December 2012

December, this was the first Christmas Carol that I have missed since I was pregnant for Audrey. And to tell you the truth it was a good thing I didn't work it. I was still crazy busy with everything for Christmas.

We visited Santa

We decorated Trees :)

Baby Leo's blessing plus Christmas with the Kilgers :)

I was in charge of putting together the Relief Society Christmas Party for my ward. Which we had on 12/12/12. That was sort of an accident. I didn't realize it was that day until someone pointed that out to me. I had a wonderful group of ladies who helped me out with this party. I don't think I could have done it with out them. Also I got Stu and his scouts to help with the food serving and such. It turned out fantastic :)

The next night we had a gathering with the YM leaders and their wives. And the next Saturday we had the ward Christmas Party. I helped out a little by letting them use some of the decorations we had for the RS Party. So that week I cooked at home a total of 2 times I believe... (Friday we went out with Elle..)

We made Gingerbread houses the next Tuesday with our friends.

The next week I realized that I needed to plan a party for Audrey's Kindergarten Christmas. The Room Mom didn't tell us, until I asked, that she couldn't get off work that day. And she didn't have anything planned for it either. So I figured that the kids could make "gingerbread" houses for their party out of graham crackers with candy and frosting. the day before the party the teacher put me together with another mom who was willing to help out and had an idea for a craft for the kids to do to. So we had to activities planned for the kids. I found out that night after I had purchased all the stuff for my activity. That the Room Mom's MIL was willing to help us out as well. So I figured we would be good. And when I showed up to the party there was 2 more people there willing to help out as well. They even brought cupcakes and gift bags for every kid there. It was amazing and I will consider it a small miracle that happened to make things a little bit easier for everyone involved. 

That night we had Audrey's dance recital...

The next night was the Winter Solstice and we were supposed to have friends over for games. But no one showed up. So we went on a quick adventure downtown. Stu decided to take the girls and I to Temple Square. And we were going to ride the train. 

When we got to the train the ticket booth we went to first was printing out void tickets. After a little while and a few people trying it we figured out that it wasn't taking any money either. So as the train was arriving Stu got our tickets from another ticket vendor. And we hoped onto the end of the train. However, Stu saw a UTA police guy and hopped off the train to tell him about the broken machine. (He is a good Scout) :)

I didn't know how to keep the doors open for him to get back on the train. So the train left with the girls and I on it and without my Stu... or my tickets...

At the next stop the girls and I hopped off the train to wait for Stu at the next station. He had gotten on the next train after he finished talking to the police officer. So we decided to get on that train with Stu and get off when it was going to turn from the route we wanted. That way we wouldn't be staying out in the cold waiting too much. So we are riding downtown. When suddenly the train hits the brakes and the horn blows... Stu grabs Ellie who is sitting next to us and braces. We were sitting in the front of the train and Stu was sitting facing the front of the train. So he could see out the driver's window. A car had decided that it was going to flip a u-turn in front of the train. I suppose they didn't see the train or something. Lucky for us we had a good train conductor, and we didn't end up crashing. 

We made it to Temple Square without any more incidents. We walked around for a little while admiring the lights and looking at the Nativities. Taking lots of pictures. Finally, we went in to look at the Temple from the temple grounds. It was peaceful and calm in there. With all the other people out in the square I was sure the temple would be swarmed too, but no one else realized that it was open for anyone to walk around it and admire the beauty in that place. 

I also loved watching Stu as he was talking to Audrey about the carvings on the outside of the temple. It was a very sweet moment.

Then we got back to the train and had a fairly uneventful ride back to the car. Though Ellie was very cute sing Christmas songs all the way back. When we got home the I made Hot Cocoa for everyone. (The girls won't drink it if I call it Hot Chocolate...) I was finally able to get the girls to bed around 10. 

Christmas Eve morning we got together with the Robisons for breakfast. Cinnamon Rolls at my Aunt Kaye's house. And we got to visit with everyone there. Which was really nice. When that was done we decided to drive down to Orem and visit with my Grandpa Howse. we were glad we went then, because it was starting to be a really bad snowstorm. We stayed and chatted a bit, and Jan had the girls frost cookies with her grandson. They had a fun time doing that. We headed back up to home as the snow storm got a little bit worse. When we finally got home there was 6 inches of snow on our driveway, there had been none when we left. Stu started to shovel and decided he was done. So he took Audrey and finally bought us a snowblower. While he was gone my Mom and Dad stopped by to deliver gifts. (I got a sewing table!!!) After he got home and did the sidewalks it was time to go over to his Mom's and have Dinner. 

We came home and got the house ready for Santa to arrive. The girls got out some Oreo's for Santa, (I ran out of time to bake cookies..) and of course they got out 9 carrots for the reindeer. But we found out from Santa that Comet was allergic to carrots so he shared a cookie with Santa. They also put out some milk, and told the cats not to drink it this year...

The view from our backyard Christmas Morning... 

Christmas Morning the girls woke up at 4:30 am. Ellie was able to fall back to sleep for an hour I think. But Audrey decided that she was way too excited and she stayed awake until about 6:30 when Stu told them they could go downstairs. 

They had lots of fun opening gifts and oohing and ahhing... over the presents. And after everything was done at our house we got dressed and went to Grandma Jill's house for breakfast, and more presents! When everything was done there we visited Great Grandma Jensen's home for a little while. After that we went and visited Great Grandma Wilde's home. Then we went home and crashed... But still had more to do. We decided this year that we were going to cook our own Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner. It has become a tradition. Christmas Dinner must be Chicken Cordon Bleu. And we invited a friend over to join us. After dinner the girls watched a movie while the big kids played games.   

Grandma Jill's for Christmas Breakfast

The next week we decided to try and take it easy. I went to see Les Mis with my mom. And Stu and I went on a date to see The Hobbit. 

We had quite a time in December...