Go Alexis!

Last September, the choir director at Rocky Mountain invited Lex to be in the State Junior High Honor Choir. She spent Friday and Saturday of last week with over 300 select students from all of the state - learning, having fun and preparing for a combined concert. We got to go to that concert Saturday night at the beautiful new Syracuse High School! The concert was amazing, but the highlight for us was when the director, Kelly De Haan, announced that Alexis was one of four girls who landed a solo in the number, "Still I Rise." Over 100 girls tried out! Lex did an outstanding job. She's got the personality and the voice! We loved her, and so did everyone else!
Sharon got this shot of Alexis and Kelly De Haan after the concert. The kids absolutely loved this guy!

Meeting the Familia in Mesa

Jack and I had a trip to Mesa planned even before the engagement. We were so glad we did. We went the weekend before Martin Luther King Day - flew down Friday afternoon and came back Monday morning. What an adventure! Basically, we cooked, ate, met the family, went to a botanical garden, ate, went to church, cooked, ate and came home. We loved every minute!
Here's Dalena - at home in her kitchen! The girl LOVES to cook!
Danny helps - and he does dishes.
I've never seen so much "hands on" cooking! Picking herbs, kneading dough, chopping herbs, meats and vegetables, grating and slicing cheeses, grinding wheat - you name it! And the pizza was delicious!
This is Casandra - Dalena's youngest sister. Casandra lives with Dalena and goes to nursing school.
The kitchen was crammed full of family - the Schellenbergs. Everyone was free to make pizza to their own taste!
I had to take a picture of Dalena's dishes. She has no sets of dishes. Danny says it's not a big deal if one breaks. Dalena says, "Whenever I see a pretty dish I like, I buy it."
Saturday, after a wonderful breakfast of crepe-like pancakes, filled with yogurt and smothered with fresh-made apple topping, we went to a Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Dale Chahuly was a featured artist there.
After visiting the gardens, we went to dinner at Grande Lux. This was the chicken pot pie that Danny and Dalena shared.
On Sunday, we went to church at Danny's ward. Dalena joined us after she taught Primary in her own ward. She wore Aunt Lu's gray dress!
After church, we made sopes for dinner. These are some of the tastiest little meals I've ever had! Next time Danny and Dalena come to Utah - we are definitely making sopes!

The news we've all been waiting for!!!

Early Wednesday morning (January 7th), I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ring. I checked the clock - 1:07 AM. I thought, "It's Danny! He's given her the ring!" I went out to the kitchen and checked my phone. Nothing. I must have dreamed it.

Well, I'm not dreaming anymore! When I checked email about 8:10 PM on the 7th, there was a message from Dalena, "Here is a picture that you may like." I looked at the photo attachment, "Dan, Dalena, the dog and the ring." RING!!! I yelled at Jack to put his glasses on and come into the office. I opened the picture and the phone rang, before Jack came back with his glasses on. It was Danny, wanting to know if I had checked the email lately. Yes I had! Wahoo! We are so excited!

We actually had flights to Phoenix scheduled for January 16th. Now we get to see the ring, give the beautiful couple big hugs and MEET THE IN-LAWS! We couldn't be happier!

Dean's Baptism Day

On January 3rd, 2009, Dean was baptized and confirmed by his dad. Congratulations, Dean!

Happy Birthday, Jen

Jenna's birthday is on New Year's Eve. Grandpa Grose calls her the Chuck-a-Rama girl, because Becky went into early labor after Grandpa took her and Bryan there to eat.
After she opened presents, she took us and the Williams in to see her new bedroom - a gift from her mom and dad.
She knew about the room - but the new desk Bryan made her was a big surprise!
Jen loved her desk!
Here's Jenna in her finished room. So cute! (Jen AND the room!)

Jackson's Birthday

Here's Jackson, by the snow cake his sisters made for him - complete with ten burning candles!
Jack had to try a couple of handfuls of bubblegum that he got for his birthday!
After the party, the kids took advantage of the unshoveled stairway leading from the deck!
We stayed pretty late for games, but even the littlest kids were in the middle of it - all night!

