Happy Birthday Warren

Warren had a "traditional" 43rd birthday on December 31.  We had a roast and potato dinner followed by a vanilla cake with small bits of strawberry mixed in the batter.  He received a 5 lb bag of peanut M&Ms and an external hard drive with an automatic back up system for our computer.  (He has been know to lament that when the computer crashes it is always him who loses all his work.)

We, his family, sure are glad he is part of our family!

Shower Progress

Warren is doing great on the shower! Here are some "During" pictures:

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A different view of Christmas

Tyler got "prism glasses" from his teacher. He put them in front of our camera lens and took a picture of our christmas tree:

It looks really cool huh?

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Christmas Day

Here is Tyler Attacking his fleece blanket he got.

Jessica got a lot of books and candy.

All the kids got pillow cases. Jessica and Melanie got embroidered ones.

Dad calling out names on presents.

Tyler got two editions of the Boys Life magazines.

Melanie looking through her stocking.

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Getting on Santa's "good side"

Melanie got this new dresser a few days before Christmas.  She had outgrown the dresser that is built in her closet.  It proved to be the motivation she needed to clean her room before Christmas.

Proud of her hard work.

Christmas Piano Recital

Tyler

Jessica

Graig and Jessica's duets

Christmas Violin Recital and Lunch at Pizza Factory

Every 2 years Graig's violin teacher, Shawna Davies, has a group recital for all her students (over 60) and former students who have graduated from High School (about 15 attended).  One of the hightlights of the program was the "Missionary Chamber Group" that played "Meditation" and "O Divine Redeemer".  They were a group of Shawna's former students (about 12) who are returned missionaries. 

When Graig came out of his bedroom this morning dressed in his suit I noticed he had a hole in the knee of his pants and his suit coat was too small.  I of course was thinking, "Didn't we just buy that suit?"

Mary's cousin Peter's children also take lessons from Shawna and so we went out to lunch at the Pizza Factory after the concert.  It was great fun!  The kids were so impressed with these breadsticks.

Melanie and Myla

Graig and Tyler

We stopped at Mr. Mac on the way home and bought Graig a new, larger black suit.

Meadow Christmas Sing

The 4th graders at Meadown sang "When Christmas comes to Town" and "Winter Underwear" at the annual school concert for the parents.  Melanie is on the far right in the middle row of the group picture below.  She is wearing her new Christmas dress.

An American Heritage Christmas

I am still glowing from the wonderful concert at American Heritage School last night.  I don't have any pictures to share but I'll share the hightlights of the concert.

To set the stage, I'll say that the auditorium was filled to capacity with an impressive list of attendees and beautifully decorated for Christmas.  Right in front of us sat Alan Osmond and his wife; a few rows behind us were President Uchdorf and Elder Oaks along with their wives and guests.

Michal Ballam was the guest performer and Stephen R. Covey was the narrator.

My favorite song of the night was  "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" arranged by Lawrence Gee especially for this concert.  Graig said that each week when the orchestra came to rehersal they would have a new copy the music. Their director would make an audio recording of them playing and send it to the composer who would then make changes and send them back for the next week's rehersal.

I could listen to Michal Ballam sing and talk about the history of Christmas music for a very long time.  He sang my favorite Christmas song, "Oh, Holy Night" while he accompanied himself of the piano.  I like that as he talks about Christmas songs he often asks the audience to sing along with him.

The concert ended with a medley.  Michal Ballam gave us some background on the first song, "Coventry Child", and told of how it is a lullaby for the hundreds of babies killed by King Herod.  M. Ballam talked about how those babies were the first martyrs for Christianity.  I hadn't ever thought of it that way before.  Here are the words to the song:

Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child

By by, lully, lullay, thou little tiny child

By by, lully lullay

O sisters too, how may we do

For to preserve this day

This poor youngling

For whom we do sing

By by, lully lullay?

