A Snapshot of Year In Our Life

January

Skiing in a State Park

February 09

Yellowstone Park

March 09

Draper Temple Open House

April 09

Playing Disc Golf in Guilder
May 09

After Buttercup and Inigo's last Dance Recital
June 09

Our Backyard
July 09

Oquirrh Mt. Temple Open House

August 09

Our Boat "Makin' Memories"

September 09

Before Homecoming DanceOctober 09

Splash Mountain: Disneyland

(Pay no attention to the stranger in the background!)

November 09

Red's House/ThanksgivingDecember 09

Temple Square

Traditionally Wonderful

In spite of the fact that my heart was 3 sizes too small this past Christmas, there were some wonderful traditional moments during the season that, while my heart stayed small, kept it alive and whole and helped it grow 1.5 - 2 sizes bigger. Some traditions were old and some were new, but whatever they were, they were pretty terrific.


The first thing we did was make gingerbread houses. This is not something we do every year... as a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time I made one, but I have friends and relatives that do this every year and I thought, why not? The month was young... I had lots of time... (ha! I was also delusional at the beginning of the month!) The experience didn't turn out exactly the way I thought... we actually made each one at separate times, but the end result was pretty fun. The kids were excited with their individual houses and I loved that we all kind of did something together.


The next tradition was travelling to SLC to watch Buttercup sing with her school choir on Temple Square. The added bonuses were hanging out with Red, riding the train through the city and experiencing the beautiful lights and displays that the church puts together each and every year. We chose this location as the place for our last "monthly family picture." YES!!! I was able to get a family picture every month during 2009!! (Will I keep it going in 2010? Stay tuned to find out!)
It's definitely NOT a tradition, but Max and I LOVED going to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert. If I knew I could make this a yearly tradition, you can bet your sweet bippy that we will. Alas, if I only knew how to request tickets.... (remember, it was Buttercup that got us the tickets via her request for her choir.)

Another non-tradition that could turn into a great yearly event is a party with my Primary class. I promised my kids (age 7) that if they filled the jar with beads by singing well in Sharing Time, participating in class and sitting reverently and quietly that we would have a pizza slash rootbeer float party. Obviously they did exactly what they were supposed to do! We had a fabulous time, playing Christmas games and gorging ourselves on unhealthy party food. You can see that we got a little goofy too!

Sadly, our tradition of going to Buttercup's school choir's Christmas concert has ended. Since she is a senior, and graduating (we hope) we won't have this opportunity again for about 8 years... that is if Inigo decides to sing in choir. We went out with a bang - literally - this year. As the first group was singing their first song, the power went out. The only light we had was from the emergency lights over the exits. The choir director decided to push on anyway by borrowing flashlights from members of the audience for the pianist and wearing his white shirt sleeves so the kids could see him. It was a unique, but fun, experience! (This picture is the choir concert! Even though you can't see a thing, I had to take a picture to remind us what the night was like!)


In my house, Christmas Eve is the big night with the fablous meal. I choose to take Christmas Day off from all work and that includes cooking (well... I still cook a nice breakfast. But my day off starts after that!) so I try to cook enough that we can munch on left-overs throughout the day. Our traditional C.E. meal has a wonderful menu of Prime Rib, fancy schmancy glazed carrots, a fablously prepared pan of potatoes (sometimes mashed with amazing gravy, -or-sometimes I make party potatoes a.k.a. Funeral potatoes. This year I chose the latter.) Of course, we fix cheesy beans (don't know 'em? Believe me when I say you wish you did!) and my Gramma Millie's strawberry/blueberry jello salad. We get out the fancy china dishes and the elegant silverware. Goblets are what we drink our Martinelli's in.

Of course, we want to share the night with family and good friends. We have my parents, Red, Shackie, Stinky and Little Miss DooLittle over. Each brings food to share... good food that is traditional C.E. fare for them.


This year we had to eat early because our family was in charge of lighting the yearly luminaries in our neighborhood. Jillwanna and her family are celebrating Christmas in Chile (where they aren't chilly), so we put their luminaries out and lit them, in addition to ours. PLUS the local hospital -- which occupies the other side of our road -- asked us if we would line their side of the street for them. The total amount we were asked to do was around 150. (Luminaries is a yearly tradition, however, we usually only light 30 for our house.) Since we had so many, we ate dinner early, and ran outside in 15* weather and set it up. We had so much help with everyone that we got the whole street done in about an hour! It was wonderful! And, believe it or not, FUN!


