Look out!

Kyra's got her driver's permit!

A leisurely lunch...

I had lunch at an awesome restaurant today! I came upstairs from doing the treadmill to find Callie and Brynn had transformed the kitchen into a restaurant, just for me!
I was not allowed into the kitchen area:

And I had my own personal waitress:

Who gave me a menu to choose from:

My choices were quesadilla, frozen burrito, bagel (toasted or not), Teriyaki bowl, leftovers, omelette, scrambled eggs, soup, or custom order. I could choose from sides of salad, instant mashed potatoes, a cutie, apple, banana, crackers, chips and salsa or anything else I could think of. I had drink and dessert choices, too!
My waitress took my order:

My chef made my meal:

And I enjoyed my meal!

And the final cost?
Meal: 2 hugs
Side: 1 kiss
Drink: 1 hug
Dessert: 2 kisses
Tax: 1 hug and 1 kiss
I paid both the waitress and the chef, with a 50% "tip" as well.
(Thanks go to Kyra for taking pictures for me, too)
It was a fun surprise for me!

It's Snow Fun!

Yes, we have a LOT of snow here....

Basketball

Brynn LOVES playing basketball with the little indoor hoop we have. She tries and tries and tries. She has a goal of making 100 baskets by the end of the year. I think she's in the 60s now.



She can make baskets pretty well, but sometimes she gets a little frustrated and needs some help:

Christmas Day

The had told the girls they could not come up before we came and got them, and that it would be around 7 am. Callie & Brynn woke up earlier than that, but listened to the radio and talked in the dark until we came to get them.
Waiting upstairs for them was:

Some castle building blocks for Brynn

A telescope for Callie

And some Wicked stuff for Kyra
They were all very happy with what they got and we spent a few minutes looking over those things before we started opening presents. One of Brynn's presents was a box with a note that just said "Go look in your room". So she ran down the hall and found that while she was sleeping during the night, Santa's Elves had been using power tools to hang a new canopy over her bed!

She loved it!
Kyra & Callie got lots of books, books, and more books. There will be much reading around here.
We finished opening gifts, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and got dressed and ready to go. Went back to Dennis & Marti's to exchange gifts and eat leftovers for lunch. We'd hoped to see Charlie or Dave's family there but Charlie's family was still sick and Dave's family wasn't there. I think they came later, but we didn't see them. For the first time since we've been married, we didn't see ANY of Darrin's siblings at Christmas! (Spence & Bonnie were in AZ with her family, Kelly & Preston were in VA and didn't come this year) It felt very wierd!
After lunch we headed out to Eagle Mountain to Tim & Brittany's house for dinner. We had some yummy prime rib:

Played the game Apples to Apples, had dessert and headed for home. Halfway home, we got hit with a big wall of snow & wind, and the second half of the drive was in blizzard conditions, but we made it home safely and collapsed into bed.

Christmas Eve

Most of the day was pretty dull. Laundry, cleaning up the house, etc. But in the evening, we went over to the Lythgoes' for dinner.

We expected to see Charlie and his family there, but when we arrived we heard they were all home sick! So it was just the 5 of us, Dennis & Marti, and Darrin's aunt Nancy and her college age kids Jennifer & April.
We had a very good dinner and then went downstairs for the annual talent show. (I took pictures, since I don't have any "performable" talents. Face it, you can't exactly calm a laboring woman on a stage.)
Marti and Darrin built a nice fire:

Brynn did a magic trick with a dollar bill.

for a most appreciative audience:

Kyra & Callie played a duet on the piano.

April played and sang for us, too.
We had our annual nativity pageant. This year, the role of Mary went to:

Brynn!
And our handsome Joseph was played by Darrin!

There were shepherds:

Wise guys:

An angel:

And our traditional narrator:

And we even had an audience:

(much smaller because of the many roles in the pageant)
After the cast took its final bow:

We went upstairs and had pie. YUM!

And then we went home, got all the girls settled sleeping together in the basement, and then got started on the work of Christmas Eve! You'll have to tune in tomorrow to see what we were up to.....

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas, and invite you to watch this slide show of what we've been doing THIS year to celebrate the Christmas season:

Christmas Eve last year

This is what we did on Christmas Eve last year. It was lots of fun. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas this year!

Callie's Birthday Party

What goofy friends she has....



We made friendship bracelets, guessed baby pictures, played the M&M game, ate cake and opened presents. Callie had a lot of fun!

Blast from the Past Christmas with the Lythgoes 1981

Kelly & Spencer

Dave, Charlie, Darrin

Friends and missionaries come for the pageant.

Blast from the Past Lythgoe Christmas 1979