December Part 3 - Biggs Family Time & Bennett's Blessing

Like I have previously posted, we felt very blessed to get to see my parents and my sister and her family within the month before Christmas. That made not spending Christmas with them bearable for me. I still had a rough time on Christmas Eve during the day, missing my family and wishing I could be with them. Normally, we would have travelled out to California after Christmas to spend several days with my family, but with my sister's holiday and travel plans, it just so happened that they were all coming out to Utah after Christmas so they could spend time with her in-laws and planned to bless my new nephew Bennett. So my parents and my brothers came out too. So, although we weren't with them on Christmas, we still got to spend 2 days with them in Utah.

We met my parents up in Lehi at my cousin's house where they were staying. We got to have a 2nd Christmas with them. Brek got official Christmas pjs which match his cousins. (Despite loving his penguin Christmas pjs from last year, he still has been quite upset that he didn't get cupcake ones like the girls so they could match. So my mom made sure they matched this year.) Grandma and Papa also gave him a CD player for his room and some CD's to go along with it. He has LOVED it! He will put on his music and jump on his trampoline and play for much longer than he used to.

Joe got some new long-sleeved shirts and a laminator that he's been wanting for his Primary chorister calling.

I received a warm fuzzy blanket, a new sewing ruler, and 2 new purses. 

Plus we received a new Christmas book, some games, and a new movie. We felt very spoiled and very loved.

That evening we met up with my older brother Mark and his wife Eliana (their kids weren't able to come out) and my sister and her family, and we "rode the train" aka Trax, up to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It was cold, but we had fun. And I just loved getting to be together.

On the "train":

We went into the Visitor's Center first because Papa didn't think it was dark enough yet. But it was cool to see the models of the inside of the temple and we got a couple cool pictures. We also lost kids a couple times.

Love all these cuties!

Amy and Brek:

Rori and Brek loved picking the ice off the garlands. And then complained about their hands being cold. Yet we couldn't convince them otherwise to stop. Gotta love 4-year-olds!

At the big Christmas Tree of Lights with Uncle David. We thought it was cool that those aren't all lights, but they have large sequins in between the lights to help it sparkle and shine more. So pretty!

Group picture:

Mommy and Brek with the temple in the background:

We went and saw the Christus statue in the other visitor's center and in an attempt to warm up. We caught the train back to our cars and then went to Village Inn for dinner for most and hot chocolate too And then we drove by the "Tree of Life" in Draper before going home.

The next day, we met at my brother-in-law Dustin's brother's house in Springville for Bennett's Baby Blessing. His full name is Bennett David Aaron Belt. Bennett is my mom's maiden name. David is Dustin's middle name, along with his father's first name. (It also happens to be my brother's name, and my mom's father's middle name.) Aaron comes from Dustin's best friend, and also Brek's middle name. Tracy really wanted Bennett to wear the same outfit that Brek wore when he was sealed and blessed. We were worried that it would be too big since Brek was 7 months old at the time and Bennett was only 2.5 months old, but it mostly fit him really well.

A photo shoot of Brek and Bennett. You never know if they will turn out well so I just took a bunch:

These are all the men that stood in the circle to bless Bennett:

Aaron Patty, Kerry Belt, David Belt, David Biggs, Joe Jensen, Mark Biggs, Dustin Belt, spacing on friend's name, Bishopric member from Kerry's ward, Guy Biggs, Dustin's nephew - Jacob? Belt

It was very sweet and wonderful. I'm so glad we were able to be there and with our family for such a special event.

Then Joe and I hijacked the baby and I took more pictures:

We finally shared with my dad:

It was nice to sit and chat with family and friends throughout the day. At one point, one of the little boys fell asleep and his dad (Aaron) put him down on the stairs and he stayed asleep there. It was cute!

All the boys with Aaron in their name:

 All the boys with David in their name:

 Bennett with Grandma and Papa Biggs:

 Bennett and his wonderful Mommy and Daddy:

 Bennett with his daddy and his Grandma and Grandpa Belt:

And just a cute picture of my daddy who I love so much!

It was a really nice day and weekend. I sure love my family! It was much harder saying goodbye to my parents. (Less hard to say goodbye to my sister because we were getting together during the next week and caravaning home together too.) I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

December Part 1-Pre-Christmas

I really enjoyed our month of December and the Christmas season. (Last year I was very GRINCH, so this was a nice change.) Brek, of course, was super excited about Christmas. All month long he talked about "giving gifts to Jesus" and we loved that. He also wanted to wrap everything under the sun to give to people.

We had a Christmas party at Church early in the month, and I've got to say, our Santa that came is pretty real looking. Brek has had some major Santa phobias in the past, so we talked a lot about who Santa was and why it is exciting to meet him and what will happen, etc. Brek kept telling us that he wasn't going to be afraid this year. But right before it was his turn, the few women standing at the door, who were really just trying to amp up the excitement, in fact, re-instated his fear and panic. Needless to say, I then had a screaming child I was trying to comfort and calm down in the corner. We watched for a while, and tho he still had no interest in going over to talk to Santa, he was finally convinced when he realized he wouldn't be getting what he wanted if he didn't actually tell Santa his gift request. Brek asked Santa for a Baymax toy. And Santa told him that he liked Brek's hat.