All three kids are currently in music lessons and two take from the same teacher. (Inigo takes piano lessons from me.) Our instructor doesn't have a Christmas recital, so I thought it would be fun for them to have a mini-recital with the Christmas music they have been learning. This is only the second year we have done this, but I think it was a hit! And I think we'll continue with it for as long as we can! (Buttercup isn't taking piano lessons, she's taking vocal lessons. But since I was accompanying her while she was performing, I couldn't take her picture. The picture of her is when she was playing for our Christmas sing-a-long....)


For me, Christmas isn't Christmas unless there is music playing. You can't have an appropriate Christmas Eve party without singing Christmas carols.... right? So we got out the hymn books and sang just about every Christmas song in them!


I know most families read the story of Christ's birth in Luke. We are no different. But that's not the only story we read!! We also read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. We let a Dad (Max, Stinky or my dad) read the story out of the Bible and the kids get to take turns on who read the other stories. Buttercup has claimed Night Before Christmas as her own. You can see the little kids really enjoyed it!


The final event of Christmas Eve... after the guests have left... is the opening of one, JUST ONE, present. It is specially designated as THE CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT. Everyone knows what it is, but the kids are so excited they start asking about it two days before. YES, it's the traditional CHRISTMAS EVE PAJAMMIES!!!
This tradition almost didn't happen this year. My small heart made it extremely difficult to go out and find cute jammies, but with the support and help of Max, I got them bought and wrapped on Dec. 23. Whew. Just in the nick of time!

This is the first year Inigo was too excited to go to sleep. Usually he's so exhausted by the end of the night that he crashes the minute his head hits the pillow. I really wasn't sure when he fell asleep this year. I kept walking past his room and looking at him. I finally realized he was O.U.T. when I stopped and took this picture and he didn't blink. (One day he's going to be really mad at me for taking pictures of his open sleeping eyes!)

Christmas morning. This year I had to wake the kids up. Even after a healthy debate the night before about what time was an appropriate time to get up. (We decided on 7:30. But I got everyone up at 7:45. I should have let them sleep, eh?)
When we open gifts, we take turns -- youngest to oldest. That way we can all enjoy watching what each other gets. I like it that way.
(Inigo is extremely excited to open his new Michael Jackson 2010 calendar and Buttercup is thrilled with her new pink Snuggie.... and yes, I am admitting that I bought a Snuggie!)

The rest of the day is pretty basic. We lounge around for a while. Take a nap or two (or more if needed), watch the new DVD or play the new video game. Eventually we make our way south to Guilder to visit my parents and play some more games with them.

Oh... and don't forget about the FOOD. We are like the Who's in the Grinch Who Stole Christmas... on Christmas day all we did was, "EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT"!!! Again, with my small heart getting in the way, I didn't do as much Christmas baking as I normally do, but there was enough that, combined with the left-overs and the good food at my mom's house, you can bet that we will practically roll to the gym on Monday.

Those are some of our traditions. What about you? How was your Christmas? What are some of your traditions?

Christmas

Kribistibi tagged me on this one, so here goes!

The Christmas Edition of getting to know your friends.Okay, here's what you're supposed to do: Just copy this entire post and paste into a new post that you can put up on your blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then tag...


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper... a little effort never hurt nobody when it comes to Christmas time! Unless the gift is too big and you don't have a box, then a bag is okay.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. Believe it or not, my kids are begging for fake, but I just tell them, "When you have your own house...."
3. When do you put it up? I try to get it up Thanksgiving weekend or the weekend after.
4. Favorite Christmas theme? Nativities. At least that's what I collect. I have so many that I can barely put out other Christmas decorations. I'm okay with that.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes. I. Do. But I like it mixed with milk or 7up. It's a little too thick and strong when you drink it straight.
6. Favorite gift received? In recent memory, I'd say my Nikon SLR. Love that camera!
7. Hardest person to buy for? This year, everybody!
8. Easiest person to buy for? Inigo or Buttercup
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Many (at last count 26)
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? MAIL!!! There's nothing like going to a mailbox and seeing a bunch of cards in it!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Something that I already had and it worked perfectly. I couldn't understand why I needed a new one!?!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This year's A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey. It's beautiful.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Apparently not soon enough!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup. Especially when a White Elephant Gift is required.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? What's not to love? Oh, my mom's tomato aspic. But that's the only thing that doesn't cross my lips during this season. (Sorry, Mom!)
16. Lights on the tree? Yes. Multi-colored.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Josh Groban's O Holy Night. I have only heard it once this whole season and it makes me very sad. that it's not being played more.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I like staying home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I can if I sing the song. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen,
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? After almost 22 years of marriage I'm still looking for the perfect tree topper. I'll probably go with a star.
21. Open the presents? Of course! And open the new pajammies on Christmas Eve. The kids really look forward to that!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Stress. I'm done with it!
23. Favorite ornament or color? We have been collecting Hallmark ornaments since I was a wee child at home. So many of them have special memories. I can't pick just one.
24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? Beef Wellington. But since the price of Tenderloin Roast is out of the world, we'll settle for Prime Rib.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Tangible things: A new lens for my camera. Intangible: A new client for Max and peace and happiness.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Mish Mash

Things are going crazy in Florin! I'm not even remotely ready for Christmas and I'm to the point of not even caring. My goal is to be completely ready by Thanksgiving next year. It's sad that I don't feel the Christmas spirit.... and I don't want to have another season like this. If I'm ready early, I can sit back and relax and get excited with my children and serve others more.

