Merry Christmas

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25th-2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here's Joe peeking around the corner.  He can't wait to go check his stocking:

Rock band 2 - just what he wanted!

Of course we had to try it out right away.  Brian, Joe and I started a band this morning.  Joe is on guitar, I'm drums and Brian is our lead singer.  Yeah, we rock.

After reluctantly turning off rock band, we headed over to my parents house for the reading of the Christmas story from Luke.  This is the first year I ever remember my dad not reading it.  He had lost his voice, and so my mom read this year.  Then, we let the kids go for their presents while Jared and Brian made us breakfast.  Thank you Jared - SO MUCH for the venison.  It was awesome!  We even snagged some extra to take home.

I, of course took tons of pictures at my mom's house, but I won't display them all here.  I'll just show my favorite:
It's my favorite for several reasons.  First, It's a picture of Jared Ammon.  I don't have hardly any of those any more.  Secondly, he's hugging his mother.  How can you not love that?  And thirdly, it kind of looks like Sheri's head is growing out of his back, and how awesome is that?

After hanging out a while we went home and played rock band again for a long time.  Then, we decided to go and see a movie.  We went and saw "Bedtime Stories".  Michael came with us.  I have to say, I thought it was pretty good.  

This has by far been the least stressful Christmas for me in a very long time.  It was a very happy day.  

I hope you all had a great Christmas too!

Christmas Eve

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24th - 2008

I managed to get all my Christmas stuff done by yesterday, so today was all about spending time with family.  This morning Joe and I stuck with our Christmas Eve tradition by making cookies for "Santa" - gingerbread, of course.  And then, we watched The Grinch.

Then, we headed over to my mom's house for some Chick-fil-a and Someburros.  I know, that sounds like an odd combination, but my mom always has to try and please everyone.  Thanks mom!

After Brian made it home from work, we headed over to his parents house to spend Christmas Eve night with them.

Joe and D were all giggles.  They had fun hanging out together.  The kids each got to open one present that night.  Joe got a Christmas movie and some popcorn and candy.
Brian hung out on the couch.  Isn't his date a cutie?  After snuggling here, they went and checked the Santa watch on the computer.  He went from South America to North America in a matter of minutes.  Man, he's fast.  When he made it to Tennessee, we decided that it was time to get the kids home and into bed.

We carried out our last tradition of the evening when we got home.  We each got to open one present - pajama's of course.  

Calendar pages

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23rd - 2008

This is what I did all morning and half of the afternoon:

Pay no attention to the annoying white spot - it's not on the actual calendar page, it's just in this photo.  I forgot to turn my flash off my camera.  Oh well.

Every year we (Sheri, Trina, Tricia and I ) make a calendar for my mom and for Grandmother.  And every year I wait until the last minute to do it (anyone surprised by that?).  Usually, I am finishing my pages on Christmas Eve, but this year I was determined not to do that.  So, I spent most of the day working on it, and I got it done.  Woo hoo!  

Joe was a big help this year.  He helped me pick out colors and even gave me suggestions on how I should lay out the pages.  I loved it.  Why don't I scrapbook more often?

I think next year I'm going to have a monthly scrapbook day.  Anyone interested in joining me?

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting.......

MONDAY, DECEMBER 22nd - 2008

Today I didn't do much, I wasn't feeling very well.  By this afternoon, Joe was bored, so we went over to Grandma's house.  Joshua was watching Kung Fu Panda.  It is his current favorite.  At the end of the movie, there is a video where they sing the song Kung Fu Fighting, and they do some Kung Fu moves.  Here is Joshua dancing to the video and showing off his moves:

Christmas caroling

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21st - 2008

Last month when we were at the cabin for Thanksgiving, we all sat down and got out the calendar and planned what activities we wanted to do for the month of December.  The very first thing Joseph asked is "are we going to go Christmas caroling?"  this is what he was most excited about.   We've done this pretty much every year.  When they were younger they even used to dress up.  Joe's favorite was being a wiseman.  Although they didn't want to dress up this year, they did want to go caroling.  Joe even learned "Silent Night" on the guitar so he could accompany us.  Here we are singing to the Gonzo's: 

Here they are listening:

After we sang for them, Adam, Dallin and Michael jumped in the cars and went with us to the next few houses.  We ended the night at great grandmothers house where she fed us cookies and hot chocolate.  We all had a good time.

