Christmas Day 2019

Another wonderful Christmas for our family.  Although, I didn't get many pictures!!  I missed Christmas Eve jammy pictures😭

Milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer:)

I made Mike re-plug in the Christmas tree because I forgot to take a picture after all the presents were set up.  It seems like every year I get tired of wrapping and there's always one present that ruins the picture--haha.  This year it was Mike's BYU Corn Hole game.

As the kids get older, the gifts seem to get smaller but more expensive!  We stopped the traditional present pictures a few years ago and I really miss looking back on what everyone got....but apparently not enough to force everyone to pose for pictures.  The girls both finally got Airpods, and Kya got her AirForce Ones. and Jordan got her Lulus.   

Tyson's main gifts were his Elite Xbox controller and his badminton set...along with a book to learn cursive--haha:)  Usually I struggle with gift ideas for Tyson, but this year I think he might have got the most presents!

Summer got her Our Generation School Room and TONS of Hatchimals and her Paw Patrol Firetruck that she has been waiting years for--shopping for a 6-year old girl is SO MUCH FUN!

 I'm pretty sure Christmas dinner was my best one yet--maybe it was that extra stick of butter I added to the stuffing:)  Having the whole family together was so special. 

Christmas cracker crown picture!  I used to save the Christmas Crackers for New Years but now that the kids are older and not around for New Year, I've switched them to Christmas dinner...where most people have them.  We couldn't stop laughing about how tight Mike's crown was--hahaha.

What a wonderful Christmas!  So grateful 💗

Christmas Traditions

This year Mom and Summer alone kept some of the family traditions alive.  Others we forced the family to join us, some were successful, some not so much.

Christmas Sunday Picture

(everyone was very cooperative and look how gorgeous!)

Christmas Baking

(Started off with just Mom and Summer but Kya joined in for decorating...we also made Nanaimo Bars for Dad but didn't get to Pulla this year)

Christmas Eve Ice Skating

(Got a lot of push back this year...nobody wanted to go except Summer and Tyson.  I thought if we forced it, everyone would have fun once we got there.  Didn't work out that way.  Jordan didn't skate, Tyson and Kya lasted about 10 minutes and Mike's skates were hurting his feet so much that he didn't last much longer.  Summer loved it though:)  I don't think I'll force this one next year...we may be saying goodbye to this tradition...kind of sad letting go)

Bellevue Festival of the Nativity

(I don't think I'd call this a tradition since I think we've only been one other time.  But I really want to start doing this every year.  Summer and I went by ourselves--Mike had meetings, Tyson really didn't want to go, Jordan was still in Hawaii, and Kya went with Jason.  Summer and I had a great time though.  It was way better than I remembered)

Evergreen Lights

(I can't believe we all didn't make it to the lights this year!  On Christmas Eve we still hadn't been and I really didn't want to miss it!  I scheduled to go before Summer went to bed, but the girls both were napping and Tyson and Mike had to meet someone for a signature for his Eagle project--there will be another blog post about that ordeal in the new year.  Summer and I had lots of fun though and I'm glad we squeezed it in.  We will definitely try to get the whole family there next year)

 

Overcoming Fear

Summer has always been scared of Santa.  When she was a baby, she held it together long enough to get a cute photo...but that was it!  By the time Christmas rolled around the following year, she absolutely REFUSED to go anywhere near him!  Even when her cousin Eric walked right up to Santa, Summer stayed far away. 

Now that Summer is 5 and 1/2, I thought I could reason with her a little and possibly get a picture with Santa for my collection.  Since bribery has been successful in the past, I thought I'd start there.  I knew Santa was going to be at our Ward Christmas Party, so I told Summer if she got a picture with him she could get a prize from my closet.  She agreed right away, and I thought "that was easy."  

