A Busy, Fun December!

We started out December with the first of many parties--the Theurer Family Party.  We had so much fun eating, playing games, playing Christmas bells, and having a lip syncing contest (which Dustin, Grant and I won!).  Ryan had to work, and Avery couldn't make it, so Grant had a preview of what the next year is going to feel like...

 

The next night Ryan had a chance to perform at the Eccles Theater.  His choir was invited to sing with Jenny Oaks Baker at her Christmas show.  So, we gathered the grandparents and drove downtown to SLC and had a fun night watching the performance.  It was a neat opportunity for him.

Dustin and I went to the temple with our friends, the Parks.

We had a date night to the Festival of Trees.

We had a Ward Christmas breakfast.

That afternoon, Ryan had a Christmas concert with Bountiful and Viewmont High Schools.  It was really beautiful music!

Dustin gave me an early Christmas present!  I read the book, A Christmas Carol, every year.  I love it so much!  It makes me laugh and cry and want to be a better human!  So this year, he gave me a beautiful copy of the first edition (like, this is a copy of what the first edition looked like).  I love it!

Grant had a band concert.  I love all these opportunities to hear beautiful Christmas music!

I hosted Ryan's friends for Lunch Bunch at our house.

A few other typical December days:

Dustin and I happened upon a fire at an apartment complex near our house (we were trying to visit someone).  We ended up staying and helping some of the displaced people.  It was pretty crazy!

Maren ended up on our orthodontist's Christmas card and we were excited!  (She was a little embarrassed, even from her mission, haha)

Grant and his friend decorated ugly sweaters to wear to the Winter's Dance.  (Grant went stag, for extra credit in one of his classes).

Ryan had another choir concert.

We got tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert!  It was so beautiful!

Avery and Ryan got to go with Grandma Shurtz and Lynnette the next night (I LOVE having my parents live closer!).  Avery also got home from BYU after finishing her finals.  Yay!

Dustin and I dropped them off at the concert and then walked around the Grand America and Little America for a date night.  They have little scavenger hunts that you can do in each of the hotels, and that was fun.

The boys sang with the youth of our ward on the Sunday before Christmas and someone sent me this picture.

We also attended the Marshallese Branch and our kids came, too.  We often end up with a few little kids sitting with us and coloring and playing with our things.  Pretty fun!  We are enjoying our callings as Stake Self Reliance Specialists serving in the Marshallese Branch.

Grant got asked to the Sweethearts dance (not happening until February).

A couple of days before Christmas, we walked around Temple Square with Gramma Lana.  We ran into a friend from our Stake who works for the Church, and he offered to take us up to his office on the 17th floor of the Church Office Building so that we could see the lights from up above.  That was pretty cool.

And then it was finally Christmas Eve!  My favorite day of the year!  We ate Ableskivers for breakfast, watched Elf, and I finished our advent puzzle that our friend Amy gave us.

We went bowling and then did a family zoom call with Dustin's siblings so that Grandpa Wiberg could read us the Christmas story from the Bible.

That night we had our Bethlehem Dinner and then played games and the kids opened up their Christmas jammies.  Amy, Gramma Lana, and Grandpa Wiberg came and joined us.

We also got serenaded from the Coleman Christmas carolers!

And soon enough, it was Christmas morning!  The kids slept until 7 A.M., which might be a record for us.  Maren had wanted us to call her when we were opening presents, so we did at some point and then she opened her presents from us with us on the phone.  I asked her if she liked that, and she said she probably won't do that next year.  It made her homesick.

Avery got her completed mission book I made her.

Ryan will get to take Pepper with him, wherever he lives next year!

Talking to Maren.

Everyone was sleepy.

Maren liked her new skirt we gave her.

All the loot:

If it looks like a lot, it is, but it's partly because all of our family gifts are in the middle of our stuff.  We got lots of new games this year!

My parents stopped by for a bit to see what the kids got for Christmas, and then our family, plus Gramma Lana and Grandpa Wiberg spent most of the afternoon at the Marshallese Christmas party at our church.  It was a lot of fun!  They sing and dance and eat a lot of delicious food and throw candy and give gifts.  We love it!

That night we opened presents with Gramma Lana and then played some of our new games.  It was a very Merry Christmas!

The next day we went with Grandpa Wiberg to the Leonardo museum and then to the temple to do Baptisms for the dead with him.  He took us to dinner that night and we introduced him to Thai food, our favorite.

Unfortunately, Thai food didn't like him or Grant, and the next day both of them were a little sick.  So Dustin and I drove Grandpa home to Logan (he was pretty dizzy and sick to his stomach and we were worried about him trying to drive home).  On the way to Logan, the Subaru, which I was driving, started making bad noises and we ended up driving it to a mechanic and they spent the day replacing spark plugs and the thread that holds them.  We finally made it back down south that night in time to meet our family and go to a hockey game.  The Cragun's came in town from California and all the cousins were at the game.

Loving this two year old's attention!

The next day we met everyone at Smith and Edwards (and Flora and I had a little photo shoot) and then we had some yummy ice cream.  We watched the BYU football Bowl game that night at my parent's house (BYU destroyed Colorado State), and made Navajo Tacos with everyone and that was a lot of fun.

The next night was our annual Shurtz Family Christmas Party.  We had yummy dinner and a white elephant gift exchange, plus celebrated a couple of December birthdays.  It was a fun night!

Maren is doing great on her mission!  She is loving her companion and they are doing good work and teaching a lot of people.  We love our weekly calls with her and seeing all the growth she is experiencing!  We miss her, but we love that she is helping others come to Christ.

This was our Christmas card this year.  What an eventful year!  Avery came home from her mission, we took a few really fun vacations as a family, Maren left for her mission, Grant got his braces off, the boys both kept busy with sports and school activities.  We love our family and feel truly blessed and grateful!