Christmas Eve!

For Christmas Eve this year...we decided to start a new tradition. For several reasons...so we could make it through the day...because of all that excitement in the air...because we knew it was going to be a long day... we decided to do different activities through out the day. Some of these were activities that we didn't quite dget to for our Annual Christmas Countdown. So we put activities in a jar, and then pulled them out. I forgot to take picture of all of the activities (silly me), so I will just have to go by memory.
I believe our first activity was to open a present... (they were coloring books and word searches (for the Sunday bags). So the kids opened their presents, and then colored for ahile (I believe that Mr. Hubby was being Mr. Fix-It, and was working in the basement). After they were finished with that... we drew another activity... which was to watch a Christmas Movie. That was nice to be able to sit down and relax. We watched a Christmas Matlock! Funny, hugh? But it was good.
After that we pulled out... make a Christmas Craft.


I had bought this window cling Christmas craft about a month ago, and it was fun to see the kids have fun and decorate them (even though they actually needed a few days to dry, before you could hang them up... live and learn, right?)


When we were finished with that we pulled out... make cookies for Santa. We know that Santa loves OREOS, so we believe that homemade Oreos are just what Santa needs to know that he is loved by us! A little shmoozing never hurts, right?

After that we pulled out "Go to the Church and play games!" There are some perks that come from people having to go to early morning meetings (and that perk is keys to the Church!) We invited a few other families to join us! The Johansons and the Wildes came. We played "PIG" and "Lightning" while the kids performed on the stage. And then we all played Dodge Ball! It was nice to be able to run around for a little while. We wanted to go sledding, but there wasn't enough snow :-(.


When we came home it was time for another Christmas show, and then we pulled out the last activity from the jar... which was... "Open another present, as a family, and then participate in that activity"...
Boy oh Boy we didn't know what we were in for!!

The Month of December, quickly recapped!

Always a month behind on this silly blog, catch up... or not catch up? That is the question! The month of December... quickly recapped.
First Afton and Dylan both had piano recitals (the same one), where they did great. They are so good to practice, and I am proud of them for developing this talent. After that, Jocelynn, my Mom, and I went to a second cousins reception, it was fun to see some distant family, I haven't seen in a while.


I was in charge of "Enrichment" night, now known as Relief Society Meeting. We had a Christmas Activity, where we read the story "I Believe In Santa Claus", and watched the natvity from "Joy to the World", and then I spoke about remembering why we have Christmas, and we gave the Sisters, a Christmas Testimony Journal, where they were asked to start a new tradition, of sharing their testimonies of the Savior at Christmas. Then we had dessert, while we decorated our journals. I was so glad when that night was over! This is a quick pic of the kids after church one Sunday, in their Christmas Best! (That my mom provided for everyone... Afton was wearing last years dress... because she wore her new dress for two weeks before that, and I was slow in taking the pic).


The night after that was Dan's work party, where we had dinner at his boss's newly rennovated home. Most expensive place I have ever been. Million(s) dollar home. We had a good time, even me in my new $19 dollar dress from Wal-mart, and at home dye job (that i did that day). Yummy shrimp. It was the also the ward party that night, so my sweet friend, Britt, took my kids to it. That was so nice of her and her family.!



The next weekend we had our annual Progressive Dinner, the forth one since we moved to this neighborhood. We had a really good time. We had 10 couples involved, so we got to eat lots of yummy food, and got to talk to lots of other couples, and make some fun new memories. We played the toilet paper game, and the game "After the manner of the Adverb", and then this game where one person tells you how to draw something, when you are back to back, and have to listen to their directions. That was hard! I was bad, and forgot to take pictures, next year I think I need to have one of the activities, be taking pictures of each couple, and then giving to to them later... one big group shot would be fun, too!
After that, the kids were out of school, and we got to hang out together, and spend some time together. I'll post more later about the rest of our Christmas festivities.
This is a picture of our "flocking", there was a lag in the snow for a couple of weeks, where we had this beautiful fog, and one day we got "flocked", everything looked so beautiful, with this crystal snow effect. I was mesmerized, and loved how beautiful everything looked, and so happy I didn't have to shovel the walks. It didn't last long, and then we really got hammmered. (Not really, but enough to shovel, and slide upon!)

