Christmas 2010

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!!!

 These were the neighbor gifts we made this year. I ate way too much of the popcorn while making it. Yummy!!!

This Christmas we spent time with both families. This year Jason got off the whole week of Christmas and it was so nice to spend time together. Christmas Eve we spent with my family in Cardston. The night started with Christmas turkey dinner. Lisa made some yummy cranberry dressing and drink with the help of Epicure spices. Once again dinner was amazing and my mother out did herself. Following dinner my dad had set up a sleigh (truck pulling a trailer with hay bails on it) ride for the family. We drove around Cardston looking at the Christmas lights and singing Christmas carols. When we got back we rein-acted the nativity. Alexi wanted to be Mary, Kash was Joseph, Keston was the Star. Ty, Lesha and Mason were both Shepperds and Wismen. They all wanted to hold a treasure and a shepperd stick. My dad read the story of the birth of Christ in Luke 2. It was so cute to see the kids sit quietly and listen to the music of silent night and hear the story of baby Jesus. After the nativity we opened pj's and got comfortable for the rest of the night.

Lisa and Ron then had many "minute to win it" games to play. It was so fun and different then just playing board games.
Once all the kids were settled downstairs watching a movie we gave our gifts to our parents. Every other year our gift to our parents is a gift of service. We are to do an act of Service instead of buying a gift for our parents. This year Jason and I were apart of Big Brothers Big Sisters "Santa Store"

This was an event for less fortunate kids come to the store where people had donated gifts and the children got to go shopping. The gifts would range from $0.25- $2.00. We would help the children shop, purchase their gifts and then wrap their presents to take home. It was a fun night and the children were so happy to be able to buy gifts for their loved ones.

CHRISTMAS MORNING:

We woke up and found that Santa had visited Grandma and Grandpa's house. We opened presents, had breakfast and were off to Calgary to spend some time with Jason's mom and family. We got there for dinner and then opened more presents, watched a movie and were off to bed. We made our own pizzas and they were delicious. This year for Christmas Jason's mom gave him his first tool chest. He was so excited and we are now getting our garage organized. Jason doesn't vocalize his excitement for gifts too often but with the gift he thrilled and said, “Now this is what I am talking about.” I love this guy ;)

BOXING DAY:

In the morning we had the famous “Christmas Morning Wifesaver” for breakfast. This is Jason's favorite part of Christmas. The meal includes bread, ham, cheese, egg mixture and topped with corn flakes and then baked in the oven for an hour. After breakfast we went to Church and then in the afternoon we went to his Aunt Sarah's for the day. We had a delicious dinner and we had our first turducken and it was fabulous. It was fun to hang out with his family that we haven't seen for awhile.

The next day we went to a matinee movie with Jason's mom and then to the Flames vrs Buffalo game (thanks to my friend Stef French) and the Flames even won. The next morning we were on our way back to Lethbridge to relax for a little bit.

DECEMBER 29TH, 2010 – a day with the LEAVITT'S

This year my parents gave us gifts of time. The whole day was filled with activities with the family and it was such a blast. Here is how the day went

-night of the 28^th younger Grand-kids and Grandpa and Grandma stayed at the Holiday Inn Express

10:00 girls went for pedicures and boys practiced archery with Dad

12:00 Lunch at the hotel

1:00 Kids, moms and Grandma went to the movie “Tangeled”

1:00 Dad, Ryan, Troy, Lisa, Ron, Blaze, Riley, Ryan, Jason and I went to Parklake Paintball and had a blast

3:50 Adults went to the move Secretariat

6:00 pizza at the Gourlie's

after dinner we gave Dad an early birthday present. We (mostly MOM) gave Dad Kentucky Derby tickets in May. He was so overwhelmed and this is definitely a childhood dream of his. We love you DAD! THANK YOU MOM/GRANDMA for the fun day - you're the BEST!

WOW – what a fun Christmas. I am excited for the new year and for more fun memories. 

