Tonight we had a great New Year’s eve party at the Thompson’s. We at a bunch of food, played Just Dance on the Wii, and had a great time talking and hanging out. We like these kinds of parties because they are always pretty “low-key” and a lot of fun. The boys did really well and ben didn’t break anything! 🙂
Happy New Year everyone! We’re looking forward to a GREAT 2011!
Tonight, Sarah and Brittany went to the big multi-stake New Year’s Eve dance in Naperville at the stake center. Brittany has been taking about this for weeks and was so excited! They had a great time and saw a lot of friends. Unfortunately, Sarah hasn’t had her license for a year yet, so I had to drive them to the dance and then pick them up again when it was over. It’s always fun to pick them up because you get to hear the non-stop jabber about everything that happened, every cute guy that they ran into, etc. etc. etc. 🙂
Today we had “split family” day… Angela went with Julie and Abby Thompson and our girls downtown to visit the Chicago Art Institute and to have fun walking around downtown. They drove downtown and had a great time. They first went to the Art Institute and “became cultured young women.” 🙂 It’s always fun to see the kids’ reaction to some of the art there. As usual, there are some that receive “even I could do that” comments, and then there are some of the very bizarre ones. They always like the masterpieces by masters like Degas, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, etc.
After the Art Institute, they went shopping at Macy’s (Marshall Field’s) and on Michigan Avenue. They bought a bunch of bath stuff from a store called Lush in side Macy’s. They enjoyed the decorated windows before all the decorations came down.
Meanwhile, I took the boys and went sledding and had a bunch of fun! We got all bundled up and went to a nearby hill (one of the only hills in the county) and went sledding. The boys just loved it and had a great time!
After sledding, we came back to the house, had hot chocolate, watched a movie, had nap time, and then waited for the girls to come back! It was great lounging around not doing much! 🙂
Tonight we had a GREAT (but very cold) night! We went with our friends, the Thompson family, out to dinner and then to Brookfield Zoo to see the Christmas decorations and light shows there before they took them down for the season. It was freezing but we had a great time! It was down in the single digits when we go there and we had to bundle up!
We first saw a guy doing ice sculptures and they were pretty amazing! He had bare hands while doing it and we told him he was nuts! His creations were cool though…
After that, we walked around the zoo, saw all the lights, and went in a bunch of the animal houses (when we were numb and needed to thaw out)! 🙂 When everyone went into one of the places, I took Ben over to the kids area, went inside, and painted his face. He thought that was MUCH cooler than looking at animals! 🙂
Right before we left, we all went inside and got some hot chocolate to warm up our insides. We were pretty cold but had a great time! On our way out, we took a picture of all the kids by the Bookfield Zoo lion statue.
We’re pretty tired now and will sleep very well tonight, I think!
Merry Christmas everyone! What a wonderful day! This last year has gone so fast and it’s hard to believe it’s Christmas day again!
As usual, the kids got up early and woke us up. They were so excited to go downstairs and were very temped to leave mom and dad behind! They were very good, however, and just sat at the top of the stairs while we rolled out of bed, threw some water on our faces and got ready to celebrate!
The kids (and mom and dad) were very excited to see what Santa had brought and dropped off! Ben was the most excited about his dump truck and loader, Zach screamed out loud when he saw his Indiana Jones had, bag, and other props, and the girls really liked their stuff: sleeping bags, books, shoes, movies, candy, etc. Sarah even liked her ACT prep books! 🙂
After we played with the Santa presents, we had a little breakfast and then opened the presents under our tree. We love opening gifts from family. This year was great because the kids made things for each other and it really meant a lot (especially for mom and dad)! 🙂
After cleaning up, we lounged around the rest of the day, eating junk food, watching movies, playing with toys, etc.! We love relaxing when we get a chance! 🙂
Merry Christmas everyone!
Christmas Eve is always a memorable time around our house! As in years past, we got together with friends for a great and also spiritual evening of food, service, acting, and fun!
This evening, we got together with 2 other families for our 4th annual Christmas Eve festivities. We started off having a wonderful meal and ate a ton of food!
After finishing up our dinner, we sat down and determined which families we would go Christmas caroling to. We each bring 3-4 plates of goodies and then we caravan around the neighborhoods, piling out of cars, tramping up the sidewalks as a big herd, and then singing really loud when folks answer the doors. The kids really enjoy doing this and it brings warmth to our hearts on such a cold night. This year, we went to a family who are BIG Utah Ute fans. When they answered the door, we all sang the BYU Cougar fight song at the top of our lungs! 🙂 He went and grabbed his Utah flag and started waving it in the door! We all had a great laugh and continued on our way. We went to 10 homes before going back to our house to finish up the festivities!
