Christmas Lights and Stories

Today we drove back down to Layton to help my Grandma and Grandpa put all of their Christmas decorations away. Somehow I was volunteered to help my Grandpa take down the outside Christmas lights. It was fine with me, it was so pretty outside, but I have never taken Christmas lights down before. Well i'm just going to tute my own horn and say that i'm pretty good at it! It was rather fun actually. Better than wrapping things up in newspaper and putting stuff in boxes. Actually  thinking about it they are about the same in the amount-o-fun they are. The thing that I really enjoyed about taking down Christmas lights was having a talk time with my Grandpa! Just Grandpa and me. Now that doesn't happen very often! It was great to talk with him and to hear his stories. He is such an amazing person. I am blessed to have such amazing people in my life! I love ALL of my grandparents. It sad when you hear people talk about their always-mad Grandpa or their Grandma that can't stand them. I never had to deal with that! I have wonderful Grandparents and I have wonderful parents! boy i am blessed :)

The no-snow Christmas

 Christmas eve pinata:

Kristin made her pinata

We love the Kroghs

The whole clan. Well those who weren't inside crying ;)

We got to open one present on Christmas Eve

Christmas pajamas. Footy ones at that

I was upset I was the shortest in the picture

Mom got a pair too!

dogpile on Kristin

we are a Bobsled team

I love this picture. we are all the same size!

 We gave Dad a tie for Christmas. He wore it to church.

Brother White got a tie for Christmas. He wore it to chruch.

 Michael was suppose to call at 2:30 so we played games until the phone rang. It ended up not being until 3:30 but it was all good. It was so fun to talk with him. It was the last time we would talk on the phone with him. Next time we talk he will be home! I can't believe that it's almost been two years since he left. I can't wait for him to get back.

After talking with Michael we headed down to Layton for some more Christmas celebrating.

There was food, games, family and lots of fun!

We gave Grandpa a magnifying glass that clips onto a hat! He's lookin real good in them. We have to keep our grandparents updated with the new styles.

It was so fun when we were shopping for Grandma's present. (We got her some new shirts and a necklace.) All four of us went shopping together and we had so much fun! At one of the stores we were trying to decide between which shirt to get for Grandma. We were just talking and making jokes and this lady, who was shopping with her husband who obviously wan't enjoying it, came over to tell us that she want's to shop with us from now on!

The whole day I kept forgetting that it was Christmas. It was weird, it didn't feel like Christmas to me. Maybe because there wasn't any snow, or maybe because it was on a sunday. Well whateve the reason was that made it feel "not like Christmas" it was still a grand day!

ps i wrote this post from my NEW laptop

Christmas Lights

I spent today with my family :) playing and decorating.

We put Christmas lights up!

i do the railings. it seemed a lot harder this year

My cute sister

Dianne trying to help me.

Dad was so happy for all the help ;)

is this china?

i love them

Dianne and THE Gap

Altdecasa

We didn't quite get finished today. But it was getting dark and we were all freezing!

Field Trip

Last Sunday Katie and I took a field trip to Richmond. You may ask why on earth we would take a field trip to Richmond... and I'll tell you.
This semester in Institute I'm taking a Church History class! I have loved every lesson! It's been great. Throughout the semester we have been told some amazing stories about the Saints and the trials and hardships they went through when the church was just beginning. One day Katie and I were talking with our teacher after class and we discovered the fact that some of the inspiring people we were learning about were buried in the Richmond cemetery!
Before taking our field trip out there we freshened our minds with their stories again, and lucky for you I have found one of their stories online! (You can click the link underneath the picture to read about Amanda Barnes Smith.)

"Amanda's Story"

Turkey Day

A couple days before thanksgiving I was having a conversation with a friend about our plans for Thanksgiving. I just about started to cry when my friend told me that they didn't really like Thanksgiving! Well that is NOT true for me or my family! We love it. And it's not just because of all the yummy food, that does help, but it is one of the few times of the year that the family gets together just to have fun and be in each others company.
The day before Thanksgiving we drive down to my Mom's parent's house in Layton. We stay there for Thanksgiving and a couple days after. While we're there it's a party 24/7. There is always a card game going on, someone to talk to or play with, food is everywhere, enough people who want to play basketball or football for multiple teams, and the list could go on and on. But to sum up what Thanksgiving is like for me it's a house full of:

food

people

laughter

and love!

There is no way that if you were constantly surrounded by 30-some-odd people, who love and care for you, for over 48 hours that you would leave for home feeling like that was a waste of time. There is a unique kind of happiness when your WHOLE family gets together. A feeling that I wish everyone could have the privilege of feeling.
Well, here are a few snippets of my Thanksgiving :) enjoy!

Getting ready for dinner

 Because we were early for dinner we were the potato peelers, table setters, dinner get readyers :)

 The madness of getting ready for dinner... and waiting for dinner to start... and still waiting for people to show up so we can start!

My Grandma with the turkeys!

yep... i got placed at the "teen table"

Because we had so many people for dinner I got stuck sitting at this table, but it's all good we had a lot of fun :) We had three different tables throughout the house because there was no way that all of us were fitting at one. The "kid table" was in the kitchen at the bar. The "adult table" was in the dinning room. The "teen table" was in the front room/foyer.(You can see in the picture we pretty much barricaded the front door!) It was a full house!

pie time!

the final count was 14 pies!

My Grandpa

Yep. My parents got my grandparents hooked on Bejewled

My little cousin, Paige

It's traditions that the day after Thanksgiving we help my Grandma take down all her Fall decorations and put up her Christmas decorations. It's always a lot of fun to get into the Christmas spirit by putting up garlands and christmas trees while listening, and dancing, to christmas music. This year I actually didn't get to participate in the activity, my Grandma and I went to "Breaking Dawn" instead! It was kinda fun to leave the house as Thanksgiving and come back to Christmas. But because I missed out on it I didn't get any pictures. However I was excited to find that someone took a picture of Paige with the Ms. Clause hat on :)

This movie really does deserve it's own post! So the night before Thanksgiving my mom, her two sisters and my grandma all get together and make their pies! It's always a lot of fun to get together and bake :) Towards the end of the night we got on the topic of eggs and how strong they are. Me aunt then told me that you can't break an egg by squeezing it in your hand. She said she tried it and couldn't do it. I didn't believe her, so I gave it a try. I was trying for a good ten minutes... and ti's true. I couldn't break the egg. Well we told my dad this. He didn't believe it either so he gave it a try... yep, he did it! It surprised us all (as if you can't tell by the screaming) haha boy we found egg everywhere after it popped. On our faces, my camera, and soem clear in the other room by my Grandpa! Dad put some major pressure in that thing :)

My favorite part is my Grandma, Mom and Dianne laughing dieing of laughter at the counter and my little cousin's confused face which is covered in egg.

Happy Halloween

The smell of pumpkins :) I love it! And it is a smell I look forward to all year.  I think this is the best year the Althouses have had for pumpkin carving. They all turned out so good!

Dianne's

Kristin's

Mom's

Mine

Dad's

We always have so much fun carving pumpkins! Actually we usually have fun whenever we get together nomatter what we are doing.

All of our pumpkins were SUPER thick this year!

Our cute dinner on Halloween. Mummy dogs and Ghost mashed potatoes!

With all our crazy schedules we didn't all get dressed for Halloween on the same day. I actually didn't even get to see my sisters all dressed up, but thank goodness for cameras!

I was a hill billy

Dianne as a ghost and Kristin a football player

 :) haha! Yep that's my Mom. I love that she dresses up still!

Happy Halloween!!