2016! Week 51

For one of our 12 Days we took Nana and Papa to see the new Star Wars movie.  We had them over for meatloaf and potaoes first. What a great movie.  Star Wars is a really cool story.

There was lots of last minute Christmas shopping.  The kids wanted to buy gifts for their friends and for Jeff and I.  We stopped giving them their work pay when Jeff was going to lose his job and hadn't started it up again so we helped them with the financing of these presents.  One child who shall remain nameless had a bit of a melt down realizing how hard it is to stay on a budget and also purchase the perfect gift so this child ended up with no friend presents this year.

Ashtyn had to get her gums lasered.  They were obstucting the baces on her teeth. Luckily they healed up in a few days so it didn't ruin any of her holiday fun.

I also was a baking fool.  We gave all of our neighbors a loaf of cinnamon bread.  It's a recipe I found online when I was looking for the Amish cinnamon bread recipe.  Unlike that one this does not need a starter and tastes so so good.  Here is the recipe:

CINNAMON BREAD

(makes 2 loaves)

Batter:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk or 2 cups milk plus 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Cinnamon/sugar mixture:

2/3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

Cream together butter, 2 cups of sugar, and eggs.  Add milk, flour, and baking soda.  Put 1/2 of batter (or a little less) into greased loaf pans (1/4 in each pan).  Mix in separate bowl the 2/3 c sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle 3/4 of cinnamon mixture on top of the 1/2 batter in each pan.  Add remaining batter to pans; sprinkle with last of cinnamon topping.  Swirl with a knife.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min.  or until toothpick tester come clean.  

Cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

I wasn't the only baking neighbor.  We have so many Christmas goodies at our house.

It was super stressful doing Christmas shopping this year because Jeff likes to wait until we switch to a new credit card cycle, my America Express card was stolen and to get the best deals you really need to wait too- but then sizes and things you really want are sold out. Even trying to buy stuff for stockings was frustrating with how picked over the stores were. 

Sharon came and took Ashtyn and Whitney to get their nails done for their Christmas gift. They both wanted to get acrylic nails.

This was the first year that all of our kids knew the secret about Santa- which was a little sad until I realized that it meant I didn't have to be so sneaky with the presents. Saturday morning I woke up early and brought all of the presents we'd been hiding into my room.  Then I put a sign on my door that said "Santa's Workshop- Do Not Enter". This kept the kids away and gave me time to wrap all of the gifts.  It was the first time ever that I didn't have to stay up late wrapping.  

This freed up our night so we went to Temple Square.  It was raining a bit but not really that cold and I think the rain kept the people away so it really wasn't that crowded.  We were able to walk around not bumping into everyone or having to wait in long lines to see things.  After we saw the Christus two sister missionaries asked us if we wanted to see the new movie about families. It was beautiful and I was bawling by the end. When we got done they talked to us about families and gave us a proclamation to give away and a beautiful star ornament that went along with the Light the World campaign.  I felt impressed to give both of the missionaries a big hug and tell them it was from their mothers.  One of the missionaries was from Argentina and she hugged me so tight.  It was such a wonderful night.  It was late when we were driving home so we decided to grab some food- not remembering that everything would be closing early for Christmas Eve-the only place we could find was Del Taco so we enjoyed some Christmas tacos.  

When we got home we read the Christmas story in the bible and let the kids open their new pj's. Nobody wanted to do matching ones again much to my dismay. These onsie pjs are all the rage right now.  Afterwards we turned on our traditional Christmas Eve movie- Lampoons Christmas Vacation and snuggled up on the couch with the fireplace turned on.  When we got into bed it was only 11 and I was feeling awesome! It would be the first time I could get a full nights sleep and actually enjoy Christmas not being a zombie.  That thought only last a few hours.  The kids brought Daisy in at about 12:30 saying that she wouldn't lay down and kept whining to get out.  I put her in the crate but she whined ALL NIGHT LONG! I'm not sure what her problem was but it was probably a combination of a stomach ache from the plate of fudge she got into, not being in Ashtyn's bed like she has become acustomed to and the smell of all the Christmas goodies we had layed out.  Needless to say when the kids came in at 6 to wake us up I was delusional.  I couldn't even walk straight.  I just wanted to lay down and I told them to open presents without me.  They wouldn't do that so I just had to sit there feeling like total crap and try to keep a smile on my face for the kids sake.  When we were done opening presents I went straight back to bed but it was hard to sleep with all the noise from the kids playing with their new things.  I drifted in and out for about two hours then it was time to get up and get ready for church.  PURE TORTURE- I couldn't see straight or think or function at all so I just threw on some clothes and we left.  The choir sang for the whole meeting.  Jeff sings in the choir.  It was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong.  Then the bishop spoke for a few minutes and we ended all singing an amazing arrangement of Silent Night. Church was the best part of my day. I think Christmas should be on Sunday every year.