The CrAziNesS Has Only Just Begun!

Black Friday! It just stands for craziness, and this year was like any other, except for the fact that instead of going to bed around midnight, and then getting up at 4:45, we decided that we might as well stay up... I guess it wan't really a "we" decision, it was actually a Me decision, that did affect two other people.
My Mom, Kathryn, and I decided to scope out the whole situation at Wally World, around midnight, to see where everything would be that morning, well we ended up also bringing Kate, Jesse, and Coral (Kathryn's friends daughter). When we got there we were walking around, and I found what it was I wanted, under a little bit of plastic, so I said, "Should I just take them now, hide them in the store somewhere, and come back in the morning and buy them?"
Well, dear Sis wouldn't let me do it... so I guess I really can't be blamed for what happened next.
As we were scoping things out, we also got yelled at by some wally-world-workers, who thought I was going to buy the thing that was going to be cheaper, in 5 hours, talked to about every manager there was, talked to the people who were in line to buy cheap lap tops (they had been there since 8:00), and saw a bunch of other people waiting in "imaginary" lines some had chairs and books they were going to buy, later, others had friends and were playing games on the cold hard floor... Suckers! Is what I thougHt!
That is until we got home, saw that the time was about 1:15, and decided, in order to save me at least $60, I should just go back to that stupid store, and get in line with all those other silly people (although they weren't in line for what I wanted). So I told my sweet, sweet man, and good man that he is, got dressed, and said "Let's go".
I was then torn, did I really want to become the "sucker" I was just taunting in my head? Then, I remembered that you could get some things on-line, once it was midnight, so then we hopped on to that world wide web, and got NO WHERE! We could Not see how to get anything there, so then I was torn again... really sitting in wallyworld for hours?
Well we finally went to that store, around 3:30. And there was about 6 people in front of me in this real imaginary line. After some major chaos,having to do with this "line" that I'm not in the mood to type, I finally got the things that I wanted! And my sweet, sweet husband has decided, he is FINISHED with Black Friday (and I think I might be, too... that is unless next year (or dear sis from Michigan is back, she felt bad she missed out on all the fun!!)



More shopping, this time in St. George (on Saturday)... with a bunch of cute girls, a cute Mom, and cute Sis! Much more fun, and way less crazy!

We challenged the Stathis Family to Wii Outdoor Challenge... we brought our secret weapon along (Dylan)and WE WON!!!! Much to their dismay! Next time we meet up there will be another challenge and I think that Primary Plate is the prize (whether or not I have to sneak it out of their house or not!)

Kath's blog has the picture of the winners!!

There sure is a lot to be thankful for

We sure do have a lot to be thankful for, sometimes I know I forget that... I take
everything for granted... our health (can't tell you the last time we've been to the doctor), our vehicles (I can tell you the last time the truck has been to the Doctor :-)), our home (that is actually big enough for us), my beautiful and remarkable children, and my wonderful and amazing husband, who keeps on trudging on, going to a job, where he is taken for granted, and being thrown into a way of life, that is for only a few select among us.

But I truly am thankful for these things, as well as the many other things that are in my life... probably the most important is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I can't even begin to imagine how I would live my life without this life line... for that is what it truly is. It gives us hope, and it shows us the way.

Thanksgiving this year was spent in Cedar City, where we get to have the best of both worlds, spending time with both families. We stayed at Kathryn's, and we ate with Grandma and Grandpaw Bryant. They moved last January, so this was the first time having Thanksgiving in their new home. I am very thankful they were able to move into such a nice new home, a rambler, where everything is on the same level, and someplace where they don't have to worry about renters. It's been great for them, and we are really happy about that.

