Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Corine always makes Clam Chowder for Christmas Eve dinner. So we all got together for dinner on Christmas Eve. Then Caleb & I stayed the night. Along with Caleb's brother Brandon and his family. Everyone else came back over in the morning.


somehow kids always end up Grandma's bed watching movies. This is Ali & Xander


Brandon reading Christmas stories before bed.


The next morning...Caleb stuck in a corner surrounded by presents. It was sort of Mayhem in the morning. Lots of kids and lots of presents. We had a great time.


opening presents

We had such a great Christmas and are so thankful to be close to family. Thanks for everything Grandma Cory!

Merry Christmas

This year we spend Christmas eve & Christmas at Grandma Cory's house (Caleb's mom). On Christmas Eve afternoon, Caleb and I opened our presents from each other and ate lunch together. I made ham, funeral potatoes and homemade rolls (Caleb's favorite meal).


before lunch


our Christmas tree....we didn't get one put up this year, so we just piled our presents on this chair.


me with one of the milk bottles Caleb got for me. I love old milk bottles.


Caleb is so excited


the typewriter Caleb got for me.


The wizard of Oz print that Caleb got for me.

We had a great Christmas. It was fun to have lunch together and open our presents before getting together with the whole family.

Christmas Nativity Program

On Sunday we did a Christmas Nativity program at Caleb's mom's house. Bear even participated. He was a sheep.


Brooke, Xander & Megan before the show


The angels...Brooke & Megan


Mary....Ali


the angel leading Mary and Joseph on their trusty donkey


All the kids gathered around


Bear's appearance


Brandon read the story


All the kids in their costumes

Sunday, December 20, 2009

What we have been up to...

Hi...it's been a little while since I have updated this blog. Here's what we have been doing.
-My parents came in to town and we met up with them for the Christmas concert at the Conference center. Caleb and I couldn't find parking in time to get in...so we just looked at the lights around temple square. After the concert, we went out to dinner with Mel, Ben, Oliver, Ashley, Megan, Mom and Dad.

-The next day we saw my cousin Abby and her adorable new Baby Grace. We got to see her little girl Hannah too. She was so fun to talk to.

Then we did a little shopping at Gardner Village and saw the elves.

-My friend Mindy had some friend's over for soup and salad. She just moved into a new house...so we got the grand tour. It was fun to have a night out with the girls and see Mindy's new house.
-Friday night we went to my sister Melanie's annual Weenie Tree Party. Everyone is supposed to make a tree shaped food item. Caleb and I each made one and we took first and second place.
Here's my tree.

Here's Caleb's hostess tree....he and Ben made it together.

Here's all the trees

-Yesterday Mindy and I went to our play for the month. It was "A Christmas Story". It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Humanitarian School Kits


Lately i have been wanting to do a little more service this christmas season. We are so fortunate to have jobs, homes and all of our modern conveniences. I was looking at the humanitarian website and decided I want to put together some school kits. I definitely take for the granted the fact that I can go to the store and buy pencils or a notebook if I need it. Lots of people do not have that luxury. I can't imagine sending my child to school without supplies.

Because the service missionaries and humanitarian workers have seen the exact needs and don't like to waste materials or efforts, the accepted donation requirements are very specific. They are very clear that quality is more important than quantity, we want these goods to be new and be items that will last.

Here is what they need for each school kit:
* 4 unsharpened pencils
* 1 pencil sharpener
* 1 box pre-sharpened or unsharpened assorted colored pencils (approximately 7" long, about 12 pencils to a box)
* 1 pair blunt-nosed scissors with metal blades
* 1 rubber pencil eraser (approximately 1" by 2")
* 1 straight edge ruler—not to exceed 12", with metric measurements
* 450 pages of paper in glued or spiral-bound notebooks or letter-size legal pads, all with lined sheets. Sheet sizes 8 ½" by 11", 8" by 10 ½", and 8 ½" by 11 ¾" are acceptable (no more than 6 notebooks or pads per kit).
* 1 durable cloth bag made of heavy fabric (see cloth bag guidelines here)

Feel free to donate any of these items. I will be ordering missing items on December 18 to complete each kit. So please have all your items to me by December 17. We will be putting these kits together after christmas in Rexburg with my family.

They do sell whole kits at the White Elegance stores if you want to pick up a couple whole kits to donate. The store said they have a limited quantity at each store location. The kits are only about $7. They come unassembled so we will assemble all the kits. Here is what comes in the White Elegance kits. Here is the locations of the White Elegance stores.

If you'd like to get involved please please email me and tell me what you were thinking you'd like to donate, and i'll give you instructions how to get it to me and try to balance out the items. If you are in Layton, you can drop supplies off at my house. If you are in Provo, my sister Ashley lives there and you can drop supplies off to her if you want. If you are in Rexburg, you can drop supplies off at my parent's house. If you are in Logan, you can drop supplies off at my sister Melanie's house. If you don't have time to pick up any supplies, you can make a cash donation. All cash will be used to purchase items for the kits. And finally, if you'd really really like to help, link this post on your blog and invite others who might not see this to help, too.

These children will be very blessed and grateful to receive their school kits at the beginning of the new year. Please help me if you can. email: hillarylandon@gmail.com My goal is to do at least 30 kits...let's see if we can make it happen.

Thanks!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Kinsley's Baptism

This weekend we went up to Idaho for my niece, Kinsley's baptism. It was so cold there. They had the northern winds one of the days were up there and it just goes right through you. The baptism was really nice. Her uncle Andrew baptized her and Jaxon confirmed her.




After the baptism, we went bowling and to a movie.



Then we had dinner at our house. These are the stockings that my mom has had up for as long as I can remember. We each have our own design and it keeps growing. Bear got a stocking this year.


Holden & Keagan eating with their cars.


For our christmas present this year...my mom got us photos taken of our families. Lynn Clark took them in Rexburg. Here's our photo.

She also had Lynn put a photo together of everyone.


It was a good weekend. Congratulations Kinsley!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Behive Bazaar



I headed to Provo yesterday afternoon to meet Ashley and go to the Behive Bazaar. I read on the website 9-12am. I thought it was 9am - midnight. So Ashley and I got there around 4pm, expecting to see what was at the boutique. We walked in to a yoga class. Apparently opening night is open from 9pm - midnight. So we had about 5 hours to kill in provo. We ended up going to the In-N-Out in provo

then a stop at the theatre to see what is playing. We got tickets for the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

After that we stopped at Pirate Island. We heard it has a cool lobby. I got a picture with one of the pirates.

then we stopped at the mall to kill some time before the movie started. We hit the body shoppe, where they were having an amazing sale.

Then we saw the movie. It was fantastic! We totally loved it.


Our last stop before the bazaar was starbucks, where we got some hot chocolate to warm up. This older guy asked Ashley and I if we were sisters. We said yes. He told us we have the same energy...he could tell we were sisters.

Finally we made it to 9pm. We got to the bazaar just after 9pm....maybe 9:05. It was packed. There were people everywhere. It took us about an hour to wind our way through all of the little tables set up with crafy goodness. And it took us 1.5 hours to check out. It was a long night, but we had a great time. This was our first time going to the Behive Bazaar. Apparently opening night is a pretty big deal. We will be more prepared next time....maybe even show up a little early. Or catch it on the second day. It's supposed to be less crowded.


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Festival of Trees


Every year Caleb's mom takes all of the girls to the Festival of Trees opening night. It's a benefit event for the Primary Children's Hospital. It's such a fun event to get you in the holiday spirit. The trees are always decorated so uniquely. I forgot my camera, but here are some pictures from last year.