December 2017

This was the busiest December our family has had in years. Mommy serving as the Relief Society president really added to the holiday craziness for our family. But everyone worked together and Daddy was very supportive, which made things go as smoothly as possible.

We had dance recitals, piano recitals, school parties, family parties, work parties, stake conference, a ward party, plus Christmas - and to top it all off we took turns getting sick. This December was one for the books.

One thing Mommy tried hard to implement was the #LightTheWorld initiative. We were trying to show the light of Christ to others in 25 ways over the first 25 days of December. On day one, I let the boys donate to the Salvation Army. Joey was determined to put the money in the bucket all on his own. It took a painfully long time. The bell ringer was so patient. And Joey was so proud once he succeeded.

 One week after being in Utah we returned for a Hall family Christmas party. Grammy had dinner, desserts, games, and stories for all of us.

 We got to see Spencer, Wyatt, Jake and Diana, and all their kids. It was a great night. Our kids had a fun time. The boys were too little for some of the games, so they had fun pulling all the toys out of Grammy's toy closet instead.

 The shake your bells game was a favorite. Jasmine was really good at it.

 Tommy liked trying to toss jingle bells into cups. 

 Joey built a snowman with Daddy and Annie's help.

The jingle bell toss was a family favorite too.

A friend of Mommy's delivered these beautiful chicken eggs as a surprise. The kids were almost sad to use them because they loved the colors so much.

For another #LightTheWorld activity, we made frozen sugar cookie dough for all of our neighbors. It was quite a project making and delivering it, but the kids really enjoyed spreading some Christmas cheer.

The boys and Mommy got to enjoy a play date at Kids Town. We bought a one year membership so we will be going quite often in the coming year.

A friend of Daddy's gave us a bunch of Hot Wheels cars for the boys. We had a fun night looking through all the new cars and letting the boys choose their favorites. P.S. that sweater I am wearing can now fit a 10 year old. I washed and dried it according to the recommendations and it came out absolutely tiny and misshapen. So sad.

The Relief Society was in charge of our ward Christmas party this year - a problem I intend to remedy for next year. The Relief Society has enough going in on December without worrying about feeding and entertaining 300 people. We borrowed candles, flowers, and fabric from Puna to make 30 centerpieces that looked like this. I wish I could have taken more pictures on the day of the event. But I honestly didn't think of it.

We got a phone call that explained Lily was receiving an award at the trimester assembly, so we were invited to come and watch her. She was given a citizenship award for being so reliable and helpful in her classroom. Way to go Lily!

The girls had their second piano recital on December 9 - same day as the ward Christmas party and the adult session of stake conference. Mommy also woke up that morning and couldn't move. My whole body hurt and my joints were swollen, I was covered in a rash, and I couldn't use my hands. It was a little stressful trying to set up the Christmas party with a body that wasn't functioning. I took Advil, drank a Coke, said a prayer, and got to work. Somehow I made it through that day and the next one, and then crashed Sunday night.

Lily and Annie were amazing and very confident for their performance. I added videos of their songs below. I hope they will play so you can hear them.

I accidentally cut Annie's song in two while I was trying to take a picture and video at the same time.

They got a giant candy cane and big hugs from their teacher. Then we raced home to have dinner and pick up our sitter so Mom and Dad could go to conference.

Sunday morning, Mommy couldn't move again. Everything hurt. It felt like my hands had carpal tunnel. I couldn't hold my toothbrush, I couldn't apply my make up or do my hair. But I knew all of these cuties were really excited about singing, so I asked for a blessing, got ready and did the best I could. The kids sang with so much energy and spirit. It was fun having Lily in the choir. She had a great experience and said the songs helped her testimony to grow.

Once stake conference was over, I went straight to bed and didn't get up until the next day. I went to the doctor, but they decided my illness was probably an allergic reaction and said they couldn't do anything for me. A friend of mine came over, took one look at me and said "you have Fifths disease." Fifths is part of the same family as chicken pox and measles. By the time I went to the doctor, the rash had died down. They did blood work and everything came back normal. It took almost two weeks for my energy and pain levels to get back up to normal. And I still have trouble using my hands and they still get sharp shooting pains in them from time to time. I guess it is still a mystery what I had and why I had it. But we're sure glad I am feeling better now.

