Thanksgiving, Jeremy and Jennifer came over for dinner. I made a craft turkey for Jason's parents using 2 styrofoam balls, yarn and card stock for the feathers. We all wrote things that we were thankful for on the feathers. Then, after dinner we visited Mom in the ICU and brought dinner and the craft. She loved it!
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December was INSANE! I think Jason made a turkey almost every week for a month. I am not a fan of turkey, so for someone that doesn't even like to eat it once a year, a month of it shows the love I have for the Kemps! LOL!
The beginning of the month, we got to see our friends the Graham's. They made yummy homemade pizza and the kids helped cut out some holiday cookies. We had such a good time!
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A couple of days later, we went to Pennsylvania to celebrate Kaylyn's birthday. I was so glad I could be there and see her open her presents. Even though I don't get to go up as often as I like, I always love going to see them.
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THIS WAS WHAT THE BALLOON ORNAMENT WAS SUPPOSE TO LOOK LIKE, BUT MARTHA'S VERSION IS MUCH, MUCH BETTER THAN MINE SO I WON'T DARE POST MY ORNAMENT
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A couple of days later, we got our Christmas Tree. This is probably the earliest we've ever put up a tree before, but Owen really wanted one (the earlier the better is his philosophy). Gavin and Owen were so excited!
GAVIN GRABBED ORNAMENTS OFF THIS TREE UNTIL THE DAY WE TOOK IT DOWN. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW PERSISTENT HE IS
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Jason had to work a couple Sundays so in order for me to continue to go to church, I asked my sister-in-law if I could borrow a couple of her kids so they could watch Gavin at church while I gave my lesson. It ended up being a great weekend! On Saturday, we went to an Art Studio at the Rio and the girls and Owen did some crafts. Kaylyn and Owen worked on mosiacs, while Chessa made a night light out of cut glass. It was so much fun! Then on Sunday, I was so impressed with Kaylyn and Chessa. They were so helpful. Not only did they help with Gavin, they helped teach my Sunbeams because I had just started to get sick and had lost my voice.
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A few days before Christmas everyone came over to our house to exchange gifts and eat turkey..........again! Even though I wasn't thrilled about the menu, it was great to have everyone together!
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Christmas was so much fun! The kids were actually really nice to us Christmas Morning. We slept in and didn't get nagged to open presents. Although, Owen was super excited when we finally got up! He could barely contain himself. Both of them loved all the presents Santa brought them. No one went overboard on Christmas like in the past. It was the right number of gifts and the kids were happy.
Later that afternoon, we went up to Pennsylvania to Jason's older brother Jeff's house. Everyone had already arrived. Not surprised, we're always late. The kids were playing games by the Christmas tree and the football game was on. Jeff and Sue had ham and mashed potatoes. It was a great meal! Before everyone left, I was able to give our gift to Justin and Joy's kids. I made a photo album online of them from 2000-now. They loved it! However, it was opened for maybe 5 minutes before Owen grabbed a page without thinking and ripped it! Right down the center of the page. I couldn't believe it! Obviously, it was an accident, but I was so devastated. Justin, Joy and the kids were so great about it.
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Here is a video I made capturing some of our family get togethers of 2009.
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We had Jason's family over on New Years Day to have turkey for the last time, but Jason was nice to me and made a ham as well. It was great to see Jason's Mom out of the nursing home, even if it were just for a couple of hours.
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The middle of December, Jason and I found out that Jason's partner made a decision to close their jewelry store. It will be final at the end of February! They have had a really hard year and Jason's partner thinks it would be best just to close doors and try to sell jewerly online instead. This news is stressful to me for so many reasons, but I keep praying and I have faith that Heavenly Father will take care of us. Jason started his own company a few years ago, so his plans are to work on his own. He is so talented and such a perfectionist that I know his customers will follow him.
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