Christmas in Utah

The final post for 2012! We had a wonderful Christmas with the Gibbons Family in Utah. It was short, but fun. The usual winter sicknesses passed around, but the festivities and annual traditions were still as to be expected. We had a blast!

Aunt Tara created some games for the kids and one was a ball toss into a snowman cutout. Tessa had to have Grandma's help. They also played Christmas Bingo.


Everyone got to help cut out sugar cookies and then decorate them. That made for a lot of cookies that were left out for Santa.

The annual talent show was a big hit like always. Every grandkid participated which I thought was cool. Abby had prepared a song to sing, but we didn't practice how she needed to be seen, so she was hiding behind the iPad which was her accompaniment. She still did a great job. Tessa decided last minute to play her rendition of "Joy to the World" which she figured out on her own that starting at the highest note on the piano she can play the first full line of the song. As my shy one, I was very impressed that she did it without getting scared. And she even did it a second time when Aunt Lora missed recording it the first time.

Aubrey, who had just woken up from a nap after being sick all evening even decided to participate by singing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. She had to sit on my lap and we asked everyone to join us, but she sang it too and it was great. Here's the picture I took of Aubrey while she napped. We thought it was so cute how she cupped her face with her hands.

Freddie made an appearance during the talent show as he's a crowd favorite. Uncle Tim dresses up with a wig and teeth and sings some hilarious songs. We even got a Christmas gift of a full cd of Freddie's songs. It's seriously hilarious.

There's always a pinata and this year it was a snowman. Everyone takes a turn hitting it, youngest to oldest. I think it went around twice before Andrew (the oldest grandkid at 13) pounded it open.

Abby self-appointed herself in charge of the Nativity this year. She and her cousins made sure everyone had a part that wanted one and took care of all the costumes. They even got Tyler to be the donkey to carry Mary. With all the girls in the family, we always have lots of angels. They all performed beautifully.

Everyone gets to open their new pjs Christmas Eve. I love how Grandma and Grandpa can finding matching pajamas when the sizes range from like 6 months to size 10. It was awesome! This is my favorite picture of the entire trip. Everyone is smiling and looking adorable.


And we finally took some time Christmas Day to play in the snow. Here's a couple of them playing and making snow angels outside the house.

I had to get a picture of Taryn with her cousin Anson. They're just over two months apart, but both were holding on and cruising along everything. Poor Anson found the stairs and took a tumble so he had a nice little Rudolph nose from a carpet burn just in time for Christmas. I love how they have the same color eyes. Every time I'd see Anson I'd think "he's just a boy version of my Taryn." Little cuties!

Abby's Birthday and Baptism

Even though Christmas separated Abby's birthday and her baptism, I decided to post them together since they were only a couple weeks apart. Abby was allowed to invite 8 girls to a birthday party that we had the weekend before her actual birthday. She planned the entire event herself. She decided on the time, the games, the movie, the food, and the invitations which she made mostly herself. Seven of the 8 girls were able to come, so we had a great time. Abby wanted to sing as one of her activities, so I thought it'd be cute to record the girls singing and make cds for them to take home. It took longer than I thought, but we were able to do it and even put a cover on the cd with a picture of all the girls. It was a lot of fun.

Abby's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, but it happened to be the school's Wellness Walk Wednesday where parents are encouraged to come walk with their children during their PE class, so the younger girls and I got to see Abby at school on her birthday and have lunch with her. She showed off her mad hoola hooping skills, which she's very into these days.

 

Abby was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 29th. We are so proud of her and her decision. We were able to combine the day with a friend, Kai Mesarch, and they were both baptized the same day. (The Mesarch family is the ones who took us rock climbing.) We had pictures of the kids taken together to make invites to send to friends in the ward and neighborhood. I worked all night long to finish making Abby's dress so she could wear it for the pictures. It turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

We took a lot of pictures the day of the baptism, but I completely forgot to have one taken of our entire family. Oh well, I was just glad to get the pictures I did, and Abby was so happy and excited.

 

Both sets of grandparents were able to be there. They sang a musical number with members of Kai's family too and Grandma Gibbons gave a prayer and Grandpa Black gave one of the talks. 

 

 

Abby had lots of friends from the ward and school come and support her, which was awesome. She even had her best friend from Kindergarten, Ella Kramer, there who was visiting from Wichita Falls the same weekend.

 

And I had to get a picture of Abby's new CTR ring. Her Grandpa Gibbons made it for her and she's been looking forward to getting it for a long time. When we were in Utah for Christmas, one of the first questions she asked Grandpa was "are you working on my ring Grandpa." He made one for Grandma and has since been making replicas for each grandchild for when they get baptized.

 Having an 8-year-old sure makes us feel a little old, but Abby is definitely a joy in our family. She's an incredible helper and big sister and we love her so much!

