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. 

B-boy Bennett

I'm so proud of Bennett!  This year he started taking a hip hop dance class, and is LOVING it.  He would even rather do dance than swimming, which is saying a lot.  He has some really cute boys in his class.  There is a wide variety of natural ability, and I have to say that Bennett's got skills!

They had their first performance at Novemberfest, which is held at the Rec Center at Logan High.  He was so excited for this performance.  He didn't hesitate at all, and he didn't hold back in his dancing.  He was pretty showy, and it was awesome!  Way to go, Bennett!  He had lots of people there to support him, too, which made him feel really special.  It was so fun, and I was really happy for him.  Thanks to Alan, who took these photos.

A weekend of thanks.

Sometimes I take way too many pictures, and sometimes I kick myself for not taking more.  I guess I was too busy eating to take pictures this Thanksgiving, because I hardly took any.  But I did get this awesome one of Jaime:

I love my sister.  I LOVE my family.  I love my children.  I love Thanksgiving.

Look at this cute shot of Grandpa and Porter reading... You gotta take a break to let that pie digest.

Blue ate so much his feet grew to a Men's 11.

The morning after Thanksgiving Grandma had the excellent idea to go for a hike along the newly developed Bonneville Shoreline Trail above North Ogden.  It was spectacular.  Not too cold, beautiful views, and the best company.  We hiked further than I thought we would/could with all those kids.  I'm so glad we did.

The boys had a great time scrambling around on this landslide.

What are we going to do without the world's best Grandma?  I really don't know what will become of us, but I can't wait to hear about her marvelous adventures in Kenya.

After the hike we went to see the new Muppets movie.  It was WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Upon our return from the movie, I went with my mom, dad, and Jaime to sign some bank papers which will allow us to help with bill paying and such while they are gone to Kenya.  While we were there, Finn broke his arm.  Again.  He jumped out of Harper's crib downstairs at my mom's.  He came upstairs crying, telling Jason, "I jumped out of Harper's bed and broke my arm."  He knew right away.  So we spent the evening going from one hospital to the next, until we ended up at Primary Children's where he underwent surgery to put pins in his elbow.  He had broken his humerus, just above the elbow, fortunately missing the growth plate.  Poor little lamb.  So we were there overnight, with little to no sleep, but feeling so grateful he got the care he needed.  The staff at PCMC is completely amazing.  And being there will really make you grateful to have relatively healthy, happy children.  I counted my blessings all night long that night.