Christmas Time

On Christmas eve we drove downtown to Temple Square to see the beautiful lights and nativity there. We've sure enjoyed having Kaitlin home for the holidays. These kids aren't just smiling for the photo, they really do get along well.

It was cold, but not unbearably so, and the lights were very nice.

Whenever I walk around the Salt Lake Temple I remember that five generations of my family have walked these paths.

On Christmas eve we also reenacted the nativity.  This year we tried more of a free-for-all approach. We all gathered random costume supplies and put on a narration of the Christmas story. When a character was named then someone threw on some sort of costume and acted out the part.  Here, Kaitlin is Mary and Ruth is playing Elizabeth. Jared wanted to be baby Jesus so he rolled himself up in a white sheet. Chuck played a convincing sheep with a white towel over his back.

We got a lot of presents on Christmas morning. We also got a Christmas snow!  Here is Chuck wearing an "ugly" Christmas sweater I made for him.

Christmas Day was a quiet and casual affair for us.  Kaitlin got a chance to visit with her missionary and the rest of us played with our new toys or played wii games together.  We had a fancy Christmas dinner complete with Christmas crackers.

On Friday when Chuck went out to shovel the driveway  he discovered a six point buck sitting under Ruth's window.

On Saturday we hosted the family Christmas party. All my Utah siblings, their families, and my mother were there.

We had a good time visiting and playing games. Ruth won the Mario Cart competition.

The evening ended with a re-gifting exchange. Here my niece, Stacy, is modeling the onesie she was given.

On the left is a cake from Jared's Sunday school teachers, on the right is the bacon cake.

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Our big man turned 12 this week.  He didn't want me to come to the birthday lunch at school but he did want me to bring him a chicken sandwich from Wendy's, which I did. He also didn't want a birthday cake, or any kind of dessert, just bacon, which he got.  For his birthday presents he got the gaming headset he wanted, a gaming mouse that lights up like Tron and has more buttons than I know what to do with, and some clothes (Dad: "which present do you want next?" Jared: "Hand me the jeans one"). 

He was most excited about all the new subscribers he got on his YouTube channel, he went from 7 to 32! For the dinner we ate homemade chicken soup and tater-tots, and then we watched some SpongeBob and played wii together.  All in all it was a pretty great day.

Today at church Jared was made a Deacon and he got trained in all his new responsibilities. He also played the highest bell in a children's bell choir. He didn't get to play very often (and he made faces and looked bored when he wasn't playing) but when he did play, he did a great job.

Ruth's Driving

Ruth took her written test on Monday and got her driving permit.  Kaitlin was brave enough to take her out to a parking lot to give driving a try and said that Ruth was able to drive circles around the parking lot really well by the end of her lesson.


Christmas is Coming

Holiday fun is in full swing at our house.  We've been making Christmas treats, watching bad Christmas movies, and have been finishing up our shopping.

We got a good deal on a used drum set and have been playing in our "basement band".  I play guitar, drums or bass, Kaitlin is learning bass and is doing pretty well, Ruth plays guitar, sings and plays drums, and surprisingly Chuck is a decent drummer as well.  We are really bad but have a good time.

Today was my choir's Christmas program and it went really well.  We sang four numbers and had three solos.  Ruth sang one of the solos and did a great job.  Our choir was really strong and I was proud of them.  The only mistake we made was my fault, but I'm learning and getting better and better as a director. But truly, as far as ward choirs go, ours was one of the best I've heard.

Anticipating

This has been a week of anticipating.

