Christmas, Temple, and Ashlynn's Birthday

Christmas morning lineup.  As usual, we had the Kimball family line up in order of age, just as we used to do when all our children were here--youngest to oldest.  We enjoyed a nice Christmas morning and then attended church at 1:00 p.m.  After church, we went over to Ryan's and Jenny's to open more gifts and have Christmas supper.

 Amy and Scott gave Jenny and Ryan a game called "Spontuneous."  We had a great time playing this game.  The idea is that you think of a word in a song you know and the other players have 15 seconds to come up with a song and sing five words in the song with the word in.  We laughed our heads off.  What fun.  We even got Scott Dalebout and his family on face to face on the phone and played against them.  They won, and we all had a great time.

Tuesday morning, the adults went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to do some sealings for Ton Hanse's family.  It was very special, especially to have Grandpa Dalebout there with us.  These are part of Grandpa's family. 

Ashlynn's birthday was December 30th, but we celebrated at Brick Oven on the 28th, as the Kimball family was going back to Kansas on the 29th.  Here are some fun pictures of all of us.

Ashlynn and Ali--two really fine young ladies, whom we love.  Happy Birthday, Ashlynn.

Ashlynn's Baskin Robins ice cream cake.

Ashlynn, Ali, Milly, and Elle

Spencer, Zack and Sam

Grandma and Ashlynn -- Ashlynn wanted a sweatshirt from BYU and she got it.  She was pleased.

Ashlynn and Great Grandpa Dalebout

Scott Kimball, Ashlynn and Grandpa Dick

Jenny, Ryan, Ashlynn, Amy and Lyla --  We had a wonderful time with the Kimballs and the Woods, and it made Christmas seem like Christmas.  We enjoyed everything we were able to do.

After the Kimballs left to go home, Dick and I did a little shopping, and on our way back, we looked over to the side of our car and saw two sisters who were missionaries in New York with us in the car next to us.  We invited them to come over to our house and we had a nice visit.  Above is a picture of us with Sister (Deanna) Pryzbyla and below, Sister Haley Hseih.  We love these sisters.  They were great missionaries.

2011 has been awesome.  We have loved serving a mission and especially our experience in the family history center in New York City.  We have loved getting reacquainted with our family.  What a great way to end the year. 

Festivities Before Christmas

After we arrived home from Dallas, we immediately started to enjoy the festivities of the season.  We were able to get tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert.  We enjoyed a dinner at the Market Street Grill with Geri and Larry Wood,  Lowell and Nancy Hanke, Jenny and Ryan and Dick and I before the performance.  Then, we went to see the beautiful program.  This picture was taken after we were walking back to our car.  It is on Temple Square.

 The next day, we went to the Christmas singing concert at Barrett Elementary School, where Milly and Zack go to school.  Milly is the tallest Santa.  It was such a treat to watch the kids perform.

Zack is the third from the left on the front row.  They performed some Christmas

numbers that required a lot of movement.  They did great and threw out confetti at the end.  It was fun!

Jenny played the piano for the 4th graders to sing.

Then, we attended Ali's and Milly's clogging recital.  The girls both did very well and it was great
                                                          entertainment.  Aren't they cute.

 Spencer (age 14), Derrick (age 14) (Travis Wood's son) and Dick (age 68) all celebrated their birthdays together.  Derrick was born December 3rd, Spencer was born December 5th, and Dick was born December 7th.  How about that for three odd days in a row.

Milly (above) and Ali (below-right) perform their clogging routines. 

On Sunday, December 10th, Spencer was ordained a deacon by Ryan.  Larry and Dick also participated.

Here are all of us after Spencer's ordination.

On December 20th and 21st, the Kimball clan arrived to spend Christmas with us.  The kids moved back and forth between our home in Provo and Jenny's home in American Fork.

We enjoyed a nice evening at at restaurant.  Above are Jenny and Amy.

l-r:  Ashlynn, Milly, Elle, Zack

Above l-r:  Sam, Spencer and Ali

Lyla, Ryan and Scott

 On Christmas Eve, we had twenty-nine people over for dinner and a program.  We had a great time and enjoyed the company of all who came.

After eating, we had a talent show, in which most of the kids participated.

The crowning event was the nativity.  Elle played Mary, Spencer played Joseph, and Scott played the donkey.

McKenna Wood  (Travis' daughter) and Lindsay Wood (Ethan's daughter) were the angels.

Travis, Sam and Dick were the narrators.

Here is the cast of the pageant.

What a great picture of Travis and Amy.  They were good friends when they were growing up.  They're still good friends.  Also, Elle is in the picture.

 After everyone left, we wrote our letters to Jesus (which is a Kimball tradition) and then the kids opened their pajamas.  Here they pose for the camera.  Ashlynn, Elle and Sam.

Then it was our turn to get into the picture.  We had a nice afternoon and evening with family and friends as we celebrated and remembered the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  What a blessing to all be together.

Part 5: Visiting the Texas Dalebouts

 Part Five:  We flew to visit our Texas family Dec. 6th.  It was COLD when we first got there.  It was as cold in Texas as it was in Utah.  The humidity probably made it seem colder.  Shelley took us to a fancy hotel called the Gaylord, which was decorated with beautiful Christmas decorations.  It really was fabulous and fun to walk through. 

 In part of the hotel, there was an ice display of Shreik scenes.  We were given heavy coats with hoods to wear into the display, as it was 3 degrees inside.  It was very COLD!  But it was fun to see the sculptures.

                          This is part of the ice exhibit which shows the nativity.  Very impressive.

That night, December 7th, Shelley prepared a wonderful meal for us so that we could celebrate Dick's birthday and my belated birthday.  She even made Dick a mincemeat pie and me a cheesecake.  We sure do love these boys,  Andrew and Matthew.

Here is a great picture of a cute family, minus Jordan, who was at gymnastics.

I caught Jordan a little later when she came home.  She is really a great young lady and fun to be around.  She will be turning 17 in February and is our oldest granddaughter.  We love Jordan.

For our birthdays, Scott and Shelley gave us tickets to go see the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.  WHAT A TREAT!!!  The orchestra and chorus (adults and children) were out of this world.  The whole concert was a remembrance of the Savior.  It was truly touching and we loved every minute. 

After the concert, we had a family picture taken in front of the Christmas tree at the Symphony Hall.

Saturday evening, we went to a town that had a live nativity.  We saw Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus.  We saw the star in the heaven, the shepherds and the wisemen.  We also were able to see many shops that would have been like the shops they had in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.  It was really a nice display.

And, then there's Reily.  What a cute little dog she is.  She is very pleasant and fun to be around and loved to cuddle with you when you are lying on the couch. 

All in all, we had an awesome time with the Texas Dalebouts.  They are a great family. We enjoyed being with them.  I was also able to attend one of Andrew's band concerts, and we were able to watch him play basketball.  We even went to see Jordan do gymnastics.  She's great.  Fun times with the Texas Dalebouts.  Thanks for your hospitality.

                                                     

Part 4: Coming Home

 After driving nearly 2,500 miles, we arrived home November 15th.  Jenny and the kids were there to greet us with a nice welcome home sign and balloons and ribbons all over.  It's good to be home.

The following day, we went over to Jenny's and Ryan's new home in American Fork.  It's a very comfortable home, and they are so glad to be settled in.

We've missed these two sweet faces, Milly and Lyla.  Aren't they cute.  We also missed the other children's faces.

Jenny had a birthday party at her house for Grandma and Lyla.  Lyla's birthday was November 1st and my birthday was November 16th.