More Gingerbread Houses, More OB Appts

I forgot about watching the Music and Spoken Word on Sunday. I loved it so much, and Melanie just danced and danced! Melanie also loved the art work shown during the music. My favorite was the one that depicted Joseph holding and admiring the baby Jesus while an exhausted Mary slept.

Monday morning before heading out to the stores I made a double batch of gingerbread for Aaron. They were having a gingerbread house contest at work. I put it in the fridge and then took kids to school. We did some grocery shopping, as well as mailing off goodies and then came home for lunch. It was another busy day with just normal stuff. I had a couple of extra goodie plates because some of the people were out of town. There were lots of leftover cookies too, but I was trying to be good and not eat too many. I still had that 3 hour glucose test to take. That evening Aaron baked up the gingerbread and then cut out his design. He was trying to do a replica of the clinic.

Tuesday before work he put it together, and planned to decorate it while at work over the next couple of days.

I hadn't slept well, so after I dropped off the kids, I put the laundry in and then took a nap - yes at  8:30 in the morning. I ran some errands after that. I dropped off something at Cindy and Sharon's, then ran to the bank and I can't remember what else. I also worked on the Christmas card and Christmas letter. I thought I'd take a picture of our goodie plates, so I'd have a new picture for next year's contest.

That evening was the Relief Society Christmas dinner. I didn't know anything other than they had moved it a week later because of MaryLynne's memorial service, and that it started at 6:30. Any other announcement or fliers I didn't get because I was gone the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I tried to contact Bonnie S*, but later discovered she was sick. I don't blame her for not responding. While I was fixing dinner for the kids Aaron texted to say he didn't have jury duty the next day. Originally they gave him a 2 week window where he could be called in any of those days. It's really difficult to plan for patients that way. He talked to another physician and found out he could ask for a light duty responsibility (or something like that) because of his obligation to serve in the community. Basically they put him on a different panel where it was more likely he would be called in, but it would be on a specific day, and possibly the next day. It's much easier for him to take off a Wednesday since he doesn't see patients that day. However when he called in Tuesday night they said he was not needed the next day. Yay! That gave him lots of time to work on the gingerbread house.

Anyway... I arrived at the church I realized they had asked people to bring desserts. It would have been easy to bring in the leftover goodie plates, but I didn't know that. I also realized there was a white elephant gift exchange, and I hadn't brought a gift. Strike two!!! The dinner was delicious with several soups, a salad and rolls. After the dinner I got a phone call from Jane G* asking if I had a group and song ready for Christmas Eve. I had talked to Aaron about being caught off guard about putting that together I guess someone was supposed to contact me while Jane was out of town, but hadn't. So I told her my concerns about not knowing where in the program we would be singing, not knowing what the narration would be saying, not knowing who else was singing and what songs they were singing. I needed some direction. So she did just that. She suggested an opening song, something welcoming and jubilant like "Joy to the World", or "O Come All Ye Faithful". That I could work with. She also told me who else was singing. So after that I felt a little better, but knew we only had two weeks, and I wouldn't even be there that Sunday. However before the white elephant gift exchange Kim told us about he craft we wold be doing alter, and mentioned that we should have brought a mason jar to build the craft on. Strike three! I was not feeling prepared at all. I'm not a crafty person in the first place, and I felt like I had just failed at everything that evening. I'm sure it was just me over reacting, and hormones in the mix. I tried to make the adorable craft without the jar lid, but I eventually just gave up and went home.

I wish I could say that night was better, but I'm just at the point where I don't get a lot of sleep. It doesn't help that Michelle still wakes up at least twice at night. I'm starting to get uncomfortable, and my back hurts, and I just felt like complaining that night.

Wednesday was a little better. I was able to help in Amy's class. I worked with the kids on vocabulary. Amy didn't really need help, but Mrs. B* said I could pull her out just because. Afterward we went home and had lunch etc. Liana came over at noon, and I left for my appt. I had to go up to the city for the fetal echo cardiogram. It was at the same clinic they do the ASD screening. It took about an hour for everything. The lady checking me in recognized my last name, and when she saw my insurance card she said, "No wonder I recognized your last name. I see your husband's name on lots of referrals."

