A very merry PROBAR Christmas! And other Christmas fun...

We are lucky that Jason works for a company that values fun, outdoor adventure, and does wonderful things for their employees.  Last week we were able to invite all our families to come ice skating at the Gallivan Center in SLC for ice skating and Starbucks hot cocoa.  It was absolutely delightful- the perfect holiday activity!  And Jake learned to skate!  Yay, Jake!

Nikki and Ali.

Jason and Jake.

The boys with Gabrielle.

Lawrence family! (minus Gracie...)

Nikolas and Jakie- such cute little cousins.

Jules and Sara take the ice.

Gracie, Owen and me.

Cami and Jessie.

Next we went to Trolley Square for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory...

Naughty Bennett.  But I had to take his picture.

Nikki and Ali, before Ali threw up her spaghetti all over the floor.  Not the ending to the night we were looking for.  :)

Aunt Elizabeth was in town working, so she stopped by too!

A visit from our favorite yearly carolers, the Robison family.  How we love these guys.  They make every Christmas even better with this awesome tradition.  I want to be like the Robisons.

Elizabeth decided to come visit us!  Yay!  It took Harper awhile to warm up to her, but as soon as she got out the books, Harper climbed right up on her lap to cuddle and read.  I'm telling you, she LOVES books.

Aunt E and her boys.

Elizabeth accompanied me to the PROBAR Christmas party in Park City as well.  Here is Jason performing as MC Berry Blast at the party.

"Have you ever had a bar that tastes like no other?  It tastes so good I'd even work with my brother..."  Jason has been really grateful for this chance to work for a great company and spend lots of quality time with his boss, his little brother.  They are an awesome team!

I was so happy to get to see my dear friend, Summer Hennessy.  Her husband is on Jason's sales team, and we have become friends who see each other very rarely.  So it was a treat to spend a few minutes with her. She took on the role of head chef at the event.  Her menu was amazing.  It was really, really tasty, especially the desserts.  Summer has her own dessert company, "Desserts by Summer," so it was really no surprise.  She is amazing.  And one of the most beautiful people I have ever, every known.  Inside and out.

Here's a cute one of Sara (Jules' wife), Jason and Elizabeth.  That is one good looking bunch.

Elizabeth, Jason and I then went and wandered Main Street of Park City.  Elizabeth had never been there before, so we had to go peek in all the windows, even though everything but the bars had long since closed.  We actually found the greatest, most cozy little bar downstairs at Easy Street at the bottom of the hill.  It was perfect for our frozen tootsies.  We sat by the fire and had hot chocolate and talked until midnight.  Then we stayed in a condo at The Canyons and came home early the next morning.  What a treat it all was.  Thank you, PROBAR!  Thank you, Elizabeth!  And thank you to the person who always makes these sorts of outings possible by staying with the kiddos:  MY MOM.  xxooxxoo

Ward Christmas Party...

Traditional ham and potatoes.  Yum.  I wish I had taken better photos of all the decorations I helped with and spent a week of my life making.  Oh well.  That's not what's important at Christmas time, right?  So why do we do it?  I don't know. But it was pretty.  So pretty.

Pound it, Santa! 

I think it is funny that the big boys didn't want to sit on his lap...  Too cool already, Jake?

Santa and Mrs. Claus hand-painted ornaments for every child!  Wow!

Finn was cute and shy.  I hope he asked for no more broken bones.

He loved his little Santa ornament!

Aren't they adorable?

Yep, that's about what I expected.

But here she is, ready for church the next day with no visible side effects.

ART ATTACK

 We have had some cool artistic opportunities lately.  Owen's class took part in a project with Art Ed students at USU.  They had an aspiring art teacher come to their class and teach them about an installation at USU which was created using zometools.  They got to take a field trip to campus to check it out, and then make their own creations using zometools.  Their USU teacher photographed their work, and it became part of a show on campus.  What a cool thing for Owen to experience.  (We won't mention the part about how we went out to dinner before-hand and Owen got mad because he hated the food, and then he threw a fit and wouldn't even come in to see the show until Jason cut some crazy deal with him, and he stayed for 2 seconds, long enough to talk to this lady, and then left in a teary huff.  Yeah, let's just leave that part out.)

Here a nice lady asks Owen about his class' project.

Everyone was invited to create art cards to display.

Opening night.

Jake was so excited about this outdoor sculpture that looked like a big clothespin to him.

Outside the show looking in.

 It was so fun to visit the art department at USU that night.  The show was held in the room I took all my illustration classes in!  Ah, the memories.  Interestingly and sadly enough, a few days later I discovered that all my drawings from college had been damaged by water and mold downstairs.  Bummer.  I really was sad.  I took everything out and photographed it, but I think I have to throw it out.  Here are some examples of what was wrecked:

Oh well.  Anyway, we have been doing awesome stuff in art class too!!!!  Here are the fruits of our polymer clay labors...  These baubles and beads were turned into necklaces, keychains, magnets, marbles, earrings, etc.

 And printing Christmas cards...

 And the cutest print in the world ever, made by Jade Mohr, which is a gift to his sister, Ruby.  So cute.

 Presenting probably my favorite art project ever done by any child in the world, and he happens to be mine, which means this artwork is now mine:

 Charley Harper-inspired cardinal.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.

More fun with polymer clay.  All the kids got to make a gazillion gifts over the last few weeks.  We are now done with class until January.  PHEW.

Select moments around our house.

All my kids have been obsessed with books, but none so much as Harper.  They are her toy of choice.

We took photos of all the primary kids in the ward for a nativity movie which was shown at the ward talent show.

Gingerbread mania overtook our house the last week of November.  I actually made the gingerbread, printed out patterns from the computer and spent about  40 hours and a million dollars on candies for decorating.  It was a lot more work than I anticipated, as these projects always are, but I'm glad I did it.  See?  The pain is already starting to fade from memory.

Bennett and Owen were very serious about decorating their house.

I entered a couple of them in a contest at a Relief Society dinner.  Sadly, it was one of those contests where everyone gets a prize, so I really didn't need to put forth so much effort.  Oh well...

We got a new roof on our house!  Here are the kids looking out at the workers.

She's cute.

This picture was taken on the night of our first big snowstorm!  We had been invited to dessert at some friends' house (Amy and Adam Anderson), and decided to walk over.  There is nothing like walking in the soft, quiet darkness of the first snowy night of the year.  Magical.

Owen's new-found love is ice skating.  He is doing so great at it.  We took Ruby and Jade with us one day and had the best time!  Then out to lunch at Subway afterwards.  Yay for good friends!

I had so much fun skating with  my big boys.