Christmas is my Favorite!!

On Christmas Eve, we went to Taber to celebrate with Sarah's family. We had a delicious meal and our Christmas Eve program.  Declan had made an online Christmas trivia game that we all played - the benefits of technology when some family is in Idaho and some in Alberta.  Some of the kids did musical numbers, and then we had the nativity. 

Carly had learned Silent Night on the violin to play for her recital so she played for Christmas Eve.  Her and Taylor didn't actually practice before the program and Taylor's tempo was about double how Carly usually plays the song, but she did good.  

Sarah and Kaela had a small battle on December 22 and Kaela left her house and went to stay with a friend. Austin and Jill drove to Barnwell to pick up Kaela on December 23 so she could spend Christmas with family. She did go to Christmas Eve dinner with us to her family, and she had brought her stuff to stay and spend Christmas with her family.  But she tested the waters, and they weren't ready, so she came and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our family.

Christmas was on a Sunday.  We opened our presents from Santa Claus and our stockings and one other gift. Then we had breakfast and got ready for church.  It had snowed a lot in the night, and as the Bishop, Austin was worried that no one will have shoveled since it was Christmas.  So he went to the church early, but it had already been shoveled.  His dad had gone at 7:30 this morning to shovel.

We all sang in the choir for the Christmas program. My girls were not thrilled to come to all of the practices, but they did it. Kaela even joined us and sang with the choir. It was a really good meeting.  The choir only ended up singing 2 songs and then 2 more where the congregation joined in.  The choir director had added  3 musical numbers of his own kids/grandkids so he cut some of the choir songs.

Grandpa Buck won the award for the most thoughtful gifts. On Christmas Eve after we left for Taber, him and Grandma came and installed these gates he had built to cover our cattle guard.  He also left this red toy horse barn that he had built for Lucy. He also gave each of the granddaughters a wooden shelf with horseshoes and the Nunn brand.

 Jill also gave awesome & thoughtful gifts this year. She gave Lucy this pillow, and she had this temple picture printed for her gift to me. Tanis Hardy took the picture of the Cardston Temple, and Jill had her print it.  Jill had bought a poster frame but it broke, and so when Austin and I were doing the end of our shopping on December 23, we found this frame. I love it. It is perfect.

A summary of the main gifts each of us received:
Austin - 5-star horse felt pad
Kaylynn - pans and cutting board
Jill - splint boots for her horse, muck boots for her, and stuff for college life (toaster, etc)
Hanna - scriptures and  rodeo jacket
Lucy - a toy horse for her 18-in dolls, rodeo jacket, basketball
Carly - Olympics sweatpants & hoodie (she had written a note to our Elf on the Shelf, Molly, and asked if she would tell Santa she wanted clothes to wear like they do when they receive an Olympic medal.  She also asked if she could get a gold, silver and bronze Olympic medal, but I guess you have to earn those). She also got a volleyball and a lava lamp.

Merry Christmas!

Kaylynn's Birthday

I started my birthday celebration 10 days early with my fantastic friends. We were also celebrating Karen Bevan's birthday. They went to great effort to make food that Karen and I can eat.  I appreciated each birthday card and the Toblerone chocolate from Barb because she knows I can eat it.

My friends rock!

We got new Hometeachers and they are awesome - Gerald Walburger and Asa Verdon.  They brought me a birthday present.

This is Stacey Atwood. She was also born on December 20. I found her so we could take a birthday picture together!

I was in charge of our ward party on my birthday. I have been wanting to have a descendants of Leavitt talent show for a couple years, and then Bishop Austin asked me to plan it for the Ward Christmas party.  December 20 was the best date, so we had a giant party for my birthday.  My family ate dinner in the church kitchen before the party.

I was so super happy with how the talent show turned out.  The talents were awesome. Tyler Bevans, Kent Wynder, Nathan Smith and Taylor Smith are a band that played and they topped off the show.  Lots of people came. We had cinnamon rolls and rice crispy treats. Shanna Forsyth did the decorations and I loved them!

My husband did make me breakfast, and he gave me a cute wall hanging.  Lucy and Hanna gave me some scented candle wax. Carly got up and got dressed without being asked and said that was her gift. Then she said she had another gift and gave me a big hug.

Buck & Martha gave me candy and dish towels. Sarah gave me chocolates and lotion. My boss, Danny Sims, gave me a $50 gift card to Moxie's Restaurant. My parents gave me a combined birthday/Christmas gift that I didn't open yet.

