Christmas 2015

I'm in the looking-forward-to-Christmas-all-year-and-so-sad-when-it-ends camp.  This year the pregnancy combined with back-to-back colds got me down a bit, but I loved our December.

Here is Bryce helping Marty to get the Christmas stuff down from the attic.

Brynn had another EVMCO concert.

She sang Deck the Hall, Gaudete (Latin), and Maria Wiegenlied (German).  I was so excited when I found out she was singing the German piece because it's one I sang all through high school and college but I never heard anyone else sing it and thought it was a sadly undiscovered Christmas song.  It is more fun than I can express to share my love of music, specifically classical music, with this little girl who has sacred music in her soul.

And this year she was joined by Daddy!  I admit that I was very pushy about him trying out for the adult choir.  The timing seemed like it was as good as it was going to get.  He kept wanting to do it when we could both try out, but I'm simply not going to put that on my plate in my child-bearing season. ;)  We worked really hard on his audition, he did fantastic, and was crossing his fingers he'd not only make it in, but be placed as a tenor.  The last couple choirs he was in moved him to Bass because that's where they needed him, but he LOVES to sing tenor.  And...he made it in, first try, as a FIRST tenor!!  I've been so proud of him and so grateful to share the journey with him.  Having him in rehearsals as well as Brynn complicated the schedule so much more than last time, but it was so worth it.  He included me in everything.  He asked me to play his parts on the piano, note-check, memorization-check, sing the alto on Youtube versions while he sang tenor, etc.  It's a huge commitment and tons of music to learn in one semester.

I absolutely had to make it to two of the four concerts, which was also very tricky to work out.  But I'm so glad I made it.  After both nights Marty and I talked all night about every detail of the music.  And I obsessed over the music, completely obsessed.  To the point where it kept me up all night for two or three nights strait trying to sing through parts, then trying even harder NOT to sing through it.  It's a thing I do from time to time, I'm a crazy lady.  Anyway, one of the concerts I attended with my mom and we brought Bryce along because my poor dad was too sick to use his ticket.  Bryce was excited and was a very mature audience member.  But he was pretty mad about having to sit through an encore ("Hey, I thought you said that was the last song!").  The next night I went with Neil, Kelly, and Christy.  We just had to laugh about sitting in seats where we couldn't see Marty pretty much the whole concert and couldn't see Brynn for one of her songs, haha!  I'm a little worried about the next concert series because they are scheduled for April just a couple of days after I'm due.  Christy and I devised a plan that if I haven't gone into labor yet, we will go to the concert together, bring a towel, and she will rush me to the hospital if my water breaks. :)

We watched the first presidency Christmas devotional together and the kids were being so good and sweet together.  I left right after because I was a part of the stake choir for the local Christmas devotional night.  I kind of feel like it's part of my ward choir director calling to support the stake choir as well, and even though I was so morning sick for the first couple month of rehearsal, it was a really good experience.  I got to sing in a quartet with a couple other ladies I am going to miss having late-night practices with!  Also, speaking of choir, I was so pleased with how my ward choir did at the Christmas program!  Of the three songs I picked, two of them were very hard (one was a Rutter!), but I have a really big choir right now and an awesome pianist and I just had to take advantage of that!  It was so cool for me, and I think a good experience for my kids, to have all the choir at our house on Sunday filling the house with this sacred and seasonal music.

Another exciting thing that happened in December was the Star Wars Force Awakens preview.  We got to go the day before it opened because the UVU Alumni association was doing an event down here so we got tickets for Marty and me plus the oldest two, and a few for Kelly's family.

It's always fun to be back for the alumni stuff!  I always kill it in the trivia. ;)  At this event they had hot chocolate and donuts and character pictures.

I love being able to keep up park day in the winter, and I love that my friends and I get chilly chatting together instead of all sweating together.

I like to bring hot chocolate to park day once in a while!

Brynnie Pie turned 9!  Marty took the day off and in the evening we went to IHOP (free kids meals!)  with M&D and Uncle Corey who was visiting from AK for the holidays.

Christmas morning!  By the way, I am surprised as anyone to see the clock reading 7:41.  For the first time since I have been a mom (literally) all of my kids slept in together.  They had been doing it for days and it was a luxury that this pregnant momma will forever be grateful for.  I guess it was a combination of putting them to bed later, wearing them out, not having to get up for school, and especially them just getting older.

 We told the kids there was an addition this year; a want, a need, a wear, a read and someplace really fun to be.  We had told them their main gift was the polar express, but we also finally got POGO passes (to get into stuff free around the valley).

So there isn't a lot around the tree to unwrap, but I think they kids made out just fine. ;)

I loved how laid back our Christmas was.  I wasn't having to pack to go to Utah the next day and I wasn't hosting any guests.  My parents and Corey came by for a bit to see what the kids got and then we all headed to their house in the evening to open family gifts and have a nice dinner.  This was our first experience like that since the year we were first married and I loved it.  The next day we got to have the cousins come over to play with new toys and they slept over.  I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but I just can't get over the novelty of having family in the state!