Christmas pictures!

It was a tradition in my family growing up to take pictures of each kid with the presents that they got for Christmas (we also did this for birthdays). I have tried to carry on this tradition because it's fun to look back and remember the things that you got and enjoyed when you were younger. So, here are our Christmas pictures. Thanks everyone for your fun & thoughtful gifts!! We know a lot of time and energy (and money) was spent on us and our kids and we appreciate it!

Santa visits!

December 25
We started out the day by opening gifts from Santa which were left down in the family room. Then we ate a breakfast of sausage/egg casserole & oranges and then we opened the family gifts under the tree.

The first thing Kitty found in the morning was candy left out for Aunt T by Santa...

Luke's favorite present was a design-your-own lightsaber kit. You can change the handle and the noise it makes and the color that is emitted from it. You can even make a two-ended lightsaber like Darth Maul's. He has been playing with this toy almost non-stop since he opened it. Luke & his dad had fun figuring out how to put it together...
The kids (and dad & Aunt T) have all had fun with M&M's big present: an interactive puppy. It looks pretty real and some of it's movements and interactions are pretty realistic. Kitty has been absolutely enthralled with it and keeps hugging & petting it and calling it Molly (which is the name of my parents' dog).
The big present for Kitty & Blondie was a play kitchen set which Santa cleverly hid beneath a blanket right next to the couch where everyone could see it, yet none of the kids did... The blanket wasn't even completely covering it - we adults all thought it was pretty funny...

Another fun toy from Santa was a marble run where you can build different paths for the marbles to travel from the top of the maze to the bottom.

Aunt T

We enjoyed having DH's sister T stay with us over Christmas. She drove up Christmas Eve and stayed with us for 2 nights. The kids had a lot of fun playing their new games and reading their new books with her and DH & I enjoyed talking and watching movies late into the night with her.

Christmas Eve

Dressed up for church...

Blondie asleep at the bottom of the stairs after delivering cookies to friends & neighbors...

Kitty imitating her siblings as we were getting ready to watch a church DVD about the Nativity.
The kids were also able to open one present on Christmas Eve which were new pajamas. I didn't get any pictures of the kids in their new pajamas that night, so look at the Christmas Day pictures. M&M, Luke, & Blondie really liked their pajamas (Luke's were a little too big though). The only pajamas that didn't work out were Kitty's which were WAY too tight. I had even bought a size bigger than she wears & she is tiny - what's up with that Carters???

Finished projects!!

Here are some projects that I was finally able to finish this year:
This WINTER sign I made last year but didn't get the snowman finished until this year.

For this snowman pillow I finished the stitching part 2 years ago and I was really proud of myself for getting it finished in a short amount of time, but actually finishing the pillow part of it took me a lot longer than it should have...

Laura's stocking - I cut it out last year but never got around to sewing it...

Since we don't have a fireplace to hang our stockings over, I made this sign for them. (And I finally wrote our names on the stockings with fabric paint so Santa won't get them mixed up...)

These are the presents that I made for the kids this year. I will hang them up in their rooms once I get them painted and the bunkbeds set up.

I didn't ask for that...

Yesterday I was wrapping some Christmas presents in my bedroom. Luke came into the room to see what I was doing. He looked at the presents that I had already wrapped and looked at the labels to see if any of them were for him. None of them were and he asked when I was going to wrap some for him. I told him that he would have to leave the room if he wanted me to wrap presents for him. So he left. When he came back in a few minutes later and saw one with his name on it, he felt the present and said, "I didn't ask for clothes!"

I then told him that if he didn't get back in his room and clean it like I asked him to, that was all that Santa was going to bring him on Christmas. I guess that clothes are equivalent to coal in Luke's book...

Christmas Cookies

The kids had fun making & decorating
Christmas cookies this weekend!!

