Christmas Eve

For the past couple of years, we have had family over for a ham dinner. This year there was 14 of us! After dinner, we set up the chocolate fountain and dipped gummy bears, cinnamon bears, pretzels, marshmallows, and cake balls into the yummy chocolate! Then we played a couple hands of "Mormon" Rook! Always a fun game, and the more the louder! Such a fun evening! Then it was time to get the kids to bed so Santa could come!

(Kelli, Tim, Cory with his back to the camera, Katie, the Great One, Mak and Jim.)

(Our guests for the evening: Jim, Aileen-my cousin- Carter, Katie, Jordan, Trevett)

(Toby settling down for a "long winters nap!"

(Cory and I heard some noise around 11:30. We crept downstairs and discovered that Santa had visited us and left us the gifts on the fireplace!)

Make a Wish!

The mystery picture from yesterday was just after Tim was informed, at a school assembly, that his wish to fly in a fighter jet was granted! What an awesome Christmas gift for an awesome young man! Click on this link to read the article in the Salt Lake Tribune:
After cancer takes part of his leg, Herriman boy gets chance to soar

(Tim showing off his leg to the media!)

(Lt. Olsen, Debbie-one of our wish grantors, Tim, Colonel Ramsey, Cory, Amanda)

There will be no video of the assembly because the clip is taking too long to download. Just know that is was awesome and brought tears to my eyes and loud cheers from Tim's fellow students!

Sweaters and Numbers

So, with Christmas Day getting closer and all the shopping done, I have still managed to stay busy. Late Tuesday night, Tim said he needed an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" for school on Thursday. OK! So yesterday, instead of cleaning my house for guests, I was out searching for a sweater. I found not only one, but two, and some tacky things to sew on it! Then, my Mom and I spent the evening sewing the stuff on. Here is the end result!

(Tim and friend Mik. The sweaters had working lights on the front!)

(And the back. There was some small presents underneath the trees, but they fell off at school)

I also have been working on a new way to countdown to Christmas. A couple of years ago, I cut some trees out of red and green paper and wrote numbers on them. This year, I saw an idea on the morning news-I actually get to watch the news now-that involved glass, ball ornaments. I found some plastic ones the other day on sale, so with some fake snow, vinyl, and ribbon, this is what we now have to countdown to Christmas! I LOVE it!!


And what's up with this picture from this morning? I will tell you tomorrow along with a fun video :)

Christmas Card

Here is our card and little letter for this year! We hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! We are so looking forward to 2012 and a fresh start! (If you click on the pictures, they will come up big so you can have a closer look!)


**In year's past, I have done a picture slide show to sum up the year's activities. This year there will be no slide show:( Too many pictures, not enough time and too soon to relive 2011 over. Sorry. You are more than welcome to go back through the blog yourself - if you have the time and a box of tissue handy:)

Christmas Happenings!

We have kept pretty busy the past couple of weeks thanks to HopeKids! Last Tuesday, we were able to see the final dress rehearsal of the "Nutcracker." Mountain West Ballet invited HopeKids to this special event. Our kids were a little confused about the production, so during the intermission, Cory looked up the story on his phone. Both he and I saw the ballet when we were kids and had forgotten all the ins and outs of the story. The kids enjoyed the 2nd half much more knowing the story. And now they recognize the music on the radio!

(Tim with one of the princesses after the show!)

Then, Saturday morning, we saw the movie, "Arthur Christmas" with HopeKids. It is a great movie and a must see during the holidays! Each family had the opportunity to enter one of two drawings. Tim put our ticket in the raffle for a collectible Christmas moose from Build-a-Bear and we actually one of two! It was also fun to visit with other families who have a child or children fighting a life-threatening condition. There is so much strength, hope and love from everyone there!

(A new Christmas favorite!)

And finally, last night we attended a Christmas party at Rio Tinto stadium! Again, this was a HopeKids event, and it did not disappoint. The kids got to decorate cookies, ice-cream cone trees and goodie bags. There was also food, drinks and games, as well as a visit from a Real soccer player and Santa Claus! And of course, visiting with other families and sharing stories. It was great to see the children you don't get to meet at the hospital because of isolation issues or just not being there at the same time. It makes one smile to see how well kids are doing knowing what they have been through.

(Kelli, Abby, Katie, Mak, Mik and Tim with Real soccer player, Chris Wingert! They all got an autographed photo made out to them and a bag of goodies.)

I just can't say enough about HopeKids. This organization is amazing! I love their mission statement:

"Restoring Hope. Transforming Lives. HopeKids provides ongoing events & activities and a powerful, unique support community for families who have a child with cancer or some other life-threatening medical condition. We surround these remarkable children and their families with the message that hope can be a powerful medicine."