Christmas once again...

Well it's already been a month since Christmas and I'm finally getting a chance to get these pictures posted.  Christmas comes and goes so fast every year so now we're back to the countdown...11 months until the big day again.  Here's a recap on the happenings at Christmas time for us:

Kate and her friend Monet decide to not wait until summer to have the traditional lemonade stand but decide a "Christmas Cocoa" stand would be appropriate for December...I think they made 24 bucks that day.

Here are the beginnings of the Christmas Eve party at Aunt Lori and Uncle Shawn's house.  Clayton looks excited...heh heh.

There's good ol' Danny Boy...aka Grandpa

                                                                        





 Every year we take a shot at doing the Nativity story.   Josh does the narrating while the angel "Emma" prepares to deliver the message.

 Sam and Casey as Joseph and Mary

 So here you have the shepherds with their "swiffers" or brooms or whatever those things are, and Chloe as one "wiseman" and below is the cute sheep that decided to tag along...

 This year Eli wanted to be a "cloud" (see next pic to get the big picture)...Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't remember any reference to any cloud in the story...oh well, he made it pretty dramatic anyway

The whole cast, including Clayton who was the lighting specialist

 A gift for the baby Jesus

 Our shepherd is worn out after all that mopping

 Kate shows off her new calendar she gets for a gift

 Kate just had to jump into the middle of this picture being taken

 Ah yes, the ginger bread house making contest...

 This is Eli and Casey's creation

 ...and mine and Heather's creation which started out to be Noah's Ark then...I'm not sure what happened

 Chloe and Emma's creation...check out that fishing pole...they're going for the big fish I guess

 Here's a picture Liam laid out for Santa on Christmas Eve

 ...and Christmas morning finally arrives:

...somebody looks happy

Liam was pretty excited about his ripstik...

 

This gift for Clayton was quite the project for Heather to accomplish over the few days she had on Christmas break before the big day.  Clayton has collected t-shirts from his scout camps where he's worked over the past 3 summers, along with some random t-shirts that we're meaningful to him.  Heather got an idea to make this great quilt for Clayton to take with him when he leaves for school next summer in Logan.  Clayton thought it was the coolest...

Ski day at Wolf Mountain

 This year for Christmas both Grandma and Grandpa Peel and Grandma Cottrell gave us a day of skiing for the whole family.  We decided to check the kids out of school on Friday and head up to one of our favorite ski resorts-Wolf Mountain.  The day couldn't have been any better, we had sun, great snow and hardly any other people were there.   The kids had so much fun and all did really well.  Kate has skied a few times but this was her first time of really grasping the whole skiing concept.  Yes, there were plenty of crashes but as you'll see in the videos below, she is a natural.  We had a blast...

The "GRINCH" comes to town

About 5 years ago Willie Dunford asked if I would dress up like the "Grinch" for a ward party...I had so much fun with it that it's continued year after year and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to not dress up as the "king of sinful sots".  Here's a few pix of the day I visited Heather's preschool kids...I think I only made one student cry (there's always at least one) but by the end of my visit we were pretty good buddies.  

 Harley's always a little hesitant to put on the "Max" getup

 This is hilarious.  I ran over to the elementary school to visit some classes and went to Kate's class first.  I decided to make a frightening entrance and jumped into the classroom and yelled something kinda loud and obnoxious.  I scared this kid so much that he fell completely out of his chair and hit the floor.  He was laughing, I was laughing and the whole class erupted in laughter.  It was seriously the best reaction I've ever had...very worth it-I just wish I had the video camera running when it happened.  

 I think I asked the kids:  "Who likes the Grinch?"  I have quite a fan club.

The upside to this character is being obnoxious and rude to everyone I come into contact with because...hey, I'm the Grinch and...I can, and will every time I put this getup on...the downside?...trying to get all of the green off.  I can't wait until next year...

Kate's Christmas program

The first grade Christmas Program is always entertaining-of course for watching your own child but also to look around at the parents too.  It's quite amusing that as soon as the first graders march into the gym to line up on the stage, about 900 dads with video cameras jump up and start to film...yes, I'm not ashamed to say that I was one of those dads.  It was a great program packed into about 45 minutes.  Here's a clip of one of the songs performed:

Canyon Gallery commercial by Eli

I told Eli he should come to the gallery sometime and make a commercial for me. Here is his take on what the commercial should be like-it's pretty funny.

The Christmas tree hunt...

Eli is really into making movies with his new video camera he received on his birthday. The day after Thanksgiving we decided as a family to go cut down a Christmas tree for our house. Usually Heather, along with the kids and most of her family will congregate somewhere in the mountains of Nephi (about 3 hrs away or so), pay 5 bucks and cut down a 47 foot tree, strap it on the top of the car and bring it home. It sounded hard to do this year and way too far away. We found a tree farm closer to where we live that would let you go out in the vast array of Christmas trees, find the perfect match and then cut it down. When I say vast array I'm really being sarcastic. This farm had mostly "Grinch" type trees that hung weird no matter how you looked at em...or they looked half dead, or they just looked well,... stupid. We had to browse the whole place just to make sure we were getting the right one for us. Here's Eli's video of "tree hunting" that you certainly will enjoy (set to the Superman theme song). Blogger doesn't produce the greatest quality movies but this one is cool anyway. Enjoy:





The worst part of putting up the tree is...the lights! It's kinda like prepping for painting a wall...it blows! The fun part is putting the decorations on. The lights?...not so much.


Kate loves to sweep up any messes...or pine needles from
the tree. Liam prefers the vacuum




Harley makes sure we're doing it right


The tree...in all her glory.

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was hosted in our home...YIKES! The pressure was on to have a perfect experience for all who would be coming. As you can see in this picture of Kate, the turkey came out perfect! It didn't happen without plenty of blood,sweat and tears, that's for sure. Heather and Clayton found a perfect way to cook a turkey from foodnetwork.com by Alton Brown...thanks dude! There also was a recipe for the best dressing I've ever had...honestly, it was incredible: cranberries, apples, italian sausage...how could you go wrong? Here's some pix to give you a feel for how the day was.


Here's Liam quite proud of the uncooked turkey

...and let's throw it in the oven.














The day turned out perfect with Grandma, Grandpa & the Cheney family-Happy Thanksgiving!