2018 Year-End Interviews

And here's the video of them reading their answers.  It's long.  But at the end we interview our dogs.  I mean they can't talk like Mr. Ed, but we make up the answers for them.  :)

Some final YM activities of 2018

Last Friday there was a stake dance.  It was an 80s theme . . . and I didn't get a picture of Miles.  But he pretty much looked like he always does.  :)  We did find some slightly white-washed jeans (not as much as I would have preferred . . .), with which he wore a bright yellow shirt and a puffy vest (think Marty McFly from Back to the Future).  He had a good time and danced, too!  I should have been there due to my calling, but I was home with my girls instead.  We watched some Netflix movie and it was pretty girly and cute.  :)  

Ben wanted to do a few "fun" activities for the deacons and so he took a group of them to Flat-Top that night. Flat Top is a hill in our town.  Due to some recent snow, the boys had to hike up the hill - pulling a sled full of flammable material.

 The boys (5 of them, plus Ben and another leader) all had a great time and enjoyed their awesomely huge bonfire!  One of them called their mom and she said she could see the fire from their front porch!

A good Friday night for all.

Ben planned another activity for all the YM who wanted to go.  He had several ideas and even checked one of them out but, due to snow, was not able to get there.  So, instead, they did a small "hike," (more like a walk) to Fat Man's Misery.  It's a small slot - but more of a crack in the rock?  I don't know, but the boys all had a lot of fun just being outside in the cold, snowy weather!

 I think maybe 11 boys went, along with Ben and Shawn (another leader).  The roads weren't great, but they made it.  :)

 Here they are dipping down into the "slot."  Ben didn't get a picture of the actual slot - oh well!  Ben ended up getting literally stuck in the slot.  He was in back with Brigham and the slot was pretty narrow and his backpack got lodged in the slot.  He was unable to squirm himself out of the pack.  Just at the point where he was going to cut off his arm (haha), Miles and Jesse finally came back to his rescue.  They had to take things out of the pack for Ben to finally get loose.  What an adventure!

The boys enjoying hot cocoa.  Some of these boys were the new deacons - with one of them just turning 11 in December.  Awesome.

 Miles and his weird style:  coonskin hat, sunglasses, opened coat, too-small snow pants, etc.  We sure love him and all his weirdness!

 Jesse, Aiden, and Jonas - right before Jonas spilled all his hot cocoa apparently.

 They took the dogs with them.  Brigham, once again, showed his scaredy-cat-ness.  :)  He was nervous about jumping down some small ledge . . . that dog.  But he was awesome otherwise.

Bella, once again, showed her no-fear personality and jumped and leaped over all the rocks.  There was some slightly precarious spot that involved ice and thin-ice and Bella almost falling in . . . to two-feet deep water, or something like that.  But, according to Jonas, it was quite serious.  :)

All in all, some good activities for these YM to end the year with.

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: