I was HEART ATTACKED!

My Young Women and the other leaders surprised me with a heart attack just before girls camp. So fun! Thanks girls...and older girls. ;)

Arizona Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Ammon on Sunday. We had a great time opening all of our presents and thoroughly enjoyed everything we gave and received. Thank you everyone!!Ammon GQing his new shirt and tie from my parents. Thanks mom and dad- he looks great in it and he received lots of compliments when he wore it to work.
Mel opening her parents' gifts. As always, very generous. Jewelry (love that) from their cruise, cool items dad bought on his trip to India (awesome), warm jammies, among other things. Thank you, thank you.
We always knew Connor was a little superher, now he has a shirt that says so.
Connor modeling his new "Manny" hat. One that actually fits him rather than daddy's.

Connor received "Cars"-themed gifts from grandma and grandpa Spears. He loves this alarm clock. He likes to let it ring just to hear the sound or he'll set it to wake him up when he's pretending to sleep.
Look, jammies! Perfect because he's growing out of and worn out his current sets.

Sibling and cousin outing

Sickness hung over our holiday celebration. Before we arrived, my sister was sick. Her husband was still sick once we all arrived missing several days of work. My one brother became sick and by the end of the week, both our parents were sick. Thankfully Connor and I didn't get sick and bring it home with us (that wouldn't have been a welcome Christmas gift for Ammon). So, while mom and dad rested, we went out on the town. The residents showed us around.

Austin's motto is "keep Austin weird." There's evidence of that philosophy everywhere. Here's one little example: a cool old trailer turned retro cupcake shop. They sell gourmet cupcakes. Pretty snazzy. We didn't get one. We opted for a local favorite- Amy's ice cream. Way yummy.
We checked out one of the many vintage shops. Connor found these cool old Santa candlesticks and started beating an old drum. Yeah, the shop lady was none too pleased. I snapped a picture though really quickly because I just felt like being bad.
We found a little courtyard to relax in at Austin's oldest downtown motel. It's a part of history and nicely preserved.
Where's Melanie? didn't she go on this outing? Oh yeah, she's taking the pictures. I guess that's why I'm not in any of the cool "sibling" shots. And darn it if we never did get together for family pictures of all of us together! Next time that'll be the first thing we do! I don't care if you have the runs or not! Well, maybe a little...

Leaving the lovely courtyard. Love the ivy covered walls.

A precious moment with Connor and Livvy.

Don't my brothers look like a boy band? Uh, Eric there is the drummer- he's even wearing a band shirt, Brian is the crooner, oh the heartthrob and Jason stirs up the ladies play'n 'dem strings.Later we leisurely walked along a well-traveled trail around the city lake. It was a gorgeous day and people were out in force. Some were canoeing on the river and lake, others biking, many on the train ride through the park while others played ultimate frisbee. We went down to a beautiful outlook that allowed us to see all of downtown Austin and the lake. We stayed until dusk.Here's Connor getting a closer look at the many turtles swimming in the water.
Adorable Livvy having fun stomping around on the leaves. Yeah, she's a little heart breaker.

We had a delightful walk back out seeing some sights "only to be seen in Austin." We first saw a very old man walking around with no shirt on. He was pastey white and extremely wrinkled. Once he passed, my one brother commented that some people should never go shirtless. That was just a foretaste of what was to come. As we walked along still looking at the ducks, swans and abundant turtles, we saw him. My sister and I had lagged behind our brothers and were honored to be the first to see the naked man biking past us. No, he wasn't completely nude, he was wearing a bright red g-string. That was considerate. Actually, all we saw was his exposed backside, thankfully. Because my one brother had made that comment about the other man, I had to make sure he saw the man. I called up ahead to this brother to make him turn around. All three brothers turned and got an eyeful. Later this brother expressed to me how much he appreciated me loudly calling out his name drawing attention to himself as if to say 'you want this obviously gay man.' Well Jason, I wasn't sure, just didn't know.

When we got home, we hoped to find mom and dad well enough to head out to Norabong with us. Norabong is korean karaoke. That was something fun we did while in Korea. I still remember my reserved brother-in-law Jeong giving into peer pressure and singing a song to his sweetheart "that's sugarcane, that tasted good, that's who you are that's what you should come on come on no one can see you cryyyyy..." (name that song). It would have been a fun tradition to continue. That darn flu bug ruined it all though. Next time, next time...

