The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the rooms, not a creature was stirring, only a broom. A broom that swept up wrappings and crumbs from all the clutter called Christmas fun. The children were nestled all snug in their beds and I, (of course it is always I) was running a muck trying to find my head. The Christmas Program was delightful the food was so yummy. Now everything is full, stockings and tummy. Were excited for Christmas and full of good cheer as we celebrate Christ's birth again this year.

We have had a lot of fun this week. We went to Sea World on Monday and had a relaxing time there. We had to come home and get the house ready for Nana and Papa's arrival. Tuesday we started having some fun. We made cookies, had a girls day at the spa, went last minute shopping, went carolling and went to the movies, where they started showing Sherlock Holmes instead of Princess and the Frog. Hopefully Lily won't have nightmares. The movie people fixed it after 5 mintues.

Tonight we decorated cookies for Santa and had our Christmas Program. The kids did a great job performing what they had practiced. Lily decided at the last minute to throw in a manger scene. Our dinner was provided by Chin's Chinese Restaurant. I believe that will become a new tradition. Everyone had to try chop sticks. That was funny.

All is ready for tomorrow. And now I say, "And to all a good night!"

Christmas Happenings

Yea!! School is finally out. We are all very excited to be on Christmas break. I can't think of a better gift from my kids then to not need to be anywhere early in the morning. Sleeping in will become the new norm.

We have been having some Christmas fun this past week. We delivered Christmas cheer to friends, had parties at school and I had my first piano Christmas Party. That was a lot of fun and a stress free activity. My students are so funny. No pictures from the party.

Friday Damon and I went to Lily's Christmas party at school. It was very funny. The kids had fun. The gift exchange was a little rough. All the kids got books, games, toys, coloring books and the like. Lily got homemade cookies. I tried to contain her sadness, but it was rough. I was a bit disappointed for her. I told her how exciting it was because she got to bring them home and share them with the rest of the family. That seemed to help, but she was still bummed.

That night we went to the place called "Christmas Card Lane". All the houses have gigantic Christmas cards in their front yards. We looked at lights and decoration in this 5 block area. The whole neighborhood comes out and people sell goodies and there were horse drawn wagons to ride. We even got to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. The kids had fun but were tired of walking around after an hour.

Today we are getting the house ready for our company. The kids will have plenty to say about that I am sure. I think tonight we may stay in and watch Christmas movies.

It's Finally Looking Like...

CHRISTMAS!

Due to all the rain we kept getting, going out to get our Christmas tree took some time. Then bringing it in the house took some time. Then decorating it took some time. So after almost a week of having our tree it is finally up and decorated. No ornament casualties this year. We were pleased about that and after the kids went to bed I spent some time rearranging the tree to give it more balance. Most of the decorations were on the bottom half. We are thankful that the tree is up and looks nice.

Last Friday I took the kids to Disneyland one last time for the Holiday Season. I love Christmas there. We noticed that depending on what part of the park you are in is what type of Christmas music you get to listen too. In Frontierland you get lovely bluegrass versions of it. Main Street has big band sounds and California Adventure has more of a rock tone. So fun. We took our babysitter with us and had lots of fun. It rained a little, but we were prepared so it didn't bug us. There were hardly any lines which is always nice. I went on Tower of Terror with Adam and honestly that ride terrifies me. I leave that ride with a cold sweat. So pathetic I know. We went to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We watched the Christmas Parade and Fantasmic. We were pretty tired Saturday.

All Saturday morning I was at the church with the choir that I was in and then the choir that I was directing. Both choirs performed on Sunday at separate events. So stressful and now that it is over I feel so relieved. My parents came down for both performances. The kids loved having them around. They think Grandma is the best because she told them that they could eat cake for a snack before dinner (I swear the woman who raised me would have never said that). The choirs, apparently, sounded great. We weren't any silent monks, but I was told everything sounded good.

I am so happy that there are only 4 more days of school.

Some of this

Christmas cheer has been getting in the way of life lately. We have been busy busy bees this week thus far. Here is some of the stuff we have been doing.

Noah had his first band concert. He is playing trumpet. It was a fun concert and the kids did as well as was expected.

Tonight we went out to get our Christmas tree for the house. It was super cold today and we didn't want to search to long. We found a great tree and brought it home. stay tuned for decoration pictures.

Have a great day!

Our week in Review

We had a lot of fun all last week. So much I haven't really recorded it. Here is our week.

