Guess what we do at family Christmas parties?

Super Grandpa Santa!

Our girl

Amanda got to go skiing with the 4th grade yesterday at Snowbasin. This girl LOVES to ski! She loves the story of her Norwegian Great-Grandpa who helped bring skiing to Utah and skied with Alf Engen. The girls say because of this, skiing is in their blood!

She woke up at 6 am, super-excited! We got her all ready and then I took her over to school at 7:15am. She wanted me to come inside with her until it was time to go. I had a good time just chatting with her and her friend, Kiley.

When it came time to go, she gave me a big hug. Then, she gave me another big hug. I even asked her if she was ok because it was such a big long hug. She said, 'Ya' and then gave me another hug. I don't know why I wondered that, but I love that she still will give her Mom a big hug, even in front of her friends!

She had a GREAT time and later that afternoon, I came into the family room after I finished teaching piano and this is what I found. A beautiful, tuckered-out, skiing, mama's girl!

(She really is a Daddy's girl, so just for today, I taking her as my girl!)

A little Christmas party

I'm sitting here watching the snow....our children are all home from school and now on Christmas break, and Mikey is stuck in Denver because of the snow in SL, so I thought I could update the blog!

Here's what the tables looked like full. Julene, Rachel and then the Bishop's family.
Last weekend was our ward Christmas party. It went really, really well. It was a Journey to Bethlehem theme, so first we set-up tables on the floor and decorated them very simply. We told families to bring a blanket to sit on and then put the food out family-style. Because our ward has a million children, we decided to break the party up into 3 groups or journeys.

This worked out so nicely!

Our angelic children.....love you kiddos!
Rachel Orison got a script from another ward she was in and rewrote parts of it to fit our ward. So, after eating, each caravan was led by an innkeeper (Mike or Rick) and a Roman guard (Justin Smith) on their journey. First stop was Joseph's shop. Greg Hess (who is also in MoTab) was Joseph and two of his girls and his wife also helped. They sang a beautiful song and I heard that Greg got choked up at least once. This definately set the tone for the journey and everyone was quiet reverent. It didn't take long for people to feel the Spirit.

Next stop was Mary when they had stopped for the night and Joseph went for water...so she was alone. Mary is my piano student, Missy Smith. She is so close to Mary's age and dark hair....and angelic singing voice....seriously, I started bawling when I heard her sing. Her Mom, Ann, did the narrative.

Practicing...

B dressed up!
Last stop was with the shepherds and angels. Another piano student of mine, Braydon Elliott, was one who sang with his brother playing the viola. Our girls were angels and did great on their speaking parts. Other angels were Sydney's b.f.f., Abby Orison and Zoe Francis. Brandon got to be a shepherd boy, along with Josh Harwood and Taylor Francis. After their part was done, we showed the movie 'Luke II'.

Practicing...

I spent most of the time helping with food and setting tables, but people would come up to us after with tears and saying how wonderful it was. We were so happy that it worked out and was a great experience for us. Our Bishopric were awesome as we asked them to dress up as the Three Wisemen and hand out candy canes at the end.

Brother Summers, Bishop Stuart, Brother McQuiston

We were lucky and got to use the Stake's nativity costumes for a lot of the parts. We also asked 3 people in the ward to do the sets and they turned out incredible!

So, very happy to have it over, but so grateful for all the help we had this year. We have a great committee and such a supportive ward! Merry Christmas!!

Brandon's playgroup

Brandon, Tytan and Will showing me their reindeer cookies!

We had B's playgroup at our house last Monday. Seeing as it was too cold to play outside, I decided to plan a craft! So, we made these reindeer cookies using Nutter Butters, pretzels, etc. (I found this in Family Fun magazine)

Here's Spencer, Nick, Matthew and Henry showing me their cookies
The first batch we made were really cute and done just like I told them. Chocolate chip eyes, a red M&M for the nose....just cute. But, I didn't have my camera. When I came back into the kitchen to take their picture...they had started to eat the reindeer!

So, we had another round....but this time, the boys had their own ideas and we had some pretty funny looking reindeer! Here's Brandon's creation! Silly boys!

