Christmas Celebrations!

Since we moved here to UT we have been able to go up to my parent's home in Richland, WA for Christmas. It is so nice to relax and hang out with family- and experience a dishwasher for a few weeks! My brother Luke was kind enough to donate his room for the duration of our visit- thank you, Luke! - so we had a room for all the junk of weeks-long travel.

Here we are in front of the Christmas tree in our Christmas Eve pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa Ekstrom. :) Eve looks a bit out of it but this was the best one.

December is a rather busy time of year for the Ekstroms- out of the 17 of the immediate family (my parents, bros & sises, in-laws, and kids) 9 are December babies. Yes, that's a lot of people born in one month! SO, on Christmas Eve when we are all together we have a mass birthday party for my dad, brothers Levi, Aaron and Luke, sisters Hannah and Hilary, sister-in-law Sarah, Isaac and nephew Eli.
This year we made a cake- ok, I made the cake because I wanted to make the same one I made for Patrick's birthday for everyone because it is GOOD- and we decided to make the candles say the sum total of everyones' years- which was 206. SO, here we go:


Impatient scoundrels salivating over the cake while waiting for the herd to gather.
All the present birthday children- minus Patrick and baby Mila.
Isaac opening a birthday present from my parents. Much concentration!
Esther helping clean up the wrapping paper mess.
The matching argyle birthday sweater people- and Sarah modeling her birthday apron!

Another Christmas Eve tradition is for my family to act out the Christmas story while someone narrates from the King James Bible account. Here is a picture of the whole cast- minus Patrick, who was the inkeeper.
Sarah, acting as Mary. . . . found a few shiny bulbs to decorate herself with hee hee. Holding the Baby "Jesus" played by my adorable little niece, Mila.
I am a wise man. . . .
My brother wiseman bearing a gift.
My father playing the last wise man. . . . he looks more like a hit man. . . . I have no idea what's in that present- better call the bomb squad before you open it, Mary!
Two adorable sheep that weren't very good at listening to their shepherds.
And finally, all the stockings in a row- waiting for Santa to come fill them!
Christmas morning aftermath.
Starting with Eve and her new herd of animals.
Ok, these pictures need explaining: the girls got a set of baby equipment and new dolls from Santa. My brother Aaron and I thought we should see if his little newborn Mila would fit into the presents. . . . .
And she did! It was so cute!
More aftermath- with my nephew Eli and Esther-loo.
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This is the picture we took of me to send to my sister Hilary (on her mission in Netherlands) so she can see how fat I am getting- I must disclaim that I am puffing out a bit for dramatic effect! hee hee
AND finally, the last Christmas tradition- the making of the gingerbread houses!
Patrick's entry was a protestation against the commercialism of Christmas. The crazy face must be his depiction of the zeal of high artists. . . .
My brother Levi and his Pentagon-inspired creation.
Here's my father holding his beautiful creation- my personal favorite. I love the towers.
Isaac pointing happily to his creation.
Here's mine- a gingerbread man Christmas vacation at the beach. . . .
My brother Ben's lovely cabin in the woods- his tree had a terrible accident. . .
Sarah'svery traditional and adorable gingerbread creation. The street lights are my favorite part!
Mom and her pastry shop-looking creation.
Esther decorated hers all by herself!
I helped Eve with her structure then she went crazy with decorating her gingerbread castle!

Christmas Eve

Eight years ago on Christmas Eve a precious little baby was born.
That night was very special as his mother felt like she could understand, in some small way since she didn't give birth to a baby unattended in a dirty animal stall, how the Savior's mother felt. It was love at first sight for me- as soon as I saw that tiny little baby I loved him fiercely!
Isaac has grown a bit since that night but I will always remember how it felt to hold his tiny newborn body on that special day.
One of the doctors suggested we name him "Nowell" since he was born the day before Christmas- but lucky for him we already had a name in mind!
Isaac has grown into a caring, wonderful little boy and I am so proud of him! He is a great help around the house- the handiest child for chores. He loves his little sisters and while he does enjoy tormenting them at times, he makes sure nobody else does!
Right now his obsession is playing with legos. He is also a great reader- and gobbles up youth novels like crazy! Last night he read the 200 pg. kid's version of Swiss Family Robinson in about two hours- a massive feat for an 8-year old!
Ok, enough bragging-
I am so glad that Heavenly Father entrusted such a special little boy!
Happy birthday, Isaac!

