A Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Grandpa C.'s house eating pizza, having the kids act out the nativity, and singing songs.  On the way home we stopped by at the cemetery where many people, including us, leave candles burning on the graves of their loved ones.  It is very beautiful, and we sing there too.

Next came out annual pajama opening session, and the fun family photo shoot.

After minimal sleep, it was time for the race up the stairs.  There were only three participants this year.
Travis and Tia opted out, and Jake and Dan were still asleep.

Here are Jake, Trisa, and Travis -- not quite looking lively.

Trisa, Travis, and Dan (still going through stocking stuff)

Kayli and Connor.  Connor was trying to be patient while waiting to open his presents.

Tia couldn't resist getting her Dad a Wookie suit, and I couldn't resist taking as many pictures as I could get away with.

One More!

After the presents were opened, and the cinnamon rolls were cooked and eaten, we just relaxed until we got our traditional visit from Russell and Erin and their kids (One of Derek's sisters and her family).  They are great to come and be interested in what everyone got.  It is a happy visit for us.  After that it was off to Derek's parent's house for Christmas dinner.  Ham this time -- and delicious rolls.  Mmmmm.  I love rolls.  Most of our kids went home after that, but Derek and Dan and I stayed.  All of us got to spend time with family members, and besides remembering Jesus, that is the best part of Christmas.  I hope you had a merry Christmas too!

Kayli Turns Twenty

Kayli's birthday, which is on December 19th, was celebrated for three days this year.  We had her open one present, and have donuts on Friday before we headed to the BYU basketball game as a family.

We celebrated without her on her actual birthday by attending the Christensen Christmas Party while Kayli went to SLC on the train with a friend.  Kayli had been asked to be a bridesmaid for a former roommate.  I didn't see her once that day!  Travis, being a nice brother-in-law, got up early and stayed up late so that he could drop Kayli and her friend off at the train station, and then pick them up again.

We had the main birthday celebration after church on Sunday.  She got to open the presents she had patiently waited for.  She also got to have brownies with peach ice cream, and lasagna (in that order -- but dinner was an hour or two after dessert).

Trisa and Travis were here for the celebrations, and Tia came when she wasn't working.  The pictures are by Travis.

Connor and Kayli who are sometimes mistaken for twins.
They aren't twins, but they have been good friends since they were very little.

This is the one present I knew that Kayli actually wanted.

This is a Payson Temple ornament.  I don't know of anyone who is more excited to have a temple nearby than Kayli.

This is a gift card for Walmart -- Kayli's favorite destination...
Well -- maybe not favorite -- but she does love to go there.

This is a gift card for an ice cream place.  Kayli loves ice cream, and brownies, and other things with lots of sugar in them.

Kayli isn't greedy, and insisted over and over that she didn't need presents.  We didn't agree. Thankfully, she received them with a smile.  Our Kayli is kind, a good listener, and fun.  She is a great sister and a  wonderful daughter.  She makes beautiful music, and has a beautiful testimony of the gospel.  She also makes tasty brownies.  My little dark haired baby is all grown up-- which I can love and cry about all at the same time!  I love you Kayli!  Happy Birthday!

Our Before Christmas Activities

1.  The Ward Party.  We took Father Christmas with us this time.  It hadn't been Christmas yet and maybe that's why it looks like Father Christmas hasn't eaten as many cookies as usual.

2.  The BYU Basketball Game with the whole family -- plus my grand niece Mia.

Most of us had more fun than this picture indicates.  BYU won!  And Collinsworth got another triple double.  Yay!  Mia was great.  She ate popcorn, talked to Trisa and Tia, and really wanted to see Cosmo the cougar up close.  She was disappointed that he never came to the nosebleed section to see her.  We rarely saw Travis.  He's not much of a sports fan -- he is just a good sport who's not too good at feigning interest in the game.  I'm guessing the highlight for him was either eating popcorn with Mia, or seeing his mission president in the hall.

3.  The Christensen Christmas Party, which I got no pictures of so ....

Imagine a group with around 50 very nice people, more than half of whom are children.  Imagine us eating lasagna in the church gym, playing games, having a program, playing more games, cleaning up, and then, more than three hours after we started, heading home.  Mia came with her parents Kelli and Jamie.  They were staying with us and so they were invited even though they are from my side of the family.  The more the merrier!  Their whole family participated in all of the activities, and Kelli even participated in the not too secret flash mob that sang Joy to the World at the beginning of the program.

