Merry Christmas!

I just adore Christmas--my favorite part is all of the excitement leading up to Christmas day and most especially Christmas Eve. Our Christmas events really began on December 19th when we drove to my brothers in Vacaville to stay the night. We unfortunately arrived quite late because we had to wait until Lily's visit finished, but we were happy to see them anyways. Abby immediately wanted to play with all of their toys and I frequently had to get up to tell her to put their toys down and get back in bed.

Who can say no to cars, trucks and trains?
The next morning we left bright and early and drove as quickly as we could to get to Nicole's baby shower (my youngest brothers wife) in Washington. I really wanted to make it and we barely did. I met the rest of my family at a store and they hopped in their car while Matt drove to my parents. I was pretty exhausted, but so happy to have made it to celebrate their first baby!
Nicole opening gifts
Grandma Karen and Wendie
Tiff and Caleb
Aunt Christie and Uncle Jerry gave us some wonderful gifts and Abby sleeps with hers every night. You cannot go wrong with Mickey when it comes to Abby!
There is a great Children's Museum in Olympia. Abby and her cousins, Kylee and Kennedy had a great time exploring all it had to offer.
We of course needed Costco stuff one day,
so Tiff did the shopping and I got the kids hot dogs!
Can't have the holidays without some yummy baking.
The kids had a blast doing the spritz cookies.
Christmas Eve! Daddy and his girls-
The cousins exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve
Tradition--new pajamas on Christmas Eve
Trying to go to sleep with all of the cousins--they even heard Santa and his reindeer!
Christmas Day!
Abby and Lily's Santa gifts
Waiting to come downstairs
Opening gifts....
Ready for Church....baby Jack and Lily
It was so nice to go to Church on Christmas day. A little hectic to get ready, but what better place could we be? I was able to play piano with my Dad on organ for prelude and opening song, which we love to do. Then I played for some musical numbers and sang and played with my sister Tiff. It was one of the highlights of my holiday season.
After Church pictures
Lily's first time eating rice cereal--she liked it a lot more than Abby did!
What an amazing Christmas with almost all of the family on my side there! Thanks Tiff and Mia for hosting such a big group and being so generous and accommodating. Can we do it again?! I am so grateful to celebrate the birth of our Savior and especially to teach my girls about the true meaning of Christmas. I can't wait until next Christmas.

December--Before Christmas

The month of December seemed to fly by in a whirlwind and we were not home for most of it! It began with Matt at home and Abby, Lily and I in Washington. We drove back with my sister and parents from Thanksgiving in Cali.
The visit was too short, but better than nothing!

Grandma Karen and Lily at my parents home in Washington.
One of my Mom's favorite things to do is attend the temple (even though that is a difficult thing for her to do now). So in celebration of her birthday, a bunch of her close friends all went to the temple together on December 2nd. It was really special and afterwards we ate some yummy food we brought in the cafeteria.
Before the girls and I flew out at SeaTac, we all stopped and ate at Claim Jumper....fried zucchini--yum!
Abby and I made a quick trip to Arizona in December and we stayed at Natalie's house again--I hope they don't get tired of our quick visits! Since Matt was finished with the semester he got the opportunity to spend good Daddy-daughter time with Lily. We all had a great time. Below Natalie dressed Abby up as a pirate one night!
December 7th the Young Women went to a nursing home and caroled to the people who lived there. They had a wonderful time and brightened up the lives of all they encountered.
I love working with them.
Cute picture of Lily in her Bumbo seat.
We did a crazy thing on Friday and Saturday, December 9th and 1oth.....we shopped for and bought a van--yikes! We finally decided on one we'd seen at the beginning that wasn't even on our list. We bought a 2010 Honda Odyssey. We read up, asked people, and drove in many vans and felt this was by far the best deal. The DVD player, leather seats and heated front seats are amazing. We are so happy with our purchase.
December 14th dance--Abby rocking out to a song called "Chicken Chow Mein."
Abby loves to entertain Lily. Abby is Lily's favorite person as you can clearly see.
One more fun event had to get crammed into the little time we were home--hence a December piano recital! My students were fantastic and showed so much progress.
I am so proud to be their teacher. More progress to come!
Now on to a Christmas post!

Most & Least Literate People

Central Connecticut State University just released a new study of the most & least literate populations in the United States. They looked at all cities with a population over 250,000, and by examining journal & newspaper subscriptions, self-reported use of internet news, booksales, library data, and whatever else, they produced ranking of literacy.

The most literate:

5. Boston

4. Atlanta (I'm very surprised by this one)

3. Minneapolis, MN (I'm a bit surprised on this one)

2. Seatle, WA

1. Washington, DC (the most literate people in America)

The study found (to my surprise) that wealth and literacy are not related. Just because your city has money does not mean that people can read. The author wrote, "Cleveland ranks second lowest for median family income . . . and yet, thanks to its great library system (ranked #1 . . .) and strong newspaper (#6) and magazine (#5) circulations, it is ranked 13th most literate in the survey. On the other hand, Anchorage, AK is ranked 5th in median family income and only 61st in literacy."

Now the fun part. Who are the most illiterate people in America?

73. El Paso, TX

74. Corpus Christi, TX

And the highest rate of illiterate people live in . . .

75. Bakersfield, CA

You can find the entire report and ranking for this year and previous years at: http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=11096