Tree Is Up

Abi was ready for it, so yesterday the kids put up the tree.

I told her they could get it out after they cleaned up the front room, so she cleaned it up. Then they brought up the trees. Then she brought up ALL the boxes of decorations and....then they messed it up. And it will remain a mess until Christmas. Cause the little kids take off all the ornaments. Good thing the ornaments are plastic. It makes them break less-rapidly. The kids are happy wearing Santa hats

"Are you guys getting ready for Christmas?!?!" They've been in the Christmas spirit, playing outside in the snow, sledding, and drinking hot cocoa.

They went sledding with Iveth's kids yesterday.

We haven't had them over for a long time, so that was fun.

Everyone's clothes were soaked when they got back, so they played while I threw things in the dryer. And they all played dress up.

Asis the rapper, and Sophi the model

A few more pics - potty training Daniel isn't going great. He's not interested in conquering #2. I think he's too comfortable in pull ups, so we're trying the underwear approach. We'll see how it goes.

And a picture of my snuggly Peter from last night. I love this baby boy.

Thanksgiving Skiing in Park City

Yesterday while Mel, Lily, and I prepared for our Thanksgiving feast, Corey and the kids spent the morning skiing in Park City. He did that last year and it was the best part of the holiday for him, so they did it again. Here are pictures of their fun this year ~

They went up Wednesday night and slept over at the Marriott Mountainside with Corey's family.

They went up again last night around 7 pm after the meal was over and visiting winded down. They spent time in the pool last night, but yesterday morning they were up early (for a non-school day) getting some breakfast so they could go hit the slopes.

Wednesday night was hot tubbing and swimming too, and video games for the boys. The plan today was for them to ski until about 2 and then head back home, and that we'd eat at 3.

Everyone with their gear on and ready to go

They were a little bit late coming home today, but it worked out perfectly.

They had a great day on the mountain and it all worked out pretty much according to plan!

I love Owen in this picture! Little kids skiing is just about one of the cutest things to see. They had a lot of fun. It's nice to be able to come right off the slopes and into a warm room.

Skiing wasn't part of my childhood, but I'm glad that it was part of Corey's and that he's passing it on to our children.

He said Sophi's a natural

A few more pictures...

The big boys ready to tear it up.

Natalie found a snow chair.

Owen has got the hang of it!

Proud smile!

I love this one of Owen too - a perfect picture of winter...

So they slept up there again last night and they came back this morning around 11, which was perfect timing before a storm hit today.

They had snow in Park City but it was pretty bare here until this afternoon, and then we got hit hard and have been shovelling all afternoon. So I am glad they made it back safe.

And glad that the kids had a great time, and glad that they are ready to start having fun in the snow, December is almost here, so it's good they are all ready for winter fun.

Hosting Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We are hosting this year -

My parents and sister Beka and her husband are joining us for the feast. 4 guests plus us = 16 table settings and one high chair. We put together our table and two banquet tables, and then some fun decorations down the middle to make it pretty!

I liked setting the table the most. And making the vegan stuffing. Daniel behaved better today during our preparation than he did last night, which was helpful. He kept Peter entertained at the piano.

Lily got Peter dressed up!

I was in charge of 3 dishes: Potatoes, stuffing, and sweet potato souffle. The souffle was super healthy, so it wasn't quite as addictive as previous years, but still wholesome and delicious. My parents arrived around 2:45, which was when I realized I hadn't cleared the driveway yet! So I ran out and my dad and I did that, then Corey and the kids got back. It worked out just right. We enjoyed a few minutes of pre-feast visiting as we did the finishing touches on the food.

And then everyone sat down and we went around the table to share some things we are grateful for.

The table from the other angle. It was fun to have us all at one long table together, rather than the adult table and the "kid" table.

I think we'll have lots of feasts like this in heaven, that's gonna be so fun for forever! Then my dad said a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings.

Time to enjoy! Little kids loaded up with jello. Peter at the head of the table.

Ethan had a mountain of food.

Glittery pumpkins and leaves as I try to get another angle of the meal. 

After everyone was full, we visited more, then enjoyed pumpkin pies from Costco while we watched "The Fighting Preacher" My mom and dad hadn't seen it and they stayed for that, Corey and the kids headed back up to Park City around 7, and now the movie is over and I'm here with Daniel and Peter. Quiet house, going to go to bed early. It was a good day, I think we caught some of the magic that we had at our family parties from years gone by. Maybe we'll try to have festive feasts more often. 

