Christmas Day 2018!

Well promptly at 6:30 am (the allotted okay-time-to-wake-up-mom-and-dad) the kids came in to our room and shouted, "Wake-up!"  Thus our Christmas day began!

The kids enjoyed checking out their gifts from Santa.  The boys got a lego chess/checkers set to share.  The girls got tablets.  Lucy's reaction was awesome:  "Why do I need a tablet?!"  Ha.  Plus lots of awesome stocking-stuffers.  Miles got a little model Studebaker (it's the car he wants . . . and now he got it!).  Jonas got a hologram thing.  Emmy got a fashion-coloring book.  Lucy got her requested, and now much-loved, mermaid doll.  Plus socks, cool toothbrushes, hair brushes, candy canes, awesome leather journals, etc.

We ate our traditional and always yummy Christmas Cheese braid bread with Orange Julius.  Then we went back to open gifts from us.  The kids were great and were excited about everything they got.  Miles got a levitating globe (he asked for it and totally loves it), a 3-D pen, a gift-certificate to the Japanese restaurant in town, 2 ski-passes for Powderhorn, clothes, cash, etc.  Jonas got binoculars, an over-the-door basketball hoop and ball, a gift-certificate to Crash Burger, 2 ski-passes for Powderhorn, clothes, cash, etc.  Emmy got an American Doll cookbook, nail-polish with a how-to-paint-nails book, a handmade doll Ben bought from a lady in our ward (our girls had seen them and loved them and wanted them!), clothes, high-heel boots (one of her favorite presents, I think!) cash, etc.  Lucy got high-heel boots as well (a favorite for sure), a rubber-band bracelet kit, a magazine subscription to a craft magazine for kids, a sticker-by-the-numbers book, clothes, cash, etc.  Our family got our annual ski-trip (we use money from G. and G. Maxwell) - this year we'll be going to Sunlight Mountain in Glenwood Springs.  We got a deal and we'll get passes to the Glenwood Hot Springs as well - so two days of skiing and two days of soaking.  We're excited!  We then "added" a bonus ski-trip this year - we'll be going to Ski Cooper on Friday, Jan. 4th.  That will be so fun!  I got some awesome clothes from Ben, an awesome running hat/visor Emmy picked out from her elementary school's "Christmas store," real running socks, earrings that Jonas bought me, cash.  Ben got a BYU sweater from me, a stapler (he totally needed one!), a super cute framed picture of the kids, cool/weird goggles from Santa, cash, etc.  Lucky us!

 Coming down the stairs!

 Emmy LOVES tether-ball.  In fact, she asked for a set.  So, Santa delivered . . . with a desk-top version of it.  Haha.

 Miles and his cool toothbrush. (All kids got one.)

 Jonas and his brush. (All kids, except for Lucy who already had one, got one.)

 Lucy and her beloved mermaid.

Santa didn't forget our dogs and got bones for each of them.  Bella became devilish anytime Brigham got near hers . . .

 Emmy playing with her cute cinematic sign from Aunt-e and family.

 Miles working on his half of the lego set.

 The girls in their beloved boots with their beloved dolls.

 The boys got a slackline set from Aunt-e and family.  We all had a lot of fun on it!

The kids came up with all sorts of fun games on the slackline.  :)

 The boys playing chess.  Miles is wearing his glasses that he "drew" with his 3-D pen.

 Jonas did a lot of "stalking" with his binoculars.  Nice.

 More slackline fun - this time with the boys in their ski/ninja masks.

 Jonas doubted I could get up on this line - once they moved it higher.  Uh, I'm still taller than you buddy!  So I showed him.  :)

The cute framed-picture Emmy gave Dad.  She got the idea from Csilla - who does something similar!

Ben and I took went biking at Buzzard that afternoon and took Brigham with us - Brigham's Christmas gift from us!  It was a fun afternoon ride!

I took Bella on a walk later that afternoon - her Christmas present from me.  :)  The kids spent the rest of their day with their gifts.  Ben and I took a quick 20-minute nap and then began making dinner.  After dinner we had a "curling tournament."  It was totally fun!

Emmy vs. Lucy was first up!  Emmy won this match.

 Jonas had the idea to use Emmy's sign - super fun.

 Miles vs. Jonas was next.  Miles won.

 Emily vs. Ben was the last game of the first round. 

Surprisingly, I won!  I went on to play Miles.  In which I lost.  The final game was Emmy vs. Miles.  Miles was our grand-winner.  He's good!  :)

We ended the day watching Jonas' picked movie (he had gotten the almond in his rice pudding on Christmas Eve and so he got to choose . . . just like last year!):  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

It was a fantastic Christmas day!

Christmas Eve 2018

Well our Christmas Eve activity almost got canceled because the kids were just spending the morning fighting . . . but I didn't want to stay at home with fighting kids, I'd much rather be out in the great outdoors with fighting kids.  :)  So we stuck with our morning-made plans of going to Ouray and skiing on the rope-tow hill and sledding.  I'm sure glad we did.  It was a super fun time and the kids were happy and loved it as well.  And there was no more fighting for the rest of the day, so it was good for all of us to get out!  It was also a great way to pass the time - Christmas Eve is long for kids.  :)

 Jonas doing an "X" jump!

 Lucy didn't do too much of skiing - her boots were really hurting her feet.  I think maybe they were sore from skiing at Kendall? 

 Miles, Jonas, and myself atop the hill.

