December 2016

We started off the month with a magical Christmas snow on December 1st. Our whole family was excited. The girls couldn't wait to play at recess with all their friends in the brand new snow. They were hoping they could build a snowman, but it was dry snow that didn't pack well. No Frosty this year.

Mommy got to attend a Zumba masterclass taught by an instructor and choreographer who has lost 75 pounds by using Zumba as her exercise of choice. She was a fireball and so inspirational. She even called Mommy up on stage to help teach a new routine to the class. So exciting and nerve wracking. Doing a brand new dance in front of over 100 people sure makes you sweat.

The snow stuck around and we got to enjoy it for days. The kids are better snowman destroyers than builders. One of these days they will figure it out.

Our family was touched by the Light the World initiative the Church put forward for Christmas. We set a goal to light the world 25 ways in 25 days. We made bread for neighbors, donated food to the food bank, gave money to refugees, wrote thank you cards to teachers, took cookies to friends, did service within our home, etc. We had a fun month trying to come up with ideas. It kept us more focused on others, which is what Christ would want.

It has been so long since I took this picture, I don't even know why Annie looks like this. I think she was playing dress up with friends and tried to make a crown in her hair using a necklace, which then turned into a tangled mess.

On Saturday December 3, we took the family to the All I Want for Christmas Expo in Idaho Falls. The girls were part of a show with their clogging school. Joey loved watching the dancing. Both the girls did a great job.

After the show, we wandered around the expo for a little while. The kids frosted cookies with Mrs. Claus, we rode a little train, tried to find Santa and his reindeer (but didn't succeed), and did a little shopping.

The highpoint for the kids was getting a turn in our credit union's money machine. Annie and Tommy got a little emotional during their first few seconds because it was harder to catch the cash than it looked. But everyone got something. The money caught was used to open a savings account. None of them got more than 7 dollars, but they sure felt like millionaires.

Annie used part of her bread business money to buy a fan. She was so in love with this fan. After owning it for a grand total of 4 days, it was already broken beyond repair thanks to little brothers and their friends.

The girls also paid to get their faces painted. They wanted matching pink butterflies. So cute!

Mommy and Daddy got to escape for a night out. We had dinner with some friends at our favorite Mexican place, and then we saw the BYU-Idaho Christmas Concert. The entire venue, which holds 15,000 people, was full. It was a spectacular concert. We actually enjoyed it more than some of the MOTAB Christmas concerts we've been to. It was a wonderful experience.

Joey was sick with a cold for a few days. He passed out on the couch after church and slept there in the midst of noisy sibling play, for hours. He was having trouble breathing while lying down and liked to be propped up on the couch or Mommy for his naps. It was nothing serious and he got well quickly. Not many more months left in our family life of babies who need to snuggle. Mommy is trying to remember that these moments will pass quickly and need to be savored.

This was Tommy's favorite Light the World night. We took chocolate cookies to a few of his friends. He was so proud of his cookies and so happy to surprise his buddies and their families.

Annie did some service for Daddy to help Light the World. It was hard for her to do the dishes, but she gave it a good effort.

Tommy tried extra hard to play nicely with friends for another Light the World day. I love this little moment of the boys holding hands to cross the street together.

Before the fan broke, Annie used it to create her own peacock costume. She was so proud of her idea.

One of Daddy's Light the World projects was to spend quality time with the girls. He took them on a date, bought them dinner, and took them to a show at the campus planetarium. They learned about stars and space and got to explore the natural sciences building.

The girls took lots of pictures with Daddy's phone. All during the date, Mommy was receiving text messages with funny pictures of the girls.

Our family grew by one member in December. Brady adopted a little kitten and named him Rocky. We love having Rocky come visit. But mommy has to take her allergy medicine, change her clothes, and have a good wash down after Rocky leaves.

Rocky loves to play and Tommy was scratched a few times. Tommy devised a way to interact with Rocky without getting scratched. Pretty inventive. Joey said his first two word phrase thanks to Rocky. He kept following the poor cat around saying "Hi Kitty! Hi Kitty!". We were all so excited to hear him start using his words more.

