Christmas 2010

We had a fun Christmas this year! We even got to decorate gingerbread houses. (I opted for the small village of houses this year instead of the giant ones.) Kylie's making a silly face, but it's the only pic I got of her. (Sorry for the underlining - can't figure it out!)

We went to the temple lights, but I apparently didn't take any photos. We like to go early when it's still fairly light outside before the crowds hit. We don't do crowds.

Christmas morning is always fun around here. The girls are excellent at acting overly excited! We got some good happy face pictures this year. We love Christmas time!

CHRISTMAS 2009

**WARNING - LONG POST**

Christmas truly just came & went this year. Time seems to go by faster & faster every year. This Christmas was truly magical. I usually end up being a grump & kind of bahumbuggish as Christmas draws close, but not this year! It was wonderful. I think maybe because we kept things simple this year. As we all know, I don't do well with chaos or any kind of stress, so simple is good for me. We didn't travel anywhere this year & that was nice. As nice as it would have been to go visit my mom & see her - it was nice to be put. (Love & miss you mom!!)

We had so many activities that were just a blast! We had our annual "Mortensen Christmas Party" to attend, with members from our ward, that we look forward to every year. We always do a white elephant exchange & I truly lucked out this year. I won the Snuggie!

(Hopefully, my friend Melissa doesn't mind that I stole this pic from her blog! ;)) It has not left Kylie's body, while she's home, for weeks now. Thanks again Don & Melissa for another smashing party! I love laughing with this group until my stomache hurts.

We also attended...

**Our ward Christmas party.

**A yummy dinner with the Linford's for our own make-shift Bell party. (Since company parties were not allowed this year.) Thanks Chad for some amazing ribs - he smokes them himself!
**An amazing cookie exchange at my friend Bonnie's house. Some women amaze me with their baking abilities. Maybe because I have zero talent. I just made tiger bark. Surprise, surprise.

**The girls school Christmas program. I love that their school can sing songs about Jesus & his birth & not get creamed for it! Even the program cover had a nativity picture on it. It's awesome!!

**The annual Organ family Christmas party. The one time a year I see most of my aunts, uncles, & cousins on my mom's side of the family. We always do an elephant exchange here, too.

Sunday the 20th was the Smith-Hallows Gang par-tay! That's always loads of fun. I was in charge of the gift giving idea this year & in true Melanie style - I kept it simple & easy. I just didn't want the focus to be on the presents. I wanted to focus on just being together. So, we exchanged pictures & did a white elephant type exchange of gifts of service. We received a dinner night from Sam & Ruth. Who better to cook than Ruth? No one! She's amazing!! Every year the kids act out the nativity & we videotape it. We always watch the previous years tape & then watch what we taped that night. It's always good for a laugh somewhere with our band of kids. The sweetest, however, was C-money!! Little Carter was Joseph while Jadyn was Mary.

He was so dang sweet to her that it just killed me! Rennie was taping & at one point Carter looked so lovingly at Jadyn that I "Oh'd" & Ren looked up at me with a tear in her eye. It was so dang precious!! The picture above has Max as Baby Jesus. Memphis was the baby at one point, but he was getting restless. Jadyn kept yelling,"Carter, help me!" Carter simply said,"Can we get the good baby now?" It was pretty hilarious! Aunt Ruby had to kiss all the kids & leave her mark with her bright red lips...

This picture just makes me laugh. Jadyn went up to Luke & asked if she could sit on his lap. He was kind enough to let her.

And what family event is complete without a picture of the girls? (I stole this one from my sister Robin's blog. Thanks sis!! ;))

On Tuesday the 22nd we finally made our way down to the temple lights. It's just not Christmas until you see the lights. This year was the best. We showed up at 5:30pm & had no problems finding a parking spot. We showed up right when the lights were being turned on. We went straight to the manger & got to enjoy it without feeling rushed as we were the only ones around!

We even were able to enjoy the nativity scene exhibit in the Visitor's Center in relative peace. We'll definitely be remembering that trick next year since we're all about getting away from crowds!!

Christmas Eve was peaceful & we read Luke 2 before going to bed. We awoke to this at 4:30 in the morning...

Yep, 4:30 AM! The girls actually woke up at 3:30 Am, but I tried to ignore them. Erik woke up at 4:30 & said, "Well, I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep now. We might as well go down." UGH!! That was too early for me, but whatever!!

After opening presents & playing with them for a bit it was time for a little nap. Just a little one though as Mimi & Papa were coming at 11:00. They came for a bit & then were off to their next stop & we were off to spend time with the Parkinson's!

The Parkinson gatheirng was great!! My sweet sister-in-law Nikki cooked for everyone. She's an unbelievable woman! She always does this & usually doesn't let anyone help. I did bring a veggie tray this year though. We love gathering with Erik's family. It's always low-key. Just the way we like things. I, unfortunately, did not take any photos this year. I don't know what I was thinking!!

