Christmas 2011

We had a very nice Christmas. It was wonderful to have PJ and Jackie in town and get to hang out with them. We played games, ate good food, watched movies, and just had fun together. We also went ice skating, which I will post pics of later.
PJ and Jackie got in late Friday night, at about 1am. So we went home and went straight to bed! They were very tired. Saturday we cooked and talked, and that night we played wii and read and acted out the Christmas story.

Go PJ! Its still fun to watch him play Just Dance 2!


We had a yummy dinner, turkey and other goodies. And we all fit around my table!


PJ was a wise man, I was a shephard, Payden was Joseph, Ninny an angel, Ava was Mary, and Jackie was the donkey. The kids all took turns riding the donkey! That is her on the floor under the monkey blanket, with Ava on top of her.




After the Christmas story, we opened up matching pajamas, made by yours truly.

My gorgeous girlies! Just a little excited for the morning!

The little girls put out the cookies and milk for Santa. Corrine left her stuffed animal out by the cookies, and she came running out a couple of minutes later, saying, "I'll be really quick so he doesn't see me!" It was adorable. She was in different pj's by this point because she puked in bed and I had to change her. So she didn't match for long. But luckily she wasn't sick again and she could enjoy Christmas.

We played Farkle after the kids went to bed, and Jackie had us wear a Farkle hat (a bowl) when we farkled. We had to wear it until someone else farkled!

Christmas morning we got up at 6 am so PJ and Jackie could leave for Idaho when they wanted. It was early! But we had plenty of time and didn't have to rush, so that was nice.

I got my brother a road id bracelet that had contact info on it and a message that says "Watch out for walnuts". Its an inside joke!

Then we went to church at one, and we had a very nice service where everybody but Ninny was involved. Ninny was so tired that she fell asleep on my lap. Then later that day Jason came over to exchange gifts with the girls. All in all, a nice day.

Corrine's Daycare Program 2011

Corrine's day care had a cute program for Christmas. Ninny was in two dances, and was an angel for the nativity scene.

I had to laugh watching the differences between the boys and the girls. The girls knew their dance steps, stayed in formation, and stayed in formation. Ninny did really well following the steps; I was impressed! The boys did their own dance, and were all over the stage. No formation, no reconizeable steps, just chaos. They just did their own thing up there.

The school is run by a spanish speaking director, and some of the teachers are spanish speaking. They teach the kids spanish and Ninny is learning a lot. So for the program, they did mostly Mexican dances. It was very cute.

We had such fun watching Ninny perform. She is a true performer; she loves being on stage. No fear at all, she wanted to be the center of attention!

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward did a breakfast party this year. 8:30 in the morning! It was so much fun, it was worth the early Saturday. They had a fantastic Santa. Ninny was so cute telling him what she wanted. She was literally "whispering in his ear" what she wanted!







They had the primary children do a little Christmas pagent. So adorable. And funny. Ninny's costume was hanging by the end because she kept getting her hands caught in it and pulling them out. There was also a kid who was crying, but singing anyway.

Payden was a Nephite. She had to hold this pose for a good while!

So we had a Nephite and two shephards.

Breakfast was delicious. My mom went with us and it was nice having her there.

Such a cutie! I love that face!

One of the reasons the food was so good was that they had the young women in the kitchen cooking! Michaela was so embarrased that I was taking pictures!

Michaela's band concert

Michaela tried doing choir in sixth and seventh grade. While she loves to sing, she hated the choir experience. She really didn't like the performance aspect of it. So this year, she decided to try band. She is playing the clairinet, and is loving it! She want to try out for jazz band and play the sax next year. She even loved the performing!

Her band did really well, and I am so happy she has found her niche.

Yeah for band!

There is only one of me.

WARNING: This is a whiny, complaining post.

There is only one of me. And I am doing the work of two people. Which is hard enough most of the time, but December almost has me on my knees.

Well, I am there, a lot, praying for help.

I am trying to keep the holidays how my kids have come to know and expect them to be, and I want to do that, but it is really hard.

You know that scene in Father of the Bride, where the father is going bonkers in the store,taking out the "superfluous" buns in the bag, still in his too small out of date tux?

I am starting to understand why someone would be pushed to such extremes.

Today in my daughters school I almost had such a moment. But I was able to contain my reaction and remain socially acceptable. Barely.