Basketball So Far

Jill is playing on the Varsity Girls Basketball team for Cardston High School.  Byron Pierson is her coach.  He has coached her spring league team for lots of years and he coached JV girls for a long time. He is a really good coach, and he knows how to win, and he knows a lot about basketball but he can get too intense.  They decided to ask him to coach this year if Austin was his assistant coach to make sure he didn't get too worked up.  They have made an awesome coaching team.  

Hanna is on the Junior Varsity Girls Basketball team, and her coach is Jeff Johnson.  He is awesome.  The teams practice together and the three coaches together are really a good team.

Jill's first tournament was the Cougar Classic.  When her team played Foothills Composite from Okotoks, she was on fire and made about a couple 3-pointers and ended up with 19 points. We ended up playing against Raymond in the championship and lost. Jill did receive the Offensive Player Award for the tournament and got a basketball and a $100 Sportcheck gift card.

Hanna's first tournament was at Lethbridge College. They were the champions!

Both teams played in a Catholic Central High School Tournament, and they both were the champions of the tournament.  They gave them some sweet CCHS mittens as part of their prize. Jill and Hanna both played well! I love watching them play.

Austin's Birthday

Stages of Life

Austin
*Bishop of the Leavitt Ward
*Principal of Cardston High School
*President of the Southern Alberta Roping & Riding Circuit (SARRC)
*President of the Southern Alberta Equine Centre (rodeo academy) (retired in Oct)
*Always talks about starting his new "program" for exercise and eating healthy
*Comes out every morning and asks if this tie looks ok with this shirt
*Assistant Girls Varsity Basketball Coach - Good thing Jill and Hanna like him:)
*People/leadership/teaching skills are DEFINITELY  his strong points
*Shops for horses online for fun

Jill
*Senior at Cardston High School
*President of Seminary Council
*2nd Counselor in the Laurel class presidency
*4th year high school rodeo. Trying poles this year in addition to goat tying, breakaway roping, and team roping (heading). She is sitting 2nd in goat tying after the fall rodeos.
*Rates everything on a scale of 1 to 10. (that pie was a 10/10).
*Loves Waterton. She wants to go on an "adventure" to Waterton all the time.
*Thinks her room is clean if her bed is made
*Writes an inspirational message on her blog every week
*Goes to the temple almost every Friday to do Baptisms for the Dead
*Still won't eat the crust on her toast or pizza
*Favorite food: pie
*Writes a blog of deep/spiritual thoughts. She usually updates it on Sundays. She has acquired quite a few followers.
*Playing varsity girls basketball
*Wears her hair in a braid of some form every day.

Hanna
*Grade 10 at Cardston High School
*Signed up for cross country zones but hasn't gone to any practices
*Cleans her room weekly but not always clean daily
*Can be on the top of the roller coaster and doesn't stop talking or at the bottom of the roller coaster and won't say a word
*2nd year high school rodeo.  Competed in goat tying, breakaway roping and team roping.She is sitting 3rd in breakaway and 8th in goat tying after the fall rodeos.
*Loves animals and really wants more but sometimes gets tired of taking care of them (Rico, the bearded dragon; Patch & Stitch (the dog from Pitchfords that she REALLY wanted)
*She does get up in the winter and goes out to feed the horses before breakfast

Lucy
*Grade 6 at Cardston Junior High School
*Ran for Student Council and was elected Grade 6 representative
*Activity Day leaders: Brenda Leavitt & Sharon Walburger
*Loves friends. Lucy would have a friend over everyday if she could.
*Is a Netflix junky. She has watched every episode of Full House, Heartland, and Project MC2
*Rarely puts her clothes in the laundry
*Takes her socks off at night after she crawls in bed and stuffs them in her bed frame.
*Competed in junior high rodeo this year on her horse, Happy, in pole bending and goat tying.
*Likes her food at a perfect temperature - she often warms her food up in the microwave

Carly
*Grade 3 at Cardston Elementary School with Mrs. Bright
*2nd year of violin lessons with Melanie Bryant
*Activity Days with her leader, Cari Pilling
*Cardston Elementary School Choir with Mrs. Linda Burwell
*Puts every piece of clothes in the laundry even if she hasn't even worn it but it is on the floor
*Takes her socks off at night after she crawls in bed and stuffs them in her bed frame. (learned from Lucy)

-Loves to bug Jill by attacking her knee pits
-Negotiator. Carly does not take no for an answer
-Will only eat sandwiches for school lunch with store bread
*Is the most thankful kid person ever. She thanks everyone for everything. She will tell us thanks for things we did yesterday, even though she told us thanks yesterday.

