5th Day Remember the Blessings of the Temples

My mom and dad serve in the temple each week. They set a fine example for us, and we all know how much they love the temple and love serving there each week. For the 5th day of Christmas the kids were each given their own picture of the temple to hang in their rooms. They LOVE their pictures and were so excited to have a picture of the place where Grandma and Grandpa spend their Fridays.

Living Nativity

This year our ward did a living nativity for Christmas. We did it last weekend, with 3 showings- 1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday. We had cookies and hot chocolate. We DID have sheep and cows and donkeys ready to participate, but because of the NON-STOP rain, we ended up holding the show indoors, so no sheep or donkeys or any other live animals. It was a lot of fun. I was in charge of the angels, the primary songs, and some special singing numbers. It was a lot of fun. My 2 oldest kids were angels... and Cami sang also during the primary numbers. The spirit was strong and it was a great missionary tool. We were so happy when one of Gloria's best friends from school showed up with her grandma and sister. They came to church the next day, also. I also have a dear friend who came and while she was there she approached the missionaries and asked for the discussions!! I am so thankful for the opportunity to bring others to our church to feel the spirit and to see some of our beliefs. I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to participate in this event.

Jingle Bells

Cami had a dance recital last week at the school. She performed for the schools pep rally. She was so cute. Cami can really turn on the charm and she just adores getting dolled up and performing. Ohmigosh!!! It is really so much fun to see her get so excited and she loves getting up on stage. Her dance class performed "Jingle Bells". They wore bells on their toes and in their hair. It was a Jingle'lee good time!

Day 4- Remember Music

Remember... Music invites joy and happiness into our lives. Music invites the spirit. A family that sings together, stays together and has a lot of fun together. At our 2nd annual Christmas family vacation we will have a battle of the bands. To start it off, Grandma and Grandpa will sing a song that we have written... we have included the chorus here. Please learn it and be prepared to join us in the chorus. Please write your own family verse. Then the battle of the family bands will begin.

Chorus:

(tune: Wise man and foolish man)

The Murphy Family is the place I want to be; Not just for time but for all Eternity. None of us want to have an empty chair, let's all work together and greet each other there.

The kids love the family band in a box that they received!! They pound and play all the instruments DAILY. Livee ruined the drums ALREADY with all the pounding she has been doing!! The kids are loving the music. Thanks Mom!

Christmas Performance

Both of our kids did a winter performance at the school last week. It was super cute and very fun. Grayson's class played a song on the bells- it was really impressive. they did a perfect job. Then they did a fun christmas dancing song. They were all dressed as Christmas toys (Gray was the clown). Gray had a little solo where he did some break dancing and the splits. Is was quite the sight to see! Gloria's class sang "We Are The World" and collected pennies for children in Haiti. It was a nice performance. We watched the song on UTube.... the version that they did was full of celebrities and it was pretty cool. Gloria's teacher is a huge democrat... we think that is why she did "We Are The World" instead of a traditional Christmas song.... we love her teacher and although she has very different views than we do, she is teaching Gloria a lot!! She has pictures of Obama all over her room- which is great- I think it means that she is an optimist, that Obama really CAN, he just hasn't.... yet? It shows Gloria that even though her parents aren't the biggest fans of the current President, that other people are (although we still can't figure out why) and that people are allowed to have their own opinions, no matter how foolish they are :) But seriously, her teacher is super duper. She has opened our eyes to GREEN-ness. We NEVER have trash in our lunches and we NEVER buy bottled water. We use aluminum water bottles for everything... in our car, in our lunches, traveling, working out, sports... We never buy individually wrapped anything- we pack everything in reusable tupperware. It has been nice. I have not had to buy any Ziploc baggies this year. ANd I feel great about not contributing to our worlds trash!!

Back to their performance, it was so sweet and I always love watching the kids.... Gray would not smile, afraid that he would ruin his makeup- Gloria wouldn't smile, she said that she can't smile while she sings..... we have been working on that daily and now she CAN smile while she sings !!! :)

Merry Christmas.

Day 3- Remember to Give Mom a Night off!

I loved Day 3. Remember to give mom a night off!! Grandma gave us some great new soup bowls and a chili mix. She asked the kids to make the soup and set the table with the new soup bowls. She told them to give me lots of kisses- they did! The families who live in Utah were actually delivered soup by my mom... lucky ducks!! :) I had a nice easy night of dinner... I popped a few potatoes into the oven to eat with the soup and steamed a little broccoli and had a super easy and yummy dinner.... chili served over baked potatoes with cheddar cheese and broccoli. You can't ask for a nicer dinner on a cold day. Thanks again, mom!

Day 2- Remember Traditions

The second day of Christmas we were told to Remember Family Traditions.... one family tradition that we have is Grandma Murphy makes pillowcases for the kids every Christmas. The kids were excited to receive their pillowcases this year and were extra excited when they discovered that the pillow case glow in the dark!!!!! Grandma always sews their names onto the pillow cases and this year she added the work REMEMBER above their name- telling them that each night as they lay their head on their pillow case to remember how much Grandma and Grandpa love them.... and the work REMEMBER glows in the dark!! Nice touch, Grandma! Thanks- we love them, and we love you!!!

12 Days of Christmas- Day 1

My mom and dad have a tradition of doing the 12 days of Christmas every year for all of their kids and grandkids. They have a theme and all of the gift they give tie into the theme. This year, we unwrapped our theme of "REMEMBER". Choose To Remember. Elder Spencer W. Kimball taught; "When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be "Remember". Because all of us have made covenants... our greatest need is to remember. What is why everyone goes to sacrament meeting every Sabbath day- to take the sacrament and listen to the priests pray that we .... may always remember him and keep His commandments which he has given us... Remember is the word.". We were asked to read Helaman 5:9 and Mosiah 3:17 and asked what must we remember and why is it important to remember?

In out first gift, we were given a family night in a box. There was a new game, that the kids loved and a muffin mix. In our family home evening lesson, we were asked to come up with a family motto, and make a flag (similar to Captain Moroni's). Our family came up with the theme of Helaman 5:12. The Kendall Family Motto is Build Our Testimony's strong as rocks! The kids came up with it and decorated the family flag. We have it hanging on the wall in our living room. We talked about why we need strong testimony's and what happens when our testimony's are not built on a sure foundation. We discussed the importance of bearing our testimony's often, and how when we bear our testimony to others, that is one way that we are helping our testimony's become stronger. The kids had a great time. They enjoyed the lesson, the activity, the game and the yummy chocolate chip muffins. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Growing Up

I love these pictures! I love them because my little girl seems like she is growing up so fast, it seems like a haven't seen her playing dress up for a long time. Then last week, she and her friends came dancing down the stairs in their dress up clothes and had made a dance/song up for us. It was so cute. They were singing and dancing to a song that they made up. It was fun to see them so carefree and having so much fun together. Even though she is growing up, she still has a kid inside.