DECEMBER

FAMILY PICS
Taking family pictures is not my favorite activity. I always have high expectations, and I almost never get what I want. This year was no different. Either the sun was in the wrong spot or someone didn't want to stand still and smile. We had some weird smiles, a few closed eyes and a couple of unhappy people by the time we were done (of course I was one of those). We took about 50 pictures and I found 1 or 2 that were usable for a family Christmas card. That was the goal, so I guess we were successful. Here are a few of the pictures: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Love the sun,
but it wasn't very
helpful this day.

Getting tired of
standing still
and smiling!

FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY
Another year at the Christensen family Christmas party. There were 48 of us in all this year- we missed the 27 that weren't able to make it. I think Grandpa and Grandma would be surprised and happy that there are 75 of us now, and we just keep growing. We enjoyed visiting, eating and laughing together. Santa made his grand entrance and handed out stockings to 15 kiddos. Three of them did not like Santa at all! The white elephant game was fun as usual. The 12 and 13 year olds played for the first time. They learned the joys and the disappointments that come with playing the white elephant game. Aunt Mary brought the best gift of all: beautiful quilts that she had made out of different fabrics which had belonged to Great Grandma Overland. She made one for each grandchild: Steve, Jay, Larry (my dad), Gwen, Susan, Marvin and Floyd. It took her nearly a year to make all of them. Very impressive and beautiful. I loved them! It was four hours of chaos and fun, and then it was over... until next year.

Here's dad, Uncle Jay, Aunt Susan and Josh (for his dad, Uncle Steve) with their quilts. Not sure how Uncle Marvin got out of being in the picture. (Aunt Gwen and Uncle Floyd weren't at the party).

Here is S and T with Santa

And here's Evan and Addie with Santa

THE PROJECT
I'm not sure where he got the idea, but S really wanted to do a Christmas "project". When school got out for winter break he started asking me every day when he could do a project. When I asked him what kind of project he was talking about, he didn't really know. He just told me to look for a project. The only thing I could come up with was gingerbread houses- and that satisfied him. We picked a day and worked on the "project" (made of graham crackers instead of gingerbread).

CHRISTMAS EVE
As a child I can remember being so excited for Christmas morning, and Christmas Eve seemed to last forever. J remembers making schedules for his Christmas Eve to help pass the time. This is one of the reasons that I love Grandpa and Grandma Bird's Christmas Eve party. It is so nice to have something for the boys to do on Christmas Eve. It's great to be with family and enjoy the traditional program: poem, story, musical numbers, jeopardy and the nativity. The boys like to participate in the nativity scene. This year T and S were wise men. Z stayed out and took the pictures.

PJ'S

Getting pajamas on Christmas Eve is a tradition for a lot of people. We've always done it, too. The boys have come to expect it, so this year I was tempted to skip it. Then J and I found some fun BYU pajama bottoms which I thought were fun, so I went ahead with the tradition. I think the boys liked them!

I think they are pretty excited for Christmas!

CHRISTMAS MORNING
Wonder what Santa brought?

A trampoline- so exciting!

Because Christmas was on Sunday this year, we couldn't open our gifts until after church. The boys did look through their stockings and open the trampoline first thing in the morning. Then we all got ready and went to church. It was a nice meeting, with some short testimonies and 2 nice musical numbers. I really enjoyed being able to take some time out of the day to remember the birth of our Savior and the real reason that we celebrate Christmas.

After church we came home and the boys were finally able to open the gifts that were under the tree.

Z really wanted these Nike Mercurial Futsal shoes. I had him convinced that he wasn't getting them because they were very hard to find. He really didn't want any other kind so I kept looking and finally found them on Ebay. Z loves them. Most people say they are very bright. I think they are ugly, but he's happy so I am, too.

T wasn't sure what he wanted for Christmas. He asked for a DS game which Santa put in his stocking, but he wouldn't say what he wanted from us. I decided on a goalie jersey and T loved it! Unfortunately it was an Adult XL instead of a Youth XL so we'll have to exchange it, but he liked it anyway and was very happy.

All S wanted for Christmas was a kickball. Just a kickball and nothing else. He was very surprised and happy to open that big box and find a red kickball inside. There was a new soccer ball, too, but he didn't even care about it. He got what he wanted- that face says it all!

Our family on Christmas day- love all of the new Real shirts.

SIBLINGS
My brother Aaron lives in Washington state. We hardly ever see him. It was a nice Christmas present to have him come and stay for a few days. We went to a cousin's wedding and since the four of us were all together we thought we'd better take a picture. Who knows when we'll all be together again.

ENJOYING CHRISTMAS BREAK
I was so exhausted from my first semester in the Education program at UVU- I was counting down the days until Christmas break. My plan: get my house cleaned up and do some fun things with the boys before school starts back up again. I think we had a good time. We enjoyed having breakfast with some friends one morning. Another day we went to the see the Muppet Movie. We spent one day at Trafalga with Aunt Tamra and cousins playing laser tag, golf, and just having fun. We enjoyed watching a few movies, reading, playing video games and just relaxing. It was a nice break.

Here's Evan and T climbing the rock wall (little bit blurry- sorry).

Playing mini golf

NO SNOW

Hard to believe, but we don't have any snow. Last year at this time we had a lot. This year there is only a little on the tips of the tallest mountains. We had one small storm around Thanksgiving, and then nothing. I'm not too sad- I don't like shoveling or driving in snow- but it's a little weird. I was at the temple and took this picture- just for a reminder of this strange December. I kinda hope we'll have some snow soon.