I just gave Kitty her own cookie and a little knife and some frosting so she could feel included. She enjoyed dipping the knife in the frosting and then licking the frosting off the knife. She never quite figured out that she could eat the cookie too.
Luke enjoyed mixing the colors. He would dip his knife into one color, put it on the cookie and then dip the knife into a second color and swirl the 2 colors around on the cookie.
Blondie definitely loved the sprinkles. More than once I had to dump a whole pile of sprinkles off of one of her cookies.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!!
Lots of presents under the tree
(and Santa hasn't even been here yet...)

Snow!
We received a few inches Friday night
and then about 6 more inches on Sunday.

Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

I was able to attend a satellite broadcast of the groundbreaking ceremony for the new temple in South Jordan on Saturday. We will be in the new temple district even though we are only 10 minutes from the Jordan River temple which is also in South Jordan. This temple will be slightly closer to us with fewer traffic lights in-between. It was a nice, short ceremony which was held at the temple site in a temporary tent structure that was set up for the occasion. The temperature outside was below freezing and we had received a couple inches of snow the night before.

Elder Nelson conducted the ceremony and all of the members of the First Presidency spoke. I was pleasantly surprised to see President Faust stand and walk to the podium and he stayed standing for his entire talk (which was brief). President Faust referred to a prophecy that is attributed to Brigham Young that the Salt Lake Valley will experience incredible growth and the Jordan River will run down the middle of it. He said that we are seeing the fulfillment of this prophecy now.

President Hinckley was his normal joking self and introduced the name for the new temple. He said that there was a lot of concern about the name of the temple which was originally going to be called the South Jordan Temple. There was concern that there would be too much confusion between the names of the Jordan River Temple and the South Jordan Temple. So after much deliberation, they decided to name the new temple the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. "No one will know how to spell it," he said, "but they don't come to the temple to spell." The mountains here on the west side of the valley are called the Oquirrh Mountains. Oquirrh is a Goshute Indian word that means "Shining Mountains". President Hinckley said that this is "the greatest Christmas present" that the members in the South Jordan area can receive.

Then when they were breaking the ground President Hinckley said, "This is really kind of fake. This is just dirt they brought in." There was a large pile of dirt in front of the podium in the temporary tent structure that was used for the "groundbreaking". The temple is scheduled to be completed in about 2 years. The Jordan River Temple is currently the busiest temple in the world. The Oquirrh Mountain Temple, as well as the Draper Temple which had it's groundbreaking in August, will help to relieve that busyness. The ground for the temple was donated by the president of Kennecott Land.

President Hinckley said that there will probably be another temple built in the Salt Lake Valley if the growth keeps up. He also announced plans for a new temple in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala and said that more will probably be built in Brazil.

Newspaper articles on the groundbreaking:
Deseret Morning News
Salt Lake Tribune

Service Project

One of the many projects that I have been trying to complete this year is the service project that I started at the beginning of the year for the W Family Reunion. My goal was to get 30 medical dolls with gowns made for the church's Humanitarian Center. These are just plain white or cream colored dolls with hospital gowns that are given to children in the hospital to help comfort them and the medical staff uses the doll to show the child what will be done to them, i.e. cast, stitches, I.V., etc. I got the idea from a stake Relief Society service day.

So, the original plan was that I would sew all of the gowns and other members of the family would sew the dolls and bring them to the family reunion so that we could stuff them, stitch them up, and put the gowns on them. I also made 5 dolls to stuff because I had the sinking suspicion that there were only going to be a few people that would actually do the project. I knew of 3 people that were making 5 each and was hopeful that a few more would "surprise" me. I made 25 gowns because I knew that I would have at least 20 dolls.

