I love that the shopping is done and we can just relax and enjoy being together. On Wednesday night, Keenan and I enjoyed the evening with friends from his mission (MaryJane and Erin McGuire, JoAnna and Jeff Lyons and kids and Holly Harvey). We had yummy pea soup, bread, gouda cheese and apple cake for dessert. We had the usual gift exchange. Jo had to select the gift wrapped in Justin Bieber paper because she likes him. We've been getting together for this party for years - since before Kamiko was born. It's always fun.
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| JoAnna Lyons with the Justin Bieber present |
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| I'm wearing the God Jul apron dad brought me from Sweden! |
On Thursday, we had mom and dad and Mike come over for dinner, then we went up to South Jordan to our friends' house to see their nativity sets from all over the world. It's a humanitarian project. They buy from artisans from 3rd world countries and sell them on their website, then donate any extra to humanitarian projects. In 8 years, they have donated over $150,000 to humanitarian projects. Quite the effort and shows what a difference one person can make.
Friday, we went shopping with Mike. The world didn't end, as the Mayan calendar had predicted. I did let Kobi spend the night on Thursday, against all rules, since the world was ending. It was a special occasion, after all. We shopped then enjoyed lunch at Jason's Deli. I went to work to pick up a present. It was an attachment for the Blendtec. I also got a card with a little Christmas bonus in it. Yippee!!! That makes three of us who got bonuses - Kamiko, Allie and me! I bought black boots to celebrate.
Saturday, mom and dad and Mike came over for turkey dinner with all the fixins. I then relaxed and watched a Christmas movie on the iPad. I watched another one on Sunday. I love the cheesy made-for-TV Christmas movies.
Church was nice on Sunday. I wore a super cute red corduroy skirt Rachel gave me. The primary lesson was all about the wise men following the star and giving gifts to Jesus to worship him. We talked about gifts and especially gifts of service. They acted out the wise men's visit and made cards with acts of service in them to give on Christmas. Cute Taryn Wendell and I were dressed opposite of each other so we had to take a picture. I love that Gage Nebeker took the picture and cut part of my head off. Pretty good job for a 7 year old. The kids are great. Rachel Rose prayed in her closing prayer that their new primary teacher will be nice. I am sure he/she will be.
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| Thanks for the skirt, Rachel. I feel like Christmas. You can't tell, but I was wearing my new boots! |
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| Alaina, Gage Nebeker, Taryn Wendell, Rachel Rose and Jack Stephenson (he joined us from next door) |
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| me and my curly blonde-haired buddy, Taryn. I love this girl! |
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| The cupcakes I made for them to decorate were good - at least Gage thought they were! |
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| Got enough sprinkles, Gage? |
In sacrament meeting, we had a number of people bare their testimony of Christ. I especially liked our neighbor Dave Sweetwood's comments. He said he prefers Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays. There are a lot of holidays and all are fun, but if all other holidays went away, it wouldn't have much effect on us and our eternal well-being. If, however, Christmas went away, that would have a dramatic effect. Very true. I am one who says "Merry Christmas." After church, we kinda relaxed, ate left-overs and I watched another Christmas movie.
After church, Melia did work on her bedroom. She decorated this wall, using pages from various magazines. It's much like one in Allie's room. I think it looks really cool.
Somewhere in all of this, Mom and Mike and I took a trip to the new outlet mall at Traverse Mountain, right by us. Mom and I couldn't believe the bathrooms. We had to take a picture. The grande lobby was just as impressive. In fact, Mike suggested we hold our family party there instead of at mom and dad's house. :)
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| Lounge area attached to the bathroom! Wow! |
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