Sam and Stacie (Sam's twin sister) had a birthday on Wednesday, 21 December. Douglas, Penny, and Diana made birthday banners for their mother.
In an effort to help fight the cancer in her body, Sam has been eating very healthy over the past few months. She avoids all sugars, including natural sugars. She also eats beans with every meal. Beans remove toxins from your body. So, instead of a birthday cake, we made a birthday can for Sam with her favorite type of bean.
Random video of Diana singing Christmas songs:
On Friday, 23 December, some of Sam's family members gathered at our home for a birthday celebration for Sam and Stacie. They brought a real cake.
Stacie and Sam - the birthday girls
Watching Sam and Stacie open presents
Time for cake and ice cream!
Decorating gingerbread houses
Grandma helping Penny and Diana
The man on the left is Andrew. He is Stacie's fiancé. He came with his two children, Lydian and Tristan. Our children love playing with Lydian and Tristan.
Douglas, Jori, Stacie, Sam - some of the gingerbread house decorators with their finished products.
Diana with her gingerbread house
Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we gathered at my parents' home in Provo. We ate Panda Express, crepes, and other goodies, went sledding, played Rook, and enjoyed more family time.
We made this video for my Dad (Grandpa Ogden) during our trip to California earlier this month.
Yesterday we showed the video to Grandpa and gave him a couple of jars of the yummy juice.
Joy in the juice
We spent two hours sledding at Rock Canyon Park. The weather was great and the big bowl was not crowded.
Left-to-right: Joseph, Gideon, Ari, Maxwell, Sara, Sam, Denali, Douglas, Penny, Diana
The Bowl (Rock Canyon Park)
Gideon
Denali, Sara, Ari, Joseph
Daniel, Joseph, Ari
British salute
Denali attacking Joseph
On our way back to the van, we told Penny and Diana that they could sled down the hill toward the vehicle. We noticed a small grove of trees at the bottom of the hill, but we thought we were far enough to the side to avoid the trees. We were wrong. Penny and Diana were in the same sled. As soon as they started down the hill, the sled curved slightly and headed for the trees. They went straight into a tree and Diana, who was sitting in the front, somehow avoided the collision. Penny did not. The side of her head hit the tree. We ended up in the Emergency Room because all Urgent Care centers are closed on Christmas Eve. The silver lining about being in the Emergency Room on Christmas Eve is the fact that nobody else is there. We didn't wait at all and it was a very quiet visit.
Penny ended up with a gash just above her eye. I think we were lucky (blessed). It could have been far worse. The docs said we could do stitches or glue to help the wound heal. Penny opted for the glue.
After Penny and I returned to Granny's house, we played Rook, read the nativity story, opened a few presents, and said our goodbyes. All things considered, t'was a wonderful Christmas Eve.
This morning, Christmas Day, we attended church for one hour and then we opened presents and enjoyed a peaceful Sabbath.
Douglas was thrilled with this gift from Grandma - Playstix. He loves building.
He was less thrilled with the orange he received in his stocking. I wish I had his initial reaction on video when he yelled in hilarious disgust and physically backed away from the orange.
Sara and Ari laughed as they gifted this mug to me last night.
Diana loves all things related to cosmetics.
Diana loves her new book reader:
I attempted to help Penny with one of her girly presents. That will likely be my last attempt, at least for a while.
Merry Christmas!
