December 2010

December has been a whirlwind of a month...it started off with Brenda being the decorating committee for the 2nd annual Colorado Springs Creche exhibit at our church building. It was a week full of lights hung across the ceiling, 27 tables covered with white tablecloths and then decorated with burgandy, forest green and gold cloths with boxes and books underneath to provide differents levels for the nativities to be displayed on them. We had 6 fake palm trees, 2 Journey to Bethlehem silhouettes, a 20 ft by 8 ft mural of the city of Bethlehem, 10 Lit Christmas trees, 6 sparkly winter trees. That was all done by Wednesday morning to get ready for the 400+ nativities that were brought for the next 2 days and set up. It was a glorious event and there was even a live nativity re-enactment done outside with live animals, script, singing etc. ( thank goodness i didn't have to plan that one)
Anyways, the event had close to 4000 visitors and we collected 300+ lbs of food for care and share at the door. There were some awesome stories of non members and members alike who truly were touched by the spirit that was present during the event!!! I was glad to be a part of it but also glad when it was over...then the rest of the month could commence.

A nice treat was that Maddie, Lilly and Chase flew in for the weekend to have an early celebration of Maddie's birthday. Mike had planned to come but ended up having a work meeting that he couldn't get out of. We went out to eat and Austin made an awesome chocolate cake with buttercream frosting...DELICIOUS...LADIES...HE'S A GOOD COOK!!! Lilly was so much fun to have around and to spoil. She is quite the little talker now, in full sentences and she does say the darndest things....for example...she was dancing to some music and wanted Poppy (Steve) to dance, she said, "dance Poppy" but Steve was sitting on the ground so he started to move his upper body to the beat. Lilly wasn't satisfied with that and she said "No Poppy, get off the carpet and dance" we laughed so hard! It was a very fun visit, with no big plans but lots of fun and rest for Maddie (I hope)
There were two of Austin's band concerts to attend in one week. And the our ward party on a Saturday night...Brenda only got to go to part of it as she has been putting in some extra hours at work to help pay for Christmas and the Cruise that is coming up in January.
And then there was all the shopping to get done, presents to wrap and goodies to be baked.
Chase drove home on Saturday the 18th from BYU, it took him 11 hours to drive the 8 1/2 hour trip because of snowy weather in the mountains...he did get home safe and mostly sound. It's been fun having him around...he cracks us all up!
Tonight for Christmas eve we had our traditional Seafood dinner but didn't have crab...we settled for Lobster tails this year...the shrimp was plentiful...boiled shrimp, popcorn shrimp, and large deep fried shrimp. We also had sweet potatoe fries to go with it all...YUMMY!
AFter dinner the boys opened their Christmas Eve gifts...it wasn't pajama's this year...to their disappointment. They did get home made Snuggie's and some boxer's with super hero's on them.
After all the frivolity, I had to go to work and here I am, working hard (teehee)No new Christmas Babies yet....
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!!!

Catching Up!

In the last several months we've had Homecommings, Family Holidays together, Lilly's Birthday, Great News from promotion to scholarships, and a Graduation.

Steve returned from his deployment to Creech AFB in December after being away from the family for 4-months.

Then we had Christmas at our house. Maddie, Mike, and Lilly were able to come, and they brought Grandma Mert with them. We got to spend a great week spending time with each other, and doing a little skiing together.

Brenda went to Utah for Lilly's first birthday. Poppy had to stay home to work but he shared in the festivities via Skype while Lilly blew out her candles and ate her cake. It's hard to believe she's already a year old. She's started walking one day before she turned 10 months old.

Then February was a very eventful month. Spencer had his 21st birthday, we found out that Chase got a 4-year ROTC scholarship, and Steve will be promoted to Colonel in August 2011.

We expected in April to find out about our next move, but with the pending promotion, the Air Force decided to leave us in Colorado Springs for a while.

May was pretty eventful. Chase and Austin had been practicing for a dance festival for the entire year and in May they had the big event! It was fantastic. They really shined in every dance number they were in. Mike, Maddie, Lilly, Gigi and Gma Toddy came to visit for Graduation and to see the dance festival. We drove almost to the top of Pikes Peak (the Rangers would not let us drive all the way cause of the snow ) We took Lilly to a park in Manitou Springs and had a picnic. WE went to the Royal Gorge bridge and then to a hot spring pool and then On May 19th Chase graduated from Liberty High School.

This summer Chase will be working at Camp Firewalker as their Lifeguard fro the entire month of June, then begins our camping trips, family reunions, trip to Lake Powell, traveling to Dallas for a wedding, then who knows what else.

This catches us up, and I'm sure I missed a lot, but I've done my best. Hopefully we'll do better in the future.