Christmas Eve Traditions

This Christmas Eve has probably been one of my favorites.
We don't have too many expectations for the day. We just like to spend time together as a family. For several years we used to go to the mall in the afternoon just to look around and hang out together. When Justin was little we would go to the mall and it would be empty. That changed a lot in the last couple of years and we would go and it would be so crazy and packed and it wasn't as much fun.
So the last 2 years we went sledding on the hill behind our house and that was a lot of fun. This year the weather didn't really cooperate - there was snow but not a lot and by the afternoon the hill was pretty beat up.
Justin suggested that our tradition should be to do something different every year. Paul said our tradition should be to do whatever we want to do.
This afternoon we frosted sugar cookies and built a gingerbread house from a kit. Everyone got in on the fun.

Best buddies

What a cute little elf.

Our neighbor gave Jared and Kamryn their cute little elf hats.

Kamryn working hard on decorating her cookie.

Justin had the job of decorating the ginger-people.

Brooke and Taylor working on the house.

The cutest elves you ever did see!

Kamryn - my pretty little elf.

All of our kids with my dad and his mother on our couch ready to watch

Mr Krueger's Christmas.

For several years we have been having dinner at our house on Christmas Eve.
I copied a tradition from my friend Cynthia to have pizza and keep things simple. It is the greatest idea. My parents usually join us and for the last couple of years they have brought my grandma too. Its great to have them with us. Paul's parents usually are with us too but this year they were not feeling good enough to come up.

After dinner we like to do something to help us remember the real reason for this season. This year we all watched Mr Krueger's Christmas. Paul and I both really love that show but the kids have a hard time because it seems so old to them. Its classic to us. My parents and grandma hadn't seen it for a long time and really enjoyed it.

After the show it was time for presents.

My parents go visit each of their children and give out their presents at their house. Since we live right by them, they join us on Christmas Eve and then go to the rest of my siblings' homes on Christmas Day.

Justin, Taylor and Brooke ready to open the traditional Christmas Eve present.

This year the jammie presents were half and half -

Jared and Kamryn and Justin all liked theirs.

Taylor didn't like his and put on last years pair of pants.

Brooke's didn't fit. Then I had her open the pair of jammie pants I made and they didn't fit either. Big bummer. She was a good sport about it.

To end the night we watched the Nativity video and Jared and Kamryn put out cookies for Santa.

It's Beginning to look like christmas

It's really seeming like Christmas now.
Paul and I took the twins to visit his parents this morning. Then we checked Justin out of school early (Brooke had to stay the whole day because she had a test in her last class) so he could stay with the twins while Paul and I went shopping. It was Paul's start to his Christmas shopping. We made some real progress the first half of our shopping, then stopped for lunch at Subway and then we seemed to be really stumped in our 2nd half of shopping. The best part of the shopping was finding the perfect thing my sister had been looking for.
This evening we had our annual Shingleton Family talent show. (I, of course, forgot my camera again!) Brooke represented the adams family by playing a duet with Grand-dad - Brooke on the piano and my dad played the bass. They did a great job. The most fun part of the evening was watching all of the cousins run around and play together and then watching all the "boys" play the tornado basketball game.
Now we're off to my parents to watch a tape of the Utah bowl game. GO UTES!

