The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Call me crazy, but I kind of like the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. I like the parties and the programs and the lights and the anticipation. It makes for some fun memories. Also, Alex usually takes at least a week off so we can spend some quality time as a family.

We like to go to Mt. Charleston and go sledding at least once in December. This time we stopped at the Mt. Charleston lodge for hot chocolate after sledding. It's as close as we come to a "white Christmas."

I love the oohs and aahs of Christmas morning. That's actually the best present I could get.

Sometimes for a quick little vacation we go to St. George. This year the day after Christmas we went there. We explored the local church history sites such as Brigham Young's winter home, Jacob Hamblin's home, and of course, the beautiful St. George temple. The temple is all lit up for Christmas and has a lovely nativity outside.

We were just going to stay for one day, but then decided to stay for two. We were able to visit my Grandma Haynes who stays in St. George for the winter. We were also able to visit with my Grandpa Herschel. He is almost 93 years old. His body is getting weaker, but his mind is still sharp. We had a great visit with him.

Our trip to St. George would not be complete without eating at Cracker Barrel. I like it because I feel like I'm eating good homemade food that I  would not make at home. The kids like it because they find unique goodies at the country store.

Lance's Baptism

It was a day to remember for more reasons than one! Lance's baptism was scheduled for December 10, 2011 at 3 p.m. We sent out nice invitations to all the friends and family. It was going to be a tight squeeze in scheduling because the kids had a dance and tumbling show at one. But I thought they would be first then we would have plenty of time to get there. However, Wednesday the 7th I was informed that due to the annual Henderson Christmas Parade being changed to an evening light parade, the baptism would have to be rescheduled. The problem was that since our stake center is right on the parade route, parade entries such as school marching bands would be lining up and practicing right at the same time as the baptism. The stake leaders decided to avoid that commotion by moving the time up to one. That presented a problem for us because of the tumbling show and also  because Alex wasn't getting off work until 2.  So we could either reschedule for another day or find a different chapel so Lance could have his own baptism. After calling around I was able to get the Palo Verde chapel, which happens to be the building of our previous ward. Then we had to call everyone and tell them that the place had changed. So the day comes and I thought we should take our things so we could go right to the church when the kids were done. But then I thought we would have enough time to go home and change. As it happened, the kids were last on the program and we had to rush home and change. So we didn't arrive quite on time but good thing we weren't the last ones there. Lance asked Grandma Susan and Grandma Sharon to give talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost. All of the cousins sang "I Know that My Savior Loves Me." It was really personal for Lance because he was the only one getting  baptised.