Christmas 2008 slide show

CHRISTMAS 2008

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. We had such a wonderful time, I'm sad it's over.
This was our first Christmas away from "home."
I was really having a rough time leading up to Christmas. I have missed our family terribly. I couldn't wait for Christmas so we could see everyone.

Every year we celebrate Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We have both of my grandmother's over, and aunts, uncles and cousins from both my mom's side and my dad's. It's a wonderful time and I look forward to it every year.
Christmas morning is usually spent at home waking up early to open gifts from Santa, then on to Grandma and Grandpa Kener's for breakfast and more presents with all the family. This too is a wonderful celebration that we can't wait for.

With the crazy winter storms that we have had this past week, we were worried about the commute back and forth. Both of our parents so generously invited us to stay with them to lessen the stress of the drive. We were so grateful, and decided to stay with Mike's parents. We had wonderful time, and it made it so we didn't have to change our Christmas traditions much. In fact, we were even able to sleep in bit more Christmas morning!

We received so many wonderful gifts, but my favorite of all was getting to stay 4 days and spending the most wonderful time with all of our family.

The 12th day of Christmas

ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
twleve drummers drumming...

No drummers, we thought you could use some quiet time so here is a special treat we drummed up for you so relax and enjoy.

Tonight we received a ham from the Honey Baked ham store! WOW!

I cannot believe how much thought, effort and love this person has put into this for us. We are truely grateful for the wonderfu friends we have made here. Thank you to whoever has been doing this fun 12 days of Christmas for our family. We love and appreciate you!!!

The 11th day of Christmas

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
eleven pipers piping...

Here's a pipe of your own, have fun and don't blow the whole day!

Tonight we received a bottle of BUBBLES!!! Fun!
Just one day to go.

The 10th day of Christmas

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
ten Lords-a-leapin'...

After the Lords get done leapin', this is what they use for their sore muscles.

BENGAY!!! Hahaha.

The 9th day of Christmas

ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
nine ladies dancing...

Here are some canes used by the ladies to help them walk home after they were out dancing all night.

Too funny! We got candy canes tonight!

The 8th day of Christmas

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
eight maids a milking...

Here's some milk I got from the eight maids-we think they must have been milking some brown cows!

Tonight we received a gallon of Chocolate Milk. DELICIOUS!!!
Looking forward to Sunday breakfast! Mmmmmm.

The 7th day of Christmas

ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
seven swans a swimming...

All of the swans have flown south for the winter, but here are some of the bubbles they used while theyy were swimming.

Last night we received Mr. Bubble, bubble bath!
This has been so fun, we love all of these great gifts!

A nice trip home

Yesterday our family took a nice trip home to Sandy. Mike was already down there working, so my dad so graciously came to pick up the kids and me. The weather was awful. It was snowing so hard, and it took nearly 2 hours to get home. However, it was actually a great time for us to spend with my dad singing christmas songs and planning what we would do over Christmas break. The kids did well, only fought a little, and Zack won the game of who could last the longest without talking!

It was so nice to be home. I miss my family terribly, and as soon as we pulled in the drive way my eyes filled with tears. I want to be back there so bad. It's not that where we live is bad, in fact, this is such a great place to live and raise a family, I just NEED my family to be near by.

The kids were excited to spend time with their uncles and Kelsey was looking forward to a visit with her best friend Autumn. My mom made us dinner, then Mike and I were off to the Neil Diamond concert. (Thanks again Amanda!!!)

We decided to take TRAX downtown, however, so did everyone else. That was okay though, we met lots of funny Neil fans!
It took extra time to get there due to the snow, but once we were there, it was so worth it! It was such great show. I have seen him 4 or 5 times now, and he never let's me down!

We spend the night at my parents (thanks Jeremy for loaning us your room!) and went to Mike's parents for a yummy breakfast. It was so great to see everyone and I am SO looking forward to coming down again for Christmas.

SUPER BIG, EXCITINGLY GREAT NEWS!!!

Kelsey made the school play! Hooray!

Earlier this week she tried out for the school play, which is a musical. She was so nervous and actually considered not trying out. After much persuasion, she went ahead and tried out. I wasn't there, but her friends said she did great. Apparently she did, because she made the part as the Head Secretary!

CONGRATULATIONS KELSEY!!!

The 6th day of Christmas

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
six geese a laying...

You don't really want geese all over the house do you? How about some of the eggs they left behind?

Yes, tonight we received a carton of eggs! Hooray, it's omelets for breakfast-yum!

The 5th day of Christmas

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
five golden rings....

Sorry, I'm too poor to buy five real gold rings, but will some golden pineapple suffice?

YUM, we LOVE pineapple!

The 4th day of Christmas

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Your true love gave to you-
four calling birds...

I can't find those calling birds, but here are four messages they left for you before they flew off.

Tonight we received a beautiful card with wonderful holiday wishes, a note to remind us to read to our family the story of the birth of Christ LUKE 2:1-17, a message from President Thomas S. Monson titled "The Best Christmas Ever" (Beautiful story!) and last but not least, a stocking with tickets to a Utah Jazz game in January.

We don't know who has been leaving these wonderful gifts, but we are so grateful to them for lifting our Christmas spirits.

Merry Christmas!

The third day of Christmas

ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
three french hens....

The french hens were not available so I'm giving you some chicken noodle soup, compliments of the three french hens.

Yes, we received a large can of chicken noodle soup. YUM!!!