We celebrated Damon's birthday on Monday. He stayed home from work and we just relaxed and played. We are so thankful for Damon and all that he contributes to our family. He is a great dad and husband and we all love him dearly. He didn't want cake for his birthday so we made rice crispy treats with butterscotch chips in them dipped in milk chocolate. Way yummy!

Tuesday marked a momentous milestone for our family. Our Honda reached 100000 miles. This car keeps ticking through all we have done to it. It has gotten us through snow storms, rain storms, moves, camping, various trips to visit relatives, survived one car accident and day to day stuff. She has been our family car for 5 1/2 years. We hope to have her for another 5 1/2. Congrats for reaching the big miles. No other car of ours has gone that distance.

We drove to St. George, Utah for Thanksgiving. It was an uneventful drive. We really enjoyed seeing all of Damon's family during that time.

The day after Thanksgiving, after I did all my crazy early morning shopping, we headed out to Zion's National Park. It's about 30 minutes from Damon's parents house. We have never been there before. We loved it. We went on a few small "hikes". We saw wild turkeys, deer, reindeer deer, sheep, horses, cows and ostriches. We hiked up to Weeping Rock and also to the view ramp of Court of the Patriarchs. We can't wait to go back and go on some real hikes.

On our drive home we had traffic and rain. it took us 7 hours to do a drive that normally takes 5. We stopped at Mortensen Manor to take a break from being in the car. We had dinner and got to listen to the last part of the BYU vs utah game. That was the last treat of the weekend. BYU beating the arch enemy, utah. Sure, it wasn't pretty, but a win is a win and I never doubted that they could pull it off.

This is a picture of George catching the winning touchdown in overtime!! Go Cougars!!

It was a great week! Now bring on CHRISTMAS!!

A day of Thanksgiving

What a turkey day! It is a day of thanks as well. We had a great day with Damon's family. All his siblings were in St. George for Thanksgiving dinner and it was so much fun to have all the noise of the cousins running around. They had a great time together. Lily really enjoyed having someone younger than her to run around with.

I must give more of my gratefuls because I am thankful for all that I have been blessed with.

22- I am grateful for good choir practices. I am also appreciative of my fabulous pianist.

23- I am really, eternally grateful for my super spouse. We have been together for 13 years now and I still love him so much

24-I am really grateful that the CHP that pulled Damon over 5 minutes after we left our house for our trip to Utah, doing 79 in a 65 zone, did not give him a ticket. That really would have ruined our Thanksgiving.

25- I am thankful for the roof over my head and the food we have to eat

26- I am really grateful for those pilgrims, my ancestors, who braved the unknown and got on a little boat to seek out religious freedom.

27- I know I will be really grateful for the treadmill so I can burn off all the calories I consumed yesterday

28- I will be really grateful if BYU beats utah (yes it is lower case. They don't deserve capitalization) today in the football game.

What was the best thing you ate at Thanksgiving?

The activities keep coming!

We have still been having fun this week. So much that I am a little tired. Just don't tell anyone that.

Our field trip Thursday was another magical one. The kids have had a week of half days and I had about had it with them. (the half days, not the kids) We played hookie from school and went to Disneyland with our friends. It was a fun day for the kids. We took two of our babysitters to help with all the extra kids. It was work with such a big group, but the kids really did enjoy themselves. It is Christmas time at the park and it was fun to be there. The kids loved the Christmas parade. The park wasn't crowded so that was nice. I have such great kids. I love taking them there.

Friday was back to the grind with a bit of a Disney hangover. After school got out (early again) we spent 2 hours outside playing with the kids on the culdesac. It was our last day of school before a week off. So much fun. I was going out with some friends to celebrate a birthday. To celebrate we joined the throngs of screaming teenagers and a bit obsessed older women to see the movie, "New Moon". It was fun being out with the girls and the movie was definitely better than the first one. I know Damon is feeling like he is a single parent lately since I have been absent a lot. Thanks lovey for letting me have some fun. You are the best!

This morning we had Adam's last soccer game of the season (quiet excitement from parents). He tried so hard all season to score a goal. He had a couple of breakaways today, but couldn't quite get it in the goal. We are proud of him. He definitely improved this season.

Is it almost vacation yet?

More November Thankfuls...

17) I am thankful for kids who do well in school. Their parent/teacher conference rocked!

18) I am grateful for quiet evenings. This was the only one of the week

19) I love my babysitters. They are great!

20) Friends who help keep me young and like to act goofier than me

21) I am thankful for the end of soccer season