Family Christmas Party

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20th - 2008

Today was another busy day.  This morning Sheri and I went to Grandmothers to wrap presents.  We do this every year.  It's nice to have some time to wrap without the kids being there.  And, Grandmother makes the best bows and helps us wrap so our presents look awesome.

Then,  Joe and I went shopping.  We were looking for some tacky Christmas items.  The adult family Christmas dinner was tonight (another Christmas tradition - yeah, we have a lot of Christmas traditions).  Usually we do a nice dinner and then we all share a spiritual thought or a story or song of some kind.  This year we decided to fun it up a bit.  We added the tackiest Christmas outfit contest, and a white elephant game.  Some people were good sports and decided to dress up.  Others did not.  Here we are in all our Christmas glory:

Brian won for tackiest outfit.  How could he not?  The picture above didn't capture the full effect.  You need to see it with the socks:
What most of you failed to see is that he came as a Christmas tree.  At the top of the tree is the beautiful Christmas star.  The green sweater is the tree part.  It is covered in lights and ornaments.  And then, we have the tree skirt.  Isn't he a good sport?

Joe  contributed most of the ideas for this outfit.  He was very creative and also very sad that he didn't get to dress up.  He can't wait until he is old enough to come to the party.

Organ Stop

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19th - 2008

Joe & I did some last minute Christmas shopping this morning.  We braved the mall.  Actually, it wasn't too bad because we went at 9:00 right when it opened.  When we were leaving around 11:00, it was completely insane.  I'm glad we got out when we did.

Today was Michael's birthday.  As we do every year for his birthday, we headed to Organ Stop Pizza to celebrate.

It's a fun tradition.  The boys love to put in requests.  He'll play Star Wars, and Phantom of the Opera, in addition to the traditional Christmas songs.
It was a fun day.  Happy Birthday Michael.

I also want to give a big "thank you" to Charlotte for really making my day.  You are so thoughtful and I really appreciate your gift.  You're awesome!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18th - 2008

This is a picture of one of my favorite people in the world:

Max!

My mom and I went to Max's school assembly today to watch him receive an award.  He was named student of the month for his kindergarten class.  He got the award for being respectful.  My mom and I were way in the back and we didn't think he saw us waving at him, but finally, he gave us a shy little wave.  When they let us come up and take pictures, I couldn't get him to smile for me.  This was the closest thing to a smile I could get.

gimp

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17th - 2008

My dad had surgery on his knee this morning.  This is what I saw when I came to visit this afternoon:

Apparently the little gimp is helping the big gimp with his crutches.  Don't let the little gimp fool you.  He can get around just fine with that cast on.  The big gimp, however, will be needing those crutches a while.  

Dad was feeling pretty good this afternoon.  I think it was all the drugs.  When the medicine wears off, he will probably be hurting pretty bad.  We would appreciate it if you would keep him in your prayers.  Thanks!

Tradition

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16th - 2008

We had a lot of Christmas traditions around here.  My favorite, by far is the reading of a Christmas story every night.  Usually we start it on the 1st of December and read a Christmas story every night of the month.  Somehow the month has gotten away from me and we just started.

We turn on the Christmas tree lights, and the village and then we turn off all of the other lights in the house.  We are cozy in our pj's, and sometimes we add hot chocolate.  This is my favorite tradition because reading those stories helps me feel the Christmas spirit.  They are all about love and giving service and about the true spirit of Christmas.  

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Oh the weather outside is frightful....

