Hike on New Year's Eve

We love hiking Bighorn Overlook Trail in Rancho Mirage as a family and with our friends! It's a short, moderate trail, with surprising wildlife and beautiful views of the Coachella Valley.

City of Rancho Mirage Parks & Trails Map

Nearby: Cancer Survivors Park

A Great Start

It is a great thing to start life

with a small number of really good books

which are your very own.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Painting: Books in Winter by Jessie Wilcox Smith

I cannot live without books.

Thomas Jefferson

I find television very educational.

Every time someone turns it on,

I go in the other room and read a book.

Groucho Marx

A well-composed book is a magic carpet
on which we are wafted to a world that
we cannot enter in any other way.
Caroline Gordon

There is more treasure in books
than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island
and at the bottom of the Spanish Main...
and best of all, you can enjoy these riches
every day of your life.
Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Easy Gingerbread House

Eight years ago, we hosted an "easy" Gingerbread House-making day for our homeschool support group. I provided the home and Kelly F. provided the instructions. It is still one of our favorite Christmas time projects ever. Tiffani was 5.


I wrap it carefully each year and hope that when I unwrap it each December that it is still intact. The fact that it has stayed together all these years is a testimony to Wilton's Royal Icing! A few candies have turn colors and a few are missing where Tyler Kitty had a taste, but all-in-all it's as good as the day Tiffani made it.

This project was so easy...and very fun for the kids! You can eat and create at the same time!

The "gingerbread house" is actually graham crackers adhered to the top half of a half-gallon milk carton.

The "glue" is Royal Icing ~ the Wilton recipe.

The "base" is heavy cardboard or a thin wood panel wrapped in foil. We added the festive snoman and Santa bear candles a couple years ago.

Each family brought fun candies/pretzels/other to share for decoration and munching. Licorice makes a fun pathway! And inspecting it this year, it is definitely one of the candies that looks as good as the day it was glued.

The Magic Worm

Tyler and Wiggles were enthralled by The Magic Worm

that they found in their stocking on Christmas morning!

Egg Casserole

This is one of our family's favorite recipes. We normally eat it for dinner, but we made it for breakfast to share with Grandma & Grandpa before they drove back home this morning.

1 T. butter
1-½ c. (6 oz.) Canadian bacon, diced
1 t. onion powder
2 T. chives (fresh or dehydrated)
8 eggs, beaten
2 c. cheddar cheese, grated
3 c. diced potatoes, thawed
1 c. milk
1 t. salt
½ t. pepper

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Melt butter in skillet and saute Canadian bacon, onion powder, and chives for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine eggs with milk, salt, pepper, potatoes and 1 cup of the cheese.
3. Add the bacon mixture and stir well.
4. Pour into a 13x9 baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Sprinkle the remaining cup of cheese over the top and bake for 10 minutes longer or until casserole has cooked through and is firm.

Serving Suggestion: Serves 6-8 ~ Cut into squares and serve with toasted English muffins

The Precious LAMB of God

Family Pictures

The Nativity

Bethlehem's Star

The Star of Bethlehem ~ read about this real astronomical event!

Matthew 2:9-11
When they had heard the king, they departed;
and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them,
till it came and stood over where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child
with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him:
and when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto him gifts;
gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Snow Cozy!

Last night we snuggled in bed and read The Christmas Cross by
Max Lucado and The Christmas Box by Francine Rivers.
Afterward, Tiffani said she wanted to snuggle like we used to
when she was a little girl. Jeff came in and found us asleep...

Ring the Bell of Jesus!

The Bell

I KNOW WHO I AM

I am God's child ( John 1:12)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)

I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)

I am bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)

I am a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)

I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt. 5:13-14)

I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)

I am free forever from condemnation (Rom.8: 1-2)

I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil.3:20)

I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31-34)

I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor.5:17-21)

I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)

I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom.8:35-39)

I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor. 1:21-22)

I am assured all things work together for good ( Rom. 8: 28)

I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit ( John 15:16)

I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)

I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)

I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil. 1: 5)

I have been redeemed & forgiven (Col.1:14) I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)

I belong to God
Do you know

who you are?

Five Feet Six and Quarter?!

I can no longer pretend that Tiffani's not taller than me!

When we stand next to each other and I turn toward her
to tell her something...

there I am looking right at her beautiful smile!

How did this happen so quickly?!

The Lord God knows...


Psalm 139:1-16

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

Old Town La Quinta - Christmas Show

Throughout the day, different groups performed in the Old Town La Quinta
Commons. Tiffani's group sang, peformed skits & poetry, and
quizzed the audience and rewarded them with
candy canes for the correct answers.

Santa & Mrs. Glamour Claus

Violinists from the Youth Symphony

Trivia Time!

Christmas Time is Here...

- Christmas Time Is Here lyrics

Tiffani surprised us! She didn't tell us she was singing a solo!

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad lyrics

Christmas Poetry & Mom Skit

"Bless us, Lord, this Christmas with gentleness of mind

and teach us to be loving and always to be kind."

~ Helen Steiner Rice

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred,
and we are better throughout the year for having,
in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.
~Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Church does not superstitiously observe days,
merely as days, but as memorials of important facts.
Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year
as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating
the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done
on any day, will be neglected.
~Samuel Johnson

Skit: Twas the Night Before Christmas for Moms

Jingle Bell Rock!

- Jingle Bell Rock lyrics

After the Performance...

Tiffani & Lauren

Tatie, Tiffani & ZZ

Bethany & Laura (Tatie & ZZ's mama)

JoAnne & Tiffani

(Artistic Director of the La Quinta Playhouse)