2015 Came in Quick! Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was pretty low key this year.

The boys begged and begged to have some friends over.

I finally relented when they agreed to my rules.

1. the party ends at 9 pm!

I know that sounds lame, but with Mom living here, I have to put her to bed around 9pm

And she doesn't sleep through the night.

There is no way I would survive a party with kids up until 12am.

That was pretty much the only rule.

They invited a few friends, Shenna bought them treats and the party was a go!

They watched a movie, and spent most of the time playing a Smash Brothers tournament.

From what I could see, the party was a success and the house was quiet by 9:05 pm.

 

 

Kiera was the only one in the house going somewhere else for the evening.

She drove up to the multi-stake dance at the fairgrounds to spend time with her friends.

 

 

Shenna had the good fortune of staying home with the parents to ring in the new year.

The best part of course was the snacks conveniently located by the couch as we watched the ball drop at midnight.

 

Well, actually, not all of us made it to midnight.

I went to bed at 11 in hopes that I'd get some sleep before mom woke me up.

Wishful thinking.  She got up at 11:05 and then again at 12:00....just in time to ring in the new year.

Thanks, Mom.  I guess I needed to see the beginnings of 2015.

 

Here's to a great new year!

Random Shots of Christmas Morning

Playing our "new" retro game....Dungeon Dice!



New Pajamas!



Both boys in their new pajamas.  I made Samuel's pants myself!

Samuel basically spent the whole day in his pajamas and this Snow College beanie Shenna gave him.

One of Enoch's favorite gifts was this Pac Man blanket from Santa.
Santa must be thinking we live in the '80s.

Grandma got lots and lots of dark chocolate.  This picture says
"In case of emergency, break glass"

Christmas Eve!!

Samuel had fun teaching Uncle Craig and Dad all the ins and outs of one of his favorite games,

Legends of Drizzt. 

I'm not sure if they liked it as much as he does.

 

 

 

 Unfortunately, Uncle Craig couldn't stay over, so he missed out on our

traditional Christmas Bingo game.

 

 

The best thing about the Christmas Eve Bingo Game?

All the silly prizes we end up with at the end!

Congratulations to all the winners!

 

 

Last year, I took a picture of the kids with their Christmas Stockings.

Back then I mused about how tall Sam might be for Christmas 2014.

Well, here are the results!  Is he taller?
 http://whitakerlife.blogspot.com/2014/01/random-christmas-happenings.html
You'll have to scroll down to last year's picture after clicking on the link.
 

 

Pre-Christmas Fun

Before Christmas happens, we always have a bunch of activities to take up our time.

First up was the always fun Christmas band concerts.

Kiera is in two bands; concert and jazz.

Samuel is in the middle school's concert band.

With the band's configurations, I couldn't get a good picture of Sam until he stood up.

 

 However, they always put French horns right up front, so it's easier to see Kiera.

She loves playing the French horn in concert band.

At least this year she isn't the "only" French horn player.

 

 

Shenna came home after finals were over, and she wanted to get into the

Christmas Spirit.

First order, building a gingerbread train.

It was a combined effort between the four kids.

 

 

Shenna also took Kiera and Samuel one afternoon to the temple

to do baptisms for the holidays.

Afterwards they went out to lunch.

 

 

Grandma has been busy with her puzzles.

Her favorite lately was a beautiful one that granddaughter Elena sent from Maryland.

It had a collage with lots of pictures of great-grandson, Anders. What a cutie!

That face made for a fun puzzle!

 

Madrigal Dinner

The high school put on its' annual Madrigal Dinner fundraiser for the music department.

Kiera had a great time performing each night, and had a couple of speaking parts.

She also sang a beautiful duet with Emily Pingel on the night that Aaron and I went.

As in years past, the food was delicious, and the entertainment absolutely wonderful.