December was full of fun, family outings and festivities. Here are pictures and stories for the highlights:
Dan's sister and her girls decided to decorate a tree for the Pocatello Festival of Trees. Well, Dan and I couldn't miss the chance to see the final product of their creativity.
Here's Dan next to the Loveland Girls' Tree.
This one had an oriental theme and I thought of my good friend Kara when I saw it.
(Kara's been living in Tokyo, Japan for the last 3 years.)
Highland High School's Senior Choir was performing the day we attended the Festival of Trees. Which meant our niece Emily was performing. So of course we would attend that concert! (Emily's the blonde on the back row with the big, beautiful smile on her face.)
It was fun to see into Kevin, Matt, Neal, Liz, and Emily Loveland there that day.
On December 16th my brother graduated with his BS degree from ITT Technical Institute. Dan and I drove down for the graduation ceremony. WAY TO GO KEVIN! I was so proud of him I had tears in my eyes several times that evening and I'm only his sister.
Here's the graduate, AND Salutatorian!!!
Some of the family who came to support Kevin!
Others were there in spirit...Ann's & Lynette's families...
(Dan's behind the camera. Also not pictured, Aunt Susie & Uncle Ed James.)
After the graduation we headed home, however, we made a stop in Morgan to see Amanda's apartment all decked out for Christmas. Dummy me didn't take any pictures so you'll just have to trust me that it was very festive and cute. (Man I wish I had her talent for decorating and colors!)
This year I decided to do some cooking and baking. I made "Jeansoyke Cinnamon Bread" for our neighbor gifts this year. The final count was 20+ loaves made and delivered. Good thing it's a very easy recipe and each batch makes 2 regular sized loaves. (As you can see, I figured out the hard way that I could get 6-7 small loaves from a batch.)
I also made two batches of Mrs. Claus's Clusters for different family gatherings.
(HUGE thanks to Beth Anne & Michelle for the recipes. Those who partook, mostly Dan and I, LOVED them!)
Since Amanda and Sid spent Thanksgiving with us, they spent Christmas Day with their mom. We looked at schedules and decided that the best time for us to get together was December 22-23. They came over the evening of the 22nd and we each selected a game we wanted to play.
One of the games played was Mario Kart on the Nintendo GameCube. I'd never played before and it was quite funny. I successfully came in absolutely last place every time I played. I couldn't stop laughing at my inability to get the car to go where I wanted it to go. I managed to fall off bridges frequently enough that the game just moved me to the other side of the bridge so I wouldn't have to try to drive across it. Thankfully we played in teams so my players didn't always take last place but I wasn't much help to my teammates...
Sid decided to leave the GameCube with us so I could practice before our next family gathering. I am proud to say that practice did pay off. I not only developed a blister on my thumb from my diligence, I also managed to move up the ranks to 4th, 3rd, and often even 1st! That was playing alone or against the other family members.
After all 4 games were played, we all decided we wanted to see if Santa would come early so we could open our gifts that night instead of the next morning. Amanda, Sid, and Dan all headed into one room and me to another. After awhile I came out into our living room to find this....
SANTA CAME EARLY!!!! I'm so glad he's flexible!
I went into get Dan, Sid, and Amanda to let them know and found this...
I think they were faking sleep but I'm not exactly sure how I figured that out...
FINALLY we were ready to go see what Santa had brought...
...and also to OPEN GIFTS!!!!
Santa brought Sid & Amanda copies of the book The Scarlet Pimpernel. Now they'll know the whole story and not just the musical version.
The Brave Little Toaster from Sid...
Music Law from Amanda...
A blanket with sights of Pocatello from JaNae... (Part of home to take with us when we move to WA in January.)
A "Family" Frame to display pictures from Sid...Our new family photos will loo great in this!A webcam for Amanda from Dad & JaNae... Now we can be cool and Skype with each other between Utah and Washington!
A book of Christmas songs complete with the guitar chords from JaNae....
Sheets and a pillow for Sid to take on his mission. from Dad and JaNae...All-in-all, Santa was very generous, as was everyone else!
On Christmas Eve, Dan and I joined the Lovelands for their dinner and traditions. (Last year we joined Mark and Amy, so this year we decided to go to Ann and Kevin's.) A delicious dinner and retelling of the Chirstmas story.
Christmas Day arrived and we slept in...till my mom called and woke us up...at 9:00 am (the joys of being empty nesters). We had a casual day together playing Mario Kart, eating yummy leftovers and goodies, and visiting. Towards the early evening we headed out to Ann and Kevin's again, but it was just as they were leaving for their traditional Christmas dinner at Kevin's parent's house. So off to Mark and Amy's to play games and visit.
December 26th was family pictures for the 4 of us. Then back to Mark and Amy's for dinner, more games, puzzles, and visiting with all the Horrocks. Andy and Angela were there with their 5 children. We had people everywhere...again, I didn't take any pictures, not sure what was wrong with me. It was great to get caught up on everyone's lives and hear about Rebecca's Christmas phone call home.
Monday, December 28th, Dan, Sid, and I drove to Sandy, Utah for my family's Christmas party. We met at my sister Lynette's house. For dinner it was the Broadbent traditional Christmas breakfast; scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cinnamon pull-a-part, and orange juice. Of course there were LOTS of yummy treats to go along with the meal!!!!!
After dinner, the grandkids were playing and watching a movie while the children and grandparents played "Mafia." A very interesting game to play with family. Much was learned about each person and vendettas have now begun....(I'm kidding)
Amanda drove down after she finished work in Morgan. It made for a long day for her but we were so glad she would make that sacrifice to be there with all of us!
Here are a few videos of our Broadbent Family gathering:. (I promise I'm not playing favorites with videos & pictures...)
As you can tell, we're extremely organized...chaotically organized that is. :) Despite the chaos, Lucy and Shayla did a great job singing!
It was great fun to have the Broadbents together! (All of us were there except Nathan who decided Sunny Southern California would be better than Snowy Central Utah...what's up with that?! We missed you, Bud!!!!!)
Spending time with family is the B-E-S-T, BEST! Especially during the holidays. See you all at our future family gatherings which we hope are sooner rather than later!
3 comments:
Can I just say that we had some type of Nintendo game system since I was six, and I still can't beat anyone at Mario Kart? I can fall off objects that I didn't even know were there and get stuck for hours banging into the same wall. Glad you overtook my horrendous abilities. We should play together, I'm sure you'd win.
Nice post! What's this "only" his sister stuff, geez, he's still been with you guys longer than he's been with me, by 4 years.
I pledge to comment and come by more often! Verily.
Well, I'm not his wife or mother-you both had more right to tears in your eyes that night than I did. :) Kelley, you're GREAT!
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