College Married Ward Party

Wade and I organized a reunion for our old college married ward on Saturday, December 27. Whenever we're in St. George, we only get to visit a few friends each time, so we organized this party so we could see a bunch of our friends all at once. It was so much fun! Wade and I prepared BBQ pork sandwiches for 40+ people and Brandi, Jodi, Kayla, Kelly, Sister Frei, and Sister Campbell all brought a side dish to ease my stress. The party was held at Bishop Nick Frei's home, which was a beautiful atmostphere.

There were still some who couldn't make it, and we missed you guys! But thanks to those who came and helped make the party a success. It was awesome!

Christmas

Since Emily and Jonathan had a doll house and build-a-bears waiting at home for them from Santa, we only brought one toy for them to share from us. It was great, because then they really appreciated their one toy from my parents on Christmas morning, a baby doll for Emily and Mega Bloks for Jon. They were so happy, they didn't need anything more.

Emily was in love with her baby doll and carried her around all day long.

My friend, Michelle, had just given me a hand-me-down Aquadoodle Train Set, so we saved it for Christmas and gave it to both kids. They thought it was so cool.

Randy and Andrea, who had our family for Christmas, gave the kids new outfits. It was especially cute when Jon tucked his new shirt under his chin to show it off because he's never done that before. They gave me a Lia Sophia necklace, a shirt, and a classy white dress coat, which I love! They gave Wade a dress shirt and tie. My parents gave us food storage, a large water storage container, a wheat grinder, and money for each of us to buy a new coat. Thank you so much Randy and Andrea and mom and dad for your fun surprises! We're really grateful!

The best part about Christmas this year was that Grandpa Callister was able to spend the day with us! He had really been looking forward to it, since he's been in a rehab center recovering from surgery. He was so happy just watching Jon and Emily's excitement. It was awesome. He told my mom it was the best day he had in a long time.
Every day that we were in St. George, I went to see Grandpa in the rehab center, whether I was with my mom, Wade and the kids, or by myself. We had a lot of good talks. I admire that man so much.

Here's Jon and Emily snuggling in bed with Grandpa.

Wade's mom and step-dad spent their Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Maughan in St. George, so we were able to spend time with them as well. They took us all out for dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate Wade being done with school. Thanks Mom and Keith! It was wonderful.

After dinner that night, we went to Celeste's house for a fun party with my high school friends. I even brought Katie some EL Fudge cookies so she could bite the heads off, just like we used to. ;) It was seriously such a blast hanging out with these guys! I'm glad we all still keep in touch.

Here's Wade and Emily putting a puzzle together at the party and Emily checking out the fish with Elise, Jake and Jamie's daughter. The next night, I planned a huge party for our old college married ward, which was also a blast. I'll post about it later this week, so stay tuned!

Monday, we hung out with my brother, Nick, and his family at their house. You can already tell Jonathan and Preston are going to be good buddies when they get older. They're a lot alike! Then we went to see our friends, Jared and Brandi Wilcox. I think EJ has a crush on Emily, but you better not tell his mommy that! ;)
This is what happens when Brandi and I get to talking...our kids disappear and destroy the house. Yikes!Tuesday, I spent time with my friend, Kayla Gubler. Here's Ems playing with Myah's train set and Myah wondering when she can have her toy back. haha They really did play well together.

That afternoon, Wade and I stopped by the Talent Sprouts studio in Santa Clara to see my friend, Lyndy Butler. She has done an amazing job creating a fun learning environment for kids there. They teach preschool as well as Performing Arts. Lyndy is living my dream! Talent Sprouts is definitely something I would be interested in starting here in Salt Lake, someday.

Tuesday night, we had a surprise visit from my cousin, David Callister, and his family. They had driven all the way from Howe, Idaho to St. George just so they could see Grandpa. Steve and Stacie also arrived that night from California. And Nick and Summer came over, too. I made my famous pork tacos for the whole family, all 23 of us!

We played Apples to Apples for hours and couldn't stop laughing. It was great!

My cute dad wanted to read Cinderella to his granddaughters. Boy was he surprised to find out that smart little Katrina could read it to him!

Here's Ems snuggling under a blanket with Amanda. And the next morning, Jon took Lizzie's pink toy piano and she wasn't so sure she was happy with the switch. haha

Emily, Katrina, and Ali jumping away

my sweet boy, covered in dirt and happy as can be!

