Merry Christmas!

It's almost Christmas Eve! Are you as excited as my children? Tonight we went to a house near ours that is completely decked out in holiday lights and decor: inflatable Santa and Reindeer on the roof, and on the lawn: Santa in helicopter, Santa in airplane, Santa riding on carousel, angels, Christmas countdown (to the second), speakers playing Christmas music, etc. They also offer free sleigh rides with Santa - in a sleigh pulled by 5 reindeer. It was soooooo cold (28 degrees F), but the kids and I had a great time (Ryan was at Scouts). I think we'll be look for this house again next year.

And thanks to Susie and 3 of her girls for braving the cold with us. It was fun to sing "Rudolph" with you and Santa on our sleigh ride!

The Ten Virgins

I was cast for this part long before I even was aware that it was a stage production. For my birthday this year, my visiting teaching companion and friend, Amy Mella, gave me the book "The Ten Virgins" by Emily Freeman. She told me that I reminded her of Leora in the story, the wise virgin who shares her lantern light with others who are lost along the path.

Then in October, my neighbor asked me if I'd play the part of a narrator in our Relief Society's production of "The Ten Virgins: A Musical Parable." I accepted, happy to not have to memorize any lines - the narrators get to read the script - only for her to change parts a few weeks later to play Leora. Apparently, it was meant to be. I had a hard time memorizing my two paragraph monologue, but even harder was the song. I just didn't get it. The night of our performance was the first time it made sense.

The production occurred at our Christmas dinner on December 1. We played to a full house of Relief Society sisters and Young Women. It was a joy to be a part of it. Enjoy this recording of me singing Leora's song "Lantern Light".




On a side note, I found it was quite hilarious to be 22 weeks pregnant, with a nice baby bump, portraying a virgin. I joked with my fellow cast members that it was immaculate conception.

Happenings

First off, a SHOUT OUT and a huge thank you for the anonymous dinner delivery last night. We hadn't been in the door from Sabrina's violin lesson for more than 2 minutes when a knock was at our door. When I opened the door, there was lots of hot food ready for us to eat!

I got to go to kindergarten yesterday and teach the children about holiday celebrations in the Netherlands. They liked putting on the klompen and hats to make them look Dutch. We sang Sinterklaas Kapoentje - if you don't remember how that song goes, check out this website. Several of the kids said that the chocolate initial I gave them was the best chocolate they've ever tasted. I have to agree: pure Ghirardelli milk chocolate is delicious!

We celebrated Ryan's 36th birthday on Monday with this delicious cake.

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cake with huckleberry filling
& huckleberry cream cheese frosting.

The boys had a lot of fun buying and wrapping presents for Ryan and told him what they were moments before he opened them. I told him he should open presents faster if he wants surprises!

Ryan, Hyrum and I got to attend the Orchestra, Band and Choir concert this morning at school. Sabrina plays cello in the 5th grade orchestra and sings in the choir. You may wonder why she is playing cello when she already has private lessons on the violin. Well the reason is, she is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the students and didn't want to bored out of her brain, but she really wanted to be a part of the orchestra.

Sabrina is in the center of the top row.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas: Sabrina is not in this shot at all. We were sitting on the exact opposite side of the gym and couldn't get anything nearer. I think the orchestra sounds pretty good for first touching stringed instruments in September.

News Flash: Major Holiday Approaching

There are only 17.5 weeks until Easter Sunday 2010!

My trees should look like this:



My flowers should look like this:



And I should look like this:

April 1999

Or maybe this:

June 2004

Or perhaps this:

October 2006

And now for some answers to the most asked questions:
When are you due? Spring Break, Easter, General Conference Weekend

Will you find out if your baby is a boy or a girl? YES! The moment he or she is born. Right now when we talk about the baby, on odd days he's a boy and on even days she's a girl.

Are your children excited? Yes.
How are you feeling? I feel pretty good most of the time now. It was tough at the beginning. I am really tired, so I try to take naps most days.

We are currently taking advice on boy names.