All the stockings were hung..

Ryan's family is large. 7 kids.

Making gingerbread houses

and trees.

the finished projects!

We did a puzzle and played games.

Went shooting..

Close...

but not close enough! It must've been beginner's luck...

and sledding.

We also got great gifts such as this baby

along with 12 DVDs to watch with our new HD DVD player!

Ryan and I also both bought each other 'Star Trek', we must have good tastes.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Everett Family Party

The 1st Annual Everett Family Christmas Party was a success! My mother-in-law planned it and we had about 60 cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandkids show. We started out with a get to know you game, where we had to find the missing half of our Christmas card and tell the person your favorite Christmas memory. Then we had a wonderful dinner followed by the kids doing the Nativity and a craft!. Some family members shared their favorite Christmas memories. It was nice to see family that I usually only see once a year and I even met some new cousins too!

Here's the man that Ryan had to live up to, the 'real' Santa Clause hard at work!

Mr. Clause

Ryan's dad has played Santa since they were little for families and activities Now that he is Bishop it was his turn to find a Santa Clause. He asked Ryan if he would do it. Ryan was so nervous as we drove to their ward party. He said he had 'big shoes to fill' and practiced his 'Ho, Ho, Ho's.' The time came and he did great! The kids loved him and one little guy clung to him the whole time. As he left the kids all said, 'Bye Santa!' We had to barricade them so they wouldn't run after Santa and find he in fact, had no sleigh or eight reindeer. Now some pictures for your enjoyment.

Long line to see Santa

"Ho, Ho, Ho"

Alyssa's almost too big for Santa!

Devin and the boy who clung to Ryan

I may have snuck a kiss after this.

Final goodbye to the clingy boy.

He pulled it off, don't you think? All he's missing is the grey hair and white gloves.

Special

My mom may have the best calling, she is the special needs music director. I went to their Christmas performance and it was so neat. The spirit was so strong and I *may have shed a tear or two. They did the nativity and sang lots of songs and did chimes. Bless their sweet spirits!

Early Christmas

Since our whole family was in town we celebrated Christmas early.


Ryan's gift from the Leithead's...

I got a home made scarf from Erin

Merry Christmas Eve! We're off to spend the weekend with family.

We love...

being with our family,

puzzles (my brother completed 6 or 7 while he was here),

and games.

The Nativity Pt 2

Samuel the Lamanite

Wisemen or Wise man

The actors. Tada!

The end

The Nativity Pt 1

Meet Joseph

Mary..

Baby Jesus in the manger

Winter

Happy First Day of Winter

Fam-il-y is Comin' to Town Pt 3

Another night I went with my brother and his family to the Gingerbread Village and Teddy Bear Town at the Grand American Hotel. Half a dozen Utah chefs donated houses to the Gingerbread Village. The houses are part of a silent auction that will help Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It's free and on display through Dec. 20.
There were over 300 teddy bears in the holiday suite donated by local companies. You could also bring a new teddy bear to donate to children from the Salvation Army.

Here is one of the gingerbread houses we saw. All of the houses were made completely out of edible material. They looked amazing!

I asked Bev to show me which animal was her favorite and she chose the pony, of course! The kids loved seeing all the bears and Jane wanted to kiss all of them.

Afterwards we went over to Temple Square to see the lights. We almost froze to death, but thank goodness for the Visitor's Center and the Tabernacle.