Every year since I can remember, we have acted out the nativity play every Christmas Eve. We have included these friends and the more we have the more fun, spiritual, and humorous it is. This year, we had all the roles covered and we got a bunch of great pictures! We even were able to add Isaiah as well as Simeon and Anna.
When we were done with the nativity play, we went upstairs and finished off the evening together with hot chocolate and a bunch of treats!
As we were eating and enjoying each other’s company, Sarah and Brittany played a Christmas flute and violin duet for everyone. They did a great job!
Once we were all full, tired and ready to go to sleep, our friends left, we cleaned up, left a plate of cookies out for Santa, and the kids went outside with their reindeer food (oatmeal), and spread it out on the lawn in anticipation of Santa coming. We all then went to bed!
Whew! What a fun but exhausting day! 🙂 Good night everyone! See you on Christmas morning!
The kids are really excited! Today was the last day of school before Christmas Break (or should I say Winter Break to be politically correct)! 🙂
Brittany and Sarah finished up their finals and were VERY relieved to be done with them! This semester has been a tough one for them, but they have worked hard and their grades are pretty good. They have some improvement to do, but they’re working harder than at the first of the year. Kirstyn will probably miss school over the break the most! Ben will get really anxious having all those kids home for that long. He really likes being at home with mom all by himself! 🙂
Today we had a Christmas program during Sacrament Meeting at church. It turned out wonderfully well. The choir performed a cantata in which Brittany and Sarah both sang, and Sarah played her flute as accompaniment during one of the songs. They sounded really good. They like singing in the choir, since they aren’t in chorus at school.
Tonight we had our Ward Christmas Party and we had a great time! Santa came first and the boys were really excited! They couldn’t wait to get to the church and tell Santa what they wanted. As is to be expected, every time we ask the boys what they want from Santa, the list changes dramatically! 🙂
We then had dinner and a great program. The whole theme of the party was around being other people’s angels (we had a project leading up to the party where we were supposed to put all of our change into a Christmas jar and then give it to someone in need). The program was well put together we enjoyed listening to the kids sing (who all dressed up like angels), readings, and songs where we all sang.
Angela went up to the high school tonight for the Academic Planning event the school was holding. It never ceases to amaze us at how fast time is flying! In less than 18 months, Sarah could be starting college (if she gets in on a summer track). If not, only 21 months! Yikes! The whole time they were talking about college financing, scholarship options, etc., Angela couldn’t help thinking about how we used to give Sarah baths in the kitchen sink (clean of course) when we were back in Provo at school! 🙁
For the last 3 days, I have been in Austin Texas at Dell Corporation. We are rolling out a new internet-based product that will help us with our asset management. The trip was a lot of fun and we had a great time! In addition to the great people at Dell training us on what we needed to do to make this product a success, we stayed at a great hotel (Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin), ate a ton of good food, and had a lot of fun.
What I always think is funny when I visit Dell is the fact that all the doors/entry ways to the buildings have stickers on them that say that no firearms are allowed in the buildings. Only in Texas where everyone is “packing heat!” 🙂
The second night we were there, we went to an AWESOME restaurant that has some incredible “wild” food, named Hudson’s on the Bend (http://www.hudsonsonthebend.com). For our appetizers, we had diamond back rattlesnake cake in a pistachio nut crust and venison wrapped sea scallops. For our entrees, I had the Hudson’s Mixed Grill, which consisted of venison and rabbit tenders, smoked quail, game sausage, and buffalo. Others had duck, elk back, and pheasant. It all tasted wonderful! The restaurant itself was pretty cool as well. It was in a converted home, and we ate in what looked like what used to be a bedroom. They had apples hanging from the ceilings all over the place as well (in preparation for Christmas)…
I also saw a sign at the restaurant that I absolutely loved that I wanted to take home with me and put right in the middle of our living room:
I laughed really hard when I read it and couldn’t help but thinking of Ben!
Our last night in town, we went into downtown Austin and ate dinner at a GREAT Tex Mex restaurant and then hung around the main street there which makes Austin famous. It is EXTREMELY weird and liberal and they are proud of it. We went to Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar (no alcohol for me) and listened to the musicians. They were amazing! Any request that came in, they could play. They were pretty funny too!
It’s nice to be back home with the family now. I really missed them and was really bummed that I couldn’t go to Sarah and Brittany’s Collage Concert at the high school.
Tonight, Sarah and Brittany participated in the 2nd Annual Metea Valley High School Collage Concert! They did a great job! Unfortunately, I was out of town and was really bummed that I missed it. Angela took Kirstyn and the boys and went and it was quite the experience for her. I think that Ben kicked the back of the chair of the guy in front of them at least 3000 times. 🙂
Sarah played with the band and Brittany played with the orchestra. Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures due to Angela’s hands being completely full with little boys! 🙂
Great job Sarah and Brittany!
