vanormerview2backup: Playing Catch-Up

So many little things are happening all the time, it can be hard to keep up!

In the last few months . . .

We went to the temple open house, and dedication. It was awesome. I loved it. It was so great to be able to take the kids through, answer their questions, and watch them feel the Spirit of the House of the Lord. William particularly liked the chandeliers "full of rainbows." (They sparkle, and make beautiful little rainbows -- kind of like Pollyanna's rainbow makers.) The changes to the temple interior and exterior are beautiful. I am so happy it is open again, and I cannot wait to attend on a regular basis! Hooray!

We also made it to the broadcast of the Temple Cultural Celebration . . . it was so fantastic to see so many of our young people participate (over 9000!). There is so much good in this world. And it is in our youth! President Monson was there, and he was in rare form. So funny. He was really hamming it up, and encouraging the cheers from the crowd. (They clapped after everything, even the prayer! There was so much energy. It was so neat!) I particularly loved that President Monson said he encourages activities like dance festivals/roadshows/etc.

It was such a great event! It was nice to see our prophet clapping, being silly, and having FUN. Awesome. I love him.

It was a huge production, and was so amazingly well executed. Bravo to all who participated!

I took Henry in for a check-up on his kidneys. He hated his ultrasound, and cried through most of it. I have a new doctor now, who seems to think there is a chance he may "grow out of it" after all. (My other doctor said 100% surgery, no question.) We will have to wait and see . . . he needs to keep growing, and maybe, just maybe, his plumbing might be ok . . . it is still up in the air until after he is one.

The torture chamber.

We have been decorating like crazy . . . but the house is magical, especially at night.

Thanksgiving was fun this year. We just kept it simple . . .

We had our traditional gum-drop turkey. This year we had to say something we were grateful for each time we took off a candy. Sammi colored the turkey head. :-) We could not find our felt one.

Charles made the turkey this year . . . with a little help from Grandma. :-) It was yummy!

Ready for food!

This has been the holidays of hats . . . hats everywhere, and all the time! It has been fun to be creative!

I love this one I made for Henry.

We went to Dare to Dream . . . Disney on Ice. Sammi went with a friend, Hanna, and her mom.

Grandma and Grandpa took Daniel and William, and Charles and I went alone, for a date night! Yep, just me, Charles, and Disney Princesses -- what could be better? I'm sure I don't know. It was awesome . . . like being at Disneyland for a few hours. If you ever have a chance to go to Disney on Ice . . . GO!

There were tons of little princess girls there . . . daring to dream. :-)

It was kind of funny to be all alone, just me and Charles, and a bunch of dreamy-eyed girls. But when it comes to date night, we will take what we can get! Charles was super-excited to see Rapunzel. :-)

It was amazing though . . .

Super

Fantastic

Inspiring

AMAZING!!!

Yeah, they are flying above the ice . . . That would be Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder. Our favorite.

Disney often ends big things dressed all in white (like "it's a small world," for example) . . . I like it. Very symbolic.

The only problem with the evening was someone walked passed our seats, and knocked our water-bottle over the edge of the balcony onto the people down below. (Whoops!) And then we saw a tiny little girl leaning over the edge of the balcony, rocking back and forth like a teeter-totter on the bar . . . with no one watching her. I started to motion at her, and finally her mom came and stopped her. It was ridiculous . . . don't let your kids lean over the edge! Please! It was a really close call!

We also went and got our "real" tree. A live one. We have a tradition of going to the Elves tree lot, and the kids let their stuffed animals ride on the ferris wheel.

Grandma came with us to stop and smell the pine trees . . . yum.

This is our live kid tree . . . they decorated it however they wanted. They loved it. It is the tree of memories. Christmas memories.

We went to deliver our hats to the Hallmark store. They are going to deliver them to the Women and Children shelter. We made a bunch of them, we had more than 50, but we took some out to bring with us to the Veteran's Hospital on Sunday. It was a fun Family Home Evening event. Everyone helped so it made it special.