Holiday Recap: The Final Chapter

Other fun things that we were able to do over Christmas vacation:
-Paul's cousin Sarah (and Travis) invited us up to their new home in Layton for a family party. We had a great time visiting with Candace & Mark's family, Allison and Jim and their adorable twins, and seeing Sarah and Travis' darling family and beautiful home. None of our kids wanted to leave. The next day the boys all kept asking if we could go back to the "fun house", we can't wait for our next invite, hint, hint...
-Visit with Jim and Jen's family here from California
-Dinner with Reggie and Carrissa and Baby Harlow at Pei Wei (Marth, Dave, Jarem, Lindy, Landon and Ty were there too!) Harlow is so darling! I'm so glad that I finally got to see her again.
-Sharing Time in Primary...so glad it's over
-lots of fun in the 8 inches of snow we got on the 29th
-Paul and I finally got to go see the new Sherlock Holmes, it was awesome!
-lots of fun together time.
I also got to host a fun bridal shower for my niece Megan. I loved the invitations from Tickled Pink Design. I thought they were very "Megan"!

We had a great turn-out even though it snowed all day and everyone had a scary time driving. Megan got lots of great stuff and we all had a fun time visiting. Congrats Megan!

Holiday Recap II: Christmas Morning

Ahh! Sheer joy laced with sugar--nothing better! Rachel got her own vidio Flip camera, watch for posts on her various web sites. The book of Taylor Swift songs for the piano was also a hit, and a cute bag with make-up Ooh La La! Ben got a red Nintendo DS of his very own (Hallelujah, no more icky sharing)and Lego Power Miner sets. Brig also received a DS, silver, and a huge set of Lego Mountain Troll Castle pieces. Jake was happy to see that he narrowly escaped the naughty list and got everything he asked for, including a double sided light saber that actually came with a CAUTION sticker that reads "no poking or jabbing" seriously! (due to trickle down electronics, Jake is now the proud owner of Rachel's old blue DS, finally a hand-me-down he likes!) Paul was happy to receive his new, awesome, Garmin bicycle GPS system (that he picked out in October) and I love my new watch!



Grandpa Pixton came to visit and spent the time putting together Jakes mid-size Millenial Falcon (thank you), while Paul and I spent significant time over the next two days working on the other Lego sets with a lot of help from Ben & Brig.


In the afternoon we went over to see Grandma Keith who gave the boys all marshmellow shooters, what a thoughtful gift, thanks mom! She gave Rach a beautiful pair of silver, dangly earrings.
My mom always thinks of something practical that will further our food storage or geneology. This year she gave us awesome pictures of her and dad when they were dating.

Holiday Recap

Wow! The holidays go by so fast. I can't believe we will be taking the tree down tomorrow, it literally seems like I just got it decorated! I thought I had better record a few things before I start my New Year's Eve merriment and forget what a lovely season it has been (eggnog does that to me).
Our annual Pixton Family Christmas Eve was really fun this year. Grandma and Grandpa Pixton decided to host the party at their church house this year, and the kids had a great time running around the gym, shooting baskets, and throwing footballs at each other. Big cousin Connor was a favorite entertainer. The girls were so cute (and outnumbered) and had a great time together.



Ben has never been happier than when Grandpa gave him a whole turkey leg for dinner. He actually finished the whole thing and wanted to bring the bone home to keep in his room (umm, no). Brig was more than happy to eat all the watermelon (he's a fruititarian), and Jake, like Randy from A Christmas Story, has not eaten volintarily in three years (no pictures exist of Jake eating).

The older grandchildren helped Grandpa read the Christmas story from the scriptures, we sang a few carols, and opened some really fun presents. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for planning such a fun party!