Brandon says:

I took the kids to the Festival of Trees after school on Friday (well almost after school...note to kids-your Mom is cool to get you out of school to go to stuff!). After a couple of hours, they were about done. I had gotten them each one toy or prize. Brandon picked a 'noodle' sword (sword made out of a swim noodle). He wanted two. I said, no-just one. This started a HUGE tantrum (you know the kind where other people comment to you: "Hang in there....I remember that age....I teach preschoolers so I understand")

Brandon: I want two swords!

Mom: Brandon, just one. That's the rule.

Brandon: My rule is two! I want another sword!

Mom: No, Brandon

Brandon: Mom, if you don't get me another sword, you're fired!

I'm a terrible blogger!

Mike told me after our computer crashed a couple weeks ago, that I spend a lot of time on it during the day. Ok, he was right. I kind of got out of the habit while my computer was gone, and haven't been good about updating the blog! This is important time on the computer and I'm hoping to do better!

Here is our little Amanda in her Nutcracker make-up. She had the best time!

Last week, we had the Christmas festivities in full swing! Festival of Trees volunteering started on Monday with decorating day. I missed last year because B was sick, so it was all new to me today. I was surprised to see how many trees were set up by the time Elise and I got there! Also, I expected the number of trees to be down due to the economy, but Sharlee said the numbers were up. Where they saw the drop was in the purchase of trees. Still, some amazing trees and it's touching to see how many volunteer hours go into putting on this festival and raising all the $ for Primary Childrens Hospital.



Thursday we had cake & ice cream at the Gibby's because Evan and Jamie were heading home. We had a great time visiting with them and are thrilled that Jamie & the kids are coming to stay with my parents when Evan is deployed. We will miss you so much, Evan! You will be in our prayers multiple times each day. We are proud of you.



Friday, Jim & Renae treated us to Five Alls! YUM! We love this place! And it was really fun to be with the adults and be able to chat. We enjoy our siblings so much and are grateful that we have good relationships with them. Thanks, Jim & Renae for a fun party! And thanks Amanda for tending! I love that she can do that!!!



Saturday started too early as I went to help set-up the Stake's Christmas festival at 7am. This year, the Elliott's from our ward were in charge of the outside party and true to form, it was spectacular! Kathryn's talent is limitless and she created like 10 Dicken's style store fronts that we helped set up.



That night, Mike & I were going back to the Festival of Trees to bag up trees. So, luckily the kids got to sleep at Grandma & Papa Arvy's! They had a grand time and thank you again to Jim & Renae for helping us out! We were able to do some shopping and then met with our friends, Darin & Elise Jensen at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner! YUM! I probably gained 10 pounds this weekend. We were late getting to the Expo center because of dinner (we got there around 10:30p), but there was still plenty to do! We left there around 1:15am!



Note to anyone doing a tree....the people who volunteer to bag your tree and get it ready for transport, do not enjoy boxing up multiple toys, dolls, little statues and fake fluffy snow. It's difficult and very time-consuming for tired people! However, despite the tallest tree almost falling over multiple times (due to an unregulated stand) which we had to prop up until the morning, we were able to get our trees all ready to go!



Since we brought some cheesecake home, Mike and I had a little 'early morning' snack when we got home at 2am! ymmmmmm, cheesecake eating at 2am gives you sweet dreams!



I ran to get the kids in the morning, while Mike met the tree deliverers....I took care of the homefront, activities meeting, posters & flyers for the party, and getting us to church while Mike did more volunteer work. Needless to say, Sunday night all any of us could do (including the kids) was fight or cry.....it was a very early bedtime!

Happy Birthday to my Mom on Monday! We love you Mom and are grateful for all you do for us!

The ward party is this weekend and we are excited about it, but anxious for it to be over. It will be nice to relax and not worry about an upcoming event!
We are about done with our Christmas shopping, also! I wish the same for all of you!
I'll do better at posting now! Loves

Some of the blessings from the back door

As I took down our 'Count your Blessings' display, some of the things really touched me:

Of course, we were all so grateful for each other

Sunshine

Jobs

Working Cars

Strong and Safe House

Transformers

Music

Grandparents and extended family

Three year old's stories and songs

Naps

Jesus

School (really!)

Clothes

Beds

and Sydney summed it up (and made me cry) when she put

My Life

More updates

We are still on a borrowed computer, but I wanted to document our activities this weekend. As I was laying down with Brandon to get him to sleep tonight at 11:15pm (he had come to our bedroom saying his tummy was growling...true...he didn't eat dinner at all), I started thinking about how much I enjoyed this weekend! I love having Mikey home. I love going everywhere together as a family!

