A White Christmas for sure

Life ground to a halt today. We're snowed in. Want to know how much we got in one day? Notice the ruler in Josh's hand. Now you see it.



Now you don't.



So although I had errands to run and things to do, none of that happened. We did the only thing you can do when you have that much snow. We played!


This is our snow fort, with the legs of Jeff and Josh poking out either side. It was getting dark and we were still at it.

In other news, on Sunday we headed up to Temple Square where Megyn sang with her choir. Here she is in the south visitor's center. She also got to perform in the Assembly Hall. They sounded amazing.

Getting older. . .

Yesterday was my birthday. We had a busy weekend. As any December-born knows, birthdays are more likely forgotten that remembered during the holiday rush. I'm used to it and it doesn't really bother me anymore. I did get to speak to some family members and that was wonderful.
However, I did get to celebrate a little this weekend. Friday night Chris took me to a really nice restaurant which is something we rarely do. Neither one of us can justify spending a week's-worth of groceries on one meal--very often. The menu was pretty exotic. Chris ordered the wild boar but I stayed close to home and ordered a steak. It was really good too.
Saturday we hosted a dinner party at our home. We have a group that we get together with every month or two. We all bring part of the meal and have a nice time chatting. There is always one story that brings a good laugh. My friend who brought the dessert knew it was my birthday and her husband's birthday was Friday so she wrote, "Happy Birthday" on the cake and the rest of them sang to us.
Sunday was just Sunday. What more can I say? Jack tends to be a little fussy at church because he won't sleep. I rarely get to sit through any of the lessons. One highlight though was that Kennedy sang for the Christmas program. She and one other little girl sang, "Picture a Christmas". She was asked just a week ago to sing this song and she had never heard it before so we had to practice really hard all week. She did really well though.
Today I had a pretty strange day. About half way through the day I started feeling really dizzy and nauseous. It was so bad that I had to call a friend to come help me with my kids. I spend the rest of the day lying in bed. I think I'm a little better now so maybe I will go have some cake. . .

Temple Square

Its funny that Tyff was just saying how she is excited to go see the lights at Temple Square, because Brendon and I just did that. Brendon had it planned out to go after we both got home on Wednesday. So, we got Michael fed and dressed and headed up to SLC. After driving around to find a parking place, (it was so much easier when Tyff and Jason lived like a block away) we got Michael all bundled up and headed toward Temple Square.

I think I forget how beautiful the lights are because every year when we see them I'm still in a shock and awe stage when we first arrive. Michael seemed to enjoy the lights, he just chilled in his stroller as we walked around the grounds. It was a chilly evening, about 32 degrees, but as you can see Michael had plenty of blankets to keep him warm. Brendon ended up carrrying him towards the end anyways.

We walked all around the grounds and we saw these really cool luminers that neither one of us remember ever being there. Some were made out of metal and the others were made from paper bags.

These are just a few of the metal ones, there were lots of different pictures. Well, I just wanted to put these pictures up for all of those people who are not able to see "The lights at Temple Square." Here are a few other pictures to leave you with. Hope all is well with everyone! We love you all!

"I can't put my arms down!"

I got Siennah all bundled up to go outside yesterday and she looked like the kid on A Christmas Story! I couldn't stop laughing! Siennah just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "outside?".
So, is everyone ready for Christmas? After Thanksgiving with the in-laws I'm really excited to have Christmas with our family. I got our house all decorated but I'm sad that none of my family will get to see how cute it looks! I hate being far away during the holidays. I can't wait to take Siennah to Temple Square to see the lights. Whenever we go anywhere at night she gets all excited seeing the houses with lights. She says, "ooooh look!". It's so cute!
Our cul-de-sac made these big stockings for our yards and they have a spot light on them at night. It looks really cool to turn onto our street and see them all lit up.



I hope you are all doing well. I miss and love you all!
Love, Tyff

Lost?

