Called to Serve

At a family Christmas party on Friday, 3 of my aunts gave a little report on how their missionary sons are doing. 2 of my cousins are in Mexico and one is in Oregon. My aunt Nina told us about this video. The Mexico City Temple was rededicated this month and there was a gathering at the Aztec Stadium which holds approximately 100,000 people. About 87,000 people were there to hear President Monson speak and to honor and show gratitude to the missionaries who serve there. A few years ago, Mexico was the first country outside the US to reach the 1 million member mark. In the video, as the missionaries file into the stadium, the congregation and the missionaries wave white hankies. It's quite the sight, and I can't imagine the spirit that was in the stadium.

Piano Recital

This morning was Paige's first piano recital! She has been taking lessons for about 4 months. She is a very driven and self-motivated person and that trait translates over to piano! She really is good. We've already experienced the "I don't like piano!" and the "I want to quit!" but we keep encouraging her to develop this talent and someday she will be as good as Keane, Coldplay, or Grandma Deanie!
Paige does have some stage fright and had a few incidences of crying and saying she didn't want to do the recital. But I gave her some good luck earrings and Jon bribed her with a "prize" after she did it. So, she pulled through!
Her teacher has a point system for each lesson and she gave out prizes after the recital. Paige got 2nd place and won $4.00!
We are very proud of you, Paige! Keep up the good work!
(Make sure you stop the "Finetune" blog music so you can hear the video!)

Christmas Tag!

Ok, anyone who wants to play, can copy this and put it on your blog. Just answer the questions with what you prefer! Have fun!

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? WRAPPING PAPER! Gift bags only for odd shaped items. Don't be lazy! Although I guess the good thing about gift bags is that they can be re-used.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I am a new convert to artificial. No watering, no mess, no trip to the lot, lasts longer...
3. When do you put up the tree? First Monday night after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime the week after Christmas, depending on holiday plans.
5. Do you like eggnog? No
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember a doll my mom made me and I remember fashion plates.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Hands down, mother -in-law. I've gone wrong before and it's not pretty, people.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Kids! They tell you what they want! And they are easily excited.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? A small one. Someday I'll get a nice one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Christmas cards are one on the short list of things that MUST be mailed!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf and Christmas Vacation
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December. I always say I will start sooner the next year but it doesn't happen.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not as of yet but I'm not against it.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? What do I not eat at Christmas?? I recently heard about a delicious cranberry salsa dip that I am dying to try.
16. Lights on the tree? Who doesn't?!?!
17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night, Breath of Heaven, A Long Time Ago.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home then travel after.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Easily
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a new thing from IKEA that looks kind of like shiny stacked ornaments.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning! Except the PJs of course!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Obligations to be too many places. The busy-ness takes the enjoyment out of it! Gotta cut back, slow it down, and enjoy.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? mix it up!
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Classic turkey or ham dinner.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Just for my kids to have a good Christmas.
26. Who do you tag? EVERYONE!

Bethlehem, Snow, and Santa

Here was our weekend:
Saturday morning was our ward Christmas party themed, "Back to Bethlehem". I have to say the activities committee went ALL OUT and it was amazing!



Here are Mary and Joseph in the nativity.











This was the bread shop where there was a delicious selection of breakfast breads.














This was the shop where all the kids could make an ornament.
















And this was the butcher shop where they served eggs and ham.















When we came home it was snowing and they kids were excited to play in it. So, we bundled them all up and sent them out. Some of the neighbors came over too.





















































Obviously, all my kids like to eat the snow! Poor Charlie! This is what he looked like when he came back inside:




I think frostbite was starting to set in. He made a fast recovery and never seemed to mind.











Then Sunday night was the Askerlund family Christmas party. After a delicious meal, Santa came to bring each child a gift!



Charlie was excited and not scared at all. He got a little Spiderman riding a 4-wheeler. He LOVES it! (And it's a "boy" toy!)














Haily surprised us by asking Santa for a hamster! I guess Fiona really made an impression.




















Paige asked for a DS. She and Haily both got little txt messagers. They love em'! And I think it's great for reading and writing practice!













After the kids were done, and Santa left, the adults had a white elephant swap. I must say that the gift I brought was the hit of the party! Jon and I had gone Christmas shopping at Mervyns which is going out of business so they were selling everything! When I saw it, I knew we had to have it! And I bargained it from $20 down to $5! Jon was SO embarrassed to be seen walking around the store with it. I had to carry it and he stayed about 10 feel ahead of me. But it was so worth it.




Someone else already bought the top half so it was just the legs...and bum.

















It finally feels like Christmas!

my pizzazz

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

cupcakes

Haily and I made cupcakes yesterday.

Here are mine:


And here are Haily's:

2nd Annual Downtown Christmas Trip

Last night for Family Home Evening we took our second annual trip with the Paxtons downtown for dinner and the lights at Temple Square. The weather had been so mild until yesterday when we got our first REAL snowfall of the year. We did not let that stop us! And besides, it only added to the winter splendor.

As is tradition, we started with a little pizza and pasta at the California Pizza Kitchen. Always a
great way to kick off any evening! Then we rode Trax to Temple Square. This was a thrill for the kids and a horror for the dads. Well, I guess just Jon really. I've said it before, I think Trax is high entertainment.

We walked around temple square enjoying the lights and the nativity scene. Then we went into the visitor's center to warm up and see the Christus.

Here are all the kids (sans Noah who was still recovering from a snowball fight gone awry). Then it was Trax back to the Gateway to get a little goodie.

I enjoyed a delectable double chocolate cookie from Ben's.

We look forward to repeating the tradition every year with our wonderful friends!

