baggies and we put candy and little chocolate marshmallow snowmen inside each one along with some Hershey’s kisses, and gumballs.

I had these Frozen Dolls out at my Frozen Party for my grandkids. Mostly because I had bought 2 of each type of doll (magnetic dress the Frozen Dolls, Elsa and Anna Barbie type dolls, and Tiny set of 6 characters) for my granddaughters and I mentally noted which one each seemed to like best. Then I wrapped them up for Christmas presents! SCORE AGAIN!

18. Build your own candy buffet, take-home bag. I tried to keep the table blue and silver with blue and silver candies Kisses, light blue, giant, bubble gum balls, candy suckers or ring pops in blue too. Provide “snowflake” type bags with twisty ties. Check out bulk candy in the supermarket for “blue” candy ideas. I liked THESE Lolly Cubes blue, cube-shaped suckers. Or try These blue raspberry gummies. I used blue bubble gum balls and blue chocolate kisses and blue dum dum suckers and a big jar of marshmallows. Display them in clear, decorative cookie jars and vases with “scoops”.

I tried to copy this and do a “blue candy” table but I just ended up using lots of snacks and candy. It was really fun anyway. Nobody cares if you do your own thing and add your favorite candy. Kids will love any kind of candy or treats you come up with! I promise! I’ve been a teacher 20 years.

3 MORE TAKE HOME TRINKETS:

19. HERE at Our Thrifty Ideas is a treat bag topper you can print out and fill with marshmallows, pretzel sticks and chocolate chips to make a “take home”snowman. But you can find all sorts of free printables to use as free take home fun. All you need are some ziplock baggies.

This would be a great take home Frozen Party Gift baggie full of ABC Flashcards with the Frozen theme. These were FREE PRINTABLES! Ye Ha! HERE is the link at Delicate Construction.

20. Match Game in a baggie for take home fun. Frozen Party match game can be found HERE. This one was a store bought game from Target. It was little cardboard squares, very durable. I’ve used it on rainy days in my classroom for recess time. The kids all love it.

This was a Frozen match game I found for $3.00 at Target in the Dollar section up front. We played this one while we were at one of the stations when they finished early making snowflakes. We never used the card game which was also $3.00, but I’m still working on that. It was a great prize so I bought several.

21. Color some Frozen Movie Coloring Pages HERE while eating Kettle Corn and white chocolate dipped pretzels. You could also roll up a few coloring pages for take home gifts and attach a small 8 pack of crayons to each. Crayons go on sale before school starts for 25cents. I stock up and use them as gifts.

Coloring Pages. I think I had about 7 to choose from. I just made 5 copies of each since I had 23 classroom kids and 6 grandkids.

This was one of the most fun parties I’ve ever planned. We made several videos of our fun time playing the games at the Frozen party. Check them out on Youtube . I should have them up very soon!

Festival of Trees 2014 Salt Lake City

12/14/2014 by Pattie 1 Comment

Here are some of the highlights of the 2014 Festival of Trees in Sandy, Utah at the South Town Expo Center.

We enjoyed looking at all the hundreds of themed trees at the Festival of Trees. I liked this Dr. Seuss tree.

My very favorite of the night was this Pirate Playhouse. There were a dozen playhouses for kids in different designs. Wouldn’t my grandkids just adore this pirate boat at my cabin? Um…Yeah!

They had lots of crafts made and sold by kids’ groups. All the proceeds go to Primary Childrens Medical Center. These snowmen had cokes inside! I thought they might be fun to make sometime using old socks.

Rows and rows of Gingerbread houses at the Festival of Trees.

There were also quilts, gingerbread houses, wreaths and lots of candies and homebaked goods at the Festival of Trees. Here is the Salt Lake Temple!

This is a gingerbread house of It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland!

Another fun playhouse for kids. I think these sell for thousands of dollars!

University of Utah Teepee versus the BYU Teepee. There’s always a school and football rivalry going on around these parts.

The Captain America and Spiderman Tree was lots of fun.

I loved the Girl Scout Cookie tree. Cute!

