Christmas post

First off, it was my parents' 60th wedding anniversary on the 20th. They were in Vegas at my sister's for their celebration. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Sure do love you both!

Denise and Pat made a photo mat with greetings from all of us!

If I had to pick 3 words to describe the last few days, they would be: everyone, games, and chaos.

Everyone is home this year for Christmas. The last time we were all together was Thanksgiving 2015, so that isn't too bad, but that means we didn't have a chance to take a family photo until a few days ago. Now that our family photo has been taken, I hope to get my Christmas cards out soon.

Game playing is the major activity going on around here. We had a ton of games to play before we opened our gifts, but afterwards there was a ton more. I wonder if we will get to play them all before everyone starts leaving.

Chaos occurs when you have 8 adults, 1 toddler, and Christmas.  But it's a good chaos. Henry is normally a happy baby and hasn't really been getting into things, so it isn't hard having him here in our non-child-proof house, so that's good.

Chaos is when you mislabel 4 different gifts so when they are being opened you have to yell: That's not for you! I did forewarn them that that might happen though, but I thought maybe one or two might be, but four?

I wrap gifts without putting names on the packages to keep things interesting. Eric, Ryan, and Alex actually figured out the basic system this year, but apparently I got confused while doing it. More or less, a person's birth month number or day might represent them, with those numbers being added together for group gifts. I need to come up with a different system next year. We might go back to the wrapping paper method.

Anyway, we went caroling in the rain Friday night. That meant wet, cold, and mud, but a lot of fun, too. Dinner and games followed. It was a great evening.

pickle hunting Christmas morning...they are looking in the wrong tree

Andrew found it, so he got to put on the Santa hat and pass out the first gift

figuring out his new camera

Ryan giving a funny look because this gift was not his

Hannah showing off her new bracelet her grandparents gave her

Eric made 2 amazing DIY custom vinyl POP figures of Alex's favorite characters

Friends, Family, Festivities

Henry was in a nativity with the Primary children in his church ward. He's the cow that doesn't want to keep his costume on. Adorable. Precious. Andrew, Heather, and Henry will be arriving at the end of the week. Can't wait till they're here.

We already have "visitors." Eric, Ryan, Mom, Dad, and Cricket made it safely to our house yesterday. My parents will be going to my sister's for Christmas, but they'll come back afterwards for a longer stay than this brief stop. Eric and Ryan are here for about 2 weeks. If we can't find a ride back to Rexburg for them, we might have to take them back ourselves.


I went to a friend's Christmas party on Friday. Jennifer is such a great hostess. Here's a picture of how our place settings looked when we arrived. Loved it.

Part of the party was a White Elephant gift exchange. I think it was a toss-up as to who got the whitest elephant. One was a wooden hand. This is what I got (confession: we added the googly eyes). We had such a good laugh. Friendship is one of the greatest blessings in life.

While I was at my party, Glen was playing a friar in the high school choirs' fundraiser, the annual Madrigal Dinner. He was a last minute-replacement which is why I wasn't there, but Alex went with him. Glen's sister, Kathy, and her husband, Gary, were on the royal court. Our nephew, Ben, was one of the choir members. Glen said it went really well.

Glen with the rest of the Court

I've been watching a lot of Christmas movies on Netflix as I clean, wrap, and bake. I think my favorite so far is Angels in the Snow. So if you are looking for a movie to watch, you might want to take a look at that one.

As far a music goes, I used to go to specific clips on youtube, but these days I just search something like "Christmas Music" or "Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas" and click play. I listen to whatever comes up. That doesn't mean I don't have my favorites, however.

There isn't a video to this first youtube clip, just the music, but it's one of my favorite songs about Christmas time. It's "This Year" from Eclipse 6.

And Peter Hollens is amazing. Here's his rendition of "Mary, Did You Know?":

Peter Hollens, David Aruchleta, and others with Angels We Have Heard on High:

And my favorite Christmas hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, as performed by The Piano Guys.

Same hymn, Mormon Tab version:

Same hymn, King's Singers' version (Veni, Veni, Emmanuel):

And one of the BEST. Bing Crosby and David Bowie singing Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy:

birthdays, nativities, and the hay maze

First off, here is a great video I found this morning. It's a beautiful song and I love the video they made to go with it.

