Dec. 6- The Gila Valley"s annual performance of The Messiah
Jordan was asked to sing the 1st two Tenor solos by Dr. Bishop
He did so amazing! He rolled his r's and had tall vowels.
I was so proud while I sat there listening to him
Girls' Quartet loved to steal Jordan's phone and take pictures with it.
They worked hard by themselves
Whilst folding laundry one day Lottie begged to be on my lap.
I let he on and this happened.
Funny girl.
Gemma got to practice performing her tap dance at the college one morning a week before her recital
She loves doing this, esp. so she can wear makeup.
It's a cute dance
Kodee was my little elf all Christmas season. Always making something for all of us and then wrapping it. I love how he tried to wrap with yellow duct tape.
In line to see Santa! It was a really long line. Then it got all stormy with wind and rain. It was COLD! I was so worried about Lottie not being warm enough but she kept throwing her hat off.
The kids were so cute when they told Santa what they wanted
The boys- both said Motor Scooters
Gemma- Big Doll
Lottie- didn't say much
Gemma looks so cute in that photo
See? Lottie looks a little nervous about being on this man's lap
That hat has been in Jordan's family for probably 30 years
All smiles from Kodee and Santa.
They collected their candy canes and Lottie loved stealing them from everybody
After Santa, Jordan and I sang with some people from the Gila Valley Chorale
We sat right behind Santa so we felt we couldn't be that loud but the wind was making it so no one could hear us so we just sang Christmas Carols anyway and hoped the people could feel some Christmas Spirit from us.
Goody plates! This year we did fudge, sugar cookies and carmel corn.
All homemade! Jaxon did not want to give up the carmel corn
I don't blame him one bit. That stuff is my favorite!
A look at the family room decorations
Gemma's watching a new Christmas cartoon, Buddy The Elf- animated. We love the Broadway play and can't wait to see it one day!
That table has the Christmas puzzles all over it
I love the lit garland on the Hutch
Cozy by the fire. FIRE? Yep. We had a super cold December, (I think the low was 20 that night) and There was some parts at the gas company in Thatcher that burst. We had no heat, or hot water, showers, clean dishes for 3 days.
It was pretty amazing to see how much we rely on hot water through our every day.
The house got down to 50 something one night.
We had the kids sleep with us since their bedrooms are in the coldest part of the house.
Kodee loved this time! He was so excited to find firewood and make kindling and to use the lighter. He also found these cool 2 hour logs in the shed that made it really simple to start the fire.
All bundled up and ready for a long winters nap
Kiana and Krista-two of Jordan's favorite choir students in Singers and Bel Canto.
A couple nights before we left for Utah for Christmas Break we went with Safford schools on a hay rife and singing carols at the same time. The kids loved it for about 30 minutes and then they wanted to get off and play our phones.
It was another very cold night so Lottie conked out to keep warm.
That was great until my arms fell asleep
Here's Gemma all ready for her real recital at the EA Auditorium.
We left her back stage with Ashlynn and Gemma was good to go.
They danced to a song about lassoing Santa to tickle Santa and tug his beard.
It was cute!
The older kids did a few numbers and they were amazing!
My favorite was the end when they all danced to, Glorious, it was such a beautiful dance.
Right after the recital we collected Gemma, grabbed Taco Bell and drove straight to Utah for Christmas Break. The boys were so cute all snuggled up watching a movie.
I think we got to Grandma and Grandpa's at 4 in the morning.
G and G were kind enough to wake up and welcome us in.
Luckily the kids went back to sleep so I could get some sleep.
Unfortunately we slept in and didn't make it to church to see the Christmas program at my dad's ward but we needed sleep.
Let the fun begin!
Grandma always had crafts to do or decorating these rice crispy igloos, painting or games.
The kids favorite part? Seeing their cousins. Here's Elizabeth
Lottie proud of her igloo
Jaxon was very careful while decorating his igloo
Kodee not so much.
Here are the finished products
There's Kodee the Elf working on someone's present again.
Two days after arriving to Utah was Elizabeth's birthday, also 2 days before Christmas
Kim made that adorable Minnie Mouse cake and cupcakes.
Uncle Dave helped cut out the little fondant pieces.
We were all very impressed
Happy 3rd Birthday Lizzie!
I love her pretty dress
We had pizza and fruit for lunch
Chocolate cake for dessert.
Everybody loved the cake
Especially this sugar loving gemma
Present time! We got her a cute little purpley/sparkly giraffe that Liz took everywhere with her
She also got a cool Minnie Mouse house that my girls loved to play with as well
intense selfie- post swim work out!
Jordan loves going to Salt Lake to get a weekly pass to this cool gym.
He loves to swim laps
Few things are as awesome as swimming warm indoor laps while a blustery winter storm falls around you. LOVE IT!
Look at these two cute blonde cousins on the iPad
Christmas Eve reenactment of the nativity. Lottie was baby Jesus. She was a little difficult in her role.
Lottie has to sleep in another room. . . so the others won't be disturbed:) Now just mom and dad are constantly disturbed.
Santa came through!
Lottie received a barn! So happy!
Clothes are definitely her first love.
Uncle Clay was there- we gave him the best give. "The Force" in a jar!
This is when daddy told Gemma he was going to take her on a daddy date to.... FROZEN ON ICE!
the girls are SO HAPPY with their new BYU duds. 
The snow did not stop these two from trying out their new scooters. Kodee was immediately out there shoveling the entire sidewalk so they could ride.
The tuckered out "aftermath"
We had a good time meeting up with Megan and Pret over the holidays. Notice Jordan with his crutches. Interesting story- he sprained his ankle while randomly checking on Kevin and Sitlally's house. He had a prompting to go over there and when he went inside, it was flooded. He tried to mop up the water with a few towels and bare feet and WHOOSH! Slammed his foot into the bottom step of the stairs. It was a really bad sprain. He thought it was broken. Even after that he went to walmart and bought a shop vac and rode around the store on a scooter. He was there till almost four in the morning trying to suck up the water- but it ended up being a pipe that had burst in the wall and it was flowing in the whole time. Dad went over later and found the place to turn off the water. Jordan's phone was dead the whole time so he had no way of contacting us. It was kind of a nightmare but Kevin's insurance has been very kind and covered all medical expenses. The foot took almost 3 months to be back to normal though. Crazy!
This display was AWESOME! Strings overlapping making a prism rainbow. Quite stunning really.
Love the Saturday Evening Post covers. They're some of my favorite pictures.
We drove by the newly refurbished Provo City Temple. It is SO stunning. Great memories of directing BYU Stake choir here for Stake conference. The version of "Jesus Once Of Humble Birth" will always resonate in my mind.
Look at that red hair:) Winter snow buddies.
This is how the pillows turned out. Loved them.
Lottie finds unusual places to lie about.
We had to take a quick detour to Park City one night to see Ryan in his element. It was SWANK-city at Montage. He's got a great gig going on there. We felt like we had to tell EVERYONE that we knew him and he was our friend. Ha ha.
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