Christmas Card

So, here is our Christmas card for this year, I think the actual card turned out ok, the picture is cute -- sure it is all cheese, but my kids know they have to perform -- unfortunately, if I had what I wanted it would have been a real life picture of them acting like normal, half doing what I wanted, and half doing what I didn't. Oh well, I guess I should be grateful Ryan didn't cut his hair before -- I would have really had a hard time not fixing his hair cut before we sent it out to our friends and family! Hopefully, I didn't forget anyone and if you are reading this and don't get a card or by next week, then let me know. . .Merry Christmas

Calendars

Every year I undertake a HUGE ordeal. This year was no different, I did the calendar for Jake's family and mine. They turned out pretty well, I am glad they are done, just wish that I had a million hours to do everything I would like to! Here are the first two pages -- I still have two to throw in the mail, but it isn't the first YET!

Christmas Party

Last weekend, our ward had our annual Christmas party, the boys and I went to it. Santa made an appearance at the party and two of the boys made a point to talk to him. Spencer asked for a remote control truck, and Ryan asked for a computer (a kid can dream, right?). Oh yeah, and Ryan's hair, it looks better now, and I didn't get a picture straight on, he gave himself a haircut. Yeah, nice, he thought he would get even with me when I made him mad. I guess he learned, if he is going to redesign his hair and make himself look ridiculous, I am not going to fix it. I am glad hair will grow back -- now on to deal with Ryan, I hope this isn't a precursor of what I have to look forward to!

 

 

Chickens

 

Right after we got home from Spain, we got 64 chickens. It is crazy busy. Fifty of our chickens are meat chickens, they eat a ton. We have to de-kernal the corn and grind the corn and mix it with soybean meal -- I am ready for the fifty chickens to be gone. We only have about three more weeks to go. Happy day!

Kanosh

Two weeks after we had Thanksgiving, we took a quick trip to Utah for a good-bye/Christmas party for Jake's parents. We had all but Jake's brother Sam and his family there -- it was crazy busy -- there are tons of people when they all get together.

While we were there, Jake took the opportunity to feed the cattle. He decided that we needed to help feed the animals. It was crazy. I had to drive the tractor, I don't like to drive big things -- but I made it! The boys were in HEAVEN.

 

 

 

 

Amazingly, the cattle will adjust to the tractor and I didn't need to try to dodge them. When we were driving out to where we feed, Spencer was on the hay throwing Spencer sized handfuls at the cows as fast as he could, the cows just tried to eat off of the tractor, it was entertaining!

Tyler's Weddomg

This is why, we had everyone come to Gilbert in November. . .Tyler got married! He married, Courtney Reading in the Mesa Temple, two days after Thanksgiving. It was really nice to have every one of my siblings in the temple at the same time.

 

Here is a picture of all of my brothers, Jake and Marlene's husband Jon.

 

And here is a picture of my siblings and parents.

 

Thanksgiving

Two weeks after I got home from Spain was Thanksgiving. It was crazy, crazy, busy for me!! My parents came home for a week, and we had our entire family over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. Wild! I didn't get a single picture of the meal, but I did get some pictures of the cousins. They had SO. MUCH. Fun!!!!! The cousins don't see each other very often as most of my family lives our of state, so it was fun to see who clicked with who.

 

 

 

 

Gilbert Temple

 

 

Our Stake Presidency challenged us to go to the new temple site prior to our Stake Conference. We made it, in November. It was really exciting to see the temple and the progress they are making. I can't wait for it to be completed!

Spencer's SEVEN

When I planned my trip, I had to be sure I would be back this past week, because my we had a BIRTHDAY!!! And around here, birthdays are a REALLY BIG DEAL. For this kid, they are an especially, big deal. I told him the day before his birthday that I wouldn't let him get older than six, so he could turn five or he could stay six. He cried. I'm mean, I know. When we went to get his doughnuts for his class, the lady asked him how old he was, and he hesitantly told her seven as he looked at me, wondering what I would say or do. I just smiled. He was relieved.

 

Spencer had many things that he wanted to do for his birthday. (As the youngest, he takes pretty good notes). We kind of had a week long celebration, I couldn't handle the thought of one day busier than busy. So, on Monday, we went to Red Robin. For some reason, my boys all love eating here on their birthdays. Good thing we don't show them the finer things in life, or we would have to cancel the family dinner :).

 

On Thursday, his actual birthday, we had to hit Krispy Kreme for doughnuts for his entire class. We also had to have some for home, because we roll like that. Joe's BBQ was on the list of can't miss, lunch with mom is always good. One of his brothers had a HUGE root beer float from here and he couldn't miss out on it!!! His cake had to be an ICE CREAM cake with Mint chip, and for dinner he wanted Chili, but settled for a Taco Soup. He is still waiting for his birthday gift. . .