Of course, some of my stress might be the fact that Max is still gone 4 weeks a month. This schedule has been hard on all of us. He hates not being home and we miss him so much. It's especially hard trying to keep up with the house and get the Christmas baking done and all the shopping finished by myself.

That will probably change soon. His contract in Montana, the one that keeps him out of town week after week, has most likely ended. It's not supposed to, and he was jilted by an unscrupulous CEO... but I'm not going to go into that. We'll miss the income that contract created, but its ending comes at an opportune time: One of Max's local employees has decided to move, so she can end her employment with us without being laid off, which is what would have happened. Also, Max has decided that he wants to take his business in a different direction and he couldn't do that while he was travelling and working in MT so much. He still has one contract, that is less demanding, that he can work on at home. Plus, this gives him more time to get out and drum up business in areas, hopefully closer to home.

So, it's good news and bad news. We're looking at the positive side and are very excited to have Dad home all the time. We've lived this schedule for over a year, but I don't think it will take very long to adjust back! :)

*******************
Onto more positive things:
Tonight I was driving with Inigo. He said, "Even though I'm not famous, I'm still special! Especially to Heavenly Father. We're all famous to Heavenly Father."

Seriously, this kid amazes me. I learn so much from him. This kid who, when I said it was time to go to Tithing Settlement, ran to his piggy bank to get money out. "Inigo," I said, "you have paid all your tithing. You don't owe any more!"
"I know, Mom," was his reply "I just want to pay to help build temples!" So he took 4 quarters out of his piggy bank and filled out the tithing/fast offering slip and put $1.00 in the space next to Temples and gave it to the bishop.

******************
We had the opportunity last weekend to be groupies for Buttercup's choir. Each year they are invited to sing on Temple Square, at the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg., and the Church Office Bldg. She is so lucky to belong to such a great choir! Her choir director works perfectly with the kids and they sound amazing! As a matter of fact, he secrectly recorded them and submitted it for a state competition and they were accepted! She gets to go to the state capital in March and compete against other high school choirs. She is so excited about that! It's a great way to end her senior year and her choir career.

*****************
Buttercup's director always tries to take them to a special production while they are in SLC. Last year they went to Kurt Bestor's Christmas concert. This year he had each kid in the choir request tickets to the Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert hoping they'd get enough tickets and he could take them to that. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for them. Instead he took them to see a stage production of The Christmas Carol. (Buttercup loved it!)

Lucky for us, Buttercup's request for tickets to the concert was granted and we got 4 tickets for Friday night. She was at the play and couldn't go, so we thought we'd take Inigo and Red. But Red was wiser than we were and realized that Inigo wasn't ready to sit still for that long. She volunteered to earn her angel's wings and took him to Chucky Cheeses and let Max and I have a nice night out alone. (Not only did Red earn her wings, but she earned a spare pair as well as a halo!!)

The concert was magnificent. Natalie Cole and David McCulough were the guests this year. Natalie sang an arrangement of O Come All Ye Faithful that first had me in tears and then on my feet. It was beautiful! And of course the Choir was superb. I had to keep closing my eyes to soak in the beautiful sounds that surrounded me. I have only been in the presence of MoTab once before in my life... a year before Inigo was born... and it took my breath away then as well as now.

Thanks to Buttercup who took the time to write and request tickets! I think I'll put her on ticket duty next year so we can go again! It seems she has the 'special touch'. I know that other kids in the choir who requested didn't get them. We were very blessed!

*****************
My camera is full of pictures but my hard drive is full too, so I can't download them. As soon as Max gets home and can work on things, I will download images from the past couple weeks.

****************
This week I'm most looking forward to my craft group's Christmas party. Our group's name is SOS, which is highly appropriate. (Actually, no one really knows what it means. I just know that once a month I get a night out and have 'girl time.') Our Christmas party is not about making crafts, which is what we usually do. It's about eating great food, chatting, laughing and exchanging gifts. It's so relaxing! So, Thorkgal, get ready! I'll probably be there early (especially if I ride with Bossy Lady) and I plan on parking myself in a comfortable spot and not moving until you kick me out!!

