I was so proud of Anna and Grant who performed at their school's Winter Chorus Concert. They had practiced all year and worked hard for this performance. Chorus has not been a favorite activity for either child, but with mom as the pianist, they've been good sports. Anna also performed for the Stake Chorus's musical event: Sing Noel. Again, with mom as pianist, Anna attended a month of Sunday rehearsals and sang her cute little heart out at the event. I was so grateful for my little buddy-- the only one in my family who would join the choir! She is the best.
This month brought with it plenty of opportunities to get together with friends and family. We enjoyed putting together neighborhood gifts and teacher/coach gifts. Baking all sorts of yummy goodies and organizing the Santa booth for Crafts and Cocoa at the school. The kids came to the church and helped decorate for the Church party too.... and Evelyn (along with the YW) sang that evening, as did the primary kids. I was so proud of them. Of course we engaged in lots of shopping (insert Target meme here.) I really probably went to Target 1000 times this past month in my efforts to prepare for the holidays. We enjoyed a fun evening out just our family at Corvette Diner! The kids had never been so it was awesome to take them and play old fashioned arcade games and eat a yummy dinner under the strobe lights. Sameen put on an awesome party/dessert contest for her birthday this year. She always has the best ideas. We loved brining our favorite desserts and then voting on the winner! Thankfully my Mom made my dessert right before she left. I didn't have the energy to bake one more thing! Enjoyed putting together a Favorite Things party with my friend from my new ward- Rebecca. It wasn't the riot that I have with all of my old friends, but I'm definitely getting to know new people and loving my new community-- it's feeling more and more like my home community even though I still adore my old friends and getting together with them more than anything. We laughed at our Fav Things party when the chocolate fondue station broke down and friends brought gifts in halloween bags because they had run out of Christmas wrappings. Ha! The holidays are so frantic, it's hard to do it all perfectly and that should never be the expectation anyway!
One wonderful highlight of Christmas vacation was helping at Kinley Jorgenson's wedding. I loved helping my dear friend Elizabeth with the reception and though it took me away from the kids for a day and a half, it was so special and fun to be a part of an event so amazing. I was grateful to Nancy for taking the kids and allowing me to help them! Of course, they had the time of their lives at Chuck E Cheese, getting their nails done (Evelyn) and eating out! Every day with Grandma is a special day.
I think the best part of Christmas vacation was just spending more time at home with the kids. We played games, we enjoyed jack TV, we danced, we watched movies, we ate lots of food, we laughed and went hot tubbing. It was so fun not to have a million things to worry about. I sure love my family and am so grateful for all of the blessings we enjoy. So grateful for the gospel and the knowledge I have of a God up in Heaven who loves and watches over me. For His Son who lived and died for me. It means everything.
Anna brought all of her stuff from home to make the hotel feel more cozy:)
