a true gentleman

It was a different Christmas for me this year. Not only was I away from home for the first time, but my family also suffered the loss of two well-loved members on Christmas Eve. One was my grandpa, James E. Sabine. The last couple of days have been bittersweet as my family both mourned and celebrated a life well-lived.

I've particulary enjoyed looking through old photo albums (and finding neat pictures like the one above), sharing fond memories and reading the book of memoirs that he and my grandma wrote about fifteen years ago. They were both born in the first decade of the twentieth century and have seen so many changes and interesting events in history throughout their lives. It's been really neat reading about it through their words.

I've heard some great things said about my grandpa the past few days; the words " a true gentleman" were repeated several times, and he really was. I feel so lucky to be his granddaughter. We'll miss his loving concern for us and his playfully witty nature. And yet I can't imagine a better Christmas for him than one spent reunited with his lovely wife.

in the land of bing

As I've already mentioned, we're enjoying a very white Christmas up here in Washington. Well, as we were watching the movie of that very title this Christmas morning, I found out some incredible news from my in-laws. Mr. Bing Crosby, born Harry Lillis Crosby and the man behind my favorite Christmas movie, was actually raised right here in Spokane. That new bit of information made my day all the merrier and I thought you'd probably enjoy it too. Merry Christmas friends!

Thanks Bing, we owe you so much.

december time

Bret and I are enjoying a very white Christmas break up here in Liberty Lake, WA and having a great time celebrating the holidays with Bret's family. We'll put up some pictures from our trip later, but for now here is a selection of pictures from our lives recently in Salt Lake. Oh yeah, we live in Salt Lake now.

Temple lights with the Cramers.

This is what happens when I say: "You better smile or else."
Christmas breakfast with friends. Thanks to Allie for putting this together!

Sisters.
Wii party at the Cannon's house.Our little red head.

Winter Festival 2008. This party is a favorite Christmas tradition of mine and we were pleased to be in town for it. Stuart Long (odd-looking Santa below) throws it every year and, just like his get-up, it never fails to impress.Word on the street is that these people started a blog.

Awards ceremony. Stuart looks like he's made out of plastic a little bit.


Bret and I won an i-shuffle (that's what I'm holding) at this party for identifying movie quotes by their corresponding Christmas movie. I knew all that useless information would pay off someday.

charity auction for nie nie

The Nie Nie Recovery Fund is well-known in the blogging world, but for those of you who don’t know the Nielsen Family’s story, you can learn more here.

So I work for a company called QuicKutz. No, it’s not a hair salon but a manufacturer and brand of die-cutting tools and accessories for crafters (you may have seen us off the freeway in Lindon). Anyway we have a really awesome tool called the Silhouette which is a digital cutter (if you’ve heard of the Cricut it’s similar but much better, see for yourself) that you can use to cut out designs, words and phrases in vinyl, cardstock and other papers.

Well, QuicKutz, Inc would like to help out the Nielsen family in a small way by donating the ultimate Silhouette Package to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Included is a Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter, vinyl in black, red, brown and white (perfect for vinyl wall art), 3 packs of transfer paper, scraper and hook tools, extra blade, a set of cutting mats and a $25 digital download card. Every last penny from this auction will go directly to the Nie Nie Recovery Fund. This package is valued at $600 but the bidding is started at $100.

If you want to learn more about the auction and how you can bid, visit Lucy-isms, the blog of a fellow coworker of mine (her name is also Laura). Her blog is really cute anyway so you might as well go even if you don’t want a Silhouette.