A Quiet and Merry Christmas

We had a stay-home family Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve everyone chose (or were assigned) an activity they were in charge of for the evening. We put names in a hat; the name drawn was the next activity we'd do.

First, we reenacted the nativity. Chuck read the script and Jared made a very fine angel, though he protested at first ("Angels are girls!"). Kaitlin was a very pious Mary; Chaz a grumpy Joseph; and Ruth and Mom filled in as shepherds (Ruth herded a reindeer, Becky a large stuffed dog) and wise men. There were even fantastic special effects (Chuck shined a flashlight on a paper star on the wall).

Jared's activity was "Drink eggnog" which everyone seemed to enjoy. I lead everyone in playing carols with an 8 bell set I had purchased for the Primary. The bells were color coded, so I drew colored dots on a paper to indicate who was to play when. We even played some harmony.

Chaz wanted to drive around and see lights. We have two houses in our area that do the synchronized light shows to music, and both were very fun to watch. Though we were frustrated with other drivers that were not exercising idling etiquette (don't have your lights on, don't pull right in front and block everyone's view).

Kaitlin hosted some Christmas karaoke. And then we played some Christmas Imagine-If (a board game: "Imagine If The Heat Miser was a ice cream flavor...)

By the end of the board game Jared wanted to stop playing and go to bed but instead, the kids decided to go down to the family room and play Twister. It was a fun night.

On Christmas day we opened presents, and everyone seemed happy with what they received. The older kids got mostly clothes, but Kaitlin also got a few surprises that she was happy with. Ruth got a rc helicopter and a wii game, and Jared got a science kit and a Wizard Mickey that he had wanted. Grandma Barnum sent us all PJ pants, and Santa brought those as well, so all day we were sporting a comfy look. In the evening we had a nice dinner and all in all it was a quiet and very nice Christmas.


Cousin Stacy's Home Coming

On Sunday we drove to Ogden to see my niece speak in church about her mission to Chili. She is an entertaining speaker with a good mix of inspirational stories and testimony. Afterward, we had dinner at her house and visited will all the family. We loved hearing more stories from Stacy, and visiting with each other.

On the way home we dropped Kaitlin off for a week at her dad's and then we stopped at my brother David's house for dinner (Thanks, Shauni!). After dinner we took two of our cousin's, Orion and Mary, home with us for a sleep over visit.

Looking Forward to 2011

Next year will hold a lot of change for our family. Chaz will be graduating from High School and Kaitlin will be starting High School. Jared will start the new year being Baptized (he had his interview with the Bishop this week) and he is also starting Cub Scouts. In the fall, Ruth will turn twelve and enter our church's youth program. We were not selected to be in the Nauvoo Pageant this coming summer, so with that plan fallen through, we don't know what we will be doing. I can't help but wonder what the Lord has in store for us and what the future will bring.

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Our little man turned eight on Saturday. He got a microscope ("the best gift ever") and a black suit (he had asked for one and was very excited). He also got a few science kits that he was excited to do. In the afternoon we went miniature golfing and then ate ice cream and walked around Toys-r-us. In the evening we ate Jared's favorite dinner (Hawaiian haystacks) and watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

We are getting excited for his baptism in a few weeks. Grandma and Grandpa Barnum are coming, and also Aunt Denise, Aunt Laura and Cousin Susan. We are so excited to see them! You are all invited to the Baptism and lunch afterward. It is scheduled for Saturday, January 8th at 9:00am.

"The most epic five seconds of my life"

Kaitlin, Ruth, our neighbor Avery and I went downtown to the David Archuleta and Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. We had heard horror stories about traffic and more tickets being issued than there were seats, so we left 4 hours early. We enjoyed some Chinese food downtown and then a walk through beautiful Temple Square to see the lights. We lined up at the doors 20 minutes before they opened and then settled down for another 90 minutes until the show started. The performances were incredible. David Archuleta was nervous at first, but soon settled down and sang wonderfully. David is one of those rare performers that sounds even better live then on CD. We savored every note. There were also dancers, bell ringers, the orchestra and of course the choir. After the performance we went a block away and got in the line for David's CD signing. It was freezing and at first Ruth and Avery did not want to stay, but soon we were talking and singing and having a good time. An hour and a half later we were quickly ushered past David. He was smiling and handsome, and signed Kaitlin's book and CD. All the girls were so excited. As we walked away from the signing into the night, that is when Ruth made the declaration that is the title of this section.

