December

In early December, we discovered that our uncovered heating vent under the kitchen counter was letting in some nightly mousey visitors.  We set traps, and caught a couple, but it was Ryan's groundbreaking idea of actually covering the vent that finally solved the problem!
  

For the second year in a row, we joined friends at the L.A. Zoolights.  It's awfully Los Angeles, but still pretty cool.  The kids especially liked the blacklights in the reptile room.
  

One Saturday, we went downtown for a "Mini Makerfaire" at the library.  The kids did some fun crafts, then we all went to Ryan's work and admired the view.
  

Elise and Connor participated in their first piano festival.  Elise played a duet with her teacher, and came away with an honorable mention award.  Connor also played very well, but was in a tougher age group.  (He also somehow avoided being in any pictures that day!)
  

Three of the four winners were students of Mrs. Yoder!

Nana and Al sent Christmas dresses for the girls, and Corinne was so in love with one of them, she continued to wear it well into June of the next year.
  

Ryan and I celebrated our 39th birthdays!  I can't remember what gifts we got, but here is a picture of the kids showing Dad their cards.
  

   

The Christmas Cantata was a chance for all of the CVLA classes to perform Christmas songs, and to get to know the other families a bit better.  
  

Corinne's Class

Evan's Class

Elise's Class (I was too late on that one.)

Connor's Second Form Latin Class

Oh, wait, I remember what I got for my birthday!  I bought myself an artificial Christmas tree from DIY Hardware.  It's prestrung with non-LED lights, and is just awesome.  I still believe in real trees, but my life right now needs a little convenience.  My Christmas present was an upright freezer for the garage.  Sounds boring, but it makes shopping at Costco way more doable.

   

The kids were entirely in charge of decorating the tree this year, and they did a pretty good job!  Too bad the ornaments kept getting removed and scattered around the house.
  

This is one of my favorite pictures ever.  Ryan and I went out for lunch at Bottega Louis while the kids were in school.  Celeste was super excited about the portabella fries, apparently.
  

Ward Christmas Party!  Evan was too proud (or shy) to sit on Santa's lap, but the other kids were cool with it.  They had a microphone in the next room where parents could feed Santa information on their kids via an earpiece.  It was a fun idea, but seemed like a weird thing to do at church.
 

   
I survived my second year of Primary Temple Lights!  Once again, we provided hot chocolate and cookies to nearly a hundred people (including passersby.)  The baby was pretty fussy in the front pack, which made things more stressful than they needed to be, but at least she was cute.
   

Connor and Ryan went camping at Joshua Tree with the scouts, and got rained on the entire time.  They woke up with a puddle in their tent, but toughed it out until the next morning.
  

Two unflattering yet representative pictures taken by Corinne:
   

Silly stuff around the house:
  

Connor's Awesome Cucumber!

Making a Rope Net for the Treehouse

 

  
I thought this cartoon did a good job of illustrating my emotional problems.  I've gotten a lot less shy through the years (and especially being married to an extrovert like Ryan,) but I still struggle with feeling anxious about and exhausted from social events.
    

  
Aunt Helena gave us a "dentures" ice mold for Christmas.  Elise made some very appetizing blue ones.