December in Elko

I am new to this whole blogging thing, so I'm going to be going backwards chronologically from time to time as I find a picture, or think of an event from our lives that should be documented.  This is one of those times.
We are BUSY these days.  We have the five girls in four different schools, Scarlett in pre-school that I host every 5th week, busy church callings, Brent's job that requires anywhere from 55-80 hours per week, my job that I try to work as often as possible with Inthinc, two early morning newspaper routes that Romney, Raegan, and I do, Alivia in violin, Landrie in dance, Romney and Raegan in early morning Seminary and dance every day after school plus their state-renowned choir the Choraliers who practice every Tuesday evening, Young Women activities...just the usual busy stuff for a family of 9.  Well, you can imagine my great joy when Brent and I were called into the Bishop's office in November  and asked to put on the WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY on December 22nd.  Also, Brent was asked to lead the ward choir, and to be ready to perform the Sunday before Christmas.  Easy peasy!  Because of course I have all my Christmas shopping and wrapping and prep done WAY before the holiday, so I'm usually sitting by the fire each evening leading up to Christmas with my feet up, leisurely reading a book and sipping hot chocolate.  (Someday I really DO hope to make that happen!)
Well, Brent and I began to brainstorm, and came up with the idea to do a Luau/Hawaiian theme Christmas party.  We thought Hawaiian haystacks and leis and hula dancing sounded easier than the watery ham, baked potatoes, and sweaty Santa that usually accompany a ward Christmas party.  So, we started planning.
The day of the party, Brent had just started a new route and was finishing up a 70 hour work week.  So Saturday morning, we loaded 2 cars with all our household plants, flowers, vases, lights, and anything else we thought we might need and headed to the chapel.  It was a cold, but sunny and clear day and with all seven kids helping we actually set up pretty quickly.

Hartman was a lot of help with the set up.

By the time Brent got to the church with his Maui Onion chips (get it?  MAUI?!) to use as centerpieces, we were about done.
We went home and gussied up in our best luau attire, and by the time we went back to the chapel, it was a BLIZZARD.  I mean, a real, genuine, Elko blizzard.  I wanted to put torches outside to make it look more festive, and when I saw that snow I decided that we for sure needed those torches!  I know they say no fire at the church, but they glowed all night to welcome people from the storm into the Island Oasis we had prepared in the gym.

People started filling in and bringing their ingredients to top the Hawaiian haystacks and put them on our festive center table.  A Samoan family from Spring Creek with 9 children came to provide our entertainment.  They drove through the storm with their huge speakers and equipment and hula dancing outfits, and entertained us all night long.

A nice guy in our ward who takes pictures professionally came and set up a backdrop and all his equipment and took photos of families in their Hawaiian attire as a souvenir.  And then at the end, a big, Polynesian Santa appeared in a non-typical red velvet suit coat and had all the children line up.  He said "HO HO HO" to each one, and put a candy lei on them.  A pretty good finish to the evening.  People stayed and danced and partied and told us it was the best ward party they'd ever been to. 

The next morning we had early choir practice, I had Sharing time, Christmas treats for all the Primary kids, and then came home exhausted with a headache.  And I still had quite a few things to do the next day for Christmas!  But it was a great party and we have pictures to prove it.   Mele Kalikimaka!