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15th - 2008

When Brian & I bought our house 10 or 11 years ago, we bought it new, so we could pick out features that we wanted in the house.  One of the things we both wanted was a fireplace.  I know that's kind of ridiculous for Arizona, but I grew up with a fireplace and my dad always made fires around Christmas time and I loved it.  

We have lived in our house for over 10 years, and never once have we made a fire in our fireplace - until tonight.

The weather today was rainy and cold.  It was awesome.  So Brian decided to make a fire.  Joe was super happy, and it made me remember how much I liked it when my dad would light a fire.  Joe felt a little bit of Christmas magic tonight, and so did I.  We definitely won't be waiting another 10 years to use the fireplace again.

gingerbread houses

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14th - 2008

Tonight was our annual gingerbread house decorating party.  Jared and Tricia are so nice to volunteer their home for the messy festivities.  Joe and Alex worked on one together.

I couldn't resist this picture of Ro.  I only wonder, is he putting candy on the house, or taking it off?  Every year Tricia makes small home-made gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate, and every year the kids end up ditching their houses to play with each other instead.  In fact, last year, Joe and James were the only kids to decorate houses.  So, this year, she didn't make the gingerbread houses, and of course, every kid wanted to help decorate, so the kids shared houses this year.  

Brian and I made this house with some help from Max.  Emmy was on our team too.  She didn't really decorate, but she sat on Brian's lap all night.
Here is Joe & Alex's house.  I think they did a pretty good job.
The finished products:
Anna, Addy and James made the house on the left end (with some help from Ro).  Next is the house made by me, Brian & Max.  Then it's the Gonzo's house, decorated mostly by Michael.  Sheri and Ian's house is next. And finally, Joe & Alex's house.

We had a lot of fun.  Thanks Jared & Tricia for having us over.  

Afterwards Tricia took us to see some Christmas lights near her house.  You tuned your radio to a certain station and the lights blinked in time with the Christmas music.  It was awesome.  It also had a hologram santa in the upstairs window that would walk around and wave.  It was pretty cool.  

All in all, it was another fun night.  I love Christmas.

busy Saturday

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13th - 2008

Today was a busy day.  For me it started at 6:00 a.m.  For any of you who know me, that is EARLY - especially when it was nearly 2:00 when I went to bed the night before.  I am definitely a night owl and NOT a morning person.  But, I had to make some cookies for the cookie exchange today.  

At 10:30 (ok, so it was more like 10:45, I was late) I went to Cathi's house with 6 dozen cookies in tow.  My plan was to make 2 different kinds of cookies.  I got the krispy cookies done in time, but it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to finish the peppermint sugar cookies, so I had Brian make and emergency run to paradise bakery for some gingerbread molasses cookies. 

The party was fun, and I thought the cookie/candy selection was pretty good this year.  I have to say that so far, the cranberry cookies are my favorite.  I LOVE all things cranberry.  To be fair, I haven't tried all of the different kinds of cookies yet.  Thanks to Laura and Cathi for putting on yet another great cookie party.  

Then, it was off to the park for Ben's birthday party.  Here is a picture of all 15 of my parents grandkids, plus 3 extra's.  There are 2 Ganem's in there and Jared Ammon's girlfriend too.  

Somebody needed to tell these boys that there was a kickball game going on around them.  Actually, that was the only time I recall them sitting down.  They loved the wide open fields at the park and spent the majority of the time running as far away as possible.  I missed the photo op where the 3 moms were chasing down the 3 boys.  For more about Ben's party, see Sheri's blog.

After the park, we all met back at my mom's to take pictures of the kids for the annual Christmas calendar we make for mom and grandma every year.  It was pretty much chaos.  The little ones were especially hard to photograph, as Evan ran off every chance he got, and Rowan was afraid of the black backdrop. 

Then, (yeah, this day just keeps going and going) tonight Brian and I took Joe, Dallin and Michael to get some hot chocolate and to go see the Temple lights.

