The Adventures of Grammy and Grandad: Christmas and A Fabulous Family Reunion

I have decided to not write so much in that we do the same things each month. Boring! Just know we will do a shorter blog from now on.

December was a fun month with happy doings except for the funeral of Glade Mercer, who grew up in our ward and died in November at the young age of 44. We love his family. The chapel was filled with people to show the family how much he was loved.

Dec. 4th Dad had an appointment with Dr. Gardnier to see how his Bell’s Palsy was doing. He had him get an eye goop to help close his eye at night. He uses my drops three times a day. He is improving, but sad that he cannot serve in the temple yet.

Dec. 6th was an amazing ward Christmas dinner. It was catered and there were over 200 members in attendance. The meal was delicious and one of the Osmond’s sons was the entertainer. He was so in the spirit. He sang songs he had written about the prophet Joseph and had all the people who had served for our country stand up while we sang a patriotic song. Tears were shed by everyone. He was so engaged and we felt his love. He then called all the Primary children up on the stage to sing “Gethsemane.” Again many tears. When all was ,Santa (Brother Hill) came up so each child could get a treat from him. It was a grand night.

We started the Christmas puzzle that Dad spilled last year. We worked on it after Thanksgiving and were not finished when Baylie came to visit after Christmas. It was very hard and we spent every night on it while watching football

Bailey Bayles turned 30 on the 19th. (I hope this is right.) She is such a wonderful addition to our family. We love that Riley found her. They are a perfect match.

Bailey and Riley

At some point this month we had a visit from our great nephew Mark Cochran and his cute family. They have lots of little children and we were so happy they stopped by to visit.

Mark, Malissa, and children

Sunday the 22nd we went to Bethlehem (Clark’s Home) for a dinner, eating as they did long ago. It is a tradition and everyone tells how they feel at this important time. It is a great way to celebrate His birth.

Will, Clark, Tyler, Ashley, Bea, Simon, Molly, Jayden, Jonny, Hailey, Rosie, and Riley

Christmas Eve we were invited for dinner at Scott’s home. It was a royal feast. It is always busy and loud and fun. They are so excited for the morning.

Nixon, Rowan, and Ava

We always get up late Christmas morning. We have a hard time getting something for each other so we make a list and Kristin, Tiffani, and Scott do the hard part. We give them the money and they choose the presents. What a copout, but we just can’t do it any more. They do a very good job. We then go to the home of each of our boys’ families and see their presents. It is so much fun and everyone is so happy. We ate cinnamon rolls and orange juice at Scott’s, then we headed to Clark’s and Erik’s. It is just so much fun to see how they are so happy and filled with the Spirit of our Savior and Heavenly Father. Parents cannot ask for more. By the time we are through, we take a very long needed nap.

Scott's Family

Erik's Family Christmas Day

We then called the girls to see the very same. They also had a beautiful Christmas. I think Kristin and David feed so many people who pour into their home and find peace and good food.

Tiff's Kids

Kristin's Husband and Kids

Thursday the 26th the Batchelors flew to Salt Lake for the family reunion. Dad and I were still far from finishing the puzzle. We were so weary. Well, Baylie came downstairs and in a very short time had it finished. She is a puzzle wizard. We don’t know how, but 30 pieces were under the couch. That helped a lot. They finished it in five minutes.

Late that same night, Dave, Tiffani, and their kids came. It was a loud, happy, and crazy time. Our home was filled with goodness. Our basement was filled to the brim with grandkids. They slept wherever they could find a space. The parents got the bedrooms.

Our granddaughter Ashley planned the reunion with days filled with activities of service and fun. Friday the 27th the reunion began with swimming at the Provo Rec Center. We did not go, but the kids did and they said it was amazing. They had a lazy river, slides, climbing things, etc.

Clara, Baylie, and Lauryn

While the kids were swimming, Kristin started helping us undecorate. She and Dad got all the nativities put away. (We have a lot of them!) She also ordered an ornament box so we could put all the ornaments in one place. She organized all the decorations as we undecorated so it will be easier to decorate next year. Everyone helped undecorate while they were here so that by the time they left, all we had to do was fill the garbage cans with empty boxes. We are so grateful and excited for next year.

After the swimming, everyone hurried to their homes to get dressed for baptisms at the Mt Timpanogos Temple. The kids did the work and when it was over, they had 40 relatives baptized. What a blessing.

Erik, Shanelle, Asher, Clara, Baylie, Jalen, Lauryn, Jonny, Grandad, Riley,
Me, David, Kristin, Kolton, Jessa, Parker, Cameron, Tiffani

Afterwards we had dinner at Clark and Di’s catered by Olive Garden. Delicious! We ended the night with ice skating at the Peaks Ice Arena. What a full and happy day with family!

Jessa, Parker, and Asher

The Skaters

The Observers

Cameron, Clara, Baylie, Jalen, Jonny, Lauryn, Me, Riley, Asher, Grandad

The 28th Rowan turned 8, and the next day Shanelle had a birthday and we all sang to her. They are both so special and important parts of this great family.

The 28th was a wild scavenger hunt at University Mall. This cemented our thoughts about the fact that we are a crazy family (and a little competitive). Ashley, Hailey and Dianne I think were in charge of this. I was afraid some blood would be spilled. People who were shopping just stared at us running all over the place. It was a timed event so we had to hurry. We had a list for each team. We laughed and didn’t even stop to tell the people what we were doing. We had several teams and our team (the senior citizens: Tiff and Dave, me and Grandad, and Kristin and David) won - of course! Everyone tried to prove us wrong, but pictures were taken at each stop to prove our win. Boy did we brag and show off. SWEET!

We then went to a church in Pleasant Grove and had Mo'Bettahs catered for lunch. Yummy. Then family pictures were taken.

Back Row: David, Kolton, Shanelle, Parker, Jessa, Dave, Cameron, Bailey, Riley, Molly, Jayden, Tyler, Rosie, Hailey
Middle Row: Kristin, Erik, Tiffani, Grandad, Me, Clark, Di, Ashley (with Simon and Bea), Will
Front Row: Jalen, Asher, Baylie, Clara, Lauryn, Jonny

The Grands and Great-Grands

Ashley and Hailey had numerous games to play. They were so fun and prizes were given. Yes, we are competitive. The games were fun and crazy and we were all out of control. Fun, fun, fun. We stayed and played forever.

Gator ball is a combination of rugby, soccer, and who knows what else. It's truly crazy.

Simon as goalie

Cheerleaders

More Cheerleaders

Me and Will

Card Games

We also watched the BYU Alamo Bowl where they defeated Colorado in a big win. That night the teenagers had a sleepover at Hailey’s house. The rest of us enjoyed a little quiet.

Sunday we all went to our own wards and then went to Clark and Dianne's for tacos. We sure do eat a lot After lunch, we put together cancer bags for Tiffani to take back to Vegas where she has been receiving cancer treatments for over a year and a half. We are so grateful she is now cancer free. It was a great thing to do for our service project because Tiffani used to receive these bags when she went for visits. Tiffani took some to her plastic surgeon’s office. They were so excited, they took all of them because they had just emptied their bin of bags that morning. What a wonderful thing to do for our last thing together.

After the bags were assembled, the Jennings headed back to Vegas. Monday morning the Batchelors flew home. They were so blessed to make all their flights to Utah and back at this busy travel time.

Tuesday was New Year’s Eve and we were worn out and went to bed in the silence.

We love this family of ours and are so blessed to do things together always with our Savior and Father in Heaven as our focal point. Everyone is so important to us and we love the joy our family gives us. The Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ is what holds this family together. We are so blessed.

We love our missionaries.