Christmas 2023

 On December 23, Little Christmas Eve, we did our family Christmas party. 

We had one of the most DELICIOUS breakfasts I've ever had! 2 breakfast casseroles, Kneaders french toast and all the toppings, banana pancakes, tons of muffins, German pancakes bacon, sausage, chocolate milk, orange and apple juice,  Everything was so yummy!

The boys, they like Zac to sit with them now!

  

The girls

The adults

Since we are doing a trip to Bear Lake again for everyone's gift, I just do little gifts that I wrap and we play a white elephant game.  The kids love it!

I bought a bunch of extra gifts that they were welcome to exchange for if they didn't get something they liked. (I was glad I did,)  After that we did the cousin gift exchange.  

Then we did the Nativity.  Jordan is so fancy he did this picture of Savannah.

On Christmas morning, we went to all our kids houses.  We started with Krista's.  They gave their kids luggage and a surprise trip to Oregon to visit Tatia.  Krista had their luggage all packed and they left right after breakfast.  What a fun surprise!

Lani and I visited Kathy Plaster and Jaylena

Then Jamie and Josh's families

We ended our visits with Jordan's family.  Such a great tradition, we love seeing everyone on Christmas!  We are so grateful this time of year for our Savior's birth and his life.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Holiday Fun

This has been such a fun month   It started out with a Christmas lunch at one of my friends from Bonneville's house with lots of Bonneville teachers.  We went to Katie's Christmas Choir Concert, Hailey's guitar/singing recital, and Parkers Christmas Program.  

Then on Sunday, I invited Josh and Krista's family for dinner.   A few weeks later, I had Jordan's family and Jamies family for dinner  (only a picture of the table, forgot to take pictures of the people) 

My friend Carolyn and I invited the elderly single sisters in my ward over for lunch.  

Mike did some more wood burning on the Nativity puzzle.  A couple of years ago, he did all the puzzle                             pieces, and now he did the stable.  It turned out so beautiful!

I got to go to dinner and temple square with Jordan's family, so fun!

I invited my siblings for dinner, Skyler was in town visiting Shannon, and they were able to join us. (Almost as fun as having Robynn and Dick.)

We have a new family that just moved into our ward.  I did a "Taylorsville 19th ward Chrismas Elf" week for them and dropped by some fun things each night. They didn't have any Christmas decorations, so a made this wreath and hung it on  their front door.  They have a one week old baby, a 14 month old, 3 year old, 14 and 18 year old.  Their mom broke her foot and had to have surgery 3 days after moving. 

I stopped and did a fun train ornament craft with Carissa's darling little girls.  

I also did  a gingerbread house with Jeffrey and his adorable grandaughter Emmy  

We took our Activity Day Boys to Classic Fun Center and then the Maceys for giantc ice cream cones.

I made and delivered a bunch of cookies and loaves of bread for neighbor gifts.

 

On Saturday night Krista invited all of us over for a Girls Bunco night.  So many beautiful girls in our family!  Even little Savannah came and did great!  We had lots of yummy food and fun prizes.

 I invited Inger and her 104 year old mom Vivian to lunch, and helped Kathy Plaster decorate her tree..  One of my favorite things the church has come out with to help us celebrate Christmas better is the Light the World program.  It's fun to try to think of things I can do to share the light.  It has been such a great month, and Christmas isn't even here yet!

A sleepover with Jordan's kids

Last Saturday, Jordan and Jamie invited 8 other couples to their house for a holiday party.  We were able to get their cute little kids Saturday morning so they could get ready for the party and kept
them until Sunday morning.   It was our ward Christmas party on Saturday morning,  so the kids came with us.  So fun to have them there!

Afterwards, we went to Home Depot and picked up their kid craft.

They did such a great job on their Gingerbread houses.  Savannah LOVES purple and pink, and so had to paint hers her favorite colors.

Zac enjoyed playing with one of the Precious Moments Navitity that I inherited from Mom.  (I also got her BEAUTIFUL porcelin one.)

They had lots of fun playing school.  I remember loving to play school as a kid too.

We love anytime we get to hang out with grandkids!

 

Our trip to Branson

Last May, Bonnie called and invited Mike and I to join her and Dennis on a trip to Branson.  I was super excited, and Mike was feeling pretty good, so he agreed to go.  As it got closer, his health got worse, so it was obvious that he would not enjoy the trip.  It was with a tour group and was non refundable, so I asked Krista if she would like to go.  She was nice enough to come!

We had a great time!  We saw 13 shows in 5 days which was ALOT!  Pretty much all we did was eat, go to a show, eat, go to a show, eat, go to a show and sleep.

We had great seats at all of the shows, we saw Cassandre Voice of an Angel, Hits of the 60's, Dolly Partons's Stampede dinner show, Hot Rods and High Heels, Haygoods Christmas Show, Rick Thomas Illusionist, Shanghai Circus, The Peterson family, (our favorite of the family shows) The Dutton Family,  Clay Cooper, (the most entertaining!) The Hughes Brothers, George Dyer (who was also our tour guide) and ended with Queen Esther an amazing play with the most incredible set ever.  

Before we knew it, it was time to head back home.  We were at the airport several hours early, so we played games with Bonnie and Dennis to pass the time. 

Our plane ended up having a little problem, so we missed our connecting flight, but we were able to catch a different one just over an hour later.  I was so relieved, since Krista was leaving the next morning for Disneyland with her family.  I'm so grateful she could come along, she is such a sweetie!

 

Thanksgiving 2023

We did our ThanksgivingREALLY early this year!  Krista and I were going to be out of town the week before Thanksgiving, and Krista's, Josh's and Jordan's families were all going to be in California for Thanksgiving.  Jamie's family had  Emily's brother's family from New Mexico at their house for Thanksgiving, so we celebrated it Nov 12, the day before Krista and I left for Branson.

I love that all our kids help, so I don't have to do much.  I did the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy the day before, as well as the traditional Chex Party Mix. All I had to make the day of was the stuffing. Krista made a banana cream pie and rolls, Jamie made an apple pie and green bean casserole, Merijane brought fruit and a chocolate cream pie,  Emily made a salad and a blueberry pie, and Lani brought a pumpkin pie and yams.  Everything was DELICIOUS, and I can say that because I tried everything.  

I failed on taking pictures, of everyone, way toooooo busy!

 

Cline Halloween 2023

Several weeks ago, our cute niece Jenny called and said she wanted to get together.  We have such a big group in Utah  (38) that we don't have room in our house to do it anymore.  I was able to schedule my church and it was so much fun!  

  

  Quite a bunch of kids!

Besides Jenny and Eric, Our niece Stephanie and her family came as well as our nephew Mikey and his family.  We had soup, bread and dessert.  It was so nice to see everyone.

Hailey and Aida borrowed my BYU homecoming dress and my german dress to wear.

Family Pictures 2023

 

 Hailey was our photographer for family pics.  She has taken photography classes for the last 2 years and did a fabulous job!  She got everything set up, and Bonnie and Dennis were in town so they came and snapped this picture!  No editing, and I can't believe how GREAT everyone looks!

Krista's family and Josh's family

Jamie's family

Jordan's family

The Bigs

The Middles

The Littles

and The Boys

Hard to believe how big our grandkids are getting. I love them all soooop much!

Hailey did such a great job, These are my favorite family pictures ever!