Katie got a big cup cake cake pan that we tried out with friends..... Fun and Yummy!!!!

 Megan and Katie had a school Christmas sing along!  (It was PJ day for Katie's class)

 Megan had the activity for FHE.  We played musical grab bag!

Megan and her friend Savannah came up with a brilliant idea for a snow man!  As the snow melts from day to day it becomes a snow Penguin!

Christmas 2010

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year!  I just love the spirit of the entire season.  Love the sounds, smells, lights, meaning behind the season, tastes, friendliness, etc.  I have a wonderful family and I sure want to remember every moment with them!

 I think just about everyone I know opens up new PJ's on Christmas eve! 

Santa over did it on the sugar in the stockings this year.  We are actually still enjoying it (tomorrow is Feb. Perhaps we don't need to buy Valentine's candy.  Well maybe more nerds-those really get eaten first around here.  It is the chocolate that lingers!)

 I woke up early Christmas morning to giggles.  As I rubbed my eyes to try and focus to see what time it was,  I had to both smile and sigh because it was 4 a.m.!  I went out to find 2 cute little girls holding flashlights and looking at the labels of the different gifts under the tree.  After sharing some excitement with them, I was able to convince them to lay down in the guest room for at least another hour before we open stockings.

 A few years back we would wake up and open stockings and then shower, get dressed and eat breakfast before opening gifts.  We must be getting softer or the kids make more convincing arguments because now we go straight from stockings to presents (taking a break whenever the cinnamon and orange rolls come out of the oven)  Kids favorite presents-Meg/sewing machine. Katie/I-cat. Brady/newer and cooler cell phone. Cam/Kindle.

After Christmas wrapping clean up we usually enjoy some time just enjoying the day.  It was a nice relaxing family day.  In fact proof that tradition went right out the window.... Brady and Cam stayed in jammies all day!  Had to get a shot of Jim playing Megan's mind flex game.  The ball moves up in the air the more you concentrate.  You also make it go through hoops.  Meg was cute playing the game because she would do really good and then she would start laughing and the ball would just drop.  Look at the concentration on Jim's face!

Camerons birthday at the Virgin River in Mesquite?!

Not every 14 year old can say that their parents took them to a casino to celebrate a birthday!!  Because of the timing for a trip that we took to California.  We chose to take advantage of the cheap room rates and some fun things to do in a warmer area (But as luck would have it, the weather was still pretty chilly.)  We did brave the weather and swam in the outdoor heated pool.  We all jumped in and had fun.  My girls would be delighted to tell you that mom even got her hair wet.  We also enjoyed dinner, a game room, Cameron opening presents and .....

... CAKE!!  We went to a local grocery bakery and could not decide which cake we wanted so we all picked our own.  If there is one thing my family enjoys, it is dessert (with a tall glass of milk of coarse).  Mine was the most expensive and my mouth was just watering for my creamy, raspberry slice of Heaven.  As I took pictures of everyone eating they were talking about how good everything was.  I put the camera down and bit into mine.  Let's just say I returned my $4.00 slice of rubber and complained the next morning and got my money back.  Well, at least Cam enjoyed his.  We sure enjoyed our brief little get away with Cameron for his Birthday! 

Family get togethers

When we were in California for the funeral we got together with Larry's only living sibling.  (His sister Janet died a few days before Larry from an aneurysm)  It was great to get together with his brother Doug, his wife Sue, and daughters Laura and Phoebe.

 Cameron got a special treat since it was his birthday.  He had a crowd sing to him and got some yummy fried ice cream. 

 The girls enjoyed getting to know another cousin they had never met.  They had a good time!

Here is the gang.  Norine, Jim, Uncle Doug, Ken, and John.  It was a great get together.  Uncle Doug was very kind to flip the bill.  (There were some complaints about that one from his Nephews!)



We also went to Bate Brother's (It is tradition).  The cousins always have fun together.

Families are forever!

Have you ever felt like you have been spiritually drained and spiritually lifted at the same time?  This is how our month of November was.  Jim's dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  It really does make so many other things in life seem so trivial.  As I sit here and type, I find myself hitting the delete button more than any other.  Perhaps this is because a lot of what I want to say I can't seem to find the words for.   It is always hard to lose a family member.  There is no easy way.  Since I spent a good portion of the month with Larry and Laureen during this hard time I was able to think a lot about the plan, life, death, marriage, relationships, separation from a spouse (from my perspective and Laureen's), finances, service.... the list really could go on and on.  I was able to really get to know Laureen better.  We cried and laughed, and cried a lot.  We found out a lot about each other.  The most important being that we both have husbands that love us and we know that they do.  This may seem odd to say but what a blessing it is to KNOW that your spouse deeply loves you.  I ache for her now knowing that she has to be separated temporarily for a while.  But how great is it that we know that they will be together again.  We will miss Larry.  He was a great father, grandfather, friend, husband and person.  I wish I new his thoughts during the last days that he could not communicate.  At times you could tell that he wanted to say something but couldn't.  The last 2 days as I sat in the room near him I would get use to his breathing patterns.  Even when he could not communicate, the change in his pattern changed when Laureen was in the room.  What a great reunion they will have.  The following pictures are from the weekend of the funeral.

 John, Norine, Laureen, Jim, and Ken

 Alan, Norine, Bryce, Taryn, and Landon

 Cousin Phoebe (Jim spent a lot of time with Phoebe and Aunt Janie as a kid) and our family

Siblings

Cameron shows off his dance moves!

Cameron was in the play 'The Nutcracker' this year.  He had a dancing part.  He danced with the sugar plum princess. (I have a video of the dance but no pic) I was in California for most of the performances.  I made it back from California for the very last show. 

His friend Kaitlyn was the sugar plum princess.  Cameron did enjoy it, but was glad to have more time doing other things when it ended.

The bond between a father and his daughters!

 Over the last few years for one reason or another Jim had to miss the father daughter activity for activity days.  ('Uncle' Greg filled in one year!)  He hated not being able to go.  This year he was able to go.  I was in California at the time so I am glad the leaders took these pics.

 It was a cowgirl / cowboy theme.  The girls were so excited.  Jim tends to spoil his little girls a bit.  They mentioned how they did not have anything to wear (typical girly phrase that starts young!)  On the way home from work he stopped by and bought a few shirts and some matching bandannas to complete the look. The girls loved the surprise!  The boys just shook there heads!

The girls had a great time with games, friends, food, and dad!