12/27/16 Temple Visit and Board Games

This morning it was my turn to go to the temple. I did some initiatory and then headed home to get some work done.

I took this photo of Joseph and his new Star Wars Lego T-shirt. And then had this cute conversation with TJ and Joseph. TJ looked a the picture and said "It wasn't me, ha!" To which Joseph responded "it was me" meaning "that's me in the picture". I realized that Joseph, who is just starting to read, didn't know what his shirt says.
Today Amanda and Family went to see the movie Sing with Gram and Papa. We did some things at home. In the evening the Reynolds joined us at our house. We played a game called Tenzies together and then we played Imagine If. The latter is one of my favorite games. We learned that Lily is one of the free thinkers in the Reynold's home. We had many laughs together. The Connelly kids were found whispering "it's after 9 o'clock". They are not accustomed to staying up late. We enjoyed our fun visit with the cousins and Amanda and Eric. Macy had a special time drawing pictures with Rebecca and Sarah. Rebecca has developed a love for caring for little girls. She and Macy were especially cute together.

12/26/16 The Reynolds Clan Comes to Town

We have been looking forward to seeing Amanda and Eric and family for over a month, since we found out they planned to come down to visit. In preparation Papa, Becca B and I went and got the motor home out of storage. Becca B and I both had on our BYU hoodies and Santa hats to keep warm.

When we got everything hooked up we realized that Bigfoot had sprung a leak. Heidi the plumber came to the rescue. She diagnosed the broken part under the sink, bought a replacement part and installed it. She let me help a little but Bigfoot really has a one person at a time bathroom.

Once the plumbing problem was passed we needed to pass the time until the Reynolds arrived. I tried to get a shot of Becca B's new bike flag in action.

Here is another try. I'll have to try again another time to show the words on the sign.
While Becca B biked I got to try out my new skates. Heidi and Sarah skated too. David and Rebecca Noelani took turns driving Gram's scooter. Peter, Joseph and TJ watched LEGO Star Wars cartoons inside the park model.

We decided to check out nearby Mariposa Park to see if the Reynolds might like to play their. Here are Joseph and TJ on a caterpillar. They are wearing Batman and Spider-Man hoodies they got for Christmas.

The kids asked me to take this fun shot on this honeycomb themed playground equipment.
We also tried out my new Aerobie frisbee. As advertised it flies a long way.
While the kids and I played Heidi picked up pizza. In the excitement of Amanda and family's arrival I neglected to take pictures. It was a fun reunion. We ate pizza together and Heidi and I showed Eric and Amanda how to convert the table and chair into beds. We look forward to seeing more of them this week.
After dinner with the Reynolds clan we went home and roasted marshmallows with the Mangum's. Matt, Sharon, Lucy and Alex came over. Matt helped me start the fire and the kids took turns roasting. Sarah reports that eating smores has been one of the highlights of her Christmas break.

12/25/16 Christmas Day

This morning we exchanged gifts. Peter got this dog from our friends the Duffins.

Joseph is into Legos and Star Wars. He loved his LEGO tie fighter from Heidi and me.

TJ got this stuffed creeper from his siblings. It's a character from a game called Minecraft. They sneak up behind you and blow up when you turn around. The cool part to me about the game is that it is like digital legos. You can build houses and rail lines and many other things you can imagine.

Here Sarah is opening some new clothes. The kids keep growing, even though they haven't asked permission. 😉

Rebecca got this game of Battleship from her brother David. He knows she likes to play board games.

David got this roller coaster kit from his sisters. He is big into building things.

Joseph is excited about these Lincoln logs from TJ

Rebecca found these silly glasses for TJ. We think he looks like he's from Duck Dynasty.

Church today was at noon. I enjoyed singing with the choir. In the evening we hung out with Matt and Heather and families.

12/24/16 Many Gifts

At this time of year we celebrate the birth of our Savior. His life is arguably the greatest gift we've been given since it enables us to become forever families. Today we enjoyed many additional gifts. Above is a funny picture. Notice the lack of ornaments from about 3 and a half feet down. That blur is Peter. We started the season with the tree evenly decorated. I am grateful for loving siblings who help put ornaments back up and out of Peter's reach.