Eagle Scout

This last week Chaz had his Board of Review to get his Eagle Scout. After a lengthy interview they determined to award Chaz the Eagle Scout award. They have to file his papers with the National organization. We'll have his Court of Honor some time in February.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The tree is up. The cow wreath is on the door. Yes, Christmas has come to our house. Presents keep appearing under the tree and the kids are excited. Who is the most excited?? It's got to be Jared with Ruth as a close second. Yesterday, Jared spent over and hour sorting gifts into piles by name and then putting them back under the tree in random order so they will be a surprise.

Jared has even more than Christmas to be excited about; his birthday is this week. The poor kids watches all the other member of the family have birthdays all year, and then his birthday and Christmas are jammed into one week. When he complains to me, I tell him that we wanted him to be part of our family so badly, that it didn't matter to us that it was at Christmas time.

Christmas Concerts

Our family has had surprisingly few Christmas Concerts this year. We have no child in band or in choir. Chaz and I sang in a concert last night at our church and Ruth and Jared sang in a choir last week in church. So now we are done with all our holiday performances.



David Archuleta

We reached out to many of you for help getting tickets to the David Archuleta & Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. Well,good news! Our neighbors had 4 tickets, but ended up having to work that night. So they asked me if they gave me their tickets, would I take their daughter (Ruth's age)to the concert. Heck, YES! So Kaitlin, Ruth, our neighbor and I are off to David Archuleta this Friday. We are all so excited!

Disneyland Trip

Last weekend we checked the kids out of school and took off on a Wednesday afternoon for a whirl-wind Disney weekend. After spending the night in Mesquite we arrived in sunny southern CA on Thursday afternoon. That afternoon we got used to our 'family suit' (2 rooms, 2 bathrooms and a living room - pretty sweet for less than $130 a night) and we spent the evening swimming and walking around Downtown Disney. Little did we know this would be the last sun we would see on our vacation.

Friday at Disneyland was a total blast! The park was empty all morning and by lunch time we had seen the whole park and ridden everything we wanted to ride. The crowds got heavier in the afternoon and evening, but with wise use of the fastpass system, it didn't slow us down. The longest line by far was for Peterpan (of all things) and that's because the ride broke down right as we were about to get on. (Thank you to all the people who got out of the way as Chuck and Jared vaulted the railings to make and emergency potty run while the ride was getting repaired.)

We got in line for the Casey Jones Jr. Train just as the fireworks were going off and had a great view sandwiched between Toontown fireworks and the fireworks in Fantasyland. The highlight for sure was watching "Fantasmic". In all the years I've gone to Disney theamparks I've never taken the time to watch one of these night time shows (this is the best time to ride rides as the lines are short), but Kaitlin really wanted to watch it, so half hour before the show we asked a motherly looking Cast Member where the best place to view the show was. She directed us and we had a great view and the show was Incredible! The day had been cool and cloudy (sweatshirt weather) and as we watched, cold rain began to fall. We sat there and shivered but the show was still well worth it.

The next morning we woke to rain, but undaunted, we headed out the door for our day at the tide pools. When we got down to the car it wouldn't start. A jump from the hotel maintenance man didn't help. We got the kids settled in front of the Disney Chanel ( a treat because we do not have cable at home) and I called an old friend that we knew in our last house that had moved "somewhere around Anaheim". To make a very long story short, our friend, Becky Hunter, left the movie theater (she had had tickets to the premier of Harry Potter for 2 weeks) and came to drive us to a car repair place. We learned our car needed a new alternator and Becky Hunter had our car towed on her AAA to a repair place that she trusted. It was well past noon by then and rain was coming down in sheets. Our friends offered to drop our family off at a mall close to the repair place so that we could catch a movie while they worked on our car. We took the kids to see "Despicable Me" (it was very cute) and then walked around the mall for awhile until our car was fixed. Although our day at the beach was lost, we are so grateful for our friend who was our Good Samaritan that day.

