Sarah's wedding!

It was the busiest weekend of the year - the weekend before Christmas - and we were heading down to Salt Lake City for a wedding! It was a wonderful time spent with family and friends.

 

We had a gift-exchange with my family, and the girls were thrilled with their gifts from grandma and grandpa! And then we headed out for our "Ugly Sweater" Party/ Rehearsal Dinner.

 

Lydia and I joined Sarah for pedicures and other errands as she got ready for the big day!

 

And we also got to tour beautiful temple square.

 

Then on Saturday, December 20th, it was wedding day!

There were 64 weddings this day - Sixty-four!! It was unreal, but also wonderful to see so many young happy couples all around. The officiator did a wonderful job making the ceremony personal, and spoke of the angels who were present as witnesses to the wedding. We immediately thought of our Taylor grandparents, and of our dear family friend Jerry Zant, who lost his fight with cancer just days before.

Later that evening there was a beautiful reception at Noah's. It was a wonderful party with family and good friends, and lots and lots of dancing by my girls!

Our gifts to Jesus

It's a tradition we started years ago, when we lived in Scotland with just baby Lydia. We each pick a simple act of service that we will do for someone else, as our "birthday gift" to Jesus at Christmastime.  We write it down then put it in a box, and it is the first present under the tree.

 

For her gift, Scarlett made treats to give to our neighbors. 

 

 Lydia brought little toys to children at the hospital.

 

Claire hid dollar bills around the DollarTree store.

 

 Mom bought some gifts for the Salvation Army tree at the mall.

 

 

Dad wrote letters and sent treats to missionaries that are serving away from home this Christmas.
And Hadley donated some baby items on Craigslist for free ;)

The girls are old enough this year to really appreciate what they are doing for others, and I think that's what made this Christmas special. I hope we always remember the true gift of Christmas, our Savior Jesus Christ, and strive to do for others what He would have us do.

Zumba Kids

When I talk to my girls about what activities they want to do in the winter (between soccer seasons of course....) it never fails that they want to do dance. But this mom is not a fan of the dance culture. I'm done with recitals and rehearsals and overpriced immodest costumes. So I convinced the girls to take a 5 week Zumba class at our gym - only I called it "hip hop dance" class. They fell for it. And they loved it! They always came home showing us their latest moves.

At the end of the year they got to perform their Zumba routine for the parents. It was so great. Claire was the smallest, youngest one in the class but she held her own! And Lydia just zones out into full dance mode, really feeling it!

 

 Then, being Christmas time, the manager organized treats and Santa for all the dance participants. What a treat :)

Mall Santa!

We started off our Christmas season right - by meeting Santa and letting him know what's on our list for Christmas.

(yes, I paid $15 for this one pic - but at least they're all looking!)

 

I fully expected Hadley to have a meltdown and not want to get anywhere near Santa, but she surprised me! I think it was the stuffed dog on the floor that drew her in. She was more entertained by that toy and didn't care for Santa, but once it was picture time, she was like "what the heck, I'm already here, might as well do what my sisters are doing."

 

Fortunately it was later in the evening and Santa wasn't busy at all, so after pictures, he got out his iPad and was showing the girls pictures from the North Pole! He had pictures of all his reindeer - even Rudolph. It made my day to see their eyes filled with wonder at the magic of this wonderful holiday. 

Gotta love a hi-tech Santa.

argh...these kids!

I heard through a friend at church that the teenage girls were talking about babysitting and said "Oh the Viets girls are the best - they're so easy to babysit"...and it really made my day. I was flattered, patting myself on the back for having such good girls, but then I came to my senses.

My kids just suck up to teenagers because they think they're cool. But for their mother, they are NOT easy.

 

Case in point: Scarlett & Hadley (aka "Search" and "Destroy")

Scarlett wears a new outfit every 2 hours. And she cannot get dressed without searching through and emptying the entire contents of her drawers and bins in her closet. Hadley will destroy anything in her reach. She is especially cruel to homework assignments, projects, books, ...anything that she can tear or write on.

 

Lydia and Claire are no angels either. A friendly game of hallway soccer almost always ends up in a fight. A physical fight. Slapping, punching, and wrestling to the ground. Then the whining, screaming, and tears.

(notice Claire's perfect handprint on Lydia's back)

 

And it's not like I'm ignoring them, and not doing things with them. Just last week we were out sledding all afternoon after school.

And it was cooold that week.

 

I take them to dance classes, church activities, and we have tons of playdates. Claire is even taking piano lessons now, which I love.

(But I do NOT love that kids want to bang on the piano when the baby is sleeping. Ugh.)

 

My kids are also stubborn. Frustratingly so. Claire has horrible baby teeth that NEED to come out, but she won't let anyone help her. We finally got one of the bottom ones out, but it took almost all night.

