The Best Part of All

Of all the great stuff and good times we had in Utah the best part of all was getting to visit Grandpa Church.

We love him so much and enjoyed our visits with him at the Veteran's home.  We had some very sweet moments with Grandpa and we are so glad that we decided to come to Utah at this time, without a doubt it was the right thing to do.

Its hard to express our love and the tenderness we felt being with Grandpa and Grandma Church.

Here are just a few sweet memories:

-Some days when we went to visit Grandpa he was very tired and sleepy.  These were still precious visits because it gave us a great opportunity to sit and talk with Grandma Church and hear stories about Grandpa.

-We weren't sure if Grandpa would recognize or know who we were, especially because we had not seen him for a while and his physical and mental health had declined so much.  The first time we took the girls to visit, when Paige walked up to Grandpa he immediately said, with tears in his eyes, "Paige!" and grabbed her hand.  Later, Grandpa did the same with Dave.  These were precious times, the love just filled your heart.

-Grandpa was deservingly but also somewhat miraculously given a bed at the new George Whalen Veterans Home in Ogden, Utah.  It is a wonderful facility, close to home and a real blessing to Grandpa, Grandma who came to visit and stay with him every day and the rest of the family as well.  I think everyone felt confident he was receiving the best care.  As visitors, we witnessed a lot of it.  We also got to meet a lot of other residents.  It really is an honor to be in the presence of so many WWII veterans and heroes.  They really are the Greatest Generation.

-Despite Grandpa's health issues, paralysis from stroke and Alzheimers, he was still very much the man we love.  Grandpa is so kind and he has a great sense of humor.  So even though he was always trying to get us to bust him out of there, it was in his jovial way.  I hope that one day I can be as gracious in the midst of my struggles.

So This Is Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Holt's house for a family party---the Gees, Holts, Smiths, grandparents and great-grandparents, missed seeing the Wahlquists and the "Scotty" Smiths.

Its a tradition to have a table full of finger foods and appetizers.  Its a smorgasboard favorite foods.  We love it!  Dave and I brought a Chick-fil-A nugget tray, Kris and Brian made a HUGE batch of Somtum with sticky rice, and Kelley brought Tastee's Donuts.  That was just three of the many delicious items, holiday gluttony...makes me hungry just thinking back on it.

Besides the food, Grandma Smith put together a really sweet program using song and scripture to teach the kids the true meaning of Christmas.  Grandpa Smith even played guitar.  Each of the kids or whoever wanted to also got to share a talent such as playing the piano or singing a song.  Nikki sang an adorable rendition of the Hippopotamus for Christmas song, while the rest of the girls played the piano. Ashley and Paige played a "Silent Night" duet and Ashley also played a piece from the Nutcracker.

After the party, it was time to get home.  The girls set out some cookies for Santa, opened their Christmas PJs and headed off to bed.

Thank goodness we all got a good night's sleep because Christmas morning was pretty exciting.  It was really fun to open presents with Grandma and Grandpa and Scott and Katie.

I think Paige and Ashley were pretty pleased.  Paige got the voice password journal she wanted so much.

Ashley got a great surprise---her very own iPhone.  I don't think she saw that one coming.

A little later in the afternoon, everyone at the Smith house went their separate ways to visit with other families.  We went to have dinner with Kelley and David Gee.  It was so fun.  Kelley is a fabulous cook.  I was definitely impressed, especially because they had just returned from a trip to Idaho on the 24th and Kelley still managed to have everything including a big meal ready on Christmas Day.  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone got pictures of the dinner.  I consider it a compliment because the traditional ham dinner was so tasty.

Besides the food, our two families just had a great time visiting and watching the kids play.  Paige just disappears with Kelley's girls as they all go off to play, while the little boys find a kindred spirit in Dave and play with him.  Because the Gees just recently moved to Utah from Rexburg, we got to see them and spend more time together than we have in an long time.  It was great!

Later in the evening, we headed over to see my parents, exchange presents and eat a little more food!
Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures :(

My dad thrilled he got some Ong Bak videos

Christmastime Summary

We had such a great time in Utah.  I love to spend holidays with family.  I love to see our girls play with cousins, talk with Aunts and Uncles and hug their grandparents.  I know these times will be special memories my girls have of their childhoods.

Here is a recap of some of the things we did:

Family get-to-together at the Holts

Our first order of business was visit to our cousins!

Paige and Grandma made lots of cookies for the residents
at the veterans home

Shopping and writing letters to Santa

Elf on the Shelf.  Oh my, I was really hoping to avoid this fad altogether.  Unfortunately, Paige has a close friend who told her all about the Elf on the Shelf.  They even went so far as to write a letter to Santa asking him to send Paige an Elf on the Shelf.  My fate was sealed when another friend bought Paige an Elf for her birthday.  So this Christmas season, we had Candy Cane, our Elf on the Shelf, with us.  She turned up in all kinds of places.  She even came to Utah with us and ended up in really high places like on the ceiling fan!

A new tradition in Dave's family is Christmas BINGO.  All the Smith siblings and their families get together for a rousing game of BINGO, food and prizes.  This is only the second time we have been in town for the party.  It was a very fun, the girls loved it.  Plus everyone leaves happy because everyone is a winner multiple times!

This is Grandma Church's Christmas present
from us.  She loves BYU!

Ashley and Ali

Paige thrilled with her first win

Paige also won Grandpa Church's roadster music box.  She
was so happy to have something of Grandpa's

the prize table spanned the whole length of the stage

The "cute girls"

Uncle Brian and Uncle David checking out their prizes

Grandpa and Grandma Smith treated all the girls and grandkids to a Santa Claus Symphony at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City.  It was a fun performance just perfect for kids.  After the show, we went to the City Creek Center for lunch.  What a great day of riding Trax, listening to beautiful music, eating, and playing with cousins.

waiting outside for Trax. It was windy cold, so there were
lots of intense faces!

Once we were on the train, the smiles came out

The whole crew in front of Abravanel Hall

All the cousins (and a couple random kids) lined up on the balcony

This was my fortune at lunch time!  Yikes!  No one wants this
one at Christmastime

The girls also got some piano practice in.  First with some friends of Aunt Katie and Uncle Scott Smith.  Paige and Ashley also brought the music they have been working on for a Christmas piano recital so they could share their talents at the Smith Family Christmas Eve Party.  The nice thing about Dave's family is that there are so many gifted pianists and singers, that the girls get immersed in music, a nice change of pace from their musically-challenged parents.

Singing around the piano

Just Dance - that counts as music too

We also had some good meals with Grandpa and Grandma Smith

Lunch at Roosters

We also spent some time with my family too.  The first thing we did when we went to visit with my dad, besides eating :), was to help set him up on Facebook.  All his family from Thailand are on so it was time to get him on.  Technology is new to my dad and he is a very slow typist, so I tried to make everything as easy as possible.  Fortunately, it seems to be working!  He is figuring it out and has even started posting status updates!  Way to go dad.

Here is my dad's profile pic

We also got together with my sister Becky's family and my mom's brother's family, the Gibbs - Uncle Wade, Aunt Lynn, their kids Colin and Amy, and their grandkids.  Becky hosted a dinner at her house. It was fun to see everyone again.

Playing with the Vudhivadhana Cousins

Ashley, Andrew, and Wyatt

Jenny, Amy and Dave

Tough Guys - Dave and Colin

Phyllis, Lynn and Wade

Dave, Chuck, Becky and Will

Last of all, we finally did get some snow!