Ward Christmas party

What's not to love about the ward Christmas party? There's always good food, good company and a good program. Emma and Charlotte (the girls' cousins) had just flown in from Virginia, so they got to come as well. We ate a delicious dinner, watched the Primary's live nativity video (mentioned here) and enjoyed the special guest and goody bags at the end.

 Winnie eating dinner.

Miriam, Seth and Andrea enjoying lasagna, salad and breadsticks. 

 Analee at the table.

Charlotte, Grandma Susan and Miriam singing for Santa to come. 

Winnie sitting on Santa's lap. Does the Santa look familiar under all that curly white hair? Seth got wrangled into playing the special guest when the other three men who had been asked previously all said they couldn't do it. 

Winnie excited about her goody bag.

Analee on Santa's lap. 

Miriam talking to Santa. 

 Rebekah talking to Santa while Analee teases.

Miriam giving Santa Dad a hug on his way out. 

Temple Visitors' Center

Rebekah, Analee, Grandma Susan and I got to participate with other members in our ward in a musical fireside at the Idaho Falls Temple Visitors' Center on December 11. After we signed (ASL) several hymns, we got to participate in a singalong with Sister Hadden on the violin, Sister Christensen on the piano, and Grandma conducting the music. Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott, Seth, Miriam and Winnie came along to watch.

 Sister Hadden on the violin, her daughter Camille on the violin (or viola?), Rebekah, Analee, Andrea, Maverick, Sister Stone and Grandma Susan signing.

Signing "morning." 

Singing hymns. 

Seth and Winnie on our way out. We stopped by McDonalds on the way home for some ice cream.

Invention Convention

Analee has been over-the-moon excited with our districts reinstatement of the GATE (gifted and talented) program. As such, she buses over to Telford Academy with 4-6th graders from Ucon and Fairview on Mondays and learns about things like Greek roots, inventing and coding. She and all the other GATE students in the district got to participate in the Invention Convention at Falls Valley on December 7.

Analee's invention, an extendable garden tool, didn't advance to the state Invention Convention, but we were certainly proud of her idea and her work.

Seth, Grandpa Scott, Grandma Scott and Winnie looking at other invention while Ana shows off her participant ribbon.

Primary nativity

Our Primary president felt inspired to arrange a live nativity for the Primary to participate in as part of the Church's "Light the World" initiative. The kids met on a Saturday morning to hand out invitations to all of the people who live in our ward boundaries, and then we came together on Monday, December 4 for the event. Miriam and Winnie dressed up as shepherds, Analee dressed up as an angel, and Rebekah helped hand out tea lights for the children to hold.

 Miriam the shepherd with her friend Tynlei.

 Winnie the shepherd with her friends Kendall and Avalie.

Analee the angel.

We had an opening song ("Away in a Manger"), an opening prayer, a reading of Luke 2 by the bishop, a closing song ("Silent Night") and donuts and hot chocolate for refreshments. It was an incredible opportunity. People from our ward brought burn barrels, spotlights, mules and cows. Lots of our friends from church came, along with visitors. Seth invited the three guys from Argentina who were visiting his work. It was a sweet experience to share with our neighbors.

Seth filmed while my dad and I shot pictures. I put together a video to show at our ward Christmas party later that month. It was a wonderful opportunity for the children and the adults to serve others.

Cutting Christmas trees

Usually we cut Christmas trees on the Friday or Saturday following Thanksgiving, but the weather was so wet and miserable on Friday and our family left for Island Park on Saturday, so our forest venture had to wait until the first weekend of December.

 The crew looking for trees by the quarry.

Rebekah with our tree. She picked it out, and it fit perfectly in our living room corner.

 Seth hauling the tree.

Our tree, Seth, Winnie, Rebekah, Analee and Miriam head back down the trail. 

Winnie offering snow to Oakley (she was eating as much as she could) while Uncle T and Grandpa Scott search for their trees. 

Rebekah driving the four-wheeler with the tree, Analee and Seth riding. 

Seth hauling Aunt McKall, Uncle T, Winnie, Miriam and Bennet down the hill. Miriam and Bennet played with the walkie-talkies the rest of the way to Grandma's house where we ate lunch and drank hot chocolate together.

Christmas card

Behold! In all its digital splendor!

Thanksgiving

So. Much. Food.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we had a family dinner in Rexburg with Seth's aunts, uncles and cousins. (I didn't take any pictures)

The day of Thanksgiving, we ate lunch with all the traditional fare at my parents' house.

Analee adding water to the punch. Analee went over early to help Grandma fix lunch and set the table.  

Grandma, Andrea and Analee working on potatoes. 

Miriam listening to her book and playing with the descending woodpecker. 

Rebekah reading a book, Aunt Jessica and Winnie looking at the iPod, and Seth looking at Black Friday ads. 