4.  Kayli's Birthday Celebration -- which I'll cover in my next blog post.

5.  A trip to the BYU Museum of Art to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit.

This was Dan's Favorite

This is Travis' favorite.
Travis said he enjoyed the exhibit for 5 minutes.  I don't think he's a big art museum fan either.

I don't remember if anyone else chose a favorite.  We were all impressed by how many paintings he did, and how much preparation he took before making the final, finished painting.

The day after we went to the museum was Christmas Eve -- and I'll include that with Christmas.  My favorite thing was every time we managed to have the whole family together.  That is the best!

Thanksgiving and the Thankful Turkey

You can tell from the number of feathers on the thankful turkey that we have a lot to be thankful for.  We even ran out of feathers -- and were a bit too lazy to make more.  This turkey was made the day Derek was first trying to put in our new kitchen sink.  Kayli and I were headed to Provo and back to pick up a needed part, and I left the boys in charge.  When I got home I told them how much I liked the thankful turkey they had made.  Jake said, "Mostly I made it."  So a big thank you to Jake.

For Thanksgiving we had a delicious dinner at Derek's parent's house while visiting with some of our local family members.  There was a short program after.  I think with this side of the family it is very rare not to have some sort of program attached to every gathering.  Kayli very kindly sang my song "Sunshine" with me for our part in the program.

Shortly after that we headed to St. George where we met up with Trisa and Travis who had spent Thanksgiving with my parents.  We stayed in Derek's parent's St. George house for a couple of days, but spent most of our time at my parent's house where we were a part of the roof removal / replacement team.  Ray started on Thanksgiving Day and I think Jeff and Travis joined him.  It is a good thing they got a head start because we got done on Saturday right after dark.

The weather was cold for St. George.  In the 40s.  Brrrr.  In some ways we were a rather pathetic work crew.  Ray has a lot of experience with working on roofs, but the rest of us -- not so much.  My Dad wanted really badly to be up there helping.  He would have known what he was doing.  However, due to his major back surgery he was supposed to stay on the ground.  Naturally he climbed the ladder several times and made us all really nervous.

Mostly it was our health that was pathetic.  Jenny and Jeff had bad colds.  Derek was sick to his stomach.  Trisa got the stomach flu the second day so only managed to help on the day we ripped off the 2 layers of shingles.  That was the most miserable day, and her help was appreciated.  Travis was in pain with some unknown ailment, and I'm pretty sure that, at least by the second day, we were all feeling a bit old and busted -- except maybe all of the kids, who were a big help too.  Travis and Trisa stayed an extra day so we could use their roofing equipment.

 So, in spite of all we had going against us, we finished the roof.  We needed every minute, every person we had, and all of the energy we had to give -- but it got done.   I came away feeling very grateful for the good people in my family!  Even when everyone was super tired, and occasionally a little frustrated, they were so good to work with.  Everyone was patient, and kind, and tried to watch out for each other.  So, even though we went away sore, we went away with my parent's gratitude, and a feeling of accomplishment, and with memories of working together to get something good done.  We also went away with a strong hope that the roof won't leak!

Connor and Sadie Hawkins

In November Connor attended the Sadie Hawkins dace with his friend Amanda.  Aren't they cute?

Happy Halloween Party!

Every year Derek's Mom and Dad throw a big Halloween party for their children and their grandchildren.  There are a lot of activities.  This year we had dinner, games, a scary story, pinatas, a puppet show, and a hayride into the traditional haunted woods.  This isn't a short activity!  Almost everyone dresses in costume, and the adults and older kids help out with food and activities.  

I decided to make myself a fancy belt buckle so I could be a proper cowgirl.

Doughnuts on a string provide extra snacks, extra fun, and extra entertainment for watchers.

Dan was Mario.  He loved the mustache.  It's a good thing that Connor had a spare one because I forgot to buy any.
We ended up drawing on the mustache for the actual Halloween.

Me and my costume.
(Which is really my regular clothes plus a hat and belt buckle)

That's all of the pictures I got even though there was a lot going on!  It was a busy, and fun night.