Family

Adrienne fixed dinner for me and Roy on Tuesday evening.  She came over and I entertained the boys while she made some delicious chicken enchilada soup with cornbread.  Gunnar, Ollie and Finn like to be with me in my sewing room.  I even taught Gunnar how to make a pillowcase.  I told him he could give it to Ila for Christmas.  He decided it was ludicrous to give such a big pillowcase to a baby, so he decided another use for it:

Ila in the "sleeping bag" Gunnar made for her.  I guess
he couldn't wait for Christmas.  

Ollie had me sewing for him.  Oh, by the way, he has changed his spelling to Oli.  He and AJ got tired of people calling him All-ee.  

I had one more YW in excellence to attend and it was my home ward.  Each of the girls spoke for a minute or two about how their testimonies had grown from working on their value projects.  It was fun to get to know them a little better through that couple of minutes and to feel of their spirit when they sang the YW song from the year, "Peace in Christ." 

Thursday night Roy and I went on an awesome date.  We started with dinner at Cedars of Lebanon which was good but a little pricey.  Then we walked from there to the Vivant Center to hear Andrea Bocelli.  It was such a fabulous concert.  Besides his own performances, he had a soprano, an alto, and a violinist that were extremely talented.  The violinist played Dance Macabre, one of my favorite classical pieces.  He toured with a full orchestra and choir.  We had nosebleed seats, but it didn't block our ears at all.  The concert was worth the price of the tickets for sure.  I can't remember how much they were because we bought them at least 6 or 7 months ago.  The concert appeared to be nearly sold out.  There were probably 12 to 13,000 people there.

Taking Trax back to the car following the concert

Roy and Caitlyn after the test

Caitlyn came down Friday night because she had a skating test on Saturday at the Cottonwood Heights Rink, so we spent a little time with her before her friends came over to hang out.  Roy went with her to her test on Saturday.  While they were gone I went to hear the piano recital that Hyeji and Doyeon were performing in.  I asked Doyeon if she was nervous and she said, "No, cause this piece is pretty easy."  They both played their pieces well.  Following all the piano performances, the teacher had the kids perform in a bell choir.  They took turns through 3 pieces.  This time Doyeon refused to perform, her shyness came out.  Hyeji was able to do bells for 2 numbers.  Dojin ate through all my cinnamon Breath Savers mints.  I was surprised he liked them because they are slightly spicy, but as Dan said, "he loves kimchi," so I guess spice is okay (I've even seen him drink the leftover kimchi juice from the jar).  At one point Dojin realized grandpa wasn't with me so he ran towards the door saying, "papa."  I guess he missed him.

Doyeon and Hyeji

Caitlyn also had a skating show in Logan on Saturday night, so we drove up for that.  We crashed Crista and Matt's ward Christmas dinner first, then headed over to the show.  Luckily they started a few minutes late because Caitlyn was first.  She said they put her first because they don't really know her as she's not a member of their club.  She was probably the best performer and close to the best skater there (and I'm not prejudiced).

Selfie with Roy, Catharine and Ruby--Ruby pretended she didn't
want to be in it (for a second).

Greta, Matt and Crista--Notice Matt's "ugly sweater"

Roy asked Ruby if she wanted to be a skater.  She said, "No!  I want to be a little skater."

Nick and Avie and Effie came over Sunday night and watched the Christmas devotional with us.  Ori and Effie actually cuddled with me for a few minutes.  Ori said to me, "This movie is awful."  I guess our kids/grandkids are used to being entertained :)

Other pictures sent to me this week:

Ruby and Greta reading

Avie--you wouldn't know she's teething 

 Our Texas boys creating their own pizza dinners.

Yuna

Dojin:  Jieun is attempting here to entertain sick children

Here is one example of the moves Caitlyn tested on.  There were several.
I've also included a video of her ice show.  She doesn't show up very well because of the spotlight and no other lighting to speak of.