Celebrating Birthdays

Me, my mom, and sisters all got together on December 3o to celebrate my birthday and Amy's birthday, which is in January. We usually get together during Christmas break because we all can make it work then with all of our schedules, etc.

We decided to meet at The Cheesecake Factory in Salt Lake. It was yummy as usual. Here is a pic of the cheesecake:


I love how they decorate it! It was delicious too! My favorite kind is the white chocolate macadamia nut. We also shared a piece of the Red Velvet Cheesecake! It is so good too!

Here I am with my birthday cheesecake!

Amy with her birthday cheesecake.

We had a great time chatting and then we did a little shopping afterwards. It's always a fun get together, even when it is for your birthday and you don't like the fact that you are getting older!

Christmas 2011

We stayed over night at my parents house after our annual Christmas Eve dinner at their house. Annie, Jim, and boys stayed over too. Because Christmas was on Sunday this year, we thought maybe it would be better on the kids if they didn't see their Christmas stuff from Santa until we got back from church. Santa wrapped all of Annie's kids stuff so they wouldn't see their things. Santa set up Kendrick's stuff in the pink room upstairs.

So, we woke up and got ready for church. It was just sacrament meeting and the Levan Ward choir was putting on the program. It was good--of course, not like the "old days" when Layla Matheson was the choir director and the chapel was filled to capacity because everyone came to hear the choir sing. (yes, they were that good!) Layla was the seminary choir director too, and I was a member of it, so I can attest to the fact that she was a fantastic choir director. She made it fun too! My favorite part was singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". Anyway, that is a story for a different post.

Here are some pics from Christmas day:

Kendrick - looking at what Santa brought him.

Checking out his tow and pull tractor.

Kendrick got a basketball hoop and ball, a tow and pull tractor, an Elmo DVD, some clothes, and Elmo slippers. He also got some bath toys and some money and a tractor from Grandma and Grandpa Mangelson.

We decided to make breakfast first and then open the presents. Breakfast was yummy. It was different to be "all ready" for the day to open Christmas presents. Usually we all have bed head and look like we just got out of bed--mainly because that's what had happened! Anyway, here are some more pics:

Kendrick got this cute personalized plate from one of Paula's kids.
Kendrick, looking at the decorations on the tree.Kendrick caught in the act of messing with the ornaments!

Kendrick also got a dog pillow pet.

Playing with another tree ornament!Kendrick

Kendrick - this is actually the day after Christmas.

Me and Kendrick going upstairs to get him dressed.

We had a great Christmas and it was fun to see Kendrick's reactions this year. I'm sure it will just get better and better as he gets older.

Merry Christmas!

This was our Christmas card for this year. We weren't able to get a pic with the rest of the family in it, but oh well! Hollie and Amanda are busy girls between work and school, etc.

Anyway, we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve 2011

We went down to Levan for Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house. We met around 4:30 p.m., so everyone could eat, visit, and then head back to their own homes for Christmas. We were going to stay in Levan for Christmas day.

Dinner was yummy! We had ham, yummy potatoes, and other side dishes. After dinner, we had the Brenchley girls open their gifts since they would be leaving to go to their mom's house for Christmas.

Here are a few pics from opening gifts:

Kaycee helping Emmalee open a gift.

Hollie opening a gift.

Kendrick, getting restless waiting for his turn!
EmmaleeKendrick

After they opened their presents, we tried to take a grand kids picture. It was an adventure! Here are a few of the best - and I use that term loosely! It's hard to get all those little kids to look at the same time!

We had a great Christmas Eve. It is always good to spend it with family.

Brenchley Family Christmas Party

This year it was Scott's turn to host the Brenchley Family Christmas Party. We had the party on December 23 at our house. Scott made chili and we had everyone else bring bread, salads, or desserts.

We set up tables in our basement. It was a little bit tight, but it worked out great! Here we are at dinner:

After eating, we had a gift exchange. First the kids did one. Scott read a story where you pass the gift to the right and left depending on what is said in the story. After the kids did it, we had a white elephant gift exchange for the adults. Scott read the same story and we passed the gifts that way.

Kid Gift Exchange

After cleaning up a bit, we all loaded up and went to the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights. There was a line to get in, but it didn't take long. It was fun to drive through and look at the lights. Kendrick was asleep before we got through it!

The party was fun and I don't think there were any problems, except my glass "dinner bell" that Grandma J. gave me for Christmas a long time ago got broken! Oh well, I guess that is what I get for leaving it out on the table. It was on a table that Kendrick can't get to, but the other little kids could. Guess I will know better for next time!

Christmas Party at the Nielson's

My sister Paula had a Christmas party for all of us Mangelson's at her house on Wednesday, December 21, 2011. We all helped contribute to the meal and we all brought a "white elephant" gift for the gift exchange game.

Paula also had cupcakes and frosting, etc. for the kids to decorate. Here are some pics of the cupcake decorating:

KendrickRyan and Jake

After dinner, we had the gift exchange. We took turns opening a gift and then you could trade what someone else had already opened or open a gift.

The Ropers opening their gift.Madeline, opening the gift for the Eyres.It was a zen garden and a large candy stick!Annie opened an elephant!My mom got the ultimate teacher's gift, complete with a 2011 calendar!

Then we played Just Dance on the Wii. It was so much fun--I had heard of it, but I hadn't ever played it! Kendrick had a great time too, showing off his "drill team" dancing skills complete with vocals. He kicks and says "Yeah!" as he kicks. It is funny. Paula said, "I think Kendrick has been to a few too many drill team practices!" HA HA I didn't get any pics, but you can look at my sister Annie's blog--she posted some pics!

