Christmas 2008

.



We had a wonderful Christmas season. We started out our celebrations with a wonderful meal of Swedish meatballs and rice porridge on Christmas Eve. The kids acted out the nativity story. Gordon was the narrator, Chantel was the stage manager, Becca was a shepherd, Hannah was a wise man, Peter Gordon was Joseph, Emily was Mary, and Amy was baby Jesus. Acting out the nativity story always sets the right tone for Christmas. The kids got up early on Christmas day and had a lot of fun opening their presents. Here they are holding up their stockings. The stuffed animals proved to be one of the biggest Christmas hits.
After Christmas we went to Idaho to visit grandparents. We drove to Eagle on Saturday and half of the drive was in a big snow storm. We made it safely to my parents and the kids had a wonderful time playing in the snow with Grandpa Pete, Grandma Susan and Uncle Brad.Grandma Susan hosted a tea party and everyone got to wear one of the tea party hats. Grandpa Pete took everyone bowling and it was a lot of fun.

On New Years Eve we drove to Twin Falls and enjoyed visiting with Chantel's parents. We spent the evening at McKay's home and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins. We played games and enjoyed visiting.


We came home Friday and everyone is happy to be home. We took the Christmas stuff down yesterday and are ready to start a new year. We hope this year is as eventful and satisfying as the last year.

Christmas Party at BYU

Every year the president of Brigham Young University hosts a Christmas party for the children of all of the university's employees. They have a craft station, a games station, Santa's mailbox, and food. Becca made a calendar, Hannah and Emily made little purses, and Peter Gordon made a clapper. They played some of the games and then we went to get ice cream at Sugar N Spice. It is always fun to get ice cream at BYU. It was a nice morning outing.

The kids enjoy a break from working on their crafts and pose for a picture.

Musical chairs. Peter Gordon got eliminated pretty quickly and Becca made it into the final group.

Christmas decorations

We spent the morning putting out our Christmas decorations.

The kids had a lot of fun putting the ornaments on the Christmas tree. There are a lot of low hanging ornaments.


Emily and Amy thought it was great fun to lie under the tree and look up at the branches while I put the tree together.

Becca read Christmas stories to the younger kids to entertain them while Chantel strung the lights on the tree. I put the nativities out and hauled boxes around. It is always fun to get the Christmas stuff out.

Halloween Fun

A pretty bright pumpkin.


Four pumpkins for the four older kids. Amy isn't ready for a pumpkin according to her siblings.

All tricked out for Halloween trick or treating.

The kids loved Halloween. Emily was a pumpkin, Peter Gordon was a pirate, Hannah was a witch, and Becca was a "1950s girl." Amy was a baby cow. She likes milk. =) They got to trick or treat twice--once in downtown Springville and once in our neighborhood. After trick or treating we watched the original Star Wars movie. Peter Gordon thought the lightsaber fight between Darth Vader and Obi-wan Kenobi was awesome. The kids have been eating candy all day.

Field Trip Fun

Becca and Hannah both had field trips last month. I took a day off early in October and went with Becca's class on a field trip to Camp Floyd. We learned about life at the camp, went to a frontier school house, made a candle, and learned how to drill like soldiers. It was a pleasant outing and Becca seemed to enjoy herself. Last week Chantel took Hannah on a field trip to Hee Haw Farms. They went through a corn maze and wandered a pumpkin patch. They also went on a short hay ride.
The students file into school.

Becca gets ready for class in a pioneer school.

Hannah hangs out with the sign in front of the corn maze.

Uncle Brad comes to town

Brad and his wonderful nieces and nephew.

Brad hangs out with Amy.

Bradley came down for dinner yesterday and we really enjoyed having him here. He took the kids for a walk and played "catch" with them. He later lamented that none of his nieces or nephews can catch a ball. He also entertained them with his piano playing abilities and let them hang all over him. They were in heaven. It is always nice to have one of my brothers drop by. The best part of the afternoon for me was having Brad meet Amy. He held her for a while and eventually got her to go to sleep. Emily and Peter Gordon borrowed his Utah hat while they cheered "Go BYU." It was pretty funny. I don't think Brad made any converts to his cause.

Homecoming weekend

Mom, Amy, Becca, and Emily anxiously await the first parade entry. Notice how Emily has co-opted Amy's carseat.


Hannah and Peter Gordon ham it up for the camera.

Dad hangs out with his five wonderful kids.



This past week was Homecoming at BYU and it is always fun to celebrate with the Cougars. Tuesday Chantel and Amy came up to campus to attend a luncheon with me at the new Hinckley Building. The food was good and the company was even better. Saturday we took the kids to the pancake breakfast and parade. They thought that the blue pancakes were awesome and had fun dancing on the hill while we waited for the parade. They cheered the Cougar Marching Band, the International Folkdancers, the Young Ambassadors, and Cosmo. They also cheered for the library's entry in the parade. Their favorite thing, though, was scavenging for candy as the parade participants tossed it into the stands. It was cold and snow flurries swirled here and there but we had a great time. Enjoy the pictures from our outing to the parade.