Merry Christmas!!

Another great Christmas has come and gone. This year we decided to stay home in Bountiful to begin some of our own family traditions. On Christmas Eve Terry's sister Rhonda and Her husband Verle and their children came over and we had Chinese food and played a couple of very heated rounds of Pictionary. Then they headed back home to Clearfield to get their kids ready for Santa :).

We started our evening by bundling Jamison up and taking him to the front yard to sprinkle his "Magic Reindeer Food" all over the snow. He had so much fun throwing heaping spoonfuls of the oats and glitter EVERYWHERE!! Next we came inside, cleaned up, and sat down to open a present we had under the tree. I got the inspiration to do this next activity from a talk in church on Sunday. We had wrapped a picture of Christ in a box, Jamison opened it and we talked about Jesus and his birth and the gifts he has given to us and what we could give back to him. Then we gave Jamison two little pictures of Jesus to tape on his bedroom wall. He was so cute as he excitedly jumped up and ran into his room and stuck them next to his bed on the wall. After that we had him open his last present of the evening, his PJ's. He was so funny, after he opened them he got very shy and turned around, grabbed me around my neck and was giggling and burring his head into my neck. We had to peel him off to get him changed. Silly boy, I don't know where that came from. He was fine after we changed him. Finally it was off to bed for stories, songs, and milk. Then sleepy time.



I was very thankful to Jamison for giving us the gift of sleeping in until 8:00. I did however get up early anyway to put some cinnamon rolls in the oven and get a quick shower in before the festivities began. We were interested to see if he would even take notice of the gifts left by Santa and other family members far and wide, under the tree. Nope he didn't pay much attention to them at all, he was more concerned about the tree lights.


We did get him started with the stocking and then moved to the presents. He did well for a little while. We had to take a few breaks. Of course after he would open a gift he wanted to go and play with it and couldn't understand why we wouldn't just let him be and kept interrupting him to open more presents. After a little while he finally flat out refused to open another one. He wanted nothing to do with them. So we stopped and had breakfast he even took a nap, and still wanted nothing to do with them. So we just opened the last few and showed them to him and that worked out OK. Kids, they sure do have their own way of doing things, don't they :)

So I knew he would love this gift, I didn't think he would LOVE it quite as much as he does. His favorite gift was this Vacuum. he likes to have it running ALL THE TIME. Boy why did I buy that pack of C batteries. Big mistake. Well it may be driving me crazy but he sure does enjoy it, all day long! Seriously, all day long.

Later that morning Terry got Zach on the phone and we got to talk to him for a little bit and it sounded like he was having a good Christmas morning. It is still very hard, especially for Terry, not to be with him, but it was good to be able to talk to him. And Terry will be heading out there in 2 weeks to spend a few days with him, so knowing he would be seeing him soon helps.

So there we have it, another Christmas. Good times for all. :)

Chamber Choir

Zach's Chamber Choir went to Allfest this year. It's an event that is attended by choirs throughout Kentucky. They spend the first 2 days practicing then give a concert the last day. It is a big deal and we are very happy to see Zach utilizing his talents in such a positive way. And it sounds like he is really enjoying it too. Good job Zach :)!!!

Escape the Fate

So Zach got to go to an "Escape the Fate" concert a little while back. To tell you the truth I don't know anything about the band except that they are a rock band and he likes them :) Anyhow at some point he and his friends heard the bassist was in the restroom so he and his friends decided to "make use of the facilities" so they could meet him. Looks like their plan worked. I guess it worked out pretty well because Zach said after the bassist ( sorry I didn't get his name) left the restroom he was mobbed by a bunch of girls. Good times.

Snow Day

.This was last week when we finally got enough snow to build a snowman. I know he doesn't look like it in this picture, but Jamison was having so much fun playing in the snow. My favorite part was when I finally got his gloves on BOTH hands long enough to show him that now he could touch the snow and it wouldn't be cold. Once he realized that he was in heaven.

