Now that the year is almost over, I guess I should catch up a little on what we have been up to.  We finished up Fall Semester and have been LOVING Christmas Break.  Whoever decided that college kids should get a 3-4 week Christmas Break should get a prize.

We spent HANKSGIVING in Brigham City with about 50 family members from the Hanks side of the family.  We had enough food for a large army. Grandma and Grandpa Hanks were able to join us after returning home from Samoa at the beginning of November.  I hung out around the dessert table all afternoon. It was great to get together with family and to see how big all the kids are getting!

 We got a new nephew!  Little James Ethington was born early in December and we absolutely love him already!  Avree let me do a little photo shoot of him when he was about a week and a half old.  It was harder than I thought it would be, but he is SO handsome!  

 

 

 

Jaren injured his foot while playing church basketball and got a full set of foot and ankle X-rays, a CT scan and a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon just to determine that yes, Jaren injured his foot/ankle, no he did not break 2 bones in his foot, yes one bone was chipped, yes he tore some tendons/ligaments, and yes he is one of 10% of the population with a bone in his foot that does not fuse correctly which is why they thought he broke his foot in the first place.  Poor Jaren.  He had to turn in his Beaver Mountain Season Ski Pass so he can recover over 6-8 weeks. As of this morning he can finally walk around without his walking boot a bit so I think we might be able to turn in his crutches!

Christmas this year was awesome! Dalyn was part of a great choir concert put on by Box Elder High School.  I am so glad  he loves choir just as much as I did!  Jaren, Kennady, and I were able to visit my dad on Christmas Eve morning.  We hoped it would be a good Christmas surprise for him. We spent Christmas Eve at our house watching the kids play with Spencer's new criss-cross-crash toy.  It was definitely a crowd pleaser.  Even little Andrew was excited about it.  Jaren and I opened presents at our apartment Christmas morning and then went over to Cara and Mitch's house for an awesome Christmas Breakfast.  Marin and Kate showed us their awesome train set and Spencer told us about his tunnels that Santa brought him.  After breakfast, we went to Brigham City to open presents at my moms house.  She never fails to impress. :)  It is always fun to see everyone open presents!  After Brigham City, we headed back over to Avree's house for a delicious dinner and a Christmas Music Program led by Matt.  I showed off my awesome guitar skills on my brand new guitar.  We got to sing Christmas carols (which is secretly one of my favorite Christmas traditions).  Matt and Cara were able to play the guitar and piano, and Matt, Jay, and Matt's dad sang a beautiful trio.  It was a fun night to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Jay and Jeri Dell treated us to dinner at Firehouse Pizza last night.  Spencer showed us how he could be a garbage truck to drink his water, and Kate enjoyed her crayon appetizer.  Marin learned about the rule of throwing salt over your shoulder if you spill it and we all enjoyed pizza!  We even got a free dessert because we had to wait a little longer than normal.  Afterwards we went to Cara's house to play games.  We played Just Dance on the Wii and got to see everyone's mad dancing skills.  I must agree with Jeri Dell that Cara is a very talented dancer. Avree and I will have to practice up to match her skills.  

We have such a great family and loved spending so much time with them over Christmas!  Hopefully this next year will be just as fun as this one has been.  Jaren has heard from 4 Law Schools so far (Tulsa, Albany NY, University of Idaho, and Northern Kentucky) so as much as we hope to stay in Utah, we could be headed just about anywhere next summer!

So to all we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Christmas

We had a fun Christmas with my family in Brigham City. On Christmas Eve, Jaren and I drove down to visit my dad in Gunnison. We missed the Nephi exit and had to drive clear down to Scipio and loop back around to get there. I was a little frustrated because we had made such good time (we left Brigham at 5:30 am and drove past the Nephi exit at 8:00 am), but we ended up enjoying our scenic drive through the middle of nowhere, Utah. We had a bag of Reese's and what else could you ask for? My dad was completely surprised to see us. He had not been expecting any visitors and looked so happy to get a Christmas surprise visit. It was so good to see him and to talk to him for a while. Definitely a good Christmas memory for us!


That night, after a long nap, we went around caroling to a bunch of my mom's neighbors and delivered neighbor gifts. My mom made this AMAZING cinnamon drop bread and I think I probably ate two whole loaves by myself over the weekend. We sang Angels We Have Heard on High about 15 times to the neighbors and then headed home for dinner, games and sibling gifts. The boys all stayed up till 4 or 5 in the morning playing board games. Not me!!

Christmas morning we woke up and gathered in my mom and moe's room for the traditional pre-Christmas family photo. Kiley commented that "this is possibly the saddest looking family pic i have ever seen." It is probably true.


We had a lot of fun taking turns to open gifts and we enjoyed the time with my family. As always, the living room was a disaster afterwards and we all ate a good breakfast and relaxed for the rest of the day. Merry Christmas. Thanks to everyone who made it a fun one!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I know its late, but here is a brief synopsis of our first Christmas.

We had fun Christmas parties with lots of family. First with the Stewart Family in Farr West, then the Sandberg family in St. George, and finally the Hanks family in Salt Lake. You just can't beat four year olds singing karaoke, air flutes, Pazole, and talent shows!

We spent most of Christmas down in St. George at Jaren's parents. Jeri Dell gave all the little kids matching PJs and they were adorable. We had fun watching Marin, Kate, and Spencer open their Christmas presents. Quote of the Holiday... Marin got a big playhouse with a table and chairs and a tea set from Santa. She immediately ran inside when she saw it and said, "How did Santa even get this in here?!?!"

We went for a walk with Spencer and Marin and experimented with our new camera. As much as I hate to admit (Jaren continuously reminds me that St. George is far superior to Logan in every aspect and I hate to encourage him) St. George is very nice in the winter time. You haven't convinced me to move there yet Jaren!!

The grown ups all played battle of the sexes and guess who won? ... Again?! Yep the girls. Ha!

We made it back up to the Arctic, spent a few hours with my parents and headed back to our apartment to unpack. It took us quite a while! It was definitely a great Christmas!

Here are a few fun pictures from our Christmas adventures!

Good Morning boys! Santa Claus came! Poor Blake got stuck sleeping on the couch.

We had such a fun Christmas Party with the Stewart family. We had lots of good food and lots of fun family. We were serenaded by trumpet and saxophone, guitar, and Christmas carols. The Stewarts know how to have a good time! Kathy made a great wrapping paper basketball hoop catcher!



The annual Hanks Christmas party was a great success as always. We feasted on Pazole soup provided by Alan, just make sure you squeeze in your lime!! The dance party was improved this year by Linda's costume collection.

Little "Elmo" was SO cute! And so photogenic. LOVE this picture!

This is on our walk with the kids in St. George. :) We had over 300 pictures when we got back. Here are some fun ones.

Sandberg Christmas Party. All the crazy stories I heard were true. :) Marin was so brave to sing a song for everyone!

Over the break, Jaren learned how to work the snowblower! It was fun the first time he used it that day. It lost its novelty sometime between the third and fourth time... too bad. :)