Evanston Christmas-2014

Christmas in Evanston :)

We drove up on Christmas Eve and started the festivities :)

We had our annual Christmas Eve Treasure Hunt. Jess, Andrea and Aubrey started on all the grandkids individual tasks/puzzles to solve before the hunt started.  They were intense this year.  Then all the kids found their pajama's.  Only this year Julie bought everyone MATCHING PJ'S! WOO WOO!  

The boys all got BYU stuff.

And the girls all got THESE AMAZING NIGHTGOWNS!

Words can't express.... :).  Best. Christmas Present. Ever.

That night Afton was sick and Emily and Julie and George took her to the hospitalThat night we had an unexpected horrible surprise.  When we started unloading the presents, we realized that we didn't have them all.  There was a box of them left in the shed with 7 of Luke's presents!  AHH!  11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and 2 hours away from home.....

We are soooooo blessed to have amazing people around us though.  Scott, Aubrey and Andrea all vollunteered to drive and meet up in Park City to bring the gifts to Evanston.  Ahhh, so so so nice!  We love them soooooooo much and are so grateful!  THANKS SO MUCH GUYS!!!

They really all are amazing individuals with amazing hearts.  We love them.

The next morning--we don't have any pics cause I just like to enjoy all the insanity of it all.  The big boys got electric scooters (tested them for a bit in the frigid Evanston air, but have loved them at home.  Rhett's favorite this year was his Hawk Eye Costume that we made him. He looked SOOO cute in it and wore it almost every day for the first month.

And Max's favorite was his Ninja Turtle Roller Skates.  He was trying to wear and skate in Lukes for the past 2 months. Always falling down and running into others bare feet (not the most pleasant) but always sooo cute to watch him try. So now he has his own.  

Christmas morning was magical like always.

Julie made this amazingly delicious chex mixture...mmm.....with the little ones.

Everyone built their lego's (Jess even got some this year--woo woo. I gave him the Millennium Falcon (1264 pieces--it was suppose to be a surprise cause I NEVER surprise that guy...but turns out when I bought it on Amazon that it sent HIM AN EMAIL about it.  Lame.  Also--funny little story.  We have these good friends the Woodwards. Whenever we get together, Jason, smells so so good. HA!  for reals though.  So for Christmas I asked Kelly what his cologne was.  Burberry Touch for Men.  Turns out Jess asked Jason and we both gave each other the cologne as a gift. HA!  And now Jess smells the same kind of amazing. 

Saturday morning George took the big boys to the recycling center to do a shift there.  I love how he gets them to work.  Love it.  

Coloring before church :)

Playing Just Dance.

On Monday me and Andrea took the kids sledding.  No one else was there--on account of IT WAS FREEZING and the wind was so cold!  brrrrrr!  But we had fun.

Rhett helping Afton pull the sled up.

Here are the boys getting snow to build their "jump"

We were there about an hour when Max had a little breakdown!  He was inconsolable and soooo extremely sad.  Wouldn't stop crying. I've never seen him like that. He must have just been overwhelmed by the week, and maybe cold, so we all went home, and he fell RIGHT asleep.  When he woke up he was so much better and himself again. I was so so glad!  (Jess was gone at this point because he had to get back for work and school.)

Max LOVES Sophie so much.  And I couldn't believe that she was letting him just sit there and pet her.  So so sweet!

Now here is one of the most amazing things EVER!  The kids put on

CLAWFEST 2014!

They made about 15 of these programs/invitations for everyone.  It was slightly shorter but they kept really well to their agenda.  There were speeches and contests and game....wow. It was so so super serious and A-MAZE-ING!

Pretty intense game. :)

More Just Dance. We all had a great holiday!

Now....the next pictures need a little background. 

It's called:

I left my camera at the Winns. And when I got it back, it was filled with these beauties and more.

Yup.  That's the family I'm married to.  It's a lot to take in....

Christmas Shinanagans

"Mom!  Come quick. Max is stuck!"

I walk outside with Rhett to find this little stinker perched on the shed. HA!  Since he was not actually in too much peril, I stopped for a quick snap shot, while laughing, to document this silly boy.

Luke loves to sing, and was in the school choir again this year. His favorite song of the production was one with lines like, "Santa Clause, Santa Clause, you are much too fat. I was sleeping peacefully and now my bed is fla-at! Oh Santa Clause, Santa Clause, how much do you weigh? I'm glad I'm not a reindeer, who has to pull your sleigh." (apparently he fell through the house and landed on the child in the song..)   I think it was teaching the kids about the importance of exercise, and how to treat other people respectfully :) HA!  But they all loved it and the principal dressed up as Santa (to which Rhett informed me that he WASN'T the real one.  It was just their teacher.) And the performance was super cute. (and I would show the clip, only the woman in front of me kept moving her head into whichever spot I moved it to for filming.  I guess filming from my seat wasn't my best option....)

