Christmas Vacation

Matt was on call for the week of Christmas so we stayed in San Antonio for the Holidays.  He had an OK week and only had to stay late on Monday night until midnight.

We went to Six Flags on Friday, but there were not very many rides open.  Even though there were not very many people the lines were long because the options were so limited.  It was still good to get out and do something with the family.

The older three kids went on a bike ride in our neighborhood with Matt.

Gabbi came back from El Paso to train with the O'Connor swim team.  She stayed with us because her family was still gone.  Kylee and Gabbi went to the New Year's Dance and Matt chaperoned.

Dec 28 - Sunday
Matt had to give a talk on Obedience on Sunday because he was in charge of giving the talk assignments.  He gave a great talk.  Later that day we made the Gingerbread house and train.

Asher was sad because he was not allowed to eat all the candy being used for the Gingerbread house.  The house wasn't too solid and fell apart before long.

We played Headbandz as a family for a couple of hours and there was lots of laughing. We had never played the game before, so we were getting the hang of it.  Blake left and came back with his card upside down, so we knew that he had taken it off looked at it and put it back on.  Matt's turn he figured out it was something in the living room, but he couldn't figure out what it was.  He stood up and asked if he was facing it in all four directions and couldn't figure out why he wasn't facing it until later when he realized it was the clock.

Dec 29- Monday
We had Stockwells and Adia over for s'mores around a fire in the back yard.

Dec. 30- Tuesday
Tuesday we went to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens to see the Lego exhibit.  There were a whole bunch of really big Lego sculptures on display around the garden.  Adia came with us.

Dec 31 - Wednesday
New years eve we stayed home as a family, made pizzas, and played the Ticket to ride Europe game we got from Chantelle for 2 hours.  Afterwards we had root beer floats and brownies with ice cream and watched The Princess Bride.

Studio C

Last year Stephani Stockwell asked Kylee if she had seen Studio C and she hadn't.  She looked it up, watched it, thought it was funny, and told Brayden about it.  They started watching clips on the computer, and Brayden showed Julia and Blake and they all started watching.  Lately they have been doing Studio C marathons on the TV with YouTube and have started working Studio C quotes into their everyday interactions with each other.  They also like reenacting the skits, many of which they have learned word for word.

The first one Brayden saw was "Help Me" and Kylee's first was the "Miss Oregon beauty pageant".  All the kids have gotten into it and have even shared with friends.  Matt and I have recently watched them also and have really enjoyed them.  They are clean and really clever skits.

Everyone's Favorites
Dad - Valley, The Smith Farm, Horror Movie
Mom- Couchville, Shotgun Court, Shoulder Angel Basketball
Kylee - Valley, The Smith Farm, It's a Wonderful Life
Brayden - Scott Sterling Soccer, Couchville, Edgar Allen Poe Christmas
Julia - It's a wonderful life, Valley, Bad Boy Rap
Blake- The mess up with all with the wrong people in the characters, Valley, Shoulder Angel with the president and security guards

Other funny ones are Twins, Diabetes Intervention, and Candy Land

It has been really funny to hear the kids quoting the different quotes and have everyone in the family understand.

Another Year of Piano at the Rolling Oaks Mall

On December 13th Kylee, Brayden, and Julia played Christmas songs at the Rolling Oaks Mall. This ended up being in place of the Winter Recital, so all of Seena's piano students participated.  The kids worked really hard and did a great job memorizing their songs and playing them.  Kylee finally got to play George Winston's Carol of the Bells which was a lot harder than other versions she had played in the past.  There was a little bit of extra time left over on our time slot when everyone had played their songs, so Seena said that anyone who wanted could play their songs again.  Everyone wanted to play again and they were even jockying for position.  

The Rolling Oaks Mall is a bit of a drive. On our way we pass by the exit for the temple.  We decided that it would be a good time to stop and walk around the temple grounds and pick up a few things at the distribution center.  

Family Pictures 2014

Our family pictures were taken at the Pearl Brewery downtown.  We had not gone there before.  Asher had just learned to get up on his own, so it made the pictures tricky.  He kept trying to get up when he set him down for the picture.  So,  there were not very many family pictures in our first session.  

The photographer did a second round of pictures for our family because Asher did not cooperate in our first appointment.  We did not get very many of our whole family because Asher kept getting up and trying to run away.  The second time around went a lot better. We went a little closer to home and took pictures at O P Schnabel park.