A Night in Jerusalem (our ward Christmas party)

Tonight we attended our ward Christmas party as a family. The theme was A Night In Jerusalem -- the gym was lit only by "stars" (about a million white Christmas lights strewn across the ceiling) and decorated like a biblical market place. We donated canned foods as we entered and received our coin purse (a cloth bag filled with kidney beans painted silver). We strolled through the market place, purchased some cheese, fruit, bread, and (Travis' favorite) "Bishop's wine." The vendor (a member of the bishopric) told us it was a cabernet sauvignon of an older vintage, but I'm pretty sure it was just Welches. It only cost one silver-painted bean per glass.

We spun dreidels, hammered nails in the carpenter's shop, and enjoyed mingling with the rest of our ward. Israelite attire was mandated for all -- which generally meant bed sheets, bath robes, Birkenstocks, and flip-flops. We also saw what appeared to be a Kuwaiti oil tycoon, and at least one boy dressed in his karate uniform. We obviously weren't particularly interested in historical accuracy. Shepherd boy Karst' continually asserted he was actually a pirate.

Have a Mashugana Christmas!

We concluded with the Nativity story put on by the primary children (Karsten was a very convincing sheep). It was a fun evening.

catch up

6 months ago, or at least it seems...we went to Ohio for Thanksgiving. My sister Kim thinks she needs to live over there for some reason. You can run but you can't hide. We had been planning on it for awhile and are glad we went. There was a lot of lounging and EATING and EATING and EATING and then a little puking at the end, but we are back to eating again.

Taegan spend all day in the bathroom, before we left, getting herself ready.

Sariah picked the best seat in the house for watching movies. Caleb celebrated his 8th birthday before we got there and received the movie KunFu Panda for a gift. The kids watched it so many times, even Kim and Travis can quote some of it. I must have pushed my 'mute the world' button, because I still haven't seen the whole thing.


Caleb chose to be baptized and we were glad we could be there for it. The BEST BAPTISM EVER... the deed was done and I had eaten treats in under 1 hour. It even started a few minutes late. By the time Sariah is eight they will have it down to 30 minutes or less.

So they have this dog named SYDNEY. I am sure she was glad to see us go. Taeg' loved her a little too much, plus the girls slept on the couches so poor Sydney had to sleep in her doggy bed.
Someone got this great idea to play TWISTER, but we couldn't find the spinner thing so we appointed someone (that knew their colors and the appropriate parts of the body) to randomly call out stuff. It eventually turned into WWF wrestling, but I declared myself the winner. Caleb and I will have a rematch eventually.


The food was good. The family was great. The bed was awesome. Until we meet again or until I figure out the facebook thing.

Happy Birthday Mom!

For the first couple decades of my life, my mother led us to believe that she was only 19 years old. I've since learned that she's closer to 29. At any rate, I hope she won't mind me publishing this video that I discovered in Dad's sock drawer -- it was labeled "Wildcats!"

Ty's account of the past week

Tyler renders an account of his family's Thanksgiving week, and even posted some pictures (including Taeg's glamour shot below).


I must disabuse him of the notion that I am "resting" while Gary Edwards labors. I am actually deep in thought -- planning my next move. By the time Gary had loosened the soil, I swung into action like a post-hole digging Kung Fu master. Ska-doosh! I'm done before the photographer could even take the shot. I was already back in silent contemplation mode. Lesser post-hole diggers (I'm not naming names... just Tyler's) worked very hard, but took way more time to do the same work.

Melissa's in charge of reporting on our trip to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving Day with the Nall's.