Ringing in the New Year

We enjoyed a firework show on New Year's Eve.

We had a girl's movie while the boys watched football.

Mom made her famous slush and Jen's delicious cheeseball.

Happy new year! 

Sunday pics

Attending the Anderson ward is always a treat.  There are still a few families that remain the same, even after 20 years.

Home for Christmas:  Russ, Debbie, Suzanne, Rebecca, Catherine, and David.

Grandma's House

What fun we've had at Grandma and Grandpa Shurtz's home.  The kids have been spoiled with lots of cousin time.  In fact, the morning we woke up and all the cousins had gone home, Danica told me she was bored before she'd even gotten out of bed.  The weather has been a bit cold, but warm enough for trampoline time, soccer games, basketball games, football games, etc.

We had lots of indoor fun as well.  The kids learned the Oompa Loompa dance from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It was super cute.  Even the "older kids" got into it!

We celebrated Mom and Dad's birthdays a little early.

We played lots of board games.  Emily and Aaron's family joined the party for a few days.

We all love Aunt Suzanne! 

 

The girls helped Mom get her closet organized.  It needed some help after the post mission craziness. 

No one was ever bored.  There was no arguing.  It was certainly delightful being together

Fashion Shows

One of the favorite past times for the girls at Grandma's house was putting on fashion shows.  Emma was the announcer and gave each outfit a catchy name (Aroma Wedding and Golden Corral to name a few).  They had an adoring audience for each show.  What fun cousins. 

Pecans, a Park Trip, and an old Friend

The first day together at Grandma's house, we gathered pecans at a neighbor's house.

It was a little like an Easter Egg hunt for the little kids.  They were good helpers. 

The next day we went to the "volcano" park where the boys played soccer and the younger kids enjoyed the playground.

Jonathan Dickson, a friend from high school stopped by.  We had a great visit catching up.  It was so fun to see him. 

England Day

We had "England Day" with the family.  Mom and Dad put together a "full English breakfast" complete with sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, onion, toast, and baked beans.  The house was all decorated with English flags and English music completed the effect.

It's great to have dad eat his full english breakfast back in the states!

For dinner, we had a traditional English meal with pot roast, mash and gravy, yorkshire pudding(the muffin looking thing), and carrots.  It was good! 

In the evening, Mom and Dad took a few minutes to tell about their mission.  We also had a parade with noise makers, flags, and music.  

Then we played a traditional English game called Pass the Parcel.  You pass around a package which has multiple layers of wrapping and when the music stops, whoever is holding the parcel gets to take off a layer.  We found giant chocolate bars between the layers.

 

Here's a little snippet from our parade. Nice and noisy!