Christmas 2013

We spent Christmas Eve and G'ma and G'pa Anderson's house.  There was a very competitive game of blow going on in the basement.  Then we went upstairs and did the nativity and sang (literally) every religious Christmas song that we could think of and we sounded pretty good, if I do say so myself. 

Christmas Day we woke up earlier than we would have liked so we would have time to open our presents here before we had to leave to go to the Atkisson's.  We were scheduled to skype with Graigry at 9am.  While we were waiting for Graig's skype call we worked on making ebelskiers and sausage and oranges and raspberries.   The cousins opened the gifts from the aunts and I think there was some video game playing and movie watching.  When we got home I went to bed because I was feeling ill and the rest of the family watched the first Hobbit movie so as to be ready to go see the second.

We didn't get Graig's skype call to work on Christmas (no good connection in Honduras) but we did get to skype with him for a good while the day after Christmas.  

Christmas shows and Neighbor gifts

A Christmas Package from Agnese

We attended two Christmas shows this week.  The first was a combined choir and orchestra and band concert at the high school.  They did a nice job.

The second was the Clayton productions holiday Joy concert and let me tell you, the Atkissons were the stars of the 2 1/2 hour show.  David, Kara, Megan, Ashlyn, and Emily were all part of the show.  The girls had lots of singing solos and were great dancers.  Of course, they were beautiful in their costumes.  At the end of the show they announced that Aunt Connie had spearheaded a fundraiser for the director, Kim Clayton, because he recently had some medical problems and has some big medical bills.  She organized a silent auction for which she made and donated two quilts (One a BYU quilt and one a U of U quilt).  She helped to raise well over 8 thousand dollars.  When they announced how much money had been raised there were lots of tears on stage and even in the audience.  Aunt Connie has had lots going on this past month and I can't imagine when she had time to organize a silent auction plus make two quilts but Aunt Connie just finds time when she is trying to help someone.  I was very proud to be her sister.  She is a good example for me.

Warren and I have been working on neighbor gifts.  We decided to do little loaves of bread and jam.   There are just too many neighbors and teachers and others who serve us (like the bus driver) we want to share with so I also made some COSTCO size orange Cranberry muffins to give away.  Tyler and Melanie used the muffins to give as teacher gifts and I took some to work. I also used some of the muffin batter to make mini muffins that I took to work and handed out to some people I know there.  People were so appreciative, it reminded me that we don't have to do something large to make someone's day... giving someone a home made mini-muffin... how easy is that.  I need to make some more muffins, now I can think of so many others to share with.  I also gave away a few of the large muffins to people who have really helped me at work.  One girl wrote me an immediate thank you for helping to cheer up her day, I'm not sure why but I think she was having a hard day.

Our family Christmas program just hasn't come together this year.  We kept hoping it would as it always has in the past.  Part of the problem is that the most musical part of our family is in Central America and the other part is that the time has just flown by so quickly and now Christmas is upon  us.

Melanie sang the National Anthem at another girl's basketball game at the middle school.  She is having so much fun doing that.  Melanie continues to draw and do craft projects like crazy.  She is very artistic.  She is rarely without some kind of "project" in her hands.  tyler and Jannik had another 2-day swim meet this weekend.  They swam well and the LHS boys team brought home another 1st place trophy.  They are the team to beat at the meets they compete at this year.  They both love swimming but being on a winning team makes is all the better.

Isn't it great to know that we are on the "team" that will eventually be victorious.  My bishop when I was in High School is now Elder Bruce Porter of the 70.  He liked to make the analogy of a high stakes basketball game just before the millennium with Satan's team and God's team fighting it out.  At the time I was in High School they changed the rules and allowed NBA players to play on the USA Olympic basketball team.  They chose all the best NBA players and made a "dream team" that went on to win a gold medal at the Olympics.  Elder Porter said that God was saving some of his most valiant "players" to come in at the end of the "game" and get the win.  I know my missionaries are part of the Lord's "dream team".

We got some good snow storms this week.  It is snowing lightly right now as I type.  The world around us is ready for a White Christmas.

Quote of the week: "It is impossible to fail when we do our best"

How to Christmas carol the neighbors without leaving the house

This week was busy with Christmas preparations and parties and our busy life.

