Issue 189

The Nutcracker

For Christmas the girls received tickets to Ballet West's Nutcracker. What an amazing production!

Happy New Year!

 We had a wonderful New Year with family in Idaho! Our oldest nephew is heading to Italy on his mission, so we trekked up to our relatives to hear his farewell. We brought in the New Year dancing with the Wii, reading Dave Barry, and watching movies. Whitney went with her cousin to the local stake dance and had a blast! Happy New Year everyone!

Issue 188

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2011, we've been having so much fun, we almost forgot to blog about it! We started off Christmas Eve with a matinee of the new movie "Tin Tin." The kids were really into the Tin Tin comics when we lived in New Zealand, so we loved the movie.

Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's with our Subarus loaded down with gifts. Grandma had gingerbread houses for all the kids to decorate. Grandpa grilled steak on the BBQ, which reminded me Christmas in New Zealand, where every one grills and goes to the beach to celebrate the holiday.

We spent the night and opened our Santa gifts in the morning before church. Its was wonderful to attend services in the ward I grew up in. The rest of the day was spent exchanging gifts with waves of family as they arrived at different times throughout the day. We had so much fun, we didn't want to go home, so we didn't. We spent the night again, and repacked our Subaru's for the ride home.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

Issue 187

Food Bank

Whitney had the chance to serve at the Food Bank for a Young Women's activity recently. It was a wonderful service opportunity that she enjoyed. But she says, "Don't donate pineapple!" They have enough.

'Tis the Season

Whitney's school choir had six performances downtown on Tuesday, and a full concert on Wednesday at the school. They performed Christmas music and Temple Square, The Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the State Capital. Steve got back in town in time to see her sing at the State Capital and then run over and see Janey's first swimming race, and then home to run Scouts. 'Tis the Season!

First Swim Meet

Janey competed in her first Swim Meet this week! She swam the 100 meter freestyle, the 50 meter back stroke and the 50 meter freestyle. She did such a great job! The times she swam this meet will be her times to beat next time. It's so different having a child who loves to swim, since my first three children would rather eat worms than put their faces in the water. Janey is my little fish!

Issue 186

The Week of the Nutcracker

Janey and Ellie's dance company put on the full Nutcracker concert every year in conjunction with a near by city. Last year we went to see some friends in the production and the girls loved it so much they wanted to be in it this year. They do the full Nutcracker production (over 3 hours long!) with about 250 dancers. With 2 dress rehearsals and 2 performances, it was a week full of Nutcracker. Janey danced beautifully in the Japanese themed number and Ellie did a great job in both the Chinese and Scottish numbers. What a wonderful production to be a part of!

Bronze Medalist

Daniel competed in a Novice Fencing Tournament this weekend and came away with a 4th place in Y12 Foil and a 3rd Place Bronze in Y14 Epee! Not bad for 3 months of training! Way to go Daniel.

Issue 185

A New York State of Mind

Growing up we had a children's Christmas book that showed people ice skating beneath the glow of a giant Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York. I've always wanted to go skating there at Christmas time and so for an early anniversary present Steve took me to New York to fulfill my childhood wish. It was as romantic and thrilling as I'd ever hoped it to be. We stayed with Steve's business partner and his family in gorgeous Summit, New Jersey, which is a very convenient train ride away from Manhattan.

 Christmas shopping on Times Square and 5th avenue was so much fun! The Christmas window displays & bright lights were magical. My favorite stops were the giant Toys R Us, the Lego store, the M&M store, of course the American Girls' Place!

 Another wish granted, I got to see Wicked on Broadway! Incredible, even if we had to cash in the kid's inheritance to afford the tickets.

 We saw downtown, midtown and uptown by double decker tour bus, and learned a lot of history along the way. Our second site seeing day we took in the amazing Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest cathedral in the world. The stained glass and sculptures were stunning.

 The traffic was so thick on a Saturday that it took us almost 2 hours to get from the museum area of town back down to Times Square. We had tickets for a harbor cruise at 4:00, and thought 2 hours would be plenty of time to travel the few blocks. We ended up running the four blocks from Times Square to the harbor and arrived just in time to see the boat disappear! So, the Lego Lady Liberty is the only one we got to see this trip. Good thing our friends invited us to stay with them again in the fall.

Saturday evening we attended a wonderful Christmas concert, held at the church located in the Manhattan Temple building, and went to church on Sunday with our friends in New Jersey. Can't wait to return!

Issue 184