The Road Home

I have to admit that I am usually pretty cold hearted when it comes to people standing on the road asking for money. But this year has been different, very different. Its actually hard to explain exactly how i've felt but its been a good thing. I guess Heavenly Father is trying to soften my heart.
Early in the holiday season there was an older man standing on the median somewhere by sam's club. I just felt like I needed to give him some money so I did and he was very grateful. Usually I wonder what they are going to do with the money but not this year. I've felt very prompted that it doesn't matter what they do, this is my lesson to learn. To not judge. To not condemn.
Jared and Kamryn were with me when I gave that man some money and they were very curious. I explained to them what it means to be homeless. They asked me if he would be able to get a house now since I gave him some money.
So, we've been talking about the homeless all season. I've given money out a couple of different times and they have always been with me. Sometimes I can hardly talk to them I'm so overcome with emotion.
This morning my first task was to clean up the family room downstairs. Its been a mess for quite awhile with way too many toys taking over the room. By the time the twins woke up and came down, the room was clean and i had a big black garbage bag full of toys to donate somewhere. Jared looked in the bag and was devastated to see a dumptruck of his in there. He hardly plays with it and its in good shape. He started bawling about having to give it up. I talked with him and explaing about so many kids not having a home or any toys and that we should share. I let him think about it for awhile and then told him he could take it out if he wanted but wouldn't it be nice to share. He ended up leaving it in there.
While I was out on errands after I heard on FM 100 about their big effort at The Road Home today. Right then I knew I had to take the kids down there today. So we gathered some coats, a blanket and these toys and drove down there in the storm. On the freeway the kids asked why it was taking so long to get there. They also wondered if these homeless people lived on the freeway.
When we got there, the Brighton HS football team was all there volunteering and taking in the donations. That was cool. They noticed by Bengal paw on the van and were excited that a fellow Bengal was down there. I wish I could have taken Jared and Kamryn in the shelter but it wasn't the right time for that. On the way home FM 100 was talking again about the shelter and saying how many people were in the shelter just last night - 95 families with over 150 children, hundreds of women and men. The needs are so great and we just did a little but it was something.

4 year old photographers

The other night when I was taking pictures of Lily, Jared and Kamryn wanted to take some pictures too all by themselves. Thank goodness for digital cameras.
I think they did a pretty good job.

jared as a ghost

super cute one of lily

cute of Kamryn, just a little blury

another ghost shot of Jared

close up of Lily

They're getting better.

Jared did a great job on this one.

Kamryn's turn

Real close up this time.

Scripture Study

For several years we have been somewhat regular in reading the scriptures together as a family at night before we have family prayer. Everyone takes a turn reading either a column or so many verses each so that we can read a chapter a night. Jared and Kamryn even "read" a verse each (with mom and dad helping them).
Right now we are reading the Book of Mormon and are in Alma and just read the chapter tonight about Korihor. A couple of months ago Paul started a new thing where at the end of our reading each of us takes a turn to say what they got from that chapter, so that we get more out of our scripture study and everyone really reads and follows along.
Tonight we had a really good discussion about this chapter. We got into a discussion about how their is so much evidence in nature that there is a God. Justin had a really great analogy about how God organized this earth versus the whole worldly view of "the big bang" theory.
He said the world's view is like if you had a puzzle in a box and you shook it all up and then opened the box and the puzzle was all put together perfectly. "I don't think so."
I thought this was a very profound thought and great way to put it. We asked him if that was his thought or he'd heard it somewhere and he wasn't sure if it was his or something he'd just "regurgitated" from his seminary teacher.

A good day

It's been a really good day.

Lily playing with Jared's toys.

She was a little jumpy with the flash.

It started out with sleeping in - yea!

Then Paul and I went out and delivered some gift baskets to people in the ward from the bishopric. Its always fun to give.

In the afternoon I got together with my best friends from high school for our annual Christmas party. We had lunch at a cute little Italian cafe in Sandy and then went to Charri's new house afterwards to do a cookie exchange and open presents. It was so great to relax and visit together.

Tonight we are having fun tending my cousin's cute little baby girl, Lily. Its been fun to watch Jared and Kamryn with the baby. They've brought her toys and helped find her diaper and jammies and binky. This is the best way to have a baby around.

Preschool Program Pictures

Kamryn and Jared with their most AWESOME preschool teacher, Carol Wilkinson.

Lisa with Jared and Kamryn after they did an awesome job on their Christmas program

at their preschool.

Jared really got into doing the actions with the songs.

Kamryn was a little shy during the program.

Jenny found out how hard it is to try and get a good picture of these two.

For more cute pictures of the program, check out this post on Jenny's blog.

Thank you, thank you to my friend Jenny for these pictures.

Ups and Downs

Today was an up and down day emotionally. I don't really want to go into it but I will just say that thank goodness it was book club tonight! It definitely ended my day on an up note and just lifted my spirits. And tonight's book club was especially entertaining and those that weren't there really missed out.