This morning Heidi put the final touches on the ramp we made so Gram can go in the house without getting out of her wheel chair. We are blessing to have them nearby. Also to have the parts and Heidi's know how to make this task feasible.

Here is Mom and Dad using the new ramp. Gotta love that smile.

The kids agreed that while this play set has been fun it would be great to give it to our friends the Hallsteds. Here is Heidi cleaning it off.

Papa was our narrator for our annual reading/reenacting of Luke 2.

Becca B came dressed in her Christmas outfit.

Rebecca took on the role of Mary. TJ played the part of Joseph. Peter must've taken on the part of the manager of the inn prepping the manger for the arrival of baby Jesus. Joseph chose not to dress up but still wanted to be in on the action. Perhaps he is a shepherd.

David is one of the wisemen with his gift for the newborn baby.

Sarah is the angel announcing the birth of baby Jesus to the shepherds.

Heidi is the costume designer/head shepherdess.

We closed out a fun visit with Gram, Papa and Becca B by exchanging gifts. We gave them blankets that Heidi had made to keep them warm. Heidi also made a custom flag for Becca's bike.

The kids teamed up to create these reindeer soft drinks for the Roche family.

As we were hurrying out the door to go and visit the cousins the door to the van was swung open too quickly and Peter fell out of the van. He got a big cut on the back of his head.

Another wonderful blessing that we have in this ward is a Bishop who is a surgeon and very kind. Bishop Christiansen kindly gave Peter four stitches for Christmas. One on the inside and three on the outside. Peter seems to be doing just fine now that he's all stitched up.

Once that excitement was passed Peter and I read join the family at the Roche house. Sarah and other kids took turns sharing the gift of music.

We used Heather and Doug's TV to Skype with Grammie and Grandpa Mangum on their mission. It truly is amazing the technology that we enjoy living in the future.

We closed out the evening with another reenactment of Luke 2. This time we had a larger cast.

12/23/16 Christmas Adam

The kids explain that Adam came before Eve so the day before Christmas Eve must be Christmas Adam. We spent the morning with Gram, Papa and Becca B.

David surprised me with his solid present wrapping skills. He was a big help to Gram and me as we wrapped presents for our shindig tomorrow. Heidi and Papa each lead expedition teams to different stores to acquire the remaining supplies needed for Christmas weekend.
After we got home we continued the theme of wrapping presents. TJ, Sarah, Rebecca and David each helped wrap gifts they'd gotten for their siblings. David surprised me again by being a cheerful helper. He really helped us make huge progress. I'm looking forward to not having to stay up crazy late tomorrow wrapping gifts.
This evening Elders Riddle, Davis and Olkjer (pronounced "Oaker") came over for dinner. We did Little Caesar's pizza to allow max wrapping time. The three are good young men and we had a fun visit. They even did a spiritual thought at the end. They shared President Uchtdorf's message that Heavenly Father isn't waited for us to obey some obscure and difficult commandment to bless us. He is blessing us now. We can, and should, improve ourselves but that will not change Heavenly Father's love for us. He loves us now and always.
After the Elders left Heidi and I worked together on a woodworking project. It's another great Heidi design. I can't wait to share it.

12/22/16 Sound Check

This morning, after David was off to school, we got a visit from Laura Jo and Orson Phelps. Their parents needed to teach at at Heritage today but they were out of school. At nine we all went over to the church to test connecting a keyboard to the chapel sound system for Sunday. The good news is that it is just loud enough to work. If we needed it louder we'd have to borrow a mixer from the Stake Center. Gratefully that won't be necessary.

While Heidi and I did sound stuff the kids played in the gym.

Rebecca the reader snagged the opportunity to read a few chapters in her book.
In the afternoon I worked with Michael Hallsted. He needed an office space and I negotiated one for him over at Empire. The spot he's in now is temporary until they put in the planned cubicals. Hopefully the new situation is a good fit for Michael.

12/21/16 Four For Fun

Sarah decided that if TJ was putting up his ornament she should too.

