Winter Break

We've reached the end of winter break.  I dropped Holly off at the airport this morning so she can fly back to college, my other four kids are back at school, and Scott is back at work.  We had a wonderful break together as a family with lots of free time to play games, watch movies and relax.

We started out Christmas break with the live outdoor nativity performances by our church building’s youth which they put on for the community for two nights.  Emily participated on both nights in about 8 shows acting as a shepherd.  She always enjoys visiting with the other seminary aged kids backstage.  In this photo she is the shepherd on the far left.

She met us inside the church after the nativity for cookies and hot chocolate.  Doesn't she make a cute shepherd?

We had waited until Holly came back from college so she could make gingerbread houses with us.  The kids can make the houses on the their own now which is nice.

 Here are the five completed structures.

Holly decided to make a nativity scene rather than a house out of her graham crackers and it was really neat.

                            
Scott and I made toffee and then delivered it to friends.  Scott does a great job of continuously stirring the hot toffee for 12 minutes and then pouring it out on the cookie sheet at the just the right time.   We have made toffee together every year for the past 20 years.  I learned how to make it from my mom.  Thanks Mom!

The thing I was most nervous about over break was  Emily getting her wisdom teeth out.  Holly agreed to come with us and help me navigate there (it was an office 45 minutes away that I had never been to before) and then film Emily afterwards.  Our drive there and back was easy since there was less traffic than we expected and Emily did great with the surgery.  Holly did a nice job of filming Emily as she said some silly things.  Later that day Emily watched and even edited the video. For three days she had friends stopping by with gifts of flowers, pudding, and ice cream.  It was so sweet of them to come.  Emily continued to have some mouth pain for a week but after a follow-up visit to the surgeon and a clove oil treatment (which tastes very yucky) she is doing well.

We acted out the nativity as a family on Christmas Eve and then went over to my parents’ house for a fun game of Gesture's.

On Christmas day we had dinner at the Moulton’s house with all our Moulton relatives.  The older cousins really enjoyed having Holly there to visit with and hear about her experiences at BYU.  I snapped this cute pictures of my four girls together.  They really enjoyed spending time together over the break takes walks, going to the movie Mona, going shopping and having sleepovers.

After Christmas we took a day trip to my parent’s cabin to play in the snow.  The cabin had about 2 feet of snow and the sledding hill was working great.  Megan and Emily each brought a friend which made it even more fun.  This picture is of Megan with her friend Lucy.

 Today I am thankful that:
*We could have Holly home with us for 2 1/2 weeks.  We really missed her while she was at college.
*The sun was shining and the roads were clear when I took Holly to the airport. 
*I have this warm comfortable house to live in.  The heater keeps things at 70 degrees all the time which really is amazing!  I'm glad I don't have to chop wood and keep a fire blazing all day to be warm.