We did our annual gingerbread house building FHE. We did a train and a house this year. The girls did the train and the boys did the house. Well, Joey just ate all the candy.

We had a fun night. Daddy was proud of his t.v. antennae on top of the house. The girls discovered the fun of powdered sugar snow, so they wanted snow on the house and the train. I love walking past the houses and getting the smell of ginger and spices. The kids are so proud of their creations. They like to show them off to their friends when they come to play.

Tommy made a cute gingerbread man ornament for our Christmas tree in his preschool class. The theme for the week was "cookies". I think I want to go back to preschool.

My health was still struggling as December dragged on. I was pretty overwhelmed with the food orders, gift collection and distribution, visits, plus making arrangements for the kids each time I needed to do something for Relief Society. It was too much and my body was too run down. A sweet friend called and told me, "I am bringing you dinner tonight." I cried. She brought pizza and breadsticks for dinner, blueberry muffins and mandarin oranges for breakfast. It was such a tender mercy on a day when our family really needed it. The breadsticks were gone in three minutes. I sent her a picture to show her how fast the kids inhaled the food.

Joey and Tommy got into the holiday spirit one night just before scripture time. Joey kept saying Ho Ho Ho!

Annie made this pretty stained glass style tree in her class. Her teachers have done a lot of fun art projects this year. Annie loves to do crafts and projects, so she is always excited when she gets a chance to try new art.

After a lot of tears (me) and a lot of number crunching (Jeremy), we put an offer in on a little old house in Rigby. We intend to use it as a rental. We don't know if the offer has been accepted yet. I am honestly hoping it won't be. The added expense and stress of owning a rental is not what I need right now. Maybe in a few more years when the kids are older and I am not Relief Society president....maybe.

The boys in Daddy's messy work boots

Lily and Annie were stars in their clogging Christmas recital. Their routines are so fun and they just shine on stage. Grammy and Grampy drove up from Utah to watch the girls dance. We were happy to have them with us for a little while.

Great job girls. Thank you for coming to support them Grammy and Grampy!

The girls worked hard to earn enough money to buy Christmas presents for the whole family. Their school set up an Elf Shop for students to go in and buy items during lunch time and recess. The girls worked together to decide who they would buy for. It was cute to see them work on their lists and budget. Valuable lessons to learn.

I got to go with Tommy's class to sing carols at a resident care center. It was a sweet experience to see the kids interact with the older patients. Tommy was especially digging the reindeer hats. I'm pretty sure he's the cutest reindeer ever.

Joey was hoping for that reindeer hat all day long. He finally got it after dinner that night. They have been fighting over the hat ever since.....it's now February :(

We had the missionaries over for dinner. They asked our kids what traditions our family has at Christmastime. The kids couldn't think of any. So I decided to document what a few of our traditions are. Hopefully they will remember them in the future. 1) Our scripture advent calendar from Auntie Sue Simmons, 2) our tree advent calendar from Puna, 3) the LightTheWorld Initiative, 4) gingerbread houses, 5) we decorate our tree the Monday after Thanksgiving,  6) we sing songs and read from Luke 2 on Christmas Eve, 7) we read a book from our Christmas story basket each night in December, 8) we donate to a family in need each year, 9) we get new jammies on Christmas Eve, 10) we get new clothes to wear to church for Christmas services, 11) we make cookies and watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional every year, 12) we make and take bread or frozen cookie dough to all of our neighbors, 13) we do a family Secret Santa and do nice things for someone in our family for the week before Christmas - then reveal who we served on Christmas day. I hope we'll add more as the years go by.

Lily made this cute Santa rice krispy treat at her class Christmas party. I could tell she was coming down with something because she didn't want to eat it. She went straight to bed and ran a fever and had fatigue all through the Christmas holidays.

Annie made these cute ornaments for our tree and was so proud of her work. I love the little ornaments the kids bring home from school. I can't wait to make a family tree of just the things the kids have made over the years.

On Friday December 22 we packed up and left for Washington to spend the Christmas Holiday with the Wanners. Little did we know what adventures were in store for us on that trip.