'Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

On this cold and snowy Christmas Eve we wish you peace and happiness. We're so blessed to be spending our second Christmas with little Missy Em. We are grateful for her...and for all our dear family and friends. Merry Christmas!

Many Things To Do, So Little Time

One of the moments Emma slowed down long enough to snap a photo

Mmmmmm, hot chocolate!

I think you need more scotch tape on that

I'll start on the next one

It has been a busy few days, as Christmas approaches. Last Monday we took Emma on the Trax Train downtown to see the lights on Temple Square along with 8,000 of our closest friends. I don't want to say it was cold, but there weren't any brass monkeys out that night, I must say. Emma is not one to like confinement, so the Trax experience was interesting. It was all we could do to keep her from running up and down the crowded aisle. The threat of the big guy in the blue shirt coming out from behind the dark glass and yelling at us finally kept her at a dull roar. Everybody on the train was in a nice Christmas mood, which helped.

Upon arrival at our final destination, Emma was off and running. She was bouncing like a pinball from one site to the next. The cold didn't seem to bother her much. I was working up a sweat keeping up with her, so I was not affected by the cold myself. At one point Emma climbed up on one of the tableaux to pet a fibreglass lamb. It was only by persuasive coaxing and pleading that our evening was not interrupted by the nice men from security. She did hold still for a couple of seconds, long enough to snap a few photos.

We just missed a returning train, so we had 15 minutes to kill. There's a hot chocolate stand on a corner from the train stop, so we perched Emma on a small ledge and ordered a hot chocolate for her to drink. That staved off the cold that was catching up to us, and kept her entertained until the next train rolled by. A wonderful FHE experience was had by all.

Andy came over tonight to do a little laundry, as Kathryn was doing a little Christmas shopping. He had a couple of presents to wrap, so Emma helped. She sure enjoys any project that involves paper and "sca tae" [scotch tape]. Denny was out doing a little shopping herself, so Andy and I watched football on the couch, while Emma plied us with Clementines and things off of the Christmas tree. Denny is working on an update, so keep an eye out. OK then.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Fresh out of the box with all components



Concentration, strategy, and coordination will pay off!


You can tell when it is getting close to Christmas at Hacienda JoeyDennyEmma. The gals are constructing a gingerbread house, "Scrooged" is on the television, and there is a recently opened box of Enstrom's milk chocolate butter toffee on the shelf, thanks to the gang in Chicagoland. Gracias to Aunt Laurie, Porkchop, et al.



The g-bread house is a work in process. Emma learned to say the word "dang" from the construction foreman, but they are having a great time together. Perhaps a completed photo will be in a subsequent post. The roof keeps sliding. Instructions are for the weak.



Christmas is only ten days out, and it will be here before you can say "virgin eggnog." We actually put up a few lights and a festive wreath above the garage this year. Not too bad for us, but when compared to the neighbors, a wimpy effort. That's ok, something to build on. The cove does look festive though.

We donated two racks of smoked ribs for a Sub for Santa auction, and they are about to come off the Green Egg. I wonder what the neighbors think about peach wood smoke wafting through the 20 degree air. Gotta love the BGE.

Andy and Kat are through with school until January, so they can breathe a little easier. They sure work hard, those two. Emma sure enjoys their visits. There will be another post next week, as there have been photos taken that need to be shared with all, so keep checking in. OK then.

Our Sullen Ballerina

Emma loves her new tutu and leotard (a gift from her sis Jane), but didn't especially want to beam for the camera when we took her picture.

But she did show off one of her fancy moves.

And took a nice, deep bow.

Here's a smile. She likes taking tubbies in the kitchen sink as well as in the grown-up bathtub.

Random comments:

- Our tree is decorated only on the top half (and I think you know why).

- Emma enjoyed the recent big snow on Saturday ("Bih! Sno!"). We got bundled up and went for a walk and shook snow-covered branches of trees to watch the snow fall down.

-Stephens' dulce de leche flavored cocoa: Yumsters!

- I like it when cute Christmas programs for kids come on between 7:00 and 8:00. That's the hour when I'm always wondering "what do I do now...."

-We had fun at birthday dinner for Grandpa Hiatt at Chuck-a-Rama last week (and please pronounce that Chuck-a-Rahma). Aunt Barbie was there and Emma blew the wrapper of her straw at her and hit a perfect bull's eye (to many cheers and much laughter). She's been talking about Aunt Barbie ever since. "An Bawbie...blow! straw!"

-Oh! Big news. Emma started nursery school at DDI Vantage last week. She goes two mornings a week for 90 minutes. She loves it and I think it's going to be really good for her.

-I went shopping last night at All-a-Dollar to see what I could find in the way of dollary Christmas items. Found a few of those, but found even more non-Christmasy things. Spray starch that I usually pay way more for. Canned beans. A set of 5 kiddy toothbrushes. A little bag of chocolates to eat on the way home (and they were terrible; I was so disappointed). There was such a random variety of merchandise. I counted 33 beeps as the checker scanned my stuff. Grand total: $33.83. It really is all a dollar!

-Our stake conference is this Sunday. Last conference I went alone and Joe stayed home with Emma. This time I think we'll take her and hang out in the foyer if need be. Emma has worn the same pink dress to Church 3 weeks in a row and I think we'll shoot for 4 this Sunday.

-Check out the following link to the blog of a family who adopted twin girls from China shortly before we did. One of their girls is a real juice fan. It's cute.

http://salsainchina.blogspot.com/2007/11/juice.html

-I taught Relief Society on Sunday and it was such a relief to have it done that now I feel like I can enjoy getting ready for Christmas.

-Hope everybody else is enjoying getting ready, too!


PS. Take a look at this! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1187870322 OK then.