The Grand America

While we were at the concert everyone else had McDonald's for dinner and then hit the pool!
We thought we would be able to get in after we got back but it closed at 10pm and that is when we got back!! Alex was disappointed but my dad promised to take him in the morning!

We all had rooms on the same floor in the same area so it was fun to just pop into every one's room to see what was going on.
The bathrooms were amazing...but they did not have locks on the doors which proved to be a little problem for Monica while she was in the shower!!
The Clark's didn't eat before the concert so Dave went and got Wendy's.
Korver is looking relaxed on his soft fluffy bed made from the bedspreads.
We all had our pj's on but we hadn't really explored the lobby so we headed down to see what was going on down there. No, we probably do not really "belong" at the Grand America but we sure enjoyed ourselves!

We saw a limo pull up from our room and someone said "I bet David Archuleta is staying here, let's run down and see." So some people hurried down to the lobby and sure enough, it was him but they didn't get a very good look cause he was surrounded by security!


Max was trying to snuggle in with gramps and get some sleep but
Owen wanted to play!!!

We all decided it was time to get some sleep, I think it was about 2ish when we finally hit the sack.

MoTab Christmas Concert with David Archuleta

Last month I got a text from Melanie saying that I should register for tickets to the Christmas Concert with David Archuleta at the Conference Center. They are free tickets but they have so many people wanting to go that they do a random drawing. Well, I was the only lucky one from my family and got 4 tickets!!! Mel got tickets for her family to watch from the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Since Max and Brinlie and Korver are too little to go (and there were not enough tickets) we decided to do what we did last year and all get rooms at the Little America Hotel. Melanie booked the rooms for the whole family!

On the way to Salt Lake I got a text from Monica that said "Please join us at the Grand America tonight, Merry Christmas." She was driving down with mom, dad and Amb and I thought she was just messing with me so I called and she confirmed that my mom and dad switched the reservations to the GRAND AMERICA!!! A dream come true!! We met there and hurried and ate Subway for dinner and then us and the Clark's hopped on TRAX to get to the concert.

It was a great performance and the atmoshere was incredible.
I didn't take any pictures inside the Confrence Center because they asked you not to so I just borrowed these from the internet.
We had pretty great seats for the show (minus the roving camera that was right over our heads). The music was beautiful and I was really glad we were able to see it. After it was over we headed back on the train to the hotel.

Christmas Concert

Alex's school choir had a little Christmas concert at the Orem mall tonight. I thought the note said the Provo mall so we were late and Alex had to run in and missed the first song. Rich met us there. They sang 5 or 6 songs and then it was over! I love hearing Alex sing, he has a fantastic voice!
We got shakes from iceberg after and then Rich took the boys home so I could do a little shopping. I had NO LUCK with anything and came home empty handed!!!

A Christmas Carol

Tonight for family home evening we went to Hale Center Theater to see "A Christmas Carol." Rich and I have been to this production and we have wanted to take the kids. Max is finally big enough to sit through a play and so we decided to go for it!
Rich gets so embarrassed that I am always taking pictures and he wouldn't cooperate so this was as good as I could get!
I was a little worried that Max would get restless and bored but I think he liked it the best! He got scared when Jacob Marley's ghost came out and had to sit on my lap but he really enjoyed it! We got treats at intermission and really had a great night!

Alexa's Christmas Party

Tonight was the night for the annual "girls" gift exchange party. This year instead of drawing names, they decided to just buy a $10 gift and play the present game!
Everyone brought a treat to share and there were 14 girls. They hung out downstairs and played "Just Dance 2" on the Wii, they watched Christmas movies and played the present game. They ended up going to another party after a few hours so Rich, Max and I went downstairs to watch a movie.
Alexa has really great friends.

Christmas Book Club

Tonight we all headed to Lehi to enjoy our annual Christmas dinner/book club/book exchange. Our friend Tandy moved far away from us last year and it was my first time at her home...it was beautiful!!!
She had the place looking like a million bucks, her tree was gorgeous and so was the table. Man, she really knows how to throw a party! We ate appetizers and chatted.
Here Mel and I are in a deep discussion (I bet you wish you knew what we were talking about)!!!
Tandy made chicken cordon bleu with a yummy mustard sauce and potatoes. We had rolls and carrots and salad and jello salad. I was stuffed but I didn't want anything to go to waste!
We then discussed the book, "Hard times and Holy Places" and everyone who read it thoroughly enjoyed it. Then it was on to the book exchange. It started out kind of slow and no one was "stealing" but then Liz got the ball rolling and I think everyone ended up with something they will enjoy.
Then there was dessert and more chatting and soon it was 11pm. We all packed up back into the cars and headed for home. It was a wonderful night.

Cope Family FHE

We all met at the Duvall's house for the annual Cope family grand kids Christmas party. Thanks for having us!!
Rich started the night off by cutting his finger on the front door and having to get bandaged up by Jennifer. He was pretty miserable the rest of the night, his finger was throbbing pretty bad.
The kids made graham cracker gingerbread houses. Max had a lot of fun decorating the house I put together for him.
Alex was going for a more unique look and he got his creative juices flowing.
He made a hotel called the "Ginger Inn" and it turned out really cute!
Alexa and Harrison were "too cool" to make gingerbread houses so they both just played on their phones.

