Christmas Celebrations!

On Friday, December 12th, we went to Temple Square to listen to my niece's choir perform at the Church Office Building and then the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Her family moved this summer from my hometown to Rexburg, Idaho, so my brother could start teaching religion at BYU-I. I haven't seen her since the move, so it was great to catch up with her.

Isnt' she beautiful? All of the guys her age think so!

Nelson & Richard listening at the JSMB.

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to our ward Christmas party! It was a breakfast and then Santa came! This was the first time Nelson has seen Santa. He was pretty excited that the other kids were excited, but when it was his turn to sit on Santa's lap, he wanted to play not sit down. So, our wonderful neighbor, Tyler, grabbed him and sat on Santa's lap with him. Funny Nelson! Awesome Tyler!


We are excited Christmas is this week! We are going to Richard's parents' house for Christmas Eve. We are planning a dinner and Nativity play for all of his siblings and families that can attend. Christmas morning will just be us! This will be the first time I've woken up in my residence of living since I was in high school (besides my mission), so it will be strange. I'm used to having a bunch of kids around, but I'm sure we will have all sorts of fun on Christmas. One thing that my family always did growing up, that I want to continue this year is to have a Christmas Brunch and invite the neighbors. So, all of you Loch Lomond-ites that will be around on Christmas Day and want to celebrate with us, you are invited! We will be making a ham, eggs, and hashbrowns. If you come, you can bring some sort of bread-ish item like muffins or cinnamon rolls or a beverage. Just let me know, so I can plan ahead.

Other than that, I am excited to celebrate the birth of our Savior. This is a great time to reflect upon and appreciate the life of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I hope we all remember him on this special day of CHRISTmas!

TIME Magazine: 17 People Who Mattered in 2008

This morning I was reading online at Time.com about the "People of the Year". I ran across this person that many of you may have heard about. I did not read the books but watched the movie (and then listened to the first book on CD - thanks, Ashlee) and liked it. Anyway, I thought all of you Twilight fans would be interested in finding out that Mrs. Meyer was one of the 17 people highlighted for "People Who Mattered in 2008". I especially liked the comments below the picture. Enjoy!

Stephenie Meyer

Maybe Americans aren't ready for a Mormon presidential nominee yet. But they're more than ready to anoint a Mormon as the best-selling novelist of the year. The hero of Meyer's Twilight series — and hit movie — is a vampire named Edward who doesn't kill people and declines to sleep with, or bite, his girlfriend Bella. Meyer's religious upbringing taught her something few writers grasp, that fantasies can be about restraint as well as excess. Sometimes nice girls do finish first.

—Lev Grossman

No Phone

So, Sunday morning a little before 8:00, I had just gotten out of the shower and was putting in my contacts. Richard was putting on his suit to go out the door for his Sunday meeting, and Nelson was playing in our bedroom. In one minute flat, Nelson took my cell phone off of my night stand, unplugged it from its charger, walked by both of us in the bathroom, and threw my phone in the toilet (I promise we normally keep the door to the toilet room closed). As soon as I heard the thud, I knew what had happened. We quickly turned the phone off and took out the battery and now my phone is on bed rest for a few days. So, if you need to get a hold of me, the internet, a home visit, or Richard's cell phone are your best options.

Besides throwing my phone into the toilet, Nelson has gotten really good at throwing lots of things, lots of places. His favorite place to throw things is down the stairs. Although he is good at going up and down the stairs, we still keep the gates up so I don't have to chase him up and down them all day. At any given moment at our house, you will find a watch, a blow dryer, a book, or anything else Nelson has managed to carry to the stairs and thrown over the gate. He also likes to throw things out of his crib. The first thing he does in the morning when he wakes up is throw his pacifier at the door. When we are all out of pacifiers, we look behind his door and find a stash of them.

He has also gotten really good at hiding things. One of his favorite hiding places for random things is in between my bed frame (we have a sleigh bed so it goes up along the sides) and the mattress. We have found his medicine, my alarm clock, his socks, and other various things in there. His other favorite hiding place for things is the printer. He usually puts them in the opening where the paper comes out (his baby monitor is in there at the moment) and then he shuts (or tries to shut) the door. My phone has been found in there many times. Well, a couple of weeks ago our printer wouldn't pull the paper through the back and kept telling us that paper was stuck. We looked for stuck paper and couldn't find any. We called the makers of the printer (Canon is no help) and stores around here for help to fix our printer. Guess what it was in the end?! Nelson had stored away a rice cake in the back of the printer where the paper is pulled through. I'm sure he had all intentions to pull it back out when he was hungry again, but he must have forgotten about it. Three weeks later he got his rice cake back (not really, it went straight into the trash). So, this is my life right now with a rascally little 13-month-old! Wish me luck with my adventures this week!

THE Christmas Card

Thanks everyone for voting on which pictures to use on our Christmas card. There were mixed results, but these two pictures definitely got the most attention. So, here it is! I designed it on one of those digital scrapbooking sites, emailed it to our super talented neighbor, and with a few tweaks of his own - he sent me this. I love it! And, I am sending them out right now... so if you want one, get me your address.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, BIRTHDAY & WEDDING!

This past week was filled with lots of festivities for us! We went down to my parents' house and had Thanksgiving with five of my siblings and their families. It was great to be with so many people and see a lot of my nieces and nephews... I met four new ones (my new sister-in-law's kids)! I didn't get a picture of Thanksgiving Day(thanks, Mom, for all of the delicious food - Richard especially loved the stuffing), but I did take this picture the day before. The little nieces loved having Richard read story after story to them.
The next day was Richard's birthday! I tried to dedicate the day to doing "Richard things". Don't worry, I woke up early (4:00) and went with my brother-in-law to do the Black Friday shopping, but we were mostly finished and back to make Richard his birthday breakfast by 6:15. Nelson even gave his Dad a birthday present by sleeping in - by Nelson's standards. The rest of the day was spent book shopping and eating (two of Richard's favorite things). The day before on our way to St. George, we stopped by Mountain Meadow Massacre and I gave him his main present - the new book on the massacre. He loves church history! He also loves Thai food! We went to a Thai place for lunch. This is Richard & Nelson in front of the restaurant.

Richard loves to go to used bookstores to find books about Church History. Here he is in all his glory!

And, Nelson trying to be like his Daddy!

On Saturday, my brother, Roger, was married at the Pine Valley chapel in southern Utah. We found out on Tuesday that he was getting married that weekend. It was really fast and crazy, but I am so happy for Roger & Angela! Here is a picture of the happy couple, my oldest sister and me.

Of course Richard loved being at this historical site! The Pine Valley Chapel is the oldest chapel still in use. Isn't it beautiful?