Christmas day

It was a hard decision to stay in Texas through Christmas. Ammon had to work the day before and the day after Christmas so there was no way for him to be there. Because I so rarely get a chance to be all together with my family, Ammon supported my staying. But, he didn't miss out on the opening of presents. All my siblings had their laptops with them and one had a webcam so we were able to do a video chat with Ammon. It was great- technology is amazing.Here's dad holding up his new video. He is a great fan of 'High School Musical' and requested the extended video. My brothers loved to tease him about that.
Mom is a big Texas fan so a natural gift was a Texas Longhorns item. The team color is orange but who wants an orange shirt? so she was given a feminine pink shirt. She's doing the horns sign.

Family time

The last time I was all together with my family was at my sister's wedding in Seoul, South Korea at Christmastime 2 years ago. (Ammon, Connor and I did go to Maryland last February but 1 of my brothers was absent). We had such a great time together. We love to play games and talk and tease each other. We have some really great storytellers in the family too which makes for lots of great conversation. Additionally, the oldest of my brothers just returned from the Middle East and told us great travel tales.

This is that brother. He had severe jet lag from his trip home. We tired him out and he went to get some comfort from our nieces' little bear. :)

Beautiful Olivia. She is just the happiest, sweetest little girl. She provided much entertainment for all of us as well. Her favorite thing to do was to distribute her toys to everyone and then take them back from you and redistribute them. She toddled all around the house, proud of her new-found walking ability. Connor loved giving her kisses. Unfortunately, he didn't know his own strength and often knocked her over when he did so.
My sister making Christmas Eve dinner.

Treats for Christmas

For Christmas, Connor and I went to Texas where all my side of the family was gathering. My sister and 1 of my brothers live there as well as much of my mom's family. My parents and other 2 brothers flew in. Being down here in AZ, TX is not any further than going to UT, even though it seems like it's much further away. We drove it in one long day.

Connor had a great time making a gingerbread house with his grandparents. He was so excited and enthralled in the whole process. He especially liked eating the candy- typical. He's definitely Ammon's child! The two of them could eat candy and nothing else all day. Me, I prefer chocolate.

getting ready- mixing

building house

refilling icing bag

dad (grandpa) squeezed the icing out all over his hand; mom (grandma) giving him a sly look

finishing up the walls

structure finished; time to decorate- Connor's already licking his fingers

These are adorable cake pops a friend of mine made. I thought they were so cute, I had to share them. She said all she did was mix cake and frosting into the desired shapes (reindeer, christmas tree, present, santa's hat, etc), put them on a lollipop stick, dipped them in melting chocolate then decorated them. So cute and way yummy!

Warm Christmas greetings

Operative word is "warm" coming from the hot state of AZ. We sent out only a few Christmas cards, and I mean a few so don't be offended if you weren't one of the family or friends who received one. :) Ammon took care of the mailing so I don't even know who they went to! So, for those who weren't honored to have a card to add to their collection, here's the pic we used along with a copy of what the card looked like. Merry Christmas (belatedly...)!


This picture was taken on our "new" (in the works) balcony! We love the lovely mountains we are surrounded by and wanted to maximize our view. Below is the door (see post "A window becomes a door") Ammon completed for part of my Christmas present. In addition to laboreously cutting the opening and installing the door, he did the finish trim so nicely and fixed the stucco on the exterior. He even "wrapped" his present for me so when you opened the door, it ripped the paper. Good job honey!
I don't think I'll be leaving the swag up. It's just what was atop the window when it was there.

Roses are red

For a playdate, we headed over to the Reid Park next to the zoo. It was a beautiful blustery cool day. The boys had a great time on the playground, in the rose garden and chasing the ducks at the pond.

Puddle jumper

We had a cloudy (and still a bit warm evidenced by Connor being in shirtsleeves) day after an overnight rain. Connor had fun splashing around in the various puddles in our yard.

Live Nativity

Sunday evening Connor and I went to a Live Nativity. Ammon was feeling sick and didn't want to be out in the cold. Our Stake puts on a live nativity every year out behind our ward building. They go all out with elaborate sets, real animals (donkey, sheep), and all the characters. Connor was just mesmerized by this real presentation that we've only read about. He delighted to see Mary on the donkey led by Joseph, couldn't wait to see the interaction with the innkeeper, gasped when he saw the star light up and the angel appear, he had some cute little comments when he saw the shepherds and then the wise men approach. He was so reverent as he talked about baby Jesus and how he loves babies. I was so pleased to see his obvious delight. He loved it so much that he insisted on staying to see it again. After that he wanted to see it again but we went ahead and left.

Sorry Mary and Joseph's eyes look a little demonic. I tried my best with the red-eye reductor.

Final scene complete with the innkeeper looking on.

Connor enjoyed seeing the sheep after the performance (he's in the blue hoodie).