The delicious food. 

The whole group (minus Grandpa Scott the photographer): Grandma Scott, Winnie, Miriam, Bennet, Uncle T, Aunt McKall, Oakley, Rebekah, Analee, Aunt Jessica, Seth, Andrea and a guest from BYU-I named Devin. 

Watching an informational video Grandma and Grandpa brought home from Hawaii.

The day after Thanksgiving, we ate leftovers at my parents' house. Then we drove to Island Park to stay with Seth's sister.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we ate lunch at Rachel's house.

 Grandpa Dennis, Seth, Uncle Justin and Grandma Susan supervising Aunt Rachel mashing of the potatoes. Everybody had opinions about how to prepare the food correctly.

 Grandpa Dennis talking on the phone while Winnie and Kelsey check out their surroundings from the balcony.

Winnie (in her Belle glasses and Belle hat) and Kelsey.

And Sunday we were eating leftovers again (when Grandma Scott makes Thanksgiving dinner, she makes enough to feed an army) at my parents' house.

And this week I'm making sure to get on the treadmill every day.

Pre-Thanksgiving Utah trip

Since both Seth and the girls had the entire week of Thanksgiving off, we decided to make the most of it by going on a family trip to Utah.

We left the morning of Monday, November 20 and stopped for lunch before heading to the Draper aquarium.

 Kids in the car. Rebekah's holy socks on the top of Miriam's seat, Analee also in the back, Miriam and Winnie watching a movie on Seth's laptop.

Rebekah reading her fortune from her cookie. 

 Analee eating honey walnut shrimp.

Analee, Winnie, Seth and Rebekah walking across the rope bridge. Miriam opted to watch.

 Miriam, Winnie, Analee and Rebekah posing on a poisonous dart frog statue.

Winnie looking for frogs in a tank. 

Seth pointing out frogs to Winnie. 

 Analee looking at fish.

Seth sizing Winnie up against a penguin. 

Watching the penguins swim and waddle around. 

Closeup penguin viewing. 

Miriam checking out an otter. 

Analee, Rebekah, Andrea, Winnie and Miriam posing in the shark jaw. 

Four girls in the underwater viewing bubble. 

Miriam and Analee posing on a sea turtle statue. 

Walking through the shark tunnel. 

Rebekah watching sea life. 

Looking at sharks and turtles. 

After dinner at the hotel room and a dip in the pool, we went to sleep.

The next day brought continental breakfast and trip to Lehi to check out all that Thanksgiving Point had to offer with a break midday for lunch.

Our first stop: Farm Country.

Analee, Seth and Winnie petting a horse. 

 Winnie on a pony. She dubbed it "Snowflake."

Miriam on a pony. She named hers "Jumpy." 

Analee on a pony. She chose not to name it. 

Rebekah on the same pony. She also chose not to name it. 

Analee and Winnie going on a wagon ride. 

Rebekah on the wagon ride. 

 Miriam, Seth and Andrea (check Seth's sunglasses) on a wagon ride.

Petting a small donkey.

Our second stop: The Museum of Ancient Life.

Rebekah, Miriam, Analee, Winnie and Seth watching the paleontologist work on a Utahraptor. 

Miriam using dinosaur parts to make a seahorse. 

Checking out skulls. 

Winnie suspended from the erosion table while she plays. 

Miriam, Analee, Seth and Rebekah making dams. 

Seth, Winnie, Miriam and Analee posing by the ancient shark model. 

Analee and Miriam using brushes to look for fossils in the quarry.

Our third stop: The Museum of Natural Curiosity.

Winnie, Miriam, Rebekah and Analee playing in the Discovery Garden. 

Rebekah on the zip line. 

Analee on the teeter totter. 

Winnie in the hall of mirrors. 

 Analee's marquee.

 Analee, Seth and Winnie getting blown by tornado-strength wind.

Winnie and Andrea getting blown around. 

Winnie playing in the water. All the kids ended up soaked, which is why we waited to do this until the end.

We went back to the hotel for dinner again, followed by sleep, followed by more continental breakfast the next morning. 

Our last day in Utah, we took a final dip in the pool, checked out of the hotel, spent an hour at the Provo D.I. (holy goodness, it's the best D.I. in the world and twice as big as any other I've ever seen). Then we visited President and Sister Christensen, Seth's mission president, at their home (Rebekah and Analee played card games, Miriam and Winnie watched Studio C on my phone) before getting lunch. Our last bit of sightseeing included the Monte L. Bean Museum and a trip to the BYU Creamery.

Getting to touch samples of aquatic life at the museum. 

Checking out the stuffed hippo. 

It was a ridiculously warm 70 degrees outside, so we opted to eat our ice cream en plein air. 

Analee and Rebekah with their ice cream.

The trip was a fun precursor to Thanksgiving festivities, which will follow in the next blog post.