Monday, December 23, 2013

A Month of Christmas Parties

We have had a lot of fun Christmas parties this month.  The first one was the Morwood family party on December 7.  This was the day that the blizzard hit St. George so we were worried that we wouldn't make it out to Ivins to the party.  But the mini van made it through the snow to get there even though it took us an hour to do so.  Clay's family was in charge of the party this year and it was so fun.

First we had dinner of pizza and salads. It was good and the kids especially loved it.  Then we split into five different groups based on age and played a bunch of fun games.  The dads were assigned to help the little kid group so Russell got all three kids and I got to have fun in my own group.  Russell, Klint, and Danny had fun with the kids.

While the kids were upstairs, the rest of the groups were downstairs playing wild Minute to Win it games.  The games were so funny to watch.  It was especially funny to watch Roy and my dad try and get an Oreo off the top of their head into their mouths.  It was also funny to watch Clint try and get a red pom pom to stick to his nose.  We also played the Candy Bar game and we raced down the hall and unwrapped Hershey's Kisses with snow gloves on.  The girls in my group dominated at that game!

Upstairs the kids played pictionary and made this way cute snowman craft out of a light bulb.  The craft was so simple to make but so cute.  None of the snowmen turned out the same; they all showed the personalities of the creators.
The kids also got to play all of the Minute To Win It games.  They all did really well and had a lot of fun stacking cups, making Christmas trees out of nuts, and trying to get the red pom pom on their nose.

This was a really fun party.  We also played a really fun game called Telestrations.  It is similar to the telephone game we played as kids but you draw pictures instead.  I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did while playing this game.  I am definitely going to see if I can find this game and buy it.

Our next Christmas party was our ward Christmas party on December 14.  The theme of the party was "Fiesta!"  Paula, who owns Paula's Mexican Restaurant,  is in our ward so she catered and cooked the meal.  The food was so good.  We sang "Feliz Navidad" and some other Christmas songs and then at the end, the Primary kids got to break open a Pinata:

Emily and Colby loved hitting the pinata and especially loved getting the candy and prizes when it opened.  This was also a fun party.

For my work party we went to Las Vegas and saw the show called Le Reve at the Wynn resort.

That is probably the worst picture I have ever taken!  Any way, the show was AMAZING!!!  The show was similar to Cirque du Soleil shows with acrobats and amazingly strong people.  The show also had synchronized swimming and awesome divers.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time just watching all of the stunts and things the actors were doing. I could not believe some of the things I was seeing!   I think it was one of the best shows I have seen in Vegas.  So if you are feeling rich one day, this is a must see.

Outside the theater, there were these giant "Tulips."  I thought they looked like giant balloons so I took a picture of them for Emily and Colby.

And here is the night view of the Strip through our hotel window.  We stayed at Treasure Island on the 26th floor.  Yeah we were a little spoiled.  This year I didn't know what to do with Logan while we were at Las Vegas because he is still nursing.  So we decided to bring down all of the kids with us.  Russell's aunt, Jeanmarie, lives in Las Vegas and she was willing to watch all three for us while we went to the show.  They loved playing with Jeanmarie and ask all the time when they can go back and visit.  Even Logan did okay.  He cried for a bit but then fell asleep until we got back.  Thanks Jeanmarie!  The kids also loved spending the night in the hotel and loved looking out the window and seeing all of the lights.

The next morning, we met my mom, Lacie and Tami at the Las Vegas temple.  My cousin was getting married so we went to the sealing while Russell played with the kids on the temple grounds.  It was fun to go inside the Las Vegas temple.  I had never been inside it before.  After the sealing, we headed home to make it in time for the next Christmas party, the big Morwood family party.
At the party the kids participated in the Nativity story.  Colby was a Shepard and Emily was an Angel.  Then it was time for Santa to bring everyone a gift.


This was Logan's first experience with Santa.  He did pretty good at first.  He just looked at Santa and then started screaming!  Colby wasn't too sure if he wanted to go up and get his gift.  Finally with Russell's help he did it.  Emily was worried the whole night that she wouldn't get a present.  She kept asking me if she had been good enough to get a present. I told her we would see if Santa brought he one or not.  She was so happy when her name got called.
As you can see they all loved their gifts.  Emily was so excited when she got a new Dick and Jane book to read.  Colby liked his truck and trailer.  Logan loved his ball and chased it around the whole place.  I think Colby liked Logan's ball the best because he played with it more than anything.  This was also a fun party and it was nice to see all of my extended family and cousins again.

Finally, the Farnsworth Christmas party was on December 22.  Jen and Rick and their kids came down from Salt Lake for the weekend.  At the party we had a blast making Nativity sets out of graham crackers and candy.

Going clockwise in the picture above: this is a picture of all four of the Nativities, then ours, under ours is the Stewart's, next is the Keith Farnsworth family's, and finally the Ron Farnsworth family's.  We had fun making these and even though they had all of the same components, they were all different.  

We also played some fun games too.  We played "Spit on your Neighbor" and a fun spelling game Jen brought down.  (I can't remember its name.)  We also gained 5 pounds each by eating chocolate fondue and cheese fondue but boy was it good!

That night Emily and Colby had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth's with Paul and Alex.  They had so much fun with their cousins.  The next morning we had an early Christmas and opened presents.
Emily and Colby got so spoiled with presents from Grandma and Grandpa.  They loved ever minute of it.  

Our food budget really benefited from the parties because we had dinner at each one!  We also had a Christmas party/dinner with the Fire Department and the Hospital ER Department for Russell's work.    

We have had a great month full of parties every weekend.  

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