Christmas Eve...

What's missing? Stayed tuned.....Christmas Eve, before we hit the Gibby Chinese dinner party, we stopped by Tepanyaki. We had a 50% off all sushi coupon! That's like the jackpot with our family! We had to eat in the restaurant, so we were a little late to the party, but it was so yummy!
See the missing thing yet?

Ahhh, We pulled out Brandon's tooth! It was so ready, we figured he wouldn't be able to eat. Mike remembers we pulled out another tooth last Christmas Eve at this Tepanyaki! Anyway, Santa AND the tooth fairy visited us that night!

Just some funny pictures of our night there....the kids were excited as you can well imagine!

What a Trooper!

Can you believe he would smile for a picture only about 20 minutes after waking up!?!

Brandon did so great for his surgery today! All morning, right up to the point where the doctor takes him back to the operating room and Mike & I had to say see ya later, he was telling us how nervous he was. We had to wait about an hour and a half after getting to the hospital. For about the last 15 minutes, he got to play the Wii, but the rest of the time was hard.

When the surgery was over, the doc came to tell us that his ears were really full of fluid and infected. He had to suction out the gunk before he could even insert the tubes. His adenoids were pretty big...more than average. So, we made the right choice to have this done.

Daddy feeding him his rootbeer slushie.

Brandon woke right up and was doing great! Perfect patient!

Such a sweetie!

I had to take him to the bathroom while we were still in recovery and he was giggling at how much he had to pee. He kept asking when it would stop! Guess that's what happens when you get pumped full of fluids! He had to go again before we left the hospital and even on the way home! That made us laugh....

He's done really well at home, too. He just played the Wii game we bought him as incentive to go through with the surgery. We told him he could have it right when he woke up and he remembered. And he was just jumping around a minute ago like a normal day! I, on the other hand, feel wiped out. I think I was really stressed about it and now I'm just crashing. Our cute friend, Nicole, brought us dinner. The girls are having a sleep over at Scott & Kellie's and Mike went to a party we were invited to....so, I'm going to try to talk the patient into watching a movie and snuggling with his Mommy!

Drs. Sydney and Brandon

Brandon is scheduled to have tubes and adenoids tomorrow morning (we are hoping he doesn't get sent home because of stuffy nose). We went to a pre-surgery class at Primarys on Thursday. The nurses are so cute with the patients and siblings and tell them all about what will happen when they come to the hospital. They let them try on the gloves, masks and hats and keep them! Sydney and Brandon had a good time playing with them in the car. Brandon got to smell the anthesthia (I can't spell that) and pick his smell already. They talked about how the parents have to say good-bye at the yellow line, but will be waiting for you in the waiting room. We thought it was a great class and hope it helps with the anxiety tomorrow!

Odds and Ends

Wow...that was fast. Christmas has come and gone. What a crazy month. I'll try to get everything posted quickly, but there is a lot to do this week. I'm still working on those Christmas cards. They will hopefully be Happy New Years cards. We had a little photo shoot last week and it was fun. This picture was my favorite, except for the dog sniffing his butt. We thought we could entitle it, 'Merry Sniffmas' but, that's probably a little much for some people. Main problem is the red eye and trying to fix it....stay tuned.
Then, my birthday. Seriously, I wasn't into it at all this year! Not liking getting older and not feeling older. I didn't want any presents from my little family...just go to dinner. Amanda had a birthday party for a friend on my birthday, so we went for sushi on Monday night instead.

Sweet Mikey did get me some pretty roses!

Mike & I went to dinner on Tuesday to Roosters (kind of an anniversary of my last birthday, where he threw the surprise birthday) and then to WalMart! Yippee! I was actually getting stressed about finishing up the gift shopping so this was just what I wanted to do. Crazy, I know. My cake was sure pretty and we dished it up with the kids when we got home.

Mo Tab and David Archuleta!

The stage at the conference center. Beautiful! When we got there, David was practicing!
This was the best picture we could take of him. It's from the jumbo screens that flank the stage.

Knowing that Syd-Syd loves David Archuleta, I tried to get the free tickets to the Mo Tab's Christmas Concert where he was the guest singer. We didn't get them. I had a bunch of neighbors that didn't get them and we were all trying to find some so they could made their cute daughters happy, too!

Well, Grandma and Grandpa Arveseth did get them and were going to attend with Dwight and Norma. As it turns out, since Grandpa Arvy was sooo sick (we heard today that it's pneumonia), Grandma gave us the tickets!! Sydney was in heaven!

The concert was the night of the funeral. Everyone was pretty worn out from the activities of the day, but Mike-being the sweetheart that he is-drove the girls and me to the conference center so we wouldn't have to deal with the crowds and traffic and craziness. We got there early (a lesson learned from last year's concert where I had tickets but arrived too late and they wouldn't let us in), and had great seats!

The concert was awesome! They had dancers, lots of singing, David was so cute and he has an amazing voice-so fun to hear him live-and the guest narrator was Michael York who did a great job telling the story of the start of the Mo Tab choir and then reciting part of the Christmas story from Luke. We loved every minute!

And thanks to my wonderful hubby-we just met him up the street and he drove us home. We didn't have to deal with the horrendous crowds and traffic. That made my night! It was fun to hang out with the girls and spend the night doing something Christmasey. Thanks, Jim & Renae! Although we are so sorry you had to be so sick in order for us to go!!!

