Goodbye 2012!

Some quick highlights from the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve:

• A day or two after Christmas, our kids got the wish of their hearts - Paige came over for a play date!  The rest of her family went to see a movie she wasn't interested in, so she came to play with us!  We had so much fun with her.  All the kids played for hours and hours, and from what I heard, it was pretty fun!  After the movie, her family ate dinner with us while they told me all about the show.  We felt pretty lucky to get to have them over twice on this visit. 

• Also, a day or two after Christmas, I waited until the kids were in bed, then I took the Christmas decorations off our tree and replaced them with balloons and streamers.  The kids awoke the next morning to a New Year tree.  I got the idea off the internet, but I didn't actually read the instructions until after I'd already finished.  Oops.  Next year, I'll do it right - I'll put little fortunes and/or jokes, maybe even money in the balloons and we'll pop them on New Year's Day. 

• We spent some time playing in the snow.  I swear, it takes more time to get all four kids decked out in head-to-toe snow gear than they actually spend out in the snow!  Well, maybe not quite, but it really is quite an ordeal - especially when so-n-so lost her gloves and so-n-so has to go potty, etc.  The kids love to play in the snow!  They also love the hot chocolate that often follows. 

Josh

Nicole

Bronson

Ali's feet
 

• Every Christmas break, Aunt Linda buys pizza for everyone in Idaho and we have a big pizza party.  This year, we weren't able to attend, but in her cool-ness, she bought us a pizza in Utah, and we had our own little pizza party.  Isn't she amazing!

• Towards the end of the week, Josh got pretty sick.  He had a terrible head cold and fever for a day or two.  Then the cold moved into his chest.  Bronson got red, goopy eyes.  Then he got Josh's cold too.  Dave joined in a day or two later.  All the boys were sick, all the girls were healthy (as usual).  Whatever they got was pretty terrible because it's been hanging on for WEEKS!!!  I'm writing this on January 16th and we're just barely able to go to the grocery store with the boys again. 

New Year's eve was fun.  Josh was just getting over the worst of his sickness and Bron was just starting to get worse. It was that one day when you think, "Hey, maybe we're getting better!" and you don't realize until later that you were wrong!  We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.  I don't know what we were thinking, but we ordered this HUGE dinner for six people.  Sure there are six people in our family, but four of them are under the age of 10!  We had SO MUCH FOOD!  We ate all we could stuff into our tummies, and still brought home a ton of food!

When we got home, we found my mom and dad parked in front of our house.  They brought an ice cream cake from Cold Stone to celebrate with us!  We had a delicious slice, then put the boys to bed.  Grandma and Grandpa stayed and played a game of Farkle with us.  Then they went home to celebrate with Scott and Katie (who were also sick this New Year's Eve).  Dave and I played a rousing game of Life with the girls.  Then we kind of hung around and watched TV for a few minutes while we waited for the clock to strike midnight.  When it finally did, the girls ran out and banged pots and pans for a few seconds (brrrr!).  Then we drank a quick toast to the old year and headed off to bed. 

What a hum-dinger 2012 was!  We had NO IDEA when it began that we would be living in a different state when it was over!  What an adventure we've had!  Its been a happy, happy year, but here's hoping for a bit slower-paced 2013!

The Festivities

This was our very first Christmas in our new house.  Also, the first Christmas in Utah for most of our family (we tried it once when Ali was a baby, but decided that it was too much STUFF to pack, so we have been home every Christmas since). 

The girls came upstairs into our bedroom promptly at 6:00 am (the hour designated as the earliest they were allowed).  They even made their beds before they came upstairs so that they wouldn't have to worry about it later.  Smart girls!  The boys woke up around the same time.  While David checked to see if Santa came, the rest of us used the restroom/changed diapers, brushed our teeth, and lined up by age.  Sure enough, Santa came...he didn't disappoint!  The kids got lots of great gifts.  The highlights were ipod shuffles for the girls, the Batcave for Josh and candy for Bronson.  Incidentally, we found Bronson's biggest gift in the trunk of Dave's car about 2 weeks after Christmas.  I totally forgot about it - or thought I gave it to him.  Anyway, I toyed with the idea of returning it, but ended up giving it to him late.  It was like Christmas part II. 


We spent the morning opening our wonderful presents from each other.  We all got a ton of great stuff!  Books, undies, a tablet for me, a cordless drill for Dave, treats, church clothes, and more books.  Grandma and Grandpa Church got each kid a fun toy.  And let's not forget all the dollar store presents from/to the kids.  It was a fun morning!  For breakfast, Dave made his traditional cheese-on-bread and tomato juice feast.  The kids LOVE cheese-on-bread, but they didn't join in on the tomato juice fun.  Crazies! 