It was a VERY long day, but also lots of fun.

Mimmy and Haus

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12th - 2008

Adam is the first of my mom's grandchildren.  He is now 18 years old and the oldest of her 15, soon to be 16 grandchildren.  When Adam was little and I still lived at home, my mom and I would babysit him a lot.  He called me "Mimmy" and my mom "Haus".  "Haus" came from "grandma's house".  Stacy would tell him that he was going to grandma's house.  He shortened it to "Haus".  We were known as "Mimmy and Haus".  Over the years my mom and I have babysat A LOT.  We always joked that we should open Mimmy and Haus' daycare. 

Well, today Mimmy and Haus was open for business.  My mom and I babysat for 6 kids today.  It started off with Addy and Ro.  Then came Evan and Max.  Later in the afternoon we added Joshua and Emmy.  We had a 5 year old, 4 year old, 3 year old, and three 2 year olds.  I have to admit, I thought it was going to be chaos.  You know, it wasn't so bad.  It was actually pretty fun.

We played play dough:

Then we went out back to play on the swings.  And, we even put the kids to work raking leaves.  Actually, they put themselves to work.  Rowan and Evan started it off and Addy and Max and Joshua thought it looked like so much fun, they decided to join in.

We also watched  "Shrek the halls" and we did massive amounts of puzzles.  It was a pretty fun day.

Tonight Joe and I went to see Adam in his improv show.  It was fun.  Adam's team should have won.  They were so much funnier than the other team.  He totally got robbed.  If any of you get a chance to catch one of his shows, you should go.  It's a fun way to spend an evening, and it was free!  The next one is coming up in February.

Happy Day!

Happy

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11th - 2008

Today I am happy.  My house smelled like this (thank you Tricia!).

And, I listened to this (thank you Brian).
Who could ask for more?  

Iron Envy

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10th - 2008

When Brian and I got married, we received an iron as one of our wedding presents.  It was a good iron.  It served me well for nearly 13 years.  However, it recently died, and I had to get a new one.  I'll admit it, I went for cheap.  The stupid iron is horrible.  It takes me 2-3 times as long to iron anything.  And, to make matters worse, it is very temperamental.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I've only had it about 2 months and I hate it.  So, I had something I needed to iron today, so I borrowed my mom's.

I now officially have iron envy.  It is awesome.  It took me like 2 minutes to iron a shirt.  It practically ironed the shirt itself.  I want one, badly.  I had a hard time returning it to my mom. 

Christmas village

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9th - 2008

Joe stayed home from school sick today.  So, I put him to work.  Not really, he just helped me put up the rest of the Christmas decorations, including Brian's favorite - the Christmas village:

That picture is pretty blurry.  Here's a close up:

Brian bought this village, I think, for our second Christmas together.  

Joe was more excited about hanging the stockings.  That was the first thing he did.

Christmas lights

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8th - 2008

I was feeling very bah humbug today.  So, Brian suggested that we go look at Christmas lights tonight to lift my spirits.  We went to our favorite Christmas lights neighborhood.  Instead of driving through, we decided to get out and walk it, so we could take our time and see everything.  We first had to stop off for a couple of friends, and some Circle K hot chocolate.  Now, Circle K hot chocolate is not as good as the cannery's, but it is still pretty, darn good - way better than Starbuck's.  Here are the boys in front of the Spongebob house.

My favorite house is the snowman house.  I can't help it.  I have a thing for snowmen.

We also love the giant rocking horse house.  I guess technically its a rocking reindeer.  Brian and I love the lollipop lights.  We were trying to figure out how they made them.

You know what?  A little hot chocolate and Christmas lights go a long way.  Add in a little Harry Connick Jr. Christmas music and you can't go wrong.   I feel much less bah humbug, and a lot more Christmassy now.  

