Christmas Concerts

Abigail and Rachel had some very cute Christmas concerts this year. Abigail was the littlest Christmas tree in her 1st grade performance. She had a solo part in a song that she did beautifully in. She has no problems getting up in front of others and performing! She has come a LONG way in the last couple of years!

Christmas TaVaci Concert

Abigail and Rachel participate in a TaVaci singing group that a lady runs out of her home. This is Rachel's 2nd year and Abigail's 1st. They have so much fun learning the songs and the actions that go with it. Jennifer Willes does a great job with the kids. Allie wants to do it but I just see her standing up there with her fingers in her mouth. Maybe later....

Palmer Christmas Party

We had a great time at our Palmer family Christmas party on Dec. 6th. It was hosted this year at Angie's house in her newly remodeled kitchen. We had so much fun! Everyone brought hors d'oeuvres and there was definitely more food than we could eat there! Everybody also brought a treat to share and we came home with a plate full of goodies. We had fun playing games and enjoyed visiting with each other. We all laughed so hard at some of the white elephant gifts that were brought for the adults. Mark got our box of chocolates that we brought to only find out that 1/2 of them were bitten into and Ryan got Jaime's thigh master with a belly dancing video! Alan and I came away with the best gifts - a first aid kit and jerky, corn nuts and an emergency blanket.

The Mighty Tree Hunt

Each year we have a tradition of going up into the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We usually go with my family but everyone was going in different directions this year so we went solo this time. We left Jerome about 10:30 a.m. and drove up into the South Hills. Because the weather has been so mild this year (the wind was blowing a bit, which made it chilly) there was hardly any snow, and we were able to locate our tree in about 15 minutes. Zach chopped it down and we all loaded up on the four-wheelers and drove back to the trailer. We had the traditional chili dogs and hot chocolate for lunch and then we were back in Jerome by 2:30 p.m.
The tree is pretty and is now full of ornaments from the kids. I measured the tree wrong and cut it too short but with the angel on top it is almost perfect!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent this year at my parent's house in Clifton, ID. Everyone was there except for Jeremy and his family. We all managed to fit inside my mom and dad's house with the older girls out in the trailer. (Angie and family only came for the day.) We were blessed by Cache (Ryan and Angela's one-year-old) and Lucas's (Jaime and Steve's 22-month-old) peculiar sleeping habits and early morning risings. The boys were smothered with attention from everyone.
Lucas was moving really slow on this trip. He was recovering from a fractured thigh bone in his left leg. (He was playing at my house a few weeks earlier and stumbled to the ground. When he tried to stand back up he went down again and was howling and grabbing his leg. The first set of x-rays they had taken in Gooding the day after showed that there was nothing wrong but the second set taken by Steve's mother in Idaho Fall's two weeks later showed new bone growth in one area of his thigh. It looked as if everything was healing fine so no further action was needed. He is running around now but you can tell that he still walks with a little bit of a limp.)
The day before Thanksgiving we played games and prepped for the next afternoon. The day of Thanksgiving, Jaime curled all of the girl's hair with her new rollers while we shuffled food to the community center. We ate there since we couldn't all fit into my mom and dad's house comfortably. We had great food and it was all over in about 15 minutes. My mom is such a great cook! After eating, some of us played volleyball outside (what a beautiful day!) and had a competitive game of Bunco.
The next day us ladies got up at 5 a.m to leave for Black Friday shopping in Logan, UT. We got some great deals and had lunch at the Olive Garden. When we arrived back at my parent's house, Alan had the vehicle all loaded and ready to go. My head was bobbing in and out of sleep the whole way home. It was well worth the drive and the sleepless nights!
BTW: Jaime is due with her second in April or May of next year!

Hillcrest 55 - Jerome 35

It was such a disappointment to lose the state championship football game to Hillcrest on Nov 21st. Our boys defied all logic and reason and made it to state, spoiling the Minico Spartans dream of a state title. The people in Jerome really rallied behind our team and there was great anticipation in the air of maybe yet another state football trophy to display. The last time Jerome had taken home that title was in 1986, Alan's senior year. Jerome had never played Hillcrest before but we knew from film that they passed little and ran hard.
We held our own for the first half of the game but we basically just ran out of steam the second half and could not keep up with their rushing type of offense and their tight defense. I believe that Hillcrest passed a total of 9 yards and rushed for 550 yards. In a typical game you usually rush around 250 yards. Our boys were exhausted.
Zach played a good game but he was played very tight by #34 from Hillcrest. He played on all the special teams and hardly sat out the whole game. He was so tired when the game finally ended around 11:30 p.m.
We were so grateful for all the family support that rallied behind Zach. His grandpa and grandma Leavitt were home for 6 weeks from their mission in Chile due to medical reasons so it was exciting for Leon to be able to be there. Alan's brothers Mark (from Bountiful) and Glen and his family (from Twin Falls) also attended the game. Alan's sister Laura and her husband Don, drove down from Rexburg to see Zach play. Alan's brother Bryan and his sister Carolyn's family were watching the game via internet. My parents from Clifton and my sister Angie and her family from Jerome were also there. We also had friends from nearby attend.
After the game we spent an eventful, long night in a hotel in Pocatello. Abby and Allie argued over who was taking up too much room on the mattress and who was hogging the blankets. The next day we traveled to Shelley to spend a few hours with Alan's family. His mom and dad were staying in his Aunt Charlotte's home while Jane recovered from her surgery. We had fun visiting with everyone. (His parents returned to Chile on Dec. 12th to finish out another year at the temple there.)
We hope to be playing for the state championship title again next year. Zach is already working out and preparing for a great season in 2009. Until then....