Independence Day Weekend Fun

We had volunteered to host the extended family, Family Home Evening for July. My Grandmother had been pressuring me to sign up for one of the months because there were still so many months open. I told her that I didn't think anyone would make the 3 hour drive just for a Family Home Evening. She said that we didn't have to do it on Monday, we could host it any day of the week and that we should just host it and see what happens. So we talked about it and decided to host July, because of the 4 day weekend for many people, and see what happens.
I made a Facebook event for it, and a digital invite that we emailed to all the family making it official. 
Here is how it went.

Thursday before the holiday, I drove to Tucson, baby in tote, to pick up my cousin Brad's girlfriend Amber from the Tucson airport (tiny place). Brad is stations at the post near our home and this was the first time they were actually meeting each other. They met on the internet through mutual friends, and had been corresponding that way for over a year. That amazes me. At knowing my husband for a year of our lives, we were already married and expecting our child.  She isn't a member of the church but she is such a sweetheart. I enjoyed hosting her for the weekend. 
So back to the events. We had Brad and Amber over all weekend.Saturday morning was our ward's Independence Day Annual Pancake Breakfast. The primary children sang "My Country Tis of Thee" and "My Flag, My Flag". They were cute, but we had only practiced with the SR primary and planned on just having JR primary hold the flags (learning German I didn't feel would spare the time for learning the patriotic songs), this was bad because almost all the children who showed up were JR primary. Everyone in our ward was super welcoming to Brad and Amber. It really made an impression on Amber.
The only other family that came down was my sister and her husband with their 2 children. Baby Al was in heaven with cousins to play with all the time. And my dad came down. That in itself is eventful because my dad never leaves town over a holiday weekend. He avoids it at all cost. In addition to that, my mom was going to be at Girl's Camp, and I didn't think he'd want to come without her.  Side note, we've always joked that if our mother passed away before him, that he would eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and if he couldn't buy it at Costco, he'd never eat it, good thing for us you can buy just about anything at Costco these days.
We had our FHE, it was simple. Not tailored to children though so by the end of it, the only non-baby child was really restless. But he was doing great considering. We fed everyone well all weekend. My favorite thing we made was homemade ice cream. That is a huge tradition for me, it the yummies tradition. My husband and I had continued with this tradition. This year we made two flavors: Blueberry with Fresh blueberries, and Mint Cookies-n-Cream.  Both made as low fat as we knew how and as low-sugar as possible. The only sugar in the Blueberry was the natural sugar from the berries, and the Oreos were reduced fat. It was all made with Spenda and non-fat half & half. Awesome. After calculating the points it was about 2 points for a 1/2 cup. Thats the same as the Fat Free ice cream- but tasted way better.
Church on Sunday was normal. It was odd taking up so much of the row, and to have so many more children (our one, plus my sister's 2) to keep from running away. But Sunday night we drove into town to see the city's firework show. AWESOME show. Living near a military base does have perks. I'm glad my family got to see the show so they can confirm our bragging to be true. It makes me always want to stay in Sierra Vista for the 4th of July.

Monday morning my family needed to head home. Before completely leaving town we made a trip over to Tombstone for lunch. We went to the Longhorn. I absolutely love the Apple Cobbler and their Death by Chocolate. I have no idea what the points were but I didn't care. So good.
Amber went home on Tues. I took her back to Tucson and she went home.
I loved having my family over. We love having visitors! We live in such an awesome place and I love showing it off to friends and family. Not to mention it just nice to have family. But when the weekend it over. It does feel nice to have my house all to myself again and our lives on some sort of a normal schedule. 
Have a great summer everyone.

My Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies/Shows

I love to watch Christmas movies, I am a Christmas movie junkie. I have a very large collection of them. Cartoons, puppets, live actions- everything. It was actually really hard to narrow down to just ten. In the process I left out some great ones like- 'Its a Wonderful Life', 'White Christmas', 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', and many others. I love 'Christmas Carol' movies, and watch multiple every year, but I didn't want to list all of them. I love all these too, watch them every year- but they just didn't make my top ten of the day. Some of it is I want to share favorites that mean something to me and that you might not know about.

• 10- Stalking Santa (2006): This is just fun. there is no seriousness about it. It takes all the major paranormal conspiracies and makes them all about Santa.