Monday night was the neighborhood Christmas party with the Colleges, the Clarks, the Mitchells, and the Henries. We had dinner, played a version of charades, and then wanted to go Christmas caroling but it was SOOOO cold. We didn't want to walk around in the cold but more important we didn't want the elderly neighbors we planned to carol to have to stand with their front door open while we caroled to them. So, we invented phone caroling.... We called up someone we wanted to carol and put them on speaker phone. We then all sang the agreed upon songs at the top of our lungs. It was great. Jannik thought we were crazy and was trying to not laugh out loud. We all decided phone caroling should be a tradition. We got to see Casey, who is out of drug rehab and trying to re-integrate into life. He is hoping to get into a job training program offered at the DI. He looked good and he came and sat with us at dinner and we got to talk with him a bit.

Tyler invited us to the Legacy Center family Christmas party on Wednesday night. It was a really great party... Start to finish the party was 1 hour long and included all the Company Party must haves including: dinner, games, a "thank you" from the director, door prizes, and as a bonus - pictures with Santa. It was nice to get home early enough to still get a few things done.

Thursday night was the doTerra company party. It was very elegant, they had spent a lot of money on it. They had a dinner buffet that included steak and salmon and some yummy chicken along with some great side dishes. They had cheesecake for dessert. Some of the company executives spoke on where doTerra has been and where it is going. The company was only started 5 years ago and it is now the largest supplier of essential oils in the world. They expect to be a billion dollar company by this time next year. They gave away some BIG prizes like a 60" tv and a vacation and so on. ( I didn't win.) They played a creative game that had some fun prizes but I wasn't selected to play. All of the employees went home with a gift bag with a doTerra track suit, an Amazon gift card, and some other doTerra items. It was a fun night.

The boys had their swim team Christmas party on Friday night and then a swim meet on Saturday morning. All of the swim teams in the Alpine School district participated. Lehi boys team won first place and the girls got 3rd.

We had our last rehearsal for the ward choir program next week. We are singing a version of "Oh Holy Night" mixed with "Silent Night" that is very beautiful but also very hard. I know Joyce is nervous about if we can pull it off. I'm sure it will be great as we seem to get angels assigned to sign with us when we perform. I am excited for the program next week. It is my favorite sacrament meeting of the year.

A couple of Christmas Quotes :

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear"

"One cry awakened the world, One birth changed history, One life made all the difference."

Christmas Parties, the Cone of Shame, and A temple wedding

We had some good snow storms this week and some very cold weather so the world looks very Christmasy. We all got to attend the Monet Medical Christmas Party in the garden room at Thanksgiving Point. This is the room we held the first Marriage seminar so it brought back memories. They had a delicious dinner that started with jumbo shrimp in the appetizer buffet and had steak and ham in the dinner line. They also had the choice of two desserts. It was fun to meet some people Dad works with. 

 We got Milo into the vet to get neutered this week. As a bonus, and for an extra fee, they gave him all his shots and cut his nails. He is now wearing the "cone of shame" and boy does he hate it. We hate it too because he is so noisy and clumsy with it. He sleeps in a metal kennel in the house and to hear the plastic scrape against the sides of the metal is very noisy and sometimes wakes us up at night. He seems much more sore than our previous dogs from the surgery. We have him staying inside because it is just too cold for him to be outside.

Saturday started early with the ward Christmas Party breakfast. There were pancakes and breakfast casseroles and primary kids singing and then Dad and I had to leave. It was a very snowy day. Kiera Springer was getting married in the SL temple and we didn't want to be late. It was snowing hard in Lehi when we left but the snow was very light in SL. The wedding ceremony was very nice. The sealer read a poem, I believe he wrote, about Keira and Jerry keeping each other's hearts in their hearts and taking good care of them. They looked very in love and were very cute together. It took Kiera a long time to get changed into her wedding dress and come out for pictures. We took a couple of pictures outside the temple and then Dad and I went to the Garden restaurant for a late lunch.

Melanie and I went over to our church to help them put the final touches on the decorations for the reception and get all the food ready. Patrice had really gone all out and the church gym was beautiful. Melanie let out a little gasp as she saw it. Patrice had also gone all out on the food. There were little sandwiches with cafe rio pork, apple cider cupcakes, three different kinds of brownies, almond cakes, cookies, and spice bread. I was in the kitchen helping to fill trays while Melanie ran them out to the food table and cleared the tables when the guests were finished eating. After the reception, our whole family helped take down the decorations and clean up the food. They had about 1/2 of the food left. There was a big winter storm so I'm sure that kept some people away. It took over two hours to get it all cleaned up which was a lot faster than how long it took them to set up... I'm told it took 7 hours to set up.