The drive home the next day was supposed to be only 11 - 12 hours, but turned into a 16 hour ordeal when we hit a blizzard in Beaver and the highway was closed. We went on a detour which ended up to be a two hour nightmare. Without going into detail, lets just say that the highlight was finding the closed small town gas station that had a pop machine outside so we could get sodas to drink. While the drive home was horrible, we were grateful that we made it home safely.



Thanksgiving

A quiet Thanksgiving at home was just what was needed for my family that still was not 100% recovered from our Disney adventure. In the morning we went and saw "Tangled", the new Disney movie, which we loved. For Dinner we enjoyed a rotisserie chicken, potatoes, stuffing, frog-eye salad and home made rolls. Ruth made a pumpkin pie, crust and all, by herself.

On Friday we drove up to my parents house to visit with them, my brother Richard and his family from TX, and my sister Donna. We had a good visit and were able to take part in the traditional "Thanksgiving Snow Flake Cutting".

Colonel Pickering spends a lot of time on stage watching the interaction between
Higgins and Eliza.

Chaz was really great in the scenes where he spoke on the phone. He had great comedic timing.

Chaz stands next to the household staff watching Professor Higgins.

Chaz Appears in My Fair Lady

Chaz's musical My Fair Lady opened on Friday. On Wednesday I chaperoned a field trip where Kaitlin and all the 9th graders went to see a dress rehearsal of the play.

On Saturday all the family came over for dinner at our house and then went together to the show (I served the Veggie soup that I posted on this blog last month). We were all proud of Chaz and thought he did a great job.




Here is a scene right before the horse racing scene where Colonel Pickering is explaining to Mrs. Higgins that her son is bringing a flower girl to Ascots.



This is Chaz's big solo. The "You Did It" song is right after they get home from passing Eliza off at the ball.

Chaz's Musical This Week

Chaz is very busy putting the finishing touches on My Fair Lady. They open on Wednesday morning with a performance for 9th graders from the middle school. The evening performances are Friday, Saturday and Monday all at 7:00 pm. I hear that ticket prices are $7.00 for Adults, $6.00 for students and $5.00 for children. Like I posted last week, we'll be hosting a dinner at 5:30 at our house on Saturday, for anyone who would like to come and eat before the show.




Parent/Teacher Conferences

We had conferences with Ruth's and Jared's teachers and received good reports for both of them. Jared had to do an oral presentation this week in his class. He is a shy guy and this was very hard for him, but he got through it. A new quarter started for Chaz and Kaitlin this week as well, they are both doing fine.

Halloween Fun

Our Halloween started on Friday with the school Halloween parade and games. I'm Ruth's Room Mom and got to put on the Halloween Party for her class. On Saturday it was cold and rainy but we still had many trick-or-treaters. Jared and Ruth both got a big haul of candy.









New Calling for Becky

It's been three years almost to the day since I was asked to be the President of the Primary at my church. Well, today I stepped down as president and received a new assignment. I'm now the Primary Music Leader. That means that every Sunday I'll lead the singing and teach the children new songs. I'm feeling very relieved to have that big responsibility off my shoulders and I'm looking forward to singing with all the little kids. (this is a picture of my presidency at our last meeting)








Jr. Honors Society

This week Kaitlin was inducted into the National Jr. Honor Society. To be in the society she had to have a 3.8 or higher and do 10 hours of service a quarter.


My Fair Lady Coming Soon

Chaz's production of My Fair Lady is Friday the 12th, Saturday the 13th, and Monday the 15th. I'm putting on dinner for anyone interested in coming to see the show on Saturday the 13th. Dinner is at 5:30 and then we'll head over to the show at 6:30pm. All are invited - just RSVP. I haven't heard yet on ticket prices, but in the past they've been around $8.00.


Daddy/Daughter Hoedown

Chuck and Ruth went to a Daddy Daughter BBQ and Hoedown this week with Ruth's Activity Days Group (like Girl Scouts). They learned a line dance and Chuck was stiff the next day.