Don's Birthday!

You know you married a good man when he wants to celebrate his birthday by taking all five kids out for bowling.   We actually hadn't taken the kids out for bowling in quite a while so they were super excited!  We went to Splitsville where you can bowl and eat dinner at the same time.  

We have some professional bowlers in our family.  Seriously.  I mean, look at that technique.  

We ordered sliders and nachos and pizza and we all pigged out!  It was actually really good food and since it was a Tuesday night it was all half price.  Total bonus for us!  

Don turned 39.  One more year and he is officially an old man. :) 

We sure are blessed to have him as the Patriarch of our home.  He keeps things playful and happy and fun, but at the same time creates this calm, loving atmosphere that I really appreciate.  He works so hard for us and is admired and loved by his co-workers, but his favorite place to be is at home with his family.  

We love him so much!!

Christmas Recital

  

Davis and Gillian are the only ones taking piano lessons nowadays.  

Ginger has moved on, playing hymns at church each Sunday and for Mutual or Seminary when needed.  Her hard work has finally paid off and it is wonderful to see as a parent!  

Sadly, Ryan only lasted about 6 months.   After fighting me about practicing every day, I finally let her quit.  Davis and Gillian love their piano teacher and are doing well.  The recital was really fun!

Davis played "Frosty the Snowman".

Gillian played "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

And they got to perform a duet, "O, Little Town of Bethlehem".

They did a great job!  I love my little pianists.   

Family Christmas Picture 2011

After a week in Florida and 3 months of working non-stop on the Nativity Exhibit I hadn't even thought about our Christmas picture and it was almost Christmas!  I almost just skipped it this year, but finally decided we would give it one shot and see if we could get one picture that I would be happy with.  

Early one Saturday morning I got everyone up and told them to get ready for pictures.  We grabbed Ginger's best friend, Mallory,  to be our photographer, and headed to this HUGE Christmas tree nearby.  My friend also let me borrow her really nice camera so I snapped a few pictures in the kitchen to make sure I knew how it worked.  Thanks Davis and Gilli for posing for me. :)

I love this one of the kids, but I am always sad when we get a Christmas card in the mail and it doesn't have the parents in the picture!  So we gathered as a family....  

and it actually turned out!  Yay for a last minute family picture.  Merry Christmas!!

Allen Stake Christmas Nativity Exhibit

Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, puts on a huge Christmas Nativity Exhibit every year.  I think they have been doing it now for about 9 years here in Allen.  And it is amazing!  I was minimally involved last year and the year before, just completely awe struck at the beauty and the wonder of how this little miracle comes together every year.  You can imagine my thoughts when our Stake President asked me to be IN CHARGE of the entire thing.  I actually started laughing.  I had no idea how I could possibly be the leader of something this huge when I knew so little about it.  But, then he said the thing that made it all ok.  He told me that his wife, Lynette, would be my assistant chairperson.  Ok, I thought, I can do this!  Months and months of planning and preparing and organizing made it all worth it when it finally all came together during the last week of November.  We start with an empty gym on Monday morning and by Thursday night it is transformed into an amazingly beautiful exhibit.  We gathered over 500 nativity sets from all over the world and over 1500 people came through, members and non-members alike.  It was definitely well worth the work.  

Here is the entrance to the exhibit...

I LOVE this huge nativity set donated by our Temple President's wife every year.  Such a perfect piece for the entrance.  

The archway as you enter the Exhibit...

These pictures really don't do it justice because the lighting is what makes it take your breath away when you walk in.  We had over 50 trees set up with white lights speckled all over the place that added so much.  

We also placed about 250 poinsettias which made the perfect finishing touches.  

The center tree was decorated by our Stake President's wife and she did an amazing job!!  It was the scariest/most exciting part of set-up when we were getting that tree (already decorated) up on top of the tables!!

We had live Christmas music playing constantly throughout the entire 2 days of the exhibit, thanks to members of our stake and community as well.   We also had a Live Nativity with Mary and Joseph on the stage, which is one of my favorite parts of the exhibit.   Ginger got to take a one-hour shift playing Mary which was neat for her.    I loved seeing her up there.  

I think the best part of being involved in something like this was getting to rub shoulders with so many amazing people!  It was wonderful to get to know the members of our Stake Presidency and their wives on a more personal basis.  They are incredible, special people and really so fun to be around.  

It was a busy couple of months and an exhausting final week, to say the least, but it was so rewarding and even fun to be involved in such a great event!  We were able to let our neighbors and friends and community know that we, as Mormons, believe in Jesus Christ, we Honor His name and we love and worship Him.  He is, and should be, the center of our Christmas season.

Until next year....

Thanksgiving Day in Destin

Thanksgiving Day was our last day in Destin, FL.  (We had to leave the next day so I could have Saturday to unpack and get organized before living at the church for a week during the Nativity Exhibit.)  We really packed it in on our last day and it was definitely not your typical Thanksgiving Day.  

Although we had the most beautiful warm weather all week long, this day turned quite chilly.  So, we spent most of the morning in the hot tub.....until Don challenged the family to "The Ultimate Polar Bear".    The kids were all over it.  I decided to stay behind the camera, or in other words, stay warm!  

Straight from the hot tub, you run to the beach and roll around in the sand...

then run into the ocean and you must go all the way under...

then rinse off in the showers...

swim across the coooold pool...

jump into the kiddie pool...

swim across the warm pool...

then your back, safe and warm, in the hot tub.  Phew!

Well, I thought I was off the hook, but Don and the kids kept pressuring me to do it and I couldn't say no!  I actually did the Ultimate Polar Bear!  And it was cold.  But really fun.  The few people on the beach looked at us like we were crazy.  We were definitely a spectacle rolling around in the sand!

It was time to leave the beach for good and head up for Thanksgiving dinner.  The kids caught one last look of the beautiful view from the balcony.  

With 7 people helping, we whipped our feast together in no time.  Everyone had an assignment and it all turned out beautiful and delicious.  (Yes, that's just a boneless turkey from Costco, and no, those are not homemade rolls.  Our focus was just on being together and not slaving away all day.  Although that is fun, too)

Looks picture perfect, huh?  Don't worry.  Within 2 minutes I spilled my drink all over everything, including Don's lap.  Oops.  

After dinner we just started snapping pictures.  I was trying to get one of Ginger, but the boys jumped in and this one ended up being one of my favorites!

Me and Gingey

Me and Gilli

So, then I wanted to get a picture of Ginger and Gillian and they could NOT sit still or stop laughing!  Silly girls.  

I finally got one!  But, I actually love the other ones, too:)

It was a wonderful, memorable Thanksgiving Day.  How grateful I am for my little family.