How To Get Past a Vow of Silence

I know! I know!! Enough with the videos! But I had to put this on here. My friend (and neighbor) Jillwanna, posted this on Facebook and I fell in love with it. I'm hoping you'll enjoy it too!

Twilight Years

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

Don't Mess With the Standards

The Scene:
Tonight. Driving with Ingio in the car.

The Song:
Jingle Bells

The Artist:
Andrea Bocelli

(Listen to the first 35 seconds of this clip)



The Review:
(Said with bile in his throat) "Mom! I hate this! He is a terrible singer! This song should be sung with GLEE!"

Archie

The David Archuleta concert was last weekend. I had a lot of fun with my daughter as we screamed like teenagers and yelled "Marry me!!!" at the top of our voices to this cute performer.

The first half of the concert was music off his pop album and the second half was selections from his new Christmas CD. He's very talented and has a set of pipes on him that will carry him far.... very far.

Should I compare this concert to the David Cook concert earlier this year? I can't. That is comparing oranges with chocolate covered oranges. Both are delicious and yummy. One is just sweeter than the other. Archie is still sweet, humble and darling. I think he is a much better singer than Cook and his performing skills have improved since his days on Idol when Simon used to make fun of him when he'd try to dance. Archie put on a great show!!

The Cook show was edgier, of course, because it was a rock show. Without a doubt it was harder and louder than Archie's. It was fun... probably more fun than Archie's. That may have had something to do with the fact that we were on the 5th row and could almost smell the sweat of the band...

You can see we were much farther away this time! (At least we weren't sitting in the bleachers!)

Before the concert started.

Inigo thinks he wants to be a rock star, this is proof that he needs to continue with his piano lessons!

The Christmas part of the program was a lot more formal with a small orchestra section and fancier clothes. Also, some fun, pretty changes in the lighting.

Next up is the Brooke White concert in January. I guess we have to decide if we're going to go ahead and get tickets for that. If this keeps up, we'll eventually see all the finalists from the 2008 season of American Idol! (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Michael Johns!)

Another Week Later

I guess you CAN'T call me Mr. McFeely these days. There is no "speedy delivery" on my posts. Yes, Thanksgiving was a week ago and I'm just now downloading the pictures. My family knows I'm about 3 hours late for just about everything, so why should my blog be any different?

The Yummiest Holiday was spent in Happy Valley at Red's beautiful home. It's really no problem going there. Her house accomodates many of us very comfortably and it's beautiful. Plus, my beautiful niece is attending the University and she brings her cool roommates along to the dinner. It's really the perfect place to gorge ourselves!

Inigo thought he'd be funny and sleep with his feet on his pillow. I don't know how he could breathe!

Codyette and GAB released their captive inner child and played swinging games. We finally got GAB to embrace the Wright Brothers, to throw away her fear of flying, and JUMP OFF THE SWING!!!

The weather was gorgeous with beautiful sunshine!

Y. MCA (I'm the . after the Y)

Our family tradition is to make a craft while the turkey is roasting away. It's a great tradition for most, but for one among us, it's a duty best completed as quickly as possible. I bet you can't tell who hates to craft by looking at these pictures! (Thanks for being a trooper craft hater!)

The food was good and the pies were numerous.

AND, bonus, I didn't have to do the dishes afterward!

Of course we played lots of games over the weekend. Inigo is defnitely past the Hungry Hungry Hippos and Candyland stage. He played Mexican Train dominoes and Golf (cards) and did very well at both.

While poor Buttercup was stuck doing homework for her online science class.

We had a lot of fun making and decorating sugar cookies.... the first of the Christmas Season (which it is now safe to celebrate)!

A couple of extra fun things that we did. (No photos...)

I finally got to see the inside of the Ikea store. It fulfilled a wish I've had for quite a while now. I would definitely love to go back, only with a plan and with enough $$ to actually implement my plan. There were a lot of fun decorating ideas there.

The funniest part of our Ikea experience was... well... unique. A woman, with a man and a child walked out of the store while we were loading our car. The woman had on a long, over the rear sweater, and nylons. No pants. The scary part was that the sweater wasn't quite long enough to cover all that God gave her. I'm totally serious here and have witnesses to back this story up. As she walked by, the sweater kept inching further and further up, up, up until we could see that yes, that was literally all she had on. (I'm assuming she was wearing butt floss undies, but I didn't want to look any closer to confirm that.) We got a good chuckle at that. Poor lady. I wonder if she ever figured it out?

Also, I finally got to see the inside of Tai Pan Trading. Ahhh.... it was a little slice of heaven. Seriously, what I could do if only I had the funding!

And finally, seeing the light displays in Spanish Fork. What fun!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

And now, Buttercup and I are looking forward to the David Archuleta concert tomorrow! Can't wait!