Christmas activities (with lots of pictures!!)

I've been so busy the last few weeks that I haven't had time to post.  But it's still kind of hard for me to open up my blog and have my post about Fluffy there, and so I decided I would do another post even though it is late--plus I've been able to do some really fun things this Christmas season, and wanted to write about them.  I uploaded the pictures while I was writing in my journal, so let's see what I can write in 15 minutes--since it is now 11:20 and I need to get to bed!

Just a few highlights of fun things we have done.  I'm missing a few, so maybe Jan can put those on her blog.  At the beginning of December we got a chance to go with Dan and Ems and Melissa (Dave was out of town), and the kids to a living nativity.  It was so cold, but so neat!  They had a shuttle that took us up to a farm, and had a barn with a bunch of animals and displays in it, and the kids loved it!

Then we walked to another barn that just had Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus.  I got so emotional when I saw them.  For some reason it made the story real--that Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus were real people.  What a neat experience!

We got to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on December 6 with some friends in our ward.  I didn't get any pictures, but it sure was wonderful.  The talks were so inspiring, and the music was just amazing.  I love Christmas!!

For FHE on December 7 we got as much of the family together as we could (some couldn't come because of the weather, and we really missed them!) and did Gingerbread houses with the kids.  It was so much fun!  I think the kids ate almost as much candy as they put on their houses, but they sure had fun.  Here are a bunch of pictures:

And, as usual, the line-up of kids holding their houses, in order of age...

Joshy

Jenni

Brianna

Annika

Emma

 Joey

Brayden

Mieka

Yesterday we went to the Jon Schmidt concert in Salt Lake.  Funny story--I have always wanted to go to a Christmas concert, so back in September I decided to splurge and get tickets for Jon Schmidt, because I have his Christmas CD and love his music (he's an LDS pianist who plays beautifully and is so talented).  So I paid for really good seats to go Saturday night.  It wasn't until a few days ago (thank goodness), that I noticed that they had sent me matinee tickets instead of Saturday night tickets!  I was kind of bummed, but we were able to work it out to go during the day (except Jan was working at the temple, so couldn't come--but I'm really glad Mom was able to come!).  And, at least I found out before Saturday night!

We had a lot of fun at the concert--I love being with my Mom and sissies, and they are always so nice about my obsessive worrying about getting to the concert on time.  :)  Here's a picture of us before the concert started:

Then, another funny thing--kind of a bummer, actually--even though we were on like the 6th or 7th row, right before the concert a big guy came and sat RIGHT in front of me.  I could only see if I looked to the left or the right, which was not too comfortable.  I took out my camera to get a picture so you could see that I'm not exaggerating:

Thankfully, about 1/3 of the way through the concert, I realized there was no one sitting behind us.  So I moved back, but was feeling a little lonely, so after the intermission Chelle came and sat next to me, and I could see great!  You can still see his head, but at least I could see Jon Schmidt and Steven Nelson (cellist) in between.  They were amazing!  I loved hearing them play, and they had some really funny parts to their show.  I think I'd like to make Jon Schmidt a holiday tradition.  I loved it!  (They were closer than they look in this picture--since it was dark, my camera didn't catch it very well).

Finally, for the last two days Jan, Ems, and I have been doing holiday baking.  We made these little bags to give out to neighbors/work friends.  I think they turned out pretty cute, and I love baking and watching movies with my sissies.

Well, that's about it for now.  I'm super tired and need to get to bed!