New Years

Michael, David, and I went with Sister Ruka to see Breaking Dawn in the afternoon. We were planning on going to Ruby River for dinner but they nevered answered the phone to make a reservation. So Mutti and Daddy went down @ 5:30 to get us a table but the waite for 2 hours so went across the street to Sizzler and ordered for us, which was great as the line was out the door and the place packed. So we got there in perfect timing to get a salad before our steaks came out. We had a great dinner together. They brought around sparkling cider and donuts to toast in the new year. Michael made a toast. We then went back to the house and just chatted for a while. Sorry, no pics.

Christmas Day

We had an hour of church this morning from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. so decided to wait to open gifts until after Christmas. We of course invited Sister Ruka over in the afternoon. So I went over to my parents after church. My mom and Michael were over at the cemetary visiting Kate and Oma so David and I went over to Kirsten's to take Scott one of his gifts that we had forgotten to give him the night before. So we didnt' actually open gifts until after 11:00 a.m. As kids we were all up at 2:30 in the morning stuffing stockings and then up again early to open gifts.

I got so spoiled and received so many things that I loved! Thanks Mutti, Daddy, David, and Michael. Afterwards I made a great brunch with the star being eggs benedict with steak. OMG, they were so good and the Hollandaise sauce was fantastic. I had never made it before and was a little concerned but really easy. Michael helped me as it was too much to do at once. We also had roasted red potatoes, grits, fruit platter.

Later in the day we watched Harry Potter, so much fun and just visited. Best of all was when Tyler called. It came up on caller ID "LDS Mission" so I new immediately it was him. Everyone got to talk to him for 75 minutes. He sounded so good and is doing so well.

Michael and David of course teased one another about who is number one - Mickey or Donald. According to Tyler Goofy is number 1. Michael and I got David Scrooges Counting House as part of his village. He was so excited as he didn't even know it existed. I missed seeing his face when he opened it but Michael said it was priceless. We got Mutti a coat we had seen at Ann Taylor that she really liked. She was really surprised.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

I got up early to go with my mom to Siegfried's to get the wurst and sauerkraut for dinner. We stopped by Kristina's as she wanted to go with us. We stopped by Vosen's first to get the rolls and some pastries. Luckily there were not super busy yet although I am sure they had been up since 3:00 a.m. baking.

We had a full house for dinner. Scott's family came over, Kirsten and her family, and Sister Ruka - and we cannot forget JAX, our favorite Swickard!! I made griess soup, which turned out a little hard because I let it sit too long before making the dumplings but still good. Also, apfel strudel using puff pastry. I've decided that is the dough to use and makes the process so simple.

Everyone had a great time. Little Scott was so excited to get the Millinium Falcon from Scott and Kristina. I don't know who was more excited (or obsessed with Star Wars) Big Scott or Little Scott. Big Scott was excited to put it together and buy it and Little Scott was excited to get it and play with it. Then it was time for Bingo, an annual tradition.

Cirque de la Symphonie

Michael got two tickets to the Cirque de la Symphonie on December 16th and invited me to go with him. It has been a long time since we have done anything with the arts. Michael didn't get home until 6:00 p.m. and the performance started at 7:00 so we were a little nervous about time but made great time to Salt Lake (30 minutes) and then discovered that there was no parking. We forgot that the LDS Church was holding their Christmas performance in the Conference Center and reserved all Church parking for that in addition to those attending the performance using all city parking. So, there was no parking for anything else in SLC. We drove around for 45 minutes and were quite discouraged. We ended back up in the parking lot across from the Energy Solutions Arena along with the other cars driving through trying to find an empty spot. We were about to give up when Michael turned down one aisle and we found an empty spot. We therefore missed most of the first have of the performance.

It was fantastic. It showcases cirque performances while the symphony plays and the performances were amazing and the music selection was perfect. We were sad that we missed the Harry Potter performance. Sorry, no pictures. One funny story - they had to artists come out in gold bottoms and painted gold to represent statues. They put on the most amazing performance of strength and balance with one balancing on the others head while he is sitting down, with one arm, and then he stands up. Incredible! Anyway, when they walked out this old lady in front of us starts whistling and calling out to them, It was so funny. Hello, this is not Vegas at Chippendales. We want to go next year.