A Fun Evening!

Friday night, date night right? So we were thinking about going out to

Dinner somewhere close to a place where we could find a christmas

tree to take our picture by. Originally we thought a restuarant

close to a mall or the visitor's center in Mesa. Well we were planning

on getting our tree on saturday morning, but Shaun had since ask

if he could borrow the truck to go get a tree for their family that morning,

so we decided we needed to get our tree friday night somewhere closer so

we'd have time to eat, get our picture taken & get back to get our tree.

So we ended up going to "The Point at South Mountain" which is now

"America Grand" I believe. We got there so early they weren't even

serving yet, so we got our picture taken by the tree & they took us in early &

we got to sit by the window with a beautiful view & they brought on the

candles & we had a lovely dinner with ambience. Then we went looking

for a fresh cut tree. To me that's always been part of christmas, picking out

just the right tree & the smell of fresh cut pine trees. We got one they say

puts out the strongest pine aroma & we are enjoying it even though it's

not decorated yet.

End -of-the-year- sky show!

I stayed up last night to see this year's best meteor shower in North America.
The news said in the Geminid meteor show, 140 meteors per hr. could
streak across the sky. The best time to watch would be midnight eastern time.
I forgot about the eastern time & quess I missed the bigger show, but I did
bundle up in warm clothes in the middle of the night & went outback & sat
in my patio chair & leaned back staring at the stars & waited for the show.
Within minutes, I saw the brightest Geminid of my evening watch streak across the
sky. In all I saw about 14 in 20 mins. But I got pretty cold & decided I missed
the bigger show & went in.

It was really cool, but not as spectacular as the ones I saw a few years
ago when my kids & I stayed up to watch the Perseid shower. Then it
was like a shower of them streaking across the sky at once. These were
one at a time. Interesting though, I expected them to all be going the
same direction & these went ever which way!

Though not as famous as the Perseid shower, the Geminids often put on a
more dramatic display. Geminids are debris from an extinct comet called
3200 Patheon. The shower gets its name because it appears to come from
the constellation Gemini. Anyway.......so went my evening of star & Geminid
watching. And as I waited & watched it kinda reminded me of the wisemen
& the people in the Book of Mormon in America & I pondered on what it
must of been like for them when they were watching for that new star to
appear in the east & how exciting it must of been when they saw it, & the
Wisemen followed it. How amazing that would have been!! It was perfect
way to end a great evening. We had just attended a wonderful performance
at Lori's Greenfield Stake Center. Every year they take out several rows of
benches in the chapel area, & set up a whole orchestra & fill an hour with
an array of beautiful music & performances. My favorites last night were,
a "Carol of Joy" by choir & orchestra, "I Believe in Christ" by choir and
orchestra, an arrangement by Wilberg & they ended with the numbers from
Handel's Messiah. Fantastic!!!

"Talent Team" Christmas Recital

That's Brylee in the middle in the finale.
I don't recall where Megan was & I can't
tell from this small picture, but very nice
performance!

This is Brylee again singing the "Hawaiian Christmas"

Song. She also dances a Hawaiian stick dance, and several other numbers.

Lori said Megan was a little dissapointed in

this mexican outfit. She thought it would be

more like my mexican black velvet one with the pretty

paintings & colorful shiny sequins.

This is Brylee on the far right. They are

all very adept & well trained on how to

use the microphones. The microphone would

be way above Brylee's head from the

previous performer & she'd come along a

reach way up there & pull that microphone

promptly right down in place infront of

her like it was old hat, then sing away!!

Megan Crook & Brylee Zweifel's Recital with "Talent Team"

I attended Megan's & Brylee's Dance & Song
Recital on Saturday. Megan danced or sang in
10 or more numbers. The Theme was "Christmas
Around The World". Megan particulary loved
getting to change into all the pretty different
outfits.

I believe this is Megan singing. Sorry the pictures

are pretty dark. But both girls had a couple of

singing parts & sang right out, very confident.

Good job! I really enjoyed their performance!

A Happy Birthday To You!!

Our birthday kids are:

Macey Joan Curby - Nov. 5th - 5 yrs.
Trinity Nicole Gothard - Nov. 19th - 8 yrs.
Mason Montgomery Curby - Dec. 6th - 3 yrs.
Tatum Meadow Gothard - Dec. 8th - 1 yr.
Jathen Ray Zweifel - Dec. 21st - 9 yrs.

Here's a couple more pictures from Thanksgiving Day!
Everyone resting after the filling feast!