the Christmas Crazies

have begun...
Last week I was one of the hostesses for our RS church progressive dinner. My house has not been that clean since the day we moved in. No lie. I scrubbed and wiped and washed and cleansed. It was a good feeling. I didn't shower until 2. It was a lot of fun to have all the ladies come through for my soup station. I cleaned. I did not cook. Here is a photo of my children being entertained by Luke and Darth while I played Cinderella.

The next morning we headed to Utah. You can see how swollen Rori's eyes were. :( They watched movies and D & L iPhoned. I wanted to get to Utah this winter to see friends and to attend our annual Black Tie Christmas Party.
But first we did something fun with the kids. Because apparently the Jumping place in Springville is WAAAAAY better than the one here. (But it's not).


This is D and Daphne. They are about a week apart and destined for each other since before their births. They were so cute together even though they barely remember the other.

I found a recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes. So the girls helped lick all the baking utensils while George made the cupcakes. I was busy putting the final touches on our outfits for the party.

They look like little vampires.

So our Black Tie affair is more like a dress-as-ridiculous as you can affair with white elephanting and good food and lots of fun.
our hosts this year - Ryan & Emily - had some good curry going on.
Newcomers were initiated into the group..


Dusten made these Elf costumes without a single stitch from bathrobes.

And here we are as the the parents from Better Off Dead with one of the gingerbread people who seriously went for it this year. Yes, I made these costumes. Don't laugh.
Good times had by all.

Sunday evening we rode Trax up to Salt Lake with George's brothers and our good friends, Matt & Melissa, and 3 of their children.


It wasn't until we'd been on the deserted grounds for a while that we realized that the Christmas Devotional was going on... ooops.

It was SUPER cold - but my children still acted like they had never experienced snow before. It was out of control. Lilli's hands were constantly looking for the next snow pile to demolish and Mercer was in search of the ever bigger snow chunks to throw at George's back. So much for reverence and respect on the temple grounds.... Thanks Matt & Melissa for coming out with us!!!



John and Ryan introduced us to Modern Family on ABC. :)

On Monday I hit Ikea while George got 8 more loaves a bread (does that answer your question Cassie? It is NEVER enough). Then we met up with Vinny & Tierney for lunch (NO PHOTO :( ) at Cafe Rio of course. So fun to see them again. Then we hit the road for home! And we made it in 11 hours. Not bad for us. But if you've seen the van.... But isn't it too cold for a car wash?!

Fun Facts: Did you know there in a In 'N' Out now in Orem?
Did you know that they have over 50 people working there at any one time to handle the demand?

Also - kids have a lot of faith. Sunday night, Rori was so tired of her eyes having "a infection" that she wanted to say a prayer. She asked me to say it so we said a special prayer to our Heavenly Father bless her little eyes because of her faith and innocence and sweetness. The next morning Rori told us how Heavenly Father came down and made her eyes all better. No more infection.

Let the Christmas magic begin. The crazies can just come along for the ride.