Christmas in Young

On Christmas Eve, Jeremy, Lisa, and Ryder loaded up the sleigh (otherwise known as their old faithful Suburban) and picked up Amanda and Wendy from Grandma Mitchell's house. We headed for Young! It was a beautiful trip through a snow-covered forest into our beautiful Pleasant Valley. We arrived at about 8:30 p.m. and were greeted by the sparling lights of our little Christmas tree in the front window. Thankfully, Emily had dug our decorations out of storage and made a beautiful welcome home for us. We were happy to be home and enjoyed some homemade tamales David had ready for us. After the others settled in for the night, I hurried to wrap up our last minute gifts and surprises! On Christmas morning, Ryder woke us up and was ready to check out the gifts under the tree. He excitedly jumped on his new Red Radio Flyer and was off! We enjoyed a traditional prebreakfast of Lucky Charms followed by the big breakfast of biscuits-n-gravy, eggs, bacon, etc.

It was fun to watch Ryder dive into the box for his Big Wheel and try to put it together himself. (Santa, grandparents, and parents were on the same wavelength: Give him wheels!) Later that day we stuffed ourselves on ham and potatoes, salad, and sweet potato pie!

Christmas in Mesa

We started the week in Mesa. A group of our family members gathered at the Mesa Center of the Arts to view a presentation of "Reflections of Christ," a beautiful photo and music display of the life of Christ. It was an amazing and spiritual event despite the huge mingling crowds and pouring rain. It was a wonderful focus on the reason for the season! Then we all met back at Grandma Mitchell's house for yummy treats. We exchanged laughs, memories, and gifts. We dressed up Emma, Eli, and Molly as Mary, a little shepherd, and a little angel, and took our own little Nativity picture.

We had a great time with Great Grandma Mitchell (G-G), Aunt Donna, Lindsay, Wendy, David, Jaime, Shane, Emma, Eli, Molly, Amanda, and Emily. We missed those who couldn't join us; especially Great Grandad Mitchell who is enjoying his first Christmas back in Heaven.

December Happenings with the Whites

A

WHITE CHRISTMAS
Holiday Happenings with

Jaime and Shane and Family

Emma, Molly, and Eli visit with Santa

Touring the Christmas lights at the Mesa temple grounds

The White family Christmas tree in their Mesa home (Jaime, Shane, Emma, Eli, Molly)

Thanksgiving in Young

Thanksgiving this year was lots of fun. The Whites, Amanda, me, Lindsay, Aunt Donna and Grandma all went up to Young and ate some turkey and deviled eggs. There was a great rainstorm and me and Lindsay went on an adventure. Later the weather cleared up and Jeremy and Lisa came into town and some of us went out to shoot a 50. caliber gun! Here's a picture of one of the massive bullets. And I'm passing the responsibility to someone else to get the pictures of the dinner and ornament making and everything else up here!

November Deer Hunt

The Hatch family conspired to meet up during the first week of November 2008 in order to fill four deer tags. The men cleared the path, made camp and managed to fill the first three tags on the first day! We entertained ourselves in the evenings with campfires, storytelling, great food, and guitar playing. During the hot days in between searching the trees for deer, we sat around camp and ate, and, as Emma discovered and told Eli, we "could do whatever we want, we're camping." The hunt was a success, including family bonding and deer in the freezer.

ahh... finals week:)

Ok this week and last week too i guess have been pretty eventful.

First: Craziness because my teachers kept homework assignments coming right up to my finals
Then:My landlord sent me an email saying she wants to sell this place and told me to start looking for a new place to live

The next day: I found some girls who were moving right now and they gave me an application

Later: My roommate rushed into my room with this huge box filled with snacks and treats from my mom and dad to help me through finals!!:)


Two days ago: I was talking on the phone with a classmate trying to figure out this online quiz and my computer battery was dying so I took it into my room to plug it in then I go to walk back out when this bag of clothes, waiting to be given away, grabbed my foot and slammed me onto the tile floor, the phone flew out of my hand and I proceeded to slide until my hand, then arm crashed into the closet door. I quickly grabbed my phone and continued talking, still sitting on the floor, cuz i was in a little pain. I went on with my day, saw the new apartment for the first time, had dinner with my new roommate and a neighbor, came home went to bed and was wondering why my finger was hurting... and kept waking up all night from it, when I remembered I probably hurt it in my little crash.

The next morning: I couldn't even bend my finger, and was wondering how I would be able to fill out my two hour essay questions for my history final. But I taped them together that whole day, and I was able to finish my exam today without hardly even noticing it!! yay!