Herod, the king

In his raging

Chargèd he hath this day

His men of might  In his own sight,

All young children to slay

That woe is me

Poor child for thee!

And ever morn and day,

For thy parting

Neither say nor sing

By by, lully lullay!

The second part of the medley was a  reading of Luke II by Stephen Covey with the orchestra playing behind him.  It was touching to hear his voice crack with emotion as he read of Christ's birth.

The medley ended with a Mack Wilberg arrangement of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" sung by Michal Ballam and the American Heritage Youth Chorus accompanied by the orchestra and Lawrence Gee on the Piano.  This arrangement was originally written for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.

The evening ended with the sold out crowd of over 1200 giving the performers a long standing ovation.

I hugged my Dad and thanked him for paying for all those violin lessons.

Neighborhood Christmas Party

Our neighbor, Tina Colledge, organized a party for her family, our family, the Clarks and the Mitchells last night.  She had ornaments for the kids to make and we then had a Christmas Tree decorating contest.  All the families brought a treat and a game.  The evening ended at our house where we performed our Christmas program for our friends. 

We have been close neighbors for many years with these good people. When you have neighbors who are this nice you don't move.

The Polar Express

Our ward Christmas Party this year had a Polar Express Theme.  The Activities committee did some really fun things with that theme including having the youth come out and serve hot chocolate to all the party guests while the music "Hot, Hot, Hot" from the movie played over the sound system.  The boys poured the cocoa while the girls added the whipped cream and marshmallows.  It was delicious!

Melanie and Tyler started the program by singing the theme song from the movie, "When Christmas Comes to Town."  They were very brave to stand on stage in front of over 250 people and did a fabulous job!

I was asked to decorate a couple of tables.  The kids were more that happy to go in the crawl space and find their toy train sets.

After the program, we had a visit from Santa and Mrs. Clause.  You can see Santa's number 1 fan (Melanie) following right behind him.

Vernal Utah Temple

Warren and I took Jessica and Graig to the Vernal Temple to do baptisms

for the dead while we were out in the Uintah Basin.

This was the first temple to be constructed from an existing building. 

What is now the temple, used to be a tabernacle.

Warren's parents were working at the temple while we were there and Warren's dad

got to come help as a witness to the kids baptism and confirmation work.

It was a great experience.

Thanksgiving in Neola 2009

This year for Thanksgiving we went over the mountain to spend the holiday with Warren's parents and family.  We were a little nervous to drive our van up all those hills - thankfully the van ran great.  I didn't get any eating pictures, but the food was delicious.  Here are some other things we did on the trip...

Warren tiled the downstairs entryway.

Then he and Doran held target practice in the front yard.  Grandpa Henrie was in charge of safety.  Uncle Chris was the hero for shooting a tin can out of the air, WOW! 

(Jessica never did actually pull the trigger.)

The Eagle has landed

Graigry had his Eagle Scout Court of honor on Saturday, November 28th.  Thanks for all who pulled themselves away from the BYU vs Utah game to come.  (We didn't actually start the program until we knew the outcome of the game.) 

Graig with former scoutmaster, Cody Widerberg, and his former YM president, Dave Mitchell.  Dave is on the council for the BSA and was really helpful in helping Graig through the paperwork part of the Eagle Scout award.  They both participated in the program.

Tyler, Josh Henrie, and Graigry

Justin Lamareaux also received his Eagle Scout award the same night.

Proud parents

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, Aunt Linda, Aaron, Connie, Mary, Melanie, Graigry, Tyler, Warren, and Jessica. Thank you to all the family and friends who attended.

It was a nice culmination to a lot of hard work. Congratulations Graigry!

Lehi Celebrates Family Week

Warren and Mary at the family dance, Saturday night.

Our family got VIP seating because Warren and I are on the Community Council. I told the kids that meant we were the clean-up crew and we stayed after to pick up all the trash in the auditorium.

The BYU Young Ambassadors put on a great show.