Sled-o-rama

White Christmas Part 1

Merry Christmas!
We are here in the great city of salt enjoying family, food, and lots and lots of snow! There was enough snow in the valley when we arrived to walk down the road for some sledding, and then the wishes for a white Christmas were answered....we must have 8 new inches here....at least 30 in the mountains! The kids' Nene (David's mom) came up for a few days from Pheonix to see the North Carolina family. She was immersed in my family gatherings and traditions and even went sledding. There will be more pictures to come, but here are a few to get the ball rolling....

waking up to snow makes the happy couple happier

Christmas Noah at Grandpa's (my dads) house Christmas morning

The kids watch Grandpa open his new toy...a telescope. What fun!

Two very happy children on Christmas morning.

Gita opens her first "electronic" toy

Santa cares about dental health....thanks for the new toothbrushes

Nene and kids at the Temple lights in downtown SLC on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve bagpiper in front of the temple

Christmas stories with one grandma at another grandma's (my mom) house

in route from "home" to the sledding hill

Noah's Spoon

We are all so excited about Noah's latest creation from his wood-carving class. Mr Crowe had all the students bring in wooden spoons a few weeks back for inspiration for their next project. Then the kids designed a spoon that they would carve over the next few weeks. Noah almost had his finished last week. He brought it home and spent a few hours out in the front of the house sanding it down and making it all smooth. And here it is.....

Cheesy Christmas Duds Party

In honor of the holidays and my birthday, we held a Cheesy Christmas Duds Party last night at the Carmona Christmas Castle. We probably doubled our electricity bill in one night with all the lights...but the place looked awesome, the music was swinging, the outfits were phenomenal! My birthday wish (friends gather for fun and merriment dressed in some of the cheesiest holiday fashions ever) has come true.Now the castle is a royal sized disaster that must be cleaned, and my kitchen is screaming for some holiday treat baking, and we leave for Utah the day after tomorrow...so I leave you now with a quick sampling of some images from the evening...

Girls Saturday

Today is a special girls day. There is nothing particularly special about this day, well not any more special than any other day. I was out very very late last night at a birthday party, resulting in less than 4 hours of sleep. So when David left this morning for a job in South Carolina and Noah went to hang out with his buddies, I needed to figure out something to get my tired body moving.....so Nimmy, Gita, and I determined that it was Girls Saturday, a very special day indeed. And what ingredients make up a special girls day? So far, it has been raspberry pancakes, card games, some cartoons, hot cocoa, all interspersed with some regular Saturday chores. And if I am really lucky, the girls will decide that no special girls day is complete without a nice long afternoon nap!

Gita assisting with the fire.

Gita's photo of the mama making pancakes

Girls collecting a weeks worth of kindling (with a curiuos Atticus in the background)

Some important magnetic fashion doll action.

Some good old squishy mushy cuddley love!

Black Mountain Holiday Parade

The Five Carmonas enjoyed quite an eventful weekend. On Friday night, David and I were able to leave the kiddos with Alex and Kelcey and head to Asheville for a real date, as in dinner and a movie. We saw Twilight after breezing through the 4 books in a few weeks. We felt like giddy teenagers in a theater full if giddy teenagers. It was quite invigorating!

On Saturday we met Meredith, Kevin, and their kids for the annual Holiday Parade in our lovely town of Black Mountain. We have our traditional viewing spot on the front lawn of a church where hot cider and Christmas cookies are served on the porch. The parade was, as usual, quite a hit for all. It is kicked off by motorcycle men and women who attach toys to their bikes and drive them to the Toys for Tots donation drop off. I have not figured out why, but for some reason, year after year, there is something about this that makes my eyes well up with tears. It seems totally ridiculous but there it is in print. Since David has the decency not to take a photo of me crying at the Harleys with teddy bears strapped to the back, here are some other highlights:Noah and Banyan and the pimped out Explorer
(now that is Christmasy)

The kids watch an excavator full of presents drive by.

Me, Mullein, Meredith, and Salome watching the wonders.

Does this lovely gem of a photo even need a caption?Nimuae and Gita and the Black Mountain Fire Department

Homemade beads

For our Friday messy kitchen homeschooling project, we decided to make our own beads. We have been focusing on Africa for the last few weeks and have enjoyed researching many different types of African art. We learned that beadwork is an important African art form. We created the beads this week and will work on painting them next week. And I imagine that some lucky family members may see a bead or two show up in the form of a Christmas gift.....

Bead Recipe

• 3/4 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup salt
• warm water
• toothpicks
• acrylic paints
• sealant

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water a small amount at a time until the dough holds together. Knead for a few minutes. Make beads by rolling different sizes and shapes of dough, then poke a hole through the middle with a toothpick. Allow to dry overnight. Paint and seal.

Priorities

A few Carmona priorities:
1. Good Food
We love to eat, to cook, even to grocery shop...and the kitchen is often a place of laughter and merriment. During our massive pie making mission last week Noah grew a pie crust mustache

2. Fun
The Carmonas have been working on our circus performing art skills, including juggling, trapeeze arts, and hula hooping. Gita got the hula hooping gene.

