Julie and Jason: Christmas and New Years

A post better late than never. We had a great Christmas and New Year's this year and spent most of our time with Jason's family who were all in town for the holidays.

Holiday Highlights

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Eve Chimes

Temple Square Visitor Center--Julie with Brooklyn

Rasband cousin party at the DuPaix's home Fri. Dec. 23rd. It just doesn't seem like Christmas without seeing the cousins since seeing extended family has always been a part of the festivities since my childhood
Christmas Eve morning we went to Temple Square with the half of the Burninghams that were in town. We enjoyed seeing the sights in the visitor's center including the Christus statue, the "Plan of Happiness" presentation by the missionaries, and the replica of the interior of the Salt Lake Temple. Saturday morning there were hardly any visitors and I felt like we had the place to ourselves. We spent some time in the afternoon at Grandpa Richard's and then he treated us all to lunch at McDonalds. That evening we enjoyed hearing the Christmas Story read from the Bible and played Christmas songs on chimes.
Christmas Morning began early with lots of excited children waiting to see what Santa brought. Our big Christmas gift this year was a Kawaii digital piano that "Santa" delivered a few days early this year. I've wanted a piano for several years now and it's so nice to have one here in our apartment to play! We had a nice sacrament meeting in Alpine and then headed to my parents' home for a delicious dinner and time with my family. We enjoyed playing games with Katrina and Neal while their son Daniel was very engrossed with the new Wii he got for Christmas. I must say that I really did enjoy having Christmas on Sunday this year since it really helped me focus much more on the true meaning of Christmas.
Monday we were back in Alpine hanging out and playing games. That evening was the viewing for Jason's grandpa, Ross Burningham, who passed away the week before. At 91 years of age, his health has steadily declined this winter and he went into the hospital just before Thanksgiving. He was staying in a rehab center but his health was not improving. Jason and I visited in the rehab center the night before he passed away. We had a short, but good visit with him and I was grateful we were able to speak with him one last time before he passed away. Jason's parents and siblings went with him to the viewing while all the sisters-in-law stayed home and put the kids to bed. Jason said it was very nice.
Tuesday we attended the funeral. The arrangements were very nice and many people came to pay their respects. Jason's dad and his two living sisters spoke at the funeral. The great-grandchildren and some of the young grandchildren sang a primary song and I accompanied Jason's brothers and their wives singing "Because I Have Been Given Much." At the gravesite they had a touching military service and the ward provided a lovely lunch for our family afterwards. Later that evening we all attended a BYU basketball game in Provo.
Wednesday I went back to work for the rest of the week but Jason stayed with his family. His family had a neat opportunity to do sealings all together at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple with Grandpa Richards. They enjoyed a fun night of games after putting the kids to bed as well. Snorta and Bananagrams were probably the two most played games this Christmas along with Word on the Street.
Thursday they took everyone sledding somewhere up Big Cottonwood Canyon and I joined them to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. (Note: To anyone who has never seen the lights at Thanksgiving Point I would say, I don't think it's worth it. It was somewhat cool but not worth the drive or the price for approximately 15 minutes of driving through some lights.)
Friday they watched the BYU bowl game and went out to Applebees. That night we all watched Kung Fu Panda 2, put kids to bed, and stayed up to play games.
New Year's Eve most of us went ice skating at Peaks Arena in Provo in the afternoon. Afterwards Jason and I met up with Reija, a high school friend of mine, and her husband who were visiting from California. Then we headed to another BYU basketball game and then over to Jason's brother Jeff's house in Provo for the rest of the night. We had good food and enjoyed dancing to Just Dance 3 with the X-Box Kinect before ringing in the new year with an interesting political and religious debate. --I could never see my family doing that. That's one difference between the Rogers and the Burninghams. :)