Getting caught up.

Yes.

It's been a long time.

Life has been pretty crazy, you see.

So, since things are a bit slower for another couple of weeks, it's time to get caught up.

All the kids are home for the holidays and it is really fun! Zach and Angela go back to Rexburg/school on Saturday. Kam goes back to school on the 5th. Parker is home and will be working until he leaves on his mission. He's about ready to submit his papers, and then we get to patiently wait to find out where he gets to serve for two years.

Exciting times at our house!

Here's the past month+ in pictures:

John, Kailen and I flew to Idaho for Thanksgiving Break. Kailen had the entire week off from school, and my dad had just turned 80, so we thought it would be fun to have the whole family together for Thanksgiving and to celebrate his birthday.

We spent one day on the BYU-Idaho campus. I met with my counselor to make sure - triply sure - that I'm all set to graduate in April.

And I am. :o)

In fact, I got to drop that horrible English class I thought I had to take because they've changed the requirements for an English minor. Woohoo! So now I only have to take 3 classes/7 credits this semester. Awesome!

(And I think it's kind of funny that I just said I "only" have to take 3 classes/7 credits. I used to think that there was no way I could do that much, until last semester when I took 4 classes/10 credits. It's amazing what you can do when you have to/really want to, and it all seems to work out one way or another).

We also went to devotional with Kam and Parker. It was really fun! Then my brother-in-law Byron took us on a backstage and (underneath) tour of the amazing I-Center. It was very cool!

This is what I bought at the bookstore (I cannot believe this is so close to becoming a reality!):

That night we got to go to Riley and Hannah's (my nephew and niece) piano recital. They did a great job!

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome! My mom goes all out!

Quite the spread, wouldn't you say? And all the desserts weren't even out yet.

This picture proves that my love of not wearing shoes in the house is definitely genetic.

The first week of December our Young Men and Young Women volunteered at Operation Christmas Child. This was such a fun service activity! We got to help assemble shoe boxes filled with things for needy children. The boxes we worked on were sent to Georgia (the country) and Ghana. Kailen and I want to put together some of our own shoe boxes for next year. You can learn more about this amazing project here.

Crazy Semester #1 ended on December 15th. It went really fast and I really loved all my classes, even though it was crazy busy. My family was so supportive and made things so manageable. And I know I had a lot of help from the Lord. A lot of help. It was an awesome feeling when I was finally D.O.N.E. I must admit, though, that I've felt a bit lost the last week with no schoolwork to do. But I'm trying to enjoy feeling a bit lost because I know it won't last for long.

The BYUI kids all flew home together on the 16th, and I raced to get Angela's Christmas stocking done. I finished it the night before they got home...

The night they got here we decorated the Christmas tree. All the decorations were up but we wanted to wait to decorate the tree until the whole family could help. I love looking at all the ornaments that the kids have made through the years - it always brings back such fun memories!

On the 18th we had family pictures taken, and I'm so excited to have some new family pictures since we haven't had any taken since right after Zach got home from his mission (2009). 

Our awesome photographer left for Christmas vacation the next morning, so we won't get our pictures back for a few weeks, which is totally fine. We were just thankful to be able to get some pictures taken while all the kids were here. And since I want to include a new family picture in our Christmas cards, our Christmas cards will be New Year's cards this year. Or maybe Valentine's Day cards. We shall see...

On the 19th the girls and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert. It was the second Carrie concert that Kailen and I got to go to, and Kam's first ever "real" concert. It was awesome! John was such a sport since it was the same day as our 27th anniversary (although he was definitely invited to go with us), because he knows what huge Carrie fans we are. He and I went to dinner before the concert and will celebrate our anniversary with an overnight getaway in January, when things are more back to our normal routine.

Before the concert. Excitedly waiting!

Carrie on her floating stage. This was awesome!

The last song of the night - "Blown Away"

We were very sad when the concert was over. Even though Carrie was fighting laryngitis (and has been for a few weeks), she still did an amazing job.

That girl can sing!

Kailen was so cute during the concert. I think that between both our cameras she videoed most of the concert, and sang most of the songs. It was so fun to be there with my girls!

The kids have also been doing this:

And we've been watching movies and playing lots of games.

Saturday and Sunday we took a whirlwind trip to Kentucky for John's sister Sarah's wedding. It's the first time in a long time that John's entire family was together, and we loved every single minute of it! We visited with John's mom and Aunt Betty and Uncle Richard for a few hours before the wedding, and then saw the rest of the family at the wedding. Sunday morning everyone (except for Samuel, one of our nephews) attended Sacrament Meeting. This was my father-in-law's one wish for Christmas - to have the entire family at church.

Before church. Sarah and her new husband Randy hadn't arrived yet. We took up almost three rows at the back of the chapel!

The grandkids with Grandpa & Grandma Kelley

Dad and Debra with all 7 kids

We also took pictures of the entire family, and I can't remember the last time we were all together in one place at the same time for a picture. I don't have a copy of those yet so I'll add them later.

We were blessed to have great weather for the drive to and from Kentucky as well as no holiday traffic. 

We also stocked up on our UK stuff, which is always fun. :o)

It was a fabulous weekend! 

Tomorrow we're going to enjoy Christmas Day and have our new traditional Mexican Feast.

Thursday night we're all going to see "Les Miserables."

I. Am. So. Excited. To. See. That. Movie.  I've been looking forward to it for months!

It's going to be awesome!