Christmas Eve…

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas eve bowling - an Abbott family tradition!

Bowling on Christmas eve has been a tradition in the Abbott family for a long time. It was one of Ali's brother Steve's favorite things to do, and one of a few things he continued to do very well at after his brain injury.  The legacy lives on and the kids have all gotten better, and usually beat the adults.

Just chillin' between turns.

The adults!

Grandpa!

Nana impressing everyone with her bowling skills even after her knee replacement last year.

Girl cousins!

The boys!

After bowling, we went to  Nana and Grandpa’s house for more Christmas traditions. We started with dinner, prepared completely by Nana and Grandpa.  We usually go over to their house the night before to set the tables for elegance.  They prepared a delicious prime rib dinner that we absolutely LOVE.

Nana, Dave, Ali, Stephanie, Michael, Nelson, Kirstin (Lisa up from the table) & Kib

Justin, Jacob, Caoline, David, Brittney, Lindsey, Katie and Matthew

After dinner, Santa came for an early visit with gifts for all.  

All of the girls got these cute headbands!

The boys got an array of goods.  Matthew thought he and David were the luckiest with the marshmallow guns.

After Santa’s visit, of course we couldn’t leave out the great Nativity.  I would have to say with the kids growing up, the time preparation is going down and the quality is going up 

We have been rotating through to give everyone a chance to play the leading roles.  This year, we realized everyone had had a turn, so we elected our two oldest cousins there that night to be Mary and Joseph. What great sports we have.

 

Justin and Jacob were the shepherds.  Lindsey was the angel.  Caroline, David and Brittney were the wise men.  Katie was the accompanist and Matthew was the donkey (he was not in this picture I copied from Kirstin and my pictures didn’t turn out, but the memory is there.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted by Kirstin at 10:32 PM

Gingerbread houses!

We had our annual gingerbread decorating contest at Lisa's house.

Girls vs. Boys.

Here are the girls with their house. They made and decorated the North Pole complete with elves and presents inside! They even decorated one side of the roof with an 80's style pattern, hoping to appeal to the judges!

And here are the boys with their gingerbread "house." The boys declared before the contest began that they felt as though they have been "ripped off" in past years because the judging panel (the mom's) don't always appreciate their designs. Reminder: last year they decorated the death of Osama Bin Laden complete with army men and blood and Santa holding a gun as the shooter. They tried to explain that would mean world peace, but still lost to the Girls.

So this year, the boys went for full out judge manipulation! They made a decoration in honor of Seour Pearce, who is serving a mission in Paris France, and "sharing the Gospel, and spreading Good will and Peace!" heehee.  Notice the church building (where Jordan attends church and the "Called to Serve" (in french) banner at the top.  Obviously, they played the heartstrings and it played off.  It almost brought Cindi to tears.

The girls were very good with detail and workmanship.  Every year it is amazing to see how creative both teams can be.  Definitely a lot more fun than your typical gingerbread house.

The boys celebrating their victory!

The judges. We have told everyone we will start accepting bribes for next years contest, beginning....now

‘Tis the Season–Dave’s 40th Birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas cheer

Brittney is in 5th grade and studying US History.  Mrs. Bishop had the kids prepare a readers theater about the Revolution and Constitution.  The kids did a great job and you have to love the teachers, Mrs. Conrad and Mrs. Bishop are both just a few years from retiring but look at how nice they are.  They still enjoy their job and their students.  How thankful we are for good teachers.

Matthew earned his Bobcat 

Yes, Dave celebrated the big “4-0”  Ali granted his wish by not having a surprise party or big celebration, so it was a GREAT birthday!

Although Dave is a University of Utah graduate, he enjoys BYU football, so we got tickets for our family to enjoy the game on his birthday – good sport Dave”

We spent Thanksgiving in St. George at Nana and Grandpa’s house.  It was a lot of fun.  It was definitely different going to a restaurant for dinner, but very relaxing and nobody complained.  We had plenty of time to play games, watch movies and finish our 1000 piece puzzle.  Lindsey and Nana were great hosts.  They had hot chocolate ready for us when we returned from finding treasure golf balls.

Brittney is in Edgemont’s band and plays the clarinet.  She has practiced hard and was able to play with the 6th grade band as a 5th grader.

Lindsey sings with Centennial’s Girl’s Ensemble and the Bell Choir.  She has enjoyed it a lot.

Happy Halloween!

Lisa had a pumpkin carving party at her house and it was a lot of fun.  It is sort of weird when your kids are all old enough to carve their own pumpkins and they look great –new milestone.

Katie and Lindsey are both Harry Potter fans, so their pumpkins were a duet tribute.

Matthew the Military Man.  There was a huge rain storm that hit us hard.  We decided not to shy away from the trick or treating, but just be prepared.  Dave and Ali had perfect Shamu costumes – not sure we wanted to be whales.  They were our ponchos from the “slash zone.”  We decided rather than being whales, we could be SeaWorld fanatics.  Matthew picked up his poncho at the Army Surplus store.  He is definitely a military fanatic.

Brittney and her friends had fashionable rain gear

Eight is Great!

October was a great month.  Matthew turned 8 years old and got to celebrate in many ways!

He had his birthday party a little early, so he could have a swimming party at Nana’s and Grandpa’s pool.  It was tons of fun.

He and Dave did an official backpack and overnighter.  They hiked to Notch Lake, near Kamas, Utah.

He started Cub Scouts and loves it.  He got to participate in a flag retiring ceremony at his firs Pack meeting.  It was REALLY cool!  It was a first for the whole family.  He also got to make and shoot off his rockets and he had a really good launch.  He’s thinking about becoming a rocket scientist.

 

The ward campout was on his ACTUAL birthday and so he had the biggest birthday party EVER!

Matthew’s baptism was definitely the best part of being 8.  He was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on October 30, 2010.

Ali, Matthew and Dave               Sam, Matthew and Coleman

Mrs. Garner               Family fun!