*Every time she finishes her shower, she yells "towel" and hopes someone will deliver her one

20 Years of the K-1 Crew

Twenty years ago in Logan, Utah, six girls were roommates in Old Farm apartment K-1 (although Keri was our unofficial roommate). We have stayed in contact and have gotten together many times over the years. Now that we are more spread out, we have to plan a central meeting place.  After many attempts, we finally found a weekend we could all meet in Las Vegas. 

First stop: Cheesecake Factory

Cyd is the food director so she coordinates a family style meal where we order several dishes and share. Of course we also enjoyed some cheesecake, too.

Heather arranged our accommodations at a timeshare condo. She even took one for the team and went to an owner's meeting so we could get discount tickets to a variety show.

We went to Red Rock Canyon Park and went on a hike. Hilary was in charge of all of the group selfies.

Our second night's dinner was at P.F. Chang's.  Then we went to the Variety Show on the Las Vegas strip. It was family friendly with juggling, acrobatics, recycled percussion, roller skating, etc. 

We went shopping at the outlet mall, and I didn't think we would be there very long because lots of my friends are "not shoppers."  But then everyone was finding good deals, and we bought a few things for ourselves but the majority of our shopping was for our kids. Heather kept saying I suddenly feel in the mood to shop; I'm going to need a couple more hours.

Keri flew back home on Saturday afternoon because she had to work on Sunday because she is taking the next week off to take her family to Japan.  She works for an airline so she gets to fly standby for free. She loves the adventure of flying standby:)

Third night in a row of eating dinner at 4 pm.  We didn't really eat lunch, and we beat the dinner rush each night.  And we are getting old!

When we got back to our condo, we realized that we now had to fit all of this stuff into our suitcases to fly home:) But we did it.



Although six Mormon moms don't do Las Vegas like some people do, we had so much fun.  We laughed and talked and laughed and talked.

It also nice to know that somethings never change:

*Heather still uses a Franklin planner
*Malinda makes spreadsheets to keep track of everything
*Hilary still doesn't like holidays
*Cyd stayed up all night the night before the trip packing
*Malinda still wanders while she is getting ready in the mornings
*Hilary still wants to eat leftovers for breakfast
*Cyd always has chapstick handy
*Keri is the most spontaneous of all of us
*Cyd still sings in the biffy

Las Vegas Quote Wall:
"What are we doing tomorrow? We have an appointment at 10 for breakfast. That is pretty the only thing set."
"Malinda, don't take the flyers." As we walk down the Las Vegas strip.
"Cover your crevices."
"I don't really like to backtrack."
"You have 5 backseat drivers."
"YOU GUYS!" said Hilary over and over as we would give her last second driving directions.  (Turn here. That was our road. Etc)
"I'm taking one for the team."
"You know we are getting old when we all bring an extra pair of comfy shoes."
"Your brain is not really in your toe."
"I'm such a rule follower. It is killing me to sit here (parked on the side of the road waiting for Heather to get our tickets)."

Keri & Malinda's texting conversation Saturday night.  Keri was at the Salt Lake Airport on her way home, and we were on our way home from shopping.
Keri - Did you ride a roller coaster? (it was one of our ideas for the day)
Malin - Do 7 U-turns count?
Keri - Uh oh. You need one more to make it an even number.
Malin - Don't worry we are still a mile away. It will happen.

Kaylynn - This is probably Spencer Street. You might want to turn left.
Hilary turns right. Oh, I really was supposed to turn left.

Malin - And...#8
Keri - Oh phew!

The rest of the crew flew out Sunday morning.  My flight wasn't until 3:30 pm so I went to the Tropicana Ward. Here was my facebook post that afternoon:

This is not my usual view on my way to church, but I was so thankful I could go to church today. 
*I appreciated the organist who played loud and fast and changed the stops in between each verse.
*i appreciated the two bishopric members and two members that came to ask me where I was from.
*i appreciated taking the Sacrament and the special tray that had one piece of bread - probably with gluten free bread
*i appreciated the cultural diversity 
*i appreciated attending Sunday School and Relief Society (I'm usually hanging out in nursery )
*i appreciated hearing others' testimonies of the Savior and the scriptures
*i appreciated my 25 minute walk to church in the sunshine with no wind
It was the perfect way to end an amazing weekend with my quality college roommates from 20 years ago! They all flew out earlier than me so I was solo going to church.


I sat by the nicest couple on the way home, Bill & Alana Myers.  He is a retired preacher so by the end of the flight he asked me if I had accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.  They invited us to come and stay with them in Big Fork if we ever need a place to stay when we go to Kalispsell.

It was such a fun trip to be with my friends in a warm place to laugh about old times and to talk about our families.  

When I asked my family what they were going to do while I was gone for the weekend, they said drink milk because the milk police will be gone!

Halloween