I can't remember where I left off, but we went to the zoo with the Gibby cousins on Wednesday. It was really fun and not too crowded for a free day at the zoo! No pictures, because again....no computer!

Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It was so fun to have everyone there. The past 2 years we have been on our own for Thanksgiving because both sets of parents have been traveling. But, that made for a fun change of tradition. The first year, we had my bros and their fams up for dinner at our house! We even had the little kid table! It felt a little weird to be hosting, but it was great fun. Last year, we headed south and Kay & Bud took pity on us. It was really fun for the kids to be swimming on Thanksgiving!

This year the food was fabulous as always. Evan, Jamie & kids are here visiting which makes it extra special. We all headed out for a walk around the block after dinner. Quite the adventure with 9 kids 4 and under! Then, the girls spent time looking through the ads and planning any shopping. From what I hear, Kat was the only one to venture out on black Friday!

Friday, Mike & I decided to take the kids to see the movie BOLT. We didn't realize, but we got tickets for a 3-D show. It's a cute show and kept the kids busy. We were late getting there because we were waiting for Mike's boss, Kevin, to come to our house and pick up some tickets from Mike. Since he and his family live in Denver, we visited for awhile and they wanted to see our house. After the movie, we decided we should stay downtown to see the lights go on for the Christmas season. This gave us some time to kill. So, we went to the Planetarium again. The kids love to go there! Then, we rode Traxx to Temple Square. The kids also love that! When we lived in Murray, the girls and I would ride the train frequently, but we couldn't remember if Brandon has even been on the train!

We walked around Temple Square a bit, saw the Christus and then it was finally time for the lights! Very beautiful, although I think they used to put lights in more trees between the Tabernacle and the Temple....now there are tons on the Plaza. We didn't get to the Plaza because the kids were starving at this point-only having had popcorn for lunch!

We went to The Dodo for dinner! Yea! About this time, Roger called to let us know my family was at Temple Square. We didn't go meet them, however, because the kids were tired by then. We had been downtown for 6 hours by that time. We also felt bad again when Steven called to see if we were still downtown because they were going to walk down and meet us since they live near the Temple.

Saturday, we all went to Abi's birthday party! They had a bounce house in the social room of their apartment building. How cool is that! We were excited to see Cath & their girls for the first time since they became Utahns again! We had a great time visiting and watching the kids bounce and go crazy. It was also fun to watch Steven and Mike in the bounce house playing together!

We ran to the U after that and got some new t-shirts! Brandon and Syd ended up getting stuffed animals....so much has changed up there since we graduated! Buildings where there used to be grass....new parking lots....pretty crazy.

We ran Amanda to a birthday party when we got home and then eventually put up the rest of the Christmas lights and outdoor decor. This turned into a small nightmare as we ran out of clips and Mike & Amanda ran to 4 stores to find some more! Amanda was a great help to her Dad and stayed until the job was finished!

Mike & I did some shopping later and then met our friends, Darin & Elise for sushi! We love hanging with these guys. They are great fun and always up for sushi!

I'm kind of dreading the weekend ending. I really do love it when Mikey is home, and when we are able to visit family and friends without worrying about getting home to put kids to bed on a school night, etc. Although, I do need to get to bed sooner (right now it's 12:20am!)

We have really concentrated on counting our blessings and feeling gratitude this month with our children. We have listed out our blessings and things we are grateful for and taped them to the back door. It was fun to see the kids, especially Sydney, come up with different things each day. I will be sad to take down our display tomorrow as we make way for the Christmas season!

Whaaaaaaa!

Can I just cry for a minute? I miss my computer! I don't have my pictures, my normal e-mail, and I am grateful that Mike set me up with a temporary fix, but I can't make it work half the time (could be operator error....so what?). Whaaaa!



Anyway, a little update from my last post. Brandon did poop for Elise. I owe you big time! We had a great time at the ballet. Amanda did great and we are so proud of her! Friday, Mike & Sydney attended and then Mike took the girls to sushi. Thanks to Emily & Scott for keeping B that night so I could go to Twilight! Had a great time with Kat, Coze, Hillary and Cozette's sisters, etc. I'll have to update with pictures later. But, we did get sparkley....



