Ward Christmas Party and Thai Chi

First off, please enjoy this awesome video of Jack doing Thai Chi with me. I have a DVD that he likes to do with me. The funniest part about this video is that at no point in the DVD do they touch their toes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IaXpno30zw&list=UUna3B_p516w0d-G5yzf_gug

The relief society president of our ward asked me to make a backdrop for our ward Christmas party of a Mansion. We read the book The Mansion, by Henry Van Dyke. It is a great book. They acted out some of the scenes in the book. It was a great party. (The backdrop I painted was 12 ft by 9ft. It was a really fun project).

At the end of the party, Santa came out. Jack greeted him at the door and then followed him all the way to his chair and then climbed right into his lap. That answered our question of whether Jack would be scared of Santa this year. Jack explained to santa that he would like some trains for Christmas. 

Family Pictures

Out here in Virginia they don't have many snow plows. Instead, they have leaf suckers. Everyone just rakes or blows their leafs into piles on the street, and then a giant truck comes by and sucks them all up. Well, we decided to take advantage of those awesome leaves.

Halloween Hobbit

We decided this year that we wanted to do homemade Halloween costumes. We also decided that it would be really fun to go with a Lord of the Rings/Hobbit theme.

So Jack was Bilbo. I couldn't find a green cape, so I ended up buying that fabric at the thrift store and sewing it. We couldn't find him brown capris, so those are 6 months old pants. He was telling people that he was a Hobbit for weeks after Halloween. 

I was an elf and Tony was Aragorn. 

Jack loved trick or treating, but he is so social and couldn't understand why he couldn't just go into everyone's house and visit for a while. 

Visiting with Friends at the Temple

Greg and Nikelle came to DC to visit and we were able to see them at the temple visitor center

Jack and Logan are good friends. They had a lot of fun together. 

Jack loved the statue of Christ, and he especially loved when they would push the button and a prerecorded voice taught of Christ. He kept asking to hear Christ talk again and again. It was really sweet. He was so reverent. 

Some Time with Grandpa

My wonderful Grandpa Watson lost his appetite and started losing weight at the start of the year. Initially, the doctors tested his heart to see if that was the cause of the weight loss, but nothing turned up. As they expanded their tests, they believed that Grandpa had Kidney Cancer. This was not the case.

After meeting with an oncologist, they were informed that Grandpa had a High Grade Non Differentiated Sarcoma. It is a cancer that is highly aggressive and is its own entity. It is not attached to the kidney. The entity had spread to his kidney, lymph nodes, and lungs, and it continued to rapidly spread through his body. He was diagnosed on September 2nd, and I flew out on the 4th to be able to spend time with him.  They gave him about 60 days to live. 

Grandpa was able to go to a Weber State Football game even though he was feeling pretty tired.  He enjoyed most of the first half, but tired quickly. So they headed home just before half time.

Fun Times with Cousins

Jack and Joseph have lots of fun together.

We were able to visit Ariel at her work at Bellas. We had Amanda and kids, Mom, and Grandma Olsen. It was a wonderful lunch. 

John Lee's dentistry had a party for their patrons. They had a dunking pool. In this picture, you can see the exact moment when he got dunked by his Dad. 

They also had an awesome inflated obstacle course and slide. Jack has awesome cousins who helped him through the course. 

Jack was also able to see a parade in Brigham City with his Grandma and Grandpa Roring. 

He loved the marching band:

http://youtu.be/J4ob4NxdAyc

Grandpa Lewis sure loves playing cars with his grandsons. 

Fly Boarding

For my Dad's birthday, we all pooled together and got him some time on a flyboard. The flyboard is powered by the jet stream coming out of a jet ski. The person sitting of the jet ski is in control of how much water pressure you get, and how high you go. When people get pretty good and in control, they use a button instead and control their own water pressure. The flyboard is pretty much the coolest thing on the planet.

Jason and Amanda came with us to the lake. Jack and Joseph are best of cousins. They loved watching their grandpa fly. 

Dad was, of course, very good at the fly board. We could tell he was having a great time. 

After he finished his lesson, he gave me the best surprise ever. I got a turn on the fly board. Not only that, but he had saved the drysuit for me. (He only used his wetsuit and the water was freezing). 

I don't think anything compared to how much fun the fly board was. I absolutely loved it. And the instructor let me go pretty high, which was great. 

Jack loved watching mommy fly, and then he got to watch Grandma fly.

My mom had a go of it as well. 

Needless to say, it was a very very fun day.