 

Seven things we love about Spencer:
He is ENTHUSIASTIC!!!
He is ENERGETIC!!

 

He is SINCERE.
He wants to make everyone feel COMFORTABLE and at home. He is so thoughtful to all guests at our house, whether it is one of my friends or a stranger, he will do all he can to make them feel at home.

 

He is HAPPY!!!
He has a GREAT imagination!

 

He is a great traveler!!! I miss him being out of school so we could sneak in trips just the two of us. If I have to fly with any of my boys, even now, he is pretty good, I guess it comes from his life of travel.

 

We love our Spencer D and we are so glad that he is in our family!!!!

And Finally my last day in Spain

My last day in Spain was kind of fun. We met up with this American kid that was doing an internship in Barcelona, who had explored the city extensively, he also spoke very good Spanish. So, he was able to show us the older part of the city, and was able to communicate with this expert on Barcelona antiquities -- I guess he was an expert, he showed us several things that were really interesting that Kyle didn't know and he had gone to the museums around the cathedral and in the castle. . .anyway.
He took us to this beautiful plaza that was just intimate -- we even had our picture taken here, at Plaza Royale. :)

 

This was the church where Columbus reported to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. It was also where the Indians were presented to them. Interesting fact, the people of this area call their region Catalonya, they don't really like being a part of Spain. They have their own language and write a lot of their documents n Catalonian. . ., but they believe that Columbus was really Catalonian, they just can't prove it. Needless to say, there is a lot about Columbus in Barcelona, including a HUGE statue that I didnt post looking toward the new world.

 

There are some Roman ruins in Barcelona. This is an old temple ruin that they have in a quiet building near an old castle in downtown Barcelona. . .this is where we met the expert. . .

 

Who took us outside and showed us many inscriptions on the sides of the cathedral and castle. He showed us where the markings for tradesmen were on the cathedral and how each trade had a window of sorts that when their leader, of the trade, would die they would be buried (kind of open the window and put the body in then close it again). He showed us where the Castle and the Cathedral had once a place where the Royalty was able to go undetected across to the temple. He also showed us where Napoleon's army sharpened their swords (see below) on the cathedral wall. We also saw on the castle walls where the Jewish settlement that was destroyed by the Christians, was recycled and put in the walls of the castle (there are Jewish markings on the castle walls). It was really fascinating, and my parents and Kyle both had no idea about any of that information.

 

Park Guell

To continue with Gaudi, we went to Park Guell after La Pedrera. It was amazing. I was so impressed by the terraces that he had created that were supported by beams. I also thought it was quite impressive the way he mixed nature into his project. . .the beams are not straight, trees aren't straight, so the beams he used weren't straight (even though they look straight in my pictures). The colored glass and materials are all recycled. The view was amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

La Pedrera

On Thursday we went touring some more of Gaudi's work. The first stop was La Pedrera. It was built in the early 1900's, and was an apartment complex. After researching it on the internet, aparently Gaudi wanted neighbors to know one another, so he designed the elevators stops on every other floor. On the roof the most common picture on tour books of Barcelona, is found.

 

The picture above and below are from the roof line. It was a bit random, there are stairs all over the roof line -- leading to these strange structures.

 

In the attic there was a display of different things that Gaudi had done. I think his ceilings and arches are so fascinating!

 

They also had a floor set with an apartment set up for the time period. I thought the details on the ceiling were amazing! I was also quite impressed how spacious the rooms were. Although, I wasn't crazy about the outside of his house, the interior is beautiful and the way that he uses light is amazing. He designed the building with two courtyards in the middle, and each apartment was set to include light in each room. The laundry and kitchen were set to include the interior portion (they would look into the courtyard) and the bedrooms would look out onto thestreet. The ceilings were exquisite in design as well -- I loved the flower on this ceiling!

 

Montserrat

On Wednesday, my dad and I took the train an hour out of town to a famous basilica, Montserrat. Apparently, it is a monastary, that was started in 880 when some children heard some angels and music. They told their parents and they also witnessed it, they found a likeness of the virgin Mary. Later they built a monastary near the location, and have the only black Virgin Mary housed their. Apparently, she will bring you luck if you touch her, and maybe something else, can't remember. I looked and took a picture -- maybe I should have touched her for luck :).

The view was spectacular, it was a bit foggy, but I couldn't imagine hauling the necessary tools UP the mountain to build the monastary!! They did have a cogstooth railroad and fundicular to take things up and down now, probably the cogstooth railroad has been there for a while. . .but in the medevial times. . .wow! Truly amazing!