Christmas Choir...

I am the choir director for our Monterey Ward....

...and I love it...!

They are awesome, talented and very supportive...

I recorded our rendition of one my favorite Christmas songs,

"Add One More Voice"

which was part of our

Sacrament Meeting Christmas Program

on December 19, 2010...

You can listen to this recording here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AAigKwAteY

Some good friends,

Mark & Margaret Wright,

brought their family to carol us

on Christmas Eve...pretty awesome...

...a sample of their singing 'Mele Kalikimaka': (one daughter goes to BYU Hawaii)

Here is a link worth listening to:

http://duanehiatt.com/2010/12/sing-for-joy/?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d378b432f028e17%2C0

Now that's a choir....

2010 monthly quotes...

I started my blog in March of this year - 2010...

I incorporated a 'monthly quote' that helped me 'get a grip' on reality...

...let me know if any of them 'speak to you'...

I am going to re-list all of them on this post so I can start over in January 2011......so many great quotes...so little time...

So....presenting......

1. MARCH - "Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."

– Virginia Satir

2. APRIL- "When thinking won't cure fear, action will."

– William Clement Stone

3. MAY - "Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do the best."

– Marva Collins

4. JUNE - "When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have."

– Stephen Hawking

5. JULY - "You cannot change the past, but through acceptance you can alter your perspective of it."

– Priscilla Bowman Wolford

6. AUGUST - "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."

– Sir Winston Churchill

7. SEPTEMBER - "Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn't permanent."

– Jean Kerr

8. OCTOBER - "Always behave like a duck — keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath."

– Jacob Braude

9. NOVEMBER - “When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.”

– Anthony Robbins

10. DECEMBER - “For unto you is born this day….a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

– Luke 2:11

Christmas Day...

BEFORE...



...the girls with their flirty aprons...








...the guys and the money jar...




and the kids...

Lydia and Ethan...

AND AFTER

Christmas Eve...

"It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

...everywhere you go...

there's a tree in the corner, tall...

another one in the hall...

nativities, stars, and lights are all aglow..."

Our Christmas Eve was 'calm and bright'and relaxing...

...watching 'Smurf's Christmas' on youtube...

while eating 'burritos de carnitas'...

and drinking Martinelli's...yum and yum!

Later we had our traditional puppet 'nativity story'...

Angie was Joseph & Mary...Dayla was the angel...

...and Rust played all 3 wise men...

(I'm sure they had a cell phone handy... :)

Even Santa made his (her?) traditional visit...

...I can hardly wait for Christmas morning...

...holiday party time...

One of our traditions during Christmas week

(usually on Christmas Eve)

is to play our 'gift exchange game'...

This usually evokes hidden emotions and characteristics that we usually try to avoid throughout the rest of the year...

All in all, it is great fun as we win and exchange (volley for) gifts...

Here is how the game goes:

Everyone brings a wrapped gift to add to the stash in the middle.

(...in the beginning, Liddy tries to keep things polite...)

Two dice are passed around the circle in a pie tin...if someone rolls a 7, 11 or doubles, he/she gets to open a gift from the middle.

("see, Dayla...it's doubles...")

If a preferred gift has already been opened, then the person may 'steal' that gift leaving the 'victim' to 'steal' from someone else or open another from the middle.

(I wonder what Ethan is hiding...)

This continues until all the 'middle' gifts are gone...

(nice sox, Todd... :)

...at this point a timer is set (for a random time)

and play continues until the timer 'rings'...

When the time is up...the game is over...

...and everyone is happy....?!?

The final rule:

"ya 'git' what ya 'git'...

and ya don't throw a fit..."

The "guess who said what" Game...

Ethan makes a good model...don'tcha think?

ultimate frisbee challenge...

The Challenge........

Ultimate Frisbee Championship

The Place....Kevin and DaNelle Arena

(guess who has home-court advantage...)

The Schedule....As Long As It Takes

The Warm-Up...........starting with laps

photography by DaNelle

...the girls like volleyball as a warm-up...

...the men prefer football...

The Taunt................."Aren't you guys ready to play yet?"
Taking the Field.......... 'the mighty Transformers'

(the team to be feared...)

The Game..........Kevin shows us how to play...





...and we show him how to win...

(distraction and strategy)

...and the competition is fierce...

...but we hold our own...

...the throw...

...the catch...

...and it's a score!!!

...victory (?) dance...

I think Dayla is on the other team...

...but victory comes with a high price...

I couldn't walk for at least a week...

(...a sign of things to come....?)

after 35 years...

‘Dave’(or ‘12 words that rhyme’)

I married a man named Dave…
his heart to me he gave;
my qualities, he’ll rave…
but football is his ‘fav’,
which drives me to the grave.

He taught me how to save
& tries hard to behave,
to make the road a pave,
but he’d rather live in a cave.

He’s somewhat of a knave,
with 'golfcart' he's quite brave
but through it all...I crave,
the man I married…Dave.

.........

After 35 years...and a few tears...

despite the fears...

...we’re both still heres...

(I’m on a roll...hee)

Love from ‘Priscill’

(or 7 words that rhyme)whose love is real...who pays the bill(s)
and buys the meal(s)...does what she will

tells how she feel(s)...but here’s the deal...

her love is real.

Da-bay-la-ba...

(post assisted by Angie)

I know I have been negligent in the past...

but this one takes the (birthday) cake...hee

...we've been working on this for a while so...

"...even though it's late...

it's worth the wait..."

(we hope Dayla thinks so anyway...)

D - A - Y - L - A .......(purple is the new black...)

"D" is for daddy's little girl...

"A" - "...and my mommy had red hair

and my great grandma had red hair..."

"Y" - "yes, 'my' tell you so many times"...so cute

"L" - "...Lora Fallert was a good friend..."

(notice the cute "do's" - hair)

"A" - ...and then she grew up...

...and got all serious...

(on the 'mish' w/cousin Ben) ...and became a "D"ancer...

and an "A"mbitious & sophisticated (?) traveler...

...and bought a house...

...with a "Y"ard...

...and she "L"oves her family...

...most of all, her sista....Angie...

(can you tell who wrote this?)

...she's such an "A"ngel...

and we know she had a Happy Birthday...

because...

it can't go without saying...

and last but certainly not least...

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150343394295182&saved#!/video/video.php?v=10150343394295182&saved#!/event.php?eid=159586780753466&notif_t=event_invite