Festival of Trees 2012

Megan pulled off another great tree this year in memory of her boy Chance... the theme was the great outdoors. All of her decorations were of moose, bears, squirrels, and owls. She did such a great job on it! I got to go and help put it together on decorating day.

My mom tied a quilt with Megan and her sisters and many other people contributed.

Me and Megan with my mom and some friends and our Aunt Becky on decorating day.

Sisters!

Meg and Mom

Our sister Lauren wrote a paragraph to help Festival visitors get to know Chance... it read:
Chance was an inquisitive boy. He loved exploring, getting into everything, and playing in the dirt. He would have been an outdoor enthusiast, for sure, if he hadn't gotten sick at the tender age of 2 years and 11 months. Just weeks before he died he was able to go on his first camping trip. What an adventure! We hoped there would be many more opportunities for him to sleep under the stars, be close to nature, and try to spot the wildlife. But God had a different plan and called Chance home. We still feel close to him when we are outside. He is in the wind, the sunshine, the raindrops, the hoot of an owl, and especially in the dirt.

Later in the week we went with my Grandma Cole to see the tree... The kids love being with her and I love it too. She is so good with them (and they love that she usually manages to bring them a little treat :)).

Sophia was in a bit of a funk that day, she finally pulled out of it when we saw the gingerbread houses and there was one from Tangled  (one of her favorite movies).

The Festival is such a great event, and I love that Megan has made it a priority in her life to give back to the Medical Center that tried so hard to save her boy. 

On decorating day I was (again) amazed as I looked around and thought about how much love goes into each tree... there is a story behind each tree and a person to go with the story. It breaks my heart that there are so many in the "club" of people who have lost a loved one (often a young child) but it is heartwarming that so many people work so hard to contribute to such a good cause and bring so much joy to others in the process.

December Miscellany

December was full of all sorts of goodness and busyness...

We took the kids to the Church History Museum before seeing Temple Square Lights...

There were so many fun hands-on exhibits...

Sophia and Liv loved the dress-ups...

...and Olivia rocked the latin dancing.

Sophia looked super-cute in her hat and gloves (even though she didn't keep them on for more than five minutes! Poor, cold girl).

The lights were beautiful, as always. We expecially loved the nativities.

We visited the Festival of Trees with Grandma Cole and met up with Megan and Erin and my dad who came into town for a few days. While we were there we got to see many people admiring Megan's work.

Megan's tree was amazing! It was fun to be there with my cute Grandma. We all got a little teary-eyed when the volunteer asked if we were interested in  learning more about the cute boy the tree was done for. She reached for the story and Megan told her that she had written it and designed the tree because it was HER cute little boy. Moments like that are hard.

My dad stayed with us for a few days.  He likes to get us a kit for decorating a gingerbread house most years... the kids had a lot of fun doing it with him this year. Sophia was all about shoveling the candies into her mouth. (Let's be honest, that's what we all wanted to do.)

We had a very fun Christmas party with the Harper side of the family, and I didn't even think to get out my camera. Can someone remind me next time? There was this funny picture taken of Ryan though...

Great hair, no? It was so fun to be with the Harper clan! We missed Ry's sister Traci and her family and of course his parents, but his brothers and aunts and their families and his grandparents were all there.

I got to participate in one of my favorite traditions... my friend Marilynn's cookie exchange party. This year I made some sugar cookies (recipe from Our Best Bites) and decorated them to look like poinsettia cookies. I loved the way the white ones looked...

...but the red ones looked orange and despite using no-taste red gel food coloring, they tasted like red food coloring. Oh well!

You can see other recipes and photos from that fabulous party at the Christmas Cookie Collection blog. I am hoping to add her appetizer recipes there too, they were SO yummy.

Such a fun group of friends! Marilynn is in the red... she is an amazing cook and mom and friend and all-around person. We joke that some day we are going to open a catering business together, but really, I would just be the grunt worker, all the talent is hers!

Coleman's class did a fun gingerbread play. Sophia and I got to go and see him do the songs and dance with his apron and baker's hat.

Love those smiles!

Of course December was full of mailing and receiving beautiful Christmas cards... and we thought our neighbor gift was pretty clever this year (and useful!). It was also very, very corny. Apologies to our neighbors that we love dearly!

We gathered at my mom's house a week before Christmas.... she likes to have our kids re-enact the nativity... Sophia was so thrilled to be the cow. Eliza was a cute donkey!

Tayden was Joseph, Liv was Mary, and Abi was the angel.

Cute wise men, no? Evan, Brady and Coleman loved the crowns.

Cute group of kids! They all swapped costumes and did it over again (and again!). It seems they all want a turn at being Mary... or Joseph... or the angel.

We got to go and visit Grandma and Grandpa Cole. They've had rough year with their health, and we are so grateful they are on the mend. Sophia LOVED sitting with Grandpa...

...and then she followed the fun snow globe over to Grandma. We love that the Coles live close enough that we can see them fairly often. They are wonderful to us!

I wanted to introduce the kids to potato latkes. I remember eating them in elementary school as a kid and loving them, so I thought it would be fun to make them during Hanukkah. I think it a bit ironic that the photo is in front of my "SIMPLIFY" sign, because there wasn't a lot simple about making these. Coleman said, "Hmm, they taste like hash browns." So much for introducing cultural awareness. 

We made a LOT of treats in December. Caramels and toffee and cookies, oh my! One of our favorite treat making sessions was when we invited a few friends over to decorate sugar cookies.

The kids were much more creative than I was in their use of colors and toppings.

Don't you just love a good sugar cookie?

