Christmas Interlude

Ever since we got back from Disneyland in September Kyle has been saying that he wished that his Christmas present could be just one day in Disneyland with me (without kids).  SO, I made it happen.  Shayne was done with school and agreed whole-heartedly to watch our kids (she is awesome).  I called Brad and got us a floor to sleep on the first night (and free tickets- he is awesome) and I reserved a hotel for the second night. Mason let us take his awesome car, so we could leave the van for Shayne, and on December 17th we took off.  The day started off rainy and we were afraid we would spend the whole day avoiding outdoor activities (not impossible, but not as fun) but when the elevator doors opened at the top of Tower of Terror the sun was shining and the rain was gone!

We went straight to the line to get our passes to ride Radiator Springs Racers and then wandered around Carsland.  They had the best Christmas trees ever- Ash and I went on a photo scavenger hunt.

Brad gets a bunch of discounts at the park as his Christmas bonus, kind of like a coupon booklet, but for some reason this year they gave him enough for 4 people instead of just he and Ashley.  We were the lucky recipients of that Christmas bonus and we got the bonus of getting to spend the day with Brashley as well. AWESOME!!!!!! 

yeah for Ashley's long long arms!

The best part for Kyle was that he got to eat his way through California Adventure and Disneyland!
Brad made us reservations at the Carthay Circle Restaurant for lunch and it was amazingly awesome.

Yes folks, this beautiful food was made and eaten at Disney's California Adventure- no turkey legs and corn dogs on this trip! The restaurant was beautiful and it had a balcony that looked out over mainstreet.  They weren't seating people out there due to the off and on rain, but as we finished eating the parade started and they let us go stand out there to watch the parade. We felt pretty special...not Club 33 special, but still....

It was an awesome day.  We rode all the rides we wanted, and none that we didn't (except I rode Tower of Terror since it was Kyle's Christmas present and I love him more than I hate Tower of Terror- but man I hate that ride).  We walked passed the tea cups and giggled!  It was a great day.

more eating.....
Mickey Mouse shaped beignets and Mint Julips!
The girl at the window recognized Brad, as they had just gotten beignets there two nights before :) hee hee

We checked into our hotel across the street (Ramada this time, and we really liked it) at about 9 pm when Ashley and Brad went home, but then after a little rest, we walked back over and stayed til midnight.  One awesome thing that happened right before Brashley left was the Candlelight Processional.  The main train station as you come into Disneyland park had been transformed (literally Brad said they had to re-weld parts of it back together after it was all over) into a big stage where hundreds of choir members and orchestra members and bell ringers and soloist and a big hollywood star presented the Christmas story. The actual story of baby Jesus, and although it was taken from the New English version of the Bible it was very touching.  On our night, the big star was Molly Ringwald, and when they announced her a big gasp was heard across the crowd, and Ashley, baby Ashley, said Who is she?
We were pretty far back because we just happened upon it, you had to get tickets to sit up front and center but this picture kind of captures it.  Each little point of light was someone holding a candle, and Molly Ringwald is the shining spot at the bottom right.  At one point there were a dozen heralding trumpeters standing on top of the train station playing their hearts out.  It was awesome.

We hung out til midnight and meandered back to our hotel by 1.

Although our original plans were to sleep in and drive as far as Vegas the next day, Brad still had free passes, so he walked us in the next morning and we stayed until about 3.  Brad had another job that day, real money this time, so he took off and left us to wander.  We rode a few things- Space Mountain and I am sure the Haunted Mansion, but we just meandered and took in the sights.  It started out drizzly and was forecasted to get worse, but it didn't.  It was another beautiful day and I count it as a tender mercy of the Lord that we were able to spend that day together at Disneyland. 
We felt very blessed and very lucky and very very happy.
Kyle would say that this was the highlight of this day:

 and I would have to agree.  Eating Monte Cristo sandwiches and french onion soup  (cheese and more cheese) and listening to a pirate band serenade us at New Orleans Square.  Almost heaven. ;)

Merry Christmas Kyle

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 2012 Part 1

We stayed in St. George for Christmas this year, but we packed that break so full of fun stuff, 

you would have thought we had never been here before!  

This is a pretty great place to live.  Always fun to be had in St. George.

This is what happened when we put George in charge so we could go Christmas shopping. (that is George)

George accompanied his show choir during one of the songs at his choir concert.  

Kyle decided last minute that we would have taco night, with the visiting Chinese professors, at our house after we found some great corn tortillas at a little hole in the wall Mexican shop.

As you can see, no one in that picture is Chinese.

He ended up inviting all his siblings and kids AND the Chinese professors and it was a great meal and great fun.  Mandy had just gotten out of the hospital from having a defibrillator implanted in her chest...after she passed out...she is doing good now.

Usually impromptu parties at my house stress me out a little-a lot.  This was fun though (they always are) and I wish I could relax a little and do it more often.

