December in a Blink or a Stare... whatever

I am a sucker for architecture and so was really excited to go see a ballet at the Orpheum Theater in Downtown Phoenix. Anja's girl scout troop had tickets and so I took my mom and Anja to the show. I was a little more excited to see the inside of the building but don't tell Anja that...
The Orpheum was built in 1929 right before the depression. It started out with plays, vaudeville that sort of thing. It changed hands many times over years but was restored to its former beauty by the city in the late 90's. It was gorgeous! One of the many beautiful features was the ceiling and its illusionary nightfall.
The "sky" changes color... Sorry it is a little blurry, I was trying to do the best I could without a tripod.
Here is Oma and her namesake Anja
They have this beautiful staircase with hand painted peacocks. They had to do the painting a la Sistine Chapel style. I totally hate when my photos don't do the subject justice. This place was gorgeous! Makes you appreciative of the miracle that is our sight... nothing captures quite like our eyes.The outside and on our way home, after a cute ballet performed by youth.
So on the 15th Jed moved out. He packed up and I dropped him off for his flight up to SLC. He spent the holidays with friends and family before going to the MTC on the 14th of January. We miss him but it is nice to be able to walk around the house wearing what I like and not worry about running into a 19 year old boy. ha ha
So the next day I was super mom and went on a fieldtrip with Triston & Anja's class. WE went to a play called the Snow Queen, again put on by a youth acting troupe. I think Anja has the bug. She would like to act... Oh yeah and I drove too!
So I guess all the culture was affecting my brain because I agreed to be part of the ward Christmas program. Well actually I was signing up Ben's lovely voice and he told me not to sign him up unless I signed myself up. Usually I would think twice but this time I signed us up. Well then Ben ended up not feeling to well that evening and guess who was left speaking and singing without him...yep me... It went pretty good. I took pictures of the hall before people started getting there. And it pretty much looked the same after the program started. Lots of people out of town thank goodness! I thought it looked pretty for a ward function.
The next night we decided to meet up with our friends the McBurney's and go see the temple lights in Mesa. It was nice and cold so we only stayed a short time. Long enough to take some pictures, look at the lights, and listen to an interesting men's singing group and their approach to some carols... yeah that was my nice description...
The McBurney's
Me trying to get a picture of all the kids... Nika was not having it...
This was the sexy face... right Lisa?!! Ha ha ha
Transfixed...
On this scene...
Ben trying to avoid my camera...
The boys
The temple... not bad for no tripod
The guy who holds most of my heart...
Afterward we drove over to Ben's office to eat our cookies and drink our hot chocolate in relative warmth...
And lets not forget early Christmas with Gertry and Joseph... my kids are so spoiled! They were excited that Santa dropped off a few early presents!
Then for the first day of Winter Break I took the kids over to the children's museum, we met up with Nika's teacher who has become our friend. She has had all three kids in her class! Lucky girl! Anyhow I brought my camera but was lame and forgot the battery so no visuals sorry!
I am tired so I will post Christmas happenings later... for now that is pretty much December...