christmas 2010

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

We are happy to have been able to celebrate christmas with our family,friends and extended family. There were several recitals, the christmas sing ( with the reindeer rap), Christmas eve at Grandma and Grandpa's, a christmas tea party with grandma, and we are in the middle of "family fun week (bowling, good food, unflooding my sister's flooded basement yesterday, movies (megamind and true-grit), etc. Brynna and emily got influenza and brynna is still struggling with her third day of hives all over her body (the doctor says this must be a virus...anyone else have or had this...seems strange. We have been missing Melissa, Lance, Evelyn, Addie and Blake and melissa's phone is lost so no pictures texted yet of christmas in Washington. Today has been an inside day due to an icy snow storm. Maybe a dvd marathon with popcorn? We hope the blessings of love, peace and joy will be with all who read this post.

Blake Douglas Keyes/summer in review

(I just stole this picture off Melissa's blog, because I love it and it makes me smile.)
In August Aubrey and I traveled to beautiful and cold San Francisco California to enjoy greeting my first grandson and aubrey's first nephew. As you can see he is quite a looker. He is blonde and so calm and happy. We also got to play a lot with Evelyn and Adelle, who couldn't be more thrilled to have a baby brother. We are thrilled to have them all!
Aubrey also got the priviledge of being yelled at intensely ,with very colorful language, by an interesting man on a street corner while we were there. We loved visiting giradelli square and fisherman's wharf and of course gulped down some clam chowder and sourdough bread. Aubrey didn't tell many people but she did the american idol thing while we were there. She was lucky in that they let her sing her whole song, actually looked up at her and had her move around in various places while she sang...then told her she had a good voice but looked too naive for the competition...snip snip...end of wristband. It was intense with over 20,000 people auditioning and weirdness galore. We simply feel lucky we were able to see the grandkids and arrive back in Utah safely. We flew home in that big windstorm and had to almost land and re-land a few times...the plane lurching and bumping up and down...and it totally freaked me out! (I do currently miss holding those cute grandkids, though).

Meanwhile, the rest of the kids had a great vacation with grandma and grandpa taylor while we were away. Matthew has been busy all summer running long-distances with Grandpa Taylor and has participated in two 10-k's. He seems to love it. Emily has been babysitting a lot. She is quite a business woman. Brynna pretty much played and rode her bike as much as possible.
Lane's parents had their 50th wedding anniversary this summer, and we enjoyed a lot of extended family time with both Utah family and California family. Oh, we also put our yard in...can't believe I almost forgot that.

Once the kids started school, I have felt like I am drowning in a sea of...I don't know what...but something extemely thick and gooey. Matthew and Brynna are in 6th and 2nd grade, Emily in 7th grade and Aubrey is at the highschool (10th). Kids at every school. Back to school night and registration was an adventure, just to get to all of it. Now, between homework, early morning seminary, soccor, drama council, scouts, singing, piano, young womens', dance lessons, church callings and the everyday weird little things like kids forgetting lunches or someone getting poked in the eye just before school, etc. it all seems to get just a tad nutsy. But we are all slowly adjusting in and seeking for a good balance. All in all we are continually grateful for kids, family, friends, and the blessings the busyness of life brings.
I can hardly believe the crisp smell of fall is in the air already and with it seasons end and begin again. I loved the regional conference concept by sister Beck, "We are doing better than we think we are and we can do better."

Aubrey advanced to the semi-finals at the scera celebrity competition last night. YAY. Last year after singing at the same competition she felt like she'd "bombed" (in a negative way) and would in her words "never sing in public again". But she decided to try again, if nothing else than to conquer her fear. She practiced really hard and despite her worries had a great performance. She and two other young singers won the night. Aubrey teaches me daily the power of living a life focused on moving toward your dreams...and does that girl have dreams!

Balloon Festival Bust

So we got up and 5:15 am and trailed ourself over to the balloon festival per tradition. But the balloons would start to blow up, wildly quiver, than be taken down. Too windy for any to be fully blown and too windy to ever launch. Came home...naps. All were feeling a little "deflated". We are feeling blessed to have melissa, lance, evelyn and adelle visiting for a little while. Also we are having so much fun with cousins and uncle and aunt up from california. Hope everyone has a great independance day weekend.

Aubrey Wins Grand Torchbearer at Storytelling Showcase

In some amazing twist of fate, Aubrey was selected to compete in the NYSS (National Youth Storytelling Showcase) in Pigeon Forge Tennessee and took first place overall. She now has to return next year and pass on the "crown" to next year's winner. We will have to save up our frequent flyer miles again. All the pictures of the event are on her phone and of course I have no idea how to upload them. She had a great time going to Dollywood and the Titanic museum, etc. with her Aunt while she was there. She told a semi-true story about being terrified of lambs when she was young. The true part was that she really was horribly terrified of lambs (she swore one resided in her bedroom at night)...the rest... like how clueless her parents were is partly stretched...well actually maybe not. Her stories always include singing and are pretty odd, sarcastic and funny. She won a huge heavy trophy and 500 dollars...which she needs, because drama council in mega-expensive at the high-school. So the moral of this story is...let your kids constantly joke around about you and someday they might win prizes for telling it to the world?