New Year's Eve....Goodbye 2017

It's seriously cold out there. Seems like Mother Nature is doing what she can to restore balance and pay us back for the warm weather we've been enjoying. I will admit, even though we are freezing our bickies off, I'm feeling relieved. I was starting to think that we had turned the corner on global warming and this summer we'd have to move underground to escape the heat. 

Maybe we have another couple years, after all.

We aren't really "party people".  We prefer a countertop full of snacks, a few good friends in their pajamas...

and a puzzle...because we're a old and tired and we don't want lots of noise or tight clothes that stop us from getting more chips and dip.

The kids were happily gaming away.

or playing soft, quiet pillow games so they won't be banished to the basement.

We munched and laughed right up to the minute!

Happy New Year!

It's going to be a good one.

2017 Family Ornaments

Before I put them away, these are the ornaments I made for each of the kids this year. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am pretty proud of them.

Studious

A Playdate

Sometimes, even the big boys need to get out of the house and burn off some energy.


We found Ethan a perfect playmate.

Christmas Day 2017

1. Up at 6:30. Too early, but not completely unreasonable.

2. Kids lay out their blankets, establishing their gift unwrapping territory.

3. Kids largely underwhelmed by the stockings this year. Looks like Santa ran out of money, energy or both. 

4. Let the materialism begin!

Ethan.....so much weaponry. (airsoft) (not real) (we don't want to be a Dateline special)

Mathew... so much gaming. He loves the Switch. And it loves him right back.

Megan....received our family's FOURTH ukulele. But the best reaction was for her very own copy of  The Outsiders. Stay gold, Pony Boy!!

Laney finally has access to her own music and a couple (pre-approved) movies. She can veg out and join the ranks of those who can legitimately claim that they can't hear me calling them up to do chores.

Anna got a Nutcracker! She's been asking for one for years. I finally gave in and she's pretty thrilled about it.

Everly loved the castle! She loved all the sparkly parts and immediately started playing with all the Frozen characters and converted furniture. I am so glad it worked out!

Mark and I failed to capture each other in any pictures....which isn't that surprising. Mark bought me several thoughtful gifts. My favorite was three fruit trees to be delivered in the spring: a Pink Lady apple, Grand Gala apple and an apricot. I'm so excited!!

Mark got lots of stuff for his garage gym...all Rogue, of course. And some new jeans (which are technically a gift for me...wink wink)

We packed the kids up after our late breakfast and went to see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. It's the first time we've gone to the movies on Christmas and it was really fun! The kids are getting older and able to sit through a movie.  I think it will be something we do again.

Back home again and the all scattered. Some doing art, other's playing video games or setting up airsoft guns.

I got to work on my new Christmas puzzles. Mark came by now and again to help me work my way through the huge box of Aglamesis chocolates.

A wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2017

Well, how about that?....a Christmas Eve miracle!

SNOW!!!

Which means....all the snow gear. Every one of our boots, snow pants, coats, scarves and mittens....

Out. 

Surely there is something in those boxes that will sufficiently bundle each child. 

For five minutes. Just long enough to go out, make a few tracks, lick the snow and remember how COLD it is!

Megan started to shovel our 1/4 an inch....

And she really stuck to it!

Anna discovered that soft snuggly mittens aren't that good at keeping your hands warm or dry.

Not cool.

It's been so long since we've had snow. It felt magical!

It was a pretty quiet morning. No last minute primary preparations!

So I tied on my fancy new Christmas apron and got the turkey ready so I could toss it in the oven after church. Kaira made my apron and I love it! Especially the sparky jewel and the little pom poms!

Before you know it, we were frantically putting kids in the car and busting it to church. We were almost late! I suppose having meetings and choir practice every week can be annoying, but at least it gets us there on time!

Mathew sang a solo in church...well, technically it was a duet, but they never sang at the same time...so that's a solo. And he did so well! It made me go into the ugly cry. I think I even made a sobby sound. The bishop gave me a goofy look because I was crying so hard. lol 

I was so proud of him. 

We only had sacrament meeting, so we came back, got in our comfy clothes and played a round of Yahtzee....which I played with exquisite technique. I was poised to win the whole thing when Megan rolled a Yahtzee on her last turn and ripped the victory from my grasp.

Megan set the table for dinner. I love the ribbons!

We had our friend, Johnny, and his daughter, Charisma, over for our meal. It was nice to see them and they left pretty quickly to have their own Christmas Eve.

We sat down and played a sweet game of BINGO to determine who opened up their Christmas Eve jammies first.

It was me! I was the winner!

And I got the softest blue stripey pants ever made...with some bunny slippers. Yippee!!

I failed to take photos of the jammies this year, but you can check them out in the Christmas pictures.

Mark made a single impressive trip back to the wrapping closet cave with all the empty boxes.

Christmas Eve is finally here!

Minivan Express

It will never ever get old.

And it will always and forever be about...

the TICKETS.

Eternal shame

Sometimes you give your friend a gift card for a local restaurant


And then they give you a hand made, personally designed, lovingly crafted homage to your favorite baseball team.

And you love it so much but feel like the very biggest butts in the whole world.

Sometimes that happens.

Night at Jerusalem

Every ward needs a Karina Fugett. She's the one that's willing to volunteer to organize and put in loads of work to put together a fun Christmas activity while the rest of us are treading water in the tsunami of December.

She planned "A Night in Jeruselem" complete with flowy clothes and fun food stands where we could purchase different parts of our meal.

Oh...and eating on the gym floor!

The Guenther family works the well.

And by some honest-to-goodness miracle, we manage to dress and pin halos on about a million little kids so they could sing the very sweetest version of "Shepherds Carol" you've ever heard.

What a minute...Mathew? Where did that contraband beverage come from? Did you (gasp) SMUGGLE that into Jerusalem in your robes??

Shocking.

Ice Skating...it's past our bedtime

It's time! 

Time to bring the whole bunch of us along for the ward ice skating party. Bedtime, shmedtime.

Cambrie, Anna and Everly...look at all those itty bitty ice skates!

A perfect opportunity to try out her new coat!

Lessons from Dad

Sweet Laneybug

WHAT??? Ethan on his phone? Crrrazy.

It took Everly about 5 minutes to figure out ice skating is cold and tiring. She opted for the bench.

Megan LOVES it as much as Everly hates it.

The rare family photo

And we drive home. It's so late!