Colyar Chronicles: December 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Brothers Back Together Again

Dan is the 3rd of 5 brothers. Dan's youngest brother came home from his mission to Melbourne, Australia this August and all the brothers were gathered for Christmas for the 1st time in a long time. All served foreign mission to and in order of age: Craig went to Spain, Chad to England, Dan to Japan, Kevin to Hong Kong and Casey to Australia.

Dan's brothers and all the grandchildren

The Colyar Family

Winter Wonderland

We are spending the Christmas holidays in Utah and didn't expect the snow to be worse than it was is Minnesota but it was. That 1st morning we had to dig out Dan's parents house so visitors could park. Even with our best efforts at least 5 cars had to be helped out and pushed before they could go on their merry way.

We were fortunate enough to meet with some friends, Joie and Adam Madison. (See Madison blog) They are currently having their adventures in San Francisco and adventures they are having.

Adam and Iris (my sister) helping Dan out. Shouldn't Iris be driving and Dan pushing?

Monty (Dan's Dad) and Dan plowing

Getting my winter exercise

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Nativity Display

In our stake they have a wonderful tradition of gathering nativity sets from members, setting them up and inviting the community. It takes quite a bit of organization. They collected over 400 nativity sets, also know as cresh displays, trees, extension cords, lights, and table cloths. Nativity sets come from all over the world. It was so neat to see the birth of Christ portrayed in different ways. Members volunteer in greeting guests, taking coats and informing guests about displays. They also invited school and other church groups to participate and share their musical talents. The logistics must be quite a challenge. For all the work it was featured in the paper. It was great publicity for the church.

Dan and I attended on Sunday and it was a packed house. "Missionary" Jessica invited 2 co-workers to attend. I wanted to invite more but I was worried about the exact guidelines for that sort of stuff knowing that our "Secret Santa" is called "Secret Snowflake" because of sensitivities at work. Next year I will build on what I did this year. I also want to try to get a unique set so I could loan it to the cause.

Dan really liked this one. It looks like its from Japan.

I thought of Kristi when I saw this one. Looks like Klinkits to me.

From Mongolia

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Thanksgiving

My parents were able to fly from Florida to visit us in Minnesota for Thankgiving. In retrospect we should have visited them to get away from the cold but it was nice to show them around Minneapolis. My parents had a nice flight on the Monday before Thanksgiving and when I saw them I couldn't help but run to them and hug the life out of them. It hadn't been too long since I've seen my mom, our Hawaii trip was only 3 months ago, but it's been since February since I've seen my Dad. It was great to spend some time together.

My mom was excited to visit the Mall of America. With over 500 stores we broke it up over 2 days. On the 1st day we did the amusement park. That was a blast. By the 3-4 ride I was spent, I'm getting old. We also headed down to Owatanna, south of Minneapolis, to visit some snowbird couple friends of my parents that make Deltona their home during the harsh Minnesota winter.

In Owattana w/ Darlene and Dale

The boys needed a massage chair break from all the walking at the Mall of America.

The Wii experience made a stop at Mall of America and I had to show my parents what it was all about. My dad played doubles tennis w/ Dan and I. I challenged my mom to the joust and she ended up beating me. Dan then challenged her and she still beat him. A guy was standing by and he also challenged her and she still beat him. It was pretty hilarious.