The Wind Bowl

Paul invited me along on an overnighter to Las Vegas yesterday. He had a meeting with an oncologist at noon while I put some last minute touches on the kid's Christmas lists at the mall. We ate a light lunch at P.F. Changs and then headed out to the stadium to watch BYU play Oregon State in the Maaco Bowl. I have probably been colder sometime in my life, but I can't remember when. The wind was 45 MPH and bitterly cold. We made it to half-time when Paul had mercy on me and said we could leave. Thank heavens that this bowl game didn't have any "miracles" in the second half, unlike the last bowl game that I left early (Holiday Bowl ,1980, yes we left early) so Paul didn't miss anything too exciting. We went to Roy's after the game and had the most fabulous meal ever! It is Hawaiian Fusion cuisine and was so delicious. Paul really knows how to show a girl a good time, and I could almost feel my feet again after finishing my creme brulee. We were happy to get home this morning and find everyone happy and well, including Grandma Keith who graciously volunteered to babysit ,even though Brig came down with strep throat the night before we left (he did get 2 doses of Augmentin before she got to our house). I can't even begin to repay all of the wonderful things that she does for me. I think it would be better if BYU could play their next bowl game in Hawaii, just a thought!

Christmas Party

This year's Christmas party at my mom's was wonderful! She always goes to so much work to make sure that everyone has a great time, and we did. Thanks to my niece Melissa for the great pics since I left my camera home--DOH! The highlight of the evening was when Jake sat on Santa's lap and Santa said that he heard that Jake might be on the naughty list. Jake immediately replied, "NO, that was Brig." Way to throw your brother under the bus son, it's every man for himself at Christmas time! It was so great to see how everyone's children are getting so grown up. Singing songs and hearing Zach L. read the Christmas story got us all into the Christmas Spirit! Thanks mom for all of your hard work and for such wonderful memories!

Paul and the kids decorated this lovely Gingerbread house last night for FHE. They had a great time eating candy and arguing the particulars of edible architecture.

Our first snow storm of the year. The kids couldn't wait to get out the sleds and play with their friends. Brig decided that he would be my snow removal dude, and did a great job on the driveway. Rachel didn't want to go out initially, but once she joined in with all the giggling girls she had a great time!






Our Christmas Card this year was going to be this picture with the caption, "Peace on Earth", but I decided to go with something that Paul could send to his associates that wouldn't prompt political correctness re-training for the whole family. (I thought it was funny!)

Lunch with the Ladies

We love to have get-togethers at Thanksgiving Point whenever we can. We usually try for birthdays, but this time Tara and Lincoln were in town and we wanted to visit with them before they headed back to Oregon. We had a really good turn out for this lunch with lots of cousins. Rachel overheard me talking on the phone about this and insisted on being checked out of school; she was a big help with the little kids who wanted to run around. Let's not wait too long for the next Ladies Lunch!

Ben's Beloved Blankie

Since I don't keep a journal, I really want to get better at recording a few memories on the computer. It still takes me a really long time to post anything, and I'm not exactly happy with the format, but I don't quite know how to tweak it. I have to tell myself that it is the content that matters, and I will be happy for anything that I manage to record. I couldn't let the opportunity slip by to put in a photo of Ben's blanket. Grandma Keith made this blanket for him when he was born, and he has loved it literally to shreds. Paul finally insisted that it go in the garbage because he is afraid Ben will strangle himself with it during the night. Grandma Keith made new truck blankets for Ben and Brig, but it was still a little difficult to see it go.

Impending Nuptial's?

Jake has always appreciated a cute girl, but lately, all we hear about is Whitney!! She is in Miss Myntti's class with Jake and almost everyday Jake comes home with a note from her. She has called him a couple of times after school and yesterday she invited him over to play at her house. I haven't met Whitney's mom, but we spoke on the phone yesterday and so I drove Jake over to Whitney's home. Apparently Whitney's dad is a Pleasant Grove Police Officer, so I felt ok leaving him there for an hour. They had a great time and left each other with promises to play again at Jake's house! Jake came right home and drew her this beautiful picture proclaiming his love! Should I be worried?