Amy is Home!

Our baby girl is home from her mission!  Actually, she's all grown-up, beautiful, and hopefully more confident!  Dad, Susan, Chelsea and I picked her up at the airport while Brian picked up Grandpa.  Carol, Mark, Grandpa and Brian met us at IHOP after we left the airport!

When we first got to the airport, Amy's flight wasn't listed with all the incoming flights.  Eventually, her flight came up with "In Range."  What does that mean?

Chelsea was keeping watch on the board while we were watching at the revolving doors where everyone comes out.

They finally posted "Arrived," for Amy's flight!

My baby is home.  It sure feels good to hug that girl again!

I cried.

I may have cried, but Susan bawled like a baby.  Her face is still all red.

Waiting for luggage.

You can tell the dad has had a lot of experience finding luggage at airports.

The last one!  Amy tied a pink ribbon on it so it would be easier to identify.

Here we are in the shuttle going from the airport to the parking lot.

We met Brian with Grandpa at IHOP.

It's almost like she never left!

Carol and Mark met us at IHOP.

Here we all are talking at once.  Some things never change!

Grandpa

Brian and Chelsea

Time to order.

It already feels like she never left.  Welcome home, Amy.

Gingerbread Houses for First Grade!

This is the first year that my class won't be making Snow Globes for Christmas.  I haven't been able to find the right kind of figurines to fit inside lately.  So this year, Michelle Ferguson said maybe we ought to decorate Gingerbread Houses out of graham crackers instead.  She does it every year.  So she taught me how, and we're going to decorate them at school next Friday.  The dad helped me get the houses ready by cutting all the graham crackers with an electric knife.  That certainly made the job a lot faster and cleaner!

When Michelle showed me how to cut the crackers and assemble the houses, she cut each cracker individually with a serrated knife.  Trust your dad to come up with a faster, easier and tidier way to do it!

The cut graham crackers get glue-gunned onto a school milk carton that has been washed, dried, and stapled shut.

We made enough for all twenty-one of my kiddos, and a few to spare--just in case.

There all assembled now.  When I get to school, I'll glue them onto the paper plate bases.

Susan and I decided to do a demo house.  The kids will be using popsicle sticks as knives, so Susan is using one, too, to see how it works!

We didn't have many cute candies around to decorate it with, so we used what we had.

All done, first grade style!  I think the kids will love it!

Christmas Card!

Merry Christmas from the Land of Enchantment!  I love, love, love this time of the year.  I love everything about the Christmas season.  I love the lights.  I love the cookies.  I love the family traditions.  I love getting Christmas cards.  I love the cookies.  I love reflecting on the birth of our Savior.  I love getting together with those we love.  And I love the cookies!

 

The Lord has been mindful of our family still, and we feel very blessed in our trials and in our triumphs.  Now for the yearly run-down:

Doug just started is eighteenth year as County Attorney for McKinley County here in New Mexico.  At church, he is currently serving as Stake Clerk for the eleventh year, now.  He still loves gardening and hiking.

I (Barb) am in my twelfth year teaching first grade at Red Rock Elementary School here in Gallup.  At church, I’m serving as the Primary President.  I also love hiking and gardening, and I also am an avid quilter.

Brian and Chelsea are living in Albuquerque.  Brian finishes up his Law Degree this month, and will take the NM Bar in February.  Chelsea is a kindergarten teacher.

Steve and Angela are living and working in Provo.  Steve is getting ready to start work on a Master’s Degree, and Angela is a catalog designer for a publishing company.

Amy will be finishing up serving a year-and-a-half mission in the Oklahoma City Mission for the LDS Church, and will be coming home December 19.  We are excited to see her.  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” has taken on new meaning for me this year.  In January, she will be heading back to BYU to finish up her degree in Elementary Ed.

Susan is in her first year of college.  She felt like she wasn’t quite ready to leave home to go away to school yet, so she’s doing her first year of college at UNM-G right here in Gallup.  We’re glad.  Doug and I weren’t quite ready to be empty-nesters just yet.

We wish you and your family the joy of Christmas that we feel.  We hope that the Savior’s love touches you not only this time of the year, but always.                                                                                                          The Decker Bunch

Happy Thanksgiving (and Thanksgiving Weekend)!

We had a good Thanksgiving this year.  Brian and Chelsea were here, and Carol and Mark came over and brought Grandpa for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I think Grandpa was sorry he came.  He wanted to eat dinner and go home, but Carol and Mark, of course, wanted to stay and visit for awhile.

We sort of celebrated Brian's birthday while they were here.  His birthday present was a Bar Review course, so we didn't actually do anything near his birthday.  The pie had one candle on it, and Brian had a very hard time blowing it out.

We are all laughing at his amazing blowing abilities.

Making turkey sugar cookies is one of Chelsea's family's traditions, so she made some for us.

We are making the mincemeat pocket pies.

Susan made the green bean casserole.  She looked at the recipe and said it called for one can of green beans, so I had her double it.  She accidentally added milk for a triple batch instead of a double batch, so I said to go ahead and triple it.  When she had the stuff all mixed together, it looked like cream of green bean soup, so I looked at the recipe, and each batch called for TWO cans of green beans instead of one.  She had to add three more cans of green beans.  It was hilarious!  We still have an untouched green bean casserole in the refrigerator ready to go!

We had carrots from our garden in the feast.

Susan and Dad preparing the turkey for the rotisserie.

Perfect!

Susan and Grandpa.  He will be 90 on his next birthday.

Your dad and I just don't pose well for pictures.  The feast begins.

As always, the day after Thanksgiving we put up the Christmas decorations!

Susan and Chelsea are fixing the count-down calendar.

For dinner, we had our annual Turkey Dinner Leftover Pizza.  Amy, we sure are glad you invented that one!

It's Hanukkah!  We celebrated by having latka tortilla bowls for breakfast!

We worked all day on Friday, so Saturday was game day!  (Not football, obviously.)

We are making the matso ball soup for Hanukkah dinner!

It was tasty and delicious!

Then, of course, we played the dreidel game. (Spell check tells me I spelled that wrong, but it didn't offer me any better options, so there you go.)