After the Parkinson's party Erik & I ventured down to Phoenix for the Suns game! Thanks to my Dad who was given tickets from a vendor of his & gave them to us. And to Ron & Nikki for keeping our girls! Erik was so dang excited for this game for days!! The tickets were pretty nice. They were in the Lexus club section & we were the 25th row. This was the view from our seat...

They played the Clippers & killed them by 30 points. It was so fun! Thanks again Dad!!! Here we are waiting for the game to start...

These pictures always turn out weird. Oh well! All in all, Christmas was wonderful! I hope you all had a great Christmas as well!

CHRISTMAS REVIEW

We have had quite the busy week. Here is what our week was like. For the most part. Let's start with the Friday before Christmas....

We attended the temple lights with some members of my family. It's always fun to go & look at this amazing display. They also have a display in the Visitor's Center of nativities from around the world that's pretty cool, too.























My niece Shelby was lucky enought to warrant a spot in the background of our family photo!


















After the temple lights some of our group came back to our house for some hot chocolate. Which of course would not be complete without a photo of all the guys & their Tinkerbell mugs. Silly boys!

Then my nieces Shelby & Lainie spent the night with us. The girls had a blast & we were lucky enough to be graced with the presence of a pirate, a couple of dancers & a princess at breakfast.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Mimi & Papa's for a wonderful Winter Wonderland party! What a blast & of course my camera was starting to break so I have no pictures. Hopefully one of the other girls will get one to me. (hint - hint)

On Monday we built gingerbread houses. I tried to be economical about it & bought graham crackers & some random candies. Not necessarily a good idea. The weren't very stable & only mine & Jadyn's houses actually stayed up. Oh well - it was still fun. Here are the finished products...

Erik's...

Kylie's...(she's helping hers stay up for the photo)

Jadyn's...

Mine...

Tuesday came a little non-Christmas surprise. Jadyn lost her first tooth. She woke up in the morning & claims it just fell out into her hand. It's still a mystery, but at least it's out!

That brings us to Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Erik's family & had a fun time eating, playing & watching The Office. Christmas morning we woke up & opened presents in our own home! This was only the 2nd time since we've been married that we've done that & it was nice. Kylie was a little excited to get Battleship & Jadyn was just excited! After presents we went to see "Bedtime Stories". Then, just lazied around the rest of the day. Erik & I have spent way too much time on Facebook playing Mob Wars this past week, but it's been a nice, relaxing break for us. I'm sad for school to start again next week!

CHRISTMAS CARD

For those of you that did not receive this via email for whatever reason - here you go...


Dear Family and Friends,


We are taking the easy way out this year & emailing our cards. Much better than last year when we did nothing! So, here's a little peek into what we've been up to...


ERIK - Erik still works for Bell Photographers & enjoys his job. He's working hard to pick up new schools for next season. He also has a new passion he's busy working on. It is "Mob Wars" on facebook. If anyone has a facebook account be sure to find Erik & join his mob. And if you don't have an account - consider opening one so you can join in the fun. He's also been moving our house around. He moved our office into our loft & separated the girls. Which turned into quite the project of reorganizing the whole house. He is also enjoying this season for another one of his loves - Basketball season! He is currently the Sunday School teacher for the 14+ year olds in our ward.


MELANIE - Melanie's been busy teaching away. Her studio is closing though & that comes with mixed emotions. Sad to see it go, but happy to be home more. She lost her older brother Michael this summer & that has been hard. Thank goodness for the gospel & the knowledge that she'll be able to see him again. She just received a calling as the 1st counselor in the Young Womens & is excited for this opportunity. She's even started to work a little more for Erik.


KYLIE - 9 years old - Kylie is our little social butterfly still. She just turned 9 this month & loves having her own room. She's growing up so fast it's just unbelievable! She is now in 3rd grade & was chosen as Student of the Month in September. She was chosen to play "The Dead Girl" in the Easter Pageant this year & loved every minute of it! She was elated to see a clip of her part on the news even. She did so well with her big part. The directors must have thought she did a good job as well because she has been cast in the same part for this coming year! Erik's just hoping he'll be able to carry her up the ramp this time without falling since she's so long. Keep your fingers crossed for us.


JADYN - 5 1/2 years old - Jadyn is still our little princess. She is a girly-girl through & through. She loves anything to do with make-up, hair & fashion. (Poor kid picked the wrong mom to have with those passions.) She started Kindergarten this year & is very proud that she gets a 100% on almost everything she does. She's our little genious & school is not tough for her at all. She loves that her school is a little harder than the normal public school because it's still too easy for her. We'll see how long that lasts. She also received the priviledge of being chosen as Student of the Month for November. She lost her first tooth yesterday & is happy to show everyone how her tongue can now stick out of her teeth.
We are so blessed in many ways. We love & appreciate all of you! We would not be who we are without any of you. We are so thankful for this season & for the Savior in our lives. We love this time of year to be reminded often of His birth & all that He has done for us. We hope all of you are happy & well. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!


Love - The Parkinson's