Christmas Eve Dinner & Christmas Breakfast

I am still trying to figure out what exactly we will be doing as our Christmas Eve tradition at our home.  We do a service project all morning and early afternoon, but when we finish that I have kind of been in a quandary of what to do.  This year I put a lamb roast in the crock pot, researched how to make English mint sauce (for those of you who may not know...English mint sauce is NOT English mint jelly.) and made potatoes how Dad Gibson likes them, added some Rhodes rolls and peas along with a gravy made from the meat marinade and that is what he had for dinner.  Kurt and Dad Gibson were in Heaven!  Dad Gibson was especially pleased, which made me happy.  So this may be our new Christmas Eve meal...a new tradition has begun!

I am also trying to figure out a Christmas morning treat...last year I tried a breakfast casserole, but I was not impressed.  This year I made Cinnamon Roll Bread with whipped cinnamon butter.  It was pretty darn tasty!  We'll see if it is a keeper when next year comes around!

Christmas Stockings!

A dear friend of mine, Pam gave my Mom hats that her Aunt had knitted to give to all of her grandkids.  When I saw the hats I immediately thought of Christmas stockings.  Growing up we all had our own hand knitted Christmas Stockings.  I LOVED them!  They had our names on them and were white, green and red.  I have wanted some for my own family, but the only place I have seen some kind of like the ones from my childhood were on Etsy and they were VERY Expensive!  I asked Pam if she thought her Aunt Emma could knit our family some Christmas stockings, she said she was sure she could.  Pam said it turned out to be a great project for her Aunt.  She enjoyed making them for us.  Well, Pam brought the finished product over today.  They look WONDERFUL!!!! I am SOOOOO excited to have stockings for my kids.  Now Santa will have a place to put an orange for Christmas morning!

Neighbor Gifts

Last year when we first moved in to our subdivision I was excited to live in a place where I thought we would pass out little neighbor gifts, but instead we were given an invitation to an adult only party to donate money for a needy family; in the invite it said that this is the new tradition for our subdivision in lieu of neighborhood gifts. It was all fine and dandy, but I kinda missed the little gifts. This year I asked about the get-together and was told it would be just before Christmas. Well, it turns out the ball was kind of dropped and everyone decided to do little gifts. Great! But I was not prepared! So I spent the last few days trying to put something together. I ended up making a little plate of cookies with some candies and giving a roll of Bounty paper towels with this saying... This season may the "absorbing" spirit of Christ "blot" out your problems, "soak up" your sorrows, and "wipe" away your difficulties and may the new year bring you "bounteous" blessings all the year through! I told John I thought I could almost get away with just giving out the paper towels. He adamantly disagreed and told me I shouldn't offend anyone with just paper towels they may think I think they need to clean their house. I laughed and laughed! When I read him the little note on the paper towels his comment was, I sure hope they read the note. I then explained my favorite neighbor gift so far was a roll of toilet with a paper with a cute poem. He smiled and still thought I needed to make sure and give the plate of cookies.

AHHHH!

When Griffin gets excited or wants your attention he will let out a short squeal. It is adorable! It's fun to see him get excited and want to share his enthusiasm for life! May we all find a way to let out a little enthusiasm for life!

NCAA National Track & Cross Country Coach's Hall of Fame

Dad was inducted to the NCAA National Track & Cross Country Coach's Hall of Fame. The induction was held in San Antonio, Texas. That is the first time I had ever been outside an airport in Texas, it was a lot greener than I expected it to be. We stayed in a really nice hotel, it was a JW Marriott Resort. Morgan, Elynn's daughter referred to it as the castle. Kurt and I flew in with Mom and Dad and then met up with everyone else. We went down to the River Walk, drove around San Antonio, played outside in the swimming pool and went down the water slides (Yes, it was December 16th!) and we saw the Alamo. It isn't as big as I thought it would be... and it's in the MIDDLE of town. I pictured it out in the middle of nowhere, like in the movie Davy Crockett. Nope it was right smack in the middle of town on Crockett avenue. I also had fun spending time with my siblings.

The evening was delightful. We saw the Pentathlon World Record Holder, Ashton Eaton, and the first female in NCAA history to capture national titles in the 100m and 400m hurdles in the same championship, Queen Harrison, win the Bowerman Award (track & field's equivalent of the Heisman). We were entertained by John Anderson, ESPN and Wipe Out host, who was the Master of Ceremonies. But the highlight was seeing Dad being inducted. He gave a GREAT entertaining speech. He began his speech by paying tribute to Mom. After acknowledging the significant role she played in all of his accomplishments he said, "When I got married I was determined that I would be the captain of my ship. And I am. Little did I know that I married an admiral." The next day as were were walking through the airport a coach said, "Hi Coach! and his wife said, "Hi Admiral!" Dad BEAMED!
(Pictures to come)

Griffin's Heart

I took Griffin in for his 9 month check-up today. At his 6 month check-up the Dr. heard a slight heart murmur, but told us not to worry and she would give us an update at his 9 month visit. Well, today she told us she is referring Griff to a cardiologist for an echo cardiogram she wants us to get it done at Primary Children's Hospital. I will feel better once we talk with the cardiologist and find out what it is and what needs to be done to keep our happy little guy healthy! Our appointment is on January 14th.

Enjoying Food

I just think these are cute pictures so I want to put them on my blog! It's fun being a mom! I sure love my boys!

AJ's prayer

We say prayers every night with AJ, I have often asked him if he wants to say it and he says no. He will sometimes repeat what we say but he hasn't wanted to say it himself. Yesterday when I asked him he said he wanted to say it himself. It was one of those treasured mommy moments! I especially loved it when he said thank you for his Christmas Lights.

Pictures with Santa

Our first pictures this year were taken up at WSU's bookstore. Santa was dressed up in a hip Santa suit. The next pictures were taken at my preschool. AJ was SOOOOOOOO excited Santa was at HIS house! Griffin was just trying to figure out what was going on!

20 Years Ago Today

Twenty years ago today Chris and I went into the MTC to go on our missions! I asked Chris and his family and Mom and Dad to come over for dinner. I had fun setting the table and trying to make it kinda special. It is also Cooper's birthday today the big 6! And it was 5 years ago today that I first heard of a guy named Kurt. It was at Cooper's 1st birthday party that Joyce told me she gave my number to someone at work. I guess Dec. 12th holds a lot of special memories for me!

Family PIctures

Kurt's friend from work Roy likes to take pictures and so Kurt asked him to take our pictures for our Christmas Card. Here is the winner!

We went to the ward Christmas Party and as part of the activity each table was assigned part of the twelve days of Christmas, the only ones sitting at our table were us, we were assigned 10 Lords a leaping. So when it came to our part I threw Griffin up and caught him and Kurt threw AJ up and caught him. We had several comments that ours was the best... I think the kids smiles and giggles won everyone's hearts!