Cousins from Texas weren't able to come (they went to Branson, Missouri for some fun), and we had Thanksgiving with the Benells, Uncle Ronald, and ofcourse Grandma and Grandpaw. It was so yummy! They worked so hard! I say they, because all I ever make is Cookie Salad, for Tony, not much work goes into that. Which is fine by me... they make homemade pies and rolls, and go all out... I'd probably open a box of stovetop, or even better yet, go out to eat! Good thing I am blessed with hard workers in my life! :-)

Sure have lots to be thankful for!

Oh volleyball (part two)

Well, to update you all about Tooele's Regional Valley Young Women Volleyball Tournament, the tournament started on a Thursday night in Grantsville, this also happened to be the night of the first snow storm in our valley. It was quite a busy night, it was the Primary activity at the church, Dylan had karate,and Kate was supposed to be at the tournament at 5:45. In order to get everyone where they needed to be, I took the volleyball girls, the neighbor lady picked up Jocelynn and Afton, and another neighbor picked up and k. Weall hen met up at the church, Daniel coming in from Salt Lake, and Dylan staying at Karate.
The girls and I got there around the same time as the lady who was setting up the tournament, so we lent a hand, untangling the nets, hanging the nets, setting up chairs, and so forth. They finally got everything ready, and the girls began their first game. They won it, so then they played the next hour, and then they won that game, so they played again! Each game they got better and better, and their confidence grew. They won each opponent in two games. They were in the winners bracket, and then scheduled to come back the following Saturday, for the end of the tournament. We didn't get home until around 9, and no one had had dinner, so we quickly made something to eat and finally went to bed, with smiles on our faces!


The next Saturday we went back to Grantsville for the rest of the tournament, our first opponent was the 7th ward, they were the ones who beat us in our stake tournament, so we were all worried about playing against them! But we won! It took all 3 games, but we pulled it out! We were so excited! We then had to wait for the next game, the loser bracket to be played, well that darn 7th ward won! So we had to play them again for the championship game! They beat us in 2 games, but since we hadn't lost a game, we had to play them again!! The girls were all so upset, they were crying (in private) and trying to calm down, we played them again... it took all 3 games, and...

we lost! They were close games and we definitely game them a run for a money, but we took second place. The stake was so proud of them, they had both teams meet at A&W for rootbeer floats!

Good job girls!!

The Pianist

Kate had her first piano recital, with her new teacher Gina Morrison. Gina lives 4 houses down the street, and happens to be the mom of one of her best friends.

It's been fun to see the way Kate has progessed in her music, and especially the piano. She has been taking lessons now for about 3 and a half years, and I think, no actually, I know, she is a much better pianist than I am! It's embarrassing for me to admit that! But it does make my heart proud to hear her play. I hope she continues!!

Who knew?? My mom was right! Practicing makes all the difference,and I am proud to say that this girl practices!! (Much more than I ever did!) Good job Miss Kate, keep at it and you really can be a great pianist! And then maybe you will have crazy people shouting at (I guess I mean for) you! (Let me tell you, it was sort of a strange recital...well, that's all I'm going to say about that!)

Trick or Treat!

Trick or treat, smell our feet, give us something good to eat!

Dylan was Barney from the Flintstones (no judging his homemade costume!) Jocelynn and Dylan went Trick or Treating with the Hathaway girls, and their Moms, while the Dads stayed home and passed out candy!

Kate was a pink fairy. She went with a friend, trick or treating, and then later her friends came to watch a movie at our house.


Afton went as Velma from Scooby Doo, she went trick or treating with Courtney and Madison.


This year Jocelynn was Pebbles, from the Flintstones.



There is the nicest man, who gives out full sized candybars, to both the children, and the adults who are trick or treating! Wish I was that rich!! So I could be that kind!!! There are lots of kids in this neighborhood! All in all it was a good night, now wondering what next year will bring, with Halloween being Sunday, questions, questions!