Merry Christmas 2011

Santa was kind to Madee and Courtney.

Christmas clean up.

BINGO
We started a new tradition this year.
Thanks Aunt Kathleen!
It was really fun.
It must have been fun it
looks like we played a long time
in some pictures it is light outside
and others it is dark!

Julie made some fun Christmas BINGO cards and
the missionaries even joined us.

 We had a great Christmas.  We are very blessed.  We had our Christmas "breakfast at our house around 2:30 (because of everyones various church times).  I was so glad to have Jordan home with us.  Everything he got were things he needs for his mission.  (Except for the "HEAT" shersey.
I thought he should get at least ONE thing that was kind of fun.  Whitney got her PINK sweats that she REALLY wanted.  Mark got an Iphone he had been wanting and I got a Cuinsenart.  Everyone was happy.  The best thing about Christmas Eve and Christmas day was just being with family.  It was also nice to go to church on Christmas day.

Christmas Eve 2011

Whit and Court going to Grandmas and Grandpa's for Christmas Eve!

Whit and Me at the Christmas Eve Program.

Courtney and Dad

Madee singing "Away In A Manger."

Courtney playing a Christmas medley.

Christmas PJ's

Best gift of Christmas Eve.
We always open all our presents from
Grandma and Grandpa and David and Julie
on Christmas Eve.  This was the best gift, it was from
David and Julie and Family.(Julie is always so thoughtful and creative.)
 We each had our own box
wrapped and they told us to open them all together.
So we ripped through them all at the same time.
They were boxes of candy with movie tickets taped to
one side and each box had a word taped to the other
side.  You can't read them in this picture.  But we had to
figure out how to put the words together to make
a sentence.  It said..."Make a memory with your missionary."

Whitney, Jordan and Dahlin.



Our Nativity

Farewell Sunday

Whit and her friends.  Many of whom have brothers Jordan's age who are
on missions or getting ready to go.

The girls of the class of 2011.
Jordan has been friends with these girls since middle school.

Dave arranged a piano piece for Jordan.
He combined Call To Serve, Army of Helaman, and
I Hope They Call Me On A Mission.  He played
the piece for us all Sunday night.

The boys of the class of 2011.
One of them is going to Chile and one to Mexico.
And Zack who Jordan baptized a year and half ago is going to England!

I had to have a picture of all the desserts. 
This is not even all of them!!!

Jordan gave his "farewell" talk on Sunday.  I could not have been more proud of him.  It was such a great meeting.  His friend Chelsea spoke, then he spoke, then our neighbor the Stake Patriarch spoke.   The musical number was a piano and flute number, O Holy Night.  Jordan did such a great job on his talk.  He spoke about waiting upon the Lord and accepting things on the Lord's time.  He spoke of waiting SOO long to leave for his mission and the things he has learned.  He spoke to each of his sister and his dad and me.  He said he felt like Nephi because he knows he was "born of goodly parents".  It was a TOTAL mom pay day!!!  It was also VERY emotional.  He is a great boy and his sisters and him love each other so much.  It will be SOOOO hard to have him gone for so long but I know he will be blessed and protected and I know he will do a great work!  The chapel, overflow, and gym were full.  Mark said he couldn't help but think of Clarence and It's A Wonderful Life.  Jordan is certainly NOT a failure.  He has so many good friends.  We fed 90-100 people at the house after the meeting.  I could not have done it without help from good people and my family!  We were also so excited to have Spencer here with us!  Kate and Matt and kids also came out for the day too.  We have such a great extended family. 

FAMILY... Hold on to the things that last

Who could ask for better kids?!?!

I love this boy soooo much!!!

AND I love this boy soooo much too!

We had a family photo shoot back in October.

I guess it will be our last one for about 2 years.

Mark and I are so blessed to have such great children.  

My Elder

So Jordan leaves one month from TODAY.  Think about what  you were doing 1 month ago...
Me, I was preparing to take Jordan to the temple.  We went on Saturday, Nov. 5th.  So ya, 1 month goes by in the blink of an eye.  I guess I better not blink for a while.  :0 ) 

My favorite one.  The one I will put next to my plaque.
"A missionary leaves his family for 2 years
so that another family can be
together for eternity."

Jordan's favorite.  This one will be on the plaque that
hangs in the Church by the Bishop's office. 

I am sooooo proud of Jordan.  He will be such a great missionary.  Those people in Honduras are so lucky!!!!!!

It's A Wonderful Life

Mark gathered the family together on Sunday night and we all watched the classic movie.  It reminds me of my grandparents and just makes me feel good.  I loved being able to watch it with my entire family.  We watch it each year as a family as a kind of "kick off" to the Christmas season.  I really love the thing that Clarence wrote to George.

"Remember no man is a failure who has friends."  

Isn't it so true? Thank you to all who read this blog and keep up with our little family!!!! 

It's nice to have friends, even when you are OLD!

I did not take any pictures of my fun.  (I guess I only carry the camera when the kids are involved.)  I went with Whitney and a bunch of girlfriends to see The new Twilight movie on opening night.  We sat outside wrapped up in blankets and were first in line at the 7 o'clock show.  It was fun to be with friends and the best part about the movie was the "Hunger Games" premier. 

