19 catch up blog posts in one day.

My New Years Resolution is to never get

that behind on the blog again.

Good night

Happy New Year

Christmas

Our morning started early with kids scoping out their gifts.

We spent the next few hours slowly opening our gifts.

Christmas day is all about time with the family.
It's the best day of the year.

Christmas eve

I love Christmas eve. I love getting together with families in our ward and loving each other like we're family because we don't have any other family around. I love that we can pack more people in our house then humanly possible but because it's Christmas, a season when people just seem to be a little bit happier and enjoy being together, it's ok. I love the smiles, I love the laughter, I love the love.

We had a few stragglers that stayed long after the party was over. We tried to convince them to just stay the night but with no luck. They stayed for games and to see our homemade gift exchange.

The homemade gift exchange is becoming one of my favorite traditions.
Ben made for Josh a marshmallow gun

I made for Ben some signs for his room

Josh made a very from the heart bulletin board for his desk.

My dad made a quote for Lukes shelf by his bed.

Luke made my Dad a family tree bookmark

And Mike made me a LOVE ornament with the sweetest LOVE note that came with it.

At about midnight our friends left and the kids went to bed.

And at about 3am my dad, mike and I went to bed only to be woken up again at 5am.
Merry Christmas

Temple and the missionaries

The night before Christmas eve we went to perform baptisms as a family.
It was a cold and rainy night but we went anyway.

We ended up having the missionaries and Erica's cousin over for dinner that night as well. Erica's cousin isn't a member and has been taking the missionary lessons at our house. When I realized that both of those engagements were on the same night I almost rescheduled one or the other because that's a lot for one night but Erica said "you can do it I'll help you!" I'm a sucker and said OK!

Sometimes being a sucker is a good thing. The spirit was there that night from start to finish and continued on through the holiday. 

What a great way to start off Christmas in the temple and teaching someone about the gospel.

Service

One thing that I have loved about this holiday season is that we have had a ton of opportunities to perform small random acts of kindness each day. 

I wish I had posted them all but I didn't. Sometimes they're so small that they aren't worth posting but they make the biggest difference.

Our ward has a giving tree. This year we had more than 100 names on the tree. The lady in charge of the tree does a great job making sure each gift is delivered with some extra TLC. She was planning on making some baked goodies with each delivery. I knew she was planning on making those on her own so I took the responsibility off her hands. Crazy I know but she had done the wrapping herself and had a sick kid. She needed some help.

I'm not sure what we had done all day. We were busy doing something I'm sure but we didn't start on making those baked goodies until 10:00pm. Thankfully Erica and Luke helped me and Ben did too when he got home.
I was tired which means I was a little loopy so my best cooking hair do was helpful.

We ended up making 60 peanut butter balls, 13 gift bags of caramel popcorn, 139 peppermint cookies, 60 mint brownies, 109 oreo balls, and 40 chocolate chip cookies.

Wowsers. We made it to bed by 2:30am.

Yes I know we're crazy. I did make extra stuff so my dad and Mike could deliver to their home teaching families. We all went and delivered the goodies the next night and some great things happened in those deliveries that made it all worth it.

Another activity that the youth put together is doing the 12 days of Christmas for 2 families in the ward. This was not to provide a Christmas for them but it was to remind them that they were loved. Everybody took a night to deliver something. Visits were made, some kids went caroling, some kids went played their instruments for them, some delivered fresh bread or cookies, some delivered their testimonies in a card etc. It was an AWESOME experience for both the youth and the families. So awesome that we might make it a tradition.

One of our deliveries was the first night. We delivered a candy gram letting them know what we planned to do.

Braces

 Let the tin grin begin

Christmas party

Mike and I went to a Christmas party where we had to get all dressed up. I tried to get a picture of us when we were on our way to the party but clearly we don't have selfy skills

 So I guess this blurry one is going to have to do.

Essay

An essay written by Luke
My Name

In Latin and Greek my name means Bringer of Light. My Chinese name is 鲍安泽which means I will grow up to be a loyal leader with a healthy life and group of friends. It means bold and thoughtful and is a lucky name. It is like the color blue; blue as the bottom of the ocean or the thermosphere, untouched by humans. It is like the mysterious man who travels to all the big cities on the weekends because he is bored. It is short and cold like the snowstorms that wreck power lines but don’t last.

My middle name, Allan, is my great grandfather’s name. He wore it and passed it on to me like a hand me down. In the future if there’s time travel I’ll try to go back and see him because he died before I was born.  He was strong and responsible and lived on a farm. He herded sheep on a horse and was really good at it. When he was sad he would pack the disease away in a blue box and ride into the fields on his beautiful yellow horse and leave his sorrows at the bottom of the pond where no one could find them. He always had fun with the kids and was great with the ladies. He even married his best friend from high school. I have heard a lot about him and it seems as if he gave me a few of his traits with the name.

My parents named me and my brothers to represent who they want us to become, just like chinese parents do. My siblings’ names are Benjamin and Joshua. They sound like names of bright, kind, friendly people. My name is Luke and I am proud of that name. It is a permanent reminder to me of who I am and who I want to become like it is tattooed into my brain and personality. I view myself and everybody else as someone who was born with infinite potential. As life moves forward and we make decisions, we create our own limitations and learn how to use our strengths and weaknesses to our advantage or disadvantage. I constantly strive to live up to my ancestors’ example, and be everything I can be. I am proud of my name and hope maybe someday a descendant of mine will be able to use it as well.

Sometimes others think my name is Lucas or Lukus or even Luck which makes me feel gross like nails on a chalkboard or drinking water that sat too long in a metal container. My real name is much more relaxed and natural and so I always correct people when they say it wrong. I am also known by many nicknames including Tim, Andy, Rufus, Rooster, Nelson and so on. I like them because they all come with a unique story or a strong friendship which is nice and fun to reflect upon.

I would not agree to have my name changed without hesitation because it has grown on me and is a part of who I am, like my personality and physical appearance. If changing my name ever proved necessary, I like the name Mikal, which is my father’s name and older brother’s middle name. I feel like I could still learn from a new name like Mikal just like learning the same academic ideas from a new teacher and/or perspective. I think that I would look at myself a little bit differently, but in the end, the impact would be small, knowing that my father’s name is honorable as well as my own: Luke Allan Balmforth.

Game #2