Tyler and Jannik traveled to Cedar City to compete in a swim meet. The Lehi boys team took 1st place. They had a great time but came home tired. We had to pray them home because the bus driver had to drive through a blizzard to get them home.

Christmas Card and Letter

Merry Christmas 2013

Melanie, age 13, likes drawing, crochet, playing in the snow, 4-H, friends, horses, dogs, girls’s camp, playing at Lowes Extreme Air Sports (Trampoline Park), and  her new dog Milo.  She recently auditioned and was accepted to sing the National Anthem at a girl’s basketball game for her school.  She did an amazing job, thought it was super fun, and can’t wait to sing again.

Tyler, age 15, likes girls, swim team, playing the bass in the orchestra, driving, and skiing.   He was invited to sing in the Eagle Scout Choir that sang is the LDS conference center as part of the 100 years of scouting nationwide broadcast.  He took and passed the lifeguard certification class and got a job as a life guard at the local pool (Legacy Center).  He is enjoying having his own spending money and pays for most of his own expenses.

Graigry, age 19, finished his first year at BYU and left for an LDS church mission to the Honduras, Tegucigalpa Mission the end of July.  He has been in Honduras for about 2 months now and really loves it there.   He seems really happy, hasn’t been sick, and has had some success as he serves the people of Honduras.  For more details of his adventures, visit his blog: gwhenrie.blogspot.com

Jessica, age 21, graduated from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and left for an LDS church mission to the El Salvador, San Salvador East Mission the end of July.  (She and Graigry flew to the Mexico City Missionary Training Center together sitting next to each other on the same plane.)  She doesn’t have much time to email us each week but in almost every letter she makes sure we know how happy she is and how much she loves the Lord and knows the church is true.  You can read more about her adventures on her blog: jmhenrie.blogspot.com

Mary spent the year helping two missionaries get ready to serve, getting them off, and now supporting them by updating their blogs, writing long letters and sending thoughtful packages from home.  She started back to work part-time for doTerra, answering phones in their call center and as the administrative assistant for the Utah Head Start Association.  She, along with the whole family, helped to host three foreign exchange students this year: Agnese from Italy, Ai from Japan, and currently Jannik from Germany. 

Warren sadly said “goodbye” to his friends, the residents, at the care center he managed when it was bought out and the new company chose to bring in their own management team.  He is happy to now be doing sales and logistics for Monet Medical in SLC.  He has helped several boys for their Eagle Scout awards as part of his role on the district BSA Eagle advancement board.

Thanksgiving weekend

Saturday morning the boys went skiing with most of the Atkissons to snowbird. It was a beautiful day… not too cold. We haven’t had a lot of snow so Snowbird has had to make snow. They all said it was a great time. Tyler “conquered” Big Emma and was feeling really comfortable with his skiing skills. They all came home tired and sore. The weather was warm enough that the snow was pretty icy. They all had some good “slipped on the ice and had a good crash” stories. Dad slipped on some ice while carrying his skis and the metal runner on his ski sliced through part of his ear lobe. The first aid trained, lifeguard boys with him wouldn’t touch it so he had Uncle David help him clean it up and put a band aid on in to hold the two pieces of lobe together. Dad has a picture he may send you if you are interested. Melanie and I met the boys at the Atkissons along with g'ma and g'pa so we could celebrate Aunt Connie's birthday.  Uncle David worked on your dad’s ear some more. They ended up super gluing it together and so far it is holding together. He will probably have a little scar but it should heal fine.

While the boys were skiing and Melanie was working on a big English research project I was decorating for Christmas. I did pretty well getting it all up by myself. The boys helped me finish a few things and put the boxes away when they got home.  I just love having the house decorated for Christmas… there is such a peaceful feeling with the lights and all the nativities. I can’t believe Christmas is coming so fast. We will start our advents tonight. I am excited to see what Christmas traditions Jannik shares with us from Germany. His mom and dad sent us a package with some Christmas treats from Germany.

Tonight we met the Atkisson’s early at Temple Square. Kayla took some family pictures of us that we can use for a Christmas card. It was Janniks first trip to Temple Square. It was fairly warm for December and a beautiful night. Temple square was packed. We got to watch David, Kara, and Megan sing in a concert. They did a great job. It was fun to start our Christmas advent calendars today.