Another lady roomed me, and the MA took my vitals. Then the ultrasound tech did her job. She said it might take 45 minutes, and to let me know if I need to move around a bit. She seemed to enjoy her job. She talked to me and the baby. She was cooperating thank goodness, so they got all the images they needed. I watched part of Finding Nemo in silence while she took the ultrasound. It certainly got uncomfortable toward the end, but not unbearable. Just as we finished Aaron sent me some pictures of the progress on the gingerbread house.

Then the Dr. came in and told me everything looked great. He then explained (as he does with all parents) how the heart works in the womb compared to after baby is born. Mostly so I understood what they can see right now (while the heart is the size of a chickpea!!!!) and what will still change before birth. If there are any complications the pediatrician should pick up on it at birth, or soon thereafter. So I'm good for now. I let Aaron know, and I then I left the clinic.

I stopped by Fred Meyer for a couple of things we needed. I made it home in time for Liana to pick up her brother from school, and mother from work. Michelle never took a nap. So when David asked if I could pick him up from school. I went right away so Michelle wouldn't take a super late nap.

That night we had an early dinner, then we all went to the church to run through the program for the Christmas party. Melanie and Michelle played in the nursery and Timothy disappeared somewhere. At 7 I left the boys for mutual, and Amy for activity days - they were caroling with the cub scouts. I gave the little girls baths, and then picked up the kids afterward. Aaron was out with the priests visiting less active boys. Timothy still wasn't done with his activity, and I just about left without him, but he arrived about the same time as Aaron. So he came home with me. I put kids to bed Aaron arrived soon after.

Thursday was my 3 hour glucose tolerance test. After taking kids to school, I dropped Melanie and Michelle off at Shannon's and went to the clinic. It didn't take long for me to get called back to the lab. They did a blood draw first, then Aaron appeared in the lab and I drank that nasty drink. It's worse the second time because it's twice as concentrated. Yuck!!! So I finished that and went back to Aaron's office. He had finished up a meeting and we talked for a bit before he had to go up to the city for meetings at the admin building. so I stayed in his office and started addressing Christmas cards - I had ordered them and Aaron was going to pick them up that afternoon. I had left over envelopes from previous years, so I got a head start. I started with my family since I would be seeing them that weekend. I worked on my cross stitch for a bit, and then it was time to get my second blood draw.

I went back to Aaron's office, and listened to Pandora while working on things. I talked to a few people as they came by. I was getting tired, and decided to use Amanda's chair to put my legs up and lay back - it wasn't very comfortable. One of the MA's (she's new, and I don't know her name - Sylvia maybe) came in and offered to let me rest in an exam room. I declined, but a few minutes later when I was contemplating laying on the floor, thought I'd better take her upon the that offer. So she found a room for me, and found a pillow, and I tried to rest. I scared poor Reyna when she came in not knowing I was in there. Eventually I dozed off, but only for a few minutes before my alarm went off for my 3rd blood draw. Afterward I went back to the exam room, and eventually got a good 30 minute nap. I worked on the cross stitch for a little longer before packing up and doing the last blood draw. I was hungry and ate something before heading over to pick up the girls. They were eating some mac and cheese when I got there. That was a good thing, because I was sure Michelle would fall asleep on the way home. Shannon and I talked and the girls played some more. Eventually I took them home, and Michelle almost made it, but then fell asleep 2 minutes before we got home. She napped, and I ate some lunch.

While Michelle napped I also started packing and started a load of laundry. I was leaving for Utah the next day, and wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything. I was glad to get a call later than afternoon telling me my levels were normal!!! I didn't get to results on My Chart until the morning. I was glad to see that I wasn't even close to going over the threshold.

We got a gift basket from the hospital. We knew what company it was coming from thanks to the app Aaron has, so I was expecting a box of chocolate covered cherries or something, but it was a huge basket! That afternoon I picked up David from school after his behind the wheel driver's test. He passed Hallelujah! That means he'll have his license waiting for him when he turns 16. I think he still needs some practice though. I don't think he has 50 hours behind the wheel yet.

