The "Legend of the Christmas Bows"

Each year on our tree, we put green and red plaid bows.  The tree truly doesn't look complete without them.  They aren't only pretty, they have a deeper meaning.  They are the stars of the "Legend of the Christmas Bows."

Also featured in this picture...A pipe cleaner gingerbread man, made by Kristin; a Star Wars Millenium Falcon ornament; a snow globe ornament, part of an 8-part set, two of which have broken; a picture of Trev and his Sunbeam class, in which his face is scratched off; and a pink glass ball ornament made by swirling paint around in a clear ornament, made by one of the older girls in Acheivement Days.

When John and I were first married, we lived in a very old (circa 1940) 4-plex.  It was heated by two floor grates, and powered by natural gas.  As poor, married students, we couldn't afford/didn't want to pay for the pilot lights to run, so we turned them off and just wore lots of layers (it was Utah after all), and took turns getting into bed first to "warm" up the bed by, for lack of a better description, making snow angels.  You get what I mean, right? 
Anyway, when Christmas came that year, we didn't have money for a tree.  Our little 4-plex was in the middle of some brand new condos where many rich students lived, aka Condo Row.  (Now, I know that Condo Row is not the nicest place in Provo to live anymore, but at the time, it was considered one of the newer places.  Remember, this was 29 years ago). One evening, after finals were over, John found a Christmas tree in the dumpster, no doubt left by one of those rich students who was heading home for the holidays.  We didn't care, we removed it, and gave it a new home in our living room.  Of course, we didn't have any decorations, so I rounded up some lights (green), and found a roll of green and red plaid ribbon, and made bows.  My sister, Dawn, contributed several ornaments, two of which are still hung on the tree every year. 
Two original ornaments plus the bows.  Memories...

The bows have had to be taken apart, ironed and remade, but they are still going strong on tree #29.  The kids expect them every year, and as I already said, the tree isn't complete if they aren't on it.  They have created a Rietz family legend.   

All the kids are teenagers now (or have been one in the past)

I started a tradition of hanging a sign on our house when each of the girls turned 13.  Living 2 blocks from the jr. high school, I loved the thought that when their friends walked home, they would see the sign and know it was their birthday.

Well, having a child with a summer birthday shot a hole in that tradition.  In the middle of July, the only people who walk by our house are those who are out for a morning walk/run/stroll.  The fact that Trev was at Scout Camp the week of his birthday only complicated things.  

Of course, I still wanted his picture with his sign to complete my collection, so even though this was taken about a month after his birthday, it is still accurate, and solves my dilemma.  Win/win.

Everyone knows the sterotypical teenage girl...I won't even go into detail about that.  I didn't really know what to expect from a teenage boy so all I can say is it is a new adventure.  Sometimes a pretty wild and loud one, but being the great kid that he is, we'll keep him!!

Team Tinsel vs. Team Frosty

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and now we are back to our regular lives. Our little gingerbread couple welcome you to our remembrance of Christmas 2011!
Meet the Gingerbread House Decorating Teams.

Team Tinsel
Team Frosty
Gingerbread house decorating became more like Gingerbread house landscaping. Yes, the houses did get a little candy and frosting, but check out the yards of these little cottages.
Team Tinsel's yard contained the requisite pink flamingo in the yard. Also a bench to rest your weary self on, and a lovely swing.

Team Frosty's yard ended up with a mini swimming pool with a floating chair, and a log pile ready to be worked by a hefty lumberjack. The axe is sharp and ready to make the chips fly! You may also notice the wood pile is in front of an outdoor fireplace. Charming!



Chelsie and Kristin were in charge of the Christmas Eve Cinnamon rolls. Delish!

Here is the group all dressed in their new jammies/yoga pants/shorts/thermal underwear for the annual Christmas Eve slumber party.

The marshmallow guns came out of the gun safe for a little friendly competition. Eye protection was a must and luckily there was furniture to use as a shield when necessary. I'm still finding hard marshmallows upstairs!


Chelsie and Dallin are standing in the freshly painted laundry room. A Christmas present to me from them! I love it!

And finally, because there is already plenty going on, Amber's Chemistry project was due right before Christmas break. With a lot of help from Dad, she crafted a very nice model of a Carbon atom.

Happy Birthday Kristin!!!

We were a little short on teenagers in our home, so its a good thing Kristin had her birthday last month and turned 13. She has been a good teenager so far, so we'll keep her on the family role for the time being!!! :-)

Of course, we'll keep her around regardless, but it is nice she's nice to be around.

Her birthday consisted of a few presents that were either needing to be ordered, socks that didn't fit, and a calculator for school. Kind of a bummer to be frank. But she was excited about her birthday menu which was the following:
- Bulgogi
- Twice baked potatoes
- corn
- store bought crescent rolls (heaven help me!)
- jello
- ice cream cake


Hopefully the food made up for the crummy present haul.


And, in keeping with tradition, the sign on the house proclaimed to all that she is 13. She was pretty excited about that too! (Not).

We're glad to have Kristin in our family. Actually, not just glad, we're blessed!

Christmas is coming...

Wow! I should say Christmas is here, but I do have a few more days before I could actually say that. It really seems like I was just stuffing myself with turkey and all the trimmings, and now I'm wondering just how the next few days will go until the "big day".

