Silent Night, Holy Night

One of my favorite photos this year was taken at our Stake Nativity.

My little angels joined by the Koenigs, Manns, Petersons & Teemants.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Our Christmas in pictures for your viewing pleasure...

The results of a gingerbread house Family Home Evening, truly a group effort.

Our traditional Paintbox Christmas Cookies. Yum-O!


Our little bit-o-everything Christmas tree right after Santa left.

The gifts Cara and Jordyn bought for each other... :)

The Parks mall had $5 ice skating on Christmas Day. We had a blast! Cara is quite the skater and, well, Jordyn hasn't quite got the hang of it yet. But there's always next year!

A Thanksgiving to Remember

We asked Bryan's brother, Trent, to come down over Thanksgiving to help him put a new roof on our house. My in-laws decided that sounded fun and they came too. We don't get too many visitors around here so we welcomed the company.

The boys got up on the roof to investigate what they were dealing with. Here's what they found...

10 layers of shingles.

Most houses have one or two. We thought we had three and that was pushing it.



They decided they did not want to take off 10 layers of shingles and we would hire professionals to take care of the roof. At the time it sounded like a good idea.

So, after the next morning's soaking rain that leaked all kinds of havoc into our house, they tarped it all up. Now, no roofing company is going to do the job until it warms up a bit... I'm sure I'll update that situation when I have better news...

My girls love Uncle Trent. He's tons of fun to play with and talk to. Ask Jordyn... :)

We enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner (if I do say so myself)! The only thing on the wish list of food that didn't get made was the mincemeat pie my father-in-law asked for. It's not on my list of specialties - yet. But everything else was delicious especially the turkey that Bryan was in charge of.

The next day we braved the mall and went to Dick's Sporting Goods where Cara and Trent scaled the rock climbing wall. She's tried it once before but only made it halfway up before letting the heights get to her.

Getting the gear on and instructions from the wall workers...

Trent made it up the advanced side of the wall in record time.

Cara made it all the way up to the top of the beginner's side. She did AWESOME!

Grandma & Grandpa Boyer are turning their mission papers in (if they haven't already) and we're glad they came to visit before they leave. We love you!

Leven Thumps author, Obert Skye

Recently Cara got to meet Obert Skye, author of the Leven Thumps books. When I say recently, what I really mean is October but who's keeping track anyway??

If you haven't read these books, they are quite enjoyable. It's about a land called Foo where "nothing is impossible". So the fourth book, The Wrath of Ezra, came out on September 30th and he happened to be in the DFW area on October 2nd!

He actually spoke at several schools in my district the same day (including the one Cara used to attend before I took last year off and the one Jordyn goes to now for Pre-K) and Cara and I were sad to learn he came to River Trails last year and we missed him... There was an on-line podcast I showed in class where he gave kids some great advice to "Dream Big and to Be Great" and two other things that I can't remember because it was way back in October, allright?

BUT Bryan took her to Barnes and Noble to see him that night.

They stood in line for a LONG time but when it was her turn he signed her book and poster and offered her some candy from Foo. Normally I don't condone taking candy from strangers but, hey, it was from Foo... Before she went, we practiced lots of things she could say to him like, "I'm LDS, too." or "I think Clover is the funniest character." but alas, she said nothing. He was very nice and Cara was star-struck, I think. :)

The picture is from Bryan's cell phone but the look on her face says it all!