Shrimp Lovers

After a husband and 7 children who refuse tasty shrimp; I finally have a shrimp lover to share with. Gideon put down 5 pieces of shrimp smothered in Mom's special recipe (dry mustard, paprika, red peppers, seasoning salt and pepper).mmm...mmm... good...
Best buddies bring up the tail end in our family! Kyle and Micah started us out at 17 months apart and now Gideon and Thomas finish at 18 months apart. Our two sets of book ends.

The last of the extended family traveled home today so we were happy to have a visit from Marley and Satori (Levi and Amber's daughters).

13 years and counting...Happy Anniversary

Mai Thai by candlelight, temple session, and a pedicure all in one night. It doesn't get better than that. Scott was caught red-handed painting my toenails for the first time ever. I even had the full foot massage. I am sure he would love these pictures.

Bingo

Texas Road House dinner and Bingo night!
(no children)

Mark and JanetteGina (Brian refused the picture)Kimber and MikeYes, that would be our brother-in-law CJ!
Lori and TamiScott and Amanda
Chris and Brittany with their new baby girl.I am pretty sure Scott and I brought the funniest Booboo prizes for the winners. We won't tell you what Tami got, you'll have to ask her!!! Papa was a great Bingo caller with his headlamp and glasses. We told him he would fit right in the community center Bingo night.

Kimber wasn't quite sure what to do with her gift either. We had a blast...too bad we left early and missed the ping pong tournament until 3 A.M.

Christmas morning...Kyle is ready to hit the slopes this year! Eliza has ballet shoes and a fancy purse.

Santa was naughty and showed up with a coveted DS...oops look who likes it!

Rock on Thomas and Dad! Every family home evening we do "talents". Thomas always chooses to play air guitar and now he finally has a real one of his own.Dad and Mom have new road bikes!!! We will be able to train together. I hope to try a Olympic triathlon this spring. Scott is going to pick up the sport really quick considering his background in mountain biking.Beautiful sweet Daniella who is always so gracious and appreciative of everything.

Our budding artist scored.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was kept in line with tradition this year, with a small twist. We did the Stevens Racquetball tournament in the morning. We always kill two birds with one stone. The kids get to burn of excitement and energy in the gym and the adults enjoy a competitive game of racquetball. I knew I should not join in on the athletics, being still under doctor restrictions, but I couldn't resist. That was a mistake, but a fun one. We stayed for hours playing doubles, singles and cut-througt. Scott was awesome and took the children home early so they could shower and practice their parts.

The women left the gym and went straight to the church to set up decorations and tables. We always enjoy the Christmas Eve live Nativity and dinner in our home or Grandma's home. This year we opted for the church gym and stage. It was so much fun to have a place for everyone. We had a good laugh taking turns getting locked outside in the snow storm that day but finally propt the right doors open. We had three long tables set and created an awesome back drop for our play on the stage.

We had three Sister missionaries, an elderly gentleman Larry, Mom's close friend Sylvia, the Stevens, Skidmores, Howells, Mennsens, Cahoons, and Sorensons all for dinner. Everyone contributed to the meal and clean-up...superb! The women slipped out for preparation of the children's program.

We video taped the whole program so therefore I didn't take any pictures...Scott captured a few. We did Christ in the Americas, a play from the Friend, rather than just the birth of Jesus Christ. We had Samuel the Lamanite, Nephites, shepherds, angels, and Mary and Joseph. Kyle was the narrator, Micah was angel Gabriel, Danielle was a Nephite, Isaac was a Shepherd, Eliza was Mary, and Thomas was a wandering shepherd. Gideon got to run around and be loved by several adults. He got into a small tug of war with his cousins over the nursery toys...his screech was loud enough to win over the prized toy every time. Small but feisty.

Mrs. Claus visited with reindeer food. She sang to us and danced. Pretty impressive pregnant Mrs. Claus. We said goodbye to our visitors and then traveled to Grandma and Papa Stevens. Papa told the story of the orange slices and shared oranges with everyone. The siblings exchanged gifts and we sang more carols. It was my favorite extended family Christmas ever. There was a sweet spirit felt by everyone.

Isaac, Danielle and Momma created enough pumpkin chocolate chip cream cheese frosting muffins to feed an army....or at least 20 neighbors. It was fulfilling to create those happy memories.

Scott's sister Kimber flew from VA into town this week. She and Mike are the first arriving for a much anticipated Christmas holiday. We were so excited to get a visit from them on Friday night. Afterwards Scott and I slipped away to a 10 pm movie. We felt a little giddy escaping the responsibilities after everyone was asleep. We enjoyed the couple hours alone together.

Saturday we spent hours digging into chores with the kids. Our reward was a big stew meal with all the family and the BYU bowl game. The men were severely disappointed in the game, almost down right grumpy but that didn't stop the rest of us having fun. The two cousins David and Gideon participated in musical Popsicle. They thought of the game themselves. It involved licking off of everyone elses Popsicle to see who could mooch the most. I am not sure who the winner was. We read scriptures and put the kids down to bed at a decent time so that we could get some good games in. Occasionally the Stevens girls get a little too tired and a goofy side comes out that is worth recording for future posterity. Gina danced, shook and kept us busting up all night. Her hubby was wondering who had kidnapped his responsible and logical wife and replaced her with a Saturday night fever dancer and comedian. Then there was the Matriarch of the family, Grandma, who was running on fumes in her tank also. She was creating all kinds of names for her future grandson in utero...we covered Odis and Mumbling Mennsen, just to name a few. I don't remember laughing that hard in a long time. Scott kept his poker face the whole night and came out ultimate winner. He was still grieving over the pathetic football game.