I'm a Lame Mom

Wednesdays are pretty crazy. We get up early and try to leave the house before 9:00 to go out to my sister's to hang out for a bit before Kamryn goes to dance lessons. Then its hurry right from dance in West Jordan and drive to Sandy for preschool. I have to remember in the morning everything we need for the whole day - dance stuff, backpacks for school and coats, stuff I seem to always be taking to my sister's.
Today I was supposed to bring the cameras because Jared and Kamryn had a cute little Christmas preschool program at the end of class today. Well, of course, I forgot the cameras and didn't have time at all to go back and get them. And, of course, they did a great job in the program and sang their songs so cute and did the actions to the santa story so cute. And I had no camera. It was sad and I felt so lame! I was also lame because I forgot to tell Justin about the program and he could have come.

Lunch

I went to lunch with my cousin today. We went to the Blue Lemon Cafe in Highland. It was so good! I love their butternut squash soup - I could eat it every day.
It was fun to visit and catch up. Thanks Denise.

PS I finally found what I was looking for at the Draper location of JoAnn's for Kamryn. Yea!!

Manic Monday

What a busy and full day.

1. Laundry as usual
2. Worked on the Christmas letters - went to the post office to get stamps (35 minutes), then to Costco to pick up the pictures (15 minutes), stopped at Walmart to get labels (10 minutes), put all the pictures in the envelopes and put on return address labels, went to my friend's house to learn how to do a mail merge using Excel and Word, printed the labels. Now just need to put on the labels, seal up the envelopes and get them all to the post office.
3. Made jammies pants for Brooke for Christmas
4. Made a baby blanket for Paul for someone he is working with on his Idaho job.
5. Made dinner
6. Delivered cards and treats to friends and home teaching families - that was our FHE.
7. Went to Reams twice!

And now its finally time for bed at 11:40. Good night !

Sunday of music

Today was filled with music.
This morning Paul and I were very lucky to have tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert (thanks to a very nice friend). We invited our neighbors who are from England to come with us and it was so nice to visit with them on the ride downtown. We all enjoyed the concert very much. It was neat to be a part of the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast and to watch President Monson enter the conference center and feel the reverence in such a big building with so many people there. I am anxious to see the whole concert when it comes out on DVD next year.
This evening our stake put on a christmas music program. They did a nice variety of music that was very beautiful. My favorite song was Suo gan which featured a solo by our lady in our ward that was just so amazing.

Bubbles

Saturday night is bubble bath night!!

Kamryn's Dance Recital

Tonight was Kamryn's Christmas Dance Recital. Her dance was to a version of Jingle Bells. Her teacher makes a DVD for her to practice with and she practiced her dance 5 times this morning and it really showed.
Kamryn did a great job and smiled and looked so happy up there. I was so proud of her!!
All of the dances were so cute, especially the little 3 year olds.
Thanks to Liz, Kamryn's teacher, for all her hard work to put on such a great recital.

500 !!

Wow! This is my 500th post on Blogger. I started back in 2006, I think. I used to print up my entries and put them in a binder so it could be a journal of sorts. I'm way behind on that. I've looked into printing my posts in a book but haven't gotten too far on that. I guess I better get busy.
Tonight we went to the Layton Christmas party. Its always a great evening and we never miss it. This year it was somewhere different - the show bard at Thanksgiving Point. It was very nice and homey. We had a wonderful dinner and the funniest entertainment ever! Paul almost had a heart attack he was laughing so hard. Check out this guy.
And we even won a prize in the raffle. It was a great night.

Happy birthday to my Dad

Today is my dad's birthday.

He is a great man and a great Grand-dad.

He calls extended family members on their birthdays to tell them happy birthday.

He writes birthday letters to each of his children, their spouses and grandchildren. These are very detailed letters taken from his journal writings of times he spent with that person over the last year.

He loves to watch movies and keeps track and rates all of the movies he's seen.

He likes to hike and belongs to a hiking group.

He exercises faithfully.

He loves his family and all he wants is for them to be together and be happy.

Happy birthday dad and we love you!

Holiday Meme

Close up of Santa's beard - covered with buttons.

My best friend in Tucson gave me this one Christmas.

My mom made this and gave it to me when Justin was 2 and Brooke was a baby
and we had just moved to Tucson.


My mom also made this and gave it to us when Justin and Brooke were little.
It is very similar to the one she had for our family when I was little.

