Christmas Eve

More pics of Grandma's Christmas tree, including ornaments with each child's picture, and all of us girls together! Joe brought his girlfriend Jessica and her two little girls to dinner as well as well. They've been dating for a few months and she seemed really nice. This is what the holidays are all about...spending time together as families. Thanks Mom and Fred for making this possible!!! We love you!

Ryan Photo Shoot

On Christmas Eve we all drove to Mom and Fred's in South Weber to enjoy dinner and presents together. We drove up a bit early to take some shots of Rye's family before it got too dark. Somehow, between the freezing temps and the puppy craziness, we managed to pull off some adorable shots again. What an amazing and beautiful family my brother has!! Anyway, I just love practicing my photograpy on my family and was grateful to have had the opportunity.

We all enjoyed each other's company at my Mom's, ate an amazing turkey dinner with plenty of delicious pies, got to talk to my Dad on his mission over the phone, and had fun opening our own baskets full of treats and presents for each family. My mom really went all out this year!! We all pitched in and bought her a digital camera for Christmas. Our family also made Shutterfly.com calendars and mailed those out to each grandparent :*)

"Mall Park"

While in Arizona we enjoyed eating our smoothie and oatmeals at Jamba Juice before spending Tuesday the 20th at the Paradise Valley mall. We enjoyed walking around, looking at all the Christmas displays, watching the train tote kiddos and families to and fro, and finally playing at what Ash called the "mall park." He was explorative, engaging, and the most social I've ever seen him! We stayed there for nearly 2 hours while he ran around and followed others lead while also starting games on his own. Kids seem drawn to him at times and followed him around to get to play with him. He even started a game where he'd act like he was falling down the slide and other kids had to pull him back up. Then he'd fall "off the cliff" and go rolling around making dead noises. It was hilarious! That was one of my favorite Christmas gifts...seeing Ash accomplish something I thought impossible a few years ago. God is good.

Bath Time Is Back

My favorite moment with Asher while we were in Arizona together for our Dr. Schneider visit was at night when he was able to take a bath at Uncle Bryon's house. Since we moved to American Fork the boys have been without a bathtub and BOY did Ashy miss it! He must have stayed in that bathtub for an hour! He loved the bubbles, the cup, drinking the soapy water, everything! And I had fun using a new Retro Camera app on my Droid phone :*)

But he was a brave boy during the doctor visits. The first one, on Monday the 19th, involved a long blood draw for testing and injection of glutathione to begin the chelation process. Then we went back Wednesday morning, the 21st, and he received another glutathione injection by Dr. Schneider at CARE. The only thing I've noticed is that Ash was pretty tired those 3 days and he broke out in a small skin rash. We got some initial blood testing back before we left. It showed a raise in white blood cells (fighting off infection or sickness), a raise in triglycerides (less cereal), and a raise in uric acid (from red meat). He also still had allergic shiners under his eyes so she recommended we back off corn as well. But his vitamin D level looked really good! We're still waiting to receive info about the other tests so see whether chelation is helping or not.

Chukwurah Photo Shoot

Renee, Meg and I performed in Meg's ward a Christmas song "Peace, Peace" on the 11th. It was so fun to sing with them again and were accompanied by Sarah Jane on her violin as well...heaven! Afterwards I took some photos of Nay's family in Meg's neighborhood. Despite the freezing cold and difficulty in trying to keep all the kiddos together, we managed to get some great pics that they loved! Yay!

Partial Lunar Eclipse

Apparently I was the only one that heard on the radio about the partial lunar eclipse that took place this morning between 6-7am. But I'm glad I did because I was actually awake (alarm accidentally went off early!). Of course Jonah and Bryce beat me to it, but I did manage to see it around 6:40am. My pictures are a little pitiful, but by the time I saw it the bottom of the moon was starting to be illuminated, but it was still cool to see the red upper half. It won't happen again for another 4 years. Totally worth it!

Temple Square II

The fun continues... :*)

Temple Square

Future mental note....never attempt Temple Square on a Friday night. After being stuck in downtown traffic forEver on South Temple, we finally found a parking garage and, after parking on the very top roof, were on our way to see the lights. That's about when I realized it was way too cold to attempt such an activity in December. But since that's the only time the lights are actually on...I decided to brave it.
In my spontaneity I decided to invite Bryce, Jonah's former 9-year-old best friend from Draper, to go along with us and later spend the night. Because Jonah's normally calm-mannered, I didn't realize what I was in for. They were literally bouncing and jumping the whole time! But we managed to see pretty much everything and make it back to the car alive and only partially-frozen an hour later...and I only had to carry Ash a few blocks :*)

After Jase serinaded us in the car with Christmas music, we made it home and the boys peacefully drifted to sleep (after some Nerf gun wars and chatting, of course!). It was definitely a night to remember. Another mental note for next year....only one 4th grader necessary.

Thanksgiving in Idaho

We were excited to travel up to Rexburg for Thanksgiving this year! Nana and Papa Val were very accommodating and we enjoyed watching Papa Val work on building another cabin :*) We also enjoyed Shane and Mandy's company along with Gage and Lily and all the pets! We ended up staying in a nearby hotel between Idaho Falls and Rexburg. I wasn't feeling well most of the time and it helped to be able to rest a bit. We stayed at the Ameritel Inn and, amazingly, Jase really liked the beds! They let us onto the 4th floor and we enjoyed a really quiet atmosphere with soup/cookies the first night and amazing hot breakfasts every morning (with gluten/casein free food for Ash!).

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing! Nana really went all-out this year--my favorite was the cranberry sauce and turkey! We also were able to visit Great-Grandma Elsberry and Aunt Sharon while we were up there. They are in high spirits and were in the midst of decorating for Christmas. They, too, shared with us lots of yummy food and good stories. Ash and Jonah loved playing fetch with Toby, their black toy poodle.

On Saturday Nana took all of us out to lunch at Cafe Rio...one of our favorite places to eat! We mostly just relaxed, enjoyed family and food, and drove back Sunday morning. Overall an amazing holiday and trip. I loved that we tried to focus, as a family, on things we were grateful for the whole month. The 1st November FHE we started a list (trying to get to 100 before Thanksgiving) of what we were grateful for. We almost made it on paper...but came up with over 100 in the car on the ride up to Idaho. We have indeed been very blessed this year!

Thanksgiving Skits

Although this was a bit stressful for Mom, I was able to pull together an Indian and Turkey costume for Jonah's skit performance in Mrs. Baginska's 4th grade class. Jonah performed in "Turkey Trotten", "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving", and "Bear Dance." I've been impressed with Odyssey's classes and teachers so far...they're pretty creative with their learning opportunities. Jonah had the best time "performing" for me and the other parents with his class. I think he loves it! So, although his turkey costume looked a bit like a chicken, he did an awesome job! Dad and I were so proud of him!

Tired of Your Baby Brother???

Just throw some Fall leaves on him and....VOILA! He's gone :*) Seriously though. Jonah thought this up all on his own. He came running downstairs yelling, "Mom! Come look!" And once I got to the backyard he and Ash were having the BEST time covering him up with every weed, stick and leaf Jonah could find. Ash wanted to be covered up over and over again...Good job Jone!