Merry Christmas!

 Kevin and Kellie came for Christmas this year.  BJ and Chrystal's family was supposed to come as well, but they ended up not being able to come because Chrystal's cousin had a baby the week before Christmas (and she is living with them).  Kevin and Kellie drove in on Tuesday.  We had dinner together that night.  Wednesday (Christmas Eve) we went out to lunch at El Farro, and then we went over to my parent's house and decorated cookies and did some crafts.  Travis worked until about 3:00 and then joined us.

 Here are the boys decorating their cookies.

 Nice job Parker!

 That star looks yummy, Conner!

Kevin and Drew were put in charge of decorating the remaining cookies after the kids finished.  They (Kevin) didn't do such a great job!  I think he was trying to get out of ever decorating cookies again.

 Here's Calissa with her cookies.

 After cookies, they did crafts with Grandma.

Calissa and Abby having fun making penguins.

 Christopher with his Santa.

 Making Santa and his sleigh.

Sam, Calissa and Abby.

 After they finished the crafts we headed back over to our house for Christmas Eve.

 We had soup and rolls for dinner (along with a few appetizers).  Kellie's soup didn't turn out (clam chowder).  They showed up late and she said she didn't have her soup.  She put in flour to thicken in and it wouldn't thicken and it usually does right away.  After about 20 minutes Kevin came in and asked if she thickened it with this (pointing to the container).  She said yes.  Kevin then told her she had added powdered sugar instead of flour!  What's so funny about this, is that my dad used powdered sugar (on accident) one Thanksgiving to thicken the gravy!  We learned then that powdered sugar does not thicken anything ... except maybe your waist-line!

 Kellie and Tina

 Grandpa and Grandma

 Me and Trav

 Drew, Emily, Tina

Lindsay and Christopher

 Kevin, Sam and Kellie 

 After dinner we had a program (that our family put on).  Everyone participated and we sang some songs. 

 We then gave everyone an ornament carved out of Olive Wood.

 Grandma led us in a song,

 and then it was time for a talent show. 

 Charlie

 Max.

After dessert, everyone headed home and we read the Christmas story in Luke, cleaned up and went to bed! 

 Christmas morning Trav and I were the first one's up.  Looked like Santa had come!

 We cooked some (not homemade) cinnamon rolls.  (And yes, Trav was in shorts on Christmas day!)

 After the kids got up and into our bed, we read the Christmas story in 3 Nephi, had a family prayer and then headed out to open presents.

 Calissa got the Lego Friends Mall that she had asked for.

 The boys got a note from Santa that said their gift couldn't fit down the chimney so they needed to go and check in the car port.

 They got a new outdoor ping pong table! (That wasn't assembled!) 

 After looking and that we came back in and opened one present at a time so we could watch everyone open their presents.  Calissa was excited to get some new shoes!

 Here's Conner with his haul from the morning.

 Parker's gifts!

 Trav got a new travel golf bag for his golf trip in February. (Dodger colors!)

 Trav surprised me with this beautiful necklace with the kids' names on it.

 After starting the rolls for dinner, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for round two and some breakfast with the family.

 Tina and I were taking pictures and decided to take a picture of each other!

Here are Abby and Calissa in their matching jammies!

After a yummy breakfast, we hung out for a while and then went home to put away presents and play with some new presents too!  Then, we went back for dinner with the family.

Friday, the adult girls went out for manicures and pedicures and lunch at Skipolinis.  Then, we met everyone for a movie.  "Night at the Museum 3."  We ended the evening being able to participate in Tyler's ordination to Elder and the said goodbye to the family.

Saturday, we got up early and drove to Utah!

Christmas Choir Concerts

The last couple of weeks of school were a little crazy with choir.  The show choir practices all the time (and almost each Saturday for about 6 hours).

The week of their concerts, they performed for an Elementary School.  Here is Parker with his partner, Christina.

 Here is the group.  They have 44 kids this year in Show Choir.

 They performed at DVC for three nights.  The Show Choir and Concert Choirs did great!

Here is Parker and Christina again after the concert one night. 

 They have fun performing together.

 Here is Parker with his girlfriend, Victoria. She's in Show Choir too.

And here are our handsome boys!  So glad that they get to have this experience together this year!

Parker's award

 

Here is the very cool award that Parker got at the Cross Country team party.  His name was misspelled in the first one, so they had to redo it.  I think this one turned out better!

His coach wanted to acknowledge his undefeated season!

So very cool!

Polar Express

 

 We had a fabulous Ward Christmas last night.  It was a Polar Express theme.  We each had tickets and took them to the ticket booth when we arrived.  (It was inside the door and looked like a brick building ... I took this picture after they had already cleaned it up).  Once we gave them our tickets, we went down to wait for the train.

They turned the Primary hallway into a train.  There were big doors on each end to enter and exit. We rode and listened to the sound of the train as we rode to the North Pole.

Once we got off the train, we had dinner, a program, and dessert.  Trav and the Bishopric (and wives) were a part of the program.  Travis is the elf on the far right.  We had a fun night and a terrific turnout!

Calissa - YW Basketball

Calissa had her YW basketball tournament yesterday morning.  She had only been able to play in one game this season and neither Travis or I were able to attend.  Her other games she missed because of soccer.

  So, Saturday morning we got to the church with the plan to play at 9:00 am and then again at 11:00 if they won.  Here is Calissa warming up with her friend EmJ.  (She's a little bit taller than Calissa!)

 She did a lot of running in the game!

 Here she is with a swollen left eye (right if you are looking at her).  She came up to me at the team party on Friday night and said her eye felt like it was swollen.  Best we can figure, she got bit by a mosquito and she seems to be allergic to them!  Poor girl. It hurt for her to smile!

 Hanging out with her teammates during halftime.

  Playing some great defense!  I was proud of how she played.  She knew what she was doing!  They won the first game by a lot.  So, they had some breakfast and then had a dance rehearsal for our ward Christmas party on Saturday. 

 Then, it was time for the championship game against CV1.  This was a much different game.  Super aggressive. She didn't play much, but they won!

Congratulations Concord 2nd Young Women!!