We made special cards and wrote letters to our bishopric for another Light the World project. Each child designed a card. They loved doing this one. We know firsthand how stressful being a bishop can be. We want them to know we pray for them and try our best to support them in their callings.

Lily and Rocky have a special bond. She is better at quietly and patiently playing with him. It is so sweet to see them together. Almost makes us want to get the kids a cat.......almost! ACHOOOOO!

Rocky's eyes are the same grey-blue color as Annie's. She tries so hard to love on him, but she is a little too eager and usually scares him off.

The girls each danced two numbers for their Christmas clogging recital. Being at this new dance school has been a challenge for Lily. It is more demanding and structured than her former school. But she is adjusting well. Annie loves dance and will do anything that's asked of her. We still think lyric dance styles are more her strength, but she is doing very well with clogging too.

Joey is busy as ever. He is climbing, running, talking, making messes, you name it. He loved to scale Mommy's drawers and get into the make up. For some reason the eye shadow and mascara are his favorite. 

He also loves to dress up. He gets into the girls headbands and wears as many as he can - around his waist, around his neck, on his head, on his ankles, everywhere!

And he loves clogging classes. I remember Tommy always wanted to dance at this age too. He has since outgrown it. Maybe Joey will stick with it.

Mom and Dad Hall invited us to Utah for a mini family party. Jared was in town and Jake lives in Ogden, so with us there, mom and dad had three out of five kids together. The day we were scheduled to leave, we were hit with a bad snow storm. Roads were treacherous. Blowing snow made seeing hard.Travelers were advised to stay home. We were really stressed about getting to the Idaho/Utah border. We knew if we could make it that far, the roads in Utah would be dry and clear. After a few stressful hours of slow and slick driving, we made it into Utah and had safe travels the rest of the way.

We're pretty sure the kids didn't notice a thing. They just watched movies - thank goodness for modern conveniences!

We ate a quick dinner and went to watch some nephews and a niece perform a Christmas program. It was amazing. I don't know how this district gets so much participation and funding for a program like this. It was truly exceptional for an elementary school. If you look closely, you can see Gabriel and Caleb in the front row at the far left. Great job guys. Our whole family loved this amazing performance.

The next day we got to watch a gymnastics exhibition that Gabriel and Jasmine participated in. Pictures don't do it justice. They were moving so fast that most of my images didn't turn out.

Then Grammy had us all come play games at her house. We had to close our eyes and make a Christmas tree by ripping paper. Mommy won hands down. Daddy accused me of cheating. He was just jealous that he didn't think of my brilliant method for making the tree.

Then we had to wrap a present, with a partner, with only one hand each. Lily and I gave it a valiant effort but we came in dead last.

The kids favorite game was the flour game. They had to cut away flour that was topped with a life saver. If you make the life saver fall, you have to stick your face in the pile of flour and retrieve the candy. Annie was so nervous.

Lily dove right in!

After games and lunch we got to decorate cookies. Thank you Grammy and Grampy for a fun weekend. We love your new house and can't wait to make more memories there.

The next week passed quickly. We needed to get some car repairs done, finish Christmas shopping, and pack for our trip to Washington. In the middle of all the holiday craziness, Tommy woke up one morning and declared he was done with diapers and wanted to use the potty. After months of talking to him about it and reading stories about it, we couldn't believe it. He put on underwear and never looked back. Hard to believe that our little late bloomer took to going potty with essentially no potty training. He just knew he was ready and we haven't had any problems since. Way to go Tommy.

On day one of our drive to Washington, Tommy needed to go pee. WE pulled off an exit and Daddy tried to show him how to stand up and go on the snow. Tommy wouldn't have it. He needed his little potty. So right there off the interstate, in freezing temperatures, our little boy sat on the princess potty, and we had success. What a memory! Tommy sure had to do things his way.

We decided to stay the night in Pendleton, Oregon. The kids were pretty jazzed about betting to eat at a restaurant, go swimming, and sleep in a hotel. I should rephrase that to say "stay" in a hotel rather than "sleep". Everyone was so excited, that we had a hard time getting them to settle down.

