The Stereo System

Dover and Shalayne's Christmas project was installing a new stereo system in the green car that they were taking to Utah. The old stereo system was awful and didn't have a CD player or and auxiliary jack. They got it in okay but then the car wouldn't start. It started easily from a jump. It took us 5 days and so much frustration to solve the problem. It turned out to be a simple problem. The battery connection hadn't been reattached tightly enough. We were trying to fix it all ourselves, we had the battery tested, it was fine, we thought maybe it was the alternator, that would have been massively expensive to fix. We read and read about related issues on the internet. It was from Dover calling the stereo manufacturer that he got the clue about the battery connections and sure enough they were lose. One of the connection wouldn't tighten so it had to be replaced, but it was easy to do. In the mean time we had to drive Dover to work and function with only one car while we tried to figure out what was wrong. It was stressful and time consuming, but we solved the problem ourselves with only a $2 part. The stereo system is really nice and made the 3 day drive to Utah much nicer for them. The green car was packed when they left.  I have no idea how they got everything in the car. They were squished!  Unfortunately we didn't have time to take pictures :(

The Computer that Daenon Built

Christmas was really great for Daenon. He got the components to build a super power computer. We decided to let him have his present early because we knew it would take him a little while to put it together. 

We sent him on a major scavenger/clue type hunt where he had to call different family members and solve clues, puzzles, riddles, or find answers to questions to get letter and numbers that would give him the location of his gift. It took him a good half of the day. Grandpa and Grandma Dover gave him family history questions, Kylee a sudoko puzzle, Shalayne a cross word puzzle, Meghan gave him a riddle about a movie her children love, Ron made him learn about arthritis, Auna had a scripture related clue, Ryan gave him a riddle. This was Ryan's riddle: 2 in a Corner, 1 in a room, none in a house, and one in a shelter. What is it? I'll give you the answer at the bottom of this post. Brandon gave him 2 questions from the Constitution, Dover gave him a math problem, and my questions came for the December New Era. The computer parts were located at Damon and Tiffany's home. Once he had all the letters it didn't take him long to figure out that they matched Damon and Tiffany's address. We went to their home and Brandon had the computer parts hidden all through out the house. He had a note from a devious elf that gave him the clues to the location of each item. 

Once he found everything he was soooo excited to get started. He ran into a lot of problems. This was a complicated computer he wanted to build. (He's had the parts for this computer picked out for several months, unknown to him we order the parts from his list of what he wanted.) He learned alot. The mother board was DOA (dead on arrival). That was a big hurdle. Ryan,over the phone, helped Daenon learn how to test the mother board and other computer parts. Daenon learned a lot.  It took him 5 days  to get it up and running. When he had working he was so excited and felt such a sense of accomplishment. It is a fast computer.  Everyday he he goes on and on about how much he loves his computer.  (Riddle answer: the letter R.)

San Antonio with Shalayne

On Monday December 22^nd we took a fast day trip to San Antonio.  We enjoyed the old buildings, the River Walk. and our last dinner at Salt Grass Steak house. With Dover leaving to Utah we won’t have his 50% employee discount.  We ended the day with an evening at 6 Flags.  We all felt quiet Christmassy! 

A Family Temple Trip

Our ward spent all year planning a ward family temple trip.  It was for everyone, every age, whether or not they had a recommend.  The whole ward met at a chapel in a stake center close to the temple.  We had a devotional before doing sessions and baptisms.  The younger children had a tour of the temple grounds and then were baby sat at the stake center.  It was a wonderful experience.  We had several little miracles that day.  Dover had been trying and trying to get someone to cover his shift at work.  If he wasn't successful we would have to make the 1 hour drive participate in the devotional and then leave so we could get him back to work.  I had been praying that he could work things out and was committed to at least going to the devotional.  At the last minute, literally as we were walking out the door, he found someone to cover his shift.  Shalayne didn't have her recommend and we couldn't get a hold of her bishop.  She has had to attend so many different wards because of Sunday soccer conflicts.  She didn't feel like her bishop even knew her and the counselor that did know her had been released.  She tried to get a hold of her bishop but wasn't successful. We weren't going to put pressure on our bishop to bend the rules and interview her and give her a temporary recommend, but I hoped he would feel inspired to do so.  At the last minute he did.  I never would have hoped this if I wasn't as confident that she was worthy.  He gave her a temporary recommend just for the day so she also got to do baptisms.  I was able to go and help with the youth baptisms and do initiatory.  I love the promises of the initiatory. Brandon was able to baptize Dover, Shalayne, and Daenon.  Knowing that Dover and Shalayne would be leaving for Utah it was a particularly special to spend that time together in the temple. After the temple we had a fun family dinner at Pei Wei's.  That morning had been awful!  I'm sure the adversary was trying to do everything in his power to prevent us from getting there.  The contention level in the home was so high.  We were all miserable.  We went from hell to Heaven.  I'm so grateful for the temple.  

Miracles and Blessings

Today I lead a miracle.  We only have one choir practice before we perform, largely because no one has time or interest in attending choir practice-myself included.  Last week I only had 3 people at our one and only choir practice for our Christmas number.  I made a plea for ward members to attend our Sunday run through before sacrament meeting.  We had about 15 people.  The first time through didn't sound so good, the second time was okay, but i felt a little disappointed because it really is a pretty song and I knew that with just a few more run throughs it could sound good, but there was no more time to practice.  When we sang it was wonderful.  It sounded incredible.  I have to stood in aware as I lead the choir, it was a humbling feeling.  Music in sacrament meeting must be important to Heavenly Father because he gave our ward a miracle as our choir sang today.

On Friday Dover received his patriarchal blessing.  Red Letter Day, it was a day to make all the heart ache that comes with parenting worth it.  The spirit was so strong and Dover was so touched by the spirit and words of the blessing.  He and Shalayne will be leaving to drive to Utah together on December 27th.  Dover will be working, and taking a few college classes, and SNOW BOARDING!  Shalayne is transfering to UVU and will be playing soccer there.  UVU has conference games in Houston!  LUCKY US!  It is so fun to have her here! It's nice to be 5 instead of 4.

On Saturday we celebrated Hanukkah with Damon and Tiffany and their family. Brandon's parents are Jewish converts to the LDS church and we celebrate Hanukkah and Passover in remembrance of our Jewish heritage.  Brandon's brother Roark shared this fun remaking of the Taio Cruze song Dynamite into a Hanukkah song called "Candlelight".  If you know anything about Hanukkah it's hysterical.

Candlelight - The Maccabeats - Hanukkah

Holiday Homework

I've been working as a Music Educator at a Montessori school in Houston called Smaller Scholars.  Each Fall semester they put on a big winter show.  I wrote the show this year and put in a lot of fun broadway numbers and other fun numbers.  The show was called Holiday Homework, it was a hit with the children and their parents.  Numbers I wove into the show included:  Hard Knock Life, Seize the Day, Book Report, Surf'n Santa and several fun children's choral numbers. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and relief when the show was over.  Brandon and the the boys were really impressed they had no idea how big of a project I'd undertaken.