Applications

College applications are finally done (insert hallelujah chorus here).  Dallin has spent months writing essays, completing supplements, taking standardized tests, and interviewing.  I am so glad he's done.  He ended up getting a no from Stanford early application.  It was a pretty sad weekend.  He is now waiting to hear from BYU, MIT, Northwestern, and Cornell.  Add the age change for Missionary Service into the mix and he has felt a lot of stress.

He is pretty sure he will go on his mission this summer.  The only wild card is if he gets into one of the other schools and they want him to go for at least a semester before deferring.  Our impression from the questions we have asked is that they would be fine with the deferral right away, but who knows.

We are so proud of Dallin.  He has always worked so hard to be an excellent student and is not afraid to put himself out there and apply to these top tier schools.  It hurt to hear no from Stanford, but he won't look back and say "what if".  I know he will succeed wherever he goes and I also know that Heavenly Father has a plan for him and whatever is right will happen.  We love you Dallin.

Jim and Cheryl's

We spent a few days with Jim's family in Connecticut.  It is so relaxing to go there.  The kids take off with their cousins, Cheryl cooks the most amazing food (which is all GF and we don't even have to bring anything with us), and Jim always introduces us to some hilarious TV show (this time it was Duck Dynasty - makes me laugh so hard:).  I was so relaxed I hardly took any pictures, but trust me - we had fun.

They also got a new baby teacup pig named Big Jack.  He is so darn cute!  His little grunting noises make him irresistible.  He loves to be held and snuggle his nose in the curve of your elbow.  He kept us laughing the whole time.  I also finally figured out that I was allergic to Millet (unfortunately the reaction was in the middle of Les Miserables after eating lunch and Jim ended up taking me home - sorry again).  I knew there was something else that has been making me really sick, but couldn't narrow it down.  I had a pretty bad reaction, so I will be carefully avoiding it.

Thanks for having us and letting us relax!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!  We had a great morning filled with presents and breakfast.  Dallin decided to take charge of the Turkey this year and boy are we glad he did.  It was without a doubt, the best turkey I have ever eaten.  He filled it with great spices and basted it about every 20 minutes while it was cooking.  YUM!

After getting our Christmas mess and dishes cleaned up, we packed out suitcases and headed to Connecticut to see Jim and Cheryl's family.  It was a very fun and very full day!

We are so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are truly blessed to have the Gospel in our lives and to know how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father.  We are grateful to get to serve others around us at this time of year and especially grateful to be together.  We miss our family members who are far from us and send our love.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

This year Christmas Eve felt really relaxed and I loved it!  We slept in a little, ate lots of good food, opened our game and puzzle, took pictures for the Forsyth clan, and watched the kids sing (and listened to Liz play) at the Doylestown Lutheran church.  On our way to the Christmas Eve service is started to magically snow and by the time we got out it was beautiful!  Before bed we opened our warm new Christmas jammies and really just enjoyed being together.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our day.

(Ed was in charge of wrapping the dart board... it showed up in a sheet.  Really?)

Forsyth Pictures

This year Liz asked me if I would take pictures of her family for her Christmas gift.  Ummm.... yes please.  They were all going to be in town on Christmas Eve, so I told her to call me when the moms thought the kids were all happy at the same time.  I love taking pictures.  I'm not really very good at it, but someday I hope I will be.  My philosophy is to just keep snapping and eventually you will end up with some winners.

Liz and Ian are like family to us and I post pictures of them all the time.  Hopefully the rest of the Forsyths will be OK with me posting just a few of my favorites :)

 Jonathon and Andrea are from Texas and their kids were not impressed with the cold weather and everyone yelling at them to smile.  They were going to caption this one "Cold Texas Cousins".  Too funny!

Sunday Before Christmas

My family knows that I will insist on a picture the Sunday before Christmas.  We all dress a little nicer and have a beautiful tree to pose in front of.  Merry Christmas!

Cami's Class Christmas Party

I got it together in time to return for Cami's class party.  Sixth graders just want to eat and play games, so the party was easy.  She loves her teacher and has some really good friends in her class.  Everyone couldn't wait to get out and on with Christmas vacation!