So, I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday. Glen, Alex, and I played my new game, Istanbul, and I actually won! Glen gave me one of the signs that Hannah and Becky were selling at last week's craft fair. I love it.

I didn't want cake and ice cream, but since there were leftover Scotcheroos that I had made for one of my seminary students (who shares my bday), we stuck a candle in them. Behind me is Hannah's tree that she won at the Toys for Tots auction last week.

(I had just spilled water all over papers Glen had been grading. Whoops)

We had our church's Christmas dinner Friday night. Of course, the children put on a great little nativity.

Glen's brothers made another maze with their hay bales and we have been over a couple of times. We went last night with the missionaries in the rain. It was cool, but my photos of Glen didn't turn out, so here's one from November. I need to get a few photos in the daylight since the maze is amazing!

Mom P's birthday was today, so we had a family dinner. Besides dinner, cake, and ice cream, we played a little charades using Christmas songs as the theme. It's always a great time when the family gets together. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Playing catch up

Jon lost his battle with cancer and passed away. The funeral was yesterday. We are told that Mindy spoke at the funeral and said that Jon wanted everyone to know that although his life wasn't spared that the Lord answered our prayers and they have had many blessings. They have such great faith. They know they will be together again. Our hearts go out to Mindy and her children.

And that's part of the reason I haven't posted lately. How do you transition from that to family news where we are seemingly going on our ways unchanged by such events. We are not uncaring. We continue with our lives and activities because that is what we are meant to do, but Mindy and her family will be in our hearts and prayers.

Some of our recent happenings, in no particular order:

Thanksgiving was so wonderful with Eric and Ryan here. We had such a blast being together. New favorite game is Istanbul.

Eric turned 25. Hannah turned 21. Our nephew, Joseph, reported to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and will be heading to the Florida Tallahassee mission.

Alex wants to be on the track team this year (running sprints) and so that meant he spent yesterday at their annual fundraiser which is selling Christmas trees.

Ryan got a promotion and raise at work. He is now the lead student as his custodial job. He's only been working there since just after the semester started. Congratulations Ryan.

Alex and Glen, along with the scouts, finally made it to the top of Job's Peak, the highest mountain peak in the Stillwater mountain range. This was the 4th attempt. Glen says is happy to never have to try again.

I've been having a blast getting the house decorated for Christmas. We have 6 trees up, soon to be seven. Yesterday was my deadline for finishing the decorating as tomorrow I start a sub job that will take me through to Christmas break. I will be subbing for the Health Occupation's teacher as she donates a kidney to someone else from here.

As for the 7th tree, Hannah was the highest bidder in an auction. We have barely seen Hannah the last few weeks as she and her best friend Becky (with whom she shares a birthday) have been crafting up a storm. They had a booth at one of the craft fairs yesterday here in Fallon. The craft fair was a fundraiser for Toys for Tots and that included a bunch of donated trees being put up for auction. Hannah bid on and won the tree that her employers donated. Fox Peak Cinema's tree is full of candy, movie passes, and gift certificates. Now I just need to find a place to put it.

at Job's Peak November 2016

Glen and Alan at Job's Peak

the view from the top

trying to stay warm on the peak

1 candle representing his 1st quarter century

Elysium, another new game we played

the boys helping to assemble the trees

Elders Uscola and Plumb

the "Merry and Bright" sign is one that Becky made and I bought at the craft fair

went to Fallon's tree lighting for the first time in years

after the tree was lit, fireworks were set off

BYU's annual Christmas concert was live streamed. Heather is in there (middlish?)

Alex's update and Henry is the cutest dancer!

Haven't blogged in several weeks, so I swore to myself that I'd do so this weekend. So, here it is.

Alex, having turned 16, was now old enough to be ordained to the office of a Priest on October 23rd. That allows him to bless the sacrament, which he did for the first time today. Always a wonderful thing to see my kids advancing. Good job, Alex!

Alan, David, Thomas, Gary, Joseph, and Dad P with Glen and Alex

I went to visit my sister, Denise, last weekend. No photos to show, but we had a fabulous time. Being with her recharges my batteries. Always a joy. We shopped a little, played games, and just hung out. I also got to see my brother-in-law (Pat), 3 of my nephews (Cory plus his wife Amanda, Danny, and then Jake who was visiting from BYU-I), and a friend and her daughters who recently moved from Massachusetts to Vegas (Martha, Jamie, and Samantha). I wish we could see each other more often!

