Do we have awesome mountains or what?!

A December 2009 recap

Ok....we will try to keep this as brief as possible....

Thursday, December 17th

Special Needs Mutual Nativity....it was awesome as usual. Then from there, home to follow the flights of Wayne and Dorleen who were returning from their mission to Columbia (more on that in the post below. Wayne and Dorleen spend the night at our house. Stayed up hearing stories, it was great.

Friday, December 18th

Up bright and early to take Wayne and Dorleen to Bountiful to get their car, then on the way back from dropping off Wayne and Dorleen, stop by the airport to pick up Mike and Amanda, who are visiting from Virginia. Straight to Cafe Rio....first thing they wanted! Then to Greg and Teri's for a family get together with the Jensons to visit with the newly returned missionaries.

That evening, Connie and Rob arrive to stay with us for the next couple of nights. Wayne and Dorleen decide to spend one more night at our house. Braden arrives home.

Saturday, December 19th

Shower for Amanda. Ellis family and Ward members were invited.

Caitlyn decided we should all learn to tie-dye. We made little tiny tie-dye onesies for the new baby. (note to self, always have Caitlyn help with any party, she always has awesome ideas, and can always pull it off)

Check out this cool quilt Laura made!

This is a cool ball that Mary made

So funny story....Caitlyn had a fun bus party planned, for 7 pm-4am. This kid thought it was 7am, so he hung around our house all day. Nothing like crashing a baby shower at a house you have never been to before, with people you have never met! He was a great sport.

After the baby shower, we got to go to the Salt Lake Temple to see Adam and Summer sealed to Ava. What a great family they are! After the temple, we got to go to a yummy dinner to with friends and family to celebrate.
(Summer, I would love a cute picture of your family to put here)


Meanwhile, Caitlyn, Braden, Mike and Amanda, and a bunch of their friends rode the fun bus out to Wendover. Arriving home at 4:30am. No idea who spent the night at our house that night, other than Connie and Rob, who I'm sure think things are crazy at our house.

Sunday, December 20th

Several hours later we went to an amazing meeting in Adam and Summer's ward. Their two babies blessed, and we got to sing Handel's Halelujah Chorus.
Then home to rinse and wash the tie dyed t-shirts.

How cute are these?!
Connie and Rob left on Sunday, just before Jeff and Julie and their kids arrived.

Monday, December 21st

Had to get this photo while all the Wayne and Dorleen family were in town, except Krista's son Chandler, who was in Wyoming visiting his dad.

So glad there isn't sound to go along with this photo!

Tuesday, December 22nd

We got to have the Jensons here on Cristian's birthday! Such a great kid.

We love it when the Jensons come and play/stay at our house!

The Jensons left on Wednesday, and on
Thursday, December 25

We got to go to Grandma Ellis' house for Christmas Eve! So fun to see all the family there. Mike and Amanda were at the Francis' family dinner, so were were going to meet them at our house afterwards, and starting tonight, they were going to be staying at our house! (anyone keeping track of home many times the sheets have been changed in the past week? Totally worth it!)

Dean got to meet Dean for the first time!

One of our Christmas traditions is opening the gifts from the siblings on Christmas Eve. I have to admit, this is my favorite part of Christmas. Mike and Amanda didn't get home till 10:30 pm, so we started a little late.

Mike got some cool headphones....anyway he thought he looked cool in them.

Dean got these Coors socks...so appropriate to wear to church....just be careful when crossing those legs.

Dean and Ej got grandparent toys! Time to start our collection

How cool is this? Amanda framed a math equation! What more could one nerd want from another for Christmas? It truly is a "Christmas Miracle"!

Amanda made this cute headband for Caitlyn

Yay! It was time for the kids to open the chimes we made for them!
By the time we had opened all the sibling gifts....it was after midnight....which meant it was really Christmas! So rather than go to bed....we had Christmas!

Friday, December 25th

Don't know if you can tell, but over the last week there hasn't been a lot of sleeping going on at this house!

You can tell by the look on Caitlyn's face, the decision to not go to bed had just been made!

um....this picture of Braden and Amanda was taken at about 4 am!

Grandma and Grandpa came over to visit....we introduced them to Wii tennis.....any bets on how long till they get one?

So Christmas Day basically consisted of puzzles, chimes and Wii!

Jordan and Chenelle came over

...and for the second year in a row we had a turkey dinner on Christmas....does that make it a tradition?

Saturday, December 26th

Caitlyn's annual Sweaters and Nog party. No idea how many years she has done this, but it doesn't seem to be dying down at all.

Sunday, December 27th

Wayne and Dorleen's homecoming meeting. They did a great job. That afternoon I took the Francis family's pictures, and then there was a Francis family shower for Amanda.

Monday, December 28th

Now it was time to do the Ellis family picture....the Francis family was so much better behaved!

Tuesday, December 29th

The Jenson and friends shower. It's been such a fun week seeing so many of our friends and family

Such a fun shower.

On our way home from the shower, we stopped by to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa insisted on this photo.

Thursday, December 31

It's the "Beat the New Year" race at Sugarhouse park. You start the 5k at 11:30 pm, and have to finish before the New Year. If you do, you get this plaque. Second year in a row....another tradition?

We talked Jordan and Chenelle into running this one with us. They were awesome. All 5 of us made it before the New Year!

Here are all the runners, showing off our new tech shirts from the race. (yes, this is at about 1 am)
Meanwhile, Mike and Amanda had a New Years Eve party. They stayed up till about 3:30, since they would be traveling all day tomorrow, who needs sleep.

Friday, January 1st, 2010

This day started at 5 am, we had to leave to take Mike and Amanda to the airport at 5:20 am.
On our way home, we get the call to come back and get the chimes (that story is also posted in an earlier blog) So back to the airport we go. We get home around 8:30 am, and at 9:00 am we get another call from Amanda. This time she told us that they had to do an emergency landing back at the Salt Lake Airport. An engine failed, and they were leaking fuel. So back to the airport we go. 3 times before 9:30 am!

This is what greated us...an Amanda with her arms full of airport food! The airlines had given them $42 worth of food vouchers, but they expired in 12 hours, and we didn't want to make another trip back to the airport, so they loaded up with free food!

Check out all the food they brought home!

So, they now have their trip extended another couple days....yay! One problem....all their luggage is in Baltimore! So for two days, they got to wear the same clothes. It also meant they were able to attend the Bay family reunion, which wasn't part of their plan, but was an extra bonus!

The Bay Reunion

Now that you know what the last 12 hours have been like for Amanda and Mike, makes you think they were doing pretty good to have these smiles on!

Other than that, it was a relaxing holiday season!