Long Holiday Weekend

There was no school today - yay the Holiday break is here! I actually thought the kids all had school Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so this was a nice surprise when I found out Wednesday was off. Mel is home for the break and she kept Peter snuggled and loved today -

Corey and the kids headed up to Park City tonight and the plan is that they will ski tomorrow and then be back in time for our Thanksgiving Meal here with my parents and sister and bro in law. I hope they don't get stuck up there in the snow! It's supposed to snow more tomorrow. Right now it's all melting and there are a TON of pine needles

Evergreen also means Ever-falling. We have autumn with the pine trees every season, plus lots of pollen in the spring. Looks so ugly right now, so hopefully it will snow. Or all melt so I can go rake. Raking in the winter = everfalling trees. What else... Here's the link to Joseph's email this week. 

We sure love that kid. And so, yeah. I haven't done too much food prep to get ready for tomorrow. I'm just in charge of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and sweet potato souffle, so it should be pretty easy. I've mostly done a lot of violin practicing today. I've learned Minuet 1! Now I'm just trying to get the bowing right and of course trying to make my tone and sound better. I really like violin, it's fun! I used to kinda hang my head when people talked about how musical my kids are or family is. "Yeah, they get it from Corey. I'm the only one who doesn't play anything...with maybe a sheepish "I can play the piano a little bit" But really I've kinda felt sad that I was the one person who doesn't really know what's going on with music and could never help the kids. Now I know, and I'm learning more! It's really fun! I hope after a few years of learning musical stuff, that I can hold my own with these kids. And I already hold my head higher when I think of music. I am impressing myself with how much I've learned, and I'm excited to keep learning more. I'm a little late to the game, but that is okay. I can set goals and learn and hold my own. Peter is gonna learn to hold his own too. I'll try to keep up with him. I think he's going to be a famous pianist someday, cause he LOVES the piano. A few pictures of him pushing keys and buttons on Monday.

On his tippy toes! And almost dancing like a ballerina. So cute.

Frozen 2

The snow has finally come! We've had a good storm hit and it's very cold - I'd say that made it an appropriate day to go see Frozen 2! We didn't want to risk taking the fiesta out to drive, cause it's not a heavy car and so it doesn't get good traction even in a little bit of snow. So we all piled into the van (we've exceeded car capacity before, and will probably do it again...) It was like a clown car with the 12 of us all in there. We were a little late but the previews were still playing when we got there. Pretty exciting! It's fun to go and take a full row in the theater all for ourselves.

The kids liked it. I thought it was cute too. Peter cooperated (unlike babies on past movie outings...), and I was able to see all of the show. Olaf's song "When I'm Older" was probably my favorite part. So the new stuff today was the movie and the snow. Other that that it was just the usual: carpool, cleaning, cooking, and violin lessons

Here area  few pictures of the girls being weird superheros last night.

They all had names. I can't remember Abi's. But she had weapons in her super hero underwear. Lily's name was "Mysterio"

Sophi was Fox Girl.

It took a little trickery to get Owen to finally take off Natalie's underwear that was part of his costume.... (He was Buzz)

but we were all back to normal today for the snow.

Dermoid Cyst

Hey there. So Abi had her small surgery procedure today.

It should have been a little surgery, but Abi likes to take things up a notch by fainting and not being able to handle blood.

She was all confident and snarky before going under the knife...

Not so sassy now though, huh Abs!

She almost got the ok to go, but then she passed out when they took our her IV. Corey said she actually made a weird like croaking sound and that her eyes bulged out like a frog, and they asked Corey if she's ever had seizures, and that kinda freaked Corey out, so he was ok about them having to stay for another 4 hours after that... It's called a "vagal response" up there where they use hospital vocabulary. Finally heading out.

So she went in to get a small "dermoid cyst" removed that was above her right eyebrow.

It went fine and we trust that she will heal nicely. So she traded her bump for a small scar. Corey took her and they were there at 10, supposedly to be in surgery for 45 minutes, but they didn't get into the operating room until after 12, but they made a nice day of it. Almost 8 pm and they are finally home. Thanks Corey for taking her! He said "Anything for the sake of beauty!"