The days were accomplished

I have to admit this - I really really love the gifty part of Christmas. Everyone's always telling you to remember the true meaning, and that is what they should say because they're right. 

But the gifts are fun too. 

And this post is not about gifts. 

It's about the true meaning! Just needed to clarify. Something. 

Caleb was the chosen narrator this year for the annual nativity reenactment at the Kepsel home. He did splendidly! And the first time we did it (once is never enough, right?) he actually only read from the Bible. 

The subsequent nativities were a little more pizazzy. Sorry you missed it. 

And, before we go on, I must explain that during all of this I was very busy being a shepherd, so all of these photos are courtesy of Amanda. Bless her. 

 Leland was a fantastic Joseph. He was very good at demonstrating the dire need which Joseph must have felt to get to Bethlehem as quickly as possible.

Emmy was a lovely Mary, and since there's really no competition as to who else would play the part she's pretty set. 

Although Jonah was a little torn up about it earlier in the day. 

Lala made a very angelic angel, and the Shepherds were sorely afraid. 

I mean that in every respect. 

See? This is Claire's afraid face. She has natural acting abilities.

 Jonah was happy to be the wise man when he learned he could wear his King crown. And he specially requested that Katie join him.

 Loki joined in playing the part of all of the animals except for the Donkey, which Papa had under control.
This is Loki being the camel.

 Eventually Claire decided we were all looney, and made straight for the goodies.

I may or may not have joined her.

Oh yes, and what I was saying about gifts up there somewhere - I love the gifts. The giving of them mostly. But I also really really really love the reenactment of the Nativity. It is very possibly my favorite part of the whole month of December.

It Pukes In Utah!

Oh how I love living in the frozen mountain tops.  

It puked snow last night, and the storm has only just begun. These photos are from a few hours ago, and it hasn't let up at all. The sidewalk is in desperate need of shoveling again. Yes Please.

So you know how Caleb always shovels the snow into a pile in the yard for the kids to sled down? A nice little hill for my tiny little kids? That was before the neighbor got involved.

Bless his huge heart for plowing us out after/during every storm we've had this year. Pete's 4Wheeler of years past is toast, so we're plowless at our house. 

Any who - he got in on the pile-building and scooped up most of the driveway's snow into our front yard. The pile went from 3 feet to 8 in a matter of minutes.

This posed a whole new challenge to Sir Emmy the Undaunted.

 But after a few failed attempts, she needed her Mommy. She needed me. I had to go out there for her sake.

 And then she made it. And much fun ensued.

 Poor little Sir Jonah the Sick had to watch from inside. I sent him some love.

I'm telling you, it was absolutely no fun out there at all:) 

Levi and Utah (his huge puppy) braved the roads from Park City and came to get Caleb, so inside I went. Emmy, on the other hand, was out there for another good half hour. 

Now placing bets on whether or not this small mountain will still be in my yard in July.

A message from Jonah

Merry Christmas everyone.

Impressive Feat

Last month we achieved the impossible.
We took a Kepsel family photo - and everyone was there! It's not like we're a huge family that doesn't like each other. We're a relatively normal sized family who actually really enjoy being around each other.  So why aren't we around each other more often? This is a mystery.

Didn't it turn out nicely though? This is actually a combination of... how many photos, Katie? We took 100ish photos, and there wasn't a single one where we were all smiling. Is this surprising? Not for our fam. Luckily we have Katie the photoshop wiz, and she can moosh a few photos together and get a good one out of it. Very excited to get this one printed and on my wall.

And, while we're on the subject of family photos - when Cami came home from Washington last month for thanksgiving she brought early Christmas with her in the form of matching sweater dresses for all the females.

Cami looks fantastic in hers. The style just screams Cami! I'm not positive if any of the rest of us have actually worn ours since the photoshoot... but I hope Diana has, because her cute baby bump looked super cute in it!

And, to wrap things up, I must tell you about the horrible ugly Christmas card I sent out this year.
Heaven help us.

This photo, stuck in an old envelope from who knows where. I had a stack of them. They were even cool enough to have torn edges - now that's classy (gag). I went so far as to write a letter too. Then I printed it on plain white paper and stuck it in. I couldn't even get any good clip art border or something.

I'm over it. I've come to the realization that I'm in the little kid years, and that they don't last long, and that I'm not expected to be fabulous.
Katie even designed this gorgeous Christmas card for me. Did I have her print it? No. Why? Because I have problems. It was really lovely. And now you're going to have to wait until next year to see it! But since it's already designed I'm going to have it printed in October.

A breakthrough

An amazing thing occurred at our home last night.

 I'm not talking about the fact that it actually snowed like Mr. Weather Man said it would for a change (I'm not bitter) but rather I'm talking about the fact... that...

 Let me back up a bit. Emmy's nearly 5 years old, right? Old enough for a baby sitter, right? By about 4 1/2 years?

 Well we had never hired a baby sitter before. Emphasis on 'hired', since Grammas and Aunts don't charge for their services.

 Can't say that any more. These two rug rats were officially baby sat.

It's not that we don't trust teenage girls with our kids. It's not that at all. It's just that we're weird.
We had the cutest baby sitter ever too! I've been telling Caleb for the three years we've lived here, "If we ever hire a baby sitter, it'll be that _______ girl. I love her." (See? Protecting the innocent again.)

 And what do you know it, on the night that we finally called, she was available! Lucky us.

 We went to one of my bestie's surprise birthday party. She turned 30. It totally surprised her, and she was adorable, and it was a lovely time! Aren't we brave for letting a baby sitter watch our kids? Aren't you impressed?
No, not really, you say. What's to be brave about, Jayne? You baby sat when you were 10.

