Sevark Central

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight. I had forgotten that they were coming. Yikes! Luckily I had stuff to make Hawaiian sliders! Grandma and grandpa Severtson just happen to be over, so they stayed for dinner too. We got a new elder, Elder Daines from Virgina. We still have Elder Rogers from Idaho. When we first meet Elder Rogers we thought he was foreign, but he just has a little bit of a speech impediment. But the more I hear it the more cool it is. :) It was fun to get to know the Elders a little more better and think of ways and people who we could share the gospel with.

Noah is a huge football fan. It's hard for him to relate to anyone on in the family because we don't share his passion. Haha! Luckily we know people that do. Noah was able to go to the Cactus Bowl game with one of his young mens leader, Bro. Morley. It was Boise State against Baylor. He had really good seats, super close to the field. Enjoyed a huge hotdog covered in Mac and cheese and chili and cheese. He had a great time, even though Boise State lost.

This is the first time in all my married life, that I wasn't up until 3am wrapping presents! Sweet Maizey helped me a few days before and we got most of it done. I had just a few presents to do on Christmas Eve. We had Christmas Eve at Kirk and Keta's new house. It was nice to be so close and not have to clean up. Haha! We had nachos and yummy treats. We stuffed ourselves and then the kids couldn't wait to start opening presents! It was done and over just like that! Haha! We got home around 6:30. Noah and Caleb both had to work but were able to get off at 7pm. So when they got home we did sibling presents. They had a good time and liked what they got. The married kids even got me and Toby presents. Bentley and Cal got us a movie gift card and Kami and Tim got us a Tia Rosa's gift card and one of their hot cocoa machines! Maizey got me lots of hand soaps from Bath and Body works. Christmas Eve came and went and Christmas morning came too soon. Caleb was at our door at 6:30 to open presents. This year we did Christmas in the family room. The kids had a great time opening their gifts. Some of them were surprised at what they got! We cleaned up and had our annual Christmas breakfast of ham and cheese puffs,  sausage pinwheels and butter braids. We got dress and was able to go to church! It was perfect to go and worship our Savior on his birthday. We only had an hour of church, so that was nice. We hurried home and waited for Porter to call.... we waited.... and waited. Then Garrett called! As we talked to him for a little bit, Porter finally called. Toby was able to find a way to do a 3 way call on Skype! It was awesome to talk with both of them at the same time and that they could talk with each other too! It was the BEST Christmas present ever!We had a great time talking with them and asking questions. It was fun to see Kami, Porter and Garrett all talking Spanish with each other. Then Kami and Garrett would gain up on Porter and tell him he wasn't speaking the right way. Haha!We got to talk with them for over an hour and took pictures. We hated to say goodbye! So crazy to think that well be seeing Porter in a few weeks! We had grandma and grandpa Severtson over for dinner. We had ham and funeral potatoes and homemade rolls! It was a wonderful day!

This year we had Christmas Eve at Kirk and Keta's new house. We had yummy nacho's and lots of sweet treats. Noah and Caleb both had to work. So they had to miss the party. This year Maizey got off earlier enough to make it to the park. The kids had fun opening their presents and then it was over. The party got over pretty quick, which is fine with me. Haha! We came back to our house and all the kids exchanged their gifts to one another. Bentley and Cal got us a movie gift card and Kami and Tim got us Tia Rosas's giftcard and gave us one of their hot cocoa makers! Maizey got me a year supply of hand soap from Bath and Body Works. Afterwards, Toby and I wrapped just a few gifts. Luckily Maizey and I got most of the gifts all wrapped on Tuesday. That is a first time in 23 years! Haha! It was nice not having to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning wrapping. We were able to get to bed pretty early until the kids woke us up at 6:30am!

Today Noah turned 17th years old!!! I made him ham. bacon and cheese omelette for his birthday breakfast. This is the first time that Noah has ever had to go to school on his birthday! Luckily it was a half day. So I brought donuts to his seminary class so they could help celebrate his special day. After school Noah's "girl" friend Madison Lamb took him to Chik Fila and to see the new Star Wars movie :Rogue One. That night we took him to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner! For his birthday got an Echo Dot, a kind of Go Pro camera and a pair of jeans. We're glad he's apart of our family!

This year I found some cute stockings at the Dollar Store, of all places! So I decided to get us all one! 10 stockings were hung on the stair case with care....

