Party Like it's CHRISTMAS Time!

 

PIKUS CHRISTMAS PARTY:

The traditional Pikus Christmas Party consists of dinner, the nativity performance by the kids, some sort of White Elephant exchange and talent show. The Nativity play didn't disappoint and luckily this time Mary wasn't thrown from the donkey. Grandma bought all of the "White Elephant Gifts" this year. She gave us all a set amount of fake money and let us bid on each gift, some wrapped and some not. Everyone left very happy with their gifts - there were several gift cards.  The talent show is always fun for the kids to show off what they have been learning. It can be as complex as a 6 minute concerto on the piano and as simple as a headstand contest or Hawaiian dance that Grandpa performed. It wouldn't be complete without the Pace and Yates kids performing a little song and dance for their parents to allow them the privilege of a sleep over. Their creativity with each performance usually works:)

The Yates' Party was held at Jeff and Shannon's new home in Salt Lake this year. Mikelle and John made the 4 hour drive up to Salt Lake just for the party and headed home after it was over!! What dedication, we know we are loved! Once again, the Nativity was performed and dinner was served. We exchanged gifts and were able to visit for a while and catch up on life's events.

We hosted the Christmas Party for Jordan Valley Hospital's annual Radiology Christmas Party. We had a nacho bar, exchanged white elephant gifts, had an ugly sweater contest and played Watcha Mouth which really livened the party up. It is a great company to work for and even better people to work with. It was definitely a successful party!

Our Ward's Christmas party is always in the morning allowing us to wear our pajamas and eat breakfast on blankets while listening to the Christmas performances. It's a casual, laid back party where Santa usually arrives just in time for the kids to tell him their Christmas wishes. 

The "Helm/Wright Christmas Party was held at a church in Saratoga Springs. Noelle and Janson weren't able to make it due to their work load so we brought the Pace kids along to party with us. We had dinner, visited and the kids played a few games of ring the reindeer on the antlers. Since we only see each other typically once a year, we are usually staying for a while catching up with each other's families.

Light the Night

 

We reserved tickets for the performance, "Savior of the World" at the conference center in Downtown Salt Lake. The boys weren't able to make it to the performance so we let the girls each ask a friend to join us, Ayisa asked Caitlyn and Auri asked Ronnie - both sisters. The play depicts stories from the book of mormon, prior to the Savior coming as well as after his death.  After the play, the girls wanted us to take pictures of them in various poses around the temple lights, obviously they are very flexible :) We then headed over to the mall to grab the traditional Hot Chocolate and to look at the candy window displays. It wouldn't feel like Christmas without seeing the Temple Square lights.

A Christmas Carol

 

Grandma Pikus was so generous to ask us to join her at the Hale Center Theater play, "A Christmas Carol". It is one of my favorite Christmas stories. We have not seen the play, but we were thoroughly impressed with this performance. They brought the light of Christ into the performance which made it very touching and allowed us to feel the true spirit of Christmas. Thank You Grandma!

Concerts & Recitals & Performances, OH MY!

 

Auri's School Christmas Performance where she and her class sang "Ms. Jensen got ran over by a Reindeer"

At Auri's Christmas piano recital, she played Jingle Bell Rock.

This was Aysia's first Christmas concert playing the Viola in Orchestra. She has loved it and just found out that she will be advancing to the Intermediate class after this semester with the opportunity to move to the advanced class her 8th grade year. She has had fun in orchestra especially since her two good friends, Emmi Blomquist and Whitney Hawkes are also taking the class. She is a busy girl with dance and music which includes viola and piano.

Life without soccer is no life at all...

Although we live in Utah with cold winters, we are able to play soccer year round thanks to the boys indoor soccer season. Both Jayden and Skyler played on indoor leagues as well as futsal.

 

Boys Night Out

 

The boys make it a tradition to go to at least a couple of Jazz games a year. They went out for pizza at Midici's then to the game. Although the Jazz lost, the time was well spent making memories especially since Jayden will be leaving us in a few months!

Cedar Valley High School in Eagle Mountain invited a couple of teams from Ultimate Dance to perform at their Christmas Drill Team performance. We were lucky that both Aysia and Auri's teams were chosen. They hadn't been working on their dances long, but they did a great job performing them. We are looking forward to competition season! (Ayisa- Turn to Stone, Auri - Fabulous)

 

December Wouldn't Be Complete Without Louis!

 

We know Christmas Season is upon us when Louis shows up unannounced. This year he came with his new Snow Mobile. He was a little later this year because some of the elves got sick, so he had to work overtime in the shop. Luckily, Santa gave him a new ride and he was able to make up a little lost time. We have a fairly good elf. He only gets into minimal trouble and makes very few messes. He must know we couldn't handle an elf that gets into mischief after having 4 crazy kids ;) He let Auri hold him for 15 minutes before he had to leave to go back to the North Pole, she was ecstatic! 

DECEMBER 2019