Our Construction Christmas

We had quite a Christmas this year. We called it our Construction Christmas because all the kids wanted were 2x4's to frame up their new bedrooms upstairs. WE went to Logan as a family on Saturday and got wood and had lunch. But Christmas morning was a little different since there weren't many presents to open.  

Everybody had a really good attitude though. Grandma  Sony brought some monkey bread down and spent a little while with us.

And the Elders came over to spend the day with us. after we opened everything, we ate breakfast and then we all literally laid around. Matt was sick and both Elders had spent the day before in the hospital sick.

We were able to spend the next few days working on the upstairs though and it was fun to see how fast it starts to look like something.

It has been pretty cold so trying to keep warm has been a challenge. We took a coupe of heaters and have had them running but they couldn't keep up so our fearless Britnee climbed into the rafters and stuffed the vents with plastic to help hold in the heat.

All three kids have been a lot of help in getting us to this point.
 I'm so grateful this Christmas that we were all together, that we had enough, and that we were able to remember more fully why we celebrate this time of year.

Hanging with the Elders

It all started when the local missionaries came to the library one day and were asking if they could do service for us. I felt guilty for saying anything but "no, thank you," when our ward mission leaders told us that they need service and very few people will say yes. So I invited the over to help us split and stack our wood pile. They worked hard all day. A few days later they stopped by to say hi, then again a few days after that... And the rest is history.

Elder Dodge and Elder Torres were our first missionaries. They've been so good for our family. Since then, both have been transferred but we still have the new Elders over from time to time. I hope that somehow we are helping the Elders as much as they are blessing us.

Christmas Cookies

Our good friends, The Jensen's came up for Christmas and we spent Sunday afternoon together. Britnee had made cookies that morning so after a yummy dinner of ribs and potatoes, we got the frosting and decorated cookies.

Addison and Maggie are like little sisters to Jaycee, Britnee, and Cody. We love playing with them.

We didn't get to spend nearly long enough with them and can't wait to see them again, but we sure had fun while they were here.

FHE with the Missionaries

We've kind of adopted a couple of missionaries these past few weeks. It all started when the ward mission leaders asked us to sign up to feed them dinner. I signed us up and a few days later two Elders came to our house. We enjoyed having them and when they saw me the next week at work, they asked if they could please come help us with something for service. We thought about it for a couple days and decided that we would have them come help us split and stack wood.
By the time the split/stack day came, we had two new missionaries come. Elder Torres and Elder Dodge, who had been transferred in the day before.
Long story short, they've been stopping a our house to hang out to and from their various appointments in the valley.

 This particular Sunday night we had them come over for dinner and FHE with a new family in our ward. Both Elders brought their Yukalaylee's and have been teaching Cody how to play.

The lesson had to do with pepper and using dish soap as the Holy Ghost to protect you from sin. All the kids had fun watching.

After that, Elder Dodge burned his year mark shirt and Elder Torres burned a 6 month tie in the fireplace. Then Elder Torres taught Brit and Cody and how to tie a tie.

We're getting pretty used to the Elders stopping by now. It's been a really great thing for our kids to see how missionaries work up close and personal. I like having them feel comfortable here, just as I hope that somewhere in the world, families are getting ready for the future Elder and Sister McMullin's who will be going out in a few years. 

Cody's Toy Story Christmas Program

Tuesday December 18 was Cody's Elementary Program. His class sang Believe, Where Are You Christmas?, and Jingle Bell Rock. Cody doesn't usually usually like to sing so I was so proud to watch him get into it a little and have fun.

Our Annual Voicemale Concert

This year when I got on the internet to buy our tickets to Voicemale, we got a wonderful surprise, Voicemale was doing a concert right in our own little Montpelier. We got our tickets to the afternoon show and sat on the front row.

We had a wonderful time dancing and laughing to one of our families favorite Christmas traditions. I even grabbed a shot of Richard posing for us during the encore.

Babysitting

This summer Kelly and Ben took a trip to Georgia and we got to help Grandma Sony babysit Bentley and Princess Peyton. Cody turned out to be a great big brother and spent hours playing with Bentley. We played on the trampoline and even got them to ride on the 4 wheeler up the canyon.

It was a lot of fun having these two little munchkins running around for a few days.