Christmas Day 2014

Christmas day began with snow.  Jason and I awakened super early to shovel the driveway, so his Mom would be safe when she came over later.

The morning and gifts was magical.  The girls got something to wear, something to read, something they wanted, and something to read.  They loved their hammer pants, and specialized books.  But their favorites were gifts from Santa and crafting toys. Laura: Minnie headphones, make your own lipbalm kit. Rosie: Marble-izing crafting kit, Pegboard.  Eliza: Princess Anna Coronation dress and Elsa shoes, digital coloring barbie.

Grandma B came over for the traditional breakfast.  We exchanged gifts with her.  We all cried - a lot.  Sweet girls!

Then we went to my Mom's house for a lovely dinner with the part of Steve's family that wasn't sick.  It was great to chat with them and have a calm, happy, cozy time.

Christmas Eve 2014

I know I've said it before, but Christmas Eve is my favorite.  Peaceful, happy, fun, Christ-centered, yummy, positive, and full of love!  To get it all done, we have to start early.  My folks came over and we did gifts with them first off.

 The girls played with their gifts and hung up their ornaments on the trees in their rooms and changed into their new jammies while we got dinner prepped.

We decided to start repeating themes.  We redid middle eastern.  Costco did most of the work for our middle-eastern theme this year since I was hosting the family party the night before.  We became big fans of flatbread and sauce, spinach salad, spanikopita, chicken, olives, and mint limeade .

We lit the frankincense and myrrh while we read the bible and enacted the nativity.

We ended by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus over baklava.

It was a perfect night!

Christmas Big Family 2014

Christmas began on the 23rd.  I hosted the party for my sister this year - she's been ill and taken more than her turns.  We changed up the menu to pasta, so I didn't have to find seats for 28; you can't eat soup on your lap in a plastic bowl.

Instead of swapping $5 presents, we decided to do a service project.  We didn't get things together in time this year, so we just donated the money we would've spent on gifts to a local charity. It was a successful party and so much fun.

School Christmas Sing 2014

Oh, how I enjoy watching the kids sing at school.  It was such a great time to watch them at their Christmas Sing.

Sara Rosie started off our family.  She even had a speaking part.  They sang "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"

Eliza went second and Kindergarteners just make me giggle with glee.  She was no exception.  They sang "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer"  and "Being As Good As I Can Be".

Laura finished us off and was adorable in her red cowgirl boots and her hat she knit herself.  The sixth graders sang "Dona Nobis Pachem" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

Christmas Concerts 2014

We had technical difficulties at all Christmas Concerts this year.  So, it's pictures instead of videos.  I think it is time to buy a new video camera.

Eliza and Rosie both danced in a Christmas Concert on December 13th.  They performed twice.

Eliza danced with her Pee Wee Company in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".   She looked adorable in her elf jammies.

Rosie danced with her Mini Company in "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch".  Doing whoville hair was terrifying and difficult, but it ended up looking adorable and lasted.

The grandparents came to support them and Laura was a champ and sat through both recitals.

Laura had her voice recital on December 16th.  She sang, "When Mary Sang Her Lullaby" and did a beautiful job.   She always brings me to tears when she sings and this was no exception.  The grandparents came to support her and her sisters were great.

Disneyland - December 2014

We finally found a break in plays and dance so we ran ourselves to Disneyland.  It's been years since we've been at Christmastime because it was so crowded the last time.  But we went the week after Thanksgiving and the crowds were not nearly as bad.

The weather was insane - record breaking rain.  But, we were all outfitted in waterproof gear and enjoyed ourselves regardless.

The holiday characters were spectacular.  We adored the Christmas parade and really really enjoyed the Jingle Cruise.  The best part of the trip was the time together.  It was all about laughs and hugs and rides on Big Thunder all together while playing "squish".

Rosie's 7.5 Birthday

Rosie celebrated her half birthday at school.  We made a poster and she brought Rice Krispie treats.  I think it is incredibly cool that she wants to be a paleontologist or astrophysicist.

Thanksgiving 2014

This year we were on rotation to do Thanksgiving with Jason's family.  Unfortunately, Keri's family brought a cat to Grandma Linda's house when they moved in and Laura and I just really suffer from allergies.  We thought she had pink eye when she came home from grandma's house recently.  Despite our best efforts to change it up in order to spend time there and make things easier on Linda who had just had surgery, things didn't work out.

So, we went out to dinner while the rest of them ate together at the house.  Tucanos was delicious! It was wonderful all week not to plan or shop and the cleanup was a breeze.  We did make homemade key lime pies and brought them over to the family for dessert.  We took both claritin and allegra and stayed away from soft surfaces/carpet and were able to be there about an hour and a half and chatted and played games.

The little girls had each had a stomach bug (that lasted 5 days each) in the weeks before.  It was super lucky that they had recovered by Thanksgiving.

I am so grateful for our blessings.  I am thankful for our little family and extended family and dear friends, for the opportunities the girls have to learn and grow, for an amazing husband who is my best friend and works so hard to provide for us, and for the Savior.

Laura's Macbeth at Echo

Laura got the distinct honor of being cast as the Third Witch and Macduff's Child in Shakespeare's Macbeth at the Echo in Provo.  This was quite the experience for her as it was her first time doing Shakespeare, the first time as the only child in a play, and the first time acting not in a musical.  She rose to the occasion!

The play poster

Laura's headshot taken for the play (luckily taken on the same day as her school picture)

She made wonderful friends, learned so much and had an amazing experience.  She is so blessed to get to associate with such amazingly talented, sweet, and fun people. Here's her cast picture.  Clockwise from Laura:  Esther, Mandy, Amos, Brynn, Josh, Mallory, Ben, Joel, Jacob, and Laura.

It was a long run and we got very good at driving her.  We only took her sisters to see her twice since it was very disturbing to see her be murdered onstage and rather hard for a 5 and 7 year old to follow Shakespearean English.  Thank you to everyone else who came and supported her!

She got the chance to be reviewed in this play.  You can read them HERE and HERE.  But, if they ever go away, the parts that mention Laura are as follows:

"Finally, Laura Randall—the youngest cast member—had a performance beyond her years as the third witch, and her disturbing physicality removed any doubts I had about casting a child in such a large role." 

"I have to applaud Randall who, being the youngest of the cast, tackled a very heavy role and did so beautifully. There was something truly disturbing about her innocently creepy portrayal of the littlest witch that gives you the chills."

 Here are some pictures I took at the play.

As Macduff's Child

Two others taken by Kelton Davis.