Grandma-Great's funeral

Grandma Mary Arveseth passed away on December 11, 2010. We had her funeral on Thursday, December 16, 2010. It was held at Larkin Mortuary. Mike conducted and did a great job. We were proud of him. I played the piano. The great-grandkids sang, 'I Am a Child of God' and it was so sweet that it had me in tears behind the piano. Tom Middaugh said the opening prayer. Robin Schneider gave the eulogy. They had a time during the service for people to come up to the mic and talk about Grandma where we heard from Grandpa, Pat, Mary, Scott, Doug...very sweet. Grandma was an amazing woman who was widowed in her early 40's and became nurturer and provider for her 7 children. She lost a son in Vietnam.

She was strong and lived a good long life.

The pallbearers and honorary pallbearers
Since Mike conducted the funeral, he also had to announce at the graveside.
Steven dedicated the grave and also did a great job.

Grandma was Scottish and proud of her heritage. It was appropriate to have a bagpipe playing for her. It was a cold, but beautiful sunny day with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground.

There are lots of family pictures to follow:

Mike putting his boutonniere on Grandma's casket

I think this is the sweetest moment. Sydney is very tender-hearted and was very upset. Grandpa took her over to Grandma-Great's casket and talked to Syd about it.

What a great and loving Grandpa.

Grandpa, Mike, Brandon, Amanda and Maddie
Jim was so sick (flu or something) and we were greatful he was able to make it to the funeral.

Brock, Ali and the rest of us looking on

Zac and Amanda were really upset - cute Kelsey feeling sad

Matt and 3 of his kids

The family! We were missing Doug & Cath's babies and Hillary & kids....

Jim & Renae with their boys....great family!

Geo-train!

Amanda's class made 'geo-trains' this last day of school before Christmas break! I think it was supposed to have something to do with geometry, but she said they didn't measure anything...just made the train. It took her an hour and she was pretty proud of it. I'm just glad I picked the girls up from school today because this would not have survived on the bus! Nice job, Amanda! Now, we are wondering if she'll let us burn it with the gingerbread house on New Years?

As a side note: Sydney had a tumbling show on Monday night. I just took video of her performance, but I haven't been able to upload a video here. She did a great job and we are proud of her!! Another side note: Sydney's teacher suprised them today by ordering pizza from Pizza Hut and having it delivered to their classroom! She said they had a fun time eating in their classroom.....

And now, Christmas break has officially begun!

Gingerbread House Day

The finished product! Nice job, everyone!!!

Can I just tell you how much I love these 4 people!

Sunday came and it was just as busy! We traveled to Perry early that morning for our nephew, Andrew's mission farewell. He is an amazing kid and did a great job on his talk and he sang, too! We had a great time visiting with family and with Kristine's family...Mike grew up with the Hewards, so there was time to catch up with these friends. The weather was warm for December and the kids got a chance to get outside and run. So great!

By the time we got home, everyone was pretty worn out. We didn't make it to the last of our meetings, but Mike had to go over and take care of some clerk stuff. When he got home, we had a great dinner (honey shrimp-something everyone eats without complaint!) and decided it was Gingerbread House night!

I found a pre-built kit at Costco! Yea! So, basically we had to decorate. Mike was in charge of construction on the few things that needed it and the kids were to decorate. Well, pretty soon the decorating slowed and the sneaking frosting on your finger accelerated!

Then, there was frosting on Brandon's forehead!
Sydney showing off her gingerbread person....before she ate it!

Amanda enjoying her gingerbread person!

Last year, we had heard some of our friends burn their gingerbread house on New Year's Eve. We tried it out and loved it! That's all the kids could talk about while they were decorating-should we be worried about that? No....it's now a favorite tradition!

Later that same day....

Saturday was a little busy....later, after we had the car in the shop....after the primary activity, etc. Amanda had her Jazz dance performance. She did great! She is the tallest in that class, so it was easy to pick her out. These girls are her same age and both play on her comp soccer team...Keslee and Bridgette....and their teacher, Shalice.

We are proud of you, Amanda! You are a beautiful dancer!

Polar Express

Waiting for the Polar Express!!
Left to right: Mia & Jaya Montgomery, Drake Morgan, Larsen McCleary in the back. Sydney, Brandon and Joshua Harwood.

Our Primary activity last Saturday was the Polar Express. The Primary rented a trolley, super cute, painted red/blue with wooden seats. They gave each primary kid a ticket and told them where to catch the trolley. They invited all the parents to come along. I invited Amanda, but now that she's in Young Womens, there was no way she was getting up early on a Saturday to come!

Best Buds

They started with a story by Mrs. Claus. It was about Santa believing in Jesus and then each child wrote their name on a tag and wrote what gift they would give Jesus this year. Sydney didn't sit by the little kids on the rug.

She's getting too old.....but I was glad to have her sit by me!

You can see Spencer Harwood and Brandon on the right side....they listened so intently!

Then, into the gym for breakfast, which was the kid's choice of fruit loops, lucky charms, captain crunch...all they could eat! They couldn't believe it!

Brandon talking to Santa. Sydney wouldn't go talk to him. Since our Daddy was a Santa's helper for a lot of years, our kids know this isn't the real Santa....Sydney thought the activity was a little too young for her, but I'm glad she came. Great job, Primary leaders!

Mike was coming back from being with his Grandma after she passed away and being with his family. Our car had died on the freeway when he was on his way down to Salt Lake. Our great neighbors and new home teacher, Jim & Heidi Yerke, helped him tow the car to a repair shop later that morning. Jim's Grandma had also just passed and they were on the way to her funeral later that day. We were so greatful for the help!