Monday, December 30, 2013

A Very Sleepy Christmas Week!

On Monday I thought my West Virus Attach was behind me ... I got out off bed got dressed and went to town, well to Highland anyway, where I met my friend Stacy for lunch at Dear Lizzie....


I love this store .... Afterwards I ran some errands I needed done before Christmas.  ....
On Tuesday Becca came down to visit Grandpa Carlo in Spanish and made arrangements for dad and me to meet her for Mexican there.


It was fun to see the kids ... Titan was really in a fun mood, and we really enjoyed interacting with him.  I had to take off to do some visiting teaching then I met dad at home ....
Where I got some neighbor and visiting teaching goodies mad .... While he ...

Yeah .... That!   By that night I knew I was still sick ..... Yucky... At least I am not contagious. 
Not surprisingly we stayed home on Christmas Eve and watched Its A Wonderful Life.


Christmas morning I used what oomph I had to get breakfast made .... dad of course helped me every inch of the day .... Then when breakfast was over we gathered in the parlor to,open gifts.  I got to hold McKenna, while everyone opened gifts ....  But I don't think I was the only one that was dragging.


Ben folded all this money into origami hearts with Hanna's help ... As part of his gift for Briahnna whose name he drew in the exchange.





Becca had made a scrapbook for Grandpa from all the pictures I had posted on this blog in the past year that had him pictured with someone else ... It was pretty cool, and he really seemed to enjoy it.




 
Then in the end we had to remind the boys not to toss out the  baby with  the Christmas wrap ....

On Thursday Dad and I both went back to work ...a pretty quiet, sluggish day still for me ... Dad got off work early so he could spend 6 hours directing the stake blood drive, which is one of his high council responsibilities.  When he finally got home that night we watched the Downton Abbey Christmas special ...

Friday I took it pretty easy, but did get some Christmas cleanup done, dad stayed home and did some of the little chores that seem to add up.. That evening I went to see Saving Mr. Banks with Terry Kew, while dad watch the BYU bowl game with Steve .... After the movie Terry and I picked up Chinese and we had dinner during half time ....  I then retired to their living room to finish my book, while the more interested parties watched the rest of the game ... Gotta love the comfort of good old friends ... Eh?

On Saturday it was time to move somethings around in our bedroom,mand to install a faux mantel around our faux fireplace.  Then it was time to head to Salt Lake for the annual Larsen Family Christmas Party.
Brittany even drove down the 5 hours from Idaho to hang out with her cousins.


Here is Dad with Steven, Kim's oldest, and Kristin's son, Brian and Kai, Britt's oldest.
Uncle Clark who planned the party and Jon, one of my brother Bruce's sons.


Here is Jon with his wife Natalie.


And me with three of my sisters in law, Jo, Dianne, and Shirley.



Brittany and Becca chatting with cousins Natalie and Kristin.
Here is grandpa Scott with Charlie,  who is not quite sure about this event that meant 5 hours of driving, one of her least favorite activities, in order to attend.


Here Darby and Becca talk Real Estate with Jason, whom Becca helped with a real estate deal this year.

On Sunday I taught Sunday school again, and then came home and crashed ... Dad got the turkey in the roasting pan before heading out to his other meetings.  Dad also crossed a milestone when the other high councilman from our ward was released, Dad moved to the senior side of the High Council table.  Yeah senority.

When he got home I resurrected myself, so to speak .... And helped with finishing up dinner.  Brittany and the kids were here, as was Becca and her children and Davin and his family.







It was lovely to visit, and that finishes up Mom's oh so dozy week!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Elvis, Shepherds, Trax, Santa and Dancing in PJs all in one week.

Our last week before Christmas with all the necessary tasks to finish up. I spent a lot of Monday wrapping gifts, writing Christmas cards and writing in my Christmas journal.  
That evening Dad and I headed to Orem to watch Eva dance in her Christmas Dance Recital ... She got to wear her PJs  and danced to a song called 'hang up your stocking'. 

Uncle Ben brought her flowers to celebrate her performance.

And here's her whole family there to support her too.

I also managed to put together this mantel decor and blogged about it that day.

On Tuesday Dad and I headed to Salt Lake where we shared lunch with friends from our Salt Lake ward.

Here is Dad with Rune Wallen and the new bishop, Grant Bletzacker. Then it was time for Dad to head back to work at the Dans on 70th, just a couple of miles away, where he was busy moving gondolas, which is why he was dressed so scruffy.

I finished up with a mixture of junking and Christmas shopping, and of course we closed the day with a couple of Christmas movies, again, still!

On Wednesday I had a pleasant surprise at work, when Becca and her kids dropped by for a visit on their way to visit grandpa Carlo AND Santa who was visiting the care center that day!



When I worked Thursdy I gathered pink stuff for me friend Stacy's Christmas gift .... then I put it all together for my Friday blog post.

Friday afternoon dad got home a tad early from overseeing inventories in southern Utah so we could head to SLC,  we stopped on the way up so I could exchange gifts with Wendy at her house in Lehi.

We got on Trax in Sandy...

Then checked out the City Creek Center ... Here we are at the candy windows that Macy's sponsors ... This one shows SLC landmarks in candy spread over a candy globe, it was pretty cool. 

Loved this chair in Anthropologie made from radiators, I can only imagine how heavy it must be... 


And look how strong I am, holding up the bird cage!

Next it was temple square and to top it off, we had dinner at Crown Burger before heading south on Trax.... It was crazy, the train was filled with festive teenagers ... Definitely out of our element.

On Saturday I was sick and stayed in my Jammie's.... Just a revisiting of my old friend, West Nile Virus .... Yucko, but nothing like as nasty as the first visit, thank goodness.  I had it most of the day Sunday too, but was feeling better by evening, which was good, because ...

There was  Bethlehem Dinner bread  to bake....

Dad, bless his heart, dragged up all the containers and set the table ... Didn't he do a great job?

Ben brought Hannah.... And since she dressed up we dubbed her as Mary. Eva likely would have played Mary, but she wasn't feeling well either.









After dinner Briahnna swaddled McKenna ....


...and we started our Nativity Play ... To the sound of dad reading the nativity story from Luke.



Trevor was the impromptu angel ...

And the shepards were sore afraid ...

And the babies were amazed.

Ben kept holding McKenna as we all sang Christmas Carols since


Briahnna played for us.


And for the finale:
Trevor's family was headed to Arizona right afterwards, so they opened their exchange gifts.  Brittany had gotten an Elvis doll for Eleanor, who LOVES him ... She was soooo excited.

And so happy with her Elvis "I love him"

So that was our last full week before Christmas ...full of fun, friends and family.  A truly lovely week!