Cousins

I got to have my cousins that were in town come over on Saturday night with their parents and have a cousins party :) We ate chimichungas and some YUMMY tamales from Tia Rosa's (yes, Mom - I like the green corn tamales, no matter what Dad says).

We ate, then watched the "World's Strongest Man Competition" on TV (instead of the projector outside, because, 1. It was cold! and 2. The foundations for the new patio/balcony are sticking out of the ground)


 

Donut Delivery Time

Donut making was on Saturday, Dec 23. It went fairly quick even though we didn't have as many helpers. They've lasted a while too, since we don't have as many eaters :)

We delivered the majority of the donuts via bike - Heather had to keep her legs up so they would all fit on the bike platform. TJ and Heather took turns running the donuts up to people's front door. If no one was home, we kept the bag of donuts for the next house, since we've learned it is a waste of donuts to leave them out in the (Arizona) cold - Heather says "they turn into rocks!" Lots of people weren't home, so they missed out on donuts this year!


Sarah Ray came over Saturday night for the family get together and rode the donut delivery bike as a "Donut Policewoman". 

Donut making crew!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came over and brought with them aprons for everyone to wear while making donuts (they brought everything else for making donuts, too! - Including Heather and TJ who spent the night in Grandma's grandkid room)

 

Random before Christmas Pics

TJ and Heather went with me in the mini with the top down to do some errands - Heather kept telling me to slow down so the wind wouldn't be so cold on her :)

Toby is very photogenic right now - plus he loves to put his dirty little fingers all over camera lenses (and turn the autofocus off, which is why TJ and Heather are blurred in the mini pic)
The tree is too tall for these pics - but there IS a star on top (and SUSAN put the star on!)





Susan's Birthday/Christmas gift is the "O Jerusalem" painting - it looks even better now with the gold/yellow paint job behind it . . . 

Big Wheels + Rope = train

Saturday was fun for the kids. I took all three to Bailey Wildung's baptism (Tanner Merrill and Caleb Jensen were also baptized) and then they played in the front yard and garage while I "cleaned" it out a little bit. Susan went and got her hair done and had some (lots) of alone time.


 

Another Christmas Party - Santa is busy

Our ward is smart, I think, because their tradition for a Christmas Party is to have a breakfast (instead of an evening all-out dinner that takes forever to feed everyone). This year it went off very well - more than enough food and Santa was very efficient 'cause he had somewhere else to be. The kids had lots of fun playing with the Goodmans and the rest of the ward. TJ and I got there first, and all the little girls kept coming up to us asking where Heather was - she has lots of friends. TJ brought his new atlas book and was reading it and sharing world facts with his friends. Susan was sharing recipes and ideas for an "Iron Chef" party she is going to tonight. All the kids did great on Santa's lap, even Toby!


 

Walks at night and ice cream - December in AZ

The obligation to keep and have family traditions is what drove me to be brave enought to tell the kids to go get ready to go to the Temple even though it was past 7 PM this past Monday night. I'm glad it did, because it was fun to spend an evening with them at such a beautiful place. It wasn't very cold, the lights were beautiful, and according to TJ, the ice cream at the nearby DQ was still the best in the world. Plus, I got to play with the new camera with night pictures. I still need lots of practice.


 

Upside down world thru David's eyes

David liked showing off for the girls. Heather said he was doing trampoline tricks like front flips and back flips and bouncing on his knees. We wonder what Sally thinks of David's tricks?

Confused?

Heather loves sitting in Toby's high chair and still uses her sippy cup

Susan is now Relief Society secretary and likes to spend time with fonts, formatting, and forms - it is getting expensive to make everything work together for the perfect newsletter appearance.


Toby put his arm all the way through the hole for his head in his jacket. Guess he hasn't had to wear a jacket much in his life.






Heather loves to do a James Bond pose for the camera in her PINK outfit. Watch out for those bushes, though - she cut her hand pulling on it. 

Gettin' Nuttin' else for Christmas

The kids were just as excited to get out all of the Christmas decorations (and made just as big of a mess) as they are on Christmas morning. Susan says we don't need any more decorations. Plus, all of the decorating was put on hold while the interior of the house gets painted (for the first time). Hopefully the painting is finished before Christmas so we can enjoy the decorations before we have to take them down!


Toby loves anything that has a button to push that will then sing a Christmas carol or even dance! We never realized how many Christmas things we had that required batteries and made lots of noise until he started them all up. And he loves the repetition, too.