PAL AND HATTY : February 2020

I began the Christmas season by attending Violet's choir concert. She joined a multi-grade choir that practiced after school and in the evenings. They were very well prepared and put on a great Christmas show that really got me in the Christmas mood!

Christmas Kazoo Breakfast

We have a crazy but fun family tradition of going out for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning with kazoos. I am sure we must annoy other diners with our kazoo version of Christmas carols but we sure have lots of fun!

Christmas Eve Dinner and White Elephant Gift Exchange

Jessica and Conrad's Families were with the in-laws but the rest of us gathered for a roast beef dinner with baked potatoes, veggies, rolls and cheesy potatoes with a cheese ball appetizer and Swedish Cream and cookies for dessert. Allison and Jon have a smoker and they prepared the roast beef - it was so tender and had such a wonderful flavor!!! We will have to have that again!

Lining up for the dinner buffet

James cutting Ruby's roast beef for her

White Elephant gift game

I guess I chose the best prize!

Christmas Morning Breakfast

We invited our friend Doris to join us for breakfast. Our menu was: bacon and egg casserole, caramel cinnamon rolls, berry fruit cup and orange juice. Doris is always so positive and pleasant; we enjoyed having her come to share this meal with us.

Christmas Day Supper

Christmas evening we gathered at Tricia and James' home for a soup and sandwich supper with hot chocolate and Christmas goodies for dessert.

The soups were delicious and the Honey Baked Ham made awesome sandwiches!

After dinner we played games - It was a great Christmas!

December 28th - Nativity, Appetizer Dinner and Family Gift Exchange

We began this evening with the nativity presentation and then shared testimonies and thoughts about our Savior. We love hearing from our kids and grandkids as they share their thoughts and feelings.

Then it was time for our Appetizer dinner. This has been a family tradition for over 35 years and is always a favorite. We have a huge variety of appetizers with shrimp, fruit, veggies, little smokies, pot stickers, cheese ball, pork seed and mustard, egg nog, sparkling apple juice etc. etc.

After dinner, we have a gift exchange - the presents are all distributed and then everyone takes turns opening them.

After the gifts are all opened, we play some games. The cousins, siblings and spouses love to be with each other; and this makes us truly happy!

We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family gatherings, food, fun and most of all a celebration of Christ's birth!

New Year's Eve

Evan and Kelly host a New Year's Eve Party for our family and friends. They provide barbequed ribs and then everyone brings food to round out the menu and make a delicious dinner. We come in colorful costumes ready to take our parts in a Murder Mystery Theatre. I didn't take many pictures this time but we had fun trying to stay in character and just enjoying each other's company. While the adults act out the mystery, the teenagers put on a party(downstairs) for the younger kids .

Lots of shoes from lots of guests!

You can see Hal, Jon, Lewis (a friend) and Evan who was the murder victim that came back to see that justice was done!

Tori (Lewis's wife and a friend) with Allison and Kim and Trent Turner (also friends. It was a fun evening for everyone!

Sister's Retreat

I love to get together with my sisters! This year, even my brother John came. He drove down with Cindy and Joan. After everyone arrived, we enjoyed a steak dinner with salad, baked potato bar, garlic bread and a cheese ball with crackers for an appetizer. It was great being all together - I treasure such times!

The next morning, Hal and John drove to St. George to go golfing with Roger and Ken. The Payson Temple was closed so the sisters went to the Provo Temple for a late morning session. It is always good to enjoy the temple with family members!

After the temple, we went to lunch together at a Thai restaurant and then stopped at Real Deals in Spanish Fork for some "sister shopping" on our way home.

We found some cute Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations there.

The next day we drove to the Salt Lake area and had to go to SteinMart!! We all found some bargains! Then we ate lunch at a Greek restaurant and made our way to South Jordan to visit Aunt Gary and Randee.

Randee and Gary live in a nice assisted living center near the Jordan River Temple. We hadn't seen them for some time and decided to make a visit. We had a very pleasant time catching up on their lives and their family and we were so glad that we had come to see them!