Monkies Current Eventz

I attended a field trip with Sadie that had us visiting this quaint historic home with a fun Christmas kiss welcome

Logan took a sick day from school. An indication of being overworked/played. This is what it looks like to share a day with bookends (10 years apart in age). Can the view of a Mother get any better?

Game on! I wasn't as quick to action this year. The calendar days kept slipping by and I could not seem to get to the kitchen to start chocolates. But, somehow, it still came together in the end. Thank you to an evening with LS and an afternoon with LB. They were the leap in productivity I needed.

Of course, on the day I decide to start the fondant, I also decide to stockpile cookies for school lunches and make tarts for Christmas Concerts.

Fondant: The creamy, smooth, sweet center of a chocolate. Available in a variety of flavors. An absolute science that demands perfection to establish true success.

The final result:

Chocolate Truffle

Carmel

Turtles

Almond

Mint

Peanut Butter

Cream Cheese

And the new flavor of the season:

Cookie Dough

Let's box them up, wrap them with a bow and share them with neighbors, friends and teachers. This year we produced 46 boxes.

Date night with Will! This was the most humorous experience. Will found a shelf of ping pong equipment. He grabbed a ball from an already opened package and it was game time! I was SO afraid we were going to get in trouble from store staff.
On one particular play, Will lost the ball under a shelf. He fetched it and found a second one! Here I thought we were the first to take this opportunity.
Upon returning the equipment to the store shelf, we took a closer look. To our surprise we found many opened and even emptied packages of ping pong balls.

Will gut laughed at the devastation of store products. He obviously wasn't the first, second OR third to come up with this game plan.

Chase preaches from our front step on warm December: "Good Morning Brothers and Sisters"

Have you seen the Movie?, "Meet the Mormons"

We did!

Three times.

It was amazing! and touched on so many stories so close to our hearts.

I teared up every time.

A competitive game of hide and seek took a pile of bins down that were sitting at the top of the basement stairs. Something had told me to move them. I didn't listen. I am grateful no one was on the staircase when they tumbled. That's over 1000 pieces of folding sitting right there.

It would be fun to say that this is another family addition announcement.

Instead this is an annual ultrasound of Will's teeny tiny kidneys.

I thought it would be fun to take a picture of his open-back gown. He didn't appreciate it. But we both laughed. Me more.

Will has a best buddy. His name is Logan. He is moving to California. We WISH we could go with him. This loss will shake Will up for a while.

Will received a giant candy cane from his piano teacher. Candy and Will.....there is no better compliment.

Christmas Concert Season! Find Quinten and Colby if you will!

But the real show stopper! That would be the 3 year old Preschool Christmas Concert.

I now know, these are the little faces that will grow to be our boy's peers.

Pinch me! My baby is performing!

And applauding for himself.

I always want to keep the tradition of pictures with Santa. But it's an internal struggle for me. It's almost more important for me to NOT wait in a line at the mall. A very magical evening. St. Nicholas arrived on our street. And just like that, our tradition was met. No lines, no crowds - Just the big guy himself.

He accused Logan of being an 'Unbeliever.' Well, no anymore!

St Nicholas perfection.

Is Santa Claus a part of your Christmas tradition? Check out what a few Church leaders have said about Old Saint Nick.

Artwork by Greg Olsen and featured in Stars Were Gleaming.

David O. McKay

It is a glorious thing to have old St. Nicholas in our hearts and in our homes today, whether he enters the latter through the open door or creeps down the chimney on Christmas Eve. To bring happiness to others without seeking personal honor or praise by publishing it is a most commendable virtue. . . .

Good old St. Nicholas has long since gone the way of all mortals, but the joy he experienced in doing kindly deeds is now shared by millions who are learning that true happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.

Quoted in Stars Were Gleaming, a beautiful new book featuring the artwork of Greg Olsen.

Artwork by Greg Olsen and featured in Stars Were Gleaming.

Boyd K. Packer

I want to emphasize that I have no quarrel with that well-fed gentleman with the red suit and the white whiskers. He was very generous to me when I was a boy, and we are looking forward with great anticipation to his visit at our home. All of those things with reference to Christmas are appropriate and good, and all of them are for children--except, I suppose, the mistletoe.

From "Keeping Christmas," a 1962 BYU Devotional.

John A. Widtsoe

There are men who object to Santa Claus, because he does not exist! Such men need spectacles to see that Santa Claus is a symbol; a symbol of the love and joy of Christmas and the Christmas spirit. In the land of my birth there was no Santa Claus, but a little goat was shoved into the room, carrying with it a basket of Christmas toys and gifts. The goat of itself counted for nothing; but the Christmas spirit, which it symbolized, counted for a tremendous lot.

Quoted in Stars Were Gleaming, a beautiful new book featuring the artwork of Greg Olsen.

Artwork by Greg Olsen and featured in Stars Were Gleaming.

Howard W. Hunter

How is Christmas regarded today? The legend of Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, the decorations of tinsel and mistletoe, and the giving of gifts all express to us the spirit of the day we celebrate; but the true spirit of Christmas lies much deeper than these. It is found in the life of the Savior, in the principles He taught, in His atoning sacrifice—which become our great heritage.

Emphasis added. From "The Real Christmas," a 1972 BYU Devotional.

Jeffrey R. Holland

The memory of that [first Christmas] night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph—and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that’s how Christmas began.

Emphasis added. From "Without Ribbons and Bows," printed in the December 1994 Ensign.

Artwork by Greg Olsen and featured in Stars Were Gleaming.

Ezra Taft Benson

As a boy, I loved going to the canyon to cut our Christmas tree, and I always tried to get one that reached to the ceiling. Though we received only a few gifts, our stockings were filled with fruit, nuts, and candy, and Santa always left something. Like all children, we suffered terrible anticipation at Christmastime--until, that is, we happened onto the Santa Claus costume in the bottom of an old trunk. Suddenly the secret was out. So that was why Father was always out doing chores when Santa came on Christmas morning.

From The Joys of Christmas, a booklet of President Benson's testimony on the true meaning of the season. Available as an eBook.

A little community parade that we ran out the door to enjoy.

The live Nativity at Heritage Park with our cute friends. M&S D family.

And then, there was the more typical portrait format with Santa that Sadie and Chase enjoyed at the Preschool Concert.

Still loving this one though!

Another tradition is a quick road trip to Montana to pick-up online shopping. This was a first though. We didn't drive the token 2.5 hours. This time we drove all the way to the lake. We made record time too! Mainly because Chase slept 3.5 hours on the way home! Here's what a winter lake looks like.

Here is my lone passenger. He's such a good buddy to hang with. When we arrived in Kalispell we had a lovely Mexican dinner date for $7 total and they gave him a stuffed bear! Honestly, Montana sentiment never disappoints.

Then we rolled into Bob and Judy's for the night. They didn't want us to worry about warming up our construction zone suite for one night. So they hosted us in their cozy garage loft.

I can tell that Chase doesn't warm up to the unexpected very easily. He just wanted to sleep in his own bed, and known surroundings. As we drove down he kept saying that he didn't want to sleep in Bob's garage. He just wanted his own bed and for me to sleep beside him. After we spent the night at Bob's, he now regularly asks when we can go back and sleep there again.

Bob never disappoints Chase with lovely bonding moments.