Pres. Hinkley Passes Away

Our beloved Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley passed away today. He was 97 years old. I was a little surprised to hear he had passed away but at the same time expected it would be soon because of his age. Maybe I should feel sad but I don't. I feel happy for him because he is with his wife now who has missed so much since she passed away a few years ago. He was such a wonderful man. He did so much for the growth of the church. During the 13 years that he was our prophet and the President of the church he accomplished so much. He always had a positive, hopeful attitude. I loved to listen to him speak because he always left me with a feeling of peace and hope.
He will be missed, but his words and legacy that he leaves behind will always be a source of strength and comfort for all of us.

SNOWY DAY

It has been really cold or snowing everyday this week. Connor doesn't seem to mind. He likes going out when there is fresh snow and making trails. We filled spray bottles up with colored water and he colored the snow. He had so much fun doing that, it was a battle to get his frozen little body to come in the house! I like the snow but by Feb. I am ready for it to go away. I love to be outside and when it's cold and snowy it's hard to get out. I get cabin fever about now and start dreaming of spring!

Project 365

PROJECT 365

I am adding a link to my blog called Project 365. I think the idea started on Flikr, I'm not sure. All I really know about it is that the idea is to take a picture everyday. Take a picture everyday to document an event, moment, mood, anything that made that day different. If it was a boring day take a picture of something boring. It is basically a photo journal. I think it's a great idea. There is probably a lot that I don't know about the original idea but I'm just going to do it my own way. So if you want to see my project 365 pics go to the link. I will probably only post them once a week, everyday is just not going to happen! I'm getting started a little late so it will probably be like project 345!

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

"An Old Fashioned Christmas"

Payson 7th Ward Christmas Party

I am the ward activities leader in my ward at our church. That means that I am in charge of planning activities like the Christmas party. The theme of the party this year was "An old fashioned Christmas". We had a General Store. People donated items to be sold in the store like baked goods and homemade crafts. All of the money made at the store was given to the bishop so that he could give it to some families that needed it this time of year. We had a dinner, barbeque ribs (that I made, for 200 people), baked potatoes, italian style green beans, rolls and cake. We had a very "real" Santa visit and he read a story to the kids and gave them a paper bag with an orange, peanuts in the shell, a bell and some candy. The Primary kids sang some songs for everybody and it was really cute!

The highlight of the evening for me was the old fashioned photos. We had costumes for people to put on and have a family photo taken. They were supposed to try and look serious like people looked in the old pictures but it was kind of hard to do. Try telling kids not to smile for a picture and see what happens!

The night turned out really good but I am sooooooo glad it is OVER!!!!

Connor

The Huff Family

Greg and Gina Huff

The Christiansen Family

The Rassmussen Trio of Trouble (the bishop's kids)

Connor with Santa (isn't he an awesome looking Santa?)

CHRISTMAS 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!!!!

We celebrated Christmas for a whole week! Santa came a day early to our house because we were going to be in Idaho on Christmas morning. Santa was very good to our kids this year. The amount of gifts they got was NOT an accurate reflection of how good they were this year! Santa must be getting senile and forgetting some of the naughty things that our kids have done.I guess they are only kids for a short while so it's okay if they get a little bit spoiled at Christmas time.

We spent a few days in Blackfoot with my family. It was really cold and snowy so we mostly stayed inside and watched old home movies and played games. We took the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was kinda funny, the kids liked it so I guess thats all that matters.

We went to Bryce's parents next in South Jordan, UT. All of Bryce's brothers and sisters were there. Some of them stayed at Ryan's who just lives about 10 minutes from his parents. All of the adults (15) went out to dinner (GoodWood) and a movie (National Treasure 2) on Friday night. It is always fun to get a chance to visit without the interuption of kids. They movie was so good, I recommend it! Saturday we finally did Christmas. We opened presents and had a big dinner. We played two white elephant games. One was the traditional joke white elephant and the other one was supposed to be something nice, $10-$15. Well I have to say that it was hard to tell the difference between the two games this year. The nice white elephants weren't so "nice". There were a couple of okay things but nothing we were to excited about fighting for!
Oh well.

We always play games together and end up laughing a lot! Everybody gets pretty silly. We played a different version of Cranium but I can't remember what it was called, something "5". Anyway, the girls won, of course! and the guys were baby, sore losers. They lost even though they tried to cheat! I guess they'll never admit that we are just smarter! We played Catch Phrase too. We split up this time to give them a chance! :)

All 17 Hancock grandkids!

front L to R: Connor, Jace, Cambree, Brinley and Casey. Middle Row: Tyson, Heather, Claudia, Layne, Victoria, Jordyn. Back Row: Erin, Conrad, Joshua, Jeffery, Keaton, Marlie.

Brinley tearing into the big box!

Shawn helping Cambree open her present.

Keaton and Joshua.

This is the kids at Grandpa and Grandma Johnson's with cousin Hailey.

Everybody got what they wanted! Keaton a Nintendo DS, Marlie a digital camera, Jace a Transformer voice changing helmet and Connor got lots of "Siderman" toys!

MORE HOLIDAY FUN

Christmas Lights at the Chocolate Factory

We went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving to visit Bryce's brother Val and his family. We had a great time. Val and Sarah have 4 kids. Erin, 12, Tyson 6, Claudia 4, and Conrad 18 months. One night we went to a place called Ethel M's Chocolate Factory. It is also a cactus garden. All of the cactus were covered in Christmas lights. It looked so pretty and got us in the mood for Christmas! The kids got to visit with Santa there too. Of course he gave them some chocolate! beats the regular candy cane!

Keaton and Erin are 12 years old now and are too cool to sit on Santa's lap! They have always been great friends and have fun hangin' together.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!

Marlie's Musical Moments in December

Marlie had two performances in Dec. One was for a childrens choir she is in and the other was for her fourth grade Christmas program. She loves singing and is a natural performer. Both of the performances were cute and she had a lot of fun at both.