 

And Scarlett took a bad fall off the trampoline at her friend's house. She claimed it hurt so bad that she couldn't raise her arm to get dressed or do anything herself. So after babying her all morning, I cancelled my plans and took her to the hospital. Guess what - she could move her arm fine.

 

Oh and my kids also love to steal my cellphone and drain the battery making movies and playing games. They also fill up the memory by taking tons of photos

 

They like to make messes all day, and this is their response when I ask them to help me clean up.

So they aren't always easy, or helpful, or kind. But at least I can laugh at all of this. It's hard work, but they are funny, and fun, and sometimes they are actually very sweet and will help out. But all of the time, I know they feel loved, and we do too.

Thanksgiving Break

This year we decided to stay home in Billings for the Thanksgiving break. With Josh's travel schedule to and from North Dakota all the time, it was nice to skip the 20+ hour drive to Kansas and just be home with our family. We shopped, we went to the movies, we decorated, picked out a tree, and we played in the snow.

AND we had some turkey.

 

This year our good friends the Ashdowns invited us over. They go to our church, and Gregg is also Josh's boss at COP. Being in the oilfield we've crossed paths a few times, once in Midland when I was still in school.

 

Josh's only condition on accepting the invite was that he got to bring the turkey. So Wednesday night he began his ritual of concocting the perfect turkey brine for an overnight soak, then getting up early to put the bird in the smoker for the day. It was delicious.

We made some pies and jello (yes, even the green jello), and the kids decorated sugar cookies. Robin had 3 grandkids in town for the holiday, and they all had a lot of fun together.

 The kids then spent the rest of the afternoon outside sledding down the hill and burning off all those calories...while the adults sunk onto the couch watching football, fighting the urge to doze off into a long winter's nap :)

Grandma Sharon

It's the holiday season, the time we think a lot about our family, especially the ones that aren't with us this time. This summer we lost our Grandma Sharon, and I've just been thinking a lot about her lately. Maybe it's her infamous green jello salad that pops up every Thanksgiving.

 

My girls will remember that every time we went to visit Paul & Sharon for the holidays, Grandma Sharon would show them back to her "girls room" where she had saved a lot of old toys for grandchildren to play with. And just about every time, she would find something to let the girls take home.

 

My girls will remember that Grandma Sharon was a remarkable artist. She had beautiful artwork around her home, but we were most excited about the carousel horses that she was commissioned to paint at the Independence Park. Rough Rider and Faerie Cyan.

We will remember our fabulous tropical vacations together - to Antigua in 2010 and St Croix in 2012. Claire used to think Grandma and Grandpa lived on an island, because those were her best memories with them!

My favorite memory from St. Croix was when I was searching the complex for Lydia before dinner, and I found her with Grandma Sharon. They were both sitting on her bed, drawing pictures, and even using her professional colors! She did a beautiful sketch of Lydia with her crazy curly hair. I was almost upset I interrupted them for dinner because they probably would have enjoyed spending the whole evening there drawing.

 

 I remember one time sitting on the pool deck looking out at a beautiful sunset, and while I was busy taking pictures with my kids, Sharon was just looking at the sky. We stood there in silence for a minute, and she then described to me how she would paint that sky. She talked about beginning with color, and then removing the color where the clouds were. It was fascinating to me, and it was one of the few times I saw the artist in her and appreciated that she has a gift for seeing beauty. She really did appreciate the beautiful things in this world.

 

 The Viets boys have some funny stories about Grandma Sharon from growing up, but that's because they were mostly obnoxious boys ;) She would talk to them about their bad habits, and as kids they hated that, but as an adult, Josh sees that everything she did or said was to try and help them because she loved them. We do that as parents.

For me, Sharon was my rock at a very difficult time in my life. When Josh and I were married there was discord between our families because of our religion and temple marriage, causing a lot of confusion and pain for both of us and our families. But in the middle of everything, Sharon was there for me, with a loving smile, hugging me and reassuring me that everything would be fine. She was my angel that day, and in the years to follow she always made a real effort to make me feel welcome, comfortable, and loved.

 

Grandma Sharon was a great woman of faith, leaving world at peace, reassured that her loving Heavenly Father was there to bring her home. She's busy doing an angel's work now, just as she was for many of us down here.

Family picture time

 

The Viets girls

 

 

Jana Graham is one of our friends from church, but she is also one of the best photographers in Billings. I asked her to do our family pictures this summer when Lydia was getting baptized, and I am so pleased with the results.

 

 

 

We hiked up the hills behind our house to take the pics, and so at times the girls were a little itchy and grumpy. But they still put on a smile!...kinda

 

And here is one of the shots we used for Lydia's baptism invitations. Love this sweet girl!