Glenn's Christmas Open House, SLC Lights, Misc.

Since the world didn't end with the end of the Mayan calendar on Alicia's birthday (Dec. 21, 2012), we went the next day to Trish's Christmas family and friends gathering on Berkeley Street in SLC.  Afterward, our group went to the City Creek Mall in SLC and also the lights at Temple Square.  Here are some shots from the excursion, as well as a few random miscellaneous photos from the month.

 A room full of kin after a nice lunch at Patricia and Kelly's house.

 Susan Crockett, Tracine, Jared, Trish, Kathy Rose (Kelly's mom), Joyce, Karen (maiden name Keller, our cousin), Jim (Karen's husband), George, Parker, and one of Karen's children in the front with Tracine.

 Jared holding George (we think).

 Alicia, her sister-in-law Arleen, and Rob Crockett, Alicia's cousin.

 Julie joins her niece (Carly) and nephew (Brandon), 2 of Rob's kids, next to Rob and Arleen.

 A sepia shot of Jared with George.

 Robert and I playing with George and Edison.

 Another view of the crowd.

 Ali, JJ, and George.

 
 A fountain at the City Creek Mall, across from Temple Square, in SLC.  We enjoyed (some of us) shopping a bit, and listening to a guitar/singer performing upstairs.

 Looking out from the mall towards Temple Square.

 Gayle, overlooking the mall's Christmas tree.

 The assembly hall near the tabernacle.  My iPhone camera didn't do justice to the lights in any of the shots.

 There was a large crowd.  Here is a view toward the temple.

 Lights everywhere.

 McKel romping in some new snow (or as she pronounces it, "no").

 The girls like to sample the snow.

 Some pre-Christmas toys from Nana, to keep the girls occupied during a recent stay with us.

 Alicia used to like the character Strawberry Shortcake.  So does Avril!

 McKel loves to take care of her babies.  Here she's walking one in her new stroller.

There was a beautiful sunset recently with brilliant pink/orange colors.  I tried to take a shot of it and the colors just didn't come out.  This is looking west on our street of Thrushwood Drive, toward the Wellsville mountains silhouetted in the center of the shot.
 
 Gayle, ready to walk to a friend's house to deliver a Christmas gift.  Gayle's in there somewhere!

Family Photo Shoots

We got some amateur shots, from click and point, smartphones, and Brit's nice camera on separate occasions of Adrian's family and Alicia's family.  You'll have to excuse the slow shutter speeds (blurriness), lighting, color, and other challenges.  But we wanted to share some of the shots...

 Going on 18 years of marriage!  Arleen and Adrian.
 And Brit, 15 years old, completing this portrait.

Alicia and the girls at Merlin Olsen park at dusk on a cold day, sitting on a bridge with no more water running in the canal.
 At the tire swing in Merlin Olsen park.

 The little grand-girls.

Hard to hold still at 2 and 3 1/2. 

 Brit, sitting in the cold on our front porch.

 The parents.

 The whole family.  Notice the snow to the side.

 The patriarch of his clan.

 On the hearth at Alicia's.  So cute in their new Tutu outfits from Nana and Papa.

 Arleen, bearing with the cold too.

On our back hillside.

 The high-schooler, on our back hill.

 Whole family, under the pines.

In Christmas gear.

 In the easy chair.

 On our back hill.

 In front of their Christmas tree.

 A cute grin, while holding a book.

 Brit and her aunt Ali.

 The appearance of calm.

 The reality of a photo shoot.

 Seconds later.

Ready for Christmas.

Ward Christmas Party and McKel's Birthday Party

Gayle helped with the ward Christmas party.  She was over table decorations for 200 people.  Here are some shots from the set up and then the party.

The centerpieces and place mats came from our attic.

Gayle cleverly thought up the idea of purchasing a lot of small Kleenex boxes and wrapping them as the gifts in the centerpieces.

 Adrian and his family came, along with Brit's friend, Jamie.

 Runar Anderson played Santa, and Madison, our neighbor, was an elf.

 
 A shot of some of the crowd at the 8th ward party.  Bishop Isom is standing at the left.

A plate of fruit at McKel's birthday party (Dec. 10th), that we held at our house.

 I always get called on to make up a batch of Asian cabbage salad, the recipe for which we got years ago from Gayle's younger sister, Beth.

 The lasagna was great.

 Papa holding the birthday girl.

 Avril had a blast too, but kind of wondered why McKel got so much attention.

 Cousin Brit and parents.

 The 2 year old!

 Sometimes you just don't want to eat all that healthy stuff!

 Uncle "JJ" and the mommy.

 Nana and the birthday girl.  Thanks to Nana for the wonderful birthday party.

 The birthday cake with McKel's picture on it (photo from Halloween).

 Getting ready to blow out the candle.

 The anticipation is growing.

 She did it!

 Tasty cheesecake options.

 Pondering what it means to now be 2 years old.

 Looking at a gift of crayons and coloring book.

 Coloring with a large crayon.

 A happy face.

 The two sisters.

 Papa Bryan also participated.

 Dad and daughter horsing around.

 Jared, looking great and stylish too.

 Uncle JJ looking lean and handsome.

 We don't get that many shots of Jared so we included several this time.

A close up.

A few days later Arleen did a special celebration for McKel.  She fixed dinner for the girls at  Alicia's (complete with brownie cupcakes) and then they played and watched a Curious George movie together.  Thanks auntie.