Charlie's dreams

The past 3 nights Charlie has woken up at around 1 am crying. Each time I have gone into his room to comfort him and ease him back to sleep. Each night he has reported a nightmare to me with intense fear. He was obviously disturbed. Here are the nightmares:

Friday: "A star! A BIG star!" (?????)

Saturday: "A drink of water! A COLD drink of water! It spilled in my ear! Right here!"(pointing to his right ear)

Sunday: "Hannah Montana!" (I thought he loved her.)

Luckily mommy's tender nurturing put him right back to sleep. I always wonder what goes through his head, and now I've had a little glimpse. Although I think it produces more questions than answers.

The Thanksgiving Top 10

Here are my top 10 moments from Thanksgiving 2008:

#1 Lighting ceremony at the Walkers

(notice how small the people are in this picture!)

My parents' awesome neighbors always do a huge Christmas light display and the first night they turn them on, they invite everyone over for hot chocolate and doughnuts. We all did a countdown and then they flipped the switch. Can't help but think of this:

#2 Staying up late talking and laughing with my dad and siblings. We woke my mom up several times with the laughter but I bet she drifted back to sleep with a smile on her face each time.

#3 Games! A family tradition. This year the main events were Ticky-tic, Ticket to Ride, and fill in the blank story.

#4 Foreign food. On two of the nights we were there, Dave and Annie cooked meals from their missions for the family. First up was Annie. Lucky for us, she served in Italy! We each got to make our own Italian style pizza.

Next was Dave, who served in Portugal. He made a soup called Caldo Verde and bread. It was pretty tasty and good for you. I didn't take any pictures but it looked just like this:

#5 Fiona the hefty hamster.

Ben's girlfriend Sarah and her sister Cosi joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. Cosi brought her hamster Fiona in to say hello to the kids, and what kid wouldn't love that?

#6 Family temple day. It was wonderful to be in the temple together with all of my family (those old enough) We don't do it often enough and it was truly special. Ben and Devan were kind enough to watch all 9 kids while we went. Thanks guys!

#7 Test taking. What? Yes, that's right. We took some quizzes.

Jake has been getting ready to take the LSAT so he brought one of the previous year's test and administered it to Dave and Jon for fun. No one was surprised to find out that Dave could get into Yale (literally, he scored high enough). And Jon could get into a lot of schools too. Not Yale, but hey I'm still impressed. I would have taken it myself but I have my family fooled into thinking I'm kinda smart and didn't want to blow my cover.

Paige and Noah missed school so much that they kept asking me to write tests for them to take. So we had a math, a spelling, a science, a fill in the blank, and a telling time test. Of course, they are both on the genius level.

And finally, Suzanne has been reading The Five Love Languages so we all took the test to find out what language we speak.

The five options are physical touch, words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, and acts of service. I am bi-lingual; gifts and words of affirmation and Jon is multi-lingual; everything except gifts. It was funny and interesting to see every one's. You get to know people a lot better.

#8 Getting the kids to bed at night. ALL the kids. It was a task. It was an accomplishment. This was a good sight:

#9 Getting family pictures taken.

It had been a long time and I can't wait to get them back.

#10 The lesson in church on relationships.

Specifically finding out that there is actually a term for the dynamic Jon and I have: parent/child relationship. Haha! We both had some major breakthroughs in our "therapy" session and on the drive home and we are working toward interacting as adults. (sarcastic undertones throughout paragraph)

I had a fantastic Thanksgiving with my family! I feel so blessed and lucky. Thanks to Mom and Dad for opening your house to all the mess and noise and chaos. Thanks to everyone for the good times and memories that will last a lifetime and beyond.

I think I'm on to something

I think I have my own New Kid...

And I'm thinking that a white shirt and a fan would be a great Christmas present.

COLDPLAY

As an early Christmas gift, my parents gave all my siblings and me (along with our spouses) tickets to the Coldplay concert! We had been looking forward to it for months and finally, this is how the night unfolded:

First, some of us went to eat at Mimi's while others of us stayed home to watch some hyped up college football game.

After eating, we took the Trax to the ESA. Here we are waiting in the chilly night for the train. I personally love riding the Trax. Probably because I don't do it very often! But it sure beats driving and parking downtown. Plus there are plenty of interesting people to spy on for entertainment along the way.

Me, Richelle, Suzanne, Annie (doesn't she look cute!), Devan, Ben, and Sarah.

I had my first experience as a ticket scalper! We had an extra ticket and I had to stand outside and try to sell it. My kind and thoughtful brother Ben and his girlfriend Sarah stayed out there with me so I wouldn't be alone. After some time I found a nice guy who bought it, thank goodness.

The opening band was called Sleeper Car but I missed most of their act. Then there was this guy who played the keyboard along with a WEIRD animation video. I think I would've enjoyed it more if I had had a little chemical help...if you know what I mean! It was interesting. Dave and Shelle said the keyboard guy reminded them of a Friends episode in which Ross gets really into playing the keyboard.

Here is Chris Martin on the piano. My favorites were Viva La Vida (of course) and Fix You. We all called my parents on their different phones during Viva La Vida so they could hear it.

The seats were scattered all around. I sat with Shelle. Annie, Dave, Devan, and Annie's friend were dead center on the floor 7 rows back! And Jon was to the left of the stage in the railing of the lower bowl!

For a couple songs they went up into the crowd! It was the top of the lower bowl. So awesome!

Here they released a ton of confetti butterflies! It was so beautiful! I caught a few to take home to the kids.

Here we all are after the show.

And Ben and Devan on the Trax ride home.

These are the butterflies that I brought home to the girls. They like to arrange things...

It was quite the night. Thanks mom and dad! And thanks to ALL my family for being so awesome and fun to hang out with.