Christmas Eve photo shoot

I think there's one good one in there!

Funny Conversations and Concert Week

Some funny conversations:

(This one is kind of visual, but hopefully you can picture it.)

Camary: "How many days until Christmas on Christmas?" (That's funny in itself.)
Tracy: "Zero." (Makes a circle with his fingers.)
Camary: "That's not zero. This is zero." (Makes a thumbs-up.)
Tracy: "How is that zero?"
Camary: (Counting down with her fingers, closing her fist in between each one.) "Five, four, three, two, one, zero." (Makes a thumbs-up.)
So, thumbs-up=zero. She demonstrated this for all of us at dinner.

Tracy picks up Finlay's homework folder off the couch. "This says parent/teacher communicator. How come I never see it unless it gets left on the couch?"
Finlay: "I don't know."
Sam: "Mom sees it. She's the parent. You're, like, the assistant parent."
Gee, aren't I lucky to have an assistant parent around?

Finlay's teacher is really good to give him assignments that challenge him and keep his interest. He's working on a report on rattlesnakes. Here's a line from his report. "Rattlesnakes are born with venom and are more dangerous than adults."
I know it's hard to imagine anything more dangerous than adults. (I know what he meant, but reading it like that made me laugh.)

Last week was our Christmas concert week. On Tuesday, Ryan played with the Nebo Youth Philharmonic. We didn't go to this concert because I had to be at the Relief Society Christmas dinner that night. Wednesday was his regular high school band concert. It was terrific. He played with both the concert band and jazz band, and in jazz combo one (of course he's in the top jazz combo.) It was amazing. His jazz solos brought me to tears. (If you ask him, he'll say it wasn't that great, but he's wrong.) His combo was playing out in the lobby before the concert. So awesome! Thursday was Rusty's first ever band concert. He plays sax. These kids didn't get to start band in sixth grade like all the kids before them. They only started on their instruments less than four months ago. They sounded great! I was so impressed. Friday was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. When Denise went to enter her name in the ticket lottery, she realized that she'd have a better chance if she entered all of her kids in it, too. (At least the ones in Utah.) We ended up with sixteen tickets for the family. Tracy, I, and Rusty went. (Ryan was playing with the pep band at a basketball game--surprise, surprise.) We left two hours before the concert began. Traffic was terrible. I mean TERRIBLE. It took us more than two hours to get there. There was traffic jam in downtown Salt Lake. By the time we got to the Conference Center, they weren't letting anyone in. We went to Temple Square and heard some high school choirs and a women's chorus perform. They were good, but they weren't the Mo-Tab. Oh well, maybe next year. Saturday we did not have a concert, but I did have dress rehearsal for my Musettes concert. Sunday was the Musettes concert. Camary had the stomach flu on Friday/Saturday. The rest of us got it on Sunday. (Except for Finlay and Xander.) We all got blessings. I was blessed that I'd be able to go to the concert. I did, but toward the end, I nearly passed out and had to sit down for a couple of songs. I think it was because I was dehydrated from not eating all day. I was white as the snow. For a while, I was thinking, "How will I get home?" Then I realized that my friend Suzette was there, and she would take me home. As soon as the concert was done, she was right there saying, "I'll take you home, and then we'll come back and get your car." She would have done it, too. (She's so awesome.) I was feeling better by then, though, so she just followed me home in case I had to pull over. I didn't, but I was glad to know she was behind me. Thankfully, we are feeling better now, so we can get on with this week, which is Doctor's Appointment week (dermatologist, eye doctor, chiropractor...)

Fifth Grade Wax Museum

Last month, Sam did the Fifth grade wax museum. The kids each choose a figure from American History to portray. Sam was Paul Revere. Here are some picutres:That's his best buddy Ammon with him. Ammon was Clark (of Lewis and Clark).


It got me thinking about Ryan and Rusty's wax museums, so here are some pictures from them:

Here's Rusty as Henry Ford.

Ryan was Benjamin Franklin.

Aren't they just so cute!

Here's one that has it all.

D&C 98:1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.