Christmas day

Oh man! Here it is 2011 already and, honestly, even April at that and I haven't blogged anything this year! I have all the pics downloaded and somewhat sorted onto Blogger but can't seem to find my blogging mojo. So even though the time stamp says Dec 2010 for this post (and that for filing purposes) it is really APRIL 2011!!!

Alas I'm just gonna fake it until I feel it and hopefully I'll find my blogging mojo sometime soon. Sooo...not a lot to say about Christmas 2010 except that it was one of THE best Christmases EVER! Just such a great spirit permeated through the day. Fun and love and humility and gratitude and service were felt and had by all.

The children were adorable and sweet and Gene was kind and helpful and I loved cooking and relaxing and watching them play. It was great! We were and are so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ's, birth and gift of the Atonement. What a wonderful day! Hopefully the pictures will convey that message and speak volumes in my absence.

Our tree after "Santa" came the night before Christmas morn...

Sarah, Morgan and Emma opening their stockings

Morgan opening her presents

(sit & spin, fur real kitty, books and Rapunzel barbie)....

Such a happy sweetheart! Morgan playing with her train set. Emma opening her fur real kitty (love her expression!) and other gifts... BOOKS!!! new V-pocket games Sarah opening her Triceratops excavation kit

BOOKS!!!

A bow and arrow (she wants archery lessons)

the family gift: blue ray player from daddy!

Our spread to graze on through out the day thanks, in part, to neighbor gifts

Our traditional Christmas breakfast of Quiche, oranges, cinnamon rolls and milk.

The carnage

A snapshot of what the rest of our day looked like...

Bliss!

(and not because of the gifts, but because of the company!)

(but for the record Gene got me a very large 2.5 oz Estee Lauder perfume of Beautiful, sewing stuff and I got him workout clothes and tools)

annual newsletter--top 5 moments of 2010

Hello friends and family! This year I decided to forgo the typical newsletter included in our annual Christmas card and instead direct you to our virtual newsletter, so that you (if you're interested) can see in word and photo the highlights of our year....and browse previous years, posts and links as well. Let's face it, who really likes reading those lengthy newsletters anyway?

Frankly, I don't really enjoy reading the boastful-type newsletter either but, if I'm honest with myself, this past year has been really quite wonderful (which makes me nervous about what's around the corner for next year). Sure, we've had our share of hiccups over the past year--a broken finger, eczema, toothaches, personal challenges, news of an impending buyout at Gene's work & possible layoff, a dying furnace, a dead bunny and I've taken more antibiotics in the last month than I've taken in my whole life--but our children are healthy (and even cavity free), there's food in our pantry, our eyes beheld a lot of beauty this past year and our home is warm and happy! We are blessed!

Before I start to ramble, here's the Top 5 Memories of our year (according to me...because this is my blog). ;) Of course, Gene and our girls might have a top five list of their own--probably their birthday parties or when they went dancing or on some field trip--so if you're interested in reading any of that you can click on a month under 'Previous Yada Yada' in the right link bar to bring up a list of the post titles. To see my daily photographic journey through the year 2010 click on 'My Project 365'. Feel free to leave a comment on any post that you like or just say "Hi." Finally, I want to wish every body a very Merry Christmas and a safe, prosperous and happy New Year! We love you all!

#1 SAN FRANCISCO

In August we took a 10 day vacation to Northern California which is

documented in five posts: Lake Tahoe, Chinatown, Golden Gate Bridge,

Redwoods and Yosemite.

#2 TUCSON, ARIZONA

In April, Gene earned at his work an all-expenses-paid

retreat to Tucson, Arizona. It was an AWESOME privilege to attend

and is documented in three posts: Hotel, Excursions, Award Party.

#3 NEW YORK FRIEND REUNION

After 20 years I finally got to reunite with this lovely

group of ladies. Definitely a highlight of my year! Read about it here.

#4 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

In January we went to Sundance for my birthday.

This was our second time and hopefully will become a tradition.

Read about it here and here. (Our first time in 2006 here.)

#5 SOLDIER HOLLOW

Last March we went on a snow-tubing fieldtrip to Soldier Hollow.

It really was fun even if, after breaking my finger, the weeks that

followed were somewhat miserable & taints my memory of tubing that day.

Read about the fun here and the surgery here.