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?

• a 1 TB external hard drive
• a smoothie making blender
• help figuring out what to give my kids for Christmas
• for the downstairs project to get finished
• new living room - carpet, paint and furniture (it says "wish")

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

See the pictures above - I can't get them to cut and paste so you'll just have to deal with it.

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

There are a couple of wall hanging kits with a Christmas theme that I have but haven't had time or the courage to start on my own. One is a paper pieced nativity kit and the other is a cute snowman kit. I also have a log cabin christmas quilt started and also just bought another patchwork christmas quilt kit to do.

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

The one I remember the most was my Barbie Townhouse. It was SO COOL! It was 3 stories tall and had an elevator. I wish I still had it for Kamryn to play with.

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

• Justin wants a "Max Hall hates me" t-shirt
• Brooke wants the piano music to the score from "The Boy in Striped Pajamas"
• Taylor wants a lego set that is on backorder and can't be delivered until mid-February
• Jared wants every boy thing he sees in commercials, catalogs, and in the stores.
• Kamryn wants every girl thing she sees in commercials, catalogs and in the stores.

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

I love Delectible Chocolate Almond Balls (recipe found in my notes on my facebook page). As a kid we didn't like them because they had nuts in them but they are my favorite now. So yummy!

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

I have big plans and I hope I can get everything done: 2 new blankets for Jared and Kamryn, pjs for Brooke (found some cute volleyball flannel), some paper crafts for friends.

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

"It's a Wonderful Life" for sure

9. Favorite holiday song?

Too hard to pick - I love "The Forgotten Carols", a lot of music that you don't hear on the cheesy Christmas radio stations - Points of Grace's Christmas album, SheDaisy's Christmas album, a couple of songs by Trisha Yearwood.

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

Staying home on Christmas Eve and having pizza and opening the one present - jammies.

Some years we do "The Forgotten Carols" at home - read the book and listen to the music.

Please feel free to copy and post and enter too.

Happy Birthday honey

"He's out-standing in his field"

He wears many "hats"
(this one is his favorite - doing his favorite thing, fishing on Washington Lake)

"He is a man of vision"

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. He is a great man and takes such good care of our family. He works very hard at home, at his job and at church. I don't know how he does it all.

I love him and am grateful he's mine!

Christmas Tree

This is our "Phoenix" tree. Its a little 4 ft tree we bought while we lived in Phoenix. Last year we let some friends borrow it and the year before that we had it in the family room in the basement. I was trying to decide what to do with it this year when I noticed my sister's little tree at her house. She has all the ornaments from my mom on it. I thought it was a great idea and copied her this year. My mom has given us an ornament every year since our first Christmas after we got married. The ornament is always represents something significant from that year. There is a baby-type one from each of the years my kids were born. There are ornaments about when we were living away. She even found a female runner for last year when I ran a marathon. The new one this year is a bear representing our family trip to Bear Lake this summer. I really like having all those ornaments grouped together on one little tree and being reminded of so many great events over the last 19 years.

Mitzvah - this one goes to several family members. We were all gathered at my parents for our monthly fast sunday dinner. Cecilia went to get something out of the dryer and noticed the drain in the laundry room was overflowing. Parry, Paul and Dale all worked to figure out (clogged drain from the kitchen) and solved the problem. This saved my dad an expensive trip from a plumber. Good job guys!

Crazy Day

Its going to be a crazy day. Here's the schedule:

• Kamryn has a little dance performance at Legacy Retirement Center at 10:30, out by Jordan River Temple.
• Jared has a birthday party to go to at 11:30 in Sandy. This is for a little friend from preschool and the first party where he is invited and Kamryn is not.
• Brooke is playing the piano at Macey's grocery store from 1 - 2 pm. She is playing as a service but is hoping to make some tips.
• Justin and Taylor both have their first Jr Jazz basketball games at 2:00 pm and of course at different gyms.
• Its our ward Christmas party tonight and I am helping with the committee. Just finished making a chocolate cake and is waiting for it to cool so I can frost it. My other assignment is to pick up ice at Sonic for the drinks. And then make it to the ward when I can to help out with setting up and everything else.
• Oh, yeah, and I have to make sure to pick up the ward newsletter from Alphagraphics so its all ready to hand out on Sunday.

