Winter Frost

On December 23rd I had a ton of last minute Christmas errands.

It also happened to be a day that we had freezing fog and it looked amazing outside.

So as I gathered my things for the errands, I grabbed my camera in hopes of getting a minute to snap a few pictures before the ice coating melted away.

After a trip to Costco, I couldn't resist and stopped at the park behind the library. I am sooo glad I did! The girls thought I was a little nutty, but I think even they had to admit, it was a stunning scene that day. They had fun watching the birds and running around until Natalie slipped on the frost. That was the end of our magical moment. The whining from all three girls about the cold was the signal that it was time to go.

Grandpa Jensen

Me and Russ with grandpa in the olden days.

On December 23rd while Angela and I were shopping for Twilight's Christmas presents at Petsmart I got a phone call from my mom. It was kind of a random location to hear that my grandpa Jensen passed away. About 9 or 10 months ago, he was having some bad health problems and I thought I would be heading to Utah for a funeral around that time, but grandpa pulled through. I looked forward to visiting him and grandma Beth at our next Utah trek. Grandpa's death was a surprise and I'm sad I didn't get to visit him one more time. The last time I talked to him was for his birthday in August.

Something kind of interesting . . . if any of you wonder why I am such a U of U fanatic the answer is grandpa. He was a HUGE Ute fan and passed down that legacy to me and my siblings and cousins. The day he died was the University of Utah bowl game in San Diego against the California Golden Bears. Strange coincidence.

My uncle Jack (his son) and cousin Connor had traveled to watch the game in San Diego. They found out about grandpa right before the game, but luckily other family talked them into staying. It's what grandpa would have wanted and I'm sure if he could have, grandpa would have found a way to watch the game from wherever he was. (o: (maybe he did!)

Watching the game that night was kind of emotional especially when the Utes fell behind. All of us just prayed for the Utes to win for Jack and Connor's sakes and for grandpa. When they won the game 37 to 27 I could just imagine grandpa singing "Utah Man". I'm glad Jack and Connor stayed to see that win.


While on the plane to Salt Lake for his funeral, I wrote down some of my favorite and funny memories with or about grandpa growing up. . .

Homemade rootbeer stored in these weird hospital containers (he was a doctor/anesthesiologist and must have gotten them free?)

Homemade fudge

Awesome Kristy Lane backyard with gazebo, trail, creek and little forest.

Fiercely loyal - loyal Jordan High Beetdigger (even with that dumb mascot!) always proud of his heritage - telling the stories of growing up in Sandy, attending Jordan high and the U of U.

LOVE of learning.

Salutation to the Dawn - favorite poem.

Salted watermelon for a midnight snack during sleepovers.

A UTAH man sir.

Very loving, joyful, always had us on his knee, hugs.

Gentleman - always had a hanky handy for grandma and Beth.

Grandpa was ALWAYS singing something and loved opera - he tried during my teen years to convert me. (o: His favorite opera was La Triviata which I went to see during my BYU years and actually really enjoyed it.

Grandpa's bomb shelter in his and grandma's Kristy Lane house was always an adventure to explore. It was huge and full of all kinds of treasures: a wheelchair, 1950's Barbies, old costumes, bowling trophies, photo albums, old home movies, etc. My cousins and siblings and I would spend hours exploring in there. I loved it!

Another fun downstairs place to play was the bar - it had rainbow colored lights and Megan and Heather and I would mix up disgusting concoctions behind the bar and give them to our brothers.

Grandpa's Tiger room - he loved tigers and dedicated the basement family room to tiger decor. Now that I'm older, I wonder what my grandma thought of it. Maybe there was a reason his tiger paintings and statues were down there. (o:

Sun Valley condo for winter skiing and summer trips!

Handy doctor visits - when I got a popcorn kernal burned into my hand grandpa made a home visit to come and help fix me. (o: I never had to go to the ER. Checking our ears, giving us flu shots, etc.

Grandpa always worked hard to expose us to culture. I remember going on dates with him to the symphony from a young age and then going to a fancy restaurant. (My favorite part.)

Brightly colored licorice candy in his office

Delicious Swedish (or Danish?) pancakes every 4th of July. (Does any one have this recipe? - I still remember how thin and crispy and delicious they were.)

Two Bits - grandpa taught all the grandkids about coins and how much they were worth and I remember a lengthy lesson on what two bits meant. I don't remember. Sorry grandpa. I think 1 quarter is 2 bits. (?)

I remember the family laughing and laughing about an incident while on a Sun Valley ski trip. Apparently, there was a big blizzard at the top of the mountain and when grandpa thought he was skiing he was actually holding completely still, but doing the skiing moves while the wind and snow blew around him. (o:

Embarrassing sex talks when grandkids got engaged! With our fiance!

Taking souvenirs home after every visit to grandpas house. Especially later in life as grandpa was trying to get rid of things. (o: We'd always get books, pictures, trinkets, cassette tapes, etc. to take home.

Service in the Air Force in Japan during Korean War which is why my mom was born in Japan.

Taking care of grandma when she got Alzheimer's.

Going on the trip to Rochester, N.Y. with grandpa to help with grandma. Getting to see church and mission sights and meet friends they made during their mission. Sacred Grove, Peter Whitmer Farm, Niagra Falls, Hill Cumorah Pageant, etc.

