Ugly Sweaters

We had a family get-together on Saturday afternoon. We were supposed to wear ugly sweaters. (I was too cheap to buy one and Ammon gave his away to Adam last year.) Chelsey and Brent had winners! Chelsey was tinsel covered and Brent's lit up and was pretty cute.

 I didn't think Sarah's was all that ugly. It was kind of cute.

 Kaitlin stole this sweater from me about 3 years ago. It's old-fashioned. My sister gave it to me. But it's very warm. Not pretty, Kaitlin but I am now officially giving it to you.

 We made a huge mess and made lots of gingerbread houses. I'll post some other pictures later. Here are the finished projects. Some were really creative. Some collapsed (my roof did) but it was still fun.

Christmas is quickly approaching and we are far from ready. I can't seem to get to any stores during my lunch hours. In fact, I haven't had a lunch hour in the past three working days due to so much happening. When do I have time for Christmas stuff?!?

Last night some people came to our house to introduce us to Gideon, a guide dog. He was trained for blind people and passed 7 of 8 phases. He had one quirk that kept him from being placed with a blind person, but he is certified as a service dog for anyone else. This family trained him as a puppy, sent him to Oregon for training and then he came back to them. They decided he needed to work and needed to be used. I work with Kelley Williams - some of you know her. The family is her brother, wife and kids. They had heard about Ammon and decided to approach us to see if we would be interested in meeting this dog. We weren't sure how Ammon would respond because he's always been afraid of dogs because they jump up and lick him and he can't control them. We didn't tell him they were coming but as soon as he saw Gideon, he got a huge smile on his face and he talked to the dog like he talks to McKay and other little babies -- softly and gently. Gideon is a very big golden (nearly white) lab. He weighs about 90 pounds. He is really tall and beautiful. We talked with the teenage girl that trained him as a puppy and talked to the girl's mother for nearly an hour. At the end, Ammon decided he really wanted to try this out. Luckily we have a woman in our ward (Linda Jones) that has trained a service dog and can help train us because we will need it. Gideon can go to school with Ammon once we have the commands down and take him to the school to check the place out. I am hoping these two become best friends. Ammon is very lonely. Gideon can go on walks with Ammon without me having to go along. Hopefully he can fetch things for Ammon and hopefully they will become inseparable. This is a $30,000 dog. They are giving him to us. Of course, we have to have some supplies and that will cost some money but hopefully it will be worth it for Ammon. I guess Santa came a little earlier than expected - and he dropped a great gift in our laps.

P.S.  To all my kids that know my history with dogs----- this one is trained. He doesn't jump, lick, bark, pee or poop in the house. He doesn't get on furniture and he doesn't chase chickens or ducks or other dogs. What isn't to like about an animal like that?!