New Year's Eve

Another year over. Amazing. Time goes so fast!  I can't believe Rob is 14 and will be in High School next year. And Tommy is 9! Wow!

We celebrated by having some friends over for dinner, games and fireworks.  Dinner was fabulous.. Soup and hot rolls. Perfect for a cold evening.  OUr California weather has gone and now it is a balmy 4 degrees outside. Yowwie - that's cold!!!!


The kids had a great time downstairs building legos, trains and playing video games.  While the adults, upstairs, played games and chatted. Lots of fun to spend time with good friends.


Then at midnight, we went outside to light fireworks to welcome in the new year. Wow. It was cold.  Most of the Moms stayed inside and watched from the window.  The kids didn't seem to notice the cold since they got to light the fireworks. And of course, Randy is out there in shorts. Crazy.

Then of course, we had to have Hot Chocolate and treats and time for a few more games.




Happy New Year!!!  Have a GREAT 2011.

Sledding

Every Christmas Eve morning, all the boys go sledding.  Only this year, there is no snow by our house - you have to head up the mountain. Sad for sledding, but secretly, I have been enjoying our "California Christmas" with temperatures in the 40's and 50's.

So Randy and the boys headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to find a popular sledding area near Doughnut Falls. Only when they got there, they missed the sledding area, going on about a mile hike- off on some snow shoe track.  But leave it to boys, they found a place to sled, albeit steep!

They had a great time, and in hiking back to the car, they heard kids playing over the hill next to the car, and lo and behold, there was the sled area.  Oh well, the boys had a blast!

Say Goodbye to the Pink Carpet!

 One thing I have always hated, since we moved in this house 13 YEARS ago, was the pink carpet in my bedroom. We knew we would replace it, I just had no idea how long it would take us to get there.

 


When we got home from  Midway and Jesus' Birthday party, we discovered that Santa and his elves had made an early delivery. While we were gone, They had moved all the furniture, ripped out the OLD PINK Carpet (YEAH!!), Put in new carpet, and replaced all of the furniture.

So, when I walked in, the whole room was done! Complete! Wow. Do Santa's elves have good taste!

Grandma J's Christmas Party

So after all the pictures.... we went to Debi's house for dinner and visiting. While we were there, a special visitor stopped by to wish the kids Merry Christmas. All the kids loved it! And it was fun to be all together.      

All the kids were spell bound while Santa told them a story.

Then, Santa proceeded to give everyone a gift, including Grandma!

Everyone got stockings and pajamas from Grandma! Now, we are ready for Christmas!!

The kids played the Candy Bar game - where you roll dice, take and steal candy. The good news is, that everyone eventually does end up with some candy!

 Then, the kids exchanged all of their gifts to each other.  What fun!

Grandma Johnson's Family Picture

Since Tag and Chris (and family) are here for Christmas, it's time to update "The Family Photo."


And because the size of our group has grown considerably, we decided to go to the Provo Marriott  Hotel to take our picture. They were very nice and accommodating.


Here are some of the photos we took while waiting for the photographer to arrive. More official pictures later....

Jake and Tommy

Rob is taller than Tag and Scott

Jesus' Birthday Pary

This year we went up to Midway for Jesus' Birthday Party (where they actually have snow!)

We stayed in a beautiful two-bedroom condo.

And a Jacuzzi tub. Yea!!

Lots of time for games and movies and lots of family time.

We played lots of games!

And the boys did lots of swimming. I mostly stayed in the spa.

 

We took one night and read the Christmas Story and talked about the true meaning of Christmas. We went on a treasure hunt to find the symbols of Christmas so we could decorate our little tree.

Then, we finished of the evening with chocolate cake. yum!

Christmas Caroling

We had the opportunity to take out the ol' guitar and go sing some Christmas songs to some of the older people in our ward. It turned out to be really fun!

Christmas Windows

The old tradition of going downtown to visit the famous  ZCMI Center Windows has been cancelled the last few years due to the major construction going on  downtown. Including demolishing the Old ZCMI building to make way for a new, outdoor mall.

This year, The Grand America Hotel, took up the theme and did big window displays throughout their lobby and store areas.  It was lots of fun.

And best yet- inside!!

The big tree outside was a perfect place for a picture!

Amazing gingerbread.

Copying down the ABC's

You wandered through the main floor and looked at Gingerbread Displays and found all 26 letters in the windows and at the end, you received a cookie from the bakery!

Fun! I hope they do it again next year.