Merry Christmas!

Christmas at the Milligans. This whole season has been rather disorganized for our family. Never did seem to get ahold of things. We did end up hanging our beautiful wreath in the front door archway, the lights were already up in the eaves from last year, and we bought a new artificial tree that we managed to get up early in the month. But that's about where it ends. I'll just take a moment to say that those reading probably think this post is made with much grumpiness, but in truth, it is completely hilarious to me that we never got any further than we did with decorating for Christmas. No stockings hung by the chimney with care - just sitting in a pile on top of the mantle. We did get the decorations down from the really, really high storage area in the garage, but...well...they never did make it onto the tree. It's a good thing our new tree is pre-lit because otherwise it would have been completely naked. :) I guess the good news is that we don't have much to break down after the holidays.

So why so much disorganization? Well, the church Christmas program would be one really big reason. Since I am the Primary pianist and the ward choir pianist, I ended up doing 6 musical numbers for those groups. Additionally, I accompanied one of the sisters in our ward who sang a solo she had written for piano, flute, and voice. It was BEAUTIFUL! There was a women's group that did Mary's Lullaby and I accompanied them, and was also asked to write parts for flute and violin, which I think turned out very nice, if I do say so myself. Then finally I did my own piano solo - an arrangement I wrote of Silent Night a couple of years ago. Needless to say there were many rehearsals and lots of writing and practicing. Whew! Nine musical numbers! I am so glad that's over. But it did sound really nice when all was said and done.

We weren't able to have the boys on Sunday night when we went over to my dad's for a family celebration, but I'm undecided about whether that was a blessing or a curse. It was sad they didn't get to play with all the cousins and see Grandpa & Grandma. But it was also very nice not having to remind them to mind their manners and stop running around their house. :)

We went over to my brother's on Christmas Eve day for a luncheon with my mom and the rest of the family. This time we did have the boys with us and we all had a great time. We were sad we missed Tris and Kris, but we had to leave earlier than we would have liked in order to get the boys back to the X-Men's house on time for their Christmas Eve plans.

After we dropped the boys off, we headed straight to Cafe Rio to pick up our traditional Christmas Eve Mexican food. :) Actually, Cafe Rio is one of our favorite spots and we didn't feel like cooking on Christmas Eve, so we stopped there. Much to our disappointment, they were already closed at 5:30 PM. Bummer. So we drove aimlessly around for a bit trying to think of something that would be close to satisifying. We ended up going to Chili's and doing takeout, which we brought home and ate as we watched a movie while bundled up in a blanket. The film was Kingdom of Heaven. It was interesting but extraordinarily long, so I can't give it really high ratings.

We woke up Christmas morning (slept in) and wrapped all the Christmas presents. Did I mention that despite having all of the Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving, we didn't get around to wrapping any of the gifts? So there we were at the kitchen table Christmas morning wrapping all the presents for the boys and the family.

The boys arrived around 1:00 PM and we had Christmas "morning". This year's Christmas was all about gaming. The family got a new gaming computer, which means we won't have one boy playing with three boys huddled around offering advice to the player. Now we can have one boy playing on each of the two machines with only one other boy "coaching". The rest of the gifts were all about the Wii, PS2, and new DS's.

Things were going very well until around 4:30 PM when we lost power because of the big storm. A call to Rocky Mountain Power informed us that the power was expected to be out until around 9:30 PM. Hmm, how does one entertain 4 boys for 5 hours in the middle of a power outage on Christmas? They did okay until the batteries went dead in their DS's. By then it was pretty much completely dark in the house. I had lit a couple of candles, but they weren't doing much in the way of providing adequate light. I roped Tom into reading to them for a while and after that I got them to join me for a game of Disney Trivial Pursuit by flashlight. Gage creamed us all.

By that point it was 7:30 and we were losing control of what was becoming a rather loud and rambunctious group of kids. We decided an outing to the District for a movie was in order. After finally deciding on one (Tom and I weren't really anxious to see anything) we loaded up the kids in the car. I was literally starting to put my shoes on when the power came back on. Ah, blessed electricity. Since Tom and I weren't keen on the film we were going to see, we hauled all the boys back in and told them we weren't going to see a movie, but the Wii, PS2, and DS's were all available and now fully functional.

Now I have to go back and say that a few minutes before the power outage, Tom and I discovered Guitar Hero - one of the games we got for Christmas. OH MY GOSH!! What an incredibly fun game!!!! We were disappointed because we couldn't play when the outage hit. So we made up for it afterward...until about 1:30 AM for the boys, 2:30 AM for me, and 3:15 AM for Tom. VERY addicting.

This morning I was proud of myself for displaying enough restraint to shower and brush my teeth before going downstairs to start playing Guitar Hero again. Tom joined me after returning home from taking the boys back to the X-Men. We pretty much did nothing but play Guitar Hero all day today. I cannot believe how fun that game is! I had to pull myself away to cook dinner. It was a good excuse for a break because my hands are all cramped up. :)

Needless to say, I am very much enjoying my time off of work for the holidays.

Bah Humbug for Halloween?

As I realized yesterday that I didn't take a single picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes this year :( it occurred to me that I've become rather Bah Humbug about Halloween. I never cared much for Halloween after I got too old to go trick-or-treating, and never was one for having Halloween parties, but after Josh was born, it became an enjoyable holiday again.

