Epic Treat

Every Monday our family has what we call Family Home Evening. It is a program in our church where we gather as a family to spend the evening together. We take turns teaching a lesson, singing songs, planing service opportunities, most importantly sharing a treat.

Esteban was assigned to choose the treat this week. Knowing it was his last chance to choose the treat, he invented one. It included a warm blonde brownie, Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, and topped off with a no bake cookie.

It is essentially three treats rolled into one and it was delicious. It will always be remembered as Este's Epic treat. I will never eat one of these things without thinking of him.

Simply Listen

Today I sat and simply listened to my boys play in the pool. They were out there for hours. I just sat on the porch and enjoyed hearing their banter.

Yesterday, I listened to Aaron and Ethan play a game of chess. There was far less noise involved...

I love listening to AJ and the girls play Squinky Legos. A game where they build extravagant houses for little plastic people and animals. They keep the game going all the day long. Sometimes they even convince Esteban and Ethan to join them.

When my kids get a new box of Legos, they build the structure according to the instructions only one time. Then it all goes into a big bin and it is used as building materials. It becomes a huge assortment of blocks.

Isn't that exactly what life is.  mixture of different experiences. Some being bigger than others. Each a different shape, style, and  color. I believe we  build our mansions in heaven brick by brick. I hope my mansion looks like a gigantic Lego fort. This is what I ponder in my heart while I sit and simply listen to my kids.

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

I've already posted about the reason why we celebrate and the sacred side of Christmas. There were other festivities involved in our Christmas experience this year. I refer to them as the fa-la-la-la-la side of Christmas.

We went caroling with a group of friends at the assisted living center nearby. It was great fun! I hope the residents enjoyed it as much as we did.

We missed out on our extended family's Christmas parties but that didn't stop Jared from sending us his love.

 I wrapped presents and wrapped presents. By the end, this is what they started to look like. I didn't even care by that point.

Aaron and I attended the best company Christmas party ever. When we left the party, I asked Aaron if we could start having quarterly Christmas parties. Yes, it really was that fun. Here I am modeling the outfit I got for the party. Ethan was out of camera shot showing me the proper pose. I wish we also had a shot of his demonstration as well.

We had some of our favorite traditional Christmas food of Spanish rice and tamales. They were delicious!

 Esteban's girlfriend, Chabeli, even  provided a flan for dessert. It was perfect ending to a wonderful meal.

 I know I post a lot of pictures of food on here but with three teenage boys in the house it is kind of an important part of our family life. At one point this is what our counter looked like after Santa left every sugary cereal and Poptart flavor made by man. The little tile sign in the backgrounds sums it up nicely.

The girls and I made gingerbread houses. The boys were not interested. Bah humbug!!

First of all, this is the gingerbread house my sister made in Utah.

These are our gingerbread houses.

AJ pointed out they are not even made out of gingerbread but, calling the graham cracker houses doesn't quite sound the same.

Vanessa started eating hers right away. (Photo bomb Larry the Cucumber. We still love Veggie Tales.)

We left the others out on the counter which proved to be a good thing because we somehow completely forgot to leave cookies out for Santa and he ended up snacking on one of the houses.

The kids happily opened their presents.

Yes. That is a new toilet seat for Ethan and AJ. It is the gift that keeps on giving.

Savanah had the largest present under the tree.

Vanessa was excited for her gift from Este.

Ethan seemed confused by the gift that I gave him. All the other kids got some new cool clothes.

He got a shirt with elbow pads. That happens to be a very expensive shirt by the way.

Vanessa loved her toe socks.

Este was worried he actually got a toaster.

But loved the new sunglasses that were inside the box instead.

Colt was happy with his Christmas feast. Aaron likes to make sure he stays a fat spoiled house cat.

We drew names with all the cousins on Aaron's side of the family. Keeton liked the gift from Este.

Jace was excited for the football helmet sent from cousins in Utah.

Jace insisted on giving Vanessa a peanut butter sandwich. She was so surprised.

After all the festivities we went swimming that afternoon. Just because we live in Texas and just because we can.

I was the first one off the diving board and into the pool.

(That is the most unflattering photo on so many levels.)

I soon discovered that the pool surface was warm. The rest of the pool was not. As long as I was swimming, it was bearable. There were pockets of warm water and pockets of cold water. 

Before long I was in the hot tub giggling as every body else jumped in and came up screaming like a little girl. Before long we had stirred the water in the pool around enough to make the temperature more uniform. 

There is something that is so enjoyable about hanging out in the hot tub together on Christmas afternoon.