The 2nd day of Christmas

We were so excited to see what we would recieve tonight.
It read:
ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
two turtle doves...
Unfortunately, I don't have any. Will candy turtles on a bar of Dove soap do?

This was so cute! We recieved a big box of chocolate turtles and a bar of Dove soap.

Can't wait till tomorrow!

The first day of Christmas

We recieved a cute little package on our doorstep tonight.
The tag read:
ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you- a partridge in a pear tree...
Sorry, but I couldn't find the partridge so I am giving you some pears from the tree the partridge flew away from.

Inside we found 4 delicious pears. YUM!
How fun. We are looking forward to tomorrow!!!

Catching up

I've been slow to post a bunch of things that have been going on in our lives.
I'll try to catch up!

About a week or so before Thanksgiving I started a new job. I am working in the writing lab at an alternative high school. It is very different from what I am used to in Elementary school, but it is good. I am SO glad I am not a teenager anymore!
It is a great job and I am making many new friends between staff and students. Apparently I am much nicer than the last lady because I let them listen to music and I actually talk to them! Nice!
It's part time, and the hours fit perfectly with the kids' schedules. I even have Wednesdays off!


Zack had a Chistmas performance on the 3rd of December. He didn't want a part in the play, so he settled for being a part of the singing group. It was so cute and they sounded great! We arrived 45 minutes early in hopes of getting a nice close seat, but unfortuantely so did the rest of the 3rd grade parents! So most of the pictures have spectator heads in the way, but at least we got some!


Kelsey had her first formal dance on the 5th, which also happened to be Mike's 35th bithday! (Scroll down to the last post to read about the dance.)
Because of the dance, we decided to go out to dinner and bowling the night before his birthday. We had a great time, however, we really need to brush up on our bowling skills. Not one of us hit 100! But we had a great time, and enjoyed being together.


The next day my parents brought my grandma up for a visit. This was her first time up to see the house. We spend most of the day hanging out on good ol' historic 25th street. We went to the Railroad Station and to a local craft boutique and out to lunch. We had such a great time, but of course it made me miss my family and want to go home! I'm wondering if the homesickness will ever go away???

Mike has ofically moved his shop up here. Well, just about anyway. We still have a few things left to move and we need to get the electrical work finished (Monday), but we are so excited to not have to make the 100+ mile commute everyday. Now, we just need to pray for more work. With the economy the way it is, work has been slow, but we are SO thankful for all the little jobs that have been keeping us afloat.

We have been in our home for 6 months now! Wow. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. We are still uncertain whether we will stay here permanetly or not. I of course have mixed feelings. We have another 6 months to go before we make a final decision, so we'll just wait and see.

Kelsey had her Chistmas choir performance last week. It was wonderful!
Again, I had too many tall heads in my way, so no good pictures, but I am hoping to get a copy of a video to post soon. Her choir teacher is so talented. He has so many different classes and each one sounds magnificant.
She is planning to try out for a part in the school play. It's a musical and she is very excited. I'l keep you posted.

Christmas is soon approaching. We haven't done nearly all that I had hoped to do, but as of today we are finally finished shopping. HOORAY! Now we can focus on family time.
We are hoping to go see the lights and build a gingerbread house on Monday. So until then, that is all I have to post about for now!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS and love to all!

Gorgeous!

Isn't she gorgeous?
This is Kelsey and her friends after the big school dance!
We were lucky to find the "Perfect" dress after MUCH searching. Her friend helped her with her hair, and the make-up was done by the girls at the Clinique counter at Dillards. What a fun night they had!

The Dance

Decorating the Christmas tree

We actually decorated the Christmas tree about a week before Thanksgiving-I'm just slow to post!

A Parent's Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
I searched for the tools to hand to my spouse.
Instructions were studied and we were inspired,
In hopes we could manage "Some Assembly Required."

The children were quiet (not asleep) in their beds,
While Dad and I faced the evening with a dread:
A kitchen, two bikes, Barbie's town house to boot!
And, thanks to Grandpa, a train with a toot!

We opened the boxes, my heart skipped a beat...
Let no parts be missing or parts incomplete!
Too late for last-minute returns or replacement;
If we can't get it right, it goes to the basement!

When what to my worrying eyes should appear,
But 50 sheets of directions, concise, but not clear,
With each part numbered and every slot named,
So, if we failed, only we could be blamed.

More rapid than eagles the parts then fell out,
All over the carpet they were scattered about.
"Now bolt it! Now twist it! Attach it right there!
Slide on the seats, and staple the stair!
Hammer the shelves, and nail to the stand"
"Honey," said hubby, "you just glued my hand."

And then in a twinkling, I knew for a fact
That all the toy dealers had indeed made a pact
To keep parents busy all Christmas Eve night
With "assembly required" till morning's first light.

We spoke not a word, but kept bent at our work,
Till our eyes, they went bleary; our fingers all hurt.
The coffee went cold and the night, it wore thin
Before we attached the last rod and pin.

Then laying the tools away in the chest,
We fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.
But I said to my husband just before I passed out,
"This will be the best Christmas, without any doubt.

Tomorrow we'll cheer, let the holiday ring,
And not have to run to the store for a thing!
We did it! We did it! The toys are all set
For the perfect, most perfect, Christmas I bet!"

Then off to dreamland and sweet repose I gratefully went,
Though I suppose there's something to say for those self-deluted...

I'd forgotten that BATTERIES are never included!!!!