Me and my Peeps

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Power Rangers

Anyone else feel like watching Power Rangers is is like watching a Bad movie with built in MST3k soundtrack?

Best husband ever

Jer knew I wasn't looking forward to scrubbing the kitchen floor since the chocolate party on Sunday. So he had me read to him while he scrubbed it.

Unfortunately, my 7 year old bedwetter has a UTI... That equals more laundry and more baths. Luckily, my 3 year old likes helping with the laundry. She throws the clothes in the bin of the person they belong to and says, "Score!"

Cute

Evelyn keeps wearing her coat upside down with the hat at the bottom. I asked and she said, "My bum is cold."

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Chocolate

My Chocolatiers.... Jer LOVES chocolate, and he's gotten very good at it. So for his birthday and as a neighborhood Christmas present, we host a Chocolate party every year. We dipped a bunch, visited a bunch, and ate a bunch. Jer's dad tried making a coconut center this time, it was soooo yummy. Though honestly, the orange center was my favorite. We had lots of visitors, and I loved every minute even if I didn't really have a chance to take pictures of anyone. Happy Birthday/Christmas everyone! Thanks for coming!

Messiah Sing In

Saturday was our last day before the chocolate party, so I cleaned and organized my head off... Jer chunked chocolate and washed pots and bowls... and we finished getting all the Christmas stuff up. Afterwards, we went on a date with my Mom and Dad to the Utah Symphony Messiah Sing-in. We didn't realize that it was also the same day as Black Friday weekend traffic, a Jazz game, the lighting of Temple Square, etc... so traffic in Salt Lake City was terrible and we had to park several blocks south of where we usually park... and the parking meter ate Jer's money, so we paid $20 for parking... But, Jer and my Dad let me and my Mom out early and we made our way to Abravanel Hall. We were only a couple minutes late, but we had to wait for one of the chorus's before they'd let us in. We got in and I was so giddy-excited. Someone was sitting in our seats, so we took some seats all together right behind that that no one had claimed. It was sooooo amazing to hear a REAL orchestra and chorus instead of a local one. They're good, but this was amazing! I loved singing with the audience, some of the ones that we sang I'd never sung before. I was a little bummed that we didn't get to sing the Lift Up Your Heads one, but everything was exquisite! I lost my notes a few times per song, but it was so fun! The conductor and Bass kind of laughed at the audience a few times just because we weren't what they were used to. The Soprano and Alto soloists were particularly good this time too.

I am so grateful that we got to do this! And talking to my Mom, we both had a similar experience listening to this one. Listening to the scriptural verses about the resurrection of Christ and our eventual resurrection, I knew it was true. The Spirit burned the entire time. I have a friend that has several questions about the church and the gospel. She said, "I want you to explain it to me in facts, not in emotions." Here's my fact. I cannot describe my testimony of the gospel without emotions. Like in the last General Conference said.... spiritual questions require spiritual answers. And when you seek out opportunities to feel the Spirit, your testimony can grow. My testimony of Jesus Christ and the resurrection was reaffirmed as we sang.

Friday

The day after Thanksgiving, we set up Christmas. We went down with my brother Seth to choose a Christmas tree. Where it was freezing last year on this day... this year, no one needed coats (though Sam insisted on wearing his out of principle), kids were all in shorts, and we took our time. I'll post pictures from my phone in a minute. We had fun though. The kids were very motivated to help, and Evelyn found that if she scooted the piano bench next to the tree, she could hang ornaments up high.

Ada's been practicing lots for her upcoming Piano Recital. She's gotten where she's familiar with the song and doesn't have to look at her fingers anymore to find her place. I'm excited for her. Sam wants to start piano lessons too, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Maybe next year.

After all this, we had an epic game of Arkham Horror. Janelle, Seth, me, Jer, James and even my parents came to chat while we played. It was fun, and I have a million pictures of the board game courtesy of my 3 year old playing with my phone.

Catch up - Thanksgiving

We've had such a fun and busy week that I realized I haven't written any of it down.

Last Wed was our cooking and cleaning day. The kids were troopers and helped clean the house with very little complaining... not a common occurrence. Jer made 8 pies, and we went out to Tucanos with my family. The Riverwoods mall had their Santa out and he's my particular favorite anyways, so we stopped for a visit. (I'll post pictures off my phone later). Evelyn refused to talk to him unless he could give her a candycane, but Ada and Sam both talked to him and luckily they asked for the one store bought present that we'd already bought them. Ada wanted a scooter, and Sam wanted a stuffed animal from Pokémon. I'm making Sam a stuffed minion from Despicable me... and Evelyn a Rainbow Dash hat, and Ada a pencil case holder for all of her drawing stuff. I think I'm going to make a caterpillar puppet for Seth. We'll see what happens.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. The kids were soooooo excited that we were going to spend it with John and Diane's family. The food was good, the friends were fun, and we had fun chatting, watching Studio C and watching the Edge of Tomorrow. The kids were especially excited about the ice cream sundaes that Diane made for them.

Diane uses special Christmas dishes for her kids. We could have borrowed some from Jer's parents so that our kids could match, but Ada wanted to make her own. So she colored Christmas tree patterns for all the kids on paper plates. Too cute.

Rachel was having a drumstick... so Ada wanted the other one. I told her that I didn't think she'd eat it... so she proved me wrong... she ate the entire thing plus tons of ice cream... and her stomach hurt for the next three days.