 Emmy going off the jump.

 Emmy's feet were hurting her, too.  She skied more than Lucy, but was done before the rest of us.

Jonas and Miles coming up the rope-tow!

 Emmy took this video of Jonas - fun!

 We all liked Jonas' ski-hat impression on his forehead. 

 Then it was on to sledding on Vinegar hill.  Ouray closes down a street and uses it for their sledding hill.  The kids LOVED it.

 There goes Miles.

 The girls were having tons of fun.

 All four of them heading down the hill!

 Ollie, the Bernese Mtn. dog, really liked licking Miles.  :)

We came back and Ben and I got dinner ready (our traditional Swedish meatballs).  We ate dinner and then the kids got to open their sibling gifts.  They actually bought some really great things for each other this year.  The boys got each other silly socks (Jonas' socks from Miles has sushi on it - "You know I hate sushi, right?" said Jonas . . . Miles' socks has doctor-stuff all over it.), Jonas got Lucy a little toy-thing she wanted.  Lucy bought taffy for the boys.  Emmy got the boys some glow-in-the-dark squishy balls.  Miles got Lucy a Berenstain bear (her favorite) Christmas book.  Etc.

The kids got PJ pants and we read some scriptures from the bible.  It was pretty late by this time, but we let the kids watch A Christmas Story in the boys' room - where they were all sleeping for the night.

 Sleepover!

There is Miles up there on his bed!

Good night!

Gingerbread Houses and Deck the Halls

Our cute and festive gingerbread houses!

 Jonas' was pretty fun - his whole roof was white chocolate chips.  He had a "White House" theme going for a bit, but then added some red to it.  Cute, cute.

 I love Miles' window-box garden.  :)

Once again, Emmy didn't like her home.  :)  But I think the girls' houses are adorable.

And here is a video of Lucy on the piano:

Jonas' Ski Party Happened!

Well it was down to the last-minute before Kendall Ski Mountain made its decision to open on Saturday or not.  Thankfully, it was going to be open and so Jonas' 12th birthday party was happening one year later!  Wahoo.

I was worried that the snow wouldn't be so great.  We went last year in February (when Kendall finally opened) and it was crusty snow.  But Jonas didn't want to wait any longer (I don't blame him . . .) we weren't going to postpone it again.

Jonas invited four friends to come along:  Michael (from school and Miles' good friend), Aiden (from school and church) , Colten (from school - we'd never met him before), and Ivan (his best-friend from Northside, but now at different middle schools).  Csilla's kids were invited, too, but were heading up to Ft. Collins for Christmas break and so we missed having them along. 

Ben drove the truck and I drove the car.  The ride over was slightly crummy, with some snow-packed roads.  But we went slowly and all was well.  We got all our stuff and get ready and everyone was off and skiing.

The snow was actually great!  They need more and a bigger base for sure (lots of little trees poking out), but it was soft and even quite a bit of powder.  It was awesome.  The kids all had a blast and so I was happy.  They just have so much fun there - even though it's so small.  I love that they can ski at world-class famous Telluride, but be totally content at Kendall, too.  They just love skiing and being with friends and so it all works out.

We ended the day with a donut cake and a song of "Happy birthday" to Jonas.  Jonas loved it all.  It was well worth the one-year wait.  :)

Okay, lots of pictures coming up:

 Two ski-babes and one handsome skiier/boarder.

 This was Lucy's first time getting on the lift on her own and riding up without an adult.  She was totally on her own after this!  She loved the independence!

 There goes the two girls . . . so cute.  Ben and I actually rode up many times with just the two of us - a first!

 I actually wanted to get a picture of the cute town of Silverton behind us . . . but as I was going to take a picture a nice man offered to get me in it.  Which was cool, except he didn't get cute Silverton in it!

 I love this picture!  I rode up with Jonas.  He loved his birthday ski-helmet.  :)  I love that I am in the picture, too.  So cool.  :)

 The girls getting off.  Just because they're cute.

 Part of our group - Jonas is in the orange coat on the left, then there is Aiden, Ivan, Colten (I think), Emmy.

 

 Ready, set, go!  They were racing down the mountain here.  From left to right:  Ivan, Aiden, Miles, Jonas, Colten, and Emmy.  Lucy was standing right beside me.  Ben was taking Michael down on a teaching-run.  Michael had only skied once before!  He fell quite a lot, but was a great sport and actually was pretty good - by the end of the day.  Still of lot of crashes, but he had fun!  Miles was a nice friend and pretty much always stayed/skied with him.

 During lunch there was a challenge extended:  anyone who did a 180-degree turn off a jump would get an extra donut.  There were attempts made, many crashes, close-calls, but no one achieved it.  :)  Lucy went off the jump, but never tried a 180.  :)

 Miles jumping!

Dang, it's blurry, but whatever!  There goes Emmy!

 Go Jonas!

  

 Haha.

 At the end, I even tried some snowboarding.  I just walked up a little bit and went down a little bit.  It wasn't too bad!

 My right arm was like that in every picture - weird.

 Yay, Jonas' birthday "cake."  I think it turned out awesome - thanks to help from Ben.  We got a lot of comments from other people in the lodge.  I had bought those skiers a year ago - I was glad to finally use them.  :)

The whole group of kids:  Lucy, Jonas, and Emmy.  Um, these rows are hard.  Then Ivan and Miles.  Lastly, Michael, Aiden, and Colten.  Great kids celebrating a great birthday boy!