The pool was so warm, it was hotter than a bathtub. Can you tell from our rosy cheeks? It was seriously hot water. Tommy is usually a fish when we swim, but he was more hesitant in this pool. Joey loved it. We sure enjoyed getting some wiggles out, too bad it didn't help us get to sleep any sooner. The next morning we saw a couple we recognized from Washington. It was the Cooks. Their son married Christine's cousin Katie. Katie was due to have her first baby at any moment, so the Cooks were on their way to hopefully witness the delivery. We had a fun visit with them over breakfast and they took some pictures of us to show Katie and Eric. What a small world.

Finally we arrived at Puna and Papa's house. The kids were great in the car. Staying the night near the half way point was so helpful to break up the drive for all of us.

Tommy loved his stool for sitting at the table. He thought the chair back looked like Papa's mustache. That's a huge mustache Bubba.

One Christmas Eve, we met the Thulin family at the church for a family Christmas party. They had a talent show, games, a white elephant book exchange, and snacks and treats.

Annie performed "I Want to be an Elf". She learned it in kindergarten. She was fantastic!

Lily really wanted to do one of her clogging routines. It was the first time she had tried it without a teacher in front of her to cue her steps. It was stressful. She got a little muddled, but she kept moving. We were so proud of her for doing it on her own. She loves dancing with her class, but doesn't like the spotlight. Way to stretch yourself Lily!

The floor pinata game was a huge success. We didn't get as many treats as we wanted, but we gave it valiant effort.

Mommy loved the book exchange. Everyone had to bring a book from home to contribute and we did the exchange in groups organized by age. The boys loved their books. Jeremy and I got some good ones too.

Sisters, Sisters....next year they want us to buy them ostrich feather fans so they can do the famous routine from White Christmas for the talent show.

Tommy had a hard time at the party. There wasn't any food he liked, and he doesn't like to be around bog noisy groups. It was a little stressful for him. The saving grace was Papa's Angry Birds slingshot. Tommy stayed in this corner most of the party and loved every second.

Uncle Norm did a great comedy routine with Steve's help. Joey wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but after he heard everyone laughing, he relaxed a bit.

After the party, we all went to Thulin's house for Hawaiian Haystack dinner and gift exchanging. We brought everyone jam from our garden. Joey liked Uncle Norm much better in his regular clothes.

At bedtime, we set out cookies and milk for Santa. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and we went to sleep. But first Papa had to show us his elf ears.

The kids didn't ask Santa for anything this year, so they were all surprised with their gifts and stocking treats. It was torture waiting for Puna and Papa and Uncle Brady to wake up on Christmas morning. Lily and Joey were up before 6 am.

The girls loved their Barbie camping set!

Tommy was excited to get his own super hero Legos!

Joey was the first one to wake up. He walked right to his cars and truck set. He just knew it was for him and he couldn't wait to load and unload the cars.

And then the craziness began......

 One of my favorite moments was when Tommy took Puna by the hand to show her what Santa had brought him. He led her by the hand all the way to the family room so she could appreciate his little Legos with him in peace. Such a sweet little moment.

Lily helped Tommy put everything together, and we all started opening our family gifts.

It was a beautiful morning filled with laughter, surprises, and family. Couldn't have asked for a better Christmas morning!

Then it was time for breakfast! We made cinnamon apple topped German pancakes with sour cream and fresh berry topped chocolate German pancakes with whipped cream. All that delicious food, and do you know what Tommy chose for his Christmas breakfast?

CHICKEN NUGGETS!

Puna and Papa's ward had a beautiful Christmas program. Puna's ward choir did a wonderful job. Unfortunately all the kids fell asleep during sacrament meeting so they all missed it. We took up the entire first row with stretched out sleeping bodies.

Sunday night we had a quiet family dinner. The kids loved the chocolate cake. Some family friends and the Simmons came over to celebrate with us.

Annie did an encore performance of "I Want to be An Elf". I loved seeing my cousins Kristin and Daniel. It was a wonderful, quiet evening with people we love.