At the party, we ate and sang and some kids acted out the nativity.  Summer talked very excitedly about the prize she was going to earn...but the second the stage curtains parted and there sat Santa Clause she said: "no, I can't do it!"   It was sad to watch her struggle between wanting a prize and her fear of Santa.  I told her it was ok and she could maybe earn the prize another time for doing something else that might be hard.  But she really wanted it then.  I also thought it might help to tell her who was dressed up as Santa for the party (she knows that all Santas at the mall etc.  are just people dressed up).  Finally, she said she wanted to do it...she was the very last child in line, but she DID IT!  So proud of my little girl for facing her fear:)

Leavenworth for our 20th!

Mike and I spent a magical overnight date to Leavenworth to celebrate our anniversary...with the expectation of a bigger trip in the summer to REALLY celebrate (Italy, maybe?).

Leavenworth is a little Bavarian town about 2hrs away, through Steven's pass.  

 We ate some (not-so-good) German food...

 Browsed the Gingerbread Factory, and the Nutcracker Museum...

Ate at the Danish Bakery (my favorite)...

 Strolled through the lights on main street...

 Indulged in delicious French fondue at Mozart's...

 Visited a reindeer farm and fed the reindeer!...

Oohed and awed at the Kris Kringle Christmas store...

 

Took a quiet walk through a winter wonderland...

And spent time being grateful that we found each other all those years ago. 

Happy Anniversary to us!!

Jordan's HOME

So happy to have Jordan home...her smile, her energy, her laughter 💕

My Darn Foot

One BIG reason I was super excited for the school year to start was that all the kids would be in school and I could finally exercise guilt-free (without getting up early...because, let's be honest, that is NEVER going to happen).  You want to know what killed that excitement?!  My darn foot!!!  

I'm not even sure what happened, but when I was in Hawaii I somehow strained/inflamed/angered my foot.  I came home basically limping...with pain every time I put weight on my foot.  I assumed I just walked too much with thin flipflops (no support) and started icing it daily and resting it.  After about a month of that with no improvement, I went to the dr.  She put me in a "shoe" and told me to continue icing and resting...4 weeks later, no improvement.  She ordered x-rays and sent me to the specialist...more x-rays, 2 cortisone shots, 4 weeks of taping and I am now in a fancy new boot.  Ugh.  The entire time Jordan has been at college, I have been pretty much not able to do ANYTHING on my foot!!!  Super frustrating, depressing, and annoying.  

Here's hoping we figure this whole thing out in the New Year and I can get back to being excited about working out!!!!

Thanksgiving Drama

We were all excited for time off work/school, a delicious feast, and some time to get ready for Christmas... but, we got a little more than we bargained for this year!

First, the BURN:

Just about when I was done cooking the turkey dinner...right when everything needs to be done at once and there are a million things happening, I picked up a pot and burnt my hand...my right hand.  It hurt so badly that I seriously thought I needed to go to the hospital!  But I still had a meal to finish preparing!!  Mike and Tyson saved the day by following orders to finish the cooking while I ran my hand under cold water.  When there was something I couldn't explain (like making the gravy), I did it with my left hand and then hurried my hand back underwater as soon as I could.  I ate my turkey dinner with my left hand with my right hand in a bowl of cold water.  Needless to say, it wasn't a great time for me.  Luckily the food was yummy and we read from our thankful jar which helped me remember that I still had A LOT to be thankful for.  

Second, the LIGHTS:

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I convinced Mike that this was the year to put lights on our house.  I spend weeks searching for strings of red and white lights--quite the ordeal!  I even ended up writing a nasty review on the website I ordered lights from :/  Anyways, Mike and Kya spent HOURS getting the lights up and they looked beautiful, then the next morning only half the string was lit up.  It took another couple hours to figure out what was wrong, then climb back on the roof and fix it all.  My gosh, it was an ORDEAL!  But it looks beautiful now.  And did I mention I had to do all the decorating with a burnt hand--wah:(

And third, NO JORDAN:

It's hard to get used to kids growing up and not being home for major events.  Having Jordan away for Halloween was sad, and Thanksgiving was even sadder.  Luckily she'll be home for Christmas...I really don't know how I'll handle it when my kids start missing Christmas!! 

Even though Thanksgiving day was not ideal, I do have so much to be grateful for...my greatest blessing being my wonderful children, husband, sisters, brother-in-laws, parents, nieces, nephews, and friends.