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Monday, December 31, 2007

Christmas after Christmas

My sister Holly and her family came down from Idaho and my mom and brother Caleb came in from Oregon for New Years so we had our own Christmas with them Sunday morning. All the kids had a great time being with all their cousins and of course opening MORE gifts. We had a great few days with them.






That night we went back to my parents house to open even MORE gifts with them. The kids got to play with more of their cousins. My brother Brad and his family were in Arizona for Christmas so we waited for them to get back. We exchange gifts between siblings so we couldn't open them with out him and Janelle. After gifts and ate food and played games. It was a really fun night.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Taylor's Play

We had a HUGE crowd for closing night at Taylors play. She did her best performance. It was hard to get clear pictures with out a flash. Our camera will take action pictures but in the dark w/o a flash anything that moves is all blurry. So there are some shots of Tay that are clear but everyone else around her is blurry. We also got video of her and her lines but Joe hasn't downloaded the video camera yet.

I wish we had video taped the WHOLE thing that night it was AWESOME!!!! I will see if someone recorded that nights performance. It was closing night so I think someone must have. There is a scene where Scrooge (He is Eric Jensen and owner of the theater) is getting ready for bed. He comes out in a red and white striped night gown but his pants are still on. The narrator (Charles Dickens) comes out and has a conversation with him about the fact that he is going to bed in his trousers. Scrooge tells him normally he doesn't but there were allot of people out there watching. Dickens then tells him that they are paying customers and he should give them their moneys worth. We had seen this 4 times already and the last time I made a plan. Joe and I had front row seats. We started calling to him and threw money at him and held up dollar bills. It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! He loved it the audience ate it up. It was a RIOT!!!

Then there is a tinky winky part. Supposed to be about going #1 and then Eric got up on a support stage left behind a side curtain and poked his head out with a giant sun shaped piece of foam!!! He was giggling like a baby it was so funny. The whole night the entire cast stepped it up to give the most hilarious show ever.

After the show Eric and Sandy both said they want Tay to come back for the next 2 shows they will have kids in. She is so excited and I have loved working with them as a parent.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas

WOW! What a day! Let's begin at the beginning. We had a blast! We went to my parents house Christmas Eve. We made treats for their neighbors. Katya and Taylor got to help deliver them with my sisters Sarah and Melissa. We ate treats, sang songs and just enjoyed each others company. It really was a nice evening. My grandparents came over as well later on in the evening. We opened a few gifts. We left to go home around 11pm. When we got home we held to our tradition and opened pjs for everyone!




Before we left to go there I took out the roast that Joe's mom bought for Christmas dinner so it would thaw. When we got home we wrapped the rest of the gifts that didn't get done the day before. Joe and I watched a couple movies and hung out. We came up stairs to find the cat in the fireplace looking up. So I now have proof that Santa exists! We finally went to bed at 3am. I checked on the roast. It was still frozen so I left it.


Christmas morning came. The kids woke us up bright and early. We all ran down to see what Santa brought. We put the dogs out. The kids all got what they had asked Santa for. Katya and Taylor got Barbie girls. They are MP3 players. Katya's was wrapped differently and so she needed a knife. We sent Ryan to go get one. He can reach the butter knives but he decided to open the dishwasher...

Brynn got a new baby. It remembers its name and interacts with you. Ryan asked for a Transformer. It was a great Christmas.




Joe and I both got new jackets from Santa. I LOVE mine!







We moved to the front room to open the gifts from each other. We let the dogs in. Corde lay down on the floor with us the WHOLE time. We made a glorious mess of wrapping paper and boxes and toys.







When we were all done I went to the kitchen to put the roast in the crock pot. It was GONE!!!!!!! I knew where it went but still can't figure out HOW! I went outside and found the wrapper it was in. Stupid dogs!! So I called my neighbor. Wouldn't you know it she had a roast! It ended up not working like I had hoped. I am still grateful. I dug in our freezer and found some pork ribs. BBQd them up and made lots of sides. Joe's mom brought over some ham she had left over. All in all it turned out well. We exchanged gifts after dinner and had treats. It was a nice day.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Shopping

Joe's sister Jen came to visit just after Thanksgiving. She gave each of the kids $10 for Christmas. Joe took Katya and Taylor one night before Christmas to use their money.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Its been 20 days since I last posted!!!!!!!!!! December is always crazy for us. This year has been even more so. With my concerts (3 a week) and Tay's play plus all the school stuff, church stuff and sick kids (gotta love the snow...) we have stayed very busy.

So it really shouldn't even be time for Christmas. I wasn't ready for Thanksgiving and now you are telling me Christmas is in 3 days!!! It feels like it should be T-day. This year has just blown past so fast!

I FINALLY got all my Christmas decorat -ions up 2 days ago!!! I started when I put the house lights up by myself just after Thanks -giving. I put on quite the show for my neigh -bors. There is this part on the roof that is big enough for a cat to crawl on and somehow I had to get in there to hang the lights cuz I didn't have anyone to hold a ladder for me. It was quite comical. I thought for sure one of the times I was going to fall face first off the roof but I didn't and the house looks so pretty....

We got a good deal on our real tree. We always get a real tree. It is the fullest noble I have ever seen in my life. You can hardly tell its a noble. It looks so pretty.

I will give highlights over the last couple weeks...

For those that don't know I am in a semi-professional choir (we are non-profit hence the semi part) We perform all over the valley at Christmas time. This year I was given a solo. It was so fun to do that this year. Last night we sang in the Assembly Hall on Temple Sq. That was a dream come true. After the concert I had complete strangers showering me with compliments. My director was so pleased with my performance he complimented me 3 times. It was so exciting!

Taylor started her play but I will do a separate post on that later tonite or tomorrow. I will be videoing her tonite. She is doing well and LOVES every minute of it.


















Katya had her Christmas concert on Wednesday. All the 4th graders played the recorders and sang. They did such a good job. There was alot less squeaking then I thought there would be.


Now we have Christmas to look forward to! I think we will go to my parents Christmas eve or if we can convince them to come to our house... yah right. Christmas Day we will be spending alone until the afternoon. Joe's family will be coming for dinner. Then we will have a few days to recover and get ready for a bunch people coming to stay with us for New years. My mom and brothers and maybe Chelsie are coming from Oregon, Danita's sister Casey, maybe Danita, will come with her, Holly(my sister) and her family will come down from Idaho. We are planning a big New Years party this year. New Years Around the World. I am so excited!!! In the middle of all of this I am going to try to redo my downstairs half bath. Well see.... THEN this coming Sunday I am singing in sacrament. Joe will be my accompanist and then the following Sunday we are speaking. I am actually excited for that. So we have a very busy month.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Katya and Taylor's Piano Recital

Both girls did very well. Here are a few pics and videos of them playing.


































Saturday, December 1, 2007

Winter Wonderland

Well we were told that there would be snow...... Looks like they were right!




























The kids in their snow gear. The neighbor boy Jordan and his friend helping to
clear our driveway.


















(L)Brynn buried in the snow from the drive way
(Above) The neighbor Ryan pulling Brynn in a sled all over the circle and the dogs following the whole way.





















Pretty snow angels! Chewie LOVES the snow!! He goes nuts in it!!



Building a snow man.

The neighbor girls Sydney and Ruby came to help.