The tennis banquet was on the 1st. Here the coach, Jesse Nuckolls, is giving Alex his certificate that allows him to pick up his Varsity Letter (for his jacket, which he doesn't have). Alex was the most improved player on the team this year. Now that tennis is over, Alex says he wants to do sprints on the track and field team next. I'm so glad he wants to participate in things and not just sit at home.

Girls' team, who are #1 in Northern Nevada, with the boys' team

So, I took these photos 6 days apart. Fall has definitely arrived.

26 October 2016

1 November 2016

Andrew posted 4 videos on his blog of Henry enjoying music. In the first 3 videos, Henry is in his stroller enjoying the marching band at a parade. Pretty darn cute. The 4th video is of Henry dancing to music at a Halloween party (he's dressed a Hobbes the tiger from Calvin and Hobbes.). The cutest.

So, I'm posting the link to Andrew's blog so you can see all the video clips by going there, but I am posting the 4th video here as well. Can't wait for Christmas when they come to visit!

https://agamedesignersblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/videos.html

3 birthdays, tennis update, Camporall, and employment

Birthdays this week:

Alex turned 16 on Monday. We celebrated last Sunday.

(notice his new haircut that his sister gave him, though this is not the best view of it)

Henry turned 1 1/2 on Wednesday. He is now old enough to go to nursery on Sunday and that frees Andrew and Heather to attend and be able to pay attention to their classes at church! There aren't any new photos as their camera is MIA, so here are 2 photos from August of the Cutie.

My dad turned 84 on Friday. We had a nice, long talk on the phone. Since his dad only lived to be 75 and his brother 73, we feel so lucky to still have him around. We didn't get to go see him for his 84th, so I am posting a photo of when my sister and I were there for his 80th birthday.

Dad on his 80th (14 October 2012)

Tennis update:

Tennis was a bit crazy this week. The team was already on the road Friday when the word came in that they had to postpone due to weather and smoke from a fire. That meant a change in venue as well as a change in Alex's bracket. On Saturday they headed to Reno to play instead of Truckee and Alex played doubles instead of singles.

Thomas's doubles partner can't play next week when the tournament would now be wrapping up due to the postponement. So, Thomas and Alex were partnered up and they played against N. Tahoe. They didn't get to finish their first match, though, because the tournament was suspended due to very high winds.

They won the first set 6-2 (it was windy, but playable), but were behind in the second set 1-3 (the wind had really kicked up). The wind was so bad (it had been forecast to be 30 mph +) that sometimes they would hit the ball but it couldn't make it over the net. It was insane. Wish I had a video of it.

Tuesday is when they will try again in Truckee. Thomas and Alex should win, which means they will be playing on Wednesday as well. State starts on Thursday.

(a better view of his haircut, I think)

this ball was actually going to Thomas, but in this picture looks like it's going to Alex

Camping:

The fact that the tournament was postponed on Friday allowed Alex and Ben to go on the Fall Camporall with Glen and Alan. Alex and Ben had to leave early on Saturday to make it to tennis, but at least they got to be there for the night. The Camporall was also a victim of the wind and had to close down early on Saturday.

Employment news:

Hannah's subbing license came through so now she is filling out applications to sub in Reno and in Fallon! Good luck, Hannah!

And Ryan is now employed as an early morning custodian (4-7 am shift) in the Spori building on BYU-I's campus (the Spori building is where Eric has all his art classes and it is a stone's throw from the boys' apartment). He is very excited to have finally found a job and is working with a few friends, so he's fine with getting up at 3 am. He goes to bed early, which is putting a bit of a cramp in Eric's life. Eric is actually going to bed earlier now, too. Yea on all accounts!

Neither-here-nor-there news:

It was Homecoming this week and Glen and I went to the first half of the freshmen football game on Thursday. The ending of the first half was crazy. On a fourth down, we kicked off the ball to Spring Creek, but we recovered the ball! Then our quarterback passed the ball, but they intercepted. The guy ran down the field towards our goal. Our quarterback tackled the guy with the ball, who then fumbled. The ball was not called dead before another Spring Creek player picked it up and headed for our goal. He was finally tackled on the 2 to 3 yard line. The clock had run out during the play, so they didn't score at that time. Spring Creek was ahead and stayed ahead, so we lost. But it was a crazy play.