1 house, 57 people, 24 hours, 2 pounds of chocolate, LOTS of fun!

New Years Eve 6:00 pm - the partying begins. We had 7 tables set up in the basement for BUNKO. We just kept playing and playing. It was so much fun! After the games we gathered to pick our prizes.
First place went to Ty. He chose the 2 lb box of chocolates -
4025 calories in a box!
At midnight, we had a toast with Martinelli's.
Good-bye 2009, hello 2010!


New Year's Day 5:00 pm - the next round of partying begins, this time with my family. We enjoyed yummy food and hanging out together.
Dad, Mom, G'ma B
The Macdonald family
The Smith family
Chris and Sam (Missed you Alicia, Owen, & Cora)
Mom made all the grandkids pillowcases and gave them new pillows for Christmas. They loved them. Thanks Mom!


Not very many pictures to document 24 hours of fun with our families. What a great way to start off a new year! We sure love our families and are grateful for every opportunity to be together.

Christmas card obsession

Okay, I admit it. I'm obsessed with Christmas cards!
I love doing ours each year
(thanks to my friend Natalie for helping me create this year's)and I LOVE receiving them. I put them on my coat closet door and I'd keep them up all year, but John gets tired of them after awhile.
They just make me happy.

(If you're not on my list, send me your address.)

4 posts in a row... Get ready to read.

Christmas 2009

We got to have all the kids with us for Christmas Eve this year. We began the night with the annual family party at the Beechers (my mom's family). After a great dinner we had a live nativity, read the Christmas story, and sang Christmas songs. I was the pianist this year. I botched a few of them, but people kept singing anyway.
Maybe practice would have helped.

When we got home, Jyson & I tracked Santa here. He thought it was so cool. I just LOVED the fact that he would still sit on my lap and snuggle with me. Plus, it was priceless watching his eyes light up as Santa moved from place to place. This may be the last year like that so I tried to savor every minute of it!
Christmas morning. Hello bedheads.
Jyson's haul.
Jake's stuff. He's wearing his new Marmot jacket.
McKelle's presents.
My surprises - Johnny kept it all a secret this year.
GREAT job shopping babe!
Johnny's surprises. I think I did a good job shopping as well.
After opening presents and enjoying a yummy breakfast (new recipe), we watched our new (and first) blu-ray movie - UP. Great show!

Ahh, a lovely morning.

FHE Fun (Dec. 14)

I'm a little sheepish to admit it, but we've never really had Family Home Evening at our house. Yes, we've done lots of fun family things together, but we haven't done the formal thing. Mid November, our weekly night with Jyson switched to Monday. We decided that would be a great time to get it started. We talked to Jyson about it and he was excited about it. (He'd heard about it in Primary but never knew what it was. Okay, that's embarrassing.)

So, we had four successful FHEs before the Christmas break. Sitting for a 10 minute lesson has been a challenge for Jyson but I've already seen progress. One week he gave the lesson; he read a story from the Friend and it was great. That week, I was in charge of the game. I chose an old family favorite from my childhood - the flour game. Pack a mug full of flour. Invert on a plate. Top with a nickel. Take turns slicing the flour. Whoever causes the flour to "fall" has to retrieve the nickel using only his mouth.

Of course Jyson wanted to be the first to try it, so he was pretty bold with his "slices." It worked.
A successful retrieval.
He was much more competitive after that. Johnny was the "winner" of round 2. Yup, he was pretty excited about the retrieval...
Two rounds was enough. Jyson has asked to play it a few time since then but we told him that was an FHE only game. I have a feeling it will be replayed in January...

First Annual Cousins' Gingerbread House Party (Dec. 12)

Some time after Thanksgiving, I started thinking about Christmas and traditions. We have some, but I wanted to start something new. I thought it would be fun to have all of Jyson's cousins over to make gingerbread houses. I did some research. The best "glue"- royal icing with pasteurized egg whites so the kids could eat it. On one website, I saw the idea to use aluminum tins as the base. That worked well. I called my sisters and John's sister Julie. They thought it would be fun. We decided IF it was successful, we'd do it again.

Sadly, Julie & boys couldn't make it, but my sisters brought a few of their kids. Here was the table before they came:
The process begins...
Jyson, Luke, and Parker
John supervising the work.
First one finished - Madison.Parker's house.
Hunter's house.
Jyson and Luke.
Must have a funny photo.
The sister supervisors.
We decided it was so much fun that it WILL be an annual tradition. We're excited to have a little experience behind us and look forward to more "advanced" houses next year. Bring on December 2010.

Ward Christmas Party (Dec. 5)

We attended our annual Ward Christmas Christmas Brunch. They tried something new this year. While everyone was eating, Santa came around to each table and talked with each child. It worked pretty well - no long line waiting to sit on Santa's lap. Unknowingly, we chose a great table, one of Santa's first stops.
After eating, they had the Primary children sing two songs.
My little shepherd.
It was a fun party and a great way to start the holiday season.