After church we ran home to change and clean up a little.  Then we headed straight to Jeff's parents house for lunch.  We had ham and potato salad and jello like we always do and it was nice to feel like we were eating a Chrismas meal after the Christmas tacos.  Paul and Kellie came over a few hours later and we all gave Nana and Papa our gifts and they gave the kids gifts.  Ethan got a gift card for XBOX and some sour gummy worms that he loves.  It was such a weird Christmas to not have Scott or Kristy's families there.  Kristy and Miles took their kids to Mexico for their Christmas this year and my kids really missed their cousins.  We were able to facetime with Scott, Malia, Corban and Ruby so that made up for them not being there.  Corban was so cute showing us all of his presents. After we talked to them it was time to head home to get ready for my family party we were hosting.

My mom bought pizza and everyone came over to hang out.  We exchanged gifts and then played the Wii and cards and munched on cookies the rest of the night.  It was a long day but a good day.  I was so tired by the end.  I really can not believe it's all over- it seems like Christmas never comes and then it's gone in the blink of an eye.  

  We got Brody and Ethan matching shirts for Christmas.  Brody adores Ethan so the look on his face when he opened the shirt and then looked over and saw Ethan wearing the exact same one was priceless. I have never seen a kid so excited about clothes for Christmas.

These are what we got Brooklyn- Um do they make these in my size?  SO CUTE!

Favorite gifts this year were.....

Jeff: New golf clothes and 2017 PGA pass

Amanda: Family tree necklace and pink church bag

Ashtyn: Black booties

Whitney: Facial brush

Ethan: Drones and new XBOX games

We were really really spoiled.  We always are.  I forgot to post about our ornaments for the year. We got them at Gordmans this time. Ashtyn was having a hard night so she didn't get an ornament. This year Jeff chose a light up rudolph, I got my ornament when we were in Nauvoo.  It was the original angel that was on top of the Nauvoo temple. Whitney chose a santa and Ethan chose a t-rex.

2016! Week 50

  This is it- we are down to the last two weeks of 2016!  What a crazy year it has been.  This week we held our annual Red and Green dinner.  We invited the Larsen's to come.  We had it at their house last year and we've done it with them another year too so it's starting to be a tradition.  I served ranch chicken with green beans and red potatoes for the main dish then we also had a green salad they brought, red and green french bread and for dessert we frosted homemade sugar cookies with red and green icing.  Tom and Jeff went to school together but we became friends when they lived in our same ward several years ago.  Tami also taught all three of our kids in preschool. We love their family and they are so fun to hang out with.

Ashtyn got invited to a favorite things party.  She had to bring three of one of her favorite things.  She is obsessed with lipstick and chapstick so she took Chap Stick Total Hydration tinted lip moisturizer and a baby nail polish that was named after the 12 Days of Christmas Song.  She came home with a lotion from Bath and Body Works in a new scent she loves, a pair of dangly earrings and a journal.

LIGHTtheWORLD- Well let's just say how easily it is for life to get in the way of good intentions.  Besides honoring the Sabbath we didn't do very well on the other days. We will have to redouble our efforts for the last week.

We celebrated St. Lucia Day on the 13th. 

St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name.

December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old Julian calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day.

St. Lucia's Day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head. Boys take part in the procession, playing different roles associated with Christmas. Some may be dressed in the same kind of white robe, but with a cone-shaped hat decorated with golden stars, called stjärngossar (star boys). Jeff and I sang the traditional St. Lucia song while Whitney and Ethan walked around the room.  We served cinnamon rolls(saffron buns were sold out) and ginger cookies and Swedish chocolates. We also gave the family the game Code Names as a gift to celebrate. The kids thought it was crazy weird but they did it and looked adorable.  Ashtyn was at her party so she didn't participate.