That night I went to book club at Joan's house. I volunteered to take over as coordinator for next year, and probably for a couple of years. We discussed our plans for next year, and got the first few months solidified, and then ate yummy goodies while discussing this month's book. I never mentioned that we canceled November's book club because there weren't many people able to come. Anyway, eventually I got home and got ready for bed. I had a busy day ahead of me.

Delivering Goodies

Aaron and David got up early to go duck hunting. The rest of us did chores. At 9:00 I ran the cookies over to the Middle School Bazaar. We finished chores, and then we wrapped up the cookie plates. The kids wanted to go to the Bazaar, so we went for abut 30 minutes. Aaron and David were coming home at the same time, so they went home and showered and got ready to go. We didn't see much at the bazaar that I wanted, and I only had about $4 in cash, so we bought a plate of brownies and entered the raffle. Then we headed home, had some lunch (the veggie tray from the hospital party) and then headed out to deliver goodies.

At the first house - Victoria and Andy's we asked them to take our picture. I gave them my phone, but then Andy came out with his nice camera and got a great picture. Good enough to use in our Christmas card. We are waiting until the Spring to get some professional pictures taken, after the baby is born.

So we spent the next 3 hours or so delivering goodie plates to friends and neighbors. I was bummed some of them were out of town. It was fun though, and Michelle eventually fell asleep. She only napped for about 45 minutes though.

When we got home Aaron and I made a decision about the phone. We found out that one of the things the kids really wanted for Christmas we could buy with the Apple gift card, so we decided to take advantage of the Costco deal, and use the gift card for a case, headphone, and couple of gifts for the boys. so Aaron ran up to the city to get that sorted out. David asked where he had gone, and I said he had to run some errands, and would pick up dinner on the way home. We both forgot that David had Aaron on Find my Friends, and said, "Why is he at Costco?" I had to come up with something quick. "He just needed to pick up a few things". We didn't want to tell David, until we knew for sure everything was going to work out. We had already told him the plan of giving him the phone, but didn't give him a timeline, since we really didn't know. Since Thanksgiving he'd been searching for every deal possible for Aaron's phone. The faster Dad got his phone, the faster he got Dad's phone.

So it took a while to transfer data etc, and finally he was on his way home. I ordered dinner from our favorite local Mexican restaurant, Aaron picked it up ans we had a late dinner. The kids were happy about the choice of food. Nachos, quesadillas, chips and salsa. Then it was off to bed. Aaron spent some time that night getting his new phone up to date, and deleting things off his old phone.

Amy had drawn this snowman based on an art projected they were working on at school. Then she gave it to Aaron.

I had fallen asleep while getting Michelle to sleep, but still had to do the drawing, so I did that quickly and went to bed.

Sunday morning he decided everything with the phone was in order, so the plan was to have David stay after church while he did tithing settlement, and give him the phone to fiddle with. Then they would do home teaching and deliver the goodie plates to families in that neck of the woods. I got dinner started in the crockpot. We were having the missionaries over for dinner that night, but I knew it would be busy.

Church was great. I enjoyed the talks and then Amy took Michelle to nursery, and I didn't even need to worry about it. Sunday School was great, and then I taught a lesson on establishing a Christ centered home. I had to leave to change Michelle's diaper, so I passed out the treats I was saving for the end. When I got back we had a good lesson.

David had brought lunch knowing he would be staying a while. Amy had been asked to participate in the program at the ward Christmas party. David had been asked to take care of the lights. Since I was there I figured I could help as well. Amy had a couple of speaking parts, and I sang with the choir. We ran through the program quickly after church and then went home.

