Christmas 2016

Christmas is always a good time. This year we tried Luminaria.  This is at Thanksgiving Point Ashton Gardens.  It was their first year.  You can walk all around their gardens that are lit up in all different themes for the different areas of the garden. The had dancing light, they even had areas where specific scents were dispersed for the full experience.  For example the candy cane forest smelled of peppermint, and the flowers garden smelled of Jasmine, the Pine tree area with the reindeer smell like pine and it wasn't the pine trees. They had real reindeer and hot chocolate.  They also had a great area for the families with a life size lightbright set, fire pits for roasting marshmallows, corn hole games, and sled racing. It was so worth the cost.  We had such a great time.

We were blessed to be able to get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert which is always good. It was Scott Ellie William and I because they only allow you to get 4 tickets. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant just before so we could be up there in time then headed over to the conference center They had this awesome larger than life camel puppet the dancers were great but my favorite was the amazing organ player.  He was so super impressive with his feet flying as fast as his fingers.  Of course afterward we had to check out the candy windows at the mall.  I always thought it would be so fun to create one of those.

For Christmas this year we decided to gift Ellie with a car.  We really needed her to have a car so she could run all those errands while Scott and I are at work.  We found this cute little Mazda 3 at a used car dealership that was a steal of a deal.  It had been in a fender bender before but it had all been repaired and this was going to be her first car, she would probably wreck it anyway.  We bought it and hid it at my sister Kate's house.  Kate brought it over on Christmas eve during our family gathering.  I wrapped up a box with things for a car.  Like a key chain, an air freshener, an aux cable and phone charger.  These were all put with a little poem to help her find her car.  I must admit she didn't seem as surprised as I thought she would be.  I think she already knew it was coming, but surprised or not she seemed happy with the car.  We jokingly told her that we've ruined her because she hasn't had to have a POS car that breaks down and falls apart. But lets face it.  I don't have time to pick her up off the side of the road because her car dies.

The Johnson scored us all a cabin for our "Christmas Cabin" up at Sundance.  It was a great cabin with plenty of room for all of us. It was great that it was so close to everything.  The boys snuck out at night to sled down Sundance ski resort because we were so close to the slopes.  It was all groomed so they were hauling down the hill so fast.  With the danger of possible getting caught it made it all the more fun.  Scott and William joined them on a run and this time security was onto them.  Security was driving one of those side by sides with a spot light combing the hills.  Scott and William bailed off to the side of the slope not realizing it was a sheer drop off.  Luckily there was a tree that they landed on right between their legs.  After the danger of the security was gone they tried to climb back up the drop off.  It was a struggle with the edge being so steep and the snow so deep they couldn't dig in their boots.  After what seemed like forever and Scott thinking they just might die on the mountain they finally made it back to the cabin.  It was enough excitement to last them the rest of the weekend.

Ellie MORP May 2017

Ellie was asked to Prom which happened to be at the same time that we were going to Florida.  This was a hard decision for her to make.  This was the first time she had been asked out on a date and it was a boy she liked.  I tried to accommodate her as much as possible.  We talked about her flying home from the vacation early,  we already had a dress she could wear, my sister said they would help her with hair and makeup and take pictures.  My work said they would handle all the flowers.  We could make it work but she would miss a couple days of the vacation.  After much thought and tears on both our part she decided in the end that she would stay with the vacation.
She felt horrible telling the boy she couldn't go so she explained in person and we gave him a candy bar card that asked him to Morp as the rain check.  He said yes to Morp, thankfully he understood.
I tried to make this one up to her so I offered to take pictures of the group and just happened to find the only graffiti in Lehi city.  Its inside an abandoned silo near a park.  I scouted out the park as the potential photo shoot location and I came across this.  With the theme of the dance being Rock and Roll I thought is was very appropriate.  And the pictures turned out pretty good.
She had fun on her first ever date. 

Kids at Cafe Rio

Some days it’s the simple things that bring the family together. I think we are blessed more than some because my kids truly do love to do things together as a family. Whenever there is a family thing they immediately drop their plans to do family stuff. 

This day happened to be a simple lunch date with my kiddos. Weirdo Brennen just had to wear this Mickey Fantasia hat Ellie got him on  her last trip to Disneyland just because he wanted to. I figured it made him feel special. Either way it made us laugh and it’s always a good day when you can laugh together. 

Lesson on repentance

Apparently Peter didn't want Brennen to touch is squirt gun so Brennan decided to recite the Scout oath for Peter to promise him that he wouldn't touch his work.

All of the sudden Peter was worried the breaded would break his oath and that would mean that he would have to go to"heck"

He was so worried about it he asked me if heavenly father ever breaks his promises. I told him no heavenly father never breaks his promises. 

So Peter began to explain to me that he hoped Heavenly Father would break his promise because he was worried that Brennen is going to break his oath and therefore would be sent to "heck" and he didn't want his brother to have to go to "heck". So I we were in the car Peter begin to pray to his heavenly father to have mercy on his brother.

This little car ride turned out to be a wonderful lesson of repentance. I explained the steps to repentance to both boys and told them that as long as the one  who committed the offense repented, heavenly father would have mercy on him and he could be forgiven.

After our discussion both boys felt so much better. Why is it the greatest lessons come in a car ride?

Strange

 

So I told my kids if they were good at the store they could pick out a treat cThis is what Brennen picks out a large head of broccoli. I asked him are you sure you don't want a different kind of treat?  He said no mom I really want this all to myself. Look how excited this kid is. Such a produce junkie. 

He is definitely his grandpa Lucky reincarnated

Universal studios Hollywood Aug 2016

  We ate dinner at this great place right on city walk. They gave us free s'mores that we were able to cook over their open fires. It's great when your kids are surprisingly good and the server is so impressed they give you free stuff. It doesn't happen often but when it does it makes it oh so much sweeter.