The Cleaning Crew

We played games every night between Christmas and New Years! Even the days after New Years, because there was no school. One night, when the games were at our house, Jace came up the stairs and asked me where the vacuum was. I showed him, and asked why he wanted it. He said, "It's a surprise."

A little while later, the kids called for me to come downstairs. They had cleaned up the whole TV/play room - and it looked nice! Here's a picture of my cute little the cleaning crew...

Christmas Day

We got up early and drove to Syracuse to watch the cute little Barber kids open their gifts. Their kids are at such cute ages! They have so much excitement! Here's a picture of the whole family in their Christmas PJs (which was actually taken on Christmas Eve, but oh well)...

One of the kids' favorite gifts was the kitchen, complete with pots, pans, dishes and food. Then made all of us breakfast! Mine was eggs, an orange and an onion! Oh my!

One of the funniest (albeit sad) things was Bo's reaction to the gifts. He opened the first one, a little work bench with pegs to hammer, and loved it. Then, his mean Mommy and Daddy TOOK IT AWAY FROM HIM so he could open another gift. So sad! They finally got him interested in the 2nd gift and everything settled down. And for what? They yanked that one away from him too, so he could open another gift! It went on like that until all the presents were opened. He was one sad little guy. But, he got over it.

We stopped at Jeff and Angie's to see what Santa had left there, then we came home and waited for the families to come to visit us. We ate breakfast casserole and past out our gifts to them.

Around 3:30, I called Dad. Nobody had been to visit him yet. I grabbed four of the oldest grand daughter, who still happened to be at our house, and we went to visit him. Lex, London, Kate and Amberly sang for him and played the piano. He loved it and so did the girls!

What a fun visit from Danny and Dalena!

On a carriage ride in SLC

We all slept in the morning after Dan and Dalena got here. Then she and Jack went to the store and she cooked us breakfast - well brunch. Eggs, shredded potatoes and cheese and tortillas. I think that's the morning she cooked the tomato sauce to spoon over the eggs - made from scratch with tomatoes, onions and jalapenos!
Dalena pinned up Danny's new pants so I could hem them. Haha!
The two of them took off in the afternoon and rode the Front Runner to SLC. They went shopping at the Gateway, then took Trax over to Temple Square. Jack gave them money for a carriage ride, which was a nice thing for him to do. I think they had a great time. They got some cute pictures!
At Union Station in Ogden
Sunday morning, Dalena made a quick German Apple Baked Pancake (YUM!) which we consumed on the way out to Gus and Sharon's ward to hear the girls sing - then they stayed out there most of the day. They came home in time to visit with the families who showed up for Sunday night.

Monday, we all shopped most of the day. That night, Dalena made calzones and we invited Grandpa to eat dinner with us. Afterward, we watched a DVD of Planet Earth, which Dalena gave us as a Christmas gift. It was amazing - so interesting and funny too!
Dalena's yummy calzones!
Tuesday, they went shopping and down to Justin and Joann's to pick up the large picture the kids planned to give us for Christmas. We didn't know at the time that that's the reason they went to Syracuse! They got back just in time to go to I Fly at the Junction. I Fly was a Christmas gift from Jack and me. Danny, Dalena and Lisa all flew for their first time. Dalena was a bit apprehensive, but she was a great sport and ended up enjoying herself.
The three CERTIFIED iFlyers
We barely got home in time to get ready and down to the church for Christmas Eve Eve. Dalena made Mexican Hot Chocolate for that.

After Santa had all 25 of the grand kids sit on his lap (there were a few who would not), he asked Dalena to come up and visit with him. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She was a little embarrassed. She told him, "You're making a brown girl blush!" I think Santa quite enjoyed visiting with her!
"You're making a brown girl blush!"
After cooking breakfast for us one more time, Dalena left with Danny for the airport. We felt bad that she couldn't be here with us for Christmas - but she had to work all Christmas Day. It was wonderful having them both here for a few days!
Danny dug out shopkas from his mission stuff!
Danny wanted to make sure Dalena's Utah winter experience was complete - so they shoveled snow!