Jeff's parents made a safe return from their mission in Nauvoo. I went over early to turn on all the Christmas lights at their house and to hang up our welcome home sign. Kristy brought them groceries so they would have something to eat until they could go to the store. She thought we should leave and let them be surprised that we had decorated the house when they got home- but my instincts told me they would be super sad if they came home and no one was there to greet them. So I convinced her to stay and wait.  I am so glad we did.  They were both bawling when we ran out to greet them. We helped them bring in their things and then I went to Weinersnitzel and got hot dogs per Tom's request. I think they are very excited to be back in a big city with all of their favorite shops and restaurants- ha ha. We stayed and visited a while and then I went home to finish up somethings.  After I picked the kids up from school we went back to see them. Their mission went by so fast this time. We are so happy to have them home. They have spent five and a half years on missions out of the last nine years. I am ready for them to be home for a long time now.  They have missed so much of our kids lives and that was hard. I also know that we have learned, been blessed, grown and expanded our horizons through their missions so I am happy they had the opportunity to go and 

"Bring the World His Truth".

I took Daisy to get groomed this week and she looks so cute for Christmas now.  We got her for Christmas four years ago.

Friday was a huge storm.  We had planned to go up to our friend's Blake and Jill's house who live on the mountain but it didn't look like the weather was going to cooperate.  Luckily a few hours before we were to go it stopped snowing and the plows were out clearing the road so we were able to make it.  Only Ethan came with us because the girls had other plans.  We had delicious homemade fettuccine with ham and peas, sunflower salad and garlic bread.  We brought Brigham's Brew root beer and chocolate pie and Ruby Snap chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  

It was fun to catch up with them.

Saturday was the Pearson Christmas breakfast at Little America.  I love love this tradition. It is always so fun to catch up with all of Jeff's aunts, uncles and cousins.  It was nice to have Tom and Sharon home too.  The food is so yummy.

My mom and I went to Brooklyn's first dance recital.  She did so awesome and looked adorable! It really made me miss the days our girls danced.  I love watching dance recitals.  There were some amazing numbers and a really sweet tribute by three sisters whose father passed away this year.

Sunday was our special Christmas narrative that we always do in Primary.  I was the narrator.  We gave the kids a red pencil to mark their scriptures with to go along with this year's theme. For dinner I tried Design Mom's ravioli lasagna recipe- fast and delicious.

2016! Week 49

For FHE we went on a Christmas lights tour for one of our advent days.  Ashtyn drove. We went to two really awesome displays set to music. It's hard to have Ashtyn drive when Jeff and I are both in the car because we have differing opinions on how to teach her and help her.  She ran over a curb in a parking lot and Jeff and I had a very heated discussion about how to handle that in the future.  Our other kids wanted to walk home at that point. I'm not kidding when I say teaching a teenager to drive is the hardest thing a parent will ever do. 

For another advent day we took the kids to Ikea for dinner.  Jeff has Swedish ancenstors on both sides of his family. He is more than 1/4 Swedish so we decided to celebrate our Sweidish heritage this month. Some of us ordered the Swedish meatballs and they were so good.  After dinner we walked around the store and checked out the Swedish design.  There were three tiny houses set up in the store that were awesome.  I really want to own a tiny house one day even if we don't live in it. At the end we went to the Swedish market they have and bought some things to celebrate 

St. Lucia day next week.

 I love these big frames.

Like all good intentions real life gets in the way.  We had invisioned doing Light the World as a family but our days are so full that since last week we haven't had any chance to sit down and talk about it again so this week I just focused on it myself.  I hope my family is still doing it too. 

But here is what I tried to do..

LIGHTtheWORLD Day #5: Jesus healed the sick and so can you
I left my friend Shannon a couple of messages on her Instagram.  She is having twin girls and has been on complete bed rest since she was 22 weeks.  By a miracle she is now at 34 weeks and still going strong. These babies have become our ward babies.  We have all been praying and fasting for them for weeks and can't wait to meet them.

LIGHTtheWORLD Day #6: Jesus read the scriptures and so can you
My favorite scripture lately has been Matt 7: 24-25 but when I was reading my scriptures this week the verses in Mosiah 24:12-15 were very relevant to my life right now.  It talks about Alma and his people pouring out their hearts to God and I have done a lot of that this month.

LIGHTtheWORLD Day #7: Jesus fed the hungry and so can you
We had just barely done a food drive so for this one I tried really hard this week to make sure we had a delicious and nutricious meal every night.
LIGHTtheWORLD Day #8: Jesus prayed for others and so can you
Our whole family did think of someone to pray for. I believe strongly in the power of prayer. I have seen it do miracles in my own home and neighborhood.

