Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at Greg and Noel's house this year.

The kids put on a Nativity for us, and it was all kinds of fun

Snapping selfies by the tree with Laurie

Allie heard some disturbing news about the PJ elf and was not too thrilled for a while. But after thinking about it, she decided not to let it ruin her Christmas.

Family photo by the tree

We drove around Springville to see the lights and we found a perfect photo op for Carter

The forecast for Christmas morning did not look promising for a drive to St George

Santa visited us, and brought the family a new computer!

The stockings were also good and stuffed

A nice layer of snow fell Christmas morning, the first real snowfall of the year

The only pic I took Christmas morning of the kids on the stairs, waiting to come down

Trapnell Party

In November, Jeff's aunt Dorothy asked if we would be willing to host the extended Trapnell Family Christmas party on December 21. I said yes, which gave us good incentive to try to get our house (mostly) decorated before then. Laurie had a lot to do, but the night of the party, things came together nicely.

This is the table in our entry way

We had to put the Christmas tree in the piano room. Eventually, we want to get a baby grand piano to go in here, but other than that, this room is practically finished. 

Fireplace in the family room, with new drapes on either side

View of family room from upstairs

Table upstairs in the hallway

We had an incredible turnout for the party. I would guess we had 70-80 people here! The amazing thing was that it never felt too crowded and the kids were all really well behaved and didn't make many messes. Miracle. These are all the shoes by the front door.

Some of the Trapnell family

It was impossible to get a pic of everyone--you can't see the people who were in the piano room while we sang a few songs

Overall, it was a success. Now we need another party to incentive us to get the rest of it finished! There isn't much to do, mostly just stuff to hang on walls. Laurie has been amazing and we couldn't have done it without her!

Pre Christmas

December is such a busy month! We asked the kids at the beginning of the month what they wanted to do the most, and had to start there.

Handsome Carter one morning before preschool

Handsome McKay one morning before church. Love that missing tooth!

We made gingerbread houses with Colleen one night for FHE (a request by the kids)

We went to see Santa at the Riverwoods

We went to Damon's band concert, where Carter couldn't stay awake

And McKay was entertained with daddy's phone

Allie performed in a Grinch program with the 4th graders

Carter performed in his preschool program

And Laurie helped us get decorated for the Trapnell party

We also went to the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights with Colleen and Tom's families and had our traditional journey dinner (I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures). We opted not to go to the Living Nativity in Alpine this year, because the kids still haven't forgotten how freezing cold they were last year (haha). 

Halloween

Somehow, this never got posted. Oops.

Pumpkin Carving

Ward Christmas party--Dr Sheldon Cooper and Dr Amy Farrah Fowler (Big Bang Theory characters)

Carter at his preschool Halloween party with his teacher, Mary Poppins Miss Karli

The morning of Halloween, Jeff informed me that the photographers for the Trapnell Orthodontics website were going to be doing a photo shoot with all the families in the afternoon. Talk about terrible timing! After running around all morning to Carter's preschool party and the girls parade, we had to get out of Halloween costumes and get dressed up nice for the photo shoot. 

Once the website is up, I will try to steal some pictures so I can have them. We went over to Chris and Sheri's to change into costumes, and then went trick or treating in Laurie's neighborhood, and then over to Colleen's neighborhood.

Damon as a motorcycle rider (again)

 

Allie as a vampire (again)

Kyla as Raggedy Ann (who she did not know, but I'm so glad she let herself be talked into it)

McKay as Batman

Carter as a firefighter

All the kids with Connor and Aubrie

Guatemala Part 2

 Tuesday of our Guatemala week, we drove to Lake Atitlan (Panajachel). It was about a three hour drive, and the GPS on Nancy's phone took us a back route that was new to them. It was absolutely gorgeous and winding, and the highlight of the drive was when we came to a part where the road was washed out. We had to go through the "river," which was only about 6 inches high. Laurie and Nancy were not pleased, and wanted the boys to get out and check the depth of the water with a stick. Jeff and Ryan assured us that we would be fine, and we forged ahead. This is a pic from the other side, where you can see the road washed out.

We stayed in a hotel for the night, right on Lake Atitlan. It was absolutely gorgeous! We went over to Hotel Atitlan to see the gardens, and took about a thousand pictures. Here are only a few of them. 

They had a small "petting zoo," which was a bunch of rabbits inside a gate, so Jeff and I tried to get a good shot for the kids. The rabbit was strong and kicked and kicked, trying to get away from me. Finally, it stopped and let us get a photo. 

Back side of Hotel Atitlan

The view off our balcony at our hotel 

The volcano on the other side of the lake (made from a huge volcanic eruption 86,000 years ago) is not active, even though the clouds in the pic make it look like it's smoking. 

Wednesday morning, we got up and met our guide for the day, Juan, aka Jonny Hiker. He took us across the lake in his boat and spent the day with us exploring the villages on the other side.

We met Feliciano Pop, a famous man who makes things out of stone at his home. He was very affectionate, haha.

We also went to a textile museum run by women. We were given a tour as to the process of making thread, dyeing it and weaving with it. The craftmanship was phenomonal, and it is all done by women. 

The group with Jonny Hiker (called that because he gets up and hikes the volcano every morning)

We took little Tuk Tuks from village to village and spent a lot of time walking around and seeing the villages. It was so fun to see the way the people live outside the city.

Buying avocados and onions for our guacamole. They were so cheap! $.25 a piece or less.

We paused by the side of the road for a photo

Some treasures at the gift shop

After our fun day at Lake Atitlan, we drove back to the city, and had our favorite dinner: chips and guacamole made by Ryan.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and we spent the day seeing some things in the area (mission office and the market at El Centro) before we got ready for the dinner catered by the cooks at the MTC. It was probably the hardest day of the trip for me. I didn't miss the kids too much until then, and I felt so bad not being there to spend Thanksgiving with them. But we made the best of it. Only one photo from the day.

 

Friday we drove to Antigua and were really quite cold as we walked through the monastery and saw the sights there. There are volcanoes around the city, although we couldn't really see them because they were covered in clouds. One, Fuego, is active right now, which is really cool.

We spent most of the afternoon at the Apple Factory, buying wooden fruit and decorations for our house. Laurie had been so excited to go back there, as she hadn't had enough money the first time she was there to get all she wanted. It's basically a small room filled with the finished wooden products and you just dig through them and pick out what you want (or what Laurie tells you to get).

Front of the store where the wood is being carved before your eyes

Front of the store--popular place with the senior missionaries!

Afterward, we had lunch at a local restaurant

That shrimp burrito was delicious (and the only time I dared try seafood on the trip), but I wasn't right for a week after. I didn't get deathly sick, just a little nauseated, and not 100% right. 

Saturday morning, we were up early to fly home. It was such a fabulous trip, and I had no idea how much Guatemala has to offer. I was blown away by how beautiful it was and how much I really loved it. I didn't have a very good attitude before we left, but I'm so glad we had the chance to go down there and see everything. I don't know if I will ever go back, but we truly made it the trip of a lifetime.