• Jared turns 12 next week. He is anxiously awaiting his birthday and is counting presents as they appear under the tree and in the birthday present spot.   He met with our Bishop today and will be made a Deacon (like an alter boy) in our church next Sunday.  This means he will start helping with the passing of the sacrament and collections of offerings, among other things. 
• Ruth is working hard on Romeo and Juliet. Her performance will be January 14th.   All are welcome, but Ruth says that she'd rather you all come to the musical she'll be doing in a few months instead because it will be much better.
• Chuck has been anticipating his release from being High Priest Leader for over a month now and last Sunday it finally happened.  He's been given a new job as Boy Scout Committee Chair, and secretary in the Young Men's program.
• Becky is anticipating the holidays by buying gifts, making treats and working on the choir program.  She held a dress rehearsal with the choir today and it went pretty well.
• We've been excitingly anticipating the release of the YouTube video that we took part in!  Here it is.  You can see us at the 4:00 minute mark. We are on the outer ring under the manger. 

We Set the World Record!

Getting costumes

On Monday we got this crazy idea that we'd drive down and participate in trying to set the world record for the largest Nativity, and participate in a YouTube video.  I took Jared out of school and as soon as Ruth got out we were off on our adventure.  When we got to this park we checked in and they gave us wrist bands with coordinates on them then they directed us to this huge field.

Waiting while people practice on the field.

On this field was a grid.  We found our spots on the grid and then went through a short training on how we were to stand and what we needed to do.  Then we went into line to be issued our angel bell costumes.  These were like white body bags with head holes and LED lights around the bottom.  Then we had to just wait.  Now it's winter here, but it wasn't super cold, maybe in the 30's.  We still were chasing the sun as it began to set, trying to stay as warm as we could. 

Famous people getting the World Record Plaque.

After an hour or so we went to set the world record.  This consisted of standing on a hillside, all crammed together, while they brought in some animals and costumed nativity actors.  There were several "famous" youtube stars there.  Some bloggers I've never heard of, Kid History, Alex Boye, some Studio C folks, and Sherri Dew. We stood there and sang a couple carols and got our picture taken.   Then we waited some more.  The sun set and it got a little nippy.

Setting the World Record in our costumes.

 After another hour or more we took our places on the field.  With our bell/body bag costumes, we looked like thousands of ethereal white jelly fish floating around in the dark.   So our instruction was to point our flashlights up at a camera, that was suspended by big balloons over our head, and then we had to turn off our flashlights and scatter up towards the hills.  It took quite a while for them to get us all organized, as you can imagine, and then the wind kept buffering the balloons around. The camera bobbed like crazy and I thought whoever watched our video would get sea sickness. 

Standing in our grid formation.

Over an hour we did the shot only 2 times.  It was really starting to get cold now, and we were getting tired.   Finally, they asked us to all pray that the wind would die down so we could get the shot.  It was quiet for a moment and then we tried a 3rd take.  The wind died down and they were able to soar the camera up above us high and steady.  We shown our flashlights, turned off our flashlights and ran for the hills.  It was a wrap!   By this time we had been there five hours and the kids were grumpy, cold and tired. We were supposed to then go to the hillside to be angels for the manger scene but the family wanted to just go home, so we left.  We heard that the shoot went on for another 3 hours that night.   

Selfie

I'll link the YouTube video from our event when it comes out next week.  Because we left early we will only be in about 5 seconds of the video.  But at least we experienced it.

I borrowed this from a news site. Here we are in our formation. Our lights aren't on yet, so you can't really see how cool it looked. You can see the balloon/camera high over our heads.

Here we are setting the world record and this is the big picture that was picked up by all the newspapers and TV stations.  Our family is in the upper left hand corner of this picture. Roughly 5 heads down from the top, and 5 heads in from the left.

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my mother's house this year.  My sister, Kathy, and my brother David, and their families were all there, also a few cousins from my mom's side.  We enjoyed the traditional fair, turkey, ham, dressing, three different pies, and everything that you'd expect at Thanksgiving.   After dinner we were able to walk the family farm.  There were sections of the road that required quite nimble footwork because of mud and an amazing amount of deer scat.  (I thought how this was probably the reality of the road our pioneer ancestors walked. There skirts were always covered in filth.)  The evening was finished by the annual snowflake cutting, and then we helped mom get up her Christmas tree. 