LIGHTtheWORLD Day #9: Jesus visited the lonely and so can you
I called my friend Lela for this day.  She is alone a lot more than she would like to be.  It breaks my heart that she is not closer and that I can't see her as much as I'd like. She has become one of my best friends. I know her time here on Earth is growing short so I want to take advantage of talking to her and learning from her as much as I can.

LIGHTtheWORLD Day #10: Jesus helped people walk and so can you
This was the night of our ward Christmas party and it was my job to help with the Primary nativity and direct each child when to walk onto the stage.

LIGHTtheWORLD Day #11: Jesus ministered to children and so can you
I am lucky that I get to minister to children every week in Primary. Our primary kids were having a really hard time being reverent today.  We invited several people in and sang to them for Christmas. Two boys sitting next to me would not stop talking so I leaned over and told them about the woman we were singing to and how she lost her husband this year and it was her first Christmas without him and how this might be one of the only gifts she gets because adults don't get a lot like children do. It was amazing to see how their countanences changed and they tried their best the rest of the time. Children can understand much more then we give them credit for and sometimes they just need to know the why in our requests.

My Presidency worked hard to get all of the binders completed for next year this week.

This is a quilt I made for my grandma when my grandpa died out of his clothes. It was the first quilt I ever made in fact. My aunt sent it back to me because my grandma doesn't have room 

for it at her rest home.

I gave Austin his last lesson for this year.  We read Christmas stories to eachother. I gave him a superhero shirt for Christmas because he is one of my hero's.  

Wednesday was a Court of Honor.  Ethan received his Star rank and the Indian Lore and Citizenship in the Nation merit badges.  He only has one more rank to go before he can start working on his eagle. I am on the scout committee and there are some things I love about scouting and a lot of red tape that I don't- but I am greatful for the things it is teaching Ethan.

I found another Chobani seasonal flavor that I love

The girls went caroling for YW in the freezing cold.

Jeff and I went to Jim Gaffigan on Friday. He is hillarious.  One of the best show's I've seen.  He told jokes for almost two hours and we were laughing the entire time.  He is so funny and I love that he is a pretty clean comic.  Before we met up with our friends Leif and Julie(Jeff works with Leif) and had dinner at the Bangcok Terrace.  Downtown was a flurry of activity because every major venue had an event that night.  I had Jeff take tracks to work and I drove his car to meet him.  That was a gigantic mistake.  It took me an hour and a half to get there.  It wasn't just the freeway that was packed but every single side street as well.  I was so frazzled by the time I got there and I was late.  Next time I'll have Jeff drive and I'll take tracks.

Saturday we went over to Jeff's parents house with his sisters family and decorated for Christmas. They come home from their mission on the 14th and we decided to do the 12 Days of Christmas for them so this counted as day one.  We are super excited to have them back.  Afterward I dropped the girls off at the temple and Ethan went to the Jensen's house.  Later that night was our ward Christmas party.  This year we held a service project where we made baskets of goodies for the Central Park Ward- which is one of the poorest ward's in the State and happens to be the ward Jeff and I lived in when we were first married. Then we had homemade Cafe Rio pork salads for dinner.  This was a fun change from the traditional ham and potatoes we usually have.  After dinner they showed the Light the World video and then the Primary acted out the nativity.  We ended with a few words from the Bishop and singing Silent Night.  It was short and sweet and I loved it.  I helped in the kitchen most of the night and the girls, including Jenacee helped the little kids with a coloring project.  We WAY overestimated how much food to make.  Last year we ran out when we had 360 people show up.  Our ward has grown since then so we planned for 460 this year.  But I'd rather have more than enough food then run out.  We were able to take dinner to several families that were sick.

Sunday was a really special day.  Ashtyn received her Patriarachal Blessing.  It was one of the most beautiful blessings I have heard( I guess it's the only one besides me own that I have heard- but I have read some of my other family members.) It even answered some questions I have had about Ashtyn's life.  It told her some amazing things that she is going to do in her life and it didn't just hint at them, but said in great detail what she would accomplish.  I was sobbing by the end.  The spirit was very strong.  Ashtyn was beaming at the end too.  I pray that she will read it often to help her stay on course and be able to accomplish all that God has planned for her.  

It made me very very hopeful for her future.  Afterwards we came home and had dinner then snuggled in my bed and watched Home Alone 2.