Christmas Eve

Bowling on Christmas eve is an Abbott family tradition.  It is so fun to get together and play.  Lisa booked a party for us so we get 2 hours of bowling, soda, balloons, contests, and at the end you get game tokens and free bowling coupons.  Way to always find the deal!  We got 4 lanes and here are all the groups...

Even Michael bowled in Romania on Christmas eve!  We sent him a little toy set of pins and a ball.  He has gone bowling over there but P-day wasn't Christmas eve.

 Yes, you can be super impressed...for a moment.  They have a game called 5-tap where if you get 5 or more pins, it counts as a strike.  So, maybe I didn't legitimately bowl a 300.  Or maybe I did.  Nelson's first 6 frames were honestly his REAL score.  He had 5 strikes and one not too good frame.  So, he went to the counter and asked to be put back on real scoring to see what he could get.  It's amazing when you have no pressure to score how well you can do.  After he turned off the 5-tap he didn't do as well but still super good! 

 At the end, they give a bowling pin trophy to the highest score and Nelson won!  He really did score a 176, his best ever.  Here he is celebrating the victory.

 Oranee made to die for prime rib and then after dinner Santa arrived with rubberband guns for the kids and dads and MAC lipstick for the moms.  I got the good gift.

 Katie was an angel who played the piano for the nativity.

Here are the kids all dressed up for the nativity.  Yes, even the returned missionaries and married kids participated.  What good sports.  They were told they had to until they have a child of their own to replace them.  Jordan and Tara agreed to be angels, Charlie's angels that is, with their rubber band guns.  Nice touch, don't you think?

We had a wonderful time together!

Katie loves choir

Lucky me that Steve Schill's daughter is in choir with Katie and he has a super-duper camera and is willing to take some shots for me occasionally.  Katie is the Acapella choir president, is also in Chamber choir and is in AP Music theory.  She has 3 class periods with Mr. Keyes!  I never had even 2 classes at a time with the same teacher.

 Here is the Chamber choir on retreat to St. George.  They went to Zion's National Park and went hiking.  The acoustics at the emerald pools are fantastic and they serenaded the other hikers there that day.  Katie is the one in the red shirt, blue baseball hat.

 Here she is at the Christmas concert at Orem High.  They borrow the handbells from Orem Community Church and in exchange they come on a Sunday in December and perform their Christmas music with the bells for them.  It is a really cool thing they do.  She had a solo at the concert for the song Angels We Have Heard on High.  She was the angel in the balcony singing the beginning lines of the song and then joined by other "angels".  Then they ran back down to the stage and joined all of the school's combined choirs finish the song.  It was really cool to have them singing from the tech balcony, it carried out and filled the auditorium.

The Chamber choir went to Primary Children's Hospital on Christmas Eve to sing and give a little cheer to the patients and their families there on Christmas.  Katie is on the left with her thumbs in her pockets.  She LOVES choir!!

Ski!!!!

If anyone reading this lives in Utah County you know how fun the inversion if getting.  It is cloudy and dreary all day every day.  This is what it looks like from above the clouds.  It is bright, clear skies, sunny, warmer than in the valley AND you get to ski in it.  Pretty awesome.

Looking towards our house...where are you???

Santa was even at Sundance today handing out candy canes!

Katie, Caroline and David taking in the view from the top, great day!

Happy Birthday David! 14!!!

Here is Katie being goofy, trying to get the camera set for an automatic timer shot.  Silly girl.

 David was ordained a Teacher.  What a wonderful day!  How nice that 4 grandparents got to share this day with us.

Butterscotch bundt cake is David's favorite, he's not much of a chocolate fan.  

Happy Birthday David!  I can't believe how grown up you are getting!

Christmas Begins!

 We got together with my family for Christmas the Sunday before Christmas.  Dad and Kathy were in town for a big yellow ribbon event for family members of military leaving for service.  Chris is leaving for Afghanistan on January 16th so we said our goodbyes this day.  We are so proud of you and wish you a safe return!

Presents!! We had dinner and a great visit at LaDena's house.

Socks and blankets...

 The big girls all got their names drawn by Chris' kids so their gifts matched!  They loved it, so snuggly!

Family photo with all of us

Please forgive my mother for her lack of updating. I know that you have all been checking constantly to see when this blog will be updated. I know that I have. I'll make sure to bother her even more about writing a new post. Hopefully she'll actually do it.

She Loves Me!

Katie is a senior at Orem High and she is in the advanced Drama class.  This year, the Drama 4 class did 3 plays in repertoire during the first week of December.  She was so excited to get the lead in She Loves Me.  Well, sort of the lead.  It was a rocky start, long story, but basically they triple cast each character.  So, she was the lead but so were 2 other girls.  We were worried it would be so confusing and all but it turned out well, they did a great job with a very difficult challenge. 

 Here's Katie with one of the other male leads, Nathan Hubert.  These guys have known each other since birth, literally.  It was fun for us to watch them up there together.

 Katie did such a great job.  It's so fun to watch her become someone else up there.

 Just FYI, this play is the stage play You've Got Mail is based on.  It's a very cute, sweet little love story.

 Here's Katie with Adam Leavitt, another of the male leads.

 Great scene...screaming at the top of your lungs in the middle of a romantic restaurant.  Gotta love it.

 Where is my shoe???

 Playing the crowd of carolers...

and the 3 leading ladies!  Well done everyone.