New Year's Eve

We invited the Lamb family over for New Years Eve festivities. We had our traditional “breakfast for dinner” that night. We have a couple of picky eaters between the two families, but breakfast is always a hit. We played a fun new game we got for Christmas called Telestrations. With both adults and kids playing it we were laughing until our cheeks hurt. Before we knew it it was time to watch the ball drop. To our disbelief ten of the 11 kids stayed awake to ring in the New Year (their baby had had enough). We all toasted to a New Year filled with camping trips and time spent together, and then we all headed to bed. Since our kids don’t get sleepovers this was an extra special treat. The Lambs didn’t leave until noon the next day, but the kids still complained that it was too early for them to go.

These were taken just before Midnight. I think they speak for themselves.

Christmas Break

The Christmas break seemed to fly by. Rory was able to take the whole week off. We spent a lot of time in our jammies playing with the Christmas loot. We also were able to squeeze in Miranda’s birthday party, a sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa Farr, and sledding with our good friends. Here are a few pictures of sledding with the Fridals.

Those are Jake's feet up in the air!

Ethan, Kyle and Kali

Julie and Noah

Ari left Miranda on her butt on the hill.

Wow! That's Ari!

Sabrina and Kali - Braver than I thought!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve we had a yummy ham dinner and Dad prepared a special Family Home Evening for us. The kids loved their new pjs. They all sleep upstairs in the same room and reported that it was a very restless sleep.

Here are a few pictures of Christmas morning. I think it’s clear that they all made it on the “nice list” again this year.

This was my favorite part of the whole day. Within just a couple of minutes of opening her Zhu Zhu pet, Sabrina had her hair stuck in it. It was even funnier as I turned it over to pull the hair out and found this very bold warning… (Just in case you can’t read it it says: “Caution. To prevent entanglement keep hair away from wheels.”) I guess we’re the reason they put warnings on things!

After lunch were able to go over the river and through the woods to Grandmother and Grandfather’s house for a Christmas hay ride driven by two beautiful Belgium horses. It couldn’t have been more picture perfect going around the field, singing Christmas carols on that cold, sunny Christmas afternoon. We followed it up with hot chocolate and goodies to warm us up. Thanks Grandma Carol, Grandpa Joe and Jason for a memorable afternoon!!!

A Few More Performances

On a very crazy Monday before Christmas we had 3 different events/performances going on in a matter of a couple of hours. For that reason again, I forgot to bring the camera. Miranda, Arianna, and Jacob all did a wonderful job in their Christmas piano recital. This was Jacob’s first recital and he got to go first! They all had their pieces memorized. While we don’t have any pictures, we do have a DVD of the recital. If I were technically minded enough I could probably put their portions on the web, but I’m not. So next time you come to visit we just might sit you down and ask you to watch!!!!

Sabrina also kept busy. Her hula group performed twice over the holidays. Once she rehearsed for a performance that we thought was going to be a business party. It turned out that dear friends of her hula teacher, Sheba, had tricked Sheba into believing this. But it turned out to be a surprise 50th wedding anniversary dinner for Sheba and her husband – the entertainment was her own dancers! Sabrina was also able to perform at Macey’s for a celebration they were having. It was kind of weird to clear out the produce department to make a stage, but it didn’t make a difference to Sabrina. She just enjoys performing.

Good job, kids!

Christmas Eve, Farr Style

The Friday before Christmas we went down to Grandma and Grandpa Farr’s for an overnight party. Grandma and Grandpa always fix great food and we have a special family home evening together. All the grandkids were able to open a present of new pajamas. Then we all “attempted” to sleep. Grandma and Grandpa have an awesome sleep over room that had beds for 8 of the grandkids. Memories are more important than sleep anyway, right? The next morning we were all spoiled with gifts from grandparents and each other. We had to rush off to yet another practice, but loved every second of being together. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Welcome Christmas

Arianna did another outstanding job at her Christmas TaVaci performance this year! She was even given a special duet to sing at the first of one of the songs. I've tried downloading it, but it just isn't working. I'll keep trying to add it. Good job, Ari Bug!

A Special Tradition

Last year we had such a good time going to brighten the Christmas spirit of the elderly that we decided to do it again. We didn’t manage to get any pictures, so this will have to do for documentation ;). We performed with our neighbors the Fridal family. All of the older children performed their piano recital pieces. Miranda and Arianna and Sabrina performed a fun snowman number, while the Fridal boys played a neat duet on the cello and guitar. We read the Christmas story to them and shared a few Christmas carols and Julie and I sang. Overall it created a special memory. We performed at the Logan House, Hyrum Senior Center, and for the Daughters of the Utah pioneers. As long as the kids will still play along with us, it’s a priceless tradition.