wrapping it up

Today's plan is to put away as much Christmas as possible. This day often causes me to reflect.

This is my favorite nativity. The second one I bought. I love the white clothing and pale faces. This family is so pure.

These are the two snowmen I got for Christmas. McKinzie gave me the ornament while Carson made the one below at school. I still love snowmen!

Do you see that tall snowman on the freezer? McKinzie gave it to me for my birthday. A bonus for having my birthday so late in the year. 

I'm so grateful for our large storage room in the basement. Most of the Christmas bins are open and waiting to be filled as I slowly carry everything down. 

I'm often distracted by old Christmas cards. I love rereading and remembering about their families. We've made so many friends along the way. 

I've put most of it away today. The living room, kitchen, dining room, entry way, mantle and tree are all bare. All that's left is garland, entertainment center and tree. Still plenty to do tomorrow. Needless to say, I'll need to put everything back to normal too. 

road trip

Sunday Bailee and I headed west. She wanted to take her car to school so I was the "lucky" one to ride with her. I wasn't looking forward to the drive but she's fun to be with.

About halfway through Iowa we found snow. It was pretty. The further west we went the colder it got.

We stayed the night in Cheyenne and when we left, Monday morning, it was -6 degrees. Soo cold!!

When we filled up in Rock Springs the car sounded odd. Almost like the wheels were packed with snow. But they weren't... We stopped at a tire store to get things checked out. 

The struts need to be replaced. Crap!! That's all we need. They didn't have the parts so we headed on to Salt Lake. Bailee called ahead to find a place close to our hotel that could do the work. 

Brian, in all his wisdom, booked us a hotel close to Temple Square. He knew I wanted to see the lights. The tire store was about a mile from the hotel. Temple Square was about the same. As soon as we got in town we dropped the car off and we walked to our hotel, with luggage. It wasn't too bad. It was cold but we knew it was only a mile. 

After we warmed up we found a place for dinner and we set off walking, then Temple Square. It was beautiful!!

On our way to find hot cocoa we found Macy's windows. They were cool!

They were made completely out of candy!

We had the best tasting hot chocolate for our walk back to our hotel, white chocolate peppermint! Yum!!

Tuesday morning the car was finished at 10:30. We had a relaxing morning at the hotel. On our walk back to pick up the car it was snowing. Bailee loved it! Bailee dropped me off at the airport at noon and she headed to Idaho. She was so excited to see Brooke. 

With her taking her car to school it seems more real that she's on her own. I hope not completely yet. I hope she still comes home next fall and winter. We will miss her. 

Merry Christmas!!

We have had a wonderful day!! We didn't wake up till 7 which was wonderful. 

 Brian is calling the kids to come down.  They can't come down till I'm ready with the camera.
A quick glance to see what Santa brought.

 Mason is figuring out his drone he got from Santa. He loves it btw.

 Both Bailee and Mason got new sweaters.  Bailee got hers from her BFF, Brooke.

 Karlee was so excited to get a gift from "Foot Cardigan". She'll receive a random pair of socks in the mail over the next three months.

 The kids gave Dad a "no" pen. There's a button that repeats no again and AGAIN. He loves it!

Do you see that snowman on the shelf with the blue hat? Carson made it for me at school. :)

They say a picture says a thousand words. The picture above says a lot!

Carson is in heaven!!

 The weather this month has been amazing. There was only one day at work that was below freezing. That day it also started to snow.  It didn't last long but it was crazy cold during recess.

Today was beautiful! It reached 42. It was fun playing basketball before breakfast with the family.

Karlee got injured so she tagged Bailee.

 Bailee went in so I took her place, until we got too crazy and someone was about to get hurt. Then we all went in. Stella loved playing with us. She drove us crazy as she continued to bark at the ball.

Brian gave me warm clothes for work, coat, gloves, earmuffs. He also gave me a few necklaces and earrings. Both Brian and I took naps around 12 while the kids watched a movie. Later in the evening we FaceTime with Larry and Julie to visit about our day. After another movie I convinced the family to play a few rounds of Tenzie, It was fun but noisy as we rolled dice over and over. As I tucked Carson in tonight he tells me it was a great day... It was a great day!

Christmas Eve

The boys are in bed and I'm watching Panda 2 with Bailee and Brian while Karlee is watching a movie on the computer. The tree looks great and Santa hasn't come yet! 

Shortly before bed we had a little program. Brian read the story of Christ's  birth from the Bible. I read the story of the Christmas orange since I didn't think the boys had heard it before. 

The younger three have been practicing most of the day together. Mason on the piano and Carson on the viola, they played "Jingle Bells". Then Mason and Karlee, on chimes behind the couch, played "Deck the Halls". I forgot to take a picture of Karlee. 

They all needed more practice together but it was fun to listen to them. 

Carson played "Jingle Bells" for us one more time. It was a nice evening. Then we had pie. Everyone is tired and needs to go to bed. I sure hope they sleep in tomorrow. 7 would be nice but I'm sure they'll be up before 6. One more selfie! 

family fun

This past week has been fun. The boys have been sleeping down stairs and Carson made a fort from a large moving box. 

Carson and I went to a couple free shows at the Arcada while everyone else was busy. (Karlee was on a date with a cute boy.)

The picture below is of our cute downtown. I got this picture from Facebook, with approval. I keep thinking I want to take this exact picture some night but I still haven't, so I'll use his. 

Bailee all dressed up for reindeer day at work. Today was her last day. She said it was a little sad. 

Then tonight we had our Christmas dinner. It was nice and calm for awhile until somebody said something about putting a spoon on your nose. 

It was wheels off from then on. 

Carson couldn't do it so he thought mashed potatoes would help. It didn't... I love my family!