Shoot me now! (The dangers of finals week.)

So you suffer through an entire semester- finally making it to the last, wonderful day of classes. . . . only to have to return to take huge tests that are a huge chunk of your grade.
You are exhausted, burned out, and out of gas- but somehow you must summon your inner Zen master and overcome.
Or, you can just say, TO HECK WITH IT ALL!!
Right now, I vary between the extremes. I toy with the idea of accepting less-than-my-usual Stellar grades and just ending it so I can REST. Then the annoying other voice in my head brings up the fact that we've suffered through the semester and why on earth would we just kiss our grades goodbye now??
Ah, the inner turmoil.

Concert Pictures

Monday night was our last show for concert this semester- here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment! Look hard to see that baby!
That dress appears again- urgh! This is from a foxtrot called "Who Wouldn't Love You?" It's a really fun number with 20's-ish nostalgia.

This is from our "Una Furtiva Lagrima" waltz- one of my favorites of the show.
Here I am in the Latin Medley with my partner Nick. Aren't we adorable? This was another dress that revealed the baby's presence. . . .
These pictures are from a really awesome Lindy called "Jeep Jockey Jump" that is another nostalgic look backwards- this time at the end of WW2.


This is me in our new foxtrot- the "French Foxtrot"with David, who is awesome!

Out of the Baby Closet

Sooo. . . . . we have been keeping this secret for a while now but the secret's out- I am pregnant!
Here is the dress that outed me at dress rehearsal! hee hee You can email me for the full story if you really want the gory details. . . .
Anyhow, we are expecting another little Darbita's arrival on April 10 next year! That's right- a GIRL!
We are excited- We told the munchkins the week before the gender-revealing ultrasound- Eve and Isaac were voting for a baby brother but it was not to be. Isaac cried at first but he's happy to have another baby sister now.
We have an ultrasound video but for some reason it won't load on here so stay tuned for boring plain ultrasound pictures.
Oh yes, and this baby's womb name is Lucky Buttercup. Basically, the story is that this baby was conceived right before Patrick's vasectomy and I wanted to also be able to sing the song from Three Amigos. . . . . .

UVU Ballroom Company Concert coming up!

Our Ballroom Company fall concert is coming up! It starts the Thursday evening after Thanksgiving and runs that weekend Fri, Sat (matinee & evening) - Dec 3-6 and the following Monday evening, Dec 8. I think the evening shows start at 7:30 and the matinee at 1? I could be wrong- check comments for updates. The ticket are $10 and seating is open so get there a bit early. Pretty much all the seats are ok but it's nice to be nearer to the center!

WELL, I hope to see you all there!

Fun With Hogle Zoo

A few weeks ago we decided to go check out the zoo before the weather turned cold. It was a perfect day to go- still warm but not the roasting-hotness it was in the summer!
Our number one goal was to see the baby elephant. Oh my GOODNESS, that baby elephant was cute!! Unfortunately, I didn't realize we had the camera with us at that time (she was the first animal we looked at) so we don't have any pictures. Boo hoo. It really is a shame because she was the cutest animal I have EVER seen. So, if you want to see the baby elephant, you are just going to have to come down here and visit us!
Anyhow, after Patrick got the camera out of his bag we got a few fun pictures:

Esther had a very terrifying encounter with one of the zoo animals.

The alligator was still hungry after devouring Esther. . . .
Waiting in line for the train.
The Mamma Tiger with her three babies.
Two giraffes and three monkies.
I think they are looking at penguins here. . . .
Here, turkey turkey, Thanksgiving is coming soon! Yes, keep eating . . . mmmmm . . . . see you on the table later!