Christmas in the Cove

The Alpine Cove Ward Christmas party was last night. It was a great evening, starting with magical decorations, from the lights to the table tops! The food was catered and delicious.  

We give a lot of credit to Debbie and Heinz who headed up the committee! They had an amazing support staff that really made everything come together!

Santa came before the party, and he had a special room to greet the children and have his picture taken with them!

Ed and I were in charge of the program, and we had some great talent in our ward. 

The ward choir opened the program with a lively flash mob rendition of I Heard from Heaven Today!

The Pullham family sang "Let it Be Christmas."

The Scotts did a beautiful duet of Mary's Lullaby.

Adah Shippen told a great Chistmas story!

The bishopric did a cute Charley Brown skit about the true meaning of Christmas.

Everyone's favorite was the primary singing Picture a Christmas. The congregation also sang a verse that started, "Picture a Christmas without Children."

The Juniper Jam Band (formerly known as the Alpine Slow Jam), did Bluegrass, White Snow, with Hazel Atwood singing a terrific solo on that. We had the congregation join us on Go Tell it on the Mountain, and finished up with Christmas in the Cove, a song I wrote especially for the program. Debbie and Tara really did a great job on the last song. We hoped to have the ward members humming it in their heads as they went home!

Then we all cleaned up! It was a long day, but full of great memories to savor for several weeks!

   

If you want to sing our new song, here is a copy of it!

Brrrr!

It was 17 degrees out when we went walking this morning! We thought we'd get Coda all decked out in her Christmas outfit to keep warm!

Ed and I wore boots, but the paths on the south side of the park were clear!

The north side of the park doesn't get as much sun, and we were glad we had our boots on when we hit Spring!

We found the strangest paw/hoof prints in our back yard when we got home. They were large and in a straight line.

Here the animal stopped to look around! Too big for deer, I think. Cougar? Bigfoot? Let us know if you have an idea!

Bell Choir with Kids

We met Brittany and the girls at the Provo Library yesterday for a bell ringing concert. Marti also joined us. Mabel loved clapping for each piece! That was party of the fun.

 Clementine loved sitting on Grandpa's lap!



I got to hold Mabel while she sang Jingle Bells with the bell choir!

Provo Christmas Market

We met the Stevens family Saturday night in Provo for the lighting of the trees and an outdoor Christmas market. We enjoyed dinner at Good Thyme and then went shopping for crafts and snacks on the street.

John had double-decker girls, who really enjoyed the ride!

Calvin and Mabel loved running around the grass among the beautiful trees. We were able to get them to pose for a cute picture before going on their merry way!

We enjoyed the beautiful, mild weather and being with family for the evening!

Zam Baby Shower

Brittany and I went to a baby shower for her friend Zam on Saturday. It was hosted by some vert nice ladies in the Alpine ward where she lived for several months when she first came to the states.

Zam is always so cheerful, despite being the only member in her family here in the United States! Brittany is excited to able to be with Zam when the baby is born around December 21st!

Clementine stands up!

It has been fun watching Clementine grow. She is starting to pull herself up to furniture! She loves toys and wanted to see what was in the ottoman here!

We enjoyed having the girls over Friday night while Brittany and John went out. They looked like they had grown a lot in the week and a half since we last saw them!

Festival of Trees

We went to see the Festival of Trees in SLC Wednesday night. It is a fundraiser for children's hospital, and was amazing! We didn't pace ourselves very well, as it took hours to see everything!

My favorite tree was the elf tree my sister made in memory of her son, Kurt. It was not only covered in elvess, but included a toy box and a beautiful quilt! I was proud of my small contribution (the vinyl letters "Toys" on the box).

We went with Chuck and Renee who were experienced tree lookers, and showed us the ropes.

I was glad Renee knew about the boutique at the end of the hall! I couldn't buy any of the display quilts, but found a great Christmas quilt in the boutique. I'm excited to curl up with it in front of the TV this month, and happy I was able to make a small contribution to a great cause!

We also stopped by the South Town Mall to see the Hogwarts exhibition. It was a bunch of fancy kiosks in the center selling Harry Potter paraphernalia. It wasn't nearly as magical as I was hoping, and it also closed early, so we had to peek at it through the gates!

On a happy note, the food court turned out to be a great place to eat and rest our weary feet after a fun evening.