Christmas Highlights

Here are a few highlights from our Christmas season.

We went to Alisha's preschool and her class sang some Christmas songs to us (I think the kid next to her has head lice).


My parents held their annual family Christmas party on the 23rd. My sister, Suzy, and her family flew in from Montana for a few days, so we were able to have everyone together this year. We ate a yummy ham dinner and then held our traditional talent show and nativity. For the talent show, Evan and I played a duet of Jingle Bells on the piano while Alisha and Denver shook some jingle bells. Also, every year the kids all act out the nativity while the story is read out loud. Grant played baby Jesus, Alisha was an angel and Denver and Evan were wise men. After the nativity, the kids got to open their gifts from their cousins.The most exciting part of the evening came when my sister Natalie (who just got married in May) announced that she is pregnant.

On Christmas Eve morning (while Shane was at work), we all got together again to have my dad's birthday breakfast and then we opened our time capsule that we sealed 10 years ago. That was really fun to open and see what our lives were like 10 years ago. Shane and I had only been married for 1 year and didn't have any kids.

That evening the kids and I got home at the same time that Shane got home from work. When we went in the house, we found out that Santa had come to our house early. Denver and Evan got a Wii with a bunch of controllers and games, Alisha got mostly princess stuff and Grant got a few baby toys.

Yesterday we went out in the middle of nowhere and shot the gingerbread house with my new gun that I got for my anniversary. Here is a video recap of our Christmas that I'm putting in our new time capsule.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Catch Up

The last few weeks I've been so focused on what's going on with my brother, that I've neglected to post anything that's going on around here. So now, I'm going to try to play "catch up" on things we've been doing.

First of all, if you haven't noticed yet, we had some family pictures taken. My sister Natalie took them and I love them! She always does such a good job. I told her I could probably drum her up some business. I'm not sure how much she charges, but she says she would probably be available in the spring if anyone is interested. Here are a few of the pictures she took.

Somehow, all of our noses started itching at the same time!

If you look close, you can see the moon in the background. Denver Evan Alisha
She is wearing her "mommy" shirt in these pictures.
When I asked her why she called it that,
she said, "It makes me look like I
have those feeder thingy's." Grant

The past month, the boys have been playing flag football. This is their first year playing, so it's been a learning experience for them, but at least they've had fun. It has been fun watching them play, I just wish it was warmer! This is their last week playing, so hopefully I'll get a few pictures of them in action.

At the beginning of the month, our ward had a Christmas party. Before dinner started, the kids got to go sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. The primary (and scouts) also got up and sang a few songs (sorry, no picture). Last Monday, we went up to the school for the Honor Roll Ceremony. Denver was on the AB honor roll and Evan was on the A honor roll. Good Job guys!

More Prayers Needed!

Today I went to visit my brother in the hospital, again. He went home Saturday evening, but went back in on Monday because of some swelling, plus he was in a lot of pain. He is feeling a lot better today and is still recovering fairly well from the surgery. The bad news is that the doctors were guessing he had stage 2 cancer, but when they got the labs back today, it was diagnosed as stage 4. It is basically a fast-spreading cancer. I am still quite hopeful, because he does have an appointment next week at UCLA. They are known for innovative cancer research and will hopefully give him some good options. Please remember him in your prayers!

Good News

For those who were wondering how my brother is doing, here's a little update for you. We found out that they were going to do surgery on Thursday to remove the brain tumor. So, Wednesday evening, my family gathered at the hospital. Kevin received a priesthood blessing from his bishop that was very comforting. One of the things that stood out to me in the blessing was that many people would be astonished at his fast recovery. When the blessing was over, his nurse from Tuesday night came in and serenaded us with his guitar. We also had a family prayer, which was a very neat experience. On Thursday, I heard (via text message) that his surgery went well. As soon as he woke up he was talking and joking around. They removed most of the tumor, but there is still a possibility of radiation and chemo in the near future. Well, today (Saturday), around 5:30pm, I got a call from my mom saying that they were sending him home. He had already been up and about and anxious to go home. Talk about a fast recovery! Especially since beforehand they told him that he would probably be in the hospital for a week after the surgery, plus rehab after that. I have no doubt that the priesthood blessing, plus all the fasting and prayers had a major role in his speedy recovery!

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving week started off great. First, we had dinner at my parent's house on Wednesday with most of my brothers and sisters. Then Thursday, while Shane was at work, the kids and I went to their house again and had turkey and all the fixin's (just a few siblings came this time). Then on Friday, we had Shane's family over to our house for a ham dinner. Everyone was there except one niece and her husband, and one nephew. Some of our activites included riding the go-cart, playing football, reminiscing about Grandpa Conger (who passed away two years ago) and playing games.
Unfortunately, the weekend ended with me going to visit my brother, Kevin, in the hospital. He went in Saturday night with a bad headache and after some tests yesterday was diagnosed with a 6cm brain tumor. It will be a while until we know how severe it is, but it's still a brain tumor! This is a picture of him with his wife and 3 of their 4 kids.I just want my family and friends to know how much I love them! Thanksgiving is so wonderful because it always helps me to remember all of my many blessings!