After playing outside, what's better than making cookies? I'll tell you...having Uncle Steve juggle the balls of cookie dough, that's what! PS) special thanks to Nestle Toll House for preparing the cookie dough for us, so we could get straight to the fun: eating and playing with the cookie dough!

New Years Eve, we went out to the movies as a family to see Bedtime Stories. It was hilarious, but I think I enjoyed it even more because I sat next to Katrina and Jace, who were busting up laughing throughout the entire movie!

Here's the fam! (well, at least half of us) What a good-looking group, eh?

After the movies, I dropped Wade off on top of the black hill to set up fireworks with his buddy and old mission companion, Ryan Gubler, for the First Night New Year's celebration. He said it was such a cool experience to set up the fireworks and then light them off.

This was such a wonderful Christmas break for us, and I feel so fortunate to have been with family and friends for every day of it! Besides Jonny throwing up in the car on the way home, these 9 days could not have been better. I hope you all had a great Christmas, too!

Christmas Eve

Driving into St. George on Christmas Eve, this is the incredible view we captured of the red mountain backed with the snowy white. Can you see why I miss this place?
Emily was thrilled to see "Papa."
And she literally ran into her Grandma's arms, which melted my heart. We all had missed them so much!

Jon was excited to see Aunt Ruthanne and had fun playing peek-a-boo with her and giving her kisses through the wooden railing.

And he had lots of horsey rides since there were more people around to give him attention.

That night, after we read the Christmas Story from the Bible as a family, Emily retold the story using the children's nativity set. She had a little help from me, but she actually knew most of it herself. We were all impressed. When Emily was finished, I asked her, "But what was the most important gift of all?" To our surprise, little Jonny said, "Jesus!" Wow, can you believe that? My little one year-old had been listening the whole time!

Jon and Wade

Catherine and Ruthanne

my Grandpa and Grandma Lang

For the last part of the program, my dad sang, "Let Him In," I sang "Mary, Let Me Hold Your Baby," Austin played "O Holy Night" on the piano, and then we all listened to a special recording of a child telling the Christmas story. That night as a family, it was easy to remember why we celebrate this time of year as all of our thoughts turned to the Savior. It was a really special night.

After we put the kids to bed, we all played Rummikub around the kitchen table. Of course, even when the game was over, the boys (Austin, my dad, and Wade) were determined to figure out a way to play every last piece, and they did!

Santa came early...and late!

Because we would be spending Christmas in St. George, Santa came early at our house. He brought this amazing wooden doll house (The Miller family gave it to me when I went to visit them the week before.) Emily and Jonathan loved it! It came with some darling furniture and about 30 tiny people, each the size of a lego. If any of you know me and how I like things simple without a lot of clutter, you can understand why I put the 30 tiny people aside and just pulled out a few of Emily's Fisher Price little people to go with the doll house, since she already owned a mom, dad, sister, baby, and a dog. Oh yeah, and I put a horse in there for Jon. :)

Since we forgot to take the build-a-bears with us to St. George (oops), the morning after we returned home, the kids discovered that Santa had left them one last surprise.

They have been hugging and squeezing and sleeping with their new pals everyday since then.

Seeing as how Emily's bear is dressed as Snow White, both the kids wanted to dress up as Snow White that morning, too...yes even Jon...he insisted! The problem was that Jon wanted to buckle Emily's Snow White bear in the car seat, but she was already working on it, so he felt left out. :(

Cookie Exchange

We're finally back from our trip to St. George, but before I post about it, I wanted to post about a few Cookie Exchange parties I enjoyed earlier on in December.

On Dec. 3, our visiting teaching group met together at Sherri Michie's home for a Cookie Exchange. Jenica, Amy, Anissa, Sherri, and I all came prepared with a plate full of our favorite cookies and the recipe to accompany it. After sitting around the table catching up with one another, Sherri shared a special message about Christ, and then we all tested the cookies out. So yummy! I brought Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookie DOUGH, because my favorite kind of cookie is pre-baked! :D lol I just substituted the eggs for milk, so they would feel better about eating raw cookie dough. Then we filled our plates up with a few cookies of each kind and said goodnight. It was a really nice evening.

3 weeks later, I went to Alix's Cookie Exchange, across the street, and I brought these Peanut Butter Cookies dipped in chocolate and walnuts. Amy had brought this kind to the other cookie exchange, and they tasted so good and looked fun, that I wanted to try them out, so she gave me the recipe.

I didn't know a single person at the party besides Alix until that night, but it was fun meeting her friends and just hanging out...and eating a dozen different kinds of cookies! :)