December . . .

December was the culmination of my stress and anticipation through the fall.  We arrived home December 2 and hit the ground running.  There were presents to buy, cookies to bake, decorations to hang, projects to finish and celebrating to do.

Hyrum's mom sent us home with a gingerbread train to decorate.  The kids enjoyed decorating it and Spencer, especially enjoyed eating it when he thought I wasn't looking.

One of the biggest projects of the month was luminaries for my brother's wedding reception that took place just after Christmas.  The idea came from one of my favorite websites.  We ended up doing it a little different but I think they ended up looking really good. 

Another project I finished was restoring a wooden chest.  I bought it for $10 at a garage sale this summer and sanded it down and then re-finished it.  It was a fun project in the end and I look forward to learning more about painting and wood working. 

Hannah decided she wanted a red dress for Christmas and since I hadn't made her a new dress in a while I quickly made Hannah and Charlotte new dresses for Christmas.


We drove up to New York the Monday before Christmas and spent the next couple of days wrapping presents and making final preparations for Christmas.  My younger brothers, Andrew and Adam, Andrew's wife, Whitney, and my sister, Kallie, came home for Christmas.  It was fun to have so many adults to talk to.  My kids loved playing with their aunts and uncles.  Unfortunately, we were having so much fun, I didn't take any pictures. 

After the Christmas festivities, we hunkered down in the kitchen to make food for my brother's Wedding Reception.  It was a very busy few days and to top it all off, the water heater died a slow death.  Saturday, the day of the reception, Hyrum, my Dad and a family friend worked to install a new water heater.  While they were doing that, the rest of us finished decorating at the church, finished making the food and some even endured cold showers.  The reception was nice, though sparsely attended because of the holidays.  I think we were all glad to cross it off our list of things we needed to do.

Sunday we went to church with Mom and Dad and then hit the road for home.  It was also Hyrum's birthday.  It was kind of lame but he came home to balloons, a Happy Birthday banner hanging on the cupboards and his present (large, framed picture of Ranger Stadium) waiting on the counter.  A friend had put his birthday cake in the fridge so that was thawed and we enjoyed mint brownie dessert that night.   

Hyrum's classic birthday picture.

Monday the crew arrived in our neighborhood to celebrate with us for a few days.  We drove down to show everyone around Hyrum's office and then just enjoyed not having to do anything that afternoon.

The whole crew at our house

Tuesday, Andrew and Whitney flew back home and we spent New Year's Eve making pizzas and roasting s'mores in our fireplace.  It was pretty fun.  We played a few games and brought in the New Year with a little Condorman.

It was a busy month but a great way to end our 2013.  We are grateful for the blessings we've received over the past year.  We look forward to the adventures that lie before us in 2014.  Here we go!

Jonathan with his carpentry gear--a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Wright.