Every year our family has a Christmas party at Randy and Heather's house. We Drive to St.George, have dinner and then get a special visit from Santa's Little Helper. Now when I say Special that's putting it lightly. My brother Randy created him and to someone who doesn't know Randy he looks a little scary. He comes and delievers all the cousin gifts to the kids. This year Allie was ok with going to sit on his lap but only because she knew she would be given a present however Zach was terrified and wasn't about to sit on his lap hence the reason Dave is sitting on his lap with Zach. It is always a fun party. Afterwards all the girls went to the Forgotten Carols with Michael Mclean which was also a lot of fun.
Every year I promise myself that we will have a cute picture taken by a professional to put on our christmas card and every year I end up taking them myself. This year is no exception. I got the kids dressed up two different times to attempt pictures. As you can see it started off rough but we were able to get a few that we liked. After lots of begging and pleading for a good smile, here is a glimpe of what we took.
So as you can see I am terrible at this blogging thing. The last few months have been a little crazy. We have finally bought a house and are starting to settle in although there are a million and 2 things we want to do to the house. The house itself was built in 1880. No that is not a typo. It is exactly 130 years old. Most people thought we were crazy but we have always loved old houses and this one was no exception. It sits on 1 acre - actually 2 half acres that have been landscaped into one. The house sits on one half and we have LOTS of grass on the other. We bought a push lawn mower and it is exactly 3.5 miles round trip to mow the lawn. Man are we going to be in shape. Eventually we might build on that half and turn this into a bed and breakfast.
The house does have a little history. Back in 1924 a man by the name of H. Roland Tietjen. He served as the stake president in the Monroe stake. During that time the following people came and stayed in the house, sleeping what is now the master bedroom: S. Dillworth Young, Marion G. Romney, Mark E. Peterson, Spencer W. Kimball, John A. Woodstow, Legrande Richards, Harold B. Lee, Marvin J. Ashton, John H. Taylor, Joseph Fielding Smith, Ezra Taft Benson, Joseph B. Worthlin. Do I feel a little inadequate sleeping in the same room? just a tad.
Every Christmas for the past 10 years I have begged Dave to put up Christmas lights and he would always reply " when we have our own house". So here is our house all decorated for Christmas.