December 23rd, 2012

• Brynn fell off the monkey bars last Friday...and hurt her right arm. (Sound familiar? Yeah, same thing Addy did in October!) She favored it all weekend so on Monday I took her in to get it checked out. Nope, not broken! Thank goodness. Brynn was kind of bummed though, she thought a cast would be very cool.
• Todd and I have enjoyed teaching the 9 year olds in primary this year. We are really going to miss them in 2013 so we held a Christmas Party for our class. We got them Happy Meals and played Minute-To-Win-It games. It was a good time. Even Sebastian, who is in a wheelchair and doesn't really talk, was laughing the whole time. We really have been blessed to teach these great kids; Victoria, Sebastian, Madison, Freddy, Elliott, and Alyssa. 
• Wednesday was Addy's last day of school before Christmas vacation. Todd met me at the school in the afternoon for their sing-a-long. The 1st graders were super cute and sang one song in English and one song in Chinese. Afterwards I had volunteered to help with the class Christmas Party. It was so fun to be a part of. I loved watching and hearing how the Chinese class worked since I only am able to volunteer with the Mrs. Helm, the English teacher. The kids are no longer allowed to speak English to Mrs. Ackerson, the Chinese teacher  but the kids are completely comfortable with it. It seriously amazes me and probably always will.

• Thursday we planned on meeting with our friends the Johns family to sing carols at a nursing home. Unfortunately we got our locations mixed up so the kids missed out but we instead went to the library and finished our birthday/Christmas shopping for Dad. We drove up to the outlets and I took the kids to Johnny Rockets. Yum! The kids and I loved the 50's type diner.

• Bodee makes me giggle:)

• Thursday evening we drove up to Draper to visit with our friends Shawn and Katie Ross. We hadn't seen them since the summer and we have missed them. The kids had a super time playing with their friends too.
• Bryan and Suzie's family and our family went in together for Cathy's gift. We were trying to find a time we could all meet up to give her the present and it all kind of worked out that we would meet up for an adult only dinner on Saturday night. Since Todd's birthday was also being celebrated he picked the Thai House in Lehi. We had a great time. Todd even commented that it was "one of the best times he's had with his siblings in a really long time." We just really enjoyed ourselves. These people are why I love Todd's family so much! (Kate was sick so Taylor came in her place. He really is a super kid...and getting so grown up:) 

• Kids in their Christmas outfits just before church on Christmas Sunday. They sang with the primary the Nativity Song in sacrament meeting. 

• I love Bodee's face in this one so I had to add it in. (He's laughing, not crying) 

•  Christmas cut-out cookie making in full swing! 

• A few weeks ago I found some Hostess cupcakes in a vending machine. Had to buy them since Hostess is gone. We finally ate them this week. Just knowing they no longer exist is weird.

• Todd drove up with his parents to visit his Uncle Craig a couple of times this week who is recovering from surgery. He appreciated both the time with his parents and visiting with his Uncle. We all pray he recovers quickly.
• Sunday evening we headed up to Temple Square to see the lights. It was pretty mild out which was a bonus with such small kids. Besides Bodee sticking his gloved hand in the water within the first five minutes, therefore having to strap him into the stroller, it was a beautiful, spiritual evening. We love being able to continue these traditions with our kids.