Drew's Blessing Day

There's so much I want to remember about last weekend!  I felt blessed to have so many family members in church with us that day.  I always feel a tingle of pride when I see so many priesthood-holding men in my family there to support little Drew during the blessing.  It was quite the crowd!  I'm sure he could sense what was going on, because Drew was awake and alert during the blessing, despite it being his normal nap time.  A sweet lady, Ellen, wrote down many parts of his blessing and gave them to me after the meeting.  What a great idea.  Sadly, I was more concerned about Dallin being on his best behavior to even think about doing something like that.  Bevan blessed him with health and strength, the desire to stay close to the scriptures, and to be a support to his family.  It's truly an act of the spirit when a "man without eloquence", like my wonderful Bevan, can speak such sweet words.

John offered his house for the brunch.  I had to call it a brunch because I wanted bacon, even though it was lunch time.  Hehe!  Yummy french toast bake, cinnamon rolls, breakfast meats, muffins, and a fresh fruit spread that was worthy of a cruise ship display!  Almost everybody stuck around.  Sharon was in town from Maryland, for only a few hours, but it was totally worth it!  We ate, then sat, then ate again.  Drew was happy and content.  We love this little boy so much!

Chrsitmas Time!

I really had to post some pictures of the Christmas season!  I'm not sure what order I took them in... but oh well!

We decided against a "back-woods" Christmas tree this year.  It was fun in the past... but 20 minutes in the Home Depot tree lot did us just fine!

 Anna's Preschool class did their cute, little Christmas sing-a-long on the last  day of the semester.  I enjoyed getting a glimpse of what they actually did there.  Ah, preschool!

It seems that everybody was doing the gingerbread houses this year.  Such a great idea, whether you use real gingerbread or just plain graham crackers.  I opted for the latter.  I found some old Halloween candy and we had a ball.  Each house had it's own candy-corn-pumpkin patch.  I made the kids eat carrot sticks during construction.  It made the candy last longer!

The Ackerson Family Party was the Saturday before Christmas!  Nora graciously hosted again.  We came down early so Anna could go tubing with these fine little ladies.  It just so happens that they live right across the street from the best tubing hills in Davis County!  Bevan opted to watch the BYU football bowl game instead, but we all met up again in time for dinner and gift exchange.  We lingered as long and late as possible!

The Hawkins Family party was Christmas Eve.  We had burgers and fries, then moved over to Tina's house for the fun!  Beverly and Lloyd planned some Christmas games and the grand kids acted out the nativity.  Baby Drew stared as the baby Jesus, of course!  Dallin went bonkers over all the candy and entertained us all for a while!

I failed to take any pictures on Christmas day.  It was a wonderful morning and Bevan was able to be with us for a few hours and watch the kids open their many presents!  Rather than spend the rest of the day alone, we drove to Nora's house for yet, another party!  We brought home leftovers for Bevan and an Addie to hold baby Drew.  

The annual sledding party was the day after Christmas.  Bevan had to work again, but I took the kids and we had some fun!  We even went sledding a few times... once it warmed up to 15 degrees.  So coooooold!  For once, Dallin decided to keep his mitten ON!

Last, but not least, was New Years Eve!  We were planning on just staying home, but at the last minute, brother John decided to throw a party!  He provided ham, potatoes, and aerial fireworks in his backyard!  The teens were getting ready for a dance (can they really be old enough for church dances?!) and everyone else sat around waiting for it to get late.  9pm was late enough for me.  We went home and went to bed early.  I rang in the new year with Drew during his midnight feeding. Happy 2016!