A Very Rowley Christmas

The week before Christmas was the ward Christmas party. The kids got to see Santa again...who, as it turned out, was my Uncle Donald...oops! Luckily the kids were oblivious.

Aiden didn't care to see him, since he already got to talk to him once. He preferred to run around the building with his friends.

We ate a yummy ham and potato dinner and participated in a service project.

The youth then sang a song with a quick Nativity. The Wise Men came out looking like they just got out of the shower. I couldn't stop laughing.
Christmas morning was a hit. The kids played with their gifts for about an hour before it was
time to run off to Grandma Chloe's for some yummy breakfast. Don't mind the chocolate dripping from Mabel's mouth...

Off to Grandma's we go!

Here's Mabel dancing with the snowman. She was playing ring around the rosy with it for a while. Here's Aiden's favorite toy.
A dollar store sword that Grayson got for him!!! Forget about the fortune we spent on his other toys! And who is that hot chick in the background?

Why is John wearing that gay crown, you ask? Well, you may have noticed Christina wearing one in an earlier picture as well.

Christmas Eve tradition (in honour of the English woman, Rose) we pop English crackers and the the crowns come out. You have to be the last one wearing your crown. Malissa ripped Kendra's off for a picture. She was done quickly. You would have thought someone was getting murdered by the sound Kendra made when it happened. I took mine off after killing everyone at Monopoly...give someone else a chance to win at something...heheh. Apparently John, Christina, and Jay all slept in theirs. Everett ripped Jay's off Christmas morning. We're not quite sure who won between Christina and John though. They both claimed they wore it to church (LIARS!). But it was discovered they both took them off Christmas night. No one is sure of the time...as far as we could tell, Christina was the unofficial winner.

It doesn't matter because the crowns were DISGUSTING with the oil from their heads from the first night. There's no way I would have worn that thing for that long after seeing theirs!!! Blech! Anyhow, Rose said that in England only the old people or the Lushes end up winning because they forget they have them on.

Here's me looking hot, sitting on my mom's couch, stuffing my face with cotton candy (thanks Bret). It's apple and (as far as I could discern) cookie dough flavored, in case you care! Mmmmmm.

We opened our gifts from Grandma. The kids went out to play. Niece Tyla, in true Tyla-fashion, found a wounded pigeon and brought it to Grandma's front door. She was sure an adult would help her nurse the wounded flying rodent back to health. We told her to go put it back where she found it. All the kids were distraught over our carelessness. The pigeon got spooked and came fluttering into the house, flapping around like,well, a wounded bird. Bret came in to snap some pics, but it was too late. Tyla caught it again and took it back out.

All Nephew Codey could say was, "Well, that's a first." And hopefully a last.

We headed out to G'ma nad G'pa Yellow's for the overnighter complete with scavenger hunt, children's nativity, and fireworks.Aiden played Jingle Bells for all to enjoy.

G'pa dressed up as Santa to give each of the kids a present. He wasn't fooling anybody though. Especially when he said, "Come sit on Grandpa's lap!" He looked like a rather crazed Santa.

I only have a pic of Mabel. I'm learning how to work my new camera and all the shots of Aiden and Gray were blurred.The fireworks show! Those RAD ones that Arizona now allows.
Eh, the kids sure enjoyed them at least.

Recap: Christmas came...ten pounds later, I'm blogging about it.

Happy New Year, Folks!

Annual Gingerbread Party

Well, another year down. This year was probably the easiest year yet...but still, I think I'm ready to call it quits. I was discussing it with some friends and it's been eight years. Eight years. That's a long run, right? Maybe I'll do it for ten years, a nice round number, and then go out with a bang! Bret said we'll give away a car to the winner!hehe Will anyone be in the market for a 2005 Nissan Altima? It's just that, the older the kids get, the harder it is to leave them out. I thought about doing a separate party for them, but that could very possibly kill me. So I think, two more years, then I start doing it for them.

There. Two more years. Done. It's on the blog, so it's official.

Right, ON WE GO!

First place was, once again, newcomers! Chad and Sarah came into the game with Rapunzel's tower. "Tangled" took first place. Rapunzel was the theme of the night, or so it seemed. Ryan and Tracy took second with, "Let Down Your Hair". Look at the amount of gingerbread on that board!

Third place, "for creativity," Kendra said, was Mike and Rene's "Crapper Can".

I can't decide if it's fortunate or unfortunate that I didn't get a good shot of the inside. It was perfectly disgusting in every way.

A HUGE, GIGANTIC, VERY BIG, THANK YOU to Kendra, Jay and their friends for braving the cold when all the logs had burned out and judging all the houses. You guys are awesome!

Now for all those losers! (I can say that because we were one of them!)

It was Cara and Jason's first show, so we'll let it slide. They didn't bring any candy for decorating so I gave them some of ours. Totally against the rules, but like I said, we'll let it slide.
They may have saved it with the name, though. I present to you, "Section 8".

Here's Tim and Nancy with "Powered by Windmill".

John and Rose came for the first time. They turned in "Hansel and Gretl on a budget".

I think I've enjoyed this more since we've started naming the houses!

Gennifer and Jeffrey brought in the "Sugar Bowl".

..see what I mean with the names! Get it? It's a bowling alley and it's made out of...candy...which is made out of...sugar! I'm quick like that!

And here is one of my favorites. Julie and Preston brought in a whole "Ski Lodge".

I liked the mountainscape in the background with the ski lift. Very creative. I think I liked most how they had it standing up with little gingerbread easels...at least that's what I would call them. It was too cute.

And here we are with "Visions of Sugar Plums".

Julie said something along the lines of "This looked much better in my mind," as they were decorating their house. I think most of us were feeling that way by the end of the night! It's very hard to translate your glorious vision into gingerbread, icing and candy. But I was mostly happy with how ours turned out. We just ran out of time and I didn't get to put everything on that I had planned, so it was rather plain. I did get to make sheets of hard candy from scratch for the first time! It was rather awesome...I just never got to use it on the house! It didn't work for what I wanted to use it on.

Bret made the kids graham cracker houses this year. They were so excited! I guess that's mostly why I think I should start planning their parties instead of my own!

Now I just need to find the energy to help my house recover from all the festivities. Wish me luck!

He Sees You When You're Sleeping...

We were invited to a Family Home Evening Christmas party on Monday. We ate soup and lots of sweets, sang some carols then it was time for the highlight of the evening....Santa Claus!

Grayson is quite enamored by the man in the red suit. He was so excited for Santa!

Mabel could take him or leave him...she was leaning much more toward leaving him.

And I know what you're thinking, "Don't you ever do that girl's hair?" The answer is...yes, in the morning and then anything goes after nap time!

Aiden is pretty sure this wasn't the REAL Santa, so it really didn't matter if he was naughty or nice.

PS-I love that Santa's beard was curled. Too cute!