December 2017

We visited my sweet Grandma Joyce at the beginning of December.  We brought all the cellos and played Christmas music for her.  She is the best audience and makes us all feel like we are concert musicians.  I am so grateful for her and her love of everything beautiful.  The boys are lucky to know her.

Brian's reflections composition won at the council level this year.  We got to go to a little awards ceremony for it.

We met cousins at the condo for a little birthday swim party for Caitlin.

Mark's mom got a new massage chair which Mark enjoys on the Sundays we visit.

We got two little snow storms in December, but the snow did not stay long. This was our first.

We helped to fill boxes for all the full time missionaries out from our ward.

The kids loved buying items at the dollar store to fill those boxes.

The boys discovered Mincraft on the new TV.

We went with our friends to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Children's Theater.

Then it was Sami Claus party time!

Brian entered a recipe contest at school.  The theme was Asian Fusion so we enlisted Nai Nai's help to come up with a simple but yummy recipe.  It is an egg scallion tortilla wrap dipped in sweet chile garlic sauce.

The kids played in the annual Cheney Christmas Cello Concert with 60 or so other cellists.  It is a very fun concert to attend. We love cello music!

The scouts made cookies for the firefighters and even got a quick tour of a fire truck while dropping them off.

A friend was collecting some food for a refugee family so we contributed some big bags of much needed rice and beans.  The boys were able to help me with their big muscles.

We also got helmets and ski goggles while at Costco because this is the year we started skiing again!

I decided I was finally ready to teach the boys.  We got the ski after 3 passes to Alta and used skis for me and the boys and headed up there even though there wasn't much snow.  This was the first time ever on downhill skis for Brian and Timmy. They did awesome and figured out the rope tow that first afternoon.

I was beyond happy to get out of the smog that day.

The next day was our ward party on December 16th.  Somehow these kids convinced us that they would be fine making a kids table.  They actually did pretty well with a few reminders to keep it a bit quieter.  They were all involved in a cute nativity program earlier and had a great time with their friends.

After dinner they made cards for the older people at the senior center in the neighborhood.

I worked on posters for the 2018 primary theme.  We decided to have the kids color them this year instead of spending the money on printing.

I attended the Christmas program at school, but got there late because an errand and had to stand at the back.  Timmy was in there somewhere.

You can find Brian if you look for a short kid near the middle front.

Mark ripped out our railing a couple of days before Christmas and built a new one too.  He was so fast I didn't even get a picture of the old railing.  I am so glad to have it gone.

We had another little snow storm

And even got a little sledding at the park.

Mark had work off during Christmas break and he took a break from building railings to practice ping pong with the boys.

He also taught me how to season the perfect tri-tip.

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year.  It was a wonderful easy day at church and the whole gang was so happy to actually have Mark home after church that everyone piled onto one chair with him.  Even Pip joined in.

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house that evening with my family.  I loved sharing our animals for the nativity.  It got a little chaotic with the sheep crashing over the manger, but fun all the same.

So glad Grandma Joyce was able to come.

Tony and Margaret stayed over on Christmas Eve and watched the kids open their presents that morning.  It was Lego sets all around!

It made for one quiet morning as they started putting them together.

I let them stay in their pajamas most of the day and I introduced them to Scrooge while building those Lego sets.

Then later that afternoon we went to Nai Nai's for dinner.  Luke and Sunny gave Timmy a little spirograph and everyone took turns with it.  Timmy and Margaret enjoyed it together.  It was so cute.

Before Luke and Sunny went home we tried to go see Coco with them but it was sold out.  So we saw The Last Jedi instead.  It was the first time ever taking the boys to the movies.

I took them to the Harry Potter Christmas display at the mall.  We loved reading Harry Potter together this year.

One day the boys convinced us to have a major family nerf war.  It was actually a blast and Mark ordered me my very own nerf gun. 

Having Mark home for Christmas break was so fun.  One night he watched Pride and Prejudice with me for old times sake.  It reminded us of those Christmas breaks in Mexico with Mom and Dad and Mandy.

Then it was time to move everything out of our bedroom and start demolition for our remodel.  I had to sell the futon and get rid of our old king mattress and move everything to the spare room in the basement.

We went to eat some good sushi one day in there too.

Then December was over and it was time to celebrate the new year except the boys got sick so we didn't actually celebrate. December was amazing though and full of everything I love!