P.S. The kids were asleep. The party wasn't until 9:30pm.

Still counts though, right?
Totally counts, since Jonah woke up and screamed for a while. Totally counts.

Teaser photo

Caleb is in school, this you know. Caleb takes pictures, this you also know. This semester Caleb was in a photography class. Isn't this story exciting?

For a portion of the final test they had to create a 5 photo story board. 5 photos that tell a story, beginning to end, printed at 8X10 and matted in black. 

I can't tell you the agonizing that went into this. But it paid off in the end.

As the class turned in their story boards, the teacher hung them all on the wall so the class could see them all and so he could critique them. 

I'm just going give you a teaser photo here, this is the first in the series:

Then, when the professor got to Caleb's, he said they were the best of all his classes this semester!
Caleb posted all of them on his blog last night, so you can just click your way over there to see the rest. See his photo over there on the right? Yeah, that one. The one of him risking his life on a rock just for kicks.

Caleb was in shock, it was the first time he'd been praised like that by a professional. I didn't take offense.
"I know you like my photos, Jayne, but this was different!"
It's true. It is different. And he's so embarrassed that I put this one here, cute boy.

You better not pout I'm tellin' you why...

Best Christmas Party Ever.

Monday night, while Caleb was in his final last final of the semester, the kids and I drove down to Salt Lake to see Zachary and Amanda's new home and have a little Christmas party with them.

Little did we know the joys that awaited us.

First of all, dinner. I love dinner. You want to feed my kids? Great!
Then Amanda's family arrived bearing trays of goodies, so Jonah was good for the duration.

The kids were playing, I'd even say they were playing Merrily, when outside the front door came the sound of Jingling Bells! And who should pop in?

The big man himself! Yes. It's true. Santa dropped by to say hello. And he knew all their names.

The kids faces were priceless.

Emmy ran to him. Literally. He scooped her right up and all her doubts about whether or not he existed were immediately swept away.

"Ho Ho Ho! Hello Emmy! Have you been good?"

He even brought the Misses. Leland and Amanda sat right down so Leland could tell him what he's been wanting. He watches The Polar Express regularly, and he has been wanting to ask Santa for a bell.
And you know what? Santa had one for him.

Then Emmy hopped up there and he pulled out a bag for her.

And he had a bell for her too!

Would Jonah do it? Would he sit on Santa's lap?

No hesitation. After seeing the other two do it, there was nothing left to be afraid of.

Claire even liked him, and she's being picky about who she likes these days.

Photo Op! Is this not the cutest little family? I love them.

I can't tell them how grateful I am for this little party. I'm so glad they wanted to share Santa with us!

Shall I tell you the secret? Okay, I will. My kids won't read this until they're grown, right?
Santa is Amanda's Uncle. He and his Wife do this professionally, obviously (they were perfect) and he had an hour available and asked if he could drop in. So she called me! How lucky are we? He memorized their names, and Amanda left the little bags with the bells outside for him to pick up. All in all, so completely thoughtful of them. This may have been life changing for my littles.

Aren't they the cutest? I just loved them.

As Santa was leaving, and about to go out the door, Jonah ran to him and put up his arms.
Is this my child? My shy little Jonah?

Santa scooped him up, and they stood like this and pondered each other for a minute.
"Oh, I like you. You are a sweet boy, Jonah." said Santa.

After many waves and Merry Christmas's, they were gone. But they only made it to the next house, where there was a windowful of kids watching. The Mom stuck her head out the front door and asked if they would mind stopping in, and so they did! These are good people.

Then the kids played some more! These guys just moved up here from Green River, and it's been a long dry spell of not seeing them very often. We're so glad they're close again.
Jonah says every hour or so "Leland is my best friend."
Cousins need each other.

Thank you thank you thank you. 

What is it about people doing nice things for my kids that gets me so much? 

Jingle Birthday

 Deck the Halls!
Or the living room in this case. There is only one hall in our home and it's about 4 feet long and decked with other household debris - what was I talking about?

Every year I trick Caleb into getting a tree early in December. We always get a live one, and they never last all the way until Christmas. They look ok, but please don't get too close or all the needles will fall off.
But we get one any way. Because December 4th is my birthday and Caleb can't debate it on that day.
Tricky tricky tricky.

 Jonah doesn't have many memories of last year - he was only 18 months after all. Emmy on the other hand is WAY into it all. He pretty much just follows her lead.
With every thing.

 Claire thought we had all gone nuts, and she was probably right. Christmas decorating is nuts!

But it's so fun. I love pulling all my random ornaments out of the box. We really have some doozies. There is absolutely nothing matchy matchy about our tree, and we like it that way. Nothing against matchy matchy trees - I really think they are stunningly beautiful.
Can you imagine seeing something stunningly beautiful in my home? It wouldn't match anything! And it wouldn't last 5 minutes.

And then... after all the decorating was done... we got out....
THE VACUUM!

I know. What a novelty. I actually own one again. Only took me a few months.
My MIL went to Target with me and imparted of her wisdom as to which model to get, and we settled on this one because it had one perk that no other vacuum had.

The kids can vacuum all by themselves.

I hope this novelty never wears off.

I also hope the carpet doesn't wear off in that one spot that they vacuum over and over and over.

I was supposed to wish for something before I blew out the candles....

But after a few minutes of earnest pondering and candles starting to melt on the cake, I couldn't think of one thing I could possibly wish for.

I have it all, my friends.

Then Karla piped up "wish for no more kids for at least a year"

And we went with it:)