We got the mess cleaned up and patiently waited for our special visitor to arrive.
Santa Claus made it and wanted to read the kids a book. It was a cute book and they all sat very quietly listening, that is everyone except Josee who was jabbering through the whole story, it was hilarious!!!

It was finally time for the kids to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. We always start with the youngest and work our way up.
Max was first in our family, before we left for the party Rich had told Max that Santa was going to be there. Max got really excited and ran into his room, he came out with his "magazines" from Thanksgiving. I had completely forgotten about them and we all had a good laugh. When he got up on Santa's lap and pulled them out everyone was laughing and thought it was so funny. He wanted to show Santa everything he had circled but there was not time for that. Santa was worried because he had such a big list!!
Oh how I love my Maxwell, he is always making me laugh!!
Alex asked for an iPod touch and some other things, he loves sitting on Santa's lap.
Alexa is always last to sit on Santa's lap. I have no idea what she asked for, probably a car or something!!!
Rich's parents also got a chance to sit on Santa's lap. They were good sports and we all took pictures. I don't think they told him what they wanted for Christmas though!
Oh the magic of Christmas!!
We ended the night eating a lot of cookies. It was a great night and I love that we have these fun traditions to look forward to!!!

Project Time

This was one of those projects where I had to ask myself "what was I thinking?"
These little babies were not easy to do. I got out the mess Saturday morning thinking it would take about an hour to get them all glittered and beautiful. I had already spray painted my candlesticks white so all that was left was the glittering and then gluing them onto the candlesticks. Rich was cleaning the house and was waiting to mop the kitchen floor so I needed to hurry and get it done. I had Christmas movies on and started at it.
I bought spray adhesive and then dumped the glitter all over the tree. The hard part was having to put all the leftover glitter back in the shaker because I had no where to set the tree while I was doing this. Long story short, I wanted to pull my hair out and I think I needed to give the adhesive alot more time to dry in between coats because I keep getting clumps of glitter around the bases of my trees...we will see if there is any glitter left by Christmas.

P.S. How in the world am I going to store these fragile objects?? Things I should have thought about before buying all the supplies!!!

The picture was super simple and I LOVE it so maybe it will be on its own next year. I had Sam's make a 16x20 and then spray painted a frame white...super easy!!
The pictures don't do the glitter trees justice...they really are beautiful and sparkly in the dim lights of the Christmas tree. All in all I am definitely going to think hard about the next project I take on!!!

Date Night

I met Rich at the park-n-ride so we could head up to Salt Lake for our date!!!
We have made going to the Festival of Trees a tradition and so that is where we headed first. We walked around admiring all the beautiful trees.

 

It amazes me every year how creative people are...not to mention generous!! Some of those trees costs thousands of dollars but almost every tree had a SOLD tag on it!


We went to eat at Chili's after and enjoyed a so so meal there. I wasn't too hungry and Chili's wasn't my first choice but that is what marriage is all about right, compromise!! The chips and salsa and molten lava cake are really my favorite reasons to eat at Chili's!

We had tickets to the Utah Jazz game that started at 8:30pm and Rich decided he was pretty tired of driving and he wanted to take TRAX. Well here is another compromise, it was cheaper to drive and pay for parking and would have been a heck of a lot faster but Rich really enjoyed his "relaxing" ride on the train.
We were late for the game but made it there eventually!!


The half time show was pretty cool and we ran into some friends there. The game was not the best, and they ended up getting beat by quite a bit so we thought we better leave a little early to beat the rush on TRAX. Everyone else had the same idea and we ended up having to stand almost the whole ride back. PLUS, there was something that went wrong on the train ahead of us that delayed up for like 15 minutes. Next time Rich suggests TRAX and we are not already downtown I think I will have to remind him of this "not so relaxing" trip back to our car!!!

It was a great way to spend the night, even if it wasn't perfect!

Christmas Tree Advent

We have never had an advent calendar for Christmas so when I saw this on a friends blog I thought it was the perfect idea. She even shared her cute paper with me, thanks Chels.

I am not a very crafty person but when I see all these cute ideas and projects I think "I can do that." It usually ends up with me asking myself "why did I think I could do this?"
This project wasn't actually too bad, the trees were not perfect and the double sided tape did not hold very well but all in all I think they are pretty cute!
So since it is December 1st, today was the first day to "pick a tree." All the trees have little papers under them with either an activity or a treat or what not. I am not going to post about this everyday because most of them are treats and that would be boring, but hopefully the kids will have fun with it!
They decided to go youngest to oldest so Max was first.
The treat for tonight was Christmas colored silly putty. I didn't want to do too much candy so I tried to find little toys or whatever to throw in. Let's just say Alexa and Alex were not as excited for their silly putty as Max was!

1 down 24 to go!!!