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know the video I was working on over Thanksgiving is completed, and has been entered into the contest I made it for. The contest in question was to make a music video for a song from Coldplay, a popular band nowadays, called Lost? So my video buddies and I got together and came up with this. Coldplay posted it on their page, so it's one of 800 or so videos in consideration for the grand prize. Results are out tomorrow. Here's the link. Let me know what you think. Pardon the rhyme. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnIeAVvt9U

I call the drumstick!

So sorry it has taken so long to put something up, we've been pretty busy here. And to make things worse, I didn't really take any pictures in Beaver. I know that Grandma took a bunch, but I think she needs some help getting them onto her computer. (hint, hint, Lyss) But here are the pictures that were taken.

This is the puzzle that was pretty much the entertainment for the weekend. The girls and I would spend what seemed like forever looking for a particular piece, and then Jeff would walk right up to the table and find it in a matter of seconds.

"I CALL THE DRUMSTICK!"

I'll give you all one guess on who the smart one is who exclaimed this..... ME! HAHA! I was thinking of a chicken. Grandma told me that the wishbone is what you should call for on a turkey. (Who got that by the way?) When I took a look at the turkey, I sure was glad that they didn't hold me to the whole drumstick thing. There was no way I could eat it all.

"Where two dead ends meet."

We were all getting ready to play a game when Mom said, "They started out shoulder to shoulder and moved down, now they're behind to behind." That got everyone's attention and I jumped up to snap this shot, when Grandpa said, "Where two dead ends meet." That of course got everyone laughing and I was barely able to get this picture before Derek woke up.

Hope all is well with everyone! And next time we have a family gathering where Christi has challenged us all to post something, everyone should bring cameras and take their own pictures. I think it would be fun to see what turns up and that picture thats worth a thousand words might be yours!

The Day After Thanksgiving

Since we all seem to be waiting for Mom and Taylor to post pictures of Thanksgiving in Beaver, I'll write about what we did the day after Thanksgiving.
No, better yet, here's a picture. This little nativity scene was hand crafted at Grandma Mary's kitchen table using dough made from bread crumbs and glue. Many hands helped with the sculpting, which took up several hours on Friday. The painting was done after we returned home.
Besides sculpting, we finished a record two 750-piece puzzles in three days. We also played games, watched movies and ate leftover pie. A nice, relaxing holiday.

Day Before Thanksgiving

Well I'm leaving it up to Tay and Grandma to post the Thanksgiving that took place in Beaver. I would, but I don't have any of the pictures that were taken, they do. It was a great Thanksgiving though. I loved having the BYU students there with us, and also watching the Cowboys dominate! Me and Derek decided that we're good luck when we watch the game, they score. :) Anyway so what I'm gonna post is from the 2 days before Thanksgiving. 3 of my friends and I, made a quick road trip up to Provo for one night. The missionaries that taught Mary went home on Thanksgiving day, and the day before they had their last testimony meeting and invited us to attend it. We stayed in Murray and my friend Aubrie's relatives house, the best part of it was, their house was huge, AND her cousin is friends with David Archuleta. Me and Mary thought ourselves pretty cool to sit in chairs and be in a house that David Archuleta was in. Hehe. Anyway so before the meeting we met up with more of my friends in Murray for lunch and then headed to Temple Square to spend some time at the visitors center and walk around the temple.

It was a beautiful day at Temple Square, we must have spent almost 3 hours there. Then the time came for us to get pretty in our Sunday clothes and drive to Provo. The testimony meeting was amazing. By the end, Mary and I were both bawling. It's crazy how much the missionaries not only changed Mary's life, but mine. It was hard to say goodbye. The sister missionary's name is Sister Beck. Mary and I met her at the visitors center in St.George. She quickly became such an inspiration and good friend to both of us. It was lucky that there were 3 missionaries that taught us, all at the same meeting. This is Elder Carver, Mary is determined to marry him :) Which I do not blame her, he was a great missionary and person in general. We all grew to love him and cried when he was transferred. And there we are taking our pit stop at the Beaver Chevron! Oh and I can't forget our friend Aubrie, our designated driver. She has become one of my best friends. We had a great, and very spiritual time!