Wish me luck! Thank goodness there are other drivers available to help out with getting everyone where they need to be.

Whew!

Thank goodness comcast got things figured out and i got access back to my email.
Yea! Just finished the newsletter and can send it to alphagraphics. Yea!

Funny story:
Last night I was waiting up for Justin to get home from Special Needs Mutual. I was sitting in the living room enjoying the christmas lights and music (and trying to work on the newsletter with no success) and didn't mind being up.
I started to worry around 11. Sometimes he stays after and plays volleyball with friends so it wasn't unusual for him to be late. I called and texted and no answer or response. About 11:30 I really started to worry and of course started imagining the worst. I also thought about all the worry I caused my mother when I was 17 and would be out late and not call her (how did mom's handle the stress before cell phones?)
Just before midnight I had this thought (a prompting really) that I should go look in his room. So I went downstairs, and there was Justin, sound asleep in his bed. I was so relieved. And at the same time felt dumb for waiting so long to go check. I have no idea when he got home. I'll have to let him he know I need him to check in when he gets home so I don't worry for no reason.

MITZVAH - helped in Taylor's classroom today. Had fun putting together a Cranium Cracker for his class.

Going Crazy

I have just wasted so much time -- its driving me crazy.
I am the ward newsletter editor and the December edition is supposed to be handed out this Sunday. I am definitely a procrastinator and each month I put off putting the newsletter together until the last day. It was to be done and ready to send to the printer by the end of the day today. I haven't even really started.
Now, the time waster, is trying to get to my email where all the articles are for the newsletter. Last night I wasted a couple of hours trying to get online to get my email. Now this morning I still can't get to my email. I can get online, just not to Comcast. So I called them and there is a recording that they are having difficulties in our area and the technicians are working on it.
What am I going to do?

Festival of Trees

I went with both of my sisters to the Festival of Trees today. Its an annual tradition for me to go each year. It was kind of nice to go without any of my kids this year although I frequently thought how much Jared and Kamryn would have liked it.
Every year I see my friend Melinda there. How amazing is that really? That we both happen to go on the same day and at the same time every year.
I always enjoy looking at the variety of trees - the crazy ones, the "original" ones, the traditional, the pretty, the crazy - they have them all. A new thing this year (at least I think it was new) was the row of quilts that were sold. They were amazing and so beautiful. If I had the money that is what I would buy.

Mitzvah - watched my friends kids so she could take her daughter to a doctor appt. When she got to the doctor she found out that the appt is really for next Tuesday. So she went to the grocery store instead.

NaBloPoMo

What is NaBloPoMo you ask?
It's National Blog Posting Month. Its a real website. Go check it out.
I read about it on this blog.
I decided to try it out.
I have posted every day for the last 11 days in a row.
Technically this post will look like I skipped a day because I am posting it at 1:00 in the morning but to me its still Wednesday so for me personally I'm still going on my posting every day for a month.
Its a interesting challenge - to post every day. I've done it a couple of times before.
Its a crazy time of year to try it.
The other thing that is suggested at this website is following their monthly theme with your posts. The theme this month is MITZVAH, which loosely means: to express an act of random kindness.

Mitzvah today: Spent time with my MIL while my FIL had to go on an errand. Took J & K with me and she enjoyed listening to them play all their make believe games. The best one was when they were playing Captain Jack.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

We've been talking about Justin's hair for months. Its frequently our entertainment depending on how it looks. More than 2 months ago we started talking about when was it going to be time for a haircut. Well, last night he finally asked me if I would cut it. I always told him when I finally did cut it I would have some with it.

"Before"

I couldn't believe how long his hair was.
It was kind of sad to cut off all those curls.

Just the sides cut - going with the mullet look

Side view of the mullet

80s rocker

This style reminds us of Tears for Fears, Flock of Seagulls -

all those 80s rockers

I wanted to try a mohawk but it was getting late and

I didn't really know how to go about doing that.

How about a tail?

Side view of the finished haircut

"After"

I can't believe how different he looks.

I feel like someone else is living with us now.

MITZVAH - Baby gifts at Cousin's shower for little girl she adopted. Will explain the mitzvah tomorrow.