Catch Up in December including Rock Climbing Adventure

With so many events just in December, I want to try and get them all on the blog quickly, so I can finish up 2012 before it's too late into 2013. So to catch up, I'm going to start with all the non-holiday events that happened in December. That's basically decorating for Christmas and an awesome weekend trip we had rock climbing. We'll start with that. While Tyler flew to Idaho for his Grandma Gibbons' funeral, the girls and I were invited to go rock climbing with our friends from church. They go a lot and found a place just up the mountain from our house. It was a bit chilly, but the kids found rocks to climb and explore while we all took turns rock climbing. I was totally impressed with myself just for hiking the short distance to the rock with Taryn on my back. With no where for her to crawl, Taryn was luckily mostly happy hanging out in the backpack as long as you kept the snacks coming.

 

The kids were even able to take turns if they wanted one. Tessa tried first from my family and she got pretty far for her first time. She was very adventurous and even got a second chance which was the most any one got. She was even trying to climb by herself without any ropes because she was too impatient to wait. Aubrey was content exploring the rocks and following the other little kids around.

 I didn't even think Abby would want to try, and she did keep going back and forth deciding if she really wanted to, but once she decided, she did amazing! She went higher than any of the kids and I was completely amazed at how well she did without even getting scared.

 I also took a turn and got to the very top (I was also very impressed with how well I did for my first time). My friend took pictures of me on her phone, but I don't have any copies yet which is fine - they're all of my backside anyway. It was a thrill and we definitely want to go again.

As for other happenings in December, all the girls helped us decorate the house for Christmas. I liked this picture because even Taryn crawled and climbed her way over to see what was in the big bucket of decorations.

 And speaking of Taryn, she is getting everywhere these days. She still doesn't quite walk on her own, but if there's something to hold on to, she can move quite quickly. She loves to get to the stairs and climb up to the landing which is right above our computer desk and just grab the rails and giggle and scream like she's found a secret hiding place. She is just now (like in January) starting to figure out the correct way to come back down the stairs, so we are constantly finding her on the stairs and following her as she goes up to make sure she's okay. She loves to open the window blinds as she walks along the wall, and even open the entire shutter if she can to check out what's happening outside. The girls thought this reindeer headband was cute on Taryn and she didn't seem to mind it either - for a little while anyway.

 

Finally, the girls had Christmas parties at school on their last day before the break. I was able to stop in to see them for a few minutes and I took this picture of Tessa's entire Kindergarten class. It was pajama day for them, and I was happy to get a complete class photo.

 Abby's birthday was the last Wednesday of school before the break and they had an assembly during their PTA meeting where they handed out awards for the Reflections contest. Abby won first place for the Musical Composition category for an original song she wrote and sang. I was so proud of her. Unfortunately, they spelled our last name wrong so she didn't even get to go home with anything because they kept her plaque to have it fixed. We'll be hearing in the next month or so if her entry goes any further in the competition, but we were so proud of her accomplishment.

Thanksgiving and other November Highlights

The busy time of year is here. As December begins, we are busy Christmas shopping, preparing to travel to Utah, planning Abby's birthday (which includes her Baptism this year), and staying involved with parties, activities, and get togethers for school, work, and friends. Like I said - busy! So here's a recap on our November including our Thanksgiving trip back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 

At the girls' school, they had a Career Day and the girls had to make puppets of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Abby chose a chef, and Tessa choose a gymnastics coach. Aubrey had to make a puppet as well. We also got the new Madagascar movie this month. The girls are constantly singing the line from the movie: "Afro circus, afro circus, polkadot, polkadot, polkadot afro." We got the rainbow afro wig with the movie and Taryn let us put it on her one night. Too funny!

The girls also had a Thanksgiving meal at school during lunch time. The younger girls and I went to eat with them. Tessa and the other Kindergarteners got to create their own costumes whether they wanted to be a Pilgrim or a Native American. The room mom took our picture for us. 

 

this is one of my favorite poses for taking pictures. I stood on the bed and got this picture of Tyler with all the girls. The flash was too bright for Taryn, but I liked the picture anyway.

 

 As we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving, Tyler promised the girls we would stay in a hotel with an indoor pool. However, we were only able to find a hotel with a heated pool. We figured it wouldn't be warm enough to swim in the November weather, but it was and they talked us into letting them swim before we headed off on the second leg of the journey. We had to wait for a bit while the pool was cleaned so we used the towels because outside the heated pool, it got a bit chilly.

We had to use my phone to entertain Taryn while we waited, and it helped that Tyler entertained us as well.

 

We loved being with all our family for Thanksgiving. We ate food, played games, did a gift exchange, did crafts, and just hung out. The weather was awesome and we spent a lot of time outside playing frisbee. Tessa found this tree to climb in the church lawn. We also had to take family pictures since it was before John and McKaye's wedding since we had taking any. I really liked this one with the girls and Chloe before leaving the house.

 

Each family wore a different color. We picked yellow so we had to go buy something for Taryn, so I had to take a picture of her in her new outfit. She's such a doll! And I caught this cute one of Aubrey with Rebecca at the Falls which was where we took our pictures.

 

And here's one of the shots of our family.

 

And one with everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving!