Snow!

As we were landing in Salt Lake City, Eric looked out the window and saw all the snow.  He immediately asked if we could move there.  I hate cold weather, so my reply was "No!"  It only took a few minutes for Eric to understand my response.   He became cold very quickly.   He agreed that it is nice to visit snow, but maybe not live in it.  

We spent the first morning in Provo.  We found a great park that was perfect for sledding.  We called my YW's leader from 20 years ago, and she outfitted the kids with good sleds, boots, hats, and gloves.  They loved sledding.

After sledding we attended the Draper Open House.  I had never gone to an Open House before and  I  wondered what it would be like to attend a Temple that wasn't in operation yet.  It was amazing that they were able to maintain the same level of reverence inside the Temple even though it was open to the general public.  The kids enjoyed their tour.  Our purpose in taking Eric and Erin to this open house was to hopefully help them develop a strong desire to live worthily to one day be sealed there.  

After the open house, we went and bought a sled since we had to return the stuff we borrowed earlier.  Now the kids had to share a small disc sled.  They only had a coat, mittens, and tennis shoes.   But we found a great golf course that converts to a great sledding area in the winter.  It was icy so the kids had no traction in their tennis shoes but they had fun slipping around everywhere. 

The next day we went to Temple Square and visited the sights there.  We had lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe and then went to see a movie, Bedtime Stories.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go sledding again.  I guess they had enough from the first day.  Eric was a little sore from the day before.

We had a great visit. It was so much easier traveling with the big kids and not having Nathan and Zachary with us.  But we missed them and were anxious to get home and see them.  Mario missed us but had a great time with the twins.  He is a big believer that you bond with those you serve.  So he had a great week of bonding with the twins as he attended to every need and desire of 2 five year olds.  Believe me, those two are always  needy!

As always, I came back to a house much cleaner than I left it.  Thank you Mario!

Utah

The big kids and I are off to Salt Lake City tomorrow.  We are excited about going to the Draper Temple open house.  The kids are all excited about going to Target and buying a sled.  Too bad we won't last too long in the snow since we don't have any of our winter stuff.  We put it all in storage since we don't really need them here in Monterey.  Eric and Erin made the mistake of mentioning the snow to the twins tonight.  They freaked out.  They have been wanting to see snow since we left IL.  I felt sorry for them, but I had to remind them that they had a nice, long trip to FL last year.  I know, no snow, but they did get to go to Busch Gardens without the big kids.

Christmas

I am starting to get complaints that I haven't written in awhile.  I realize I am not as good at multi tasking as I thought.  We have had a nice past, couple of weeks, but with my parents visiting and Mario and the kids off from school, I haven't taken the time to blog.

My parents flew in Christmas day around noon.  The kids got their presents from Santa first thing Christmas morning.  Then I asked them to wait until my mom and dad got here to open their other gifts.   What a great new tradition!  We loved it.  My dad begged us not to make the kids wait but the kids seemed fine (for the most part) with waiting.   So we got up early and checked out Santa gifts.  Then we ate a big breakfast, played a new wii game, made gingerbread houses, and had lunch.  Then it was time to go to the airport.  Usually at our home, Christmas is over by 7 am.  This waiting to open other gifts really dragged out Christmas over the entire day.    We all loved it.  So that is our new family tradition along with our Nativity puppet show and big breakfast dinner on Christmas Eve.  

We had a great visit with Grandma and Papa.  Last year when my parents were in Monterey, we took them for a short, easy hike through the redwoods.  My dad was so mad at me because he struggled with the hike.  He told me that he would never hike with us again.   

Fortunately, my dad has lost over 100 pounds this past year!  So this time, he was able to do lots of biking and hiking.    We are all so proud of him.  He has done it strictly through diet, no surgery.  Now that he is feeling so much better, he is able to start exercising.    

Unexpected Christmas Guests

There was a little bit of excitement at the Perez home today.  During Christmas dinner our carbon monoxide detector went off.  Mario kept pushing the silencer button so we could finish our dinner, but it kept going off.  So finally Mario sent us all out of the house and the fire department was called.  

My poor dad has been dreading coming to Monterey because it is so chilly here.  We assured him we would keep the house nice and toasty warm.  Within a few hours, we had all the windows open and we had to vacate.  He was so cold.   Good thing we are moving to a warmer climate soon. 

Our house was fine.  We don't know if it was a false alarm or a problem with our oven.  But the firemen came and were gracious enough to pose for pictures with Erin and then let her climb into their truck.

Early Christmas Present

We normally sit towards the back of the chapel.  With four young children, we don't want to disturb anyone.  Today, I got a phone call from Mario who was already at church.  He asked if I would mind sitting in the 2nd row today because President Henry B. Eyring would be in Sacrament meeting today.  He was in town visiting his cousin who is a member of our ward. Wow, a prophet attending the Monterey Ward.  I was so excited.  I quickly explained to our young twins the importance of being extra reverent today during church.

President Eyring was our concluding speaker.  He bore strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The Spirit was very strong.  Then when the meeting was over, I was disappointed to have to go to Primary.  I figured that President Eyring would either leave or stay behind and talk to the adults.  But a few minutes later, President Eyring came to our Primary and again bore strong testimony of our Savior.   I have never seen a more reverent Primary.  Those children obviously knew the importance of this man's calling.   

What a great early Christmas gift, a visit from a prophet.   

Sweet notes

Here are a couple notes that my boys wrote. The first one is from Zachary to Nathan. For those who have trouble reading it, it says, "Dear Nate, Sorry to bother you but I love you Nate."

The second one says, "to Mom from nate, Happy Christmas. I love you."

Nathan told me this morning that Happy must have two "e's" at the end because the first one is silent. So you need two. I guess its time for me to teach him the "y" spelling rule. They are so cute with their writings.

Mario and I decided that we wanted the twins to be together in kindergarten. So after Christmas, Nathan will move into Zachary's classroom with Mrs. Shugars. Normally the school would not let us make requests like that, but the kindergarten teachers should not have more than 20 students each. Nathan's teacher was over 1 and Zach's teacher under 1 student. Since I volunteer a lot at the school and have a pretty good relationship with the principal we decided to ask for the change. He was fine with switching Nathan. Hopefully the switch will go well. It will make my life a lot easier since I will only have 1 kindergarten class to volunteer in now.

Kids and Santa

Our ward Christmas party was last weekend.  Fortunately my friend Lisa brought her camera with her to take these shots of our kids.  Santa was very generous and gave the kids Lula's Chocolate.