Christmas 2012

 Our good looking nephew/cousin Dahlin

 Our Nativity

Courtney reading the story of Christ's birth from Luke

We did not get out of school until the 21st of December this year so Christmas came FAST!  We went to mom and dad's house for Christmas Eve and had are traditional dinner, program, and gift opening.  We had a great program that began with acting out the Nativity and then lots of musical entertainment.  The "Jordan Family Band" played for us.  Madee sang "When Christmas Comes to Town, Megan played the violin and so did Ashley.  Dahlin played the piano.  And Adrienne Tawa, the choir teacher at the high school spent Christmas Eve with us and she sang a song with Jill.  We ate LOTS of good food and then opened a few gifts. 

Great picture of Whitney and Grandpa with their eyes closed! 

 

Then we came home and opened our 

"Night before Christmas presents" 

from Grandma and Grandpa Comstock.

Here we are modeling our Christmas PJ's!

 

 Our one lone stocking left up that Santa did not fill. :( 

We sure miss Jordan!!!!

 Our most exciting Christmas present ALL the way from Honduras!!!!

 Santa Came!

 The Gingerbread house we made in Denver in October. 

I love all the fruit stripe gun!!!!

 

Someone was so kind and thoughtful and came by our house late on Christmas Eve and put up this flag.  With a banner attached to the pole that said
Elder Jordan Comstock
Honduras Tegucigalpa Mission
Jan 12-14
We were touched to think that someone would remember us this Christmas and know we were missing Jordan.  I had an idea of who I thought it might be so we got in the truck around 12:30 and drove around the neighborhood to see if there were any flags in anyone elses yard.
We saw one in Austin Bonzo's yard, the German flag.
There was one in Colby Jone's , the state flag of New Jersey.
There was one in Dani Wynn's yard, the Armenian flag.
It is truly one of the nicest gifts anyone has ever given our family!  I did so good and did not cry all day Christmas Eve but then I saw that flag and I was soooo touched I just bawled!

 

 

Here are the girls holding our LAST present. 

We saved the best one for last! 

Jordan sent a Honduran flag for Mark to hang in his classroom.

And the girls and I some bracelets with our names on them.  :)

 

 

BEST PART OF THE DAY!!!!!!

 

 

 We spent 3 hours SKYPING Jordan!  It was SOOOOO great!!

Everyone was just laughing at me when Jordan first came up on the screen I just started screaming and jumping up and down.  I was so excited I couldn't contain myself.  It was so amazing to see his face and hear his voice.  I was a hard day for him I think.  His first Christmas away from home and in a foreign country with a companion that he struggles a bit with.  He said his companion got nothing for Christmas.  I feel so bad I did not think of that.  But he took some of the stuff we sent him and some things from his grandparents and put them in the stocking I sent him and gave it to his companion.  What a sweet boy he is to do that.  :)  He is doing such great things on his mission!!!We are all so proud of him.  All in all it was a great Christmas!  We are so blessed.  We have a great life and the Savior has bestowed so many wonderful blessing upon us. 

2013 HERE WE COME!!!! 

We look forward to what this next year has in store for us. 

Blog I've Missed You!

I thought I lost the cord to my camera that I need to plug into the computer to download my pictures.  I found a way around it by putting my memory card into the computer and downloaded my Halloween pics.  But it was not very easy to recover them and post them to the blog so I have been avoiding doing it again.  After spending the last 2 months blaming my girls for the loss of the cord it hit me today while I was blow drying my hair!  I remembered where I had put the cord!  Now I cannot remember WHY I put it where I did but I did remember where I put it. :)  I am so happy to be able to blog with ease again. 
       So much has happened since I last blogged!  The 3 biggest things are:
                                                                                       1. Thanksgiving
                                                                                       2. My Birthday
                                                                                       3. Christmas
I have now made it through EVERY family event and holiday without Jordan being there.  He will be gone for 1 YEAR on Jan. 4th.  This has been a long year in many ways but to think I actually survived so many major events without him is amazing.  I know if I can do it for 1 year I can do it all over again in 2013!  :0)  So onto Thanksgiving...

This is how I chose to spend my Thanksgiving morning this year. 

Madee had fun taking pictures at the pool. 

Grandpa reading by the pool. 

Waiting in line for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Mom and Dad an Me.
Don't my parents look GREAT?!?!? 

       We went to Las Vegas and ate at a buffet.  I know a little weird. But I decided spending Thanksgiving morning at the pool instead of in the kitchen was really not to bad.  We waited in line at Planet Hollywood's Buffet for about a half hour or 45 min but compared to the normal prep time for a home cooked meal it was pretty great.  The food was good but no leftovers, which was a big negative.  :(  Also having all the stores and things opened almost made it feel not so much like a family holiday.  I felt sad for ALL those people who were working so hard that day.  We actually STARTED our Christmas shopping too. Which Mark and I never usually do until we get out of school for the Christmas break.  It was a fun little get away with the girls and my mom and dad.

Thanksgiving evening on "The Strip." 

Grandma really wanted us to have a picture by this shop.
To bad we were WAY to full to go in and get anything. 



Oh, how I LOVE these folks.  And how I miss Jordan!!!!

The girls with their Grandparents. 

Now on to my birthday!
I turned 44 on Dec. 14.  Crazy to me to think I am that old.  But Jordan is 20 so I guess if my kids are getting older I HAVE to also.  I had such a great day.  You cannot go wrong spending your birthday with a classroom full of 1st graders.  They are so excited and happy for you they made my day fun.  Around 3:00 Whitney and Phillip and Courtney showed up at school with a gift for me.  I love it when they surprise me at school.  :)   After school we went home and opened gifts.  Then went to dinner at Wingers and to see "A Christmas Carol on the Air" at SUU.  A boy from my class was playing Tiny Tim.  It was a great show. 

 

Halloween

Courtney as Audrey Hepburn.

Our favorite 4 year old and "other daughter"  Audrey with Madee and Whitney.

So Madelynn said she has NEVER carved a pumpkin!  So Monday night Mark got the girls together (and a couple of neighbor kids) and started his masterpiece.  It turned out pretty good I'd say.  :)

Me and my BFF teacher friend Melissa.
Coach Huxford was nice enough to track down Jordan's number for me to wear. 
Of course it was Mark's idea.  How sweet!  I about started crying when he brought the jersey over. 

 GO FALCONS!!!!

My cute class!  Yes all 28 of them!!!!!

How we love the Sister Missionaries!
I think they scored a few extra pieces of candy in our neighborhood with these outfits.
They even reminded many people to read their scriptures as the said thank you and ran to the next house.  Cute girls.  :)  We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight before all the trick or treating began.  It was Madee's idea to be a sister missionary for Halloween and she talked a few of her friends into it.