Friday, December 26, 2008

Our Good Times

Here is a little look at how our Christmas went.
Click to play Christmas 2008
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We know that we are very very blessed and at this time of year. We are greatful for each and every blessing that we have.
Thanks for being our family and friends.
May you have a wonderful New Year.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Channel 3

Brittany has done it yet again. Christmas Eve her Pueblo Show Choir sang on the Channel 3 morning news. Paul woke her up at an earily time so that she could get dressed in her cute outfit, and fix her hair so curly. They were out the door by 7am. I stayed home with Rachel and Aaron, (Brandon was sleeping because he had stayed up late the night before with Paul and his friends playing video games until 1:30am)

One of Brittany's friends Lizzy was there. Her dad works for the stayton. He gave Paul, Brittany and the Pikes a back stage tour. Brittany had a great time seeing the different rooms and sitting in the chair that Tara Hitchcock. She also got a photo with Brad Perry. Brittany and Paul went to the Waffle House after for a brunch with the Pikes, Alyssa and Kevin. They got home around noon.


December 20th

Brandon had a Musical Event up at the St. Thomas the Apostle Parish church in Phoenix. His choir director Mr. Hebert put together a night of singing the most wonderful songs. El al don don, Regina Coeli, O Magnum Mysterium (Vittoria), Verleih uns frieden (Mendelssohn), and Vivaldi Gloria with an orchestra. The chapel was very large and perfect for singing these great songs. Brandon was right in the middle of the choir and we could see him because of his blonde hair. We couldn't take a very good picture of him because he was so far away and because we couldn't use the flash on the camera.

We have ordered the cd from the night they sang. We can't wait to get it, it was so beautiful to listen to, just amazing.

Mamma Mia!

My My...we just couldn't have enough fun on the 19th so we had a few friends over for a movie night.
We watched the movie Mamma Mia!


The Layton's, Stewarts and the Andrews came over for a night of fun. Paul had decided on our snow trip that he needed to have friends over for the movie Mamma Mia. He found a DVD with a sing-along, with the words listed on the bottom of the screen so all could see and sing-along. The little boys played the Wii in the front room while all the girls got the great seats and the husbands sat in the back row. They were so kind to help us with whatever we wanted. The little girls had to get up and dance, so the big girls had to also. How can you sit still during an ABBA song? Good times.

Organ Stop Pizza

That's right...It's time to get your ears ready for a night of organ music. Were you get to request songs on a little piece of paper for the organ player to look at and decide if he wants to play it or not. This is my dad's favorite place to have his birthday party. Every year we make the drive to Southern and Stapley in Mesa for the fun.



Aaron and Brandon had a lot of fun writing on the little cards the name of the songs that they wanted to hear the organ player to play. They might have done a few to many? We will never know.


We had cupcakes made by Rachel after we ate as much pizza as we could. It was a fun night. Pa-pa loves this time and looks forward to it each year.
Happy Birthday Dad. You have had a great 68 years, thanks for being my dad. I love you.

More Singing...


Rachel had a concert on December 18th. "A Christmas Celebration" presented by the Chandler Children's Choir. It was held at the Camelback Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was a beautiful venue for any choir to sing at. The Chandler Children's Choir all did a great job with Aimee Stewart as Director. Rachel had Grandma and Grandpa Geier there along with the whole family. She looked just like an angel with her long blond hair and white dress with her sweet singing voice. Rachel got to sing with a small group for the song "Sleep, Little Jesus".


The choir sang a total of 17 different songs, with an Intermission and everything. They had the audience sing three carols at the end of the concert. While the audience sang, the choir sang Descants that were "Commissioned" just for the CCC's first concert. It was a beautiful way to end the concert. It was so wonderful.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Do you believe?

Monday December 15th our family had family home evening. It was a very special one. Aaron played "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" for us to sing, and then Paul read "The Polar Express".
Paul sat on the rocking chair and read each page, then showed the pictures for all to see. Rachel was wondering if there were tickets in the book. Paul kept reading until the last page...then something happened. TICKETS fell out of the book. 6 tickets to the Polar Express Train in Williams, Arizona. (Just east of Flagstaff)
So we all yelled and were so happy about the thought of going to the North Pole.
Then Paul told the kids that we were keeping them home from school for the day. We found out it was to snow up in Flagstaff and we wanted to play before going on the train ride.
It was really hard for the kids to fall asleep.
On Tuesday we headed out around 10ish and were full of smiles.
Our first sight of snow was around 11:30am. It was on the ground everywhere and the temperature was 32* and then it started to snow! What joy filled our van. We all got a headache from Aaron yelling "It's Snowing, It's Snowing".
We made a stop at the Flagstaff Wal Mart for the rest of the snow gear we needed. Yeah for Wal Mart! We love there prices! While walking around the store I asked everyone I could where the best place to take kids to go sledding. I got a few different placed and decided on NAU as the place for us. Once on the campus we saw some sledders and asked...they pointed us to the elementary school and we were off. The snow had stopped coming down and the wind was at a slow whistle.
Brandon was the first off with the sled and headed down the slope. (it wasn't that big...but just the right size for us)
There was a very big open field and a wide open space of snow that hadn't even been stepped on yet. Brandon and Brittany decided that they would be the first. Aaron and Rachel had fun going down the slope and then making a snow man. Brandon even started making a snow cave,(he had just learned how to make them as he's going snow camping in February with the scouts).










It started to snow again and the clock said it was time to leave so we wouldn't miss the train for the north pole. We got to the city Williams around 5 and parked the van in a great spot. Paul checked in and we headed over to a Mexican restaurant to eat dinner.

After dinner we walked back to the Train Depot to climb aboard the Polar Express. It was snowing and blowing, and was very "brrzee" (cold).



After seeing the train conductor and showing our tickets...we climbed aboard for a trip to the north pole.


Once the train left the depot our hot chocolate and cookies were given to us. It was yummy. Then the train conductor announced that we had passed through the tunnel of light that took us to the north pole, so we'd better look out our window to see if we could see santa.
Sure enough, there he was.Then we were told that Santa was going to come on board the train and see each once of us.

As you can see, Santa just walked down the aisle and handed all the children a bell. And yes we could all hear them ringing!

What an amazing trip we had in one day. We will never forget it! Never! Good Times Baby! Good Times