Another favorite Christmas tradition, the Mesa Temple lights. We stopped at the lights before heading to the Reed family party. Tim and Kami went with us and we met Bentley and Cal there. We heading into the visitor center to look at the nativities from around the world...one of my favorite things. We met some sister missionaries, one from Chile. So Kami had fun talking with her. The light display was beautiful and it always seems like they add something new every year.

This is the last time I get to teach this bunch of cute kids. I'm finishing my 3 year of teaching the 7-8 year olds. And it looks like I will continue to keep teaching this age group. It hasn't always been my favorite, but over the year I have learn to like it and actually enjoy it. I even enjoy going to their baptisms.

This morning was the Glasgow Christmas party. We met at Lanes church building. We brought yummy breakfast food. I made a hash brown, egg and sausage casserole and some blueberry bread and gluten free donuts. Lori's family had the nativity this year. Mom wanted all families to provide 2 talents. So Kami played a song on the piano. Cal and Bentley were going to do a song, but they chickened out! Instead of exchanging gifts this year, we gave gifts to a homeless shelter.  It was a nice morning visiting with family and being entertained.

It's that time again for the annual Severtson work party. This year we were in charge of buying the gifts again...3rd year in a roll. Last year we had dinner at Tia Rosa's and bought restaurant gift cards, but the employees wanted the gifts again. So we complied. Haha! Toby started buying gifts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and got most of it done. Our bedroom looked like Christmas had blown up in it! It's a pretty big and exhausting process of buy over 50 gifts that cost over $25. Kirk and Aaron were in charge of food and Danny and Micah hosted it at their house. We had yummy food and the weather was perfect for it being outside. We had a fun time with the gift game and pretty much everyone really liked the gifts this year. I guess Toby did too much of a good job. Yikes! Haha!

I guess it was my turn for a life surprise...I've had a kink in my upper-left leg for several years now, but just thought these were the kinds of kinks and kranks that I would be feeling in my 40's.  Luckily by accident this one was discovered when we were in San Diego for some testing...so it has Mayo's highest attention.  We'll have to wait and find out what the plan is...but for now I have a Tennis Ball sized mass in my upper leg that is going to need to be removed at some point.  Fun, fun!  :-)

For quite a few years I have bought gingerbread house kits for the kids to do during Christmas. They're not cheap, if you're having to buy quite a few for all our kids. ;) So this year I decided to buy a gingerbread house mold and make the gingerbread dough. I found a good recipe and I was able to make 3 houses and several gingerbread men. It took me a couple tries to bake them for the right time. But they turned out and the "glue" was awesome! It held all the houses together with no problem. I let the girls do the big houses and I made graham cracker houses for the boys. We had the married kids over for Sunday dinner and then we made the houses while we watched a Christmas movie. I love this tradition!

This year I wanted to have our recital before all the craziness of the holiday season. So we had it the first week of December. The kids had less time to learn their pieces and some only got one lesson to learn it! They all did a great job. The recitals make teaching all worth it. I'm so proud of  their hard work and talent. It is a privilege to teach them. I had 15 students this semester, but 2 of the Cooper girls couldn't make it.

After my piano recital, we went to Feed My Starving Children. It was a great start to the Christmas season by serving others. The church came out with 25 days of Lighting the World with acts of service! This was perfect. I really enjoyed looking for ways to serve others like Christ did. I was excited to see what each day suggested to serve. It made the month of December so much better by thinking of others instead of getting carried away with crazy business of the holiday season.

We have so many priests in our ward that the boys don't get to help with the sacrament but once every few weeks.  So until today, Caleb has only gotten the opportunity to help with it once, but didn't get to bless it for his first time since turning 16 until today.  You would have thought he had done it many times prior.  He was calm and relaxed, but spoke with a loud, clear voice, so smooth and not stumbling once nor missing a single word...it went perfect.  He got up and didn't look to red or embarrassed, then proceeded to hand out the trays to the deacons.  It was an awesome first time for him!  Great job Boog...you're amazing!

Caleb had originally wanted to start working at Harkins. So he applied there and didn't get the job. So his second choice was working at TacoBell with Noah. He got that job right away. A week or 2 later Maizey had called from work saying that Harkins was getting ready to hire and for Caleb to go down and apply again. So he did and he got the job! So now he has 2 jobs! Crazy kid! Going to orientation for Harkins was a little tricky because Caleb was scheduled to work at Taco Bell at the same time. But he was able to figure it all out. Now he works at Taco Bell on Tuesday and Harkins any other days that they need him. He's not sure if he'll keep working both jobs, but for now it's working out.