Let's PARTY!

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Whiting's

We were so excited to have ALL the Parish's with us, no one was sick and Megan wasn't studying!!!
Acting out the Nativity is always a favorite :)

The angel telling Mary about baby Jesus

Peter Pan, I mean Joseph and Mary riding on their donkey...

He's finally here!

The angel tells the Shepherd and her sheep... 

 The angel comes to the Wisemen...

After a very long journey they find the toddler Jesus!

After this wonderful production, the time was turned over to NICKI... our party QUEEN! :)

We played, "MINUTE TO WIN IT"

 We amazed ourselves with our ability to do so much in just one minute!
Thanks for coming up with such a great game Nicki!

Lights at Temple Square

*The beautiful Salt Lake Temple*  

Matt had fun taking these amazing pictures!

We had fun celebrating my birthday together by seeing the lights...
Fun times!

We finished the birthday celebration at the "Blue Lemon" with Hummus and pitas and yummy sweet potato fries! I like celebrating birthdays twice ;)

singing at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Thomas looks forward to singing in Salt Lake every year. It was a perfect way to start Christmas break.

They sounded AMAZING as always :)

Thomas' solo was MY favorite!

Birthday in the SUN!

I just happened to have my birthday while in Arizona. Even though I hated being away from Matt, Jac, Thomas, and Emily; I was able to enjoy a great "Happy Birthday" phone call from them, along with a beautiful warm and sunny day, running with Wade, and relaxing with my Mom while eating fresh picked oranges off the tree!

I was also privileged to be serenaded by 4 very talented young men singing "Happy Birthday"... It was fabulous!

The fun didn't stop there; Laurisa and Grafton invited us over to their place to watch a boat parade on La Vista Lake. All the boats were decked out with lights. It was so nice of them to plan such a fun birthday party for me :) 

We walked around and enjoyed the lights after which brought back many memories for me since this is what I ALWAYS did as a child, only it was Temple Square lights and usually FREEZING temps!

It was a bummer to be away from home but I must say how LOVED everyone made me feel! They went out of their way to make my birthday special. I even got a beautiful cake! hmm... it looks a lot like Josy's wedding cake :)
It was a great day. Thanks for spoiling me!

Joslyn and Justin Pattee...

Joslyn and Justin Pattee

Married in the Mesa Arizona temple on December 17, 2010

Justin fits right in... He showed up for breakfast in his baby blue tux ready for the big day! Josy thought he looked amazing of course! :) Joslyn calls him J.P. (Just Perfect)!

Yes, it is DECEMBER! There are perks to having family live in Arizona!

Watching Justin and Gracie dance was a huge highlight at the reception!
Justin was quite the ladies man; he even made a little girls dream come true by dancing with her!

Thomas' Christmas concert

Did you know that Thomas is really an Italian opera singer?

Back by popular demand after "wooing" the crowd with his singing debut of 

"That's Amore' " 

Thomas captured the audience yet again, with his deep Italian accent and amazing operatic voice!

He sure knows how to shine!

It was such a fun night. All the kids did such a great job.
Thomas is definitely one of the most animated and fun kids to watch. You can tell he loves what he does!

 Santa came to congratulate the kids after...

Emily was so "sad" to see the concert come to an end... at least Santa was there to cheer her up :)

Thomas' #1 cheer squad!
Thanks for a fabulous night!

Gingerbread Houses

Emily was SO excited to make her very own gingerbread house with all of her friends in the 3rd grade!

You might think it would have been total chaos; but surprisingly, the teachers know EXACTLY how to do it and make sure EVERYONE is HAPPY!

It was fun to watch the kids design such unique houses,

They all turned out so cute!

Emily's class showing off their 'masterpieces'!
Thanks Miss Pence:)

FHE with Grandma and Grandpa Heaps

Grandma and Grandpa Heaps invited us over for FHE. 

Sylvia MADE all the costumes for the nativity (which are so beautiful!) and wrote up a wonderful little play with songs and everything to go with it. 

She was the narrator

'Wise' man

 'Angel'

sheep 

Shepherd and his sheep 

 Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus 

 

Acting comes naturally in this family as you can see :) 

What a great way to START December doing the nativity. We usually wait till Christmas Eve.  Sylvia is so talented and knows just what we need!
Grandma and Grandpa decided to put their Christmas tree outside this year. It looks beautiful!