 CAN"T WAIT FOR THAT ONE!!!! 

Then on Sunday me and 3 of my distinguished colleagues/friends went up to Salt Lake for a writing conference.  We shared a room and had fun on Sunday night!  We went to the class and hit a couple of malls and of course the BYU Creamery on the way home.  I treated everyone to mint brownies.  One of my friends had never been to Salt Lake.  So we ate lunch at a cute deli right downtown and she had her first Chik-fil-a for dinner.  I showed her the MTC and told her all about how Jordan would be living their soon.  It was a really fun trip.  And I got my Christmas shopping started.  WOW!  That NEVER happens.  Mark and I usually start when the school break does! 

Gotta love the game! (even if getting home is complicated)

Jordan and K'Loni went to the BYU game last Saturday.  All went well with the trip up but as they were in Provo getting something to eat they got in a fender bender.  The car was not driveable so they had a problem getting home.  Luckily, they had a friend up there with a nice grandma and grandpa so they had a place to lay their weary heads.  And bonus "my Cassie" was there.  ( It was her grandma)  K'Loni's dad drove up and got them on Sunday morning.  I was heading up there Sunday afternoon for a writing conference.  And passed them on the interstate.  I am just so glad they were safe. 

Lucky Girl

Yes, I am a lucky girl!  Today during my prep period at school I walked into the teacher workroom and checked my "box".  Usually there are a bunch of papers for me to pass out to the kids.  However today there was a card addressed to:
                                                                                         Mrs. Becky Comstock
                                                                                         c/o North Elementary

The card had a stamp and everything on it. I recognized the handwriting immediately and the return address was ours here at the house.  Mark wrote me the sweetest note.  :)  It totally MADE my day.  Mark is definitely at the top of my "things I am thankful list".

I had the best day with you today...

Thanks to Taylor Swift for the title of this post.  We took Jordan to the temple yesterday.  What a day!  It was absolutely perfect.  Jordan is so lucky to have such a great support system.  He had both Mark and I there, and both sets of his grandparents and one aunt and uncle.  I think that is pretty amazing!  What a great feeling it was for all of us to be in the temple together.  It is what life is all about.  These small moments that come together and bring so much joy and happiness to our lives.  We are an extremely blessed family. 

It is just getting SO close!

Last year Jordan and Kaden after having their heads shaved in an assembly. 

They were student body president and vice president and they lived in a trophy case for 24 hours to raise money for the less fortunate at Christmas.  They raised over $1200.00 and had to have their heads shaved in an assembly!

At Prom with their sisters!  Jordan and Kaden are best friends and Whitney are Kyra are too!!

Jordan said "I am leaving 2 months from today."

We went to Kaden's farewell on Sunday.  I bawled through the whole thing.  I just kept thinking about how many of these things I had been too.  And how I always sat there and thought about what great boys these were and how it was so nice Jordan had these good examples to look up to.  On Sunday all I could think was "This is KADEN!  Jordan's best friend.  Kaden, who has been to our house a million times, Kaden is all grown up and leaving this week for his mission!  Kaden gave such a GREAT talk.  He is such a great kid.  I am so blessed that my children have chosen such good friends.  We are taking Jordan to the temple tomorrow.  What a blessing.  He will have ALL of his grandparents there, his parents and one aunt and uncle.  I also know countless others that love Jordan will be there in spirit.  I am hoping no one will mind if I walk in carrying an entire box of tissues!!!

P-A-R-T-Y



I failed to get any pictures of just Whitney and her date.  It was a little crazy
at the house.  But there she and Tyler are on the left in the dark purple.
Tyler and Whitney have been friends for years.  Tyler has a sister Kassidy
who is Jordan's age.  They have been friends forever too.  Kassidy and Jordan actually
went the Sadies Dance together their Junior year too! We are so blessed our children choose friends from such good families. 

Sadies was last night and we (well mainly Mark) made dinner for Whitney and her group.  The kids always travel in packs to the dances.  This group had 10 girls from the soccer team and their dates.  They decided to be dodge ball players.  Whitney and her date Tyler were "Team Whitler"  Kyra and her date Tyson were "Team KyTy".  And so on and so on with the other girls and their dates.  They all met at our house before the "day date".  After a lesson on how cool indexing is and a couple of scriptures and quotes from Elder Bednar... from Mark.  They had a fun day of pumpkin carving, picnics, and paint wars and then came to our house for dinner.  Mark's famous Japanese Chicken and rice.  I made the salad (opened the bag and poured it on the plates).  Madee took their orders for salad dressing and drinks and she and Courtney served the plates and made sure everyone had enough to eat and drink.    I also made some "Better than indexing cake" for dessert.  This cake has another name in some circles but for this day we decided to call it that.  :)   It was fun having such a great group of kids at the house. 

Yes, I do get paid for this!!!!

Here I am with a few of my fellow educators and BFF's on
ROCK STAR day!  Because being drug free ROCKS!
Red Ribbon week at school this week and Friday we all dressed
like ROCK STARS. 

Me and rockin girls.  Yes I only have 5 girls in my class this year!