Catching Up on the Holidays...

We've been busy! As I am sure you have to so you probably didn't notice that I haven't blogged the last 2 weeks! As the year winds down I want to be up to date as much as possible! I usually find time on Sundays but we had a family thing and Christmas these last 2 Sundays!

The kids went to school the 12th-16th. Gwen and I took Taran a Finals Survival Kit that morning before we watched my dad. Later Gwen had a little pre-Irish dance demo for grandparents and parents. Granny and Daddy came and she actually danced! She is going back in January. That night for family night we went to Walmart and shopped for a child in need. Timo also bought a toy for a thing his teacher was doing at the high school. It was a fun activity, we wish we could do it for all the kids on the tree! Tuesday Luke and his family were sick so I drove them. I was going Visiting Teaching that morning so my mom picked Gwen up for me. We actually took our ladies out for breakfast at Kneader's it was a yummy time! Then I went and got Gwen. I did not make it to the temple since I had no one to watch Gwen--my mom had something later. Gwen had made a graham cracker house you can sort of see it in the collage. It fell on our way home from my mom's so it's not in top form! That night was Timo's Choir Concert. He had down played it but it turned out great! Wednesday Gwen had the craft for her preschool Christmas party so they made glitter cookie cutter ornaments--she had to teach it so we went with easy! I made creamy fudge and cracker candy for the Young Men and Young Womens combined activity that night. Well, also Micah had a scout party and had to bring a treat to it as well. Izak had a scout thing that night too. The activity was a presentation by a couple in our ward who are a doctor and nurse and do Humanitarian work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was so neat to hear how the church is helping babies through neo-natal resuscitation training! They have had many amazing experiences! They are young so they will be doing it for a long time! Thursday I drove for the preschool field trip to the mall to see Santa. I was Gwen's first time so I paid for her photo. Somehow I missed putting it in the collage. She enjoyed it! Tim works near the mall so he joined us for lunch since the kids in our car all ended up going home the teacher or parents after it was 'over'. We had Luke who we had all day since it was our day. We had fun but they weren't up for shopping so we left after lunch. Thursday afternoon a lady in our ward whoes husband sins in the MoTab offered Tim tickets for that night's MoTab Christmas concert so he and Izak went. They had a great time. Friday was the last day of school of 2011! I helped with Izak's class party. Gwen came with and it was fun--we made graham cracker houses and did some other activities. We split them into 2 groups so it was a little easier to do it all and then switched. June came over just after we ate lunch. That way I could be there when the kids got home and she could do what she needed to. That night was the Christmas Dance. Timo and his friends went to a pizza place for dinner, had a white elephant exchange and played games until the dance. They had a lot of fun and then "Buster" the Chevy Lumina he drives died! Luckily he was able to run home and grab the big van and drive his date home. We were at Emily's play at the jr high A Christmas Carol as a radio show in the 40s. They did a great job. Apparently they wrote the play themselves--of course it was mostly Dickens' words! We tried out the new Arctic Circle on the way home--I got a peppermint shake it was amazing! Saturday I went to the temple, I just woke up and went. Tim and Timo towed the buster back to our house. The transmission went out in it. It's a 20 yr old car so time for something newer! It was Holly's birthday so my mom picked up Emily and Gwen to go with my mom to lunch with her--her request. We met up with them later at Charl and Katie's for ice cream cake and presents. It was fun. The kids didn't want to go since there were some college bowl games on that we do not get on our tv. Owell...Timo got asked to Preference somewhere in there--notice the hand in the butter...she buttered him up to pop (popcorn later) the question if he would go! Messy! Saturday night I went and got Taran from BYU. He had moved to his new place but needed a ride back here. We filled the car. His new digs are sweet! Sunday we had planned to have the kids play some of the Christmas songs they had learned on the piano for the grandparents. We usually have it at our house but my dad isn't leaving home much these days so we had it there and we picked up Tim's parents since they prefer to not drive in the dark. It was a fun evening we potlucked dinner and then the kids performed. Taran actually played carols on his guitar and we all sang along. Timo played See The Light from Tangled. Gwen played Twinkle, Twinkle...It was fun. After we got home that night Tim, Taran, Timo and Emily figured out how to do a He is Born, it's an A Capella Christmas song. I would post it here but it seems my videos never work here. They were getting ready for the Pew extended family FHE.