The next morning, the guys left for a quick snow mobiling trip.

 It's always amazing how heavily laden the trees can get. Conditions were not great and the trails weren't super clear at times, but the boys had a fun getaway.
Puna invited over the Gomes side of the family for a little open house. Not too many of them came, but we had a great night. We played Watch Your Mouth, a new game the girls bought for Papa. We had some good laughs watching the girls try to read the cards with the mouth guards in.

The next day was Brady's last day. We went out to Snoqulamie Falls in the morning, grabbed a quick lunch, and then he was off to the airport. No matter how many times I come here, it is always beautiful.

It started to rain just as we were leaving. Tommy tried his best to catch some raindrops on his tongue. Mommy taught him the song "If All the Raindrops Were Lemondrops and Gumdrops." Lunch was interesting. We went to a restaurant in Renton and had the most awkward waiter ever. He didn't seem like he knew what he was doing and he was very uncomfortable in his approach. Poor guy. The service was slow. Puna and Papa had to hurry to get Brady to the airport on time.

After lunch and the airport, we met up at a movie theater to see the movie Sing. The whole family loved it. The music was fun and the stories were cute. We will see that one again for sure!

The kids favorite part of staying at Puna and Papa's house (besides their grandparents) is the huge bathtub in the master bathroom. Lily is getting older and all the kids are getting bigger. This was the last year they can probably all take a bath together. They made the most of it.

We finally made the drive up to the property. This was the part of the trip Lily had been waiting for. All she wanted to do was ride smowmobiles! We stopped for breakfast at the Sultan Bakery and had a beautiful drive up. The only hitch was a fallen tree on the highway. Luckily it was a small one and was moved eaily.

There was an abundance of snow at the property. Dad and Papa spent a lot of time clearing snow so we could park and get in the cabin.

The kids didn't mind. They just wanted to play in the snow.

Joey is definitely a snow baby! All he wanted to do was be outside and walk in the snow.

Lily tried her best to dig a snow tunnel but it we didn't get to finish it.

While the guys cleared snow, we kept the kids warm in the cabin and played games...and dress up.

We had so much fun just goofing around in the snow that the kids wore themselves out. They fell asleep in the car on the way into town for dinner.

This sight never gets old. Leavenworth feels so magical at Christmastime.

Puna booked a sleigh ride for our second day in town. The kids were hoping for a snowmobile ride, but Papa was busy trying to heat the hot tub all morning. Tommy was not happy about the ride. He was crying before we even got going. The other people in our sleigh didn't look too happy about sharing a ride with a crying toddler. After a few minutes, Tommy stopped and just settled on being grumpy. Joey didn't like being confined on the sleigh. We had to keep feeding him fruit snacks and passing him from adult to adult to try and keep him entertained. But the girls loved the ride.

I think this is my favorite picture from the whole ride.

It was a beautiful day to be out in the woods.

And the hot chocolate inside the heated tee pee was great too. We had a late lunch and four tired kids, so we went back to the property. Papa got to work again on the hot tub.

It was buried in a foot of snow and the pipes were clogged, and something wasn't working correctly. After working on it for a while, Papa took a break so the girls could finally get the snowmobile rides they wanted.

Then we hunkered down for the night with chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, movies, and a tickle fight.

We usually love to play games but with little ones who need sleep, we all just turned in early and determined to get an early start the next day. Lily said it was her favorite day.

 She wrote a paper at school about how much she loves Christmas. The reasons she gave were: the family is together, she gets to visit her grandparents' different cabins, she gets to ride snowmobiles, and she gets to open presents with her family.

 This was all the girls wanted to do. They loved every second!

After the big kids had a few turns, Joey wanted to try. He was just as happy on the little toy sled as he was on the machines.

But he did get a little frustrated when the machine wouldn't go anymore. Puna stayed with the kids so Mommy could get a ride too. Daddy and Papa like to explore and go fast. Mommy just wants to stay on the trail and not get stuck or lost.

 After a lot of work, Papa and Daddy got the hot tub filled and ready. We had to make our soak quick, