December 2012

McCall's Elk and Some Interesting Notes on Tithing Settlement

Tithing settlement was an adventure this year.  (Bet you don’t hear that too often.)  McCall shot her first elk mid-December.  It happened to be the Saturday before we had tithing settlement.  She shot it in the afternoon and she and Daniel didn’t have the time or manpower (not to slam Daniel’s muscle power – I’ve seen him throw an entire deer on his back before and haul it out; but an elk is a different story!) to haul it out on Saturday.  Daniel called up Ian and Dylan to help him get the ox out of the mire after church on Sunday.  They got back five minutes before our tithing settlement appointment.  Daniel threw on some church clothes and off we went.  I told the bishop not to shake Daniel’s hand – I’m not sure he had time to wash his hands when he got home!  The bishop gave us his approval for getting the meat out and being full tithe payers and we were set. 

Speaking of being a full tithe payer, I had Jed’s friend, Derek Ballard, over for lunch and a play date one day.  Over lunch Daniel asked Derek if he was related to Elder Ballard.  Derek responded, “I don’t know who that is.”  Daniel, teasingly, asked, “Well, are you a Mormon?”  Derek pondered that question for a moment and then replied, “No, but I am a full-tithe payer.”  Daniel and I got a kick out of that.

McCall turns twelve and has a party          

McCall turned twelve this month and officially went into Young Women’s.  Her timing was perfect because two days after her birthday she was able to go with the YW/YM to do baptisms for the dead.  Daniel was able to accompany her and she had a really good experience.  She’s been able to go since then with one of her friends as well.  I’m not going to lie – it’s really great living half a mile from the temple!

McCall’s birthday party was an extravaganza of fourteen giggly, happy girls.  We had a mixed up dinner where the girls had to order from a coded menu.  They never knew if they were going to be eating their spaghetti with a turkey baster or a fork.  Some of them got cake and ice cream first and salad last.  The girls had a blast seeing what everyone else had ordered and then watching them try to eat it.  McCall got some great gifts as well.

...and Daniel and Lindsey have a party too!

The day after McCall’s birthday party, Daniel and I decided to have a party ourselves.  We had five couples over for dinner and a white elephant party.  Our theme this year was “Best Red and Green.”  I thought I might win the costume contest with a red dress I had saved from my college days – but, no, I was outdone by my friend Jim who showed up in a sparkly red sequin get-up.  It was a great party and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

A muddy Christmas tree cutting excursion

I should probably backtrack a bit to our annual Christmas tree cutting expedition.  This year we went with the Richards family.  I’ve never on a Christmas tree cutting excursion and not been hiking through snow.  This year we hiked through rain and mud.  I’ll take snow – thank you!  After a few minutes of searching I found the perfect Christmas tree.  It was at the bottom of a ravine surrounded by a maze of deadfall trees.  When I led Daniel over to the perfect tree, the first words out of his mouth were, “That’s a perfect tree.”  The next phrase out of his mouth was, “How in the world am I going to get it out of there?”  To which I responded, “Daniel – where there’s a will, there’s a way.  Good luck.”  Remember that muscle power I mentioned before?  Well, Daniel put it to good use and got that tree out.  He was a little sweaty when he was done…and muddy.  It was worth it I say!  I think it was the most beautiful tree we’ve ever had. 

Wyatt gets a really, really, REALLY bad haircut

We’ve been trying to grow out Wyatt’s hair.  His head hasn’t been cooperating.  That kid had a white boy afro.  Finally, I decided that I’d had enough and decided to cut his hair.  Unfortunately, it takes quite a while to whack your way through a white boy afro.  As I was nearing the end of his haircut, Wyatt lost patience and control of his temper.  He had a mini-meltdown and I told him that if he didn’t apologize I wasn’t finishing his haircut.  He had some nice ear “fluff muffs” and some rat tail trim on the back of his neck.  It took him three days to apologize.  Once he did, I gave him a proper haircut.  Wyatt had a Christmas class musical this month and had a solo part of him rapping part of the poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”  He was great – I think he would have gotten more applause if he’d left his ear fluff muffs and neck scruff – but the kid did apologize, so what do you do?

Santa Lucia and other notable achievements for McCall

McCall also had a vocal solo this month.  A family in our ward always throws a big Swedish Santa Lucia party each year.  Santa Lucia was a Swedish girl who brought meals to the poor and helped those in need.  She’s just as big of a Christmas figure in Sweden as Santa Claus.  All of the family’s daughters have grown up and gone off to college, so they asked McCall to be their Lucia this year.  McCall worked diligently to learn “Silent Night” in Swedish.  She dressed in a white gown with a red sash and wore a crown of candles on her head.  She looked beautiful and did an excellent job with her singing part.  I was really proud of her.

Other than turning twelve, shooting her first elk, and being Santa Lucia, McCall also made wood toys to give away to charity, went caroling for cans of food to give to the Family Crisis Center (both of those activities were with the Girl Scouts) and finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time.  What a month!

Lindsey goes up against the School Board

A huge focus of the month for me (other than the birth of our Savior – of course!) was writing proposals and going to meetings with the Madison School District School Board.  Trying to get Madison’s calendar to more closely align with BYU-I’s calendar has a direct benefit for our family – more vacation time to spend together as a family.  Daniel can’t ask for time off of work; he has to take his vacation time when the university is out.  Unfortunately, many of the times that Daniel is out on a semester break, Madison is in session…and vice versa.  It kills me.  I had two main objectives.  1) Push the start date for school back one week and 2) align Madison’s and BYU-I’s Spring Breaks.  I spent quite a few hours writing proposals, researching calendar dates, talking to board members and attending meetings.  In the end, the board passed pushing the start date of school back one week but didn’t pass aligning Spring Break.  I don’t agree with that decision – and I have research to back it up!  I’ve decided to run for the School Board – I’m not kidding. 

Christmas, the flu and a sweet day of skiing

The Christmas holidays this year won’t go down in history as our best.  We drove all the way down to SLC to celebrate Christmas with all of my siblings, only to have to turn around and retreat eight hours after we had arrived when Daniel, McCall and Quin got a case of the stomach flu.  They, in turn passed it to Jed, Kai and I just in time to suffer through a hazy blur Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Only Wyatt and Carson escaped unscathed.  Daniel was a champ and pulled off all the Christmas preparations while I laid nearby in a stupor of sickness.  

The next day I felt better so I took McCall, Kai, Wyatt and Jed – along with three neighbor kids – to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to go skiing.  Daniel was kind enough to stay home with Carson and Quin.  We had a great day skiing and eating French fries at the Cowboy Café. 

The kids got most of what they asked for from Santa.  McCall got lots of jewelry and some new ski gloves.  

Kai got the Lego Harry Potter boardgame and a new bow and arrow that he can shoot in the house.  

Wyatt got a Lego Ninjago set.  

Jed got nineteen foam swords so that he can have sword battles with Kai, Wyatt, Ian and whoever else happens to be naïve enough to wander into our house.  

Carson got a “little fairy thing where the fairies slide down and then they hop, hop, hop back up” (it’s a Littlest Pet Shop fairy rollercoaster). Carson also got a Barbie guitar and has been entertaining us with lively renditions of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” at least a dozen times times a day.  

Quin got some Sing-a-ma-Jigs and insists on sleeping with them at night.  I wake up, more often than not, to the sound of Quin playing with her little Sing-a-ma-Jigs in her crib.

Daniel the Destroyer of Ducks

Daniel spent much of December hunting ducks.  McCall and Kai love to go along and Daniel has taken them both quite a few times.   When I asked Daniel how many ducks he’s shot this year he said, “At least a hundred…”  I wish I liked duck meat more.  I’m going to make Ian and his roommates take some and help us whittle down our supply. 

Dewey family Christmas party

At the end of the month, we headed down to Logan to celebrate Christmas with our Dewey family.  We always have fun when we all get together.  I was in charge of the Christmas craft this year.  I helped the kids make different “symbols” of Christmas to coincide with the story “Teach the Children.”  Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan used that story years ago – thanks for the great idea!  The kids were also able to go to the Fun Zone with all the dads and run around with cousins all weekend.  Daniel’s dad took Kai duck hunting and, even with the freezing cold temperatures, they had a great day of decoy hunting.  Daniel, Kai and his dad also spent a fun day pheasant hunting.

New Year's Eve extravaganza

We got back home in time to celebrate New Year’s.  We had an appetizer dinner, watched a movie, shot silly string all over the deck (thanks Abby and Tom) and had a confetti-popper shoot out.  2012 was a great year – I can’t wait to party in 2013 as well.

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