3. Rest
We know how to chill, which is a very important priority for the busy family. A lot of the time Gramps was visiting was spent reading and napping. Nimuae was especially appreciative of Gramps' cozy belly.

Feasting

This Thanksgiving we were blessed with out of town visitors! Alex Sr. (Gramps) Carmona flew in from Chicago and Micheal Carmona from L.A. Because their flights arrived in Asheville Thursday night, we decided to have our feast on Friday. We were able to do quite a bit of prep work on Thursday, so it was very helpful to have that extra day. We were able to bake 5 pies, 24 dinner rolls, 12 sandwich rolls, bake the sweet potatoes for the casserole, and cut 4 loaves of bread for the stuffing.

We ate chilli for dinner on Thursday (Thanksgiving) night which felt sort of rebelious. Then woke up early Friday morning to cook cook cook.

We all sat down to eat around 3:00pm. Everything was absolutely delicous in the moment and also as leftovers. We were especially excited to use some of the silver service utensils that Kelcey and I inherited from Nana McDermand earlier in the year.
We feel so grateful for the abundance of love in our home. Even when the cupbards are bare and our pockets are empty we have so much to be thankful for, and there is nothing like this particular holiday to remind us to count our blessings.

Photo in need of caption

The women and children of the Carmona and Loomer households have been taken down by the dreaded stomach flu. Every one of us, except David and Alex, are down for the count...living off gingerale and chicken soup. How the alpha males managed to avoid this, I have no idea. But thank heavens there are 2 healthy ones in the group!

So, instead of posting pictures of us sickies, which could be frightening, I leave you with this doggie picture. This photo of Atticus, who does not have the stomach flu, could use a caption. If one pops into your head, please share it with us via comments.

Blustery Wintery Day in the Carolinas

For the first time since we moved to this beautiful state of North Carolina 8 years ago (holy moly...it has been that long?), we are experiencing winter before January. We are in the middle of a week of snowstorms, freezing temperatures, and howling winds. In previous years, we have not had wintery weather until we return from our annual holiday trip to Utah (magical land of "real" winter) in January. But here we are, before Thanksgiving, and it feels like winter....how wonderful! Winter makes me happy.

Take your blog to work day

I realized that while I have offered up many glimpses into the home life, social life, homeschooling life of the five carmonas, I have not yet opened a window to my/our working life. Seeing as I need to work to pay the bills and put food on our table, I thought that maybe I should give my employment some credit by bringing my blog to work.

Here it goes...

After a few quick hours of homeschooling, making lunches, feeding the 5 of us, grooming the 5 of us, milking goats, feeding dogs, and attempting to leave the house in some sort of order, three mornings a week I hop in the car (I love to walk to work but I am also on carpool duty for kids these mornings..although when hunting season is over, we can resume the beautiful 2 mile walk through the woods) and drive about 10 minutes down the road to work. About 1/2 of the drive is on gravel roads, and the rest is windy, rural, mountain roads.....with some amazing views....

I park the car in a little gravel parking lot, grab my bag, and head up the hill to Red Moon. The building is located in the middle of an agricultural area so we are often distracted by ducks playing in puddles outside of the windows. This photo is taken from the front door of the office. The stairs lead up to some residences and the picnic table to home to many staff meetings.

The Red Moon Herbs "facility" is quite beautiful. It is located in a building that is off-grid, powered by the sun and hardworking individuals. It certainly has its quirks including no "ladies room" and inconsistent temperature (freezing polar winter or sauna) (always dress in layers when getting ready for work!). But all in all, I think I must have one of the better working environments. I feel lucky!

Here is my little nook...my desk, my chair that is really one of the worst rolling office chairs ever created, my phone that refuses to stay charged no matter how long it sits on the charger. This has been my little office world since 2004. I worked here while pregnant with Gita, took 3 months off, then brought Gita to work with me for her first year. I have received heart breaking news on the phone while sitting at this desk. I have made some of my closest friends in this office. And I transitioned from stay at home mom to breadwinner for the family in this office. It is a good place.

Here is our little packing area. All of our orders are processed and packaged here then left for the UPS driver (Tommy, who is the object of many school girl type crushes) who picks them up and sends them on their way. Sometimes this area becomes a sea of puffies and bubble wrap. And we always get a good laugh when a customer calls and says "can I please speak with your shipping department?" The company is run by 4 women, so the thought of an anything department makes us giggle.

Here is one of the other two office desks (Carmen's) and then behind it the manufacturing area of the office. This is where all of the products are made. Notice the stool at Carmen's desk. We love this stool. The way is rolls with ease. The way you can access it from any angle. We asked if we could get rid of our crappy rolling chairs and replace them with these stools for Christmas. Corinna is thinking about it. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

And a peek into the brewing shelves. These tinctures were made with fresh plants, and now sit for 6 weeks before pressing the plant material out and moving over to the bottling shelves.

And that, my friends, is my quick tour of work.
Maybe I will bring you back again. I would love to capture Carmen swearing at the vitamix, Julie in her sea of puffies, the 3 of us huddled around one of the computers for some comic relief on you-tube, Corinna walking around the office saying "what I am doing now is...." to herself.

redmoonherbs.com