A Happy Christmas Evening

We drove down to The Farm and arrived on a wet and foggy Christmas Eve. Another visitor touched down just outside the window:

J.Lynn and family came over to G&G's for a talent show:

Kelly, Milinda, and Kendrick did Scotland the Brave using nothing but humming and their nasal passages. It was very impressive and funny.

Kendrick and his brothers played the piano.


Chris played as well, and J.Lynn videoed it, so I'll get a copy when we go back on Wednesday for Grandma's birthday party.

We came home fairly early and built a fire and read the scripture story of Jesus' birth.

We finally got Grandma Gene's Christmas lights put up.

Our house on Christmas Eve:


Merry Christmas to all!

A Christmas Song for Doubters*

About the Universe I hear
So many different stories
From 'this is all we have my dear'
To 'we'll sing heavenly glories'
The world will end in fire and ice
Or all are raised in Jesus Christ.

On whole I like the atheist view
It's tidy and it's neater
And death's the end. I don't deny
That Resurrection's sweeter
But hope in Christ risks such a fall
I'd rather not believe at all.

Jesus walks free and wise and wild
Do I dare follow this brave child?

*the first Poem of the Day, hopefully (somewhat revised from this morning)

In the Bleak Midwinter

It snowed, heavy wet snow blue in the depths of the shoveled piles, on the border of freeze/melt.

John shovels the sidewalk beneath the crabapple tree:

No picnics on the back deck

or in the garden

and the kitties stay in their heated boxes

while we come inside for hot chocolate and tea and watch it fall.

Hero watches us--Why do I have to stay out here? I would be sympathetic if, during her days as in indoor cat, she hadn't always been so eager to escape into the great outdoors.

Here is my favorite Christmas song of this year, by Annie Lennox:

SLC and Temple Square

We went to SLC yesterday to hear the Timpview choir sing at the Joseph Smith Building and then in the Assembly Hall. John and Amy and I parked at Betsy's and walked downtown. That's the fun thing about B&B's house.

Notice the choir lining the balconies:

Chris was just left of Mr. Larsen:

Ethan liked the Christmas tree in the JSB:

We had dinner at an extremely crowded Crown Burger on North Temple. Nicolle, Colette, and Johnathan came too, but I forgot to take pictures. We walked back up the hill to warm up in Betsy's house. Alice warmed up Chris in his A Cappella tux:

Grandpa and Ethan play with Brett's Ferrari.

Amy and Betsy are silly. Less than two months until Ellie makes her advent!

Chris' Christmas Concert

We went with the grandparents to Chris' acappella concert this Thursday. It was fun to hear them--especially the Halleluia Chorus with all the choir alumni. I tried to upload it, but it must be too long for blogspot. After the concert we went to the Creamery for BYU ice cream. Yum. I was nostalgic for when we went to Ruby Begonia's for ice cream in the Woodlands after Dave's 5th grade Christmas band concert, and the girls' Nutcracker. How far back would that be? 20+ years. A lot of concerts and ice cream since then.

So We Went to Hawaii Again...

...Rob got Chris a buddy pass and off we went in three separate groups. John and Chris flew to LA on Thursday and on to Honolulu Friday, where they rented a car and visited the North Shore. They climbed Temple Hill, ate at the Seasider, walked out to Goat Island, visited John's old office. Our old house from 18 years ago is torn down! John took photos of everything, and I'll try to get copies up on the blog.

Nicolle, the kids and I tried for the direct flight to Honolulu Friday morning but ended up traveling via LA, and were about 4 hours later getting there than we'd planned. Rob got off work early and came 2 hours after us. We rode the bus to Waikiki from the airport and went straight to bed. Above is the view from our hotel lanai. The next morning, John, Chris, and Rob climbed Diamond Head while Nicolle, the kids, and I went to the beach. Nicolle was working on a paper for her class so I had the babies and didn't take photos.

Colette was very impressed with her mom's beautiful beach dress and wore it Saturday while we rested back at the hotel.

We totally skipped lunch but had an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

Chris practices his suave look:

John, Chris and I took the kids to the beach so Rob and Nicolle could go off on their own. It was brightly lit and beautiful. The water was warm. Sort of warm--by the end they were freezing of course.



Sand fight! This can only end badly.

John found a green inner tube abandoned on the beach. And an orange one. And two beach mats. And then we had to carry them back to the hotel along with the sandy, shivering children.

Mermaid Colette:

The next morning while Nicolle worked on her paper at the hotel, the rest of us went back to the beach.

Chris worked on his tan.

Everybody else used sunscreen.

Little clam Colette:



After showers and lunch we checked out and rode the bus around the island to Sea Life Park.


The coral tank was the most interesting and beautiful part of the park. We watched the rays and other fish.

We watched them feed the turtles.

We saw the dolphins and sea lions.




We saw a few birds as well.


Colette found a hibiscus blossom.

We rode the bus to the Ala Moana Mall for dinner, and some of us shopped while the rest waited.

The flight was not bad coming back--there were enough empty seats to stretch out and get some sleep. Even so, Chris and I were pretty useless the next day. However, John went straight back to school and Rob to work, dedicated souls that they are. I tried that last time and was grateful this time for a day to recover.

Below, feeding the rays at Sea Life Park: