ADDY'S QUILT

I got Addy's quilt done, it is a rag quilt and looks cute on her bed with her blue walls. Hard to tell in this picture....

ANOTHER WEEKEND, ANOTHER RACE

ST. GEORGE HALF MARATHON - the runners were at it again this weekend. The Geezer beat the kids, but Jake came in second, Brooke third, Chad fourth, and Amber 5th. The other racers in the family included Joe Ballstaedt, (Who beat everyone) Joe Shimanek who beat Rock, and Alison Weaver! Here is Rock and Jake,

Brooke running like a Champion

Chad going strong

Amber looking good!

Sage opted to take care of her children instead of run this time. They were having a great time in the hotel room with the flu.

HOW TO KEEP STONE ENTERTAINED AN HOUR

We found out that Stone is quite entertained by the dryer. We can just put something in it and turn it on and he will sit and stare at it for a long time. He likes it almost as much as all the other electronics in the house, including the remote, the cords under the tables, cell phones, and the computer keyboard. (Is it genetic that all boys love electronics, or is it the Spencer genes?)

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS

Kayla (bean) Nicholls turned NINE on January 12th! Erin Elizabeth Spencer turns 23!! And Seth Turned 29 on the 6th. We can never seem to get the cake to Henderson NV for Seth's birthday party.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Over Christmas Vacation Rock and I ran down to Henderson, Nevada to visit the kids. (Wait - in this family it might be confusing if I use the word "Ran" - someone might take it literally. We drove actually.) We spent a few days with Seth and Cairen and the kids. Look how cute Sienna is on the play Unicorn! It was really a fun little trip for us! The weather was cold but not like Utah cold....here we are at the playground...It is right at the mall where grandpa watched the kids while Cairen and I went shopping.... They had fun little things for the kids to do,like a story telling hour and such. Here is a clown who made balloons for them. Do you notice what Meika is wearing and it was New Years Eve.....Can you imagine that being that warm?
We were able to spend some time with Seth as he was off work and school for a few days. He is usually so busy we don't even see him when he visits.

DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

Our little Hallie May Eggett turned one year old on Dec. 27th. What a cutie! She can walk now and she smiles all the time. She is a real sweetie.

Brooke turned 30-something. Her birthday gets overlooked a lot because of her choice to be born so close to Christmas on the 21st of Dec. And to complicate things, her wedding anniversary is Dec. 30th - She just wanted to get everything over with in a weeks time. She looks as cute and young and skinny as she was in high school even though she is the mother of 5 kids!

Notice the candles and you can guess her age.

BOOK REVIEWs

For Christmas Rock bought me a reading lamp. It is great! (I suspect he didn't like all the overhead lights on at night while he was trying to sleep or the lights on at 2 a.m. when I can't sleep and decide to read a book or crochet instead....) Anyway, here are the books I have read since Christmas;

Sweet, sad, absorbing, and a bit depressing, but don't let that keep you away, it is a simple read that really depicts the character and emotion of a small family in Germany during WWII - well, yes, it's been done before but these characters will steal your heart. Literary devices are a little reminiscent "Meet Joe Black-ish" as the Narrator/Grim Reaper absorbs himself in the personal life of the main character...I recommend it highly.




Okay I am bummed that one of my favorite authors wrote such a dumb book. Really dumb. But Erin brought it home from the library and I was scouring the bookshelves for something anyway.....Okay, well if you like Pride and Prejuduice read it anyway. It is beyond silly, but sometimes silly is a good way to spend a mindless evening, especially if your other choice is watching re-runs of "Star Trek" with your husband. I recommend reading her other books - she is a great writer normally.

CHRISTMAS NATIVITY

This year for our Nativity Scene we tried to follow the same pattern President Eyring talked about in the Christmas Devotional by starting with the Samuel the Laminite Story and progressing to the Bethlehem Story. All the Children were dressed up in their parts. In this picture we have baby Jesus trying to destroy his manger, Addy as Mary, Hayliann as the Star in the Heavens, and Hunter as Joseph. River was a shepherd, (not in this picture...) We also had Kayla as one of the "Choirs of Angels" and the rest of the "Choir of Angels are somewhere in the background, but they were really cute! There were some fantastic"Wise Men (Women)" pictured below and some of the smaller children were "Cattle Lowing" /"Lambs" dressed in cotton balls and brown furry clothes. I hope someone else got the good pictures because I was on Stage crew and didn't get my camera. I need my kids to pass on the pictures...
(L to R) - McKay, Alyssa, and Mylee as the "Wisemen from the Orient a-far" McKay had a quick change because before he was the Wise Man he was Samuel the Lamanite on the wall prophesying of the coming of the Christ. We had an "angry Mob" trying to hit him with the tin foil arrows and stones, and of course they couldn't hit him. However, some of the "Angry Mob" can't aim that good, and one may have mistakenly hit him...

Next year we are just going to make the pictures into a DVD and watch it on TV.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR 20 GRANDCHILDREN?

CHRISTMAS GIFTS for 20 granchildren can be challenging and time consuming. I decided that a good little book/church bag would be a good idea. Each bag contained coloring books, little toys, pencils, gum, crayons, books, gloves, socks and misc toys.

EACH BAG had a homemade case for either crayons or colored pencils. You put them in the slots, and then roll them up and tie with a ribbon. These were fun to make as I had to choose material that really resembled the personality of each child.

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS GIFTS

I have always loved to make homemade Christmas gifts - and this year was no different. I had a lot of fun crocheting hats for each person in the family. As I was working on each hat it gave me an opportunity to to think about each person as I crocheted. I am so grateful for each of my children and grandchildren! (NOt pictured is Seth's family - they were at the in-laws)

It wouldn't be Christmas if I couldn't make PJ bottoms for the 8 boys - (Seth not pictured)

I love to make these scripture bags, they are so cute! Each of the 8 girls got one. (Cairen not pictured) Maybe not everyone thinks it's fun, but I really love to do it!