Offical first day of Nursery

This is Jamison just before heading out for his first official day in Nursery at church. He has come in for the first hour of play a few times but today was the first full nursery day. Wow. It is amazing to see how much he is growing. It seems like just yesterday I had this new little baby that I would just sit and hold in the chair all day long. Time is going so fast. Can I say that enough on here, I don't think so.

**WARNING** This too, could happen to you

This is what can happen when you let your husband decorate the Christmas tree. (Note the pacifiers) :)

First Presidency Christmas Devotional

12/7/08
Tonight we were supposed to go with our friends the McNeelys to the Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center in Salt Lake, but unfortunately they weren't able to come down after all. But they were very sweet and sent us the tickets to go anyway.

We went with Rhonda and Verl while Andy and Aubrey watched Jamison at our place and Dan and Tyler came to hang out with Jamison too. I have to admit that I started to have a small anxiety attack this afternoon while getting ready to leave. We have only left Jamison 3 times and for some reason this one was really freaking me out. He was fine of course, I don't think he even knew we were gone.

Anyhow, the devotional was really nice. Great talks, great music, very relaxing. The Prophet conducted and spoke at the end. I guess it is one of the perks of our time in Utah, getting to see the prophet in person. We are very lucky.

When the devotional was over we made our way to the parking structure feeling joyful and filled with the Christmas spirit, got to the 4th floor, below ground that is, and sat in line about 10 feet from our parking spot for 1HOUR!!!! After the first 15 minutes Terry had had enough and went up to the street and directed traffic for 45 minutes. By the time we got up to him he was a popsicle, but had had a good time. I was a bit jealous. I've always wanted to do that. He sure saved the day. GO TERRY :)

So begins the holiday season. Thanks again Amy and Jason. I sure wish you guys could have made it.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

I caught Jamison in his room the other morning singing his favorite song, Itsy Bitsy Spider. I think it is so fun to watch him dancing around in his room. How is it that they grow up so fast!!

Gingerbread House

12/5/08 Tonight was a fun night. We went to the bountiful Light Parade. It was a cute little parade. Jamison of course loved the "floats" and cars all covered in twinkle lights. I just wish it was a little longer. Then we came home and started to work on our gingerbread house. I had purchased one of the Gingerbread house kits at Costco last week and thought we would have fun doing it tonight. Jamison was VERY excited, he was running around like a crazy boy with the bags of candy. He was so funny. I was hopeful that he would actually decorate and enjoy it but thought he might be a little young still to get it. Nope, he totally got into decorating. He of course tried to pop every other piece into his mouth, but all in all he did a great job putting the candy bits in the icing then licking his fingertips after each application. :) We did have to abandon the project halfway through because it was taking forever. But we'll try to finish it tomorrow. Fun times.

California, November 2008

So we are back home after a very overdue trip to my hometown of Los Angeles, California. The orginal plan was to visit in Los Angeles from the 21st until the 26th, when we would then head to my sisters in Gilbert, AZ for Thanksgiving. But the day before we were to leave one of her boys came down with the flu. And as you may have read I had just finished with that and didn't want to go through it again. So after much heartach we decided we would stay in California while the majority of the rest of the fam headed out there. They had fun but ALL ended up with the flu at her house. While I was very upset about not being there, I sure was glad not to be sick again.

The extended stay in LA was nice. We spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Debbies with her family and my Aunt Kims family. It was SOOOOO GREAT to see them after so long and I ws so glad that Terry finially got to meet some of my extended family. We had a great time but it never is enough.

I have a bunch of pics I want to post but have to get them from my brother as they are on his laptop so that will be next. The one on top here was from the tour we took at my sisters work. She is a chef at the Jim Hensons studios in Hollywood. We went there to visit her on Wed before Thanksgiving and got a very nice behind the scenes tour because things were so slow with the holiday and all. This is a pic we tood in Dave Hensons office. We were asked if we wanted to take a pic with one of the Emmys and i figured now that I live out of state I can be a dorky tourist, so we went for it. They were so nice there. Because I am using this as my family journal I will post more info and pics later too.