Saturday, we had the ward party and it went really well! Lots of people, horrible renditions of the fights songs and a BEAUTIFUL outcome of the game! Mike went to the game with his Dad and was happy for 3 days straight. Syd & I went to the ballet and afterward went to McD's with Makell & Eva. Thanks for coming girls! And thanks to Mom & Dad for watching Brandon all day!



Sunday, I just wanted to rest, but between getting things ready for church, such as kids, us, the posters for the upcoming Christmas party, etc, it didn't work. We ran to the grandparents after church and were so excited to see Evan & Jamie!



Monday, we decided to hang with the Gibby cousins at Clark Planetarium. We had a great time and we weren't sure who had more fun...the kiddos or Evan! We had lunch with D, Rog, and Mom & Dad. I got home in time to start teaching lessons and Mike called me to say he had his company's Jazz tickets for the game that night. So, we loaded up the kids and headed south. We had to drive around for awhile since we only had $3 in cash for parking. Mike pulled into the lot just north of the arena because he thought we could use the debit card. When we couldn't and Mike told the guy we only had $3, the guy said, just go in and it will be our secret! Blessings to that guy!



The kids were hard in the game, however. Tired as could be. Amanda was doing homework and Sydney & Brandon had to share a chair. When Amanda & B had to potty in the 4th quarter, I told Mike we would just wait outside for them. He came out not much longer to hear Brandon crying his eyes out because we wouldn't buy him a foam #1 finger! That was enough for Mikey...and we ran home!



So, there is the update....for journaling purposes anyway. The kids are out of school tomorrow, so we are going to the free zoo day with the Gibby's. I'm having a hard time comprehending that Thanksgiving is in less than 2 days. I'll be glad to sit and reflect and relax! And I will be extra Thankful when I get my computer back!

Coming up for air!

So, our computer is sick.....so sick with a virus that we got from cougar board, that it had to go to the hospital. I love my computer and spend a lot of time with it each day, writing to friends and family, managing our finances, organizing piano, downloading pictures and blogging!

I am not doing well without my dear computer and hope it's better soon. Mike did hook me up with a substitute so I could do some things, but I don't have all my old programs, etc. But, thanks to Mikey, I can e-mail a little, blog and surf the web. I have tried to download some pictures and I'm not sure where they are going!

Just an update on this week because it is BUSY! Monday night, I had my piano recital. It went great! My students did really well and it was fun and relaxed. I had 27 kids participate in this recital. Our girls played as we did some cramming to get them songs to play. My new goal is to teach them on a regular basis. It's like the hair dresser whose kids always need a haircut, or the cobbler whose kids never have shoes or the tax accountant who never gets his taxes in on time!

Tuesday started Nutcracker week. I went and chaperoned for the dress rehearsal. Let me tell you, it is quite the production! Amanda is having a BLAST! She is loving everything about it! Thanks to my friends who are stepping in and taking Brandon for us while we attend performances this week. Wednesday was also a dress rehearsal. I took Sydney up with me and we watched the first half. Sydney was a little bored, which surprised me. Maybe when she gets to see the second half tonight, she'll enjoy it more. This is the first time I have seen Amanda do her part and she was so cute! We are proud of you, Amanda! We are happy you are enjoy this so much!

Tonight is the first performance. She and two of her friends who are also in the show, wore their Nutcracker sweats to school today. We have the grandparents coming to see the show with us tonight. I have a couple of cute pictures of her in her make-up before she had her costume on, but I don't know how to download them without my program. I'll add them in at another time.

Amidst all this, we have also, shopped like crazy for recital favors, shopped for ward Christmas party stuff, shopped for Ward rivalry party stuff, done visiting teaching, had visiting teachers over, shopped with Grandma Arv for Christmas, shopped for Nutcracker presents (I guess the girls all give each other a little gift closing night), taught piano lessons, volunteered at the school, drove carpools, shopped for a potty-training prize race track, made cookies, done laundry and gone to lunch. I can't tell you how many times I have been to WalMart, Walgreens, Costco and Albertsons this week. I am kind of losing it at this point!

Today, I didn't have anywhere to go, but ended up at Albertsons again because Brandon who is doing much better at the potty training thing has discovered how to hold #2 until you are constipated and I needed to get some Miralax. Just waiting for that storm! Elise, I hope you don't get the brunt of that tonight! I'll never be able to pay you back enough!

So, don't miss me if you don't hear from me for a bit. Just know that I'm not fully wired! And I'm missing it!