Every Christmas Eve our night centers around the Christmas story and putting together our nativities. Every year since we have been here we have had the missionaries join us for dinner and the telling of Christ's birth, but this year we got a call midday telling us that they had the flu and weren't coming. So, this year we were by ourselves, but it was fun and it's a great reminder for the kids of the true meaning of the season.
Thanks to Urs, I was lucky enough to be able to join Lacey on her special day. It was a very short trip... Sunday night to late Monday night, but it was definitely worth it! Lacey was gorgeous, Jared seems very nice, and it was great to see the family. Asher was awesome on the plane. He was awake almost the whole time on the way out, and thought everyone wanted to talk to him! On the way home, he slept the entire way, on both flights. What more can you ask for... he is such a good little guy!
Wait a minute, something's not right here... are you for real??
Hey mom, he's not scary... he's just a stuffed animal!
Once a month there are twelve of us that get together and have bunko night. We eat lots of goodies, play bunko, talk a lot and everyone gets to pick a prize at the end. It's a lot of fun, and this month it was at my house. We had pumpkin cheesecake, banana bread, chocolate dipped pretzels and fudge. It's Christmas... we had to have all the Christmas goodies! For our prizes we did a white elephant, and everyone got to pick a "present" from under the tree. Tia won this time with four bunkos! For anyone who plays bunko, you know that is pretty impressive, and as you can see Tia was pretty pleased with herself. It was a lot of fun, and now we're all waiting for next month.
These next pictures are of us waiting to go on the wagon ride. Luckily, it was about 45ยบ that night so it really wasn't too bad. We all bundled up and did just fine. They have the whole farm decorated with Christmas lights and nursery rhyme displays, and the horses take you around to see it all.
This picture is while we were all waiting in line to go into Sant's workshop. The kids all got to pick their toy, build it and then paint it.
And here you see Larry contemplating life standing next to his inspiration to become a dentist. He decided he had to have a picture with the dentist elf!
Here are the kids building their toys. Kaleb built an airplane, Mayson built a castle, and Rhyan built a rocking horse. It was a really fun evening for all, and if we're here next year we'll definitely have to do it again.
Cutting down our own Christmas tree was such a hit with the kids, we decided to do it again this year. We all went out and braved the cold to find the perfect tree. The final decision when I had it narrowed down to the two options was which one was bigger. That was all the kids cared about. It is a beautiful tree, and everyone had fun decorating it. For some reason though, this tree had exceptionally sharp needles on it. Like it hurts if you touch it sharp needles on it. So, setting it up and decorating it was a little harder. Larry got poked in the eye while cutting it down and was complaining about it the whole afternoon. After trying to decorate it though, I had a little more sympathy for him! It is still dripping sap, but it smells awesome! I'm not sure Asher knows quite what to think of it, but the other day he some how got himself from the middle of the room under the side of the tree and was chewing on a present. Someone is getting something juicy!
Our kids are such cuties. I try to remember that on the days they make me crazy. Her you see the two older ones being rock stars!
As you can see, Rhyan still loves to lick the beater. She sits in the kitchen and waits for me to get done so she can have it. This time was banana bread! And last but not least we have Asher. Mayson made this Christmas tree in art at school, and when she brought it home Rhyan decided it looked like a party hat. So, she puts it on Asher's head and sings over and over "Happy Birthday to Asher!"