Michelle fell asleep on the way. So we ate lunch, and then wrapped the last few plates to deliver. When Michelle woke up I gave her something to eat and then we delivered the goodies to our immediate neighbors. Melanie didn't want to get out at one of them because there were barking dogs. Last year they gave us some jam or something in return. This year he grabbed a roast from the pig s they raised this year! That was very generous. We got two houses in one as we stopped at Bob and Carol's and Patty was out in the yard and wandered over. So I gave her plate right then, and talked with her, and then talked with Bob and Carol. It was chilly so we headed back home and got the rest of dinner ready.

David was pretty excited about finally getting a phone. He spent some time with the settings and downloading apps etc. Then they went home teaching. They were running behind so we moved dinner to 5:30.

The missionaries arrived and we got to know the new Elder a little bit. I had made pulled pork sandwiches, and a veggie tray (mostly left over from the Christmas party). Aaron also pulled out the pickled asparagus. We enjoyed dinner and then a short message from the missionaries. Dessert was leftover cookies. Then we had FHE and played a game and went to bed. It was a great weekend!

Gingerbread Houses, Christmas Program, Funeral, Another Christmas Party

Monday morning I got up early and cooked the gingerbread, so I could cut it out before taking the kids to school. The rest of Monday was normal with shopping in the city, and then home for lunch and naps.

I didn't get a nap because I was trying to put things away, clean up the kitchen and put together all of the gingerbread houses. Melanie "helped" me. I had to pick up David because he stayed after school to practice his brass quintet piece for solo and ensemble festival. I got dinner ready, and Aaron got home a little late, so we saved him some and he ate quickly before we started decorating houses.

 There is always way too much candy!!!

Michelle did her own house this year, and had a lot of fun. I put the royal icing in 3 decorating bags, but the kids were still waiting for me to help them. Next year I think I need to make a little bit more icing and use 4 bags. Of course next year I probably won't be decorating my own house.

Yes, Melanie is wearing her Halloween shirt to decorated gingerbread houses!

The boys hard at work.

Michelle didn't put a lot of candy on hers. She mostly ate it. Or rather licked it and spit it out.

This is how much was left of hers, but it was unusable and inedible as she had put most of in her mouth at some point.

My house

Melanie and her house

Amy's house, front and back

Michelle eating candy

Aaron working on the big house

Timothy's house front and back

The back of Melanie's house

All 5 kids with their houses

Aaron finally finished the big house after I got kids in bed.

The back

Amy wanted me to send pictures to her teacher so she could show the class what we did.

So Tuesday I took boys from seminary to school, and then took the other kids to school. Then I took the girls to Shannon's. I had my 1 hour glucose tolerance test, and didn't want to have to entertain the girls for an hour while I waited. I had a normal check up first. My weight was the same, and everything else was normal. I brought my cross stitch and worked on that for a bit in Aaron's office while I waited. After the blood draw I set up my next appt, and headed back to pick up the girls. Melanie got her hair put in French braids and they had gotten their nails painted, they love that!

I got a call later that morning telling me my glucose levels were elevated and I had to do the 3 hour test. They wanted me to schedule it for that week, but with all of the baking I was going to do I just didn't have the time. So I scheduled it for the following Thursday. Later that afternoon Carol S* came by to pick up our 5 gallon water jug, and the hot chocolate I picked up at Costco for the memorial service. I also started making truffles, and banana rolls.

The afternoon and evening were busy. David had pep band at 5:15, and then we had dinner and got dressed for the memorial service. The kids were fairly well behaved at Amy's Christmas Program at the school. We had to wait for a while. Aaron had to run to the church and make sure everything was OK there before meeting us at the school.

 Melanie was occupied by Melissa F*

Aaron and I took lots of pictures and videos. The program was called "Elfis and the Sleigh Riders". It was cute and used Elvis songs.

Amy said even though she was on the front row (because she is short) she got to come in at the beginning because she was a "good dancer". She had a couple of speaking parts, and did a great job, even when the microphone wasn't working on her last line. You can tell she really enjoyed it.