• 9- In the Good Old Summertime (1949): I was trying to leave off the list movies that just happen to take place around Christmas (Meet Me in Saint Louis, Serendipity, While You Were Sleeping, Little Women...) but this particular film made the list because it always makes me all happy about Christmas. Yes the title is deceiving. The film does begin the the spring but you follow the characters through the year until the climax on Christmas Eve. If you haven't see it, you may have seen its modern remake, 'You Got Mail'.
• 8- The Nativity Story (2006): There are many great short films showing the events of surrounding the real meaning of Christmas. But when it comes to a full length movie, this one is the best.
• 7- Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy (1986): This movie is the original 'Toy Story' movie. As a child we loved this movie. We were in awe at it and kept trying to see if we could catch our toys being 'alive'. Why is the movie so special? Because it contains real magic.
• 6-Elf (2003): I was on my mission when this movie came out. As a missionary I heard and knew nothing about it-yet my family kept quoting it to me in letters and then after I got home they quoted it all the time. If you haven't caught on my family quotes movies, there is normally one movie that most of the quotes come from and until a new movie comes out that takes the cake, that one gets all the quotes (order in time: 'Chicken Run', 'Elf', 'Napoleon Dynamite', 'Meet the Robinsons'). I made a point of seeing this movie so I could laugh and quote it. Its a dang funny movie, and again just plain fun.
  
• 5- Miracle on 34th Street (1947): I do enjoy both versions of this story. But if I had to pick one that I enjoy more it is the Maureen O'Hara. I think the black and white of the original makes it all that more nostalgic.
  
• 4- Noelle (2007): I know I've wrote a review on this movie before (December of last year). I'm a fan of independent films, especially ones that are done really well. This one is done well. It moves a little slow, but the message is so heart warming. It is just a beautiful story.
• 3- Muppet Family Christmas (1987): Again with the Muppets. I just love the Muppets. I'm about as much of a Muppet junkie as I am a Christmas movie junkie. This one is chaulk full of Holiday songs, jokes and fun. Can anything be more fun than the being at home with the Muppets.
• 2- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1983): My family loves the book. We read it every year. It is a tradition. This movie isn't word for word of the book, but it certainly is completely true to it. Its a story of a church group, that has a family of rowdy mean kids come in and take the main roles of the Christmas program. Too adorable.
• 1- The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): I love the Muppets and I love A Christmas Carol. Wow the best of both worlds. Plus Michael Caine is the best Scrooge. A Christmas Carol hasn't been as much fun, witty, and inspiring since Dickens wrote it himself. Best ever-that's why its my number one.

Merry Christmas and I hope you and yours can enjoy some great Holiday films.

Merry Christmas

Hello and Merry Christmas from the our family, now with 50% more of us over previous Christmas letters! Al was born on May 1^st, and at the time of this writing is soundly asleep (sigh!) in his crib. He is the most amazing blessing, and raising him is both the most rewarding and most humbling experience either of us has had to date. He is adorable, especially with an audience – indisputable proof of his lineage.

When not fawning over our son, we’re happily busy with our new home. We bought a house on an acre, and positively love it. Both of us would love to stay in the Sierra Vista area, and hopefully we’ll be able to raise our children in this beautiful and roomy house. In addition, Cory is still in school, expecting to graduate in September 2010, and still loves his job. Tasanee continues to throw herself into her calling as Primary Music Leader, coming up with inventive new lessons for the primary children.

We have been so blessed in our lives, and are deeply indebted to God for His mercy and generosity. We hope the same can be said of your lives. We’re excited to hear of the exploits of all our friends this past year. Until then, and until our next missive, Merry Christmas and my God bless you and yours with all your needs.

Love,

Our family

Our Christmas Tree

Last year our angel had to bend in order to fit in our home.

This year in our new home, Our tree sort of looks short. When it comes time to get a new tree, we could easily get one that is taller.

These are my favorite ornaments that we got this year.

I picked this one because my husband loves stain glass and it has that sort of look to it.

The other ones have Al and Cory on them.

Advent Calendar

I was thinking about the felt nativity advent calendar that we grew up and was wondering how I could get one for our family. I didn't find one online that I liked, but I found something much more fun. I found a sight (http://lds.about.com/od/visualmusicalaids/a/adventcalendar.htm) with paper Nativity that can be used as an advent calendar. You print it out (for free). It can be printed in color, or in Black and White to color yourself. You cut them out out, find a place to put them up and put one up every day. There is a suggested daily order. On the same site is a link to a nativity advent calendar that was in the church Friend Dec 2000. But if you go to this site I found they have enlarged the version of the one found on the church website. These could be used as visuals for a sharing time or singing time or to use them in your home.