When the family reunion came around, I was pleased to see that we had 24 dolls, not 20, but we had 34 gowns thanks to Aunt D who made gowns for the dolls that she & Shannon made. We were able to quickly finish the dolls with the help of many young 3rd generations and the project turned out to be pretty fun for all ages. The problem came when the kids realized that they weren't able to keep a doll... :)

So when I got home, I made the decision that I would make 10 more dolls so that we had an equal number of dolls and gowns. I actually finished cutting them out and sewing them rather quickly, but I decided to see if the Young Women were interested in stuffing and sewing them up for an activity (since I am now working in the YW organization). So the dolls sat around my house for a month or two. Just when I had decided to finish them myself, the YW presidency asked me to bring them for the YW to work on when another activity fell through. Well, we got them all stuffed, but not many of the YW wanted to sew them up so they sat around my house again waiting to be sewn. One Saturday I finally got them out and M&M & Lukee helped me sew up the legs on the dolls.

Then this last Friday I decided to take all of the kids with me to finally deliver them to the Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. I definitely wanted them delivered by Christmas time. So we took a trip downtown and took 2 big trash bags full of the dolls. When I called the hospital to find out where to deliver them to, the lady on the phone sounded excited about the dolls. Unfortunately, when we got to the hospital, no one was at the drop-off desk and there were numerous other donations there as well (this is definitely the time for giving), but I think it was a good experience for the kids. We talked about why we had made the dolls and what they were going to be used for.

We actually turned the project into a service project for M&M for school since she did a lot of work on it with me. She helped cut out a lot of the dolls & gowns and helped to turn them right-side-out and stuff them. This will count towards one of her goals for the 3rd grade for an award at the end of the school year.

I would like to thank everyone that helped out with the project: Mom N, sister-in-law V, Aunt D & Shannon for making dolls (and some gowns), Mom S for donating cute boy fabric (I had plenty of girl fabric from sewing Easter dresses for my girls), my sister M for helping cut out gowns, the W family & YW in my ward for stuffing the dolls, M&M for cutting, stuffing & sewing & Luke for stuffing & sewing. It was a lot of work, but I hope that they will be appreciated by kids who need them.

As a side note, I have an aunt that works at the Humanitarian Center and when my parents were here in August, she took us on a tour of the center. We mentioned that I had a lot of surgery dolls to donate and she suggested that I take them directly to the Primary Children's Hospital. Apparently, even though I got the pattern for the doll and gown on the Humanitarian's website, they keep getting donations of the dolls and don't know what to do with them. So, the workers at the center put faces on the dolls and send them out to orphanages around the world. My aunt said that they have no agreements with any of the hospitals in the area to give the dolls to them & she wasn't sure why the pattern was on the website. That's why we ended up taking them to the children's hospital instead of the humanitarian center.

Blondie's Holiday Dress

When my mom was here in town, we were looking at stores for a holiday dress for Blondie to wear this year. The maroon dress she was wearing in a previous blog is a couple sizes too big and I was hoping to find one more her size and save the maroon one for next year. We found a BEAUTIFUL dress at Target that was black velvet on top with a green skirt that had a black lace overlay. So my mom bought that one for her and when we got home we tried it on her. It fit PERFECTLY, but for some reason Blondie did not like it. We were never able to quite figure out what she didn't like - was it the beading at the waist, the tag in the neckline, the color, the "twirl" factor when she danced around in it??? Well, I ended up taking the dress back to the store because she just would NOT wear it. The day after I took the dress back, I went to a D.I. that I don't usually go to and found this beautiful black velvet-like dress with flowers and a light green tie at the waist. Thankfully she really likes this dress, but I still wish I knew what was wrong with the first one...

Sick little girl...

Kitty has been sick off and on for the past 2 weeks (DH has missed church the last 3 weeks to stay home with sick kids). Yesterday she finally started feeling better and didn't need me to hold her EVERY SECOND of the day. On Monday I was trying to get some work done on the computer and finally just put her down on the floor because she was crying even with me holding her. She was standing next to me crying for a little bit and then she sat down and before I realized it she had stopped crying and was asleep on the office floor. She slept there for about 1 1/2 hours.
Then on Tuesday I was trying to get some laundry done and she fell asleep in the middle of the hallway next to the clothes hamper while I was sorting clothes. Later in the day I was taking clothes out of the dryer and she came over to the laundry room and laid down on the COLD tile floor and fell asleep again (just for a couple of minutes that time). Kitty's sickness has definitely put some delays on multiple projects (and errands) that I have on my to do list. Thankfully she is getting better and back to her happy self. Now I just hope that the rest of us can stay healthy as well. Don't you just love the winter (a.k.a. sick) season...