We've made it through the Christmas concerts - Trevor and Kristin - School, singing and trumpet respectively; Amber, Kristin and Allison - Christmas Music Fireside, all singing, Allison playing on her harp.

The gingerbread houses - Trevor - school; Allison and Amber - Young Woman Daddy-daughter; everyone - home. You may notice that one of the big gingerbread houses looks like it could cave in at any moment. Apparently there was an engineering problem with that one. Luckily that frosting dries about as hard as cement, so I'm pretty sure its not falling down, but really, who knows?

The Christmas shopping - I'm pretty sure we've never been done this early before.

Allison's birthday - she was 16 going on 17, now she's just 17.

And we got our BYU freshman home safe and sound. I hope she learned a little more about making jello!!

The decorations are up - although, the remodeling really messed up my bannister/garland plan - Hmm, I think I'll get over it. :-) Trevor once again took the proverbial reindeer by the horns and got us started. Who knows when we would have actually gotten down all those boxes without his leadership!!! Our tree top angel recently underwent her own personal makeover and I must say, she is looking mighty fine. I think she definitely has many more Christmases in her future. She was looking pretty shabby and not very angelic.


We've listened to The Chipmunks Christmas just enough times to satisfy those crazy Chipmunks fans among us

We've done the Christmas Baking to make the house really smell yummy and...

The Christmas sewing is all wrapped up. Really, you'd think I'd get it done in October since I know I'm going to do it. I'll have to put that on my to do list next year!!!

Mother Nature even provided us with a few inches of snow - yes, you read it right - SNOW!!! and with very chilly temperatures, I predict a very good chance we'll have a WHITE CHRISTMAS! Now that's something for our neck of the woods. I feel pretty safe playing weatherman here, since I have about the same chance as a professional at getting it right!!!

I am using my "Christmas greetings can be late" card (similar to the "Get out of Jail free" card) this year which means I don't have to do anything about the Christmas letter until our new little bit of heaven makes his grand(son) entrance into the world. 7 days and counting! We are excited, but not quite as excited as Ashley and Brandon, which only seems right I guess. (Although Ashley makes a very cute momma-to-be.) You will be happy to know dreams do not always come true which is so good, since I dreamed the baby's name was Joe Keener Peay the other night. Where in the heck did that come from? I am not a late-night eater, so I can't blame it on something I ate!!!

Well Christmas greetings to all - both near and far! Wouldn't it be fun to get together for Christmas - everyone, and eat and laugh and play games and just enjoy each other? Well, of course we can't do that, but we can be together in spirit, and know that I'm spending Christmas with each of you in my heart.
Each year as I learn more, and my testimony of the Savior grows, Christmas, to me, becomes more genuine and less worldly. I cannot fathom the love that Heavenly Father has for us that He sent His son to earth for us. That although He knew the ending before the beginning even started, He was willing to do that for me and for you! My Christmas wish for each of you is that you will feel the love of the Savior in your lives throughout this Christmas season and always.

My grateful list for this post is as follows...

-Christmas lights - preferably clear
-The snow - Trevor is in heaven
-Karissa's mom's chocolates (YUM)
-My Savior


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A day on the soccer pitch

Saturday was a lovely day in the valley which was good since we had 3 soccer games all in a row to cheer for. Amber had one more in Pullman later in the afternoon, but we sent her up with the coach for that one. Her team lost the first game, won the second.


Trevor tried his hands at goalie this week. He also played offense and scored at least a few times. He did think goalie was pretty cool. He is just so glad to play. Any day on the field is a good day for him.

Kristin played against 3 of her good friends in her game. She and Alyssa were battling for the ball and Alyssa went down, landed on her elbow and went to the Dr. office to get x-rays to see how badly she injured it. Kristin felt bad, but only let it show after the game. It didn't matter to her that the opposing team's goalie was a girl she has played soccer with since Kindergarten. No...she felt no remorse as she sent the ball into the goal multiple times. No one can say she is not a competitor. None the less, Kristin's team creamed the opposition, but all were still friends at the end of the day.

Amber was also the star of the day. She is into the second year of teenagerhood. Who knew she'd turn 14 so soon? Grandma and Grandpa Rietz came over for the day to watch all the soccer games and to celebrate her big day. We didn't have to pull out the fire extinguisher for the ice cream cake, but in a few years...well, we'll have to keep that option open.


Trevor couldn't wait to get the house in the Halloween spirit, and wasn't done after he and the two younger sisters decorated inside. No sooner had he walked into the house after school today, and he was ready to put together the scarecrow. With little help from anyone else, he stuffed and assembled our rag tag friend. He had a little help bringing the pumpkins up from the garden, but he washed them all himself and arranged them on the porch. If we are not in the Halloween spirit around here, no one can blame it on Trevor. He made sure we have no excuse to forget the next big holiday. Nice work, buddy!

Don't know who to vote for, don't know what the next economic crisis will be, but I do know that Fall is here and that means lots of yummy food!!! So Life is Good!!!

Here is my gratitude list -

- Bro. Jackson - our former home teacher who was faithful about coming and made sure we didn't ever want for anything he could do for us. He passed away yesterday after a long battle with health problems that never could be solved.

- The foods of Fall - see above

- My hairdresser, Pam - she has a gift

- General Conference - Elder Haight's reminder to laugh will stick with me for a long time.