Ward Party

What started off as volunteering to help out with the Ward Christmas party somehow tuned into being in charge of it.  I was a little stressed over the food and the budget.  Feeding 300 people on a $400 budget for everything was a little tricky.  It all turned out well though and everyone had enough to eat, which was the important part.  

Then it was onto the entertainment.  Calvin and Angie were our hosts of the show then every organization participated with some act.

The primary did a sing along (which I forgot to bring all the words for and had to run home and print them before it started).  One song they wanted to do was Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, because they wanted to dance, but none of them danced, so I had to hop on stage and try to get them to dance.  At least I had fun!

This is how Alli watched most of the show

Fuzzy's group did grandma got run over by a reindeer

I love these people I get to be around every week and work with on a regular basis

Missy's group did the 12 days after Christmas

Then I had helped Angie teach the Teachers and Priests a synchronized swimming routine to the Nutcracker.  It was the hit of the party (check out my facebook for the video).  Everyone loved it so much that they did it twice!  

We finished the party off with the women singing Mary's Lullaby to send everyone off with the true meaning of Christmas.  Phew I was tired after!  The kids and I had been at the church at 11 to set up and didn't leave until almost 4.  They were troopers helping so long, although they did become the kids running in the halls a few times since they had no parental supervision the whole party.  It turned out great and then I was tired!

School Parties for Scotty and Alli

Finally it was the last day of school and I got so lucky that Alli's Christmas party was in the morning and Scotty's was in the afternoon, so I got to help with both!  

Alli's class had a Polar Express Party which was so fun to help with.  Her teacher, Miss Hull, is super cute with all the kids and had even organized the whole party, I just had to show up.

Love my little All!

Her whole class

I have found that I get better group pictures if I tell the kids they get to do a few crazy pictures.  It sure worked with this class.  Alli LOVES to do crazy ones.  Not sure if the boy next to her loves her being crazy to him though!

Then it was up to help Cassie wrap some presents since she had hurt her back.  We had a great time, then I headed back to school for Scotty's party.  They just played a bunch of different games.  I loved that - of course I love games, but it was super fun to just play and visit and not have to be quiet and listen for an hour!

I just love Scotty's teacher, Miss Hafen, a lot too. She is super organized and has been a great teacher for Scotty this year.  I love my kids' school.  

Finally it was time to go home with more than 2 whole weeks off!  Whoot whoot!!

Alli's Day

Alli does a lot of watching all the others do things and finally it was her day.  Her dance and 1st Grade Sing happened to be on the same day, so we called it our Alli day.  She loved it!  First she danced in our ballet class!

With her best friend Audrey - love that girl and love that she finally has found a really good friend at school to play with.

Our whole super cute class! I Love these cute little girls!  Alli isn't sure how much she loves ballet.  She dances constantly around the house, but she kinda doesn't like the structure and the discipline that are in a ballet class very much (and I am fun too, so it isn't all structured), but I am keeping her in there anyway because she NEEDS those particular skills in her life and she is always coming up to me showing me some dance move and asking if it is beautiful.  I just think she needs a new teacher next year!

Then it was off to the 1st grade sing after a quick dinner (for once I remembered to put something in the crock-pot!!!)  Alli LOVES to sing.  She is almost constantly singing around the house all sorts of songs.  Primary songs are my favorite (actually singing Phantom songs is pretty cute too) but she sings as she does almost every task.  I love that she loves it and it makes her so happy.  

My beautiful little Alli amongst all the other cuties in her class! (Sadly Audrey is not in her class)

Christmas Party!

Because of our trip, we were a bit slow getting the Christmas tree up, in fact we really never got the kids tree up with their new ornaments for the year.  This year I had found a tuba ornament for Corry and he thought it was awesome!  Anyway the day of our annual Christmas party I told Corry I really did not want to be jumping in the shower 30 minutes before the party starts this year.  But, we had to clean, take halloween decorations down, put Christmas decorations up, move furniture and clean again behind all the couches we moved, and make our food for the party (actually Missy made it for us and it was delicious).  (Plus we had Christmas in the Grove rehearsal for 3 hours that day too.) It all got done, and I got in the shower 40 minutes before the party started.  Corry thought that was success - I was hoping for a little more time, but I guess it didn't matter because there are no pictures of me there anyway.