Temple Square

One of our favorite traditions during Christmas time is visiting Temple Square with all of the Christmas lights and the nativity scenes. This year we were able to take my mom with us before she went back to Virginia.

Uncle Ralph

My Uncle Ralph passed away last Friday evening. He was the youngest of my mom's brothers. He passed away at the age of 69 from bone cancer which he has been battling for the last 8-9 years. My mom & I are glad that we were able to visit with him a few weeks ago while she was out here for my Aunt Marlene's funeral. He was always a cheerful & kind man who loved children. My mom was able to visit us again so that she could attend the funeral. Uncle Ralph was buried at the same cemetary as Aunt Marlene and my mom's parents.

Obituary: Ralph Knowles Lord

The remaining four siblings -
Phil, Jim, Dianne (my mom) and Dave.

Christmas Wish Lists

I've been trying to figure out how & where to display the wish lists/clothing size info for my family and have decided to post it here. I will update the list as I think of more things, so check back when you get a chance. I will try and keep this post near the top of my blog so it will be easy to find & see. If anyone buys something specific from the list and wants me to remove it so we don't get duplicates, email me. Also, email me if you have questions about anything...

Wish Lists:

• M&M - favorite color is blue
  size 7/8 shirts & dresses
  size 6/6x pants
  gloves (waterproof kind for playing in the snow)
  likes horses, crafts, painting, dolls, chapter books


• Luke - favorite color is blue
  size 5 pants
  size 5 or 6 shirts
  gloves (waterproof kind for playing in the snow)
  winter hat
  scarf
  snow boots (size 12-13)
  likes Star Wars, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, learn to read books


• Blondie - favorite color is pink
  size 3T pants
  size 4T shirts & dresses
  dress-up clothes
  likes anything to do with Cinderella or princesses, baby dolls/accessories


• Kitty
  size 18-24 month
  socks (wears size 5 shoe)
  loves baby Einstein DVDs, baby dolls/accessories


• Kids
  quiet activities for church
  church books
  Thomas the Tank Engine (or compatible) train tracks (we just have the basic figure 8 set)
  book "Fox in Socks"


• Family
  family home evening/church games
  Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD (we only have Christmas Live)
  Gamecube games


• DH
  size Large shirt
  size 33(or 34)/30 pants
  long sleeve dress shirt - white & light blue (15 1/2, 32/33)
  Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack


• Me
  size Small/Medium shirt
  size 10 pants, skirts, dresses
  socks (white, colored or patterns)
  slippers (size 8 shoe)
  wheat grinder
  rubber spatulas
  alarm clock (with backup battery)
  laminator
  church choir CDs (either Mormon Choir of Washington or Mormon Tabernacle Choir) - I already have Consider the Lilies & Sing to the Lord
  ice cream maker
  popcorn popper


• Movies (DVD - widescreen):
  Pirates of the Caribbean II
  Star Wars Original Trilogy
  Star Trek Nemesis
  Xmen 2 or 3
  Cars
  Spirit
  Cinderella II
  Polar Express
  Pocahontas
  VeggieTales Minnesota Cuke
  VeggieTales Holiday Double Feature
  VeggieTales Duke & the Great Pie War
  VeggieTales LarryBoy & the Bad Apple
  VeggieTales Silly Song Countdown
  VeggieTales Madame Blueberry
  E.T.
  Robin Hood (Disney animated version)
  Sword in the Stone (Disney animated version)
  The Fox and the Hound