Kaitlin drove up for the weekend and met us at grandma's.   The day after, we went as a family to see Big Hero 6, which was way cute.  This weekend we also got the tree up, bought some new Christmas stockings (our first ones ever that weren't from the dollar store)  and made our first batch of Christmas treats.

Today in church, Jared got to play the donkey in the children's class Christmas story. He carried Mary on his back very well.   Kaitlin and I taught one of the children's classes and showed a filmstrip. Some of the kids had never seen one before.  My choir is practicing hard for our Christmas program.  I've had a good turn out this year,  maybe two dozen people. 

Here are a Dalek and Cyberman having Thanksgiving.

Sister Ruth

Ruth got the part of Friar Laurence in her schools production of Romeo and Juliet. It is set in a post-apocoliptic world, where traditional society has broken down, and Mother Superior Laurence has risen as the head religious figure in the town of Verona.  And why the heck not!?  She's already practicing her speeches, and we've been pondering: what does a futuristic dystopian mother nun wear exactly?

Happenings

Last Sunday Jared was the narrator for our church's annual children's program.  Jared did a good job, saying his lines and singing the songs, but Chuck and I were a little sad to think that this is our last year to have a child in the children's program.

On Thursday we met Kaitlin (it's about halfway) to see my nephew Benji in his high school production of Pirates of Penzance.  He played the first mate and did a great job.  We had such a fun time watching him and also visiting with Kaitlin.  We've gone to his shows for years now and are sad that he will be graduating.

I had a chance to go to a book party this week with my friends Amy and Lisa to support another friend, Becky, who has published her third book.  I enjoyed getting a chance to pick her brain about her writing process.

New Things

Now that we are down to two kids at home, we have been looking to upgrade to something a little more economical than the mini-van.  Since we are committed to debt free living as much as possible, and are therefor buying all things with cash, this limits our vehicle choices somewhat, but we are okay with that; we don't really expect much.   After a few months of searching, this week we found what we hope is a gem in the used car world.   Chuck spent all day Saturday cleaning it up, and it is now shiny and ready to go. He also hung a tennis ball from the garage ceiling so I will know when to stop in the garage. I think I will name it Mercury because it is a Mercury, and I had a great cat named Mercury, who was grey. 

Ruth had auditions this week for Romeo and Juliet. We thought this show was going to audition a month ago, but it had been delayed, so now it will be at the end of January, rather than December.  Ruth worked really hard on two monologues, one Shakespearean (her first attempt), and felt really good about how it went.  She has call-backs on Monday.   Ruth got a peek at the script, and while it is based on Romeo and Juliet, it is modern language. 

I hosted my book club this week.  I'm a nervous entertainer, so this was a pretty big deal for me.  We talked about the book I Am Malala  and it was a really fun time.   If you don't know, Malala is the girl who just won the Nobel Peace Prize.  While the book got a little bogged down in history (I recommend  the young readers edition) it brought up some really good topics and I learned a lot about a culture I knew very little about.

Jared went on is last scout camp out of the year, and his last as an eleven year old scout.  He finished his First Class scoutmaster conference and now just needs the board of review.  I'm surprised, because he is usually just a computer guy,  but Jared seems to really enjoy scouts.

Halloween

We made a minecraft sword out of EVA foam.  Jared and I painted it. 

Jared dressed as "Steve" from the Minecraft game.  Our sword turned out pretty cool. We bought the head from the store.

Here is a picture of Steve from Minecraft so you can compare. Though this Steve has a diamond sword, and we painted ours to be an iron sword.

I dressed as Mary Poppins.  I found the coat a week ago at Savers and spent a day doing some alterations on it.

Ruth wore her Astrid costume to school on Thursday, she got a lot of complements.  On Friday she didn't have school so we went out to lunch and ran some errands in our costumes.  Halloween is the one day a year we can go around town wearing costumes without everyone thinking we are crazy.