There it is. Christmas 2013. It proved to be one of my favorite Christmas holidays of all time but then again I say that every year and it is always true. Tis' the season to be jolly. Falalalalalala!!

Touched By Jesus

Christmas Eve this year was AMAZING!!

Este shared with us that one of his friends recently told him how our family seems so perfect (his friend apparently hasn't spent enough time with us to know better). He told Este that it was obvious that our family had been touched by Jesus. Este's friend may not be aware of how true that statement really is. Not that we are the perfect family or live the perfect life, but the only perfect person to walk the earth, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, has shown us mercy and touched our hearts. We really have been touched by Jesus.

Christmas Eve is the day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior. It is the day when we are more focused on what matters most. Christmas Day is our fun-filled-present-opening-fa-la-la-la-la celebration. But for our family, Christmas Eve is deep and spiritual. As our children have grown we have tried various ways to accomplish this task. We have spent time with extended family and friends. We have donned costumes and reenacted the Nativity in our barn in Utah. This year there were no wise men costumes. We declined thoughtful invitations to be with other families. There was no pomp and circumstance. We simply gathered around and shared with each other the many ways our family truly has been touched by Jesus.

The Christmas season was a little crazy this year: a late Thanksgiving, the four day ice storm, a weekend trip to Florida, no Christmas cards, etc. I tried really hard not to get stressed. There were moments the struggle was real but for the most part, I stayed true to my commitment. By the morning of the 24th I was ready. The shopping was done, except for one last minute trip to the mall. Aaron planned and prepared our dinner, and most of the presents were wrapped (That's highly unusual for us.)

Aaron asked the kids if they wanted turkey or ham for Christmas Eve dinner. They asked for ribs. True to our southern living, we had ribs, baked sweet potatoes, and fully loaded garlic mashed potatoes. YUMMY!!

He even "encouraged" the kids to help in the food preparation. It is amazing what a little holiday motivation will provide. That, and the threat of not eating dinner.

After dinner we gathered around the living room and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then I read part of a talk by Neil A. Maxwell about how our lives our still part of the Christmas story and how each of us need to make the journey to Christ just as the wise men did. We also watched several Mormon Messages on You Tube.

The kids were calm. The fire was bright. The Spirit was felt. We each shared what we were thankful for. We opened a gift of new pajamas. We laughed together. In fact, every time I started to feel sad and tears welled up, my kids made me laugh. We laughed a lot. I had so much fun with them. This night touched my heart and is probably my favorite Christmas ever. It was a night I will never forget.

I don't know what the future holds for our family.  I do know there will be good days and bad days to come. I hope that as we did this day,  that every day we will remember the many ways our family has been touched by Jesus. As Jeffrey R Holland said: "After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before." (click here for full text)

Rainy Day Blues

Today was the first rainy cold day of the season. The summer is drawing to a close. How did we celebrate the cooler temperatures?

I spent some time this morning wrapped up in my favorite blanket out on the back porch. I love listening, watching, and especially smelling the rain. It was such a peaceful start to my day.

When the girls arrived home from school we jumped in the pool. Literally.

I am opposed to cold water and any cold temperature for that matter so I refused to leave the hot tub. I'm grateful when the others joined me and I loved my cuddle time with Vanessa.

Aaron and the girls enjoyed jumping from the warm hot tub into the cold pool.

I have the feeling this won't be the last time we enjoy being outside on a cold rainy  cold day.

Go Aggies!!

When we heard the Utah State Aggies were playing football at Louisiana Tech on the same weekend we had planned for months to go explore the south, we were elated! I ordered game day shirts from the USU bookstore ($6 a shirt) for the entire family and had them shipped to Dallas. Our good friend Vaea set us up with some sweet third row seats.

We spent the first half of the game like this....

We still had fun because USU played a great first half.

Aaron and the boys were more than happy to share their football commentary with each other throughout the game.

The USU crowd only had about a hundred people in it. There was plenty of space for us to move around. It was perfect!

Although our crowd was small we were loud and proud. We drew plenty of jeering looks from the Tech student section next to us. Who puts the visiting crowd next to the student section? What was worse, was their cheerleaders in front of us for the 4th Quarter. We just ignored them and cheered louder than they did anyway. 

We let the rest of stadium know we were there. I think the other spectators were taken back a little by our little crowd that could make so much noise.

The game ended in a tie when it was really cold and the girls had both had enough football for the day. Luckily our overtime win didn't take long. It was great to see USU finally win a big game! 

The local paper on Sunday was disappointed in the end result of the game, but the better team won, plain and simple, but I might be biased.