This “Castle” playhouse came with its own princess and prince costumes!

Candy tree at the Festival of Trees. What kid wouldn’t want the shelf full of candy to go with it? I would and I’m not even a kid!

The additional items around the tree get auctioned off as well as the tree, so many of the trees go for several thousand dollars depending on the toys or additional things go along with the tree.

Gotta love a candy bar tree. yum.

Lots of the trees just have themed colors like this silver and white tree.

Sometimes the trees were made in honor of somebody who has died and they use their favorite colors, or favorite things or both to design and decorate the tree.

Then they will put that person’s picture in a frame near the tree telling about their life. It is very special.

Pirate Treasure Matey! We were the recipients one year of this special kindness. The year our 17 year old son Danny was killed in a car accident the kids in our neighborhood did a Danny tree. It had hockey stuff all over it. The Grizzlies signed a hockey stick and the red and black ALTA High School flags and colors were all over it. It was very special.

Then somebody anonymously bought and had the tree delivered to us. We keep it up at our cabin. I love it every year. sniff. I think that is why the festival keeps going and getting bigger every year; it is all done because of love and service for others. That is a great motivation too.

I loved this Frozen tree. “Keep Calm and Let the Storms Rage On.” Good motto.

A little Mexican tissue paper flower tree, with some pinatas in there too. Super cute!

Aqua and Pink and silver with these animal skins made a striking tree.

Being a teacher I recognized “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” tree; a book by Eric Carle. And all the goodies that go along with it would be super fun to get.

The “Minion Mantle” had a crowd around it the entire night. I loved it too. Super creative.

There were dozens and dozens of quilts. I loved this one for a little girl’s room.

This quilt was a Christmas Tree Advent Calendar. How cute is that? Cuter than the one I have that’s for sure!

This Snowman Quilt reminded me of Olaf in Frozen.

Side by side BYU and UTES quilts.

There is also entertainment at the Festival of Trees. One stage has dancing going on all night, and the other stage has singing groups and instrumental groups the whole night. It is very wonderful!

Here is a cute section of the festival where you can buy gifts for anybody and everybody. These cute things were all made from felt. I loved them all! Inside was a candy treat.

Gingerbread house of another temple.

I think this was a missionary tree. Their are ties and flags from all over the world, and little missionary dolls with nametags. So cute!

I think this was a cell phone tree? huh? Tree of the times I guess.

I loved this silver and pink tree. What little girl wouldn’t love this in her room?

This was made for a music lover.

Golden highlights and stars on this pretty tree.

And this tree was for a “Frozen” lover.

You can hardly tell but this weird tree lit up with fire and twirled.

Another cute cabin with a loft. Super sweet!

Was this a “Sneeches” tree? Something Dr. Seuss for sure.

I just thought this one was so pretty with the coordinating pink and green presents all around it. I think it had angels all over it.

This was my very favorite kid’s cabin; a Pirate Ship Cabin! I would love to buy this!

I would put it in the backyard at our Bear Lake Cabin. I may have to just copy it in miniature and make the hubs create it for my grandkiddos.

A modern looking riverboat cabin. It was too modern for me.

Peanuts tree with all the Charlie Brown characters and Snoopy’s doghouse. I have a Snoopy Christmas Cookie jar I bring out every year. It is bright red just like this one.

Another Superhero tree.

Here’s me and my granddaughter Meg in a photo op. It really does look like we are just pictures on a wall doesn’t it? Crazy!

A “Dickens” playhouse with carolers.

We sat and listened to this troupe of violinists. They were fantastic.

My little grandson wasn’t all that interested in violin players though. He wanted to climb all over us instead. lol.

Here we all are listening to music eating our caramel dipped apples.

Look at how tiny some of these little kids are! Amazing. My daughter started playing violin at 8. We loved going to the orchestra concerts for years and years. I miss that!

As we were leaving the Festival of Trees these little ballerinas were on their way in to perform. Aren’t they sweet? It is a fun night and an even more wonderful tradition. The Festival of Trees in Salt Lake City, Utah is one of the best things about living here. Yup.

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