CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

 We love traditions!  And Christmas lends itself to traditions.  Traditional Pajamas!  Traditional Stockings From Santas!  Traditional Sweet Roll Breakfast!  Traditional Ham Dinner!  Traditional Watching "The Nativity!  Traditional Gifts to the Savior!  We did it all!  And we were all together!

Scott was in charge of our annual P.J.s!

And Kiara's family P.J.s = truth!

Standing on tip-toes and being adorable!

Standing on tip-toes and being adorable, too!

The DeGooyers

Baby Boy

Baby Girl

My one and only!

The mistletoe says "Kiss Me, I'm a Jets Fan!"

Most of the pictures of Skittles were too blurry
because he was so excited, he couldn't stand still.

Santa always brings M&Ms to this adorable girl!

And Santa made us all laugh with Bob Ross for Cody!

I LOVE Beauty and the Beast!  Thanks, Santa!

This boy was on the "extra nice" list and got all of Craig's Bond DVDs.

Breakfast = Dad's (and Kiara's) sweet rolls!

Dinner = ham, rolls, squash casserole and deviled eggs!  Yummmm!

He LOVED his Pirate Ship from Grandma and Grandpa.

Especially the baby shark that came with it.

Grandma was annoyed by the song 

"Baby Shark!  Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo" 

being sung ALL day long.  

But as long as it was Skittles singing she wasn't TOO upset.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MORE CHRISTMAS FUN

Where should I begin?  It has been a busy and happy two weeks.  It started with painting.  Yes, the family that paints together, stays together.

top left: Cody
top right: Scott
bottom left: Sundy
bottom right: Kiara

And Scott has been having a lot of fun at work....  Ugly sweaters, decorating gingerbread houses, and potlucks.

I'm sooo proud of how his shirt turned out.

I made the gnome ornaments just for my husband!

Cody and his team with their creation!

Scott with co-builders and their gingerbread abode!

And I got to celebrate beautiful music and the joy I have from teaching incredible kids at my annual Christmas recital.  These kids are truly amazing!

I love these kids.  One is missing due to strep throat, but she facetimed in for the program!

And then... DATE NIGHTS:

Our favorite: Qdoba

And the temple!

I watched cheesy Halmark-y Christmas movies with Kiara:

And I read a couple of great Christmas books:

And We looked Christmas-y for Church (and had a nursery Christmas party):

And Skittles loves to decorate Grandpa like a Christmas tree:

And Skittles LOVES singing Christmas songs:

I'll definitely be posting more about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day later.  But in the mean time, "Merry Christmas to all!  And to all a good night!"

CHRISTMAS SHENANIGANS

 Katia is really loving being at BYUI with a LOT of her cousins!  Sunday Cousin Dinners are a THING! #thankssage  And I love sending a care package every once in awhile to help them celebrate the holidays.  The Christmas care package was for ALL of my nieces and nephew... but they weren't all able to show up for the opening.  These are the pictures I got:

Shanae, Rachel, Sheila, Ben and Katia

Hats, M&Ms, Tree and Scarves were all part of the care package.

I also sent hot chocolate and tree decorations!

And then, on Sunday, the celebrated their "last" Cousin Dinner of the year 2021 with a White Elephant Gift Exchange.  I love these random pictures I get!

Looks crazy fun!

And again... because White Elephant is serious business.

I'm so grateful for family and that Katia is getting these great experiences with her cousins: Shane, Sheila, Sage, Rachel and Chance.  (And some adopted cousins: Ben and Kate)

Also... our ward Christmas party was last Saturday.  I was asked to play all of the secular piano songs.  And I lead the opening and closing hymn.  The best part?  Spencer waved his arm to conduct the ward with me.  It was such a precious memory.  (Thanks to Karen Barker, our RS President, for taking pictures of the moment.)

Joy to the World

He loves conducting music.

In other news... I have joined a club: Toastmasters.  I actually joined in June.  And I LOVE it!  And I LOVE the new friends I've made.  If anyone is wanting to learn more about public speaking and leadership, this is a club for you.  I'd love to share!  Tonight, we had our Christmas party.  This is our crazy group:

The "in house" gang of Toastmasters

(on the phone/Zoom: Rick and Megan)

Savannah and my daughter

Aren't they cute?!

My son, Sheri and Teresa

Arlynn and Hal

Angie, Charlie and Savannah

We joked that he was surrounded by young beauties!

My and my better half!

He's sooooo wonderful and supportive of me!

I loved celebrating with my grandson, and kiddos too!

I love my Lillywhites!

And Megan zoomed in from California.

I LOVE Megan!

A HAPPY HEART IS A THANKFUL HEART

 I'm so thankful!  I really am.  I'm grateful for the gospel.  I'm thankful for my home.  I'm thankful for the beauty of the earth.  I'm thankful for my family (and my "adopted" family).  I'm thankful for friends.  I'm thankful for EVERYTHING!

Bettenhausens and DeGooyers for the WIN!

Our thanksgiving was full of traditions!  And I'm so glad!  And we spent it with OUR Bettenhausens!  And I'm so glad!  We needed the break from the world and the daily grind.  So we... did are annual Turkey Trot 5K.  But because of the weather... we decided to walk inside the church building... in circles... listening to Christmas music... wearing Scott's tie-dyed and designed by Scott.  It was sooooo much fun!  We also played frisbee before the Bettenhausens showed up.  It was PERFECT!

Skittles is learning to play frisbee.

He learned that Uncle Skylar loves frisbee.

So he's trying to keep up.

Aren't the shirts awesome?
And the red head is even awesome-er!

These two were competitive.

Although Kiara and I participated in the frisbee toss.

Showing off the shrits!

Running with Grandpa.

These two powered up.

Skittles and Starburst Level

Starburst and Skittles with Grandpa!

When they got tired of walking in circles...

they could sit together and talk.

And Raisin, after twirling in circles for over 10 minutes nearly passed out.

Couldn't do that on the trail....

I had to get a selfie of "the girls!"

And of course, Scott and Mark photo bombed.

Stretching out after hitting the 5K mark.

Then we had a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings!  Delicious!!!!

Kiara and I broke the bread.

And this is Skittle's contribution.

Stealing and eating the bread... like a boss!

The gang!  The table!  The food!  The LOVE!

Afterwards we played lots of games.  Ate pie.  And made a craft project with the kids.  It was an absolutely SPLENDID day! 

Everyone made their own set.

I forgot to get pictures.

This one is mine.

As an aside... my Bettenhausens are moving.  And I'm soooooo sad about it.  The Lord is helping me deal with it.  And he gave us this PERFECT day to celebrate with them and solidify our happy memories.  They truly are family... so we are going to handle our best friend status and family adoption remotely.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I love all y'all!