Where have I been you ask? Let me just say three words.
New Primary President.
There, do I have to say any more?
Here's a quick conversation McKay and I had back in November:
Mckay : Do you think 25 is too young to be a primary president?
Me : Uh...YA!
McKay : Good thing you're going to be 26 tomorrow!
Me : (while punching McKay repeatedly) WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?
So, yes, for my 26th birthday I was given the gift of being called as the new primary president in a ward that I know, oh, about 10 women, asked to find 8 new teachers, 2 counselors, and a secretary.....AND do all of the end of the year/beginning of a new year prep.
SAY WHAT?
Ya, it's been insane. I have spent endless hours, and hours, and hours, and hours (you get the point) preparing, learning, shopping, teaching, reading, etc.
It's been crazy, but the first Sunday of the year is now
OVER
and it can only get better from here!...right?
I've ended up with some wonderful counselors/secretaries/teachers and I couldn't ask for better help.
I've been the primary chorister since we moved into the ward back in May, so I already know most of the kids (phew!).
I don't have to work outside the home so at least I've had the time it takes to do everything.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Along with the craziness of Christmas that we all go through of course!
Christmas was WONDERFUL this year. We got to spend plenty of time with our extended family and our own little family. It was so nice to not be traveling and living out of suitcases for the 3 weeks during Christmastime. We got to sleep in our own beds at night and that was great!
It all began with Santa visiting the primary Christmas activity.
Then, the week before Christmas McKay used some of his vacation time and we headed to a cabin near Brian Head in Utah. I don't even have the energy to go into all the eventful events of that week. But here are some highlights :
-We drove our minivan, at night, into a storm, to a cabin we'd never been to.
-We did not caravan with the 3 four wheel drive vehicles that came up the following day.
-We did not attempt to put our new snow chains on our van before we were stuck in a blizzard....and no they did not fit once we tried.
-We did get stuck in a ditch on the side of the snowy road for 6 hours in the middle of the night and made beds for the kids on the floor of the van.
-We did finally get unstuck and drove the final 2 miles to the cabin in record time (2 hours) arriving at 3:30am.
-We did have power for the first day, but then no power for the following 3 days.
-We did steal borrow fire wood from neighboring cabins to stay warm.
But most of all
-We really did have a blast.
I guess once I accepted the fact that we didn't have all the luxuries we thought we would have, it was ok. We still played games, played in the snow, laughed, ate, and had a great time.
I'm not positive but I think we got somewhere between 2 and 4 feet of snow while we were there....maybe more..? In other words, it snowed the whole time. Crazy.
Now for some pictures.
Kelly and Christie
Conner, Kelly, Sydney,Christie, and Jackson
Christie, Carter, Keresa, Sydney, and Sherri trying to stay warm inside.
Jackson catching snow flakes o his tongue.
Even Carter got to go outside for a little while.
But then we watched the fun through the window.
The boys built a huge snow man.
McKay made a mini sledding hill.
Sydney did some modeling poses as she slid down on her side.
Then we ventured down the road a ways and made a nice big sledding hill....and captured this picture.
It really was a great trip. A snow plow came half way through the week so McKay got right behind him and got our van out before the next 2 feet of snow fell. We parked the van on the highway that gets plowed all day and we picked it up at the end of our trip.
Now for Christmas!
We went and saw Tangled on Christmas Eve and it was very cute. We bought the kids a large popcorn and the only one who decided to have any was Jackson. About half way through the movie I look over to check on him and he's shoveling handful after handful into his mouth while totally zoned into the movie. The popcorn bucket was more than half way gone at that point....how in the world a boy that small could hold so much food...I'll never know! He thought it was the coolest thing in the world to have it all to himself!
Christmas Eve night we spent at my mom and dad's house. We had Costco pizza (super easy and yummy), did the nativity, had a little talent show, and all the grandkids opened jammies.
Here's an attempt at the 6 tired and ready for bed grandkids.
Jackson with some pumpkin pie.
The Nativity.
The traditional singing of "Green Eggs and Ham".
And a whole family shot right before heading home to wait for Santa to come.
Christmas morning the kids slept in until 7:00. I was up and showered before they even made a peep. We eventually had to wake up Sydney! What?
Waiting on the stairs to see if Santa came. (Don't you love Carter's cheese?)
Santa spoiled McKay!
The big kids got piggy banks in their stockings.
Carter loved rummaging through his stocking.
Sydney trying out Dad's new toy.
In the background you can see the train table and trains the kids got from Santa. I forgot to get a picture of it all set up...
That afternoon we headed back to my parent's house for our traditional breakfast (for lunch) and gift opening. We spent the afternoon and evening chatting, playing with new toys, and relaxing. It really was a great Christmas!
And yesterday we got some snow! It was weird driving Sydney to school and seeing the while stuff covering everything. These picture were taken after the rain had melted most of it away, but I'd say we got a good 2 inches at our house! Pretty exciting for us Las Vegans!
So that's the very LONG recap to our last few weeks. We'll see if I'm able to keep up with my picture taking and blogging in the coming months!
