Christmas Eve

John's darling niece, Malorie, had a bridal
shower with just the girls in the family. It
was so fun for them to be a part of the party.

Later that night all the grandkids acted out the nativity
while Grandpa Oldham read the story from the Bible.
Aubrey has been wanting to play Mary for years, so she
asked in advanced and secured the part early. Hailey got
to be Mary's sister, and I think there was also a
"wise woman" in our version of the Christmas story!

The biggest reason Aubrey wanted to be Mary, was so she
could hold baby Jesus, (played by the youngest cousin, Sean)
She LOVES babies!!

Next, the kids dressed up Grandpa in his Santa
suit and he passed out a few early Christmas gifts-Pajamas!
The kids love Grandpa Santa! He reallys hams it up too
and plays the part well.

Christmas Eve dance to the Nutcracker

This is a Christmas Eve tradition in the Oldham family for as

long as I have been a part of them, (so at least 14 years)

to do the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Please excuse my

talking during the video- Lori was asking me about subbing

and I wasn't thinking that it would be so loud on the video!

Ryan's 4th grade field trip

The whole 4th grade went on a field trip yesterday to
Phoenix to see the State Capitol building and go to the
Children's Science Museum. Here is Ryan with his friends
on the bus at 7:30 a.m. I made him sit by me...


Here we are on the bus-we had to be there at 6:30 am! Too
early!

Ryan learned all about the state legislature!
I did too!

There were a lot of statues and memorials to look at. This
one was for Desert Storm.

We saw a 3-D IMAx movie about sharks and other under-
water creatures at the sicence museum. It was cool!


Here Ryan is riding a bicycle on a tight-rope
suspended from the 2nd story!!

Laying on a bed of nails. I did it too- didn't even hurt!

I was glad I got to go along. We had a fun day together!

R.S. Crafts!

We made these blocks at our VT conference last weekend-
they are so fun and easy! Our RS bought a vinyl lettering
machine so we can do all these crafts pretty cheap!


These aren't the traditional Christmas colors, but I like
them! It makes me anxious for Christmas- just around
the corner!

Piano Makeover

We have had this piano for about four years- it was handed down from John's sister, Bonnie, who got it from their sister, Laura and where she got it, I don't know. But I was inspired by my other sister-in-law, Ellen (also their sister) who painted her piano, and so I decided it was time this old piano got a new look!


After a few coats of paint and a new seat cover, this is the final outcome:

Not too bad for a total of about $6! I already had the paint,

so I just bought the fabric and 4 tassells. Now it matches

almost everything else in the house that I have painted black.

(John says we are goth!) I say I'm just living the old pioneer

philosophy" Fix it up, wear it out, make due, or do without"-

instead of my philosophy which has always been "fix it up,

wear it out, make due, or buy new!"

Halloween

Our Ward had a Halloween carnival and
chili contest. (John entered his famous
Javelina Chili, but sadly it didn't win. I guess
people don't like mystery meat in their chili??)
Hailey, as a kitty, had a pretty good arm for
throwing a football!


Aubrey was Dorothy, and even had Toto, but I ended
up holding the stuffed dog all day.


The cake walk was a big hit!

Jake dressed up as a middle school student.

Ryan (not pictured, wore his soccer uniform

from his game earlier in the day- he wasn't

in the mood to change.)

Ready to hit the streets! Ryan was too

involved in building a motorcycle he got

that day, so he stayed home to work on it.

Counting the CANDY CASH!

Hailey is our "candy girl"- she lives for

candy!

Disney on Ice

We have a friend who works for the TCC and
gets us great seats for cheap to Disney on Ice!
Thanks Mandy! Here we are with my brother's
girls, Julianna and Natalie, before the show.

It was mesmerizing...

They even had the whole Cars gang there on the ice.


The little mermaid part was neat.

The finale was with Tink and the whole place
was covered in flowers!

And confetti was falling from the sky!

After enjoying ALL my hot chocolate, Hailey

asked me if we could get some more "coffee"!

Yes, the container did look like coffee, but I'm

pretty sure she knows we don't drink coffee.

Oh, a piece of confetti for a souvenir!

Ryan is a DECADE!

Ryan is finally double digits and has been looking forward
to this birthday for months. He made a request for a
special gift of his choosing- which happened to be the most
expensive Lego he could find.


So to make things more interesting, since he pretty much
knew what he was getting, we made him follow 10 clues
and go on a hunt for his present.

This Lego Technic Off Roader had over 1,000 pieces, and

he spend the entire day, and into the night, working on it.

That night, for our family party, Ryan chose to go to

Chilis for dinner (with Oldham cousins Lance,Keri

and Jason)

The kids all sat at the booth- Aubrey, Keri and

Hailey.

Little Jason got to sit at the big kids table!

Ryan is enjoying his favorite meal- chicken

tacos!

Grandma and Grandpa Oldham came, and Dale and Lori

and their crew also came to party with us.

Ryan requested his favorite cake- a carmel,

toffee oooey gooey cake. YUMMY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN! We LOVE YOU!