Thirty-five (For those of You Who are Counting)

Yep.  I turned thirty-five.

Funny...when I was in elementary school, there was a TV series called thirtysomething.  I remember thinking,  Thirty-something?  That is soooo old! 

Ahem.  Well, I was totally misguided at the time, wasn't I?

I also remember that in elementary school a year took for-ev-er to cycle through.  Come to find out, a year is really only a blink of an eye.  My point is this: You can't depend on a grade-school child's concept of time.  It's totally warped! 

(So basically, I want all who read this to know that I really am not "soooo old.")  But I digress....

So I had a birthday, and I started the day off right with a Zumba workout and a shower.  To conclude the day, I got to pick the restaurant we ate at.  I chose Texas Roadhouse, I chose steak and shrimp, and I chose NOT to sit on the birthday saddle and make a fool of myself. No bag of peanuts is worth the humiliation. When we came home, Jason had opted to do something a little different than cake, so we had dessert pizzas from Brick Oven.  They were delicious.  Ella helped me blow out the candle.  We figured she needed some practice for her big day in a couple of weeks.

One of my birthday gifts was the 25th anniversary Blu Ray of The Princess Bride.  I was in fifth grade when that movie was first released.  I thought it was fantastic.  As it turns out, it is just as fantastic now as it was 25 years ago.  Huh...I guess you can trust a grade-school child's opinion on some things.

This post authored by Amber

First Night

 

On the agenda for New Year's Eve:

*finally get around to watching the Sherlock Holmes film A Game of Shadows which I've had in my possession for months now and haven't even seen,

*get pizza for the children and then have Brevin tend the rest while I go on a date with Jason to Sizzler, 

*make sure to take plenty of photographs of everyone posing in their snazzy 2013 glittered glasses,

*let Jason and Brevin watch Mission:Impossible on Netflix and all the others watch The Lorax while I frantically try to finish up a grant application for the PTA that has a deadline of December 31, 2012,

*watch the ball drop in Time Square and give my husband a celebratory kiss on the stroke of midnight,

* go out on the front porch and into the frigid cold to light some sparklers,

* and make a list of resolutions for the coming year 2013.  Nah.  I think we're good!

 On the agenda for New Year's Day:

*play in the snow

* and get everyone to bed early!

 

 

This post authored by Amber

Good Morning!

Christmas morning came.  Brevin and Spencer patiently waited in the basement until Garrett and Ella woke up and everyone could be called into the front room to see what gifts Santa brought.  It was close to 8:00 a.m. before the parade of excited children entered the room and were greeted with gifts (and parents "armed" with cameras).

 Santa honored every request, no matter how strange.

 Garrett is a "chocoholic."  I'm sure it's no secret 

why this stocking stuffer made him happy.

 It must have been such a novelty for Santa to bring 

these kind of feminine things to our house.

After an hour of admiring our new acquisitions, it was a good time to take a break for breakfast.  I found a lovely recipe, courtesy of Our Best Bites, for an overnight sausage and egg casserole that was prepared the night before and ready to go in the oven when we awoke.  It was so simple and delicious, and it made our home smell delightful.  Fruit smoothies and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls were used to round off our scrumptious meal.

When the breakfast table was cleared, we gathered in the front  room again to open gifts from under the tree.  We also had a chance to see what gifts each family member had given to the person whose name they had drawn.

 Ella was given a set of  plush puppies in a carrying tote from Dad.  

While there were only four, she managed to count ten "goggies."

 Brevin gave Spencer a night vision Nerf basketball.

 Ella gave Brevin a night vision Nerf football.

 Garrett gave me the Wii video game Just Dance 4. 

We like to have jam sessions together.

 Spencer gave Garrett a pair of Stompeez slippers.  It was truly a generous

 offering, since Spencer really wanted to get a pair for himself (but did not).

 I gave Jason some new cologne and handed the camera off to Spencer 

so he could snap some photos of us.  We laughed when we saw our 

heads cut off as he was clearly focusing on the gift alone, but then he 

got a great picture of the two of us together.  I love it!

The holiday season of 2012 was one of great abundance.  There was an abundance of gifts, and abundance of food, an abundance of time with family, and an abundance of love.  We feel so blessed to have enjoyed it all together.

This post authored by Amber

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

For our family, Christmas Eve have become as distinctly traditional as the actual Christmas day.  We have a special meal (usually turkey), served on china with fancy linens, and topped off with a celebratory drink of Martinelli's sparkling cider:

 

We allow the children to open one gift on Christmas Eve. They know it's new pajamas.  What they didn't expect was a new fleece blanket, too:

 

Just before bed, we light the candles on a cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  We then relight the candles multiple times so each child can have their own turn at blowing them out:
 

I do try to take a picture of everyone in their new pajamas before putting them in bed to dream of sugar plums, but Ella wanted no part of it.  As you can see, Garrett really didn't either:

"Alrighty, then.  It's off to bed with you!"

This post authored by Amber

Extended Celebrations

Christmas is a time for gathering with extended family and sharing traditions that define our family's holidays and remind us of our heritage.  And, of course, it's a time for eating obscene amounts of delicious food.  We are blessed to be a part of two wonderful families who make efforts to come together at this special time of year.

On  the Saturday before Christmas, we traveled to Farr West, Utah to be with my family.  Jenny was gracious to host us in her home and even made arrangements for us to have a family photo shoot.  It was especially important that our "family orchard" get an updated photograph since this will be the last time we will all be assembled for quite a while.  Three children of my siblings will be serving full-time missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the months to come, thus beginning a trend that will be followed with overlapping of departures and returns of many cousin missionaries for years to come.  It made this gathering of singular importance.

We kicked off the festivities with dip party foods. Once everyone had something to eat, we gathered up and headed to our photo shoot location.  Jenny had a neighbor who was willing to allow us to use their red barn and sheds as a backdrop for pictures.

Once we took enough pictures to muster a smile out of Garrett, we headed back to the house for some planned activities.  We watched The Nativity, followed by a sharing of testimonies from Jessica, Riley, and Braxton, the soon-to-be missionaries.  The "Grab Bag" was held and we had family gift exchanges. 

It was a perfectly enjoyable time.

 

 Garrett was pretty stoked to get a can of Pringles in the "Grab Bag."

On the very following Sunday, we had a chance to meet together with Jason's family.  We started the evening off much like the night before--with delicious food.  After our meal, we played a game where we guessed the phrases from assorted Christmas carols.  We were then challenged to find all of Grandpa Park's hidden chocolate mice.

Once all the mice were found (and some consumed), we participated in a family talent show where our children sang Spongebob's song, Don't Be a Jerk.  It's Christmas, and I sang Kenneth Cope's Miracle From Heaven.  

Once again, we had a perfectly enjoyable time.

 Can you spot the chocolate mouse in the yellow boxcar?

 Garrett was pretty stoked to get a glimpse of the little vermin.

He was also pretty excited to eat it. 

 (Now, if only we could get him as excited to take a family photo.)

This post authored by Amber

No Dreaming Necessary...

...Christmas Will Be White.

As of late, there have been some really good snowstorms dropping significant amounts of snow around these parts, and the forecasts show an actual snowfall to commence on Christmas Eve and carry on through Christmas day.  We won't wait until then to enjoy it, though!

This post authored by Amber