For FHE we went to the temple to look at the lights. We were kind of on a tight schedule so we didn't stay long but we got to walk around.
Then we went to the Adobe Icebox in Ivins for some hot chocolate. Thy have the best!!
We drove, along with everyone else in the city, to Tuacahn for the live nativity. Ethan froze but the rest of us weren't too cold. It was the last night and FHE so it was really packed! Ethan finished his hot chocolate before we even found seats. Then he finished mine. All if us had our hot chocolate gone before it began.
I love this tradition!! Ethan doesn't but some day he will remember it fondly...or at least that is what we keep telling ourselves.
Ethan is in honors science at Lava Ridge. His teacher has a different way of doing grading. Everything is worth 5 points, no matter how many questions are on the test/quiz/assignment. It makes it so you can miss quite a few and still get a good grade, but it also makes it kind of tricky. Every trimester she offers one extra credit assignment to help students keep up their grades. The extra credit assignment is worth 5 points, so it's a lot!
Ethan got a B+ last trimester and told me that he wanted to get a higher grade this trimester. We talked about what it would take and he decided that he wanted to do the extra credit because it sounded like fun. He had to make a musical instrument that could change tone and pitch. Well, he procrastinated and I nagged....he procrastinated some more and I nagged some more. We were getting no where. Then the night before it was due I called in the big guns...Bryan. He is a lot more reasonable than I am when it comes to grades and things. Bryan had even taken Ethan to HomeDepot to find supplies to make the project.
So we talked to Ethan and he decided he would do the project. He wasn't happy about it but the thing about Ethan is that he may not want to start it, but once he starts doing something, he has a lot of fun. So he always feels good in the end, we just have to keep reminding him of that.
So they got out the power tools, drilled some holes, screwed in some things and voila...they made a table guitar. And if you turn the knob, it will change tones and pitch. It's pretty cool. Ethan had a lot of fun playing songs on it and Courtney even got into the spirit and made her own guitar from a box and some rubber bands.
In the end Ethan ended up having fun and he was glad he did it.
Courtney loves to play outside and one afternoon she came running in screaming. She had been playing with a stick. She raised it over her head and it slipped, hitting her in the face. The screaming was more due to the fact that she thought she had just poked her eye out. But, as you can see, it missed her eye, thankfully!
I didn't take any pictures because I was busy but I should have! Our Ward Christmas party was on Friday the 13th so I thought we should have had some fun with it but I was over ruled. The theme was "The Polar Express" and it turned out really well. The Bishopric handed out tickets at the door to everyone and then punched them while the Executive Secretary acted the part of the conductor. He really got into it and had a full costume and everything.
The Cultural Hall was decorated like a train. When we started the party, the conductor read a shorter version of the Polar Express book and then we had a prayer and ate dinner. We had soups in bread bowls and salad. Everyone loved it. There were kids activities in the overflow where they made bells, wrote letters to Santa and colored pages. There was even a station to write letters to our missionaries.
When everyone had eaten their fill, the Primary began a hot chocolate station where you could "build your own hot cocoa." The Relief Society sisters brought cookies.
Then we had a closing prayer and everyone cleaned up. It was great but I am REALLY glad it's over now.
Courtney had her first Pizazz performance for the year on December 13th. This was the same night at the Christmas party for our Ward so Bryan took her. It is also the first time that she had to have her full make up on. I'm not a huge fan of all the make up. They also have a new uniform this year so she was pretty excited for that.
We had to take pictures before they left for the basketball game and I ran back to the Church.
For one of our Christmas activities, we went around looking at Christmas lights. One house in Santa Clara has their lights set to music and we stop each year to watch it. This year I decided to video tape a little bit of their display. It was really cool!
A couple of other houses in town have similar light displays but this is the only one we ever go to. There is usually a line of cars but after a few minutes you can get in front of the house pretty easily.