Aaron had to leave a little early. We got to the church right at 7 and sat in the back. Almost from the beginning the kids were not behaving. Timothy thought he was helping by making the girls laugh. Melanie and Michelle were fighting over a book, and there not being enough snacks. Amy was trying to lay down on the pew. Michelle wouldn't stop talking, so I ended up taking her out into the hall. For a while she was fine on the couch, but then she was even too noisy for that. Then she got a messy diaper, so I had to go back in and grab the diaper bag. I completely missed the musical number. I had left my phone in my coat. I had it on silent. Thank goodness, because someone tried to FaceTime me and rather than let it be Timothy got up to give me the phone. Of course because he got up, the girls got up and left, they were in and out way too many times. Michelle wouldn't sit still, so I never went back in, and she ran around the Relief Society room while I tried to listen. There was another mom in there with her rambunctious 4 or 5 year old. He and Michelle had fun chasing each other. At first I though it was David trying to FaceTime, but then realized it was Aaron's Mom.

When it was over we went into the gym for hot chocolate and cookies. Amy wanted to have 10 cookies, and Michelle took too many, and Timothy was talking everyone's ear off. Michelle was trying to climb on the chair holder, so I went to rescue her, and then started to talk to Chelle. For the first time in this pregnancy my back started to hurt, and I needed to sit down. That's when Melanie spilled hot chocolate all over the table, chair and her dress and socks. Aaron and I had to go take care of that, and at that point decided to just go home, even thought I wanted to talk to people that had come to the memorial service. It was one thing too many. I wanted to cry. So I gathered the kids, went home and put them to bed. Aaron picked up David on the way home from the church.

Wednesday was only a little better. Melanie woke up sick and threw up a couple of times. So I let Amy's teacher know we wouldn't be coming in. I got my lab results and I was barely over the threshold. 130 and up need to take the 3 hour test, I was at 134. Since I wasn't going to Amy's class,  that gave me some time to start my annual baking marathon. Aaron wanted to have enough cookies for plates to take to work on Friday, so I did half of them Wednesday. I did a banana roll, fudge, toffee chocolate chips cookies, and gingersnaps. Most of the cookie recipes I have to triple or quadruple. Although the toffee chocolate chip recipe is already in a quadruple amount. I also started dipping truffles. I didn't go to the graveside service or the luncheon. But Aaron was able to go.

At least Melanie seemed to be feeling better. That afternoon I picked up David and Seth after school. They were working on a biology project. They had to rewrite the lyrics of a song to talk about whatever unit they were working on (I can't remember what now). Then record it and play it for the class.

That night there was mutual, and Aaron took the boys home. While I was getting Michelle to sleep, the T*s returned our water jug to us.

Thursday was more baking. Aaron took a couple of plates to work in the city. They just didn't have peanut butter cookies or sugar cookies. I made those Thursday along with another banana roll. I also made a second batch of truffles. Amy came home with her Division Diploma! That means she passed her timed test for division. It only took two weeks! Most of the other kids are still working on their Multiplication License. Mrs. B* said she would come up with something else for Amy to work on when they do the timed tests. Aaron took a picture of her "diploma".

I had the kids help me frost the sugar cookies. Melanie and I did a couple of colors before the kids got home, and Amy and Timothy joined in after snack. I made 4 different batches of frosting.

 Michelle wanted to help, but mostly she just made a mess!

After I got the cookies put away I made dinner for the kids, and then got ready for the Bishopric dinner. Aaron and I treated them to dinner as a thank you for all of the help and support they give us throughout the year. The E*s weren't able to come, but we had Ed and Teri P*, Loren and Betsy D*, and Reed and Carol S* join us. I got a ride with the P*'s so I could ride back with Aaron. It was a fabulous dinner, and I enjoyed talking to everyone. We have a great group of people that supports each other. We stopped by Best Buy on the way home. Since Aaron had received an Apple gift card for a CME program he bought, we had discussed the idea of buying a new phone for Aaron and giving his old phone to David. I really think David is the only one his age without a phone. I'm not too concerned about that, but he will be driving soon, and I'd like to be able to get a hold of him when he doesn't have access to Wi-Fi, and for him to be able to contact us, especially now that his iPod can't access the Wi-Fi at school. So we looked into all of our options. We got home around 9:00 or so.

