Molly Mormon

I've done it.  I've become that Mormon lady who buys the buckets and then puts Costco-sized dry goods in them.  Currently, I have four 5-gallon buckets sitting in the garage; two have flour, one has sugar, and the other has brown sugar.  We're getting a fifth 5-gallon bucket for rice.  And these buckets don't just sit there.  Oh, no.  They are opened and used, refilling the flour, sugar, brown sugar and (soon) rice containers sitting in the kitchen cupboards.  I have hit the point where we go through these products faster than we used to.  Some having to do with the holidays and how much baking was being done for gifts and such, but mostly the flour because I found a super quick and easy bread recipe that goes great with a lot of our dinners.  So that is where most of the flour goes.  I have become the stereotype, and while I'm not really loving it, my practical side just will not let me routinely have these items on the grocery list when I can buy them once every few months or so.  But still!  I'm a stereotype.  Gah!

Bring him home

There is a countdown of 27 days until my youngest brother reports to boot camp for the Army at Ft. Benning, GA.  It's been on my mind a great deal lately.  I worry about him; he's the baby of the family and has always had the sweetest heart.  I don't want him to lose that.  I worry about him being deployed overseas and getting hurt.  I worry about the worst happening and having to plan a funeral.  I worry about him.  And mixed up in all that is how incredibly proud I am that he is pursuing his goals and dreams, and happiness at how excited he is to be taking this step in his life.  But I can't help but worry.  And as I worry, this is the song that keeps playing in mind--"Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables.  I cling to the knowledge that, while recognizing Heavenly Father's will be done, I can continuously keep Ben in my prayers to help keep me from worrying too much, and that I can only ask Heavenly Father to keep him safe and bring him home to his family in California time and again.  There is an uncle the Davis cousins never got to know because a war took him too soon.  I don't want that for Lily.  She deserves to know how incredible her Uncle Ben is.

Ben and Lily, November 2011

Advent Fun

I decided we needed to start a new family tradition with Lily this year, and chose to do an advent calendar. I've always liked the idea of an advent, but never found one I liked, or that I liked and was willing to pay for. This year I was crafty and made some bags; some days had activities and some had candy. It was fun and gave us things to look forward to. As Lily gets older, we'll do more, but for now, I'm loving it. I'm excited to plan things out for next year.

The 'Twilight Bark' is real!

While watching 101 Dalmations, when the CARTOON dogs started the twilight bark, Maggie responded with her own barking spree. And given her current level of alertness, I'm pretty sure she's on the lookout for the missing puppies.

Quiet Christmas

Christmas was a quiet affair this year.  We stayed home, relaxed, and had a Harry Potter marathon.  We busted through all eight films in three days.  Crazy?  Maybe.  But it was good to see the story all in a row.  Lily was more interested in the tissue paper that accompanied her gifts, but I knew going in that Christmas was for Kevin and I this year.  She'll be more interested next year, and playing Santa will be tons more fun!

In case you can't read it, Lily's shirt asks "Is it too late to be good?" It's a legit question sometimes.

My BIL decided that he was a princess this year, and proved it by wearing a tiara on Christmas Eve.

Lily enjoyed her Christmas Eve jammies

My SIL and I spent Christmas Eve making fun bobby pins.

Deacon Dave's

There is a place not far from our house that puts on a display every holiday.  Deacon Dave has been doing this for 30 years; and each year has a different theme.  It's kind of amazing.  This year the theme was Elfland.  And while the elves were kind of creep looking (think really old mannequins that have been used for thirty years with Spock ears stuck on them), the display is always fun and fantastic. 

The front of the house.  And the line waiting to get in.

Creepy elf getting some hot chocolate

The light count is 345, 300.  And the Grinch is playing inside the movie house. Awesome!

Hermy the Elf (from the claymation Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer movie) finally found a place to set up his dentistry practice. 

Lily looked especially cute.  And was fascinated by all the lights. 

Living Bethlehem

This year, a bunch of churches produced a Living Bethlehem over the weekend.  It was much more than a stable scene with live animals and actual humans playing Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, angels, shepherds, and wise men.  No, this was a full scale town with people dancing in front of the city gates,  Mary riding an actual donkey, wise men coming in on camels and being carried in on a chaise.  It was a full-on production of the story; start to finish.  It was fairly impressive; but so crowded you couldn't really see anything at all.  I hope they do this next year, and that they can figure out a way to handle some of these kinks, because it was incredible detailed and involved.  I was super impressed.

Entrance to the town of Bethlehem.

I really wanted to ride the camel.  And the celebrants out front were doing a good job of keeping the crowd entertained. 

Announcing that the proceedings of registering to pay your taxes would be orderly and that any ruckus would be suitably punished.  I think they were talking to us in the crowd of viewers and telling us to behave or get out.

Sheep and shepards! 

The roman guards costumes were really authentic looking.