Aside from making several Christmas gifts (which I didn't take any pictures of!) I managed to craft ONE lovely item for our home this year. My multi-talented cousin made a very cute felt rosette tree and I wanted to copy (see hers here). Mine didn't turn out as so very cute as hers did, but I like it all the same. Yay me. 

And finally, I spent a good part of December reading and listening to the Book of Mormon as part of my Personal Progress project for Virtue.. We started reading the Book of Mormon as a family earlier this year, but at 6 or 8 verses a day, it was taking us a really, really long time to get very far. I decided at the beginning of December that I wanted to finish by the end of the year, and I did! We had already read 1st and 2nd Nephi, so I started with Jacob and made it through to the end.  Thank goodness for podcasts and naptime! It was really cool to read it in such a condensed amount of time as I was making note of the characteristics of virtuous people. I loved reading/listening this way! A fun project summarizing my experience is in my head and should be in the works soon.

We also went to an awesome ward Christmas breakfast that is deserving of it's very own post, so that is on it's way... Christmas pictures to come, too.

Overall, our December was full of goodness... family, friends, gifts galore, treats and more treats, many great lessons from the Book of Mormon, and lots of great and worthwhile activities!

**How would you summarize your December?

Chance's Hundred Acre Wood

It's time again for the Festival of Trees! My sister Megan has been working hard for months and months to put this darling tree together in Chance's memory. Many people donated money and time and ideas and the end result is fabulous!

Each tree has a plaque where people can read the story of the person that the tree was made in memory of.  I loved what Lauren wrote:

Our sweet Chance was taken from us much too soon.  He spent his last 3 ½ weeks at Primary Children’s, receiving great care as he valiantly fought to stay with his mom and family.  As a baby, Chance would go to sleep listening to the music from Kenny Loggins’ “Return to Pooh Corner”.  He loved Winnie the Pooh; in fact, there is a Pooh bear on his headstone to remind us of the carefree and joy-filled days of Chance’s young childhood.  He brightened the lives of all who were lucky to know him. 

          In the song we hear:  “a few precious things seem to follow throughout all our lives.”  Chance was certainly a precious boy who eternally impacted many lives. 

          His mom, Megan, would sing to him the rest of the song:

“After all’s said and done, I was watching my son

Sleeping there with my bear by his side.

So I tucked him in, I kissed him, and as I was going,

I swear that Old Bear whispered, Boy welcome home.”

As Megan kissed Chance for the final time in this life, in a room at Primary Children’s, we know our Heavenly Father whispered, “Boy, Welcome Home!”

Megan made beehives and plaques with famous Pooh sayings and darling "Hunny" pots. The tree also had pinecones and sunflowers and bees flying around. Megan put together puzzles, my mom made a cute quilt (right hand side of the above photo), she got an autographed photo of Kenny Loggins and she is playing his "Return to Pooh's Corner" song.

Megan found all kinds of books and puzzles to go under the tree...

...and she found so many darling Pooh and friends figurines. It all came together perfectly!

My mom and a few aunts and cousins came and helped us on decorating day... it was so fun to see all of Megan's hard work come together.

Many of the trees are donated in memory of someone who has passed away. As we decorated and I looked around, I was struck by how many people were there and how much time, money, and effort goes into the Festival.  Collectively, there has to be a lot of grief and sadness, but on the other hand, there is a huge amount of love and healing. I love that people are able to put their energy toward such a good cause.  All proceeds go to Primary Children's Medical Center.

The Festival is going on Wednesday, November 30th to Saturday, December 3rd at the South Towne Expo Center, and this cute tree is on row C, number 9. For more info, visit their website at www.festivaloftreesutah.org. If you are in the area, I hope you can go and visit "Chance's Hundred Acre Wood."

Festival of Trees 2010--I'll Think of You

We've been working hard on a tree for Mikayla for the Festival of Trees. It turned out so great thanks to help from Laura, her mom, her sisters, sisters-in-law, and her cousin! If you are in the Salt Lake area and can go, do it! It's at the South Towne Expo Center (9400 South State) in Sandy and runs until 10 pm tonight and tomorrow.

Laura chose the theme "I'll Think of You" which was based on the sweet poem she wrote for Mikayla. The poem talks about all of the things that remind Laura of Mikayla (to read it go here) and includes all things girly. The tree and all of it's surroundings are bright and fun and remind us all of sweet Mikayla.

Here are a few pictures of all the goodness...

Laura did such a great job organizing it all! I was so glad to be a part of this project.  Hope you can go and see it and support Primary Children's Medical Center!

"I Think I Can" Festival of Trees 2007

Today I got to go decorate a tree with Megan for the Festival of Trees. Unfortunately I was too busy this year to help Megan much with the project, so I just contributed the tree skirt. She did so much work and put together quite a collection of train toys and ornaments! Lots of people contributed money and items so that she could do it and it turned out great! She had a ride-on Thomas train that went around the tree and a table with a wooden train set. She made the cutest toy box that looked like a box car and had it filled with quilts and toys of all kinds. There were books and puzzles and blocks and stickers and trains of all kinds. Chance loved trains and Megan had a great picture of him on a Thomas train (to the right). Megan has done a tree each year since Chance died, partly for us all to remember Chance and partly to pay back in a small way all that the great folks at Primary Children's Medical Center did for Chance while he was there. If you live near the Salt Lake area, the Festival is at the South Towne Expo Center and runs Wednesday, November 28th through Saturday, December 1st. Your small entrance fee goes to Primary Children's Medical Center--it's a great cause and you can look for Chance's tree in Aisle F (#5).

Meg, I know I promised I wouldn't post this picture of us, but it was too cute. Here is me with my Mom and Megan after we spent a few good hours decorating the tree. Missing is our other sister Lindsey who also decorated with us!