White Elephant Gift Exchange

I have been terrible about blogging - but today I thought I should post. I reviewed my photos and realized I had never posted about our annual DeWitt/Selin/Hansen White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Let's see Evan and his family were missing and Jill' husband was missing too. I think everyone else was here. Wait - Jason was also missing. Plus Isaac had his girlfriend Kristina here with us for the event.

It all started at a nearby park where the kids had a wonderful playground and the adults played some sand volleyball. When we worked up an appetite we came to the house and ate. But the main event was the White Elephant Gift Exchange. The gift exchange is always an adventure and this year that proved true - and near the end a little "PG"ish.

Sadie got a finger table bowling game - she was thrilled with it. And thanks to the group for not stealing it from her and causing a tear filled meltdown.

Shannon looked quite good in the zebra striped outfit. She's ready for her first safari.

Well maybe she doesn't have to go on a safari after all. An actual elephant appeared. I can't remember who got this gift - but it was left at our house. If I ever do remember - they'll be getting paid back sometime when they least suspect it.

I got this wonderful golf ensemble - including a hat full of golf balls. But this is as close as I'll ever get to a golf course. Pretty nice fit though.

And Jeff was the winner of the gift that got the most attention (and my determination that this event was "PG"ish). He got a Richard Simmons exercise video and exercise outfit. Jeff started to try it on but in mixed company he didn't try too hard - thanks Jeff!

But then Allan was willing. He left the room and came back with these blue shimmery shorts on and Becky gave him the equally styling pink shirt to finish off the outfit.

Here is the finished product. (Who would exercise in this stuff?) Not me. NEVER!

The best part was capturing Isaac and Kristina's reaction to Allan's "fashion show". YIKES! Isaac was ready - he knew what was coming. But Kristina - she looks a little shocked in the picture. I wouldn't have blamed Kristina if she went home that night and we never saw her again.

That pretty much captures the highlights of the

2010 White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Rocket Stove

A few months ago I dragged dad to an optional lecture-type meeting about a food storage method - by a Sister Wendy DeWitt (any relation here Becky?). Anyway, we forged ahead with making the primary cooking appliance mentioned - a Rocket Stove. We emptied an old - and I mean old - metal square can of wheat. These cans of wheat were written into the contract when we bought the house on 36th Drive. Then we bought the other necessary hardware to complete the project. This is a metal piece used when putting in a furnace or fireplace or something like that.


Dad is trying to remove the entire top of the now emptied can of wheat. That might have been the hardest part.

Now the top has been removed and he is filing down the sharp edges. He also has cut a circle out of the side of the wheat can.


This is the magic filler that allows you to have fire and heat in the can - Vermiculite. Or in other words as printed on the bag Therm - o - rock. It is the isulator. The Rocket Stove is coming together nicely.

The metal tubing is in place and the metal shelf that will hold the fuel is also formed and secured.

The vermiculite has been poured into the can and now stabilizes and insulates the tubing. The top has been trimmed and has a hole in it where the metal tubing protrudes. We think we are ready for a trial run. So he has loaded newspaper down into the tubing - as instructed.

Inserting the sticks for fuel. Then a match is lit and applied to the newspaper.

The newspaper is flaming and the inside tips of the fuel are beginning to catch fire as well. Dad is all smiles. Success!

A nice flame is beginning to take shape.

Very quickly the flame begins coming up through the top of the metal tubing. Yes! It really works. In order to cook on it you place a grill on top of the wheat can - now AKA Rocket Stove - and place your pan on that and cook your meal.

Sheesh! The flame was really powerful and shot up quite a ways. The design makes it a very efficient stove. Because of the design you get a lot of heating power while using very little fuel. We are happy with it and may make one or two more - we might want to be cooking more than one item at a time.

Ahh!! The sweet sweet smell of success! Dad basks in the warmth and power of our new Rocket Stove. Now we have the power to cook if/when needed in an emergency situation. Now we just need to get all the food components stored up and ready to go as well.

Scott arrives and asks, "Where are the smores?" His timing is impeccable!

Art

Sadie is a budding artist. While we were all going through the stomach flu at Christmas time she was busy designing get well cards for each of us. She also made some awesome Christmas decorations that we hung around the house. Here is some of her art.

1/1/11

Early in the morning on 1/1/11 we got in our truck, loaded with all of Isaac's possessions, and headed up north. We were heading up to Utah for a quick stop and then on to Rexburg to deliver Isaac to BYU-I.

The trip to Utah is routine for us but with the weather had been quite severe so we contemplated going through Las Vegas. It is not much longer for us to make the trip through Vegas from this house. But after some consideration we just forged ahead our usual way. Isaac was wonderful company! NOT! And in many ways the trip was NOT usual.

We could see snow sprinkled mountains almost from the start. When we were still 60 miles outside of Flagstaff everything was covered with snow.

Before long the beautiful red rock mesas were peeking through the fluffy white stuff.

Then the snow got deeper. We could tell it was really cold outside.

Then the roads quit being completely clear and became partly covered with packed snow.

Shortly after that we had some real excitement. We heard a loud noise and immediately felt a thump, thump, thump. Yep, flat tire. Well wasn't that exciting? Dad sprung into action. I got the owners manual to help figure out how to release the spare tire from underneath the truck.

Isaac stood around - in his SHORTS! He was able to use his brute strength to lift the tailgate slightly so dad could get the tire off the truck.

I took a couple of pictures that turned out pretty good. But then the camera refused to work. I guess it just froze up - ha, ha - get it? Froze up?! Pretty funny. But really I called Scott and had him look at what the temperature was in Beaver, UT and it was a frigid 14! But we took care of the problem and continued on.

Anyway, we made it to Utah and had a great time visiting with Evan and Shanna, Lindsey and Rob, and of course the grandkids. We stayed through the weekend and then headed north to Idaho. Isaac and I drove the white Corolla with Kristy (Shanna's sister) squeezed into the back seat. And after dad got a new tire for the truck he headed up alone.

We stayed at Aunt Marcielle's house in Idaho Falls while we helped Isaac move into his apartment and get all set to start his classes. We enjoyed visiting with them and had a restful nights sleep. We only stayed one night because it snowed all day and we didn't want to get snowed in.

They had the snow plows out on the highway on our trip back to Utah.

We made it back to Utah and enjoyed celebrating Calvin's first birthday with everyone. I think I've already shared most of our fun times with them. But here's a picture of a nice icicle that Sadie just had to eat. Yummy!

That concludes my saga of how we started the new year - 1/1/11.

(Better late than never!)

Update

Needed to update you all about yesterday's temperature. It did not get to 50 as predicted. It was only 44. This morning we started a lot warmer - try 24 at 6 am. So I predict we will reach 50 today. What a winter this is turning out to be! I'll check the hose when it gets light outside.

Blast of Cold Air

A true blast of cold air has hit the Valley of the Sun. It is a frigid 20 degrees this morning. Yesterday it might have gotten to 44 and today we'll be lucky to get to 50.

The Pro-Am part of the Phoenix Open was cancelled yesterday due to the greens and grounds being frozen. Today is even colder - so who knows what will happen with the tournament. Our back hose has a frozen waterfall coming out of the spout - hopefully it thaws so I can water my garden (and hopefully it hasn't frozen!). My hearty tennis sisters and I even cancelled playing yesterday because it was not only cold but the wind was blowing and howling like crazy!

I heard Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow so we are in for an early spring. But that won't happen until this blast of cold air makes its way through Arizona and the rest of the country. Today would be a great day for hot chocolate, homemade bread, a hot bowl of soup or chili, watching a DVD all cozied up in the couch, and yes - turning on the heater in the house.