Here is a close-up of her adorable reindeer. It's another glass ornament. I told her to put it as high up on the tree as she could. We'll see how well it lasts.
This morning Rebecca, Sarah, and TJ had their first day of Christmas break. To make good use of it we brought back "Four For Fun", four things they must do before they get to play. Rebecca, Sarah, and TJ upped their completion percentage on Khan Academy math by at least 2%. For Joseph and Peter we used the large number puzzle pieces to teach them about numbers. Peter counted to 10 and Joseph practiced reading double digit numbers. The kids also read, practiced music and helped clean the living room. The nice thing about starting the day this way is that you feel like you got something done even if the rest of the day isn't as productive.
In the afternoon Heidi and I worked together on some work stuff. We are trying to get things sorted out so that we can take a break for Christmas ourselves.

12/20/16 Last Day of School for Entz

Today Rebecca, Sarah and TJ had their last day of school for 2016. I had my weekly meeting at Empire and when I got home so were the kids. It was fun hanging out with the kids today. We mostly let them watch tv. We need to get a plan together or that will get to be too much real quick.
David still has school till Thursday so he had homework to do. It was fun helping him check his math. We have this amazing iPhone app that can solve algebra equations just by looking at them in the camera. The best part is that it shows step by step how to solve them. That way if David did one wrong I could show him the right way to do it. Sometimes it is truly amazing living in the future.

12/19/16 Fender Bender

Today Heidi and I were out doing some Christmas shopping at Target. As I was backing up to leave we felt a small bump and realized that our van and a small SUV had bumped into each other. They and we were OK. It really was a small bump but there was some small damage to the other car's bumper. Our car had zero visible damage. We gave them our insurance. We are grateful that no one was hurt but it did shake my confidence a bit. Heidi pointed out the we were 3/4s of the way out when the two vehicles touched and the other car was only slightly out. She suggests that we had properly checked that it was clear but that they perhaps did not. It makes me feel frustrated thinking about it. We'll see what happens.
The highlight of the day was the Alcantar annual Christmas party. They had pancakes made from scratch, amazing buttermilk syrup and a sledding hill. Sledding in Arizona is no small feat. A company brings in a special "hill" on a trailer. Then they grind up about 1500 pounds of ice into "snow". The kids love it. They went down the sledding hill over and over. I was distracted and forgot to take pictures. Oh well, next year.

12/18/16 Peter Puzzle

This afternoon Peter and I decided to work on this wonderful Nativity puzzle that my mother made years ago. He was having a good time so I decided to snap a photo. Just at that moment one of the pieces wouldn't fit and Peter made this great face. It is not usually my favorite of his expression but he does use it a lot. He has also mastered, at the youngest age of our kids, the ability to turn "mom" or "dad" into deca-syllabic words. He communicates in no uncertain terms that we are now ruining his life. Incidentally, we did complete the puzzle and Peter was very pleased about it.
Another highlight today was that Heidi and I got to substitute teach in primary again. This time we were teaching TJ's class the Christmas lesson. We brought the nativity puzzle wrapped up like a present and had the kids guess what might be inside. Then we asked them to talk about why Jesus Christ is the most important gift it's ever been given at Christmas time. We also had a good discussion about gifts we can give that can't be wrapped, like service. Heidi gave each of the kids a little card that they could write on and create a "service coupon" to give as a gift to a family member. TJ's class of six-year-olds is adorable and a real treat to be able to teach.
This afternoon we went as a family and delivered treats to my home teaching families.

12/17/16 Piano Recital and Almond Cookies part 2

This morning we were treated to seeing Sarah and Rebecca perform in their Fall piano recital. Sarah played Silent Night and We Three Kings and Rebecca played Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.

Here is Rebecca introducing her number.

Heidi gave Rebecca a special braid for the occasion.

After a brief attempt at sitting still Peter and Joseph assume their usual position in the hallway. David kindly took a turn watching them so that Heidi and I could both see the performance.

This morning TJ informed us that it would be best open his Christmas present to us early. He wanted to have a chance to put his glass Christmas ornament on the Christmas tree. I'm not sure that as a family we are ready for glass Christmas ornaments but ready or not here we are.

On our way home from the piano recital Papa texted us to let us know about some drama with the Almond cookies from yesterday. The almonds we used had worms and we decided to toss the whole batch and start over.

On the bright side Heidi decided to make a triple batch this time. That meant that this time there were enough that our family got to have some. They were delicious. You can see that Gram, Papa and Becca B came over to our house to help with round 2. Hopefully this time we stuck the landing.