We had a great time and ended the party by watching Casey's light show from our car just before we drove home.

Thanks Paula, Casey and family for a great party!

Drill Team Happenings

Starting in November, the drill team really starts gearing up for competition. We work for all year, but it seems as soon as football season is over and it is November, then you really start to feel it. Here are some pics from various events that we have had during November and December.

To "kick off" the first week of competition, we had a "fireside" on Sunday, December 11th. The officers asked one of the teachers at school, Coach Darrell Wyatt, to come speak to the team. We had the fireside at Kaitlynn Blood's house and it was really nice. Coach Wyatt gave a very good message to the team and I felt it was just what we needed to hear as a team. Here are some pics from the fireside. He thought that is was cool because it was a fireside by an actual "fire"!

Drill Team Fireside with Coach Wyatt

On December 15, we had our annual Drill Team Christmas party. It was held at Shalee Hiskey's home in Covered Bridge.

We had soup in bread bowls, salad, and yummy brownie sundaes! Here is a pic of the team after we had opened our gifts:

Elleve Christmas Party

This pic is a little bit out of order, but I wanted to post a pic of our new dance costumes. This was just after our performance at the basketball game at UVU during Thanksgiving break. We have since added to this costume, because I was told it was a little "blah". So, we will see what everyone thinks after they see the new addition to it!

Elleves - first performance of dance!

This year, all drill teams get to compete with a character routine. It is similar to novelty, but you can't use a backdrop and if you use props, they have to be used and contribute to the routine. Our character routine is a "tribal/African" theme dance. Here are some pics just before the first time we performed it:

Our costumes have feathers - they caused a little bit of drama that night. They were all over the floor, and the ref got a little bit stressed, then this caused the Assistant Principal to be stressed, then this caused me to be stressed! Oh, well, they looked great!
Then, this year, the wrestling coach asked me if the drill team would perform at a wrestling match. I looked at the schedule and saw that there was a home match on December 20, so I said we would on that particular date so we could perform a Christmas dance. Which is basically one of our camp routines set to Christmas music!

Merry Christmas from the MMHS Elleves!

We've been having fun and the hard work has been paying off!

First Competition - Jordan Beet Classic

On Saturday, December 17, 2011, was our first competition of the season - the Jordan Beet Classic Competition at Jordan High School. It was going to be a good competition as far as the schools that were going to be there in the 4A division. All of the schools in our region were going to be there as well as some top 4A contenders.

I wasn't sure how we would do--I felt prepared, but my team is very "young". We lost 10 seniors last year. Ten "good" seniors, the type you wish you could keep on your team forever. They were strong dancers and good leaders. They didn't ever give up and they were very hard workers! Anyway, I thought this first competition would probably just be a good eye-opener to my young team.

Well, we ended up doing very well! It was so exciting and very rewarding for the team! We ended up placing 1st in Hip Hop, 2nd in Dance, 2nd in Character, 3rd in Military and 4th in Lyrical. Here is the team with our awards:

We also had two girls place in the top 5 of the 4A/5A drill down. Kimber Creer placed 1st and Aubrey Finch placed 5th.

Kimber and Aubrey

Congrats to the Elleves! We are continuing the winning tradition that was started just two years ago when the school was established. Our next competition is in January, now we have to work even harder!

Ward Christmas Party

On Friday, December 16, 2011, our ward had their Christmas party. I didn't have a MMHS basketball game to attend, so we decided to go. I did, however, have practice after school that went until 5 p.m., but I didn't get out of the school until 5:45. I had Kendrick with me, so we had to hurry home so I could change my clothes and then Scott was going to leave work and stop by and pick us up.

Well, since I was running late, Scott had to wait for me to change and then we headed over to the party. It was at the Stake center. They were having a ham and baked potato bar dinner and then Santa was making an appearance.

We met Annie, Jim, and their boys there and sat with them. It was a pretty good dinner--at least we didn't have to cook!

Santa soon made his appearance and everyone lined up to sit on his lap. We were kinda slow to get in line, so we were pretty much at the end of the line. Kendrick had been having a good time basically running around all night! He isn't shy to go up to people and so he was having a great time.

Kendrick had sat on Santa's lap once before at the Provo Towne Center Mall. He wasn't scared or anything, he just sat there and stared at Santa's face. Well, this time, he wasn't too thrilled to see Santa. I think he just wanted to get down and run around some more!

Scott took some pictures with his phone, so they are not the best pics, but here they are:

Kendrick, starting to throw his fit!Looking Santa in the eye - deciding if he wants to stay there or not.He sat there for a few seconds, got his candy cane, and then he wanted out of there!

We had a good time and I think that was the first ward Christmas party I have been able to attend in years! I usually have a basketball game or a drill team competition.

Jackson Family Christmas Party

On Saturday, December 10, 2011, was the annual Jackson Family Christmas party. My cousin JaKoye and Aunt Barbara were in charge of the party. It was held at the Red Cliffs Elementary School. We had soups, salads, and desserts. It was good food and good times! Here are some pictures we took at the party:

There were crafts for the kids to make - here is my sister Amy helping Kendrick make his penguin ornament.Amy and Kendrick with Keaton and Lisa too.KendrickMe and KendrickThey played the game, "Minute to Win It" and had a lot of fun competitions. Here is my mom and Chris Ray trying to get a penny out of a pair of nylons!The Jackson Family - Barbara, Sandra, Granny J., Judy, Lisa, and Bart. Just missing my uncle Scott.Kendrick, me and my momMe, Kendrick, Granny J., and Grandma Sandra.

The party was a lot of fun and we had a great time seeing everyone that was able to be there. Thanks to Barbara and JaKoye for planning such a great party!