Well, that's the highlights in my opinion. If you want to read about Gene's Father's Day dedication look under June, Sarah's first co-ed dance look under July and our garden/harvest is mostly in September, as well as back-to-school stuff. Thanks for stopping by! Love, Carla

christmas family outing

Every year at Christmas time our family gets together for some sort of activity. Sometimes it's a movie and dinner, other times it's seeing the lights at Temple Square (like last year) still other years it's sledding & potluck. This year we decided to head to the Utah County area and see the exhibit of Carl Bloch painting on display at BYU, then go out to dinner at the Brick Oven and then drive through Thanksgiving Point and see their light display.

My sister-in-law, Felicia, really did a wonderful job planning the whole thing and getting the tickets. The exhibition at BYU was A.MAZ.ING! The paintings are the originals from Denmark and larger than life-huge! I'm gonna have to go back during a weekday when I can just stand in front of them for as long as I'd like without worrying about blocking some body's view, because his brush strokes are so faint at times, it's mind boggling! Carl Bloch was truly an artistic genius! After the museum we ate pizza and had fun visiting, then waited in a verrrrry long line in our van to drive through the light display. It was very pretty and something every one should do once, but in my opinion not a do-over.

Christ healing the sick at Bethesda by Carl Bloch is hands down

my most favorite painting in the world! This original is larger than life!

Morgan playing with her balloon in the lobby of the Brick Oven

One end of the table: (Jordan, Gene & Steven out of shot)
Chelsea, Laura, Don, Riley & Mom

The other end: Felicia, Lysette, Sarah, Jeff, Josh, Jessica, Morgan, Emma & Alyssa

Carla, Felicia & Lysette

Jordan flashing his "Blue Steel"

Steven & Chelsea playing with their food

The Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point...

Veeeeerrry long line...but worth it...sort of (the kids liked it)

Ice fountain & sculptures

more lights...

The light display ended with this Nativity scene

new york friends christmas par-tay

The group of girlfriends that I reconnected with last March (we were all nannies at the same time in New York twenty years ago) got together for a Christmas pajama party. We planned on just hanging out in our jammies, watching movies and eating finger food. We missed Cammie so much since she couldn't make it, but Glenna, who also couldn't make the drive down from Idaho, skyped us via Vickie's laptop so it was almost as good as having her there! We didn't watch any movies but just sat around, eating, laughing and chatting until 1:30 in the morning. We exchanged white elephant gifts (or as Vickie--the true New Yorker--said "Caucasian gifts") & laughed some more. It was a lot of fun. Man, I love these ladies!!

(Carla) Wirth and Becky waving "hi" to Glenna via Skype

Glenna Skyping in from Idaho and Vickie working the controls on her laptop

Me (and my double chin) listening intently to Becky's disturbing stories

Max Wirth

Trevor (Carla Wirth's husband) giving his boy, Max, some lovin

Vickie, Wirth, Becky & Trevor (and Glenna on the laptop) after the gift exchange

One of the 'finger food' tables

Wood mini family reunion

My mother called me a couple weeks ago to let me know that my (long lost) cousin, Michele (uncle Joe's daughter, from my dad's side), was wanting to get together for dinner. I was excited to see her again (the last time was at my uncle's funeral) and to meet her kids. We met at California Pizza Kitchen at the Gateway, and after waiting seemingly foreeeevvveeeerrr, we got to sit down and have a nice visit and yummy food!

We brought pedigree charts and compared family history and told stories and caught up. Aunt Wanda was so much fun to talk with! And it was so much fun getting to know Michele's kids (would they be my second cousins? cousins once removed? how does that work again?) Kathryn and her husband (Garrett?) and their sweet little boy. After dinner we walked down to the Christmas tree at the Gateway plaza to warm up by the fire and take pics. It was a lot of fun getting together and I hope it won't be years before we do it again!

Looking at pedigree charts & geneology files

(l-r) Don, Michele's son (Dan?), Jeff, Steven,

Dad, Mom, Felicia, Michele and Aunt Wanda

Kathryn and her 10 week old baby boy

Don and Jeff attempting to slide out from the benches gracefully.

Felicia, Carla & Michele
The whole group (my hubby behind the camera) in front of the restaurant.
(l-r) Riley, Jeff, Felicia, Mom, Laura, Steven, Don, Dan?,
Garrett, Kathryn, Kyle?, Wanda, Michele, Carla

Gateway Christmas tree

The fountains at the Gateway

Yours truly (Carla) and Gene warming our hands by the fire.