Sunday Best

All dressed up in Christmas duds.  Merry Christmas to ya!  On to the New Year!

Boys Christmas Adventure Present

Gman and CousinG get an adventure with Grandma and Grandpa to the Utah Olympic Oval for speed skating time trials.  The date also included sleeping over, delicious breakfast and lunch and new hats for the boys.  Thanks G & G!

Ballet West's The Nutcracker Date

MissC and Grandma on her first of three dates to the ballet.

Two gorgeous girls.

When she got back she was floating, she was on a ballet high.  What a cutie!

Christmas Morning

As a parent, I love this moment when you know you, your husband and Santa have each done what they could to consider each child, and make sure they have a wonderful Christmas.  In fact, it is in this moment that I realize we once again did more than we ought to have done, but it's super amazing to see their little faces light up isn't it?

Santa brought MissC a beautiful dress and boots.  Inside the purse were tickets to the ballet.

LittleC got giant superheroes Batman and Superman.

They may have frightened him, but amazingly, he did not care for them.  At least not at first.  He is starting to warm up to them now.  Who knew…..I guess even Santa gets it wrong sometimes.

MissL got a "suvvy unicorn", just what she asked for.

Gman got a new snowboard and boarding classes/passes.  He's pretty pumped about it.

I made a few homemade items.  Dolls for the girls and a Guatemalan quilt top (yet to be quilted) for Gman.

Ty bought the boys a giant set of architectural legos to inspire budding little architects.  They are showing some real potential here.

I told Ty for Christmas, I'd love either some red or nude colored heels.  He took that suggestion and ran with it.  I got red heels, nude heels, gray heels, black heels and three pairs of boots!  Love that kid……but don't worry, we already have done some returns.  (I don't have that much room in my closet.)  To be fair, he didn't mean to give me three pairs of boots, he just couldn't decide.  I find it hilarious!…….and sweet.

Other Christmas Eve Festivities

One happy grandpa.

Gman getting in some good practice time.

Grandpa and the dispersing of the gifts.

Traditional Jammies photo.

What happens when you turn twelve.  You become too old for jammies, but not too old apparently to embarrass yourself by hiking up your creepy cartoon boxer shorts.  Good times.  Good sports.

Christmas Eve Story

Joseph and Mary

And the lovely chaos that is the family Christmas Story.

Home Sledding

Christmas Eve, out enjoying the whiteness of it.

Christmas Gifting

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the gifting of goodies.  Tradition is the key.  The Christmas breads were given every year when I was young.  Gingersnaps are a staple of course for neighbors and friends, and the oreo truffle is a new tradition I started last year for my Visiting Teaching sisters.  The piles of cookies are not pictured, but I may have hit an all time record number.  The only tricky thing is all of this baking makes my own diabetic dietary restrictions as a result of pregnancy a little frustrating, to say the least.

Gman's Christmas Concert

Gman played his bass in a wonderful Christmas Concert with the Beginning Orchestra.  He did great and I could even see his fingers going crazy on the frets.  Is it called frets or is that just for guitars?  We also got to hear the Jr High Concert Orchestra as well as the High School Orchestras.  They did fantastic and the Jr High Concert Orchestra amazed even themselves I think in a "bringin' the house down rendition of "A Mad Russian's Christmas" with electric violin, electric guitars and electric drums.  We loved it!

Doesn't Gman look dapper in his bow tie? 

The Lights Of Christmas

Is this not absolute magic?  I have loved seeing the lights of Christmas this year.  Driving around town, everything is lit up.  So many houses have lights up and it makes a mundane trip to the store or dropping off MissC at dance into an enchanting evening.  Love that.

This is the first year we have gone with Ty's brother's family to see the lights.  It was their kids' first time seeing the lights at Temple Square, which was a delight.  The kids had a lot of fun together.  Unfortunately we weren't the only ones there.  In fact it seemed like the whole world was there.  And not just at the Square.  We tried to meet them for dinner several places and just couldn't get in anywhere.  It was a perfect storm, with an event at the Conference Center, a Jazz game and a U game.  We couldn't escape it and ended up having to go our separate ways.  Too bad.  It was still a fun memory.

Gingerbread Party

We were invited to have some fun making gingerbread houses with some dear friends.  Half way through the day my friend texted me a photo of the Eiffel Tower she was working on for her daughter to decorate.  Then I knew we were in trouble.  I thought we were just making boxes with roofs.  You may recall our gingerbread efforts last year consisted of waffle cones decorated as Christmas trees.  No hot glue guns, not even any graham crackers to break.  Easy peasy.  And yet, I know this year the kids will remember their ambitious projects.  They turned out great and we had a lot of fun.  

In case you cannot tell immediately we have an Arc De Triumphe, Japanese House of Zen, English Cottage, Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Empire State Building.  It's an international competition.

Monument Valley Excursion

Mexican Hat.

Wild burros.

The Mittens were covered with low clouds and fog.  Still beautiful in an eerie kind of way.

From the back door of Aunt Lisa's house.  

She is living here as the principal of the local elementary school.

The Gouldings' hotel, restaurant and museum.

This is her school.  Try to read that name.

This school is very intriguing.  Because of poverty levels, the area qualified for a lot of money to create a new school with all new staff.  The school is designed beautifully.  The entrance is shaped like a Hogan.  It displays the communities most sacred artifacts and original paintings from local artists.  

According to the community, Lisa's most serious duty is to protect this special artifact.

The children have a beautiful Culture room.  The Elders come in each day to teach the children the Navajo language and culture including weaving and other arts.  I love that.  So cool!  There were many interesting things about this school.  And they are very lucky to have such a thoughtful, interested principal in Lisa.  She is so great and they seem to treat her thus.