A December to Remember!

When we returned from our South Carolina visit, we worked to organize our household for visitors by moving the TV and putting up a few decorations in the basement.  We are enjoying the fireplace more every day.

We made many trips back and forth to our SL place for various commitments.  On one of our trips north, we drove through the "small" town of Mantua as we have always been curious and we were a few hours ahead of the next projected storm.  It is a quaint little place with a lake.  Here is the local country store.

We saw a lot of wild turkeys, etc.  This group crossed the road in front of us.

Fortunately, we were able to attend several of the grandkids' musical performances.  Here is Britton playing with his cello teacher.  Next he is playing with a friend.  We enjoyed his performance immensely.

That same night, we drove out to the boonies for the ward Christmas activity in a big barn.  We quickly adapted to eating our dinner in a big barn with all of its amenities.  We were starving.

I'm really getting into the camel thing.  Who knew that a farmer in CV had a camel?

Ward members dressed up for parts in a live nativity.  Here are the Findley girls dressed as angels.

It was truly a unique experience to have a live nativity out in a big country barn on a pretty darn cold winter's evening.  After we finally found the place, I was relieved and quite enjoyed the event.

I was also able to attend one of Jenna's dance concerts.  She did an expert job.  She is such a natural ballroom dancer.  I loved it!  You will have to look at Hilary's blog for photos.  I accidentally walked out of the house without my phone.  That was extremely irritating to me.

Here is Korinne's piano recital in the home of her teacher's grandmother, a longtime friend of mine, Janet A.

Then it was back to SL.  I attended bookclub which was a lot of yummy food and fun to exchange books for the upcoming year.  Sue V. and Karen H. were great hosts and everyone brought potluck complimentary dishes.  Delish!!!

Around midnight that same night, we picked up McKay's family at the airport and delivered them to Trish's parents' home.  It was so exciting to greet them.  They headed to St. George the next day for some fun in the sun. Taylor's family planned to meet up with them so Taylor and McKay could ride bikes together.

We all got back together on Christmas Eve.  I decided to postpone the traditional Reuben sandwiches and cook a turkey dinner so that we would have lots of leftovers for Christmas Sunday.  Adam even accommodated my whim and baked homemade rolls.  He is the hero.

By 5:30, everyone had arrived for a wonderful evening together--McKay's family, Taylor's family and Hilary's family.  You can see below that Hilary pulled off an extraordinary ugly Christmas sweater family outfit.  She was so proud to have purchased most of these at the local grocery store for a great price!

Jen practiced her zoning skills.  Steve and I spent a lot of the day making dinner preparations, so we weren't able to take advantage of that newly developed skill.  Way to go, Jen!

The kids were having a delightful time playing together.  They even put together our Christmas nativity and all the costumes.  They just needed and audience and one of the adults to read the scriptures.

Will & June were Mary & Joseph.

 Some people played two parts as Jessica was the angel and Korinne and Cameron were the shepherds.  And the girls filled in for the 3 wise men.

Here is the cast posing after their wonderful performance.  Hilary's family left shortly for home and I read Christmas stories for a few minutes to some of the other grandkids.  Then off to bed.

On Christmas morning, Hilary's kids were the first to arise so we responded to their text a little after 6 a.m. and dressed and walked over through the snow.

I made a breakfast ring for them and put it in the oven before we left for home.
I began another breakfast ring at our house as McKay and Thomas were up and I figured others would follow soon.  McKay's family had opened their Christmas presents before they left for the holidays so they patiently watched as others had the excitement of Christmas presents.

Will and June arose shortly thereafter and that began a whirwind of wrapping paper, etc.

We all enjoyed their enthusiasm.

 We had breakfast ring and a breakfast casserole I had put together the night before.  We enjoyed a relaxing morning while the kids played before going to church.  I loved having Christmas on Sunday this past year especially since we didn't go until 1 p.m.  We had a wonderful opportunity to partake of the sacrament and reflect on our Savior, followed by a 45 minutes scripture and music program. It was wonderful.

 After church McKay and his family left to attend Trisha's family dinner.  It was snowing, but they were able to arrive safely.  It snowed about a foot on Christmas this year.  Lots of family members had their church cancelled.  I was happy that we didn't have to miss ours on Christmas.  We were blessed.

With all that new snow, the kids spent quite a bit of time the next several days taking advantage of it.  We had purchased a couple of sleds so that helped add to the fun.

 On the 30, we reconvened and added Heather's family to the group.  We all wanted to celebrate McKay's birthday and have our Reuben sandwiches too.

 Aaron helped Steve replace the batteries in our remote control blinds.  I wouldn't let Steve up that ladder so I really appreciated Aaron's assistance.

 McKay and Taylor were able to go riding again in the snow.  They love riding bikes.

 Now it was Heather's turn to zone.  I got a foot zone this time.

 McKay brought his own birthday cake from Costco.  It's so big that it takes a crowd to eat it and he loves this chocolate cake.  Happy 42nd Birthday, McKay!  We sure love you!

 Heather gave McKay a birthday zone!  We all enjoyed visiting and relaxing together.

Adam took the kids to the gym at the church for games to give them some inside play time and focus some of their energy.

 We loved listening to Jessica play the piano for a long time without using any music.  Thanks for the serenade, Jessica!

Early on the morning of the 30th, Jen, Heather and I were able to take some family names to the temple.  I love doing the temple work for family names, especially with family members.

Taylor's family left first thing on the 31st.  They had to get to SL in time to catch their flight back to China.  Then when Heather's family left on the afternoon of the 31st for New Year's activities in ID, some of the kids were pretty sad to leave cousins.  It's always hard to say goodbye to those we love.