Monday there was no school but I still went out to my mom's since she needed to get some shopping done. I brought Gwen with. I visited with my dad. Then I was looking at a present for Izak long story short I needed to go to SLC to get it so my parents drove me up. We dropped Gwen off on our way up. I helped my mom look for presents at the store there and we stopped at a couple more on our way back. I had to quickly get the mashed potatoes made I was suppose to bring to the Pew FHE. It was a fun time. We ate, some performed, Tim's dad read Luke 2 and then we made painted sugar cookies. Those took the longest but it was fun to be together. The guys watched the first Jazz game that night while we made the cookies. That night Tim was sick with some kind of flu thing. He stayed home from work the next day. I went to the temple. I also did some shopping later. We were suppose to go to SLC to Temple Square to see the lights and go out to dinner. Timo ended up going with friends. The kids were disappointed but handled it well. Wednesday Tim was well enough to go to work. I worked on the neighbor gifts. That night we picked up Teresa and met Charl, Katie and kids to go through the lights at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun. A new feature this year was a frozen fountain--it's in the collage. Afterward Teresa had all of us over for Hot Chocolate. Some watched Elf, I chatted with Katie and Charl they were telling me about Katie's talk. Thursday was Emily's white elephant party with her friends. Taran helped me deliver the neighbor gifts so they were out of the way. The kids got most of their friend stuff delivered too. Emily and her friend Emily made creamy fudge and chocolate fudge which both turned out yummy. They made a big mess but did a good job! I also made a few other things for the party. They had a lot of fun. Taran went to the BYU Basketball game with a friend. Timo made himself scarce as well--they didn't want to be there around the jr high kids! Like they weren't there once! The party decided to play fugitive in the FREEZING cold. Actually it has been a very mild winter so far. Emily begged Tim into it. I finished a book I was reading. Friday Tim had off of work so he ran around shopping. I needed to go but waited for him which was a mistake and I forgot my phone. That night in honor of Joseph Smith's birthday we had a progressive dinner and a some detail from his life at each house. It made it different and interesting but also long. We ended with a white elephant exchange. I love this tradition. Joseph has taught us more about our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father than most post Jesus followers. So that is why we celebrate him. Not worship.
Christmas Eve was mostly getting things ready for Sunday and Christmas. I spent most of my day making a book for my dad. I had him go through old black and white from South Africa, and I wrote down the info on the back of the photos in pencil. Then I mounted them on paper and typed up the info and put it on. It took me a long time! We had our simple dinner on the floor in the family room by candlelight--cheese, crackers, juice, nuts, dried fruit and grapes. Then we watched the reading of Luke 2 by Michael York and watched the last song Angels from the Realm of Glory by David Archuleta and the MoTab. It was a nice simple evening. My parents came and Teresa. My mom wasn't sure if they would make it but they did. We were done by 7 PM and they went home. We unwrapped our pjs. The little kids bathed and went to bed. Teresa, and Emily watched While You Were Sleeping--Tim and I watched a bit. Taran and Timo delivered stuff to their friends. Timo's friend put the wings on his car that he had made for it for Timo's birthday! See the collage. Taran taught himself a few more carols on the guitar. Tim helped me with my dad's book and did most of the Santa stuff. If I hadn't waited to do my dad's present we would have been in bed early for once! Maybe next year! Sunday the kids got us up at 6:40 AM. I think it was 7 before we actually got everyone else up to open presents. By 8 AM we were done! Everyone seemed to enjoy what they got. Timo wasn't feeling well and went back to bed. The rest of us ate our favorite cereal--I bought everyone their own box of cereal. This is a realt treat since most of the cereal I buy is high fiber. After that I rested/slept read my scriptures and the kids played with their gifts. Tim and the 3 oldest had choir at 10:30 AM. So we got Timo up to shower which he did and he felt well enough to go. Sacrament Meeting was mostly music. They had an older couple share their testimony which where very sweet and simple. The bishop closed with his remarks which were also good. We came home after briefly visiting with a few neighbors on our way! We wrote our gifts to Jesus for the coming year and out them in a box that we keep with our decorations. We changed and packed up our stuff and left the Pews. We had lunch there, we brought some stuff to share but she had ham and fruit salad and stuff. It was yummy and we were first so we enjoyed spending some one on one time with them. Just as we finished the Espinozas arrived. They ate then we did the gifts since we weren't sure when Amy and family would come and the kids were anxious. After playing with gifts I think our sleepiness set in and we sat around and watched WALL-E. It is so cute. Taran, Timo and Tim had never seen it so we stayed to the end. By then Amy and family were there but we needed to leave for my mom's. So we had a brief visit and left. We had dinner there. It was yummy too. Then we opened presents because Keith and Amber needed to head over to her family. So our visit with them was brief as well. We enjoyed the gifts and especially giving the gifts. It was a nice night but we were tired. Anders wanted to sleepover so we let him and Holly. After we got home we watched the First Christmas a Liken the Scripture video that we enjoy. Then we went to bed. I crashed! That's it for now. So grateful to spend time with family and the blessing of the Christmas season for the love we feel from God and his son Jesus Christ.