Lava Hot Springs

The day after Christmas, we loaded into two cars and headed to Lava Hot Springs. We spent the whole day there - only getting out to enjoy a delicious lunch.

It was mighty chilly outside, so the hot springs felt glorious! It was relaxing and enjoyable. It is quite an interesting sensation to have icicles forming in your hair while the rest of your body is gloriously steamy!

Christmas Morning

Melia was worried when she saw this little tree, thinking I had gone grinchy! This is actually decorated with some ornaments my students made...along with hand-crocheted nose warmers.

This is our real Christmas tree!

Christmas morning was actually very quiet compared to the night before!

Joseph and Danielle joined Lance, Matt and I.
Logan and Anne came over later in the morning.

It was good to have Matt home from Green River.

Indy enjoyed the extra attention.....

and the new laser she got for Christmas!

Christmas Eve Dinner

I was really excited to have everyone coming to Christmas eve dinner - minus Melia, of course. Matt brought their family though, so she was well represented!

We had fourteen for dinner, so we had to be cozy!

The first thing we did was to open our Christmas crackers, so we could all wear our crowns during dinner. The prezzies in the crackers were fun as well!

We ate one course at a time.....here we are enjoying the yummy salad!

Joseph Lance and Danielle Rogers joined us for dinner ( at the far ends of the table).

Auntie Noelle won the arm wrestling contest, so she got the privilege of holding Aislinn!

The real party was at the counter with these clowns....
...I mean kings!

Christmas Eve Prezzies

After dinner, everyone gathered to watch the little ones open their prezzies.

But first, we had to get Aislinn off the phone!

Here she is wearing her new pajamas and looking at her Christmas book from Grandma Laura!

Shawn joined in the fun of "reading" her new book!

Matt Kelley was able to get Melia on Skype, so she could be there to watch them open the prezzies. Look close - she is on the computer screen watching Michael opening his pajamas!

Here are the Kelley boys showing off their new pajamas -
or maybe just showing off!

Shawn has some new books to read!

The older "kids" watched the chaos - remembering the good old days!
This was Danielle's first Christmas ever!

December Birthday Party

December is a big month for birthdays in the Pettit clan! In the last two weeks we've had 5 birthdays, so we celebrated them all today! Kao, Noelle, Shawn, Bowen, and Michael all are a year older this month! Michael loves his new birthday dinosaur - Screature!

Matt is doing a great job of keeping is family together while Melia is in Iraq!

It is a handful sometimes....


but he manages to do it with a smile on his face!

Lance's Concert

I went to Lance's final concert of the semester at Utah State University in Logan. I looked around the concert hall and found him in this booth...but the question remains:
is he the doctor or the patient?

What do you think?

Welsh Visitors

Our friends from Wales vame to visit: Eileen Silk, Gary Daniels, Jen Hole and Vanessa Daniels.

It was fun to catch up, but not long enough!

Having the four of us together again, brought back fond memories of our time in Swansea!

Being surrounded by Welsh accents made me homesick for Wales!

Gingerbread Houses Extraordinaire

Many of the Lance clan gathered for a gingerbread house marathon!

It wasn't a contest because there was no prize...but the competition was still fierce!

Brainstorming was the first order of business!


Then the creative juices began to flow!

I love the pez pathway and smartie rock wall in front of Logan and Anne's castle!

Justin and Josh created an amazing tower!

Lance and Jordan tackled building Minas Tirith from "Lord of the Rings".

Janae re-created the Oakland temple!
Note the bride and groom on the bridge!

Logan and Anne's castle

Jan built a replica of the Lincoln memorial!

Justin's tower is growing taller!

Notice the intricate walls of Minis Tirith.

More traditional gingerbread houses:

Minas Tirith grows ever more detailed and intricate:

My personal favorite - the Oakland Temple - where Matt and I got married!