Anyway, this year we added an ugly Christmas sweater contest to our party.  Here are some of the participants:

The Goodmans were hilarious showing up in the ugliest sweaters they could find - U of U apparel!!!  HAHAHA!!!!!

Corry wasn't really a participant, but I like his Peanuts shirt!

So we all entered in our favorite ugly sweater.  It was a close call, but the Skarda's took it by 1 vote and won the coveted Savers $10 gift card prize!

The sad Phelons - one vote away from the win! 

Then it was time for the presents

As the winner of the sweater contest, Chris got to be the first to pick and he was so excited for this ball!

He was even more excited after he opened it

There was much to be coveted at the party like this lamp and we always have to plug stuff in to see if they work

My favorite gift of the night had to be the Shave with Me Barbie.  Hahaha!!!!

Bishop didn't get underwear this year, but Charles tried them on for us!

The time machine made and appearance, but it was quickly stolen and frozen.

Pete became our official present opener.  It started with the Alien head salt and pepper shakers

Then it was the talking Christmas tree

Then the ginormous rainbow trout

Then the talking/dancing moose

Finally it was someone else's turn to open a present

The horns finally made it back to the party

Finally Manda got the ultimate gift, a gift for someone special.  Hahaha!!  I laughed so hard at that one!

Kris' gift was a little gross - PB and J in a can.  The look on Kerrie's face in the next picture shows the grossness so well:

Great night with great friends.  I always laugh so hard at this party and then Corry and I always feel bad wondering who we left out or forgot to invite.  We never want to make anyone feel bad, but at some point there has to be a limit.  It is a little bitter sweet every year we do it.  

A Wrapped up Warm Kind of Special Christmas

Every year since Miss was a little tiny girl, we have gone to an angel tree and picked a few children's names off of the tree to get Christmas gifts for.  The kids have earned their own money to pay for the gifts.  Well the last couple years I have been a little annoyed with the requests on the tree - wii and ds games, ipods and other expensive items and clothing requests.  I really wanted to help needy children, but how did they have things that my own kids didn't have because I thought they were too expensive for them?  I really wanted my kids to help kids that were really in need.  So this year I found a group that puts together blankets, hygiene kits and other things for truly needy children.  We talked and decided we would rather do that.  So, the kids earned their money, we went to the store and they each bought 3 fleece pieces of fabric to cut and tie for the children.  It was an awesome project, but because of my trip to Hawaii, we bought the material later than I had hoped and then ended up finishing most of them up late the night before they were due.  I sure loved spending our time and money on this instead of some of the other things we have done.  

Christmas Choir Concert

The girls' choir concerts were great.  We started with Fuzzy's 7th grade concert.  She has loved this class and is changing her schedule to be able to be in choir next semester too.  She is in the center in a green dress.

Missy loves choir too.  This is her second year and she has really loved being a part of this group. She has made great friends in choir and just loves to sing.  She has even gotten to play piano for sectionals and she loves that too.  She is in the back row second from the left (nest to her cousin Haley).

After each of the advanced groups performed, they all come on stage together for a large group number!  Boy was it crowded there.  There are so many students and parents that the auditorium really can't accommodate everyone, so they asked the children to give up their seats and sit on the floor in the front.  We sent Alli and Fuzzy up and Alli ended up almost on the stage.  I guess it was cute that she loved it so much (that is what other people tell me) but I was so not happy with her.  Not the being up on stage that far, but she was loud too.  And there was nothing I could do about it.  Eventually we got her to come back and sit with us.   Missy is about a third of the way in on the left top row.

I love music and watching my kids perform.

Scotty's pretzel man

Scotty just loves cub scouts!  He is such a happy kid that loves just about everything, but I think Scouts is just about his favorite part of the week.  One day they made these chocolate dipped pretzels and he thought they were the greatest thing ever!