Jessie's 4!

Jess celebrated her birthday on the 15th. She had a wonderful day, including a celebration at preschool, time at her friend's house after school, a cake made by Jonathan, and a cool gift from Jeremy. She also got a darling game from Grandma at the Santa Lucia celebration. What a fun birthday!

Santa Lucia Day

December 13th is Santa Lucia Day in Sweden. My family celebrates it, even if only by wishing greetings between my mom and my sister and I. Traditionally, however, the oldest daughter wakes the family, wearing a white dress, a red sash, and a crown of candles. She brings saffron buns for a breakfast to each family member.

Jennifer was old enough this year to wear our family's Santa Lucia costume, so we all went over to Grandma's on Sunday afternoon to celebrate. We adapted the celebration slightly, because of time constraints and available food, but Jen got to dress in the traditional costume and serve us cinnamon buns and hot chocolate. Mom (Grandma) also told the story of the Tomten to the kids. It was so fun to share a little of our family's ancestral traditions!

Santa Came to Town!

On Monday, November 30th, Santa came to town! He rode in on the city's cool new ladder fire truck, and we met him by the city's Christmas tree lighting.

Then we headed over to the library to talk to him for a minute.

We were so excited to see him before the big day!

Geocaching in St. George

Over Thanksgiving week, we went geocaching. We've discovered a totally cool new family hobby! (Actually, it was the biggest hit with Jeremy, Mike and I--Jer LOVED it!!!) Mike and Jer started in St. George. The first cache they found was on the hill (overlooking St. George) just above my Dad's.

We (Mike and I, Jeremy and Jessie) then went to another site in town.

After we got the hang of it, we headed out of town a little to Silver Reef (near Leeds). We found a few more there. (It's so exciting. There are so many to choose from in this area!)

We got a little hiking in, too!

The Silver Reef caches were especially fun because we got in some "historical exploration" while we were at it. We found out all kinds of info about the area, and we saw many ruins of old buildings (and mine shafts, too!)

This was a completely cool adventure.

By the way, I don't have any of the birthday celebration photos yet, (I'll try to post them later,) but here's what Jonathan found on our front lawn the night we got home from our trip (his actual birthday), courtesy of one of his good friends:

Thanksgiving and Jonathan's 12th

More than anything else, Jonathan wanted to spend his birthday in St. George (Thanksgiving week). He wanted to hang out at Grandpa's house with his (and my) cousins! He also asked if we could all go to Golden Corral. Wish granted.

We left for the cabin on Tuesday (November 24th). We stayed overnight and played, then headed to St. George on Wednesday afternoon, where we stayed until his birthday night (Sunday, the 29th).

We all had so much fun. We played at Grandpa's with all our family (uncles, aunts, cousins, Grandpa, Grampy and Aunt Mary...) We celebrated Thanksgiving in the traditional, huge, delicious way (at the reception room at Grampy's--with my dad's traditional dinner--YUMMY!) We went geocaching (high-tech treasure-hunting with a GPS) all over the area (pictures to follow). We went to the St. George Temple Christmas Lighting Ceremony with cousins. We had a birthday dinner at Golden Corral on Saturday with EVERYBODY! To top it all off, Care hosted a birthday breakfast on Sunday morning (with Jonathan's requested menu: chocolate-chip pancakes, sausages, fruit, oj, cake and ice cream)--where my cousin, Nate, presented Jonathan with his own copy of a movie Nate had made with the kids over the week. It totally rocked! What a perfect week! Now we have a VERY pleased 12-year-old!

Other Fall and Winter Activities

The other kids have been plenty busy, too. Jess has been dancing up a storm. At least twice a day, we'll find her in ballet clothes (of which she has inhereted many outfits, so we do a LOT of ballet laundry at our house!)

She also sings and plays, constantly entertaining us:

Jennifer loves to dress her up, and one day, they actually did a photo shoot:

When she's not playing with Jessie, Jen spends most of her time playing the piano and dancing. She was in the Nutcracker again this December (a "party girl"--on stage 37 minutes per performance!!!) She was absolutely gorgeous! She's also doing great in school--and having fun, too. Here is a darling gingerbread house she made the last day of school before vacation:

Jonathan loves school, his friends, and his most awesome teacher. His class is a perfect fit for him this year! He's often working on a school or programming project that he loves, but he took some time out this winter to crochet a scarf for the 6th grade service project (they knitted and crocheted scarves for the homeless for Christmas.)

He also keeps us on our toes with his random funninesses (Very random and VERY funny!)

Jer's Creations and Activities

Jer's been busy this fall and winter, inventing and playing like crazy! We love what he's come up with:

Here's a jet and runway that he made. The jet is controlled from below the runway, and it actually ascends during "takeoff".

This is a ladder he built for a bear that his Uncle Dale gave him...

Jeremy and his cousin Peter spent a couple of days in November creating this amazing aircraft. It can fit two kids, and it has a tail and wings (wings not pictured here), a gas tank with a tube to fill from the outside, working doors and windows, a parachute, a bomb bay (with rock "bombs"), a laptop (monitor for the instruments) and actual seats!

He, of course, has been in the snow every available opportunity...

And a major acheivement was his enthusiastic participation in his 2nd grade class performance of "Glow--The Musical". He was a firefly!