Cookie Exchange and our Christmas Card

 I got invited to a cookie exchange this Christmas season and I decided to make Peppermint Cookie Bars. They were so delicious and I had a fun night with the girls. 

Andrea took our pictures for our Christmas Card and she did a great job. I saw these doors back in the summer and I knew that I wanted our Christmas picture here. I loved the colors! Thank you Andrea.

9th Ward YW's 2010

  I absolutely love being in Young Womens and I thought I would post a few activities on here. We had our first YW in Excellence a few months back and everything went well. The girls did fabulous with their projects and they also sang the song " Virtue " by Jenny Phillips that was amazing. I feel so blessed to be working with such great leaders and the girls have been so fun to get to know. They are all so different but they all get along so well. 2011 is going to be a fun year. We are now in the middle of planning New Beginnings. Things never seem to slow down with this calling :)

Summer time fun! Rafting down the river is always a fun activity.

This activity was a photo scavenger hunt. The youth had to run around taking pictures of certain actions, items, places. It was such a fun night and the youth seemed to really enjoy themselves. Thanks Sister Pratt for a great activity

This activity was our planning activity. We first gave the group of girls newspaper and tape and they were to make a modest dress. They were very creative and the dresses looked great. We did some activity planning for the last part of the activity.

HALLOWEEN! Sister Bester was in charge of this activity and it was a lot of fun for the girls. We decorated cupcakes, made cards and then delivered the treats to some new families in the ward. Not only did they look awesome they tasted even better.

The Corn Maze is also an annual activity for the youth. It was a pretty warm night for October. We finished off the night with hot chocolate and donuts.

 Mormon Ad night. This activity the girls were given many items to make an ad from. They put their minds together, decided on a theme, I took a picture and then they made a poster of their ad.

Have you seen the game "Minute to Win it ?" This activity we played a bunch of those games and the girls had a blast. There were some silly games but they were a lot of fun.

YW in Excellence. This was such a fun night and I hope the girls had fun. Our theme this year was "Purse" uit in Excellence. We had the night all around purses. Our Speaker was Sister Johnson and she did amazing. She talked the things in our purses and how they can relate to our everyday lives. A few things that she mentioned were to always carry chocolate,  a compact mirror ( remember who we are), chocolate, lipstick (watch our thoughts), chocolate and our Temple recommend. She did a fabulous job and I wish I had her talk in writing. She tied it all in at the end with the world wide theme of being strong and of a good courage.

Brother Kirkham also spoke for a few minutes and it couldn't have gone any better. He started his talk by putting on a red clown nose and talking about how it is ok to be different and that we are all unique. He talked that if we stick together that we become one and start to look and act like one another and have the imagine of Christ in our countenance. At that point a few of the young women, that he previously selected, placed on their red clown nose as well. It was so cute and the girls really related to what he was saying.

 At a previous activity the girls made their own silhouette picture. It sat beside each of their projects. They also cut out the lanterns that we hung from the front of the room. Thank you to all those who helped to make this night a success. I feel to blessed to be working in YW's. 

 Makenzie made this amazing Purse cake. Isn't it adorable and just perfect for the night?

Aubony talked about her love for basketball and showed pieces of pottery work that she had done for one of her goals

 Jasmine talked about her love for school and all her preparation and researching for post secondary schools next year.

 Maddie talked about cooking and how it has helped her grow and will help her be a great mom. Her mom was gone for 2 weeks a few months back and Maddie was in charge of making dinner every night for the family. I could use her at my house most nights ;)

 Kristyn did a book on the Women in her life. It had pictures and writings of the different women in her life that have made her who she is today. It was such a great idea and a treasure that she will have forever. It must have taken so much time. We are sure going to miss he next year.

 Michaela did this awesome cross stitch. It was the YW's symbol and it turned out great.

 Kassidy also talked about cooking and how it has helped her and her family. She brought books that she has used to help her grow and become a great cook.

I made these purses out of cosmetic bags. I modged podged their favorite patterned paper on top. The great thing about these bags are that their personal progress books fit perfectly inside.