Merry Christmas

Start of a New Era with a New Building

When I was a about a year my parents bought a house and moved in. One of the reasons of why they chose that location was that a brand new meetinghouse was being built down the street. They liked the idea of living close enough to a meetinghouse to walk to church. I grew up going to services in this building and running in its halls. I didn't realize how attached I was to a building until November 19, 2007. At 2am we were awaken by neighbors telling us that the church was on fire. It was arson. I don't know anything about the current investigation or if anyone has even been arrested- but for some reason I don't think anyone has been.

The church in flames was a sight to see. It was almost nothing in such a short amount of time. Thank goodness no one was inside at the time, and no one was hurt. We all stood on the street watching the building burn while in our pajamas.

In the morning there was little left, but a shell and a standing steeple. There were so many worries that The Church wasn't going to rebuild. My parent's ward was sent to a building about 10 minutes away, and all the other wards in the building were sent to other buildings to hold their services. For months there was no answer to what was going to be done. In fact, it was almost a year before it was announced that the building was going to be rebuilt. Anytime I drove by the empty lot, I felt a hole in me. One of the factors that influenced the choice to rebuild in this spot was the outcry from the neighbors (not members of the Church) who express concerns and that they miss having the building there. That was special because so often in a ward you hear about how the ward around the building begrudges that fact that they have to do with the building, with the view blocked, with the traffic (more then just one day a week too), with all the little perky members. But to hear that they missed it and wanted it rebuilt was comforting.

The new building went up so quickly. It was dedicated a few weeks ago now. I attended church with my family while visiting them this last weekend, and it still smells strongly of paint and new things. Its a beautiful building, its not the same. I am grateful they rebuilt. I'm grateful that my parents could again walk to church. One thing that is comforting, is that building or no building, it doesn't change that the Church is True!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Traditions:

Since its Christmas Eve I can’t help but think about past Christmas Eve traditions. What traditions do your families have?

My family- each Christmas season we’d read the book “the Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara Robinson. I think that out of all my favorite Christmas Traditions this is my most favorite. I love this book.

Also to me Christmas is more Christmas Eve, than Christmas Day itself. Christmas Eve was the day I anticipated. When I have not been home for Christmas it is the day I feel the most homesick on. We would visit all our grandparents, sing carols, go caroling, read the Christmas story (from Mathew and Luke), play Christmas Scattergories (I took the idea of Scattergories, and then perform for grandparents and family, we’d finish reading “the Best Christmas Pageant Ever”, we’d talk about our spiritual goals for the next year, and open one gift. But it wasn’t just the things we did. It was the time we spend as a family and with all of our extended family, it was the singing together, and the anticipation of the next day. I love Christmas Eve.

My Husband’s family-since they were a military family, they rarely lived near family. So the large family gatherings on Christmas Eve were not apart of my husband’s childhood. Instead they would eat dinner, maybe watch a movie, and then open a gift or two before going to bed. Then Christmas morning they have quiche for breakfast.

So this year we’re doing what would be ideal to me backwards. We’re spending Christmas Eve down here with Cory’s parents and then driving up to Phoenix to spend Christmas afternoon/evening with my family. Ideally we’d do it the other way around, but we need to be up in Phoenix the rest of the weekend. At one point, my in laws asked if we’d want to cancel doing anything on Christmas Eve because Cory’s brother won’t be in town until almost midnight, and just do everything Christmas morning. I said that was unexceptable and that I had to do something Christmas Eve. So I’ve prepared my Christmas Scattergories, and I hope we can have some tradition tonight, if for no other reason than to make me less homesick.

For anyone interested in Christmas Scattergories, it works the same as normal Scattergories, except its Christmas themed. Have fun, and please share your traditions with me.

Christmas Scattergories

List 1

1. Words associated with Nativity

2. Ways to count down to the 25^th

3. Christmas Movie

4. Something Green

5. Tradition for church, work, school

6. Modern Christmas Song

7. Words associated with Santa

8. Myth about Christmas

9. Gift for Mothers

10. Something you make

Christmas Scattergories

List 2

1. Something to put on a tree

2. Name for Christ

3. Article of Winter clothing

4. Symbol for Christmas

5. Word associated with a Christmas Carol

6. Desserts

7. Christmas Character

8. Gift from Grandparents

9. Phrase from the Bible

10. Toy

Christmas Scattergories

List 3

1. Holiday food

2. Decoration

3. Something Red

4. White Elephant gift

5. Traditional Christmas Song

6. Way to tell Santa what you want

7. Something used by Mary and Joseph

8. Holiday Tradition

9. Something found in a Stocking

10. Gifts you return