NOVEMBER

CUTTING AND SHOOTING
Here are the pictures from our tree cutting day. This is one of our family's favorite traditions. We've gone in the snow and the freezing cold, but years like this are my favorite. We had sunshine and blue skys and only needed jackets because it wasn't very cold (usually we pack coats, snowpants, boots, hats, gloves and scarfs). The turkey soup and chocolate doughnuts were delicious as always. Grandpa and Grandma found their tree pretty quickly.
Then, everyones favorite... shooting!

Here are most of the cousins. We were missing a few this year.

These three had a great time. They didn't want to quit shooting.

Here they are walking up to the target to see how they did.

S was so happy to be outside and to be playing with cousins. He learned how to cock the BB gun by himself this year and really enjoyed shooting. He was happy to have a turn to drive the Rhino (thanks Aunt Tamra) and he was happy that he got a chocolate doughnut this year, too (thanks Grandma).

T likes to shoot the BB gun but he really wanted to be brave this year and try some of the other ones. Uncle Cody showed him how to look in the scope and helped him shoot the rifle. Then he thought he'd try out the shotgun. Uncle Cody stood behind him to catch him when the gun jerked. Good thing he did, because T was so surprised when the gun kicked. He was even more surprised when he blasted the clay pigeon. He jumped up and down and did a little cheer. It was fun to watch him joining in the fun and having a great time.

Z enjoyed shooting the rifle. He and the older boys tried out a bunch of different positions to see which way was the best for hitting the target. They did a great job hitting it, though I don't think any of them ever hit the bullseye. Z also loved shooting the shotgun. He had to stick with the smaller gun because the other ones are so heavy and long, but he did pretty good with it. He hit several clay pigeons. He and the other two boys shot almost the whole time. Grandpa couldn't believe how many shells they went through.

J and I took our turn, too. J usually shoots a few rounds but he really likes to work the clay pigeon thrower. I usually only take about 8-10 shots because I hate the kick, and the gun seems so heavy to me. This year I enjoyed it more than I have for a long time. I think it's because the weather was nice and my hands weren't freezing, and also I was wearing a big puffy vest that protected my shoulder. That was nice!

And of course the day wouldn't have been complete without these two running around in circles and jumping on everyone. They were so excited to be there, but so in the way. They dumped soup on Grandma, tried to eat a few rolls and generally caused problems. Gotta love Jack and Charlie!

REFLECTIONS WINNER

T really wanted to enter the Reflections contest this year. The theme was "Diversity Means..." He entered in the Visual Art category and drew a picture of a boy playing different sports. He wrote about how it's okay to play different sports and have fun, even if you aren't the best. He won first place at the school in his grade and got a trophy and a book.


I'm proud of him for working hard and doing the whole thing all by himself.


FRIENDS

S has loved this fall. The weather has been just beautiful with very few cold days. He has spent pretty much all of October and November outside- from the time school gets out until it gets dark and I make him come in for dinner. He rides his scooter or plays kickball with the boys in the neighborhood. It doesn't really matter to him what he's doing as long as there are friends over and they are playing outside.

Here is S with the neighbor boys. We love these friends!

OCTOBER

TEENAGER

Independant. Opinionated. Constantly texting. Being a comedian. Definately a teenager! That isn't such a bad thing though. I feel very blessed to have Z as a son. He works really hard to get good grades, do his church and scout duties, be a good big brother and help around the house. I feel bad that I didn't take any pictures on his birthday but I think he had a good one. We went to dinner- he chose JCW's. He really wanted a fish tank so we went to pick out a tank and fish, then I took him and one of his good friends out to icecream and to choose some more fish. I think he enjoyed it. Happy Birthday Z!!!

SOCCER SEASON COMES TO AN END
Z's soccer team finished up the fall season this month. The team did well, finishing in the middle of the pack. Z had a really good season. He was the top scorer for his team and one of the top in his age division.

Z is #2- playing the wing position

1ST GRADE FIELD TRIP

It was lots of fun going with S and his classmates to the corn maze and pumpkin patch for the first grade field trip. We wandered around the corn maze for what seemed like forever. Finally we made it out and the kids had fun playing and picking out a pumpkin. This pic is of S with his friend Luke.



20 MILES
J and Z went with the scouts on an overnight campout this month where they planned to do a 20 mile hike. Crazy? Yes- I think so. Thank goodness I'm not a scout- I never would have made it! They walked along the Pony Express trail near Simpson Springs. All of the boys made it and the leaders did, too. Z and J were both very tired and sore and J had a massive blister on his foot. What a long walk! I'm proud of them for doing it. I wish I had sent my camera so I could have had a pic, but here is one of the Pony Express Marker near Simpson Springs.

FALL PROJECT
One of our family goals this year was to paint the trim and foundation of the house. With bad weather just around the corner we thought we'd better get moving if we wanted to accomplish our goal.

Here is the before picture.

This was a family project-everyone pitched in.

After we painted- there is still some work to do. Hopefully we'll tackle it in the spring.

COSTUMES
Halloween time again and everyone had fun getting all dressed up. S was a skeleton because he HAD to have this skeleton hoodie jacket- thanks Grandma.

T wanted to be a Ninja.

Z made his own costume this year- don't know where the idea came from but he decided that he was going to be a refrigerator. He made the costume pretty much all by himself.