Kade learned how to play the recorder this year. Woo Woo.  So their concert was also lovely with singing and playing and jolly-ness.

We went to a work Christmas White Elephant party for Jess' job at Provo City Attorneys and brought pickles--cause they're gross. I forget some people like them.

 turn into:

UGLY SWEATER PARTY! Woo Woo!  So who was excited that she lived next to a DI and could buy dolls for cheap? This girl.  Who felt SUPER strange and morbid tearing/cutting said dolls heads off? This girl! HA! But it was for a really really good and important cause.  I wanted to win the trophy. Which trophy?

THIS BAD BOY!  Woo Woo! Came home a winner people.  And as my brother BJ put it, 

"Doll heads will win every time." 

So true B.J. So true.

We ALWAYS look forward to the Lindquist White Elephant Christmas Party!  We've been going since we both lived in Georgia and for the past two years since they've lived here! YAY! They know how to throw a party!  Jessica's shirt was A-MAZE-ING.  I mean...it didn't win...but...(I kid Jessica....I kid.)   Love her.

BTW--we gave a shocking pen...(a pen that shocks you when you try to write with it! HA!--) and a box full of doll bodies for our gift.  HA HA HA HA!  I for real think that's sooo funny!  But also slightly massively CREE-PY!

SYTYCD

So for Christmas this year Julie took us all out to eat (Olive Garden--mmmm) and to see....

So You Think You Can Dance!

Woo Woo!

It was awesome and they were so so great.  It's amazing that while some of us, (ahem...me) have no ability to dance and not look like a siezure is happening, while others make you feel so much (not embarrassment) and be so entertained.  These guys were good! THANKS JULIE!

(Also, it should be mentioned that all these beautiful girls in Jess' family are all dancers--they are awesome and could tell you just how insanely hard all the things we saw were...and probably do a lot of it still.  They're fancy.)

Grandpa's Funeral

We love this man! He is so funny and quiet and easy going.  Jess has memories of Grandpa ALWAYS always always being happy to see them.  He would stop what he was doing and just listen to them.  He was always great about just listening.  He remembers going to a couple of football games with him when he was young and Grandpa was super excited that they were there, and about being at the game. 

"He really just always always cared that we were there."

(grandpa had just given Kade and Luke some of his old hats)

The funeral was beautiful! Jess, Aubrey and their cousin Brandon sang the opening song, "Oh My Father" (Andrea played) and it was so perfect.  Then Julie and Laurie gave the eulogy, together side by side--they're both criers and wanted someone to take over if one started. The two of them are the perfect example of what sisters should be--close and hilarious together.  Love them.  Jess' cousin Kayla sang next- "The Lord's Prayer"-it was incredible.  Her voice was so sweet, peaceful, and lovely to listen to. She cried at the end and couldn't finish--which only increased the attention to the feeling we all had of love and gratitude for our Fathers plan for us.  Then Barry spoke and told such great, honest, and beautiful stories about Grandpa.  Then all the grandkids and all the great-grandkids sang, "I Feel My Saviors Love".  I don't believe there was one grandchild that kept from tearing up.  The Spirit was so strong in the room.  To close the meeting Andrea and Aubrey sang "The Lord is My Shepherd" while Emily played the piano.  Lovely.

The grave site was reverent and peaceful.  The 21 gun salute scared Max and Rhett--mostly just from shock, but they recovered well.  And Veda was so beautiful and kind and perfect and AMAZING like she always is. She's such a wonderful, funny, and thoughtful woman.  Always graceful and poised and we love her!

Family Pictures 2014!!!

I can just go on and on about how great our photographer was.  She was just so smart about everything. We were only there for about 30 minutes.  She placed us in the spot she wanted and took like 30 shots of one scene, all the while directing our every posture, smile, and reminding those who cared--to suck in :)  Plus, she took so many at one spot so if we needed to have a head swapped out to make a family picture look good with everyone, she could do it. For real. She's so smart and great.  Erin Summerill for anyone who needs family pictures taken in Utah :)

I know..this one seems like of cheezy, but I love it and the kids thought it was fun.  So there you have it.

Seriously--no work was done on any of these pics--she got them all to smile! Magic.

While Jess and I were getting our picture taken, the boys, off to the side, started a little leaf war.  She got a few of them. Ha! I think Luke was in the process of rubbing Kade's face into the ground. Oh, brotherly love. :)

Ahhh.  I like him.

And here's my favorite 2!  Ah.  Good times.  Plus, they all were happy the whole time because of the shortness of the whole thing.  Real smiles everyone! Real! so happy.

Jess was behind Erin and acting so silly that the boys all started busting out laughing.  I want them to stay like this forever. That's okay right?!