What do  you do to help get you into the Christmas spirit?

rainbows and birthdays

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7th - 2008

Today, when we got home from church, we saw this:

It was really pretty.  It actually was a full on rainbow, one that goes all the way across the sky.  Joe was excited because he's never seen a full rainbow before.  I think he actually has, but it has been way too long for him to remember.  He wanted me to take a picture of the whole thing, but my camera wouldn't zoom out far enough.  I couldn't get the right angle on it.  He still wanted me to take a picture of part of it so he could remember.  Isn't it pretty?

Tonight was FHE at my mom's.  Joe got a special prize from my mom for reading the Book of Mormon this year on his own.  She bought him a book called "The Wizard Heir."  He is reading the first book in the series, "The Warrior Heir" right now, and he LOVES it.  So, he was pretty excited to get book two.

Today is also Paul's birthday.  Happy Birthday Pauly!  We sang happy birthday to him, and then we had cake and ice cream.  There was also m&m's, both the peanut and plain variety, sugar cookies, Tiffany's canoli's, and Jared (our resident baker) made some yummy treat with oreo's.  I don't know what they were called, but they were good.  Yeah, there was entirely too much junk there, but it was fun. 

 Here is the birthday boy wrestling with his boys:

Merry Christmas Drake & Josh

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6th - 2008

The boys got together this afternoon and watched "Merry Christmas Drake & Josh".  Joe and Michael had been planning this for a while.  They are the ones who love to watch "Drake & Josh" for tips on how to pick up girls.  If you don't know what "Drake & Josh" is, then you probably don't have a boy between the ages of 6 and 12.  It is a show on Nickelodeon  about 2 brothers.  

Anyway, they have been planning to watch this for a while.  It aired originally last night.  But, sadly Joe and Brian were away on a scout camp out, so I taped it, and the boys all came over this afternoon and watched it.

Joe and I thought it was great.  The other boys liked it, but didn't think it was enough like the t.v. show.  Whatever.  There is a whole scene where a little boy gets a monkey for Christmas, which is hilarious.  Crazy Steve is my favorite "Drake & Josh" character.  For me, he makes the show.

The guys had a fun time hanging out this afternoon.  

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5th - 2008

I FINALLY finished getting the lights on my tree.  This is why I made the switch to a fake tree.  There is no way I could get this many lights on a real tree:

I love it.  It makes me happy, and now it feels like Christmas around here.

Target

THURSDAY, DECEMBER  4th - 2008

Today was a 1/2 day of school for Joe.  So, when I picked him up, we went to our favorite store:

Actually I think Barnes & Nobel might be MY favorite store, but Target is a close second.

What's your favorite store to shop at?

White Christmas?

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3rd - 2008

I finally got some of the Christmas decorating finished.  The lights at my mom's house are done.  You can't see them all because I didn't stand back far enough to photograph the whole house.  Oh well.  Now, if I could just get the trees finished, I think I'd be a little more in the Christmas spirit.

Stacy took Joshua outside to see the lights tonight.  She asked if he liked them.  He did.  But then he asked her "where is the Christmas snow?"  That's what I'd like to know.  Just once in my life, I'd love to have a White Christmas.  Maybe I can talk Brian and Joseph into spending Christmas at the cabin ( I doubt it, but a girl can dream).  

Santa's little helpers

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2nd - 2008

Today I started working on my mom's Christmas tree.  I'm behind schedule this year.  Everything is usually done by now.  I've actually started everything, but other than the lights on my house, nothing is finished yet.  I feel like a Christmas elf doing all of the decorating both here and at my mom's house.  Oh well, it's fun.

Today I had 2 helpers.  This one did the oh so important job of holding the top of the tree in place and rotating it for me so I could put the lights on it:

Wow that fireplace in the background is gorgeous.  Someone did a really good job restoring that.  I'm just sayin'.  

This helper took all of the branches out of the box and put them into piles for me:

I'm sad the picture is blurry, but the expression on his face says it all.  He loved playing with those branches and he loved the Christmas lights.  I can't wait to get the tree done.  I know of at least one kid who will enjoy it.