There is a man from China too, called Newman.  I didn't get a pic of him.  These other three are called: Tracy, Miranda, and  Cathy.  They are very kind, and love, LOVE my kids.  They are very Asian, and it is fun to laugh about the cultural differences.  They like to practice lifting Matty and saying "Oh, Matty you so fat!"

When they were introduced to Great Grandma Sullivan, they instantly asked her how old she was.

We are some sort of giant social experiment to them.  Cathy has probably taken 500 pictures of us.

I am afraid that we are going to be the subject of the next article she writes when she returns to China.

She is especially enchanted with Emily and her beautiful blonde hair.

After tacos we went to the Dixie basketball game. 

I thought since we were so cute in our Dixie shirts I might be able to make this our Christmas card pic- but something was much more interesting to Evan and Matty than smiling and looking at the camera (like I should be surprised).

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GINGERBREAD HOUSES<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I love this tradition that I started when we moved here, years ago.

It takes me a few weeks to prepare, but as long as I give myself plenty of time to prep, and watch plenty of Christmas movies while I do it, I enjoy the whole process. 

Next year I will take pictures of the steps.

This year I got smart and made my own, on my own, in my own sweet time and I enjoyed that too.

Masterpieces like this one make it all worth it!

Let the chaos begin!

I made 16 this year.  The kids did a fantastic job, I was really impressed with their creativity and the effort they put into them.  Uncle James had a hard time with the judging.

Mine is the one with the perfect rows of M&M's on the roof.  I didn't win a prize ;(.

Best Overall Winner -Yeah Jane!

Lucy didn't want to decorate, but loved eating everyone's houses

Not really going anywhere- but still cool!

At the farm by my house, Big Brothers & Big Sisters does a fundraiser every year.  We have always wanted to go, and this year it was rainy, but we found a break in the rain and walked down.  Usually it is just farm type activities, but this year they also had a hot air balloon.

I don't know what Emily is pointing at, but they were just riding in that hot air balloon to her left.
As you can see it is tethered, so they just went up and down but still.......pretty awesome.
Here are some of the other highlights:

toad racing was Evan's favorite (poor toads)

the concentration on that boy's face, he was so proud of himself when he could catch it and throw it back to Kyle

this was a daunting task, the lady wanted her to hold still while the farm was going full force all around her

not the best butterfly I've seen, but definitely the cutest canvas!

I think he could have gone faster if he had straightened his legs and pushed off the ground a little! Poor pony.

As soon as she won it she realized she had sealed it's fate, but then remembered that Skyler Sullivan had a birthday in two days and she has a fish tank, so she borrowed fish food from Paige, and kept it alive til she could deliver it.

Thanksgiving Continued..

I found the charger for my camera battery.  It was in the luggage still that we took to Lehi for Thanksgiving....thus the reason no Thanksgiving pictures.  Finally they are downloaded and I will just post a bunch...starting with my favorite.

Nieces rock!

Yummy yummy meal at Steve and Juanelle's

Even Brad and Ashley visited via skype, so we could all be together.

Grandma and Matty napping (Matty eating candy and watching cartoons while gma naps)

 Brothers are pretty awesome too, at least they think they are ;)  but sisters are the best.

 (Penny too even though she was busy)

It was an awesome weekend, so many people to be thankful for.

Sunday in Vegas....more fun than you think!

Lauri and James blessed their new baby Molly on  the first Sunday in December.  They live in Henderson, and their church doesn't start until 1 pm (Vegas time).  We decided to get up at the regular time, like we were going to our own 9 am (Utah time) ward, but drove to Vegas instead.
What the heck do you do with 4 small kids (the oldest of which is the morality police) in Vegas on Sunday morning??  Well, you go to the nicest casino/hotel you can think of!  The Bellagio!
The Bellagio is our favorite stop in Vegas on any day of the week, and since everything we do there is free, it was a great Sunday morning activity too.  They have a big indoor plaza that is always decorated to the hilt according to the closest season or holiday.  We hadn't ever seen it done up for Christmas, and we were so glad we finally did.

There was an awesome train set around the awesome gingerbread village and giant rocking horse.  The train had a camera on one of the cars, that was hooked to television screens throughout the place.  So every once in a while you caught a glimpse of yourself on t.v........or if you are my kids, you ran around and around and around the display to see how much you could be on t.v.

 There were probably 5000 poinsettas, 

and the giant polar bears were made completely of carnations- 18,000!

We also went out to the front of the casino just in time to see the fountains do their big show.

We walked down for a closer view of the next little show (15 minutes later) but there was a little breeze and all the sudden we were on the front row of the Shamu show- we got showered!

We were still an hour and a half from when church was supposed to start in Henderson, 

so we drove up to the Las Vegas Temple.

Kyle and I had each only been there once, and the kids (obviously) hadn't been.