Friday was another busy day. David had his final driver's training class, and took the final test - he passed! Aaron took a bunch of plates to work. I decided I didn't have enough cookies, since I offered 4 dozen to the Middle School Bazaar. Also I figured the two people I was mailing cookies to would want them fresh. So I made one more batch of each cookie, and another pan of fudge. I finished dipping the truffles. By that evening we were finally done baking. Aaron ran up to the city to check out the deals on phones at Costco. The tricky thing was wanting to take advantage of the deals stores were offering and still be able to use the gift card for Apple care, but apparently you can only use an Apple gift card for Apple care if you buy the phone from them at the same time or go to a physical Apple store to purchase it. The closest one to us is 3 hours away. So Aaron came back a little disappointed.

We had another party that evening. David had pep band again, so I dropped him off at the middle school, and got dinner ready for the kids. Liana came over, and we got out the door a little late because Aaron was trying to play podiatrist. Actually he had seen the podiatrist that afternoon, but was told he could do the treatment at home. So he did, but it took a little longer than he expected. Eventually we were on our way.

That party was the hospital party. They have drinks and mingling at the beginning. Actually dessert is already out, but I didn't want to start with that. We sat with Victoria and Andy. We got to mingle for a bit, and then they served dinner. It's the hospital chefs that do the dinner, and it's always delicious. Salad, rolls, veggie tray, fruit tray, pasta, chicken, mashed potatoes, and roast. Yum!!! I opted out of the potatoes, since I wanted to cut back on the carbs a bit, but I was wishing I'd skipped the pasta instead. They were also selling raffle tickets for a 50/50 raffle, and then the employees had a raffle for prizes. We bought some raffle tickets, because 50% goes to the winner and the other 50% goes to the Children's Christmas party. And our kids love going to that!

Dr. H* joined us, and we talked ate dessert, and then got ready for the games. We knew we wanted to avoid the musical chairs, so Aaron and I, along with Dr. H* decided to volunteer for the "Do you want to build a snowman" game. The rules are the "snowman" has to have the gloves, hat, scarf on and hold the sticks and have a carrot in its mouth and then an entire roll of toilet paper must be on the snowman. Most people go around and around the person unraveling the toilet paper. Aaron had an idea: unravel the entire roll and then just throw it on him at the end. It worked, we won. We each got a gift card.

It was fun. Then we didn't have to do the "reindeer games", or the musical chairs. However Andy volunteered for the musical chairs, and it was hilarious. He got second place I think. Somehow I got roped into doing the last game - "poop the potato" We didn't win.

They also gave out their end of the year awards. Then it was time for dancing, and we got ready to go. Terra insisted we take some food home. So we said we'd take a veggie tray. I figured we'd take the one that was on the serving table, but she brought us out a completely full one! So we headed home. David had found a ride home and Liana's brother Alan was already there to take her home. So I wrote her a check and they were on their way.

It was certainly a busy week.

Christmas Party #1 and First Presidency Christmas Devotional

Saturday was busy. I promised Amy that if she finished her chores quickly, we could set up the Christmas village I inherited from my mom. So we got the girls' rooms cleaned up, and the rest of the chores done and then we got the Christmas village all set up. Amy loves it.

 Especially when it's lit up.

When Aaron got back from the hospital (he was on call) he got the lights put up on the house. It was chilly outside, and it was starting to rain a little. He took a break for lunch. Aaron was going to help Carolee move into their new place, but she and her boys had moved most of it already. They had gone to the store, and when they returned, Aaron took Melanie with him and helped with a couple of things and then took a few things they didn't want - wheat and a wheat grinder. Although I'm not sure why we would need two wheat grinders. Carolee's is newer, but the same excellent brand. Aaron spent some time confirming plans for MaryLynne's funeral.