Getting in trouble for writing that grandpa was "rich" on a birthday card I made him when I was little. (o:

Jovial is a good word to describe grandpa.

New car parties - when grandpa got a new car, every couple of years, we'd come to see it and celebrate and he would announce what the name of the car would be.

Always very outgoing and friendly with strangers.

He ate duck feet in China town on our big family reunion trip to San Francisco. I was about 6 years old, but I remember that moment well.

Grandpa with uncle Frank (right mom?) who was at the time the ambassador to Sweden. Cool huh? Go Swedish roots! That was grandma's side if I remember right. Kind of random, but I think it's neat.

I like grandpa's red vest in that picture. Go RED!

Ironically, grandpa ended up moving to Orem - to enemy territory because he loved Beth and her family was down there. But he always flew his Ute flag and wore his colors down in the sea of blue. (o:

Natalie's Very Merry Christmas

Natalie was lucky enough to have some fun events during the Christmas season. The biggest event was her first violin recital! She had only been taking lessons for about 5 or 6 weeks before the recital. We were so proud of her and the older, more accomplished violinists were so sweet and she got a lot of applause after her lovely rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". She was definitely the youngest (and cutest) one playing that night. I'm just a little biased. I need to get the video on here because it is priceless. She was so excited and had a HUGE smile when she was finished.

Isn't she cute? I only wish I had my better camera. . . .

The first grade classes at Natalie's school have a gingerbread party tradition each year. It began with a cute little Christmas "concert" of 3 or 4 songs including "O Tannenbaum" sung in German and "All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth". Natalie is in the front row in the red - wearing the Santa hat.

Afterwards we went back to the classrooms to help build "gingerbread" (or graham cracker) houses. The children got to decorate the houses later in the week at school when the frosting had hardened.

Natalie loves Mrs. "B" (o:

Our Tuesdays were insane in December. They are my youth nights and Freddy*, who is our ward financial clerk, had to be at church three nights a week for tithing settlements, including my youth night. Add to that, the fact that the above events were both on Tuesday nights and we had a pretty crazy Tuesday almost every week. One of the nights, Natalie found one of her primary teachers in the foyer, Brother Baxter. She loved her teachers - Brother and Sister Baxter. They were the sweetest teachers and took such good care of Natalie. Brother Baxter always got a little teary eyed whenever he talked about Natalie or the other cute kids in their class and how much he loved them. He always pointed out exactly what qualities made each child special and and he and his wife always went the extra mile for their lessons. They are the sweetest people. We were so grateful Natalie got to have such loving teachers. Notice in the picture above also that Angela looks like an orphan. I realized when we got home that the jammie bottoms she was wearing were size 2! (o; HA! And she has a huge hot chocolate stain on her jammie top. My girls love coming to young women's with me, but it gets a little chaotic.

Natalie loves to "cook" by herself. She loves to chop up her own fruits with our kid safe knives. She made this colorful fruit snack one day after school all by herself. She's always coming up with inventions of "recipes" she would like to try. They always include her favorite ingredient - some kind of fruit.

Christmas Craft Party

Sarah with Monica and longtime friend Paige! Paige is Sarah's bestest buddy from preschool adn the Quatama ward. I LOVE that they have remained good friends since our move 4 years ago.

Lydia working hard on her ornament . . .

I believe this is the 3rd or 4th year of our traditional friends Christmas craft party. It began with Sarah inviting a couple friends. Last year Natalie got to invite a couple friends and, this year, Angela was old enough to invite two friends. They each had two friends over and we had a fun and rambunctious time making crafts while listening to Christmas music. Oriental Trading had some great craft kits that made planning easy. This year we made "scratch it" Christmas tree ornaments, bracelets, sticker cards and messy graham cracker treats. I love this tradition. It's what Christmas is all about - smiling happy children, laughter, friends, family, love . . .

Jayda concentrating hard too . . .

Awww - Lauren and AngiLoo

Cute Olivia

Christmas Dress Photo Essay

Part of the fun of having girls is doing fun matchy dresses. Every year I enjoy the hunt. It's a tricky feat with girls in different sizes. Most years I have had success scouring clearance racks at Gymboree - cute dresses, the right sizes AND good deals... YES! So invigorating! They didn't have a skirt in Sarah's size that matched, but I found a jumper in the same material which was close enough! The sweaters I found at Old Navy.

Okay, I know this is a lot of pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses, but the story it tells makes me laugh, so I couldn't take any out.

Friends

I have some cute pics I took in December with different friends.

Above: Natalie and Heidi - Natalie's violin teacher. I don't think Natalie could love or look up to anyone more than she does Heidi. I'm glad she has good taste in friends and role models. (o: Heidi is pretty great! Sometimes during lessons Natalie can't help but spontaneously hug attack Heidi.
Tyler is one of Angela's bestest friends. They are in primary together and preschool too! We had Tyler over for a playdate in December and they were so cute singing and pretending together. I love this picture. I wish they could just stay this young - such a cute age.

Cute little Brett and his siblings came over one day. He got the royal treatment. Craisons while being serenaded by Natalie. (o:

Natalie and Jayda being creative.