When Chuck got home from work he didn't want to be left out of the fun, so he dressed up too.

Jared and Chuck went trick-o-treating with our neighbors, and I got to hang out and hand out candy. It was a lovely and warm evening and we were able to visit with lots of neighbors and friends. We had over 90 trick-o-treaters.  Ruth went to two different parties. 

I posted this picture on my Tumbler to enter it into a DoctorWho Halloween contest.  The official Doctor Who tumbler picked it up and posted it on their site.  As of today, this image has been liked or re-blogged over 6,500 times. Take that library judges!

Pumpkinpaloosa

When I picked up the flyer for Pumpkinpaloosa, a county wide activity sponsored by the library, and that the first prize was a Kindle Fire, I knew we had to compete.  I mean, who can be more creative or carve better pumpkins then us?

We bumped into this little guy who was also dressed as the Doctor

When I finished carving my pumpkin my hand and arm hurt. I mean, really. My pinky still hurts even today.  I guess my pumpkin carving muscles aren't what they used to be.

When I saw that there were other activities offered other than the pumpkin carving contest, I knew we had to dress up. Ruth and I dressed as the 10th and 11th Doctors, from Doctor Who.

When we got to Pumpkinpaloosa we saw there was some ringers.  I mean, shouldn't there be different categories for those of us carving the old fashioned way, and those carving with dremels and other specialized pumpkin tools?  Like an amateur and profession division?

When Ruth won first place in the teen division we were really excited!  After she carved it, I suggested she also paint it, seeing as we were in a competition in the daytime and it probably wouldn't be lit. She did a great job on the painting and that's what pushed her over the top.

The Dalek, the Portal and Toothless the Dragon

When we got home I took more pictures of the pumpkins, especially my Dalek.   I don't believe the judges fully appreciated the Dalek pumpkin. if they were Whovians I would have won for sure.  Jared's pumpkin was also based on the Portal comic book, which he worried they were not familiar with.   Maybe next year we should label them so that the judges can more accurately see our genius.  I did get 3rd place in the adult division, so that is something.

Fall Break

On Thursday we went to our local corn maze and had a pretty good time wandering in the dead corn. Since it was an extra long weekend, Kaitlin came home for another visit.

Plotting our next move. The maze was very big.

One of several look out points.

We snuck into the kids princess area just so we could sit in the coach. We were disappointed that the princess dresses didn't fit us.

One of two tractor rides. This one was much less bumpy. We learned from the first tractor ride why pioneers preferred to walk rather than riding in the wagon.

Kaitlin on the hamster wheel. I think this game looked funner than it actually was.

Our favorite activity was the simon says corn maze. You spin the wheel and whatever action you landed on you had to do until you found the next wheel in the maze.  We went through the maze holding arms and hissing like a snake, walking big goofy steps, and clucking like chickens, among other things.  People all around us looked at us like we were crazy, but hey, they were in the simon says corn maze too so we didn't know what their problem was.

My personal favorite was the corn pit.  I decided I wanted one in my basement  (notice that I am the only adult in the corn pit - their loss).

One of several photo ops we took.

On Saturday we drove up to visit my mom where we went to a real pumpkin patch. This was not a pumpkin patch of lies like the commercial one by our house. In verity the pumpkins actually grew in this spot.

There were so many excellent pumpkins in this patch, I am sure that the Great Pumpkin will appear there this Halloween. Luckily we had some pocket knives to cut them from their stems.

This patch was owned by a friend of my mother's. 

We picked the very best ones, we are pretty sure. Notice matching sweaters/theme of stripes. Ruth missed the memo.

Above the cemetery where my father is buried are some caves where my dad played when he was a kid. We had to go check them out.

Jared was a very good "stomper" the whole hike there to keep rattle snakes away.  The inside of the cave was very small and full of poop/scat.

We also did an autumn craft with pressed leaves that my mother had prepared.  This is a craft that her mother did with her.