We had David and Jenny's family over for lunch.  I decided to use my special china dishes from Grandma Church.  My girls couldn't believe I was using them!  They were so excited about setting the table and making everything beautiful.  We had the traditional ham and cheesy potatoes dinner.  Okay, I have to list the menu - it's important to a foodie like me!
Ham
Cheesy Potato Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Spinach Salad with pears and Feta instead of oranges and Swiss
Pomegranate Jewel Jell-O
Rhodes rolls (I know, but I didn't want to spend Christmas morning kneading and raising)
Slush
Pumpkin Trifle
White Chocolate Key Lime Cheesecake - brought by Jenny.  (My favorite food on the planet!)

Everything tasted great.  We ate a ton, then just visited for a while.  Paige was swept off by the kids, and they played with all their new stuff. I especially liked when we were talking and suddenly heard Paige and the girls start singing Tenacious D's "Tribute" at the top of their lungs - they must have been listening to someone's ipod together.  Ashley, who's now 13 years old, visited with us grown ups and played with Bronson a lot.  Boy I wish she lived closer!  We could use a super-star babysitter like her!  Josh was frightened of my brother, Dave for the first part of the visit. He even hid in his bedroom while we ate, but he warmed up after dinner.  Then, he wouldn't leave Uncle Dave alone.  They played with all his new toys (and several of his old ones as well).  I don't have any pictures of Jenny because she was in the kitchen clenaing while everyone else visited. What a woman!

Dave and Jen's family left in the late afternoon.  An hour or so later, my parents came over.  We exchanged gifts with them.  More fabulous presents!!  Then, we watched a video:  my sister-in-law Katie put Dad's mission slides on a DVD for his Christmas present this year.  We loved watching it!  What a great gift!

After my parents left, we just wound down for a while, then said, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Christmas Eve 2012

Christmas Eve!!  Is there anything better?  Let me answer for you - No, there's not! 

We began our Christmas Eve 2012 in Sugar City.  We spent the morning packing up and playing Old Maid with Grandpa Gee.  Then, we headed into Rexburg.  I needed to pick up a thing or two for the holiday, so I asked David to drop me off at Walmart while he and Nicole visited the old nursing home.  Let me say that Walmart is NOT - I repeat - NOT the place to get in the holiday spirit on Christmas Eve!  It was jam-packed (mostly with men).  It felt like Black Friday in some ways, only this time I had three children with me.  Oh, I was not very festive by the time I left. 

Meanwhile, Dave had a good time visiting his old co-workers.  He didn't recognize any of the residents.  He was "offered a job" by EVERYONE he spoke with.  I guess they haven't been able to hire a replacement for him yet.  They have occasional short-term travelling therapists, but nothing long term. I think Dave enjoyed seeing his old co-workers, but left there feeling so grateful for his job now!  Job-wise, it was a great move!

For lunch, we met Grandma and Grandpa Gee, Suzette, and Aunt Linda at Dairy Queen.  It was delicious!  We left for home right from there.  The drive home was pleasant and un-eventful.  We picked up a Red Box movie in Rexburg so the kids were happily entertained.  We arrived home just in time to unload the van (but not unpack very much) and grab a bag of chips.  Then we went to Ogden for our Christmas Eve party.

Kristin hosted the Smith family Christmas party.  Katie's family and Scott Smith were with their in-laws, so they weren't there, but the rest of us were, including Grandma Church and Brian's father, Malcolm.  Kristin's dining room table was COVERED with delicious foods:  Chick-Fil-A nuggets, spring rolls, vegetable trays, bean dip, and my favorite - Som Tum!!!  Not to mention the cookies and candies and drinks, etc.  It was delightful!  Once everyone was stuffed, we had a short program.  Many of the kids performed musical numbers (Ali played "Jingle Bells" on the Piano and Nicki sang "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas").  Kristin favored us with a beautiful piano solo as well.  My mom spoke to the kids about the nativity story.  It was very sweet and thoughtful, and the kids hung on to every word she spoke.  Then, Grandpa Smith pulled out his guitar and played as we all sang Silent Night.  It was a perfect night. 




Piano duet by Paige and Ashley.

We got home for the party past bed time, but we still had a lot to do.  We opened the kids presents from Grandma and Grandpa Gee - PJs!!!  The three older kids got robes, too!  Everyone changed into their new PJ's, then we watched the nativity story video and shuffled everyone off to bed.  That's when I got to work - setting out Santa's cookies, finishing up wrapping gifts, cooking/planning for the next day's lunch, cleaning, and unpacking.  Dave helped me a lot and somehow, we were able to be in bed by 11:00 pm.  I call that a HUGE success!

New PJ's!