Ian's Birthday, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Ian turned 12 on December 24th. He received lots of gifts. We also went to see a movie that day. He also had a party the week before with his friends. He went to the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center in Pleasant Grove. They do mock space missions for the kids. The kids all said it was the best party ever. It's reasonably priced, lasted 2.5 hours and I didn't have to stay. That is my kind of party. I can't believe that I have a 12 yr old. Very surreal.

Here is our beautiful Nativity. We have Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a shepherd, a wiseman and an angel. We even had a black sheep with Mitzi, but she's not in the photo. Perfect.

Dylan and Orion in their new PJ's Christmas morning.

Ian, Sophia, and Theron enthralled with their Santa gifts Christmas morning.

We had a nice day. I received a wii and a color printer, two things that I really wanted. Kenneth was given his 5th gun for the year. The kids mostly asked for games. Breakfast was our traditional pull-aparts, sausage, orange juice and this year we added bacon. I love me some pig. Especially considering that Christmas dinner was ham. Yummy. The day was mostly spent relaxing and playing. I spent the day reading, Kenneth was mostly on his computer, and the kids were playing their games. Then we went to my parents to give them their gifts and say hello. After that we dropped off Sophia at her cousins for a week to give her some girl time. All in all a great day. The week has pretty much carried on that pattern. For me lots of sleeping, reading and not cleaning. For Kenneth lots of sleeping, computer time and gaming time. For the kids lots of reading, gaming and playing with friends. Love it.

Theron's Test

Theron has been in Taekwondo since June. He had his first test in October and became a senior white belt. Usually you don't take another test so soon, but he was again tested this month. He did great and will be receiving his yellow belt next week. He works really hard and has shown his teacher that he is ready to keep progressing. I'm so glad that he likes it and doesn't mind going to class and doing his best.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets Review

We always go see a movie on Christmas Eve for Ian's birthday. This year he picked National Treasure. It was a fun film. A little action, a little comedy, a little romance. We had fun. Orion and Dylan did not love it so much. Orion said he was scared and I think that Dylan was just bored. I recommend this movie to anyone except 4 & 6 year olds.

I Am Legend Review

We went out with some friends after my quarantine to see I Am Legend. I thought it was a good film. It's hard to categorize it because I didn't really feel that it was a zombie movie so much as a man alone movie. The ickies were there on the edge all the time, but I didn't feel the danger from them until near the end. It was more about a man still thinking that he could save the world and finish the work he started. I was creeped out by the fact that he was alone and so you're constantly expecting something. I have heard that some people didn't like the way that it ended, but I think that it was a very appropriate ending. I liked it, I'm glad we saw it, but I wouldn't own it.

Piano Recital & Choir Concert & Christmas Program

This is the children's piano teacher, Jamie, and her other students at their piano recital.

Theron announcing what he will be playing.

Sophia announcing her selections.

Ian waiting for his dad to take the picture before he plays.

Sophia after her choir concert. I wish I could figure out how to upload video so that you could hear her sing. She had a solo in a song.

Sophia with her friends after the concert, l-r: Alle, Katelyn, and Emilyn

Orion at his Christmas program. He did a great job and made sure I was watching him the whole time by watching me the whole time.
Orion with his friends after their program. l-r: Halle, Carter, and Annabelle. Orion and Annabelle love each other. "No, Mom, I really love her."

Chicken pox or not?

The day was Wednesday Dec 5, 2007. I was sitting at the computer finishing up my morning reading. As I turned from the screen I noticed Orion scratching his neck. What was that on his neck? He had a rash of some sort. I immediately looked over his body and found more spots. I called my brother-in-law who is a Physician's Assistant. He said that I could come over and he would take a look. When I arrived at his house he said that they looked like chicken pox. Grreeaatt. We started him on anti-virals and he stayed home from school for a week. I informed all the people that he had come in contact with the few days before the rash appeared. I called the school and they sent home a letter telling all the parents that there was a case of chicken pox. Now, I have never seen the chicken pox, that I can remember. I was a very young child when I had them myself. My children have all had the immunization. I was confused by the fact that Orion wasn't acting sick, but since he had been immunized I thought it was just different. That Saturday, the 8th I noticed some spots on me, but I couldn't be sure that they weren't pimples so I just ignored them. As far as I knew you could not get the chicken pox twice, I wasn't worried. Monday morning I noticed spots on my arms. Not cool. I found out that you can get the chicken pox twice, though it is rare. I didn't feel sick at all and so I was just mostly bugged that I had to stay home. Wednesday Sophia had her Christmas concert and Kenneth was unable to attend. I wanted to go see her sing so I wore a mask to the concert. People stared at me trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Needless to say I had a whole row to myself, no one wanted to catch whatever I had. It was actually pretty funny. The next night was my book club which I had been looking so forward to attending. We were discussing Twilight and I wanted to be there. I was so sad. Friday Theron had a spot on his arm and I was just done with it. I was ready to lose my mind. I read some more about the chicken pox and just couldn't see that we had them. I went to see the Dr. that day. He said that they definitely weren't the chicken pox. He said he thought that it was Folliculitis. That's an infection of the hair follicles. All I wanted to know from the Dr was if I could go shopping with a week and a half left until Christmas. He said yes that I could go shopping, that I wasn't going to spread anything. He took a culture, but it came back negative. So I guess we don't really know what it was, but we know what it wasn't. It wasn't chicken pox.

Pelo Olympics Winners

Pelo Olympics Winners 2007!!!!
Beautiful trophy and $50 movie card.
The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Pelo Family Reunion. It was organized this year by Jared and Mychael-Ann. They will be moving next year so they took this opportunity to plan while still here. Jared proclaimed it to be the "FUN" reunion. I love me some fun. He also introduced the Pelo Family Olympics. We would get points for different activities: board games, video games, letter writing, quilting, arm wrestling, leg wrestling, bouncing and dancing. So after dinner Friday we started racking up the points. I noticed that one of my sisters seemed to be serious about these Olympics. I decided to get serious as well. I mean the trophy was beautiful, as you can see above. $50 for the movies is also great. My advantage is that I have little children who will still do what I say and she has teenagers that don't care. We had it in the bag. Another sister told me how to get the most points in the most efficient way. We had tons of fun. We played games, ate good food, quilted, talked, watched BYU beat Utah and laughed a lot. It was the "FUN" reunion. My kids were great. They really tried to do everything I asked of them. I told them that if we won we would go see the movie Enchanted on Monday for FHE. Sunday morning when all points we tallied we ended up averaging 30 points per person. We won by a large margin. It ended up only being 2 of us that turned in our points, but as I said I still have children young enough to do what I say. There were 10 families there and only 2 turned in points, but almost everyone participated in something. It was one of the funnest and most bonding experiences for our large family, I think. I am very grateful to everyone for coming and participating. The trophy has been in our living room since we got back. Unfortunately we will not have room for it as we decorated for Christmas and so all the glitter will be retired tomorrow. We will miss the copious amounts of glitter. Enchanted was really fun as well.