Merry Christmas!

White Christmas

Christmas day was wonderful for a number of reasons...

First, it dumped on us through the night, which means we woke up to lots of fresh white snow. 

Second, I had the opportunity to see a sweet woman dressed all in white as she was baptized on Christmas morning.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior, it was beautiful!  I had been asked to do a talk on the Holy Ghost and when I realized that 90% of the people in attendance were Hispanic, I decided to switch it up and give my talk in Spanish.  I was pretty nervous, it had been a while since I had given a talk in Spanish, but it went surprisingly well. 

Third, the kids all seemed happy and GRATEFUL for what they received!

 

 

Fourth, we got to spend time with family and enjoy a delicious Christmas dinner!

Fifth, we ended the day watching The Martian, which I loved.

Q and Ayzha didn't quite make it through the movie
it was a long but lovely day!

Best Chrismas Eve Ever!

When I heard those words come out of Ayzha's mouth I'm sure I had a grin on my face ear to ear.  We did a lot of fun stuff today.  We played ball at the church, did some hooky bobbing and sledding behind the car, jibjabbed ourselves, played bean bag baseball at a retirement home, re-enacted the Nativity, and opened up our Christmas jammies. 

I'm exhausted!

Hooky Bobbing!

Ben decided we needed to learn about hooky bobbing today.  The kids loved it!  Between that and getting pulled on a sled behind the car, the kids were in heaven!

 

Quite a Day!

Not only did we visit the humanitarian center this morning, we also stopped by Temple Square.  Jesus spoke to us, we watched some beautiful Christmas videos, and enjoyed the lights.  It was lovely!

Then we headed over to Tara's to celebrate mom's birthday and have our family Christmas party.  We sang songs, ate yummy treats, and told Christmas stories.  Ben and I even performed a little Christmas duet, him on the viola and me on the piano.  So much fun!

Grandkids!

Be the Answer to Someone's Prayer

"We are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all…" -Joseph Smith

Today we had the opportunity to visit the LDS Humanitarian Center. The great work that is accomplished in this center was inspired by those words from Joseph Smith. I have great love and admiration for this man of God and it just so happens to be his birthday.

During the tour we watched a short video presentation.  It talked about people and families throughout the world who have been helped by the humanitarian program.  There are people all over the world praying for someone to help them.  We can be the answer to someone's prayer! 

Tying a Quilt at the end of our tour

dog pile on Ben!

Q-nanigans

Qyntn is finally old enough to really enjoy Christmas.  It is so much fun to share in his excitement about everything!  One thing that was especially special is that Qyntn got to shake hands with President Russell M. Nelson at our special stake conference this month.  President Nelson was making his way to the podium, stopped at our pew and shook hands with Q.  I have never seen a bigger smile on Q's face.  He didn't stop at any other pew, just the one where our kids were sitting with the Welsh family (Ben and I were in the choir seats).  That was pretty sweet!  After the meeting, Tiago chased him down and shook hands with him too and said he would never wash his hand again.



lil stinker



Q is obsessed with our Santa...
he pushes that darn button on Santas
hand over and over and over all day.
 



His Zoolander "blue steel" look is too cute
especially with reindeer antlers on his head.



and Santa paid Q a surprise visit