As we were leaving to go home, we saw Santa and his wife leaving as well. Brek was quite disappointed that he didn't fly in with his reindeer, so we explained that the reindeer needed lots of rest before Christmas Eve. Brek also informed us that he wasn't the real Santa, but a Santa helper. I am not sure where he got that idea or information, but it sparked some interesting conversation on the drive home about who Santa is. Brek mostly settled on that Santa loves Jesus very much and he brings us presents on Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birthday because Santa also loves us. 

A few weeks before Christmas, my sister and her family stayed the night at our house on their journey from Chicago to Utah/California. We got to meet my new nephew Bennett and see my adorable nieces. The time was too short, but we had plans to see them again just after Christmas, so it was alright. The only picture I took was of Brek trying to hold Bennett, which as you can see, wasn't the perfect picture we wanted.

Still, gotta love the memories. Brek got to have a "sleepover" with his cousins, and the girls did really well interacting with my high-energy son. He LOVES his cousins! They did lots of jumping on the trampoline.

One Sunday during our "skype" chat with my parents, Brek told my dad, "Wow Grandpa! You're really smart! You must be in kindergarten!"

Joe and Brek shared a conversation that went like this:
Joe-We give presents to people to show them we love them.
Brek-Right. Like we give presents to Jesus.
J-What kinds of presents would you give to Jesus?
B-Be obedient. Be nice to people.
J-That's great!
B-And also to play with Him.
J-Yeah ... Wait. Play with Jesus?
B-Uh huh ... But how do I get up there? ... an airplane?

Our school concert went well. We ended up with a snow day the day of the Elementary Christmas program, and the only day left to move it was earlier in the day of the high school concert night. It made for a very long evening, but all the students did well. My piano playing wasn't too shabby either, if I do say so myself. (It's always a relief when it's not a personal disaster.) We did have the cord come out of the piano mid-song with one of the elementary groups. But we all survived. Joe got to play a tuba solo of "White Christmas" while the high school girls sang backups. That was fun too. Brek was a hoot afterwards, barking orders to all the band kids about putting away instruments and chairs. At one point he was pushing the heavy percussion cart down the hallway back to the band room, with the "help" of another student who could also barely see over the top. And like I said, Brek would see a band kid and tell them to go get such-and-such piece of equipment and then telling the next kid what they should do and then shouting, "WILL SOMEONE OPEN THE DOOR!" Looks like his leadership skills are off to a great start!

Anyway, stay tuned for actual Christmas festivities and the after-parties.

Biggs Family Reunion 2014 - "I've Got Your Back"

We were able to attend our Biggs Family Reunion this year. We don't make it every year, so it's nice when it works with our schedule. This was also the time we had this summer to be with my parents and brothers, so we really put a focus on being with family.

We basically spent all of our time at the pond; all Brek wanted to do was swim and be in the boats. It worked for us, tho it did limit our social time with others. But the boy was happy, and that's always good. 

Checking things out with Anna

It didn't take long to convince Daddy to take Brek out in the boat.

Brek, waiting for Joe to bring the boat around

I love this picture!

All the while I sat here and observed:

But eventually they talked me into coming out too:

Which was all fun and great until it was time to get out:

Long story short - Brek sank the boat.

Long story long - When we got to the "dock" I lifted Brek up to get him out of the boat and onto the platform, and instead of planting his feet, he sort of freaked out and kicked the platform, which sent the boat back out into the water, and tilted to the left. So I reached over to the right, trying to grab the edge again, and still holding Brek up (trying to get the bigger boys standing there to help, which didn't happen), and the boat tilted all the way over to the right. I was up to my waist in water, holding a freaking out toddler, and then Joe went down too. 

Unfortunately, the phone and camera were in our pockets. Fortunately, thanks to rice, they are working again. And fortunately again, we had a professional photographer at the reunion, and she was able to take the above picture. Unfortunately again, the only closed toed shoes and pants that Joe and I brought with us were now soaked. But all in all, good story to tell, right?

Thankfully again to the photographer, we have all these other pictures from the reunion. (I only downloaded the ones of us 3, but seriously she took hundreds of pictures over the 3 days we were all there.) 

Another big hit during the reunion was the bubbles.

Joe, apparently, gets very serious when he's making bubbles:

Back at the pond:

Hanging out with my dad

I love this picture of my big brother David

 And of course, it wouldn't be a reunion without a big family photo

Brek's highlight from the reunion was the swing rope into the water. He was the youngest kid to give it a try. We of course don't have any pictures of the 4 or 5 times he tried. He did great (except for the fact that he wouldn't let go of the rope, so either Joe or I had to stand in the water and grab him off the rope so he wouldn't hit the rocks. Little bit of a power struggle over that one.)

Joe's favorite part was tbd.

I loved the talent show. Brek got to get up with almost all of the little (and big) girls and sing "Let it Go" from Frozen. And my Uncle Marte and Aunt Diana sang a song and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had in a long time.