Welcome 2012

On New Years Eve we went and so Dolphin Tale with the M's and my parents.  It was a really good movie btw.

After that we went to the Training Table for dinner.  We just had a fun time hanging out.  C had gone with her friends and K had gone to Orem to a party.  So it was us and S, CR, and G.

We were going to to to downtown SLC but decided against it since G was not feeling that great.  We had heard about this celebration in our little town and so we thought we would try that.  We came home and watched some TV and then we went downtown.  Well we were very disappointed!  There weren't many people and there wasn't much going on.  So we went home did some fireworks and waited for the ball to drop at midnight and then went to bed.

It was a quiet but fun night.  I can't believe another year has come and gone.  The time just goes faster and faster the older you get.

On Sunday for New Years Day we got together to have dinner at my parent's house.  We also celebrated G's birthday once again.  She is lucky she gets so many parties!

G's 5th Birthday Week

All year long G has been wanting to go to "Bookdocks" for her 5th Birthday.  So that is what we did.  She had a blast playing with all the games and in the gym area.

One of G's funny poses!

 

Before Boondocks while G was sleeping the older girls and I went to the mall to do some exchanges and the girls had to pose by David Archuleta.

That same day in the morning K fell on the ice and hurt her wrist and it was hurting her so bad that we had to take her to the urgent care to get it seen.  KC and K went over to get it checked out.  It was not broken but they put it in a brace to keep it still.

 After those adventures we went home to have our corndogs, blackberries, raspberries dinner as requested by G.  C's friends came over to our house to celebrate her b-day (like I have said before G thinks she is a teenager and therefore likes to hang out with C's teenage friends.)

We opened presents and had cupcakes to celebrate!

On Wednesday we went to the zoo with the M's and then off to Park City for some after Christmas shopping.

 

 

Thursday was a day at home taking down Christmas decorations.

Christmas 2011

This year I wanted to make Christmas Eve a little more Christ centered.  I made a video with a bunch of Christmas music and a slide show of pictures and videos about Christ.  I didn't expect everyone to sit and watch it I just wanted background music with something to look at.  I think it was a nice touch.  Music has a way to set the mood.

For dinner I prepared a "Bethlehem Meal."  This consisted of our traditional Guatemalan Paches, nuts, fruit, bread, veggie straws, etc. all in baskets as in Bethlemem.  I tried to make everything seem as peaceful and humble as possible.  We turned off the lights and at by candle light that night.  I just wanted us to have a more reverent feeling for this night.  I think it worked.  The kids really liked it so I think we will continue with it for years to come.

After dinner we read from the New Testament in Luke and watched the LDS video clips just released by the church.  Neither the kids or I were in any of those scenes but it was great to see a final project from the filming.  But they are soooo amazing!  Here  is a link to watch them:  LDS Bible Videos

After we remembered the true meaning of Christmas then it was time for presents.  It's tradition in Guatemala to open presents on Christmas Eve (more like midnight on Christmas Eve but we do it a little earlier because midnight? really? How can Santa come then?).  So we open the exchange gifts (we each get a name of another extended family member and buy for them a special gift).  We open any gifts from the F side of the family.  It's a crazy but bonding time for everyone (I think).  We had a Bethlehem dessert (flan) before everyone went home.

After the fun of presents the kids get in their pj's and we try to get them to go to bed.  After all Santa is coming...

Christmas Day was a little bit different this year because it happened on Christmas Day.  Santa came but left all of the presents in big sacks because he knew we needed to go to church first before the viewing of the gifts.  This helped a lot because we could focus our attention on Christ in the morning and allow us time to get ready.  We had 9:00am Sacrament Meeting.  It was a beautiful program with a narration by a family, a few musical numbers and the Choir.  KC, C, CR and I sang in the choir.

When we got home we changed and then went to look at what Santa had brought.  Just a small breakdown of the gifts:
K = Serger

C = Movie theater popcorn machine

 S =Flute

CR = Nook

 G = Littlest Pet Shop Treehouse and a Pink Nutcracker

KC & L = Tablets

Family = Exercise bike

Then we went down stairs and opened all of our gifts.  For years we have been coming up with some other names to put on the presents instead of our own names and only the parents know who is who.  This helped when the kids were young from comparing who had how many presents and the shaking trying to figure our what was inside.  So we continue that tradition and this year we had "Dumbledore's Army" names from Harry Potter.  So first the kids have to guess who they think everyone is and then we divide up and open.  We take turns going in a circle and opening one present at a time.  It takes some time to do it this way but this way we get to see what everyone gets.

After presents we had to get ready to go to the M's house.  KC made is awesome egg nog and Z&J made Shrimp Etufe.  It was all delicious!

We then had the program put on by the kids.

 Then we did our white elephant gift exchange.

We stayed and made plans for the week and then we went home.  G was so extremely tired that she was crying for everything.  So we were glad to get her to bed.

On Monday night for family home evening we finished off the Christmas celebrations by going to Temple Square to see the lights!  We also went to dinner at Pei-Wei.  It was a fun family night.  G was much happier today and had lots and lots of energy!