That evening was our first Christmas party. It was the organization wide party for all of the clinics throughout Washington and Oregon. David had to be at the basketball game for pep band, so we hired Liana to babysit. Timothy just isn't able to take care of Michelle yet. So Liana arrived at 5:00, and I had some dinner ready to cook for them - grilled cheese, I think. We dropped David off at the middle school. Then Aaron and I headed up to the city. We were really early - like 20 minutes early. So we decided to stop by a store. I didn't need anything at Target or Wal-Mart, so we went to the dollar store. I picked up a few things for gingerbread houses, that I forgot, and Aaron got some things for decorations at work. While we were there he talked to Justin B* about adding a memorial service. MaryLynne had just wanted a small graveside service, with no funeral. Justin suggested that they could have a memorial service the evening before, no casket, but an opportunity for more people to attend. Especially since most of their employees wouldn't be able to attend the graveside service in the middle of the day.

We got to the party right at 6:00, and the parking lot was already half full! I guess we should have come early. The tables in the middle and front already had people sitting at them. To give you an idea of how big this party is, we take up the entire convention center. We were sitting at table 100 of about 120, with 10 people per table. I was glad it was back at the convention center. The arena was huge, and not very festive - although they tried. We couldn't hear very well, and the service staff was not very professional. The convention center was much better.

Soon after we snagged an empty table Phillip and Julianna joined us, and then a couple of dentists and their wives (I didn't know them), and then Brian and Louise U*. There were a few other people from our clinic sitting nearby. I enjoyed the conversation. They had  a salad already plated, and rolls, dessert, and chocolates on the table already. Once we were all seated we started on the salad. Dinner was served promptly at 7:00. I think we were one of the first tables served. There were green beans, chicken, salmon and mashed potatoes. I teased Phillip when I noticed he was eating the salad - he typically doesn't eat vegetables. However he also doesn't like fish, so he graciously gave it to me, and Aaron and I split the serving.

There were lots of awards, and raffles. The awards were for 5, 10 15 etc. years of service. This year they only gave out two types of prizes. TVs and laptops. I guess the feedback from past years was that some were disappointed with the smaller prizes. - I'd be happy to get any prize!!! Why would you complain about not winning a TV when you got a digital camera, or a tablet? So they still had about 20 prizes, but they were all either a TV or a laptop. We didn't win anything - the odds aren't very good. But Brian won a laptop! Also the lady who heads up the IT department won a laptop, and decided right away that she didn't need another laptop, and asked them to draw another name! How awesome is that?!

After the awards and the raffles, the dance music started, and we headed home. David had found a ride home, and Liana had to wait for her ride home after we got there. I should have texted her to let her know. When you have 5 drivers and only 2 drive-able cars you sometimes have to wait on other people. Anyway.. It was a fun night.

Sunday was busy. Aaron ended up going to the hospital really early for an emergency. When he was done there had a meeting at church, and asked me to bring a bunch of stuff he forgot. I remembered everything except the poinsettia! Oh well. The little girls and I ate breakfast, and then got ready for church. We did get to church on time, and enjoyed it. It was great to have my friend Crystal and her friend come for sacrament meeting. She got to meet Joyce, Chelle, and Nancy. I love testimony meeting, and as I expected most of those that shared their testimonies talked about MaryLynne. Even Justin spoke for a bit. That must have been really hard. I was glad they that didn't paint her as perfect, but always striving to help others, and be a better person.

I took Michelle to nursery and she walked right in and said, "Now you go, Mommy". Haha! I didn't have to wait for her to settle in! It only took 8 months for her to stay in nursery! By the time I got back to the chapel, Crystal and her friend had left. But I chatted with her later, and she hoped to return again when she was in town. Sunday school was enjoyable, and then it was off to young women's where Bri-Ana taught a lesson on spiritual gifts.

After church, the little girls and I ate lunch, and then Michelle got a nap. I think I did too. Aaron had tithing settlement, and then needed to visit a few people. He ended up being gone longer than expected, so we delayed dinner, and then we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I loved it! Amy kept asking if it was over yet, and "how many more minutes". I guess an hour is much longer than our normal FHE lesson, but I thought the music would hold her attention. Oh well.

Then we had dessert, and after putting kids to bed, I made the gingerbread dough. That was one full weekend!