This year, after 10 years of good Halloweens, I guess I've lost the spirit. I delegated the responsibility for answering the door to my children. We sent the boys out unescorted for the first time ever. And Josh, who was feeling sick, decided he didn't even want to go trick-or-treating this year. I was holed up in the family room on my laptop until midnight trying to catch up on work.

While a part of me is sad that next year will be Joshua's last year for Halloween (I don't think I've told him this yet), there are certainly some things I am looking forward to, like not having to go to the school Halloween parades and sit by myself because I don't know any of the other moms who seem to be very close friends because they actually have the time to volunteer in their kids' classes. I also won't miss spending $40 for a costume Josh will wear one time. I can't imagine spending $40 on a piece of clothing I would wear only once.

Have you ever heard me say I'm turning into the old woman I never wanted to be? Little yappy dogs, telling children to get out of my yard, etc. I guess this attitude toward Halloween is just one more example of my trip down that road.

Crossing the bridge

Joshua received his Arrow of Light on October 2, and moved up into the 11yo scouts program. This is a shot of him crossing the bridge from cub scouts into boy scouts.

He went on his first scout campout last Friday. They had originally planned to go up to Kamas, but with the weather being so bad, they decided not to risk the snow and instead camped out in the backyard of one of the leaders. Didn't stop him from coming home with his clothes smelling strongly of camping out.

Next Stop, Boy Scouts

Josh got his Webelo's badge this past Thursday. He completed all of his requirements, and has just one requirement left to get his Arrow of Light before he turns 11. He'll receive that in October and move up to the 11-year-old scouts. I'm so proud of him!

For Time and All Eternity

Most of you were there, so this is something of a repeat, but for those who are out of town and weren't able to be there, I thought I'd share the events of Wednesday, September 3rd, the day my best friend became my eternal companion.

We didn't need to be at the temple until 5:00 PM but we decided to go early and do a session together. It's the first time either of us had been there in quite some time and it was a beautiful, peaceful experience. At the end of the session, right before we moved on into the c. room, a temple worker came in with a notebook and said, "Is Tom Milligan here? Is Tiffany Milligan here?" He took us to the back of the room and said, "We just needed to make sure we knew where you were." We chuckled. As it turns out, we ended up throwing pretty much everyone in the whole place off by going through this session before our sealing.

After changing out of my "extra gear" after the session, I headed out to the foyer to meet Tom and go to the office to make sure all of the paperwork was in order. While I was waiting for him I was chatting with one of the temple workers and mentioned to her that we were being sealed that night. She got very concerned and said almost frantically, "Where's your temple attendant? You should have a temple attendant! Let me go get our coordinator and find out what's going on. Come with me. No, wait! Stay here and wait for your husband. Is that what you're wearing to be sealed? [referring to my normal temple dress]" Me: "Uh...yeesss. Oh! Yah, no big dress or accoutrements or anything. Just this." It was rather amusing. :)

After everyone ran around, gathering yet another two or three people, we got to the office, finished the paperwork and headed off to our respective dressing areas. I was led to the bride's room, and my attendant seemed a little dismayed that I already had a locker, as they usually assign one to the bride when she gets there. While I was in the bride's dressing area putting on my "extra gear", the attendant asked, "Um, do you need to uh, um, do any hair or makeup things or anything?" Me: "Nope." "Do you need any help with your [extra gear]?" Me: "Nope." Temple attendant: "You are one of the EASIEST brides I've ever done." I felt like saying, "Oh, you should have been there for the wedding. Justice of the peace, two witnesses, both of us in Levi's. Yah, we're pretty easy going." Instead, I just chuckled.

We had a nice sealer, who did a good job. He was a bit...wordy. (Got flashbacks to The Princess Bride: "Marriage...is what brings us together...today.") It was wonderful to see all of our friends and family there, and even more wonderful to be sealed for time and all eternity to my best friend and loving husband.


Following the sealing, we headed out with the Bayly clan and the Milligan clan for some Mexican food at Su Casa, and enjoyed a lot of laughs. It was a wonderful day!

Yeah, Coaster Babies!!

Last Saturday was eBay's summer party. This year they decided to do it at Lagoon. Who could pass up an opportunity for $10 per all-day pass for family members, and free admission for yourself?

This was the morning Tom and I had flown back from Spokane after Cynthia's funeral. We woke up at 3:00 AM in order to get on the road and catch our 6:30 AM flight back to SLC. We were toast.

We arrived at Lagoon amongst grumblings of "why didn't we bring camelbacks?" and "I'm hot" and "Why can't we buy one of those?" Grrrr. But after a few rides we found ourselves in line for Jetstar 2. Ah, a rollercoaster. Mom and Dad's favorite. All of the kids went with us, the first time on a real rollercoaster for all of them. They loved it!!! Then we headed over to The Bat, and finally Tom got Gage & Cole to go on Colossus with him.

Here's a pic of the boys on the Wild Mouse.

We are so pleased to have four coaster babies in our family. When they get tall enough, we're heading to Six Flags.

Move over Michael Phelps

Gage participated in his first swim meet this morning. He raced in the freestyle and backstroke heats, taking second place in freestyle and third place in backstroke.