They were actually very surprised when they found out a temple existed in Vegas!

We really enjoy our wanderings, exploring new places with our little clan, and resolved to do it more often.  They have become very good travelers (thank you technology).  

It was a fantastic morning.

The blessing was great too, and the food after was great too.

Overall...great!

Who knew you could make so many memories on a Sunday morning in Vegas.

Giving thanks for Thanksgiving

I am not sure how I forgot to do a Thanksgiving blog.  Maybe I didn't take enough pictures....but still....it is blog worthy even if I didn't capture every moment digitally.

We had a great trip to Lehi.  We got there Wednesday afternoon and, of course, Dad and Kyle took off to a movie.  Jandy went with them too, I wanted to, but I had a mission to accomplish.  I was bound and determined to make my first perfect lemon meringue pie.  Kyle's maternal grandmother is one of my best friends, we get each other.  I get to take her to the temple every Thursday and we all go to her house for cake every Sunday night, and occasionally a lemon pie.  Leila Sullivan makes the best lemon meringue pies EVER.  Everyone in her family looks forward to their birthday for the gift of their own lemon meringue pie.  Mason didn't even share his this year.  Ate the whole thing himself (over time I think).  So I asked Grandma to show me how and I watched her make one and then she watched me make one.  Over the next few weeks I made 4 more, for practice, and none were quite right, but were good, and getting better, so I was hopeful that I would peak at Thanksgiving.

So I stayed home from the movie and started making my pies.  The first one- the filling got a little scorched and water got in the egg whites, so they wouldn't peak, but we used them and it was fine, we deemed it the "kids" pie.  The next one went so smoothly, everything was fantastic, and it baked up beautifully.






I was so proud.  I have never been so proud of anything I have ever made.  When Kyle and Dad and Jandy came home I made each of them take special notice and tell me how beautiful it was.  Mom didn't have room to refrigerate them, we should have just left them on the cupboard, but we decided it would be best to put them out on the picnic table on the deck (since it is so freaking cold in Lehi).  Mom had saved a cake box, and we carefully put them in it and put them out on the deck.

Then Jandy went downstairs and let the dogs out to go potty.  Emily at this point in storytelling would say (DUN DUN DUN.....) They are dachsunds. Their noses work really well.
It took Lilly about 12 seconds to get on the table, chew through the box, and destroy both pies.  Gus was barking the whole time, that is what tipped us off.  I don't think he was tattling on her though, he was just mad that he was too fat to jump up on the table, and wanted her to push some off to him.

I secretly hoped that that much egg whites and sugar would kill her, but she didn't miss a beat.  I on the other hand was completely deflated.  I must have looked really pathetic as I stood by the remains of my hard work, because Shayne and Grandpa both came and gave me big hugs.  Kyle asked me what I needed at the store, and at 9:30 pm, I popped open a Dr. Pepper and started over.
My mom, my savior, encouraged me and helped me, of course she could have made them perfectly without me.  We whipped up two more pies, which turned out...fine...but they were missing the key secret ingredient....LOVE! :)  My heart was not in it.  They tasted great, but I still can't even believe that something so cliche'- so holiday sit-com, actually happened in real life....to me....and my first perfect pie.  It was a good lesson to me- I've decided no one should have so much pride in something, and I was being chastened, and humbled!

Thanksgiving dinner the next day was great- all the classic Shelton foods and tons of it!  We were at Steve's house, and Juanelle had it all decorated so cute.  Ashley Shelton had the fantastic idea of Skyping with Brashley in California, so we could all be together.  It was just right.
We were sleeping in a hotel, so Kyle took Matty back for a nap.  Kyle napped, Matty watched TV and played on the Ipad.  Luckily she  couldn't figure out the locks on the door!  We sat around and played games, and looked at Black Friday ads.  It was a good day.  I felt very grateful to be surrounded by my loving family.

The next day everyone came swimming at our hotel.  We met the capacity limit! Luckily no one else from the hotel wanted to swim at that time! We shopped and we got some great black Friday deals.  Kyle loves watching the craziness and as long as we never go with our hopes high, we usually find a great deal or two and come away with a good story or two.

Saturday was the pinnacle of the trip.  We weren't planning on even staying that long, but then Penny told us that Shayne had decided to be endowed on Saturday in the Mount Timpanogos Temple, so we changed our plans in a jiff- we definitely didn't want to miss that!

 Shayne got her mission call about 12 seconds after the prophet announced girls could go at 19 instead of 21.  She is going to Perth, Australia and is stoked.  It was a very crowded session, with 3 other missionaries and their families doing the same thing, but it was awesome to be at the temple with my siblings.  This hasn't happened since Andy's wedding, I think- and he has 3 kids now, so it was long overdue! Families are Forever, the Church is true, and we are greatly blessed to be a part of it, and BECAUSE we are a part of it.