I was sitting in a meeting for the musical Payden was going to be in, the MANDATORY parent meeting that I found out about 2 minutes before. (I had been counting my good fortune to have gotten off slightly early and have some time to get something done when the phone rang and Payden told me to get there. NOW.) I had tried to pay the fee before the meeting, only to be told they were not accepting payments until after the meeting. (Read: long line to wait in.) I was sitting impaitently while the lady read the information on the form sitting in front of me. (I CAN READ.)

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. If you have new info, then say it, but don't insult my intelligence by reading something to me that I have in my hands.

Anyway, she informs us that we will be required to sign up for 2 volunteer "opportunities". I heaved a huge sigh, and just about jumped up and shouted " I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE!"

Seriously, I was THAT close to doing that. In front of everyone. I had had it.

I had just learned on Friday that Ninny needed two costumes for her day care/ school Christmas performance that was 6:30 on Monday. I had thought that her performance would be during the day and I would be excused from it.

I know, that sounds awful, but really, I don't have time. Plus, the daycare keeps doing that, having things during the day and "inviting" parents to them. (Basically making us feel guilty for missing things. I WORK, that is why she is there during the day. I can't just hop over and see her. I am not at home, I am WORKING!)

Add this to choir performances, band performances, parties, get togethers, and the ever long list of things I am trying to do and I have just about had it.

So I just about had myself a father of the bride moment, a hot dog bun moment. I am so glad I didn't.

On my list of things to do tonight, after attending the performance, making sure Ava has the gift she needs for the white elephant thing, a snack, book, and blanket for school, the teacher gifts are prepared, dinner is made and cleaned up, scriptures and prayer, bed time ritual, a trip to the dollar store, working on some more Christmas gifts, I am going to squeeze in some yoga.

Cause I need some major de stressing. And maybe a good cry.

Payden's Choir concert

This year, Payden joined the school choir. They met and practiced before school, sometimes as early as 7:30. Payden really enjoyed the experience, and was always out the door on time on choir days! She can't wait to join the choir in Jr. High.

She also did a solo group, they sang "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". Each girl got to sing a bit on her own, and although she was very nervous, she did fantastically. I am so glad she had so much fun! She even had a large part in the choregraphy for their number. It was very cute.

Wind Storm damage

A couple of weeks ago, we had hurricane force winds here in Utah. It caused a lot of damage, mostly by downed trees. We lost power for 2 days, I missed a day of work because my office was out of power, and school was cancelled for two days because so many schools didn't have power. On Wed. night, the winds woke me up and kept me up all night. Thur. morning, the power went out about 7am, and we didn't get it back on until Friday noon. I can't describe how loud and crazy the winds were. It was amazing. We watched the west side of our fence fly away piece by piece, and at 10 am, a HUGE tree fell in our backyard. It actually fell on Kylo! But he was ok. I had to crawl in under downed cords(I know, don't tell me) to get him out. Even though we already had lost power, the tree took down all the cords on a pole in our backyard. As a result, we were out of power for a while longer than others in our neighborhood. I also didn't have phone or internet until Tue. the following week!


Here is a pic of people clearing out the limbs from the tree. The Sunday after it happened we were predicted to have winds again that night. House after house had piles and piles of limbs all over, and they warned that they would become projectile in the wind. Soooo, in order to prevent that, church was cancelled all over our area and we were encouraged to go out and help the community clean up. And we did! It was amazing to see everyone working together. Michaela and Payden helped out at a few houses. Because of the two little girls, I could only help at my house. As we were piling the limbs out front, different people came with trailors and trucks, one after another, to take loads to the dump. They didn't care whose tree limbs they took, they just drove around until they had a full load, then took it to the dump. On their own dime and their own time. Truly a community effort. It was heartwearming. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday!




Here is a pic of the tree after the power company cut it apart to get to the cord underneath it.

And here is the tree. I estimated it to be about 60'. Not sure though. It was huge. I have a pretty big backyard, and it took up the whole length of it. It took out a smaller tree with it, it is under it. You can just see Kylo's dog house to the left. I honestly don't know how he survived!

Driving around town was interesting after the storm. Many stores lost their signs and marquees, there were huge trees down at every other house, all over the roads. Debris was everywhere; in fact the trains and front runner were shut down for a while due to the debris on the tracks. It really looked like a tornado had gone through. People's roofs were missing shingles (we had to pick up many of them in our yard!) and other damage was visible everywhere. Made for an interesting weekend!