December Happenings

The Christmas Season came quickly this year. We started it off by welcoming Eric's parents, Doug and Diane, to our house for a two week visit. I was busy during the first few days with Tyson and Cambrie's classes, teaching art masterpiece and helping with both of their class Christmas parties. On Thursday the 18th, we took Doug and Diane to the broadcast of Glenn Beck's performance of his book, The Christmas Sweater. It was wonderful and moving in its story and passionate performance by Glenn. Also, the soloist he hired to sing was amazing with the orchestra. Saturday, Kevin came over to spend the day with us and Katie came for awhile as well. It was really nice to see them before they headed off to Virginia.
The next Monday, Eric and I left the kiddos with his parents and we hit the road to Tucson, AZ. Tuesday, December 23rd marked our 10th year of being married, so to celebrate the occasion, Eric had procured a room at the Ventana Canyon Resort. It was really beautiful and the room was gorgeous and really comfy.



While in Tucson we visited Kartchner Caverns and took one of the tours. It was really cool. Almost all show caves around the world and the U.S. are dead due to the influx of air that dried up the caverns. Kartchner is special in that the discoverers worked very hard to make sure the caverns were kept in pristine conditions. It was really amazing to see all of the things they do at the state park to keep the environment inside the caverns as regulated as possible. The caverns were really beautiful. We can't wait to go back for the other tour.


We headed home on the morning of Christmas Eve and got to Gilbert at noon. We were very excited to get our holiday celebrating underway. One of the



reasons we were so excited was the impending arrival of Ashley & Brett, Amy, and Chris, Karen & Ally. . . Yeah, we had another houseful for Christmas!
Christmas Day was fun. The kids woke up pretty early and we had them lay down with us for awhile, but they finally just wouldn't stay in bed any longer, so we let them wake everyone up. We all went down to open presents and see what goodies Santa had brought. Of course it was Ella's first Christmas, so it was extra special! She is such a little cutie and it was fun to watch her tear open the gifts.


She is surprisingly good at ripping off the wrapping paper, especially since she has had only one other chance to do it, on her birthday in Nov. Ella also had so much fun getting to know her little cousin Ally. It was really fun to watch them play and interact. But, the best part was our mini dance party. We put in a

Kids Bop cd and the girls bopped until they dropped. It was awesome.

Late Friday night, my Mom got in from Virginia and she, Ashley and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing. It is always fun to be with my family they are all hilarious. My Mom is the best and we were so very happy to have her come for a few days for Ella's sealing to me and Eric. Saturday the 27th, was Ella's big day.
Here's a picture of Ella as we were leaving for the temple.
All of our family that came to visit met us at the temple, along with a lot of friends from the ward. We only wished we had a bigger room, because we would have loved to invite a lot more people from our current ward and our old ward in Mesa, but we felt very blessed to have a room full of friends and family. Ella was beautiful and it was a day we will never forget. To see our little family, me, Eric and the kids all together in the sealing room was truly remarkable and a treasured memory.


We all went to church the next morning and here is photographic evidence.


Also, I have to plug the most popular Christmas gift at our house this year. My Mom and Dad gave the kids presents, but they gave me and Eric money. We decided to spend it on a family gift, so we got a Wii. I think it was just as

popular with the adults as it was with the kids. Actually, I think the kids had to fight just to get some time to play it. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. If I'm correct, I believe Doug and Chris are playing billiards.

We were sad when everyone left, but that did give us some alone time with Chris, Karen & Ally, so we were happy for that. A smaller group makes it possible to do a lot more with only two cars. So, we took a little trip down to Tucson on New Years

Eve day. We went to Reid Park Zoo which is a small zoo that is perfect for a short trip to the zoo for little kids and restless adults. We love the polar bears and they were in a definite mood to show off. They are so cute swimming and playing together in the water. The docent who volunteers to educate the polar bear tourists was next to me so I asked her some questions and learned a ton about the polar bears at the zoo.

The zoo was fun, but not as fun as our next destination. Chris had picked for us to go to Old Tucson Studios, which is an old western set they have used for many movies. They still film there periodically,

but most of the time the studios are used as a tourist stop. There were some kid rides, you could ride a stagecoach, the train, or go on the old mine tour. The best part (especially for the "big" boys) was the gunfights and the comedy stunt show. They did a great job with everything and we had a blast. It was way more fun than we had envisioned. We didn't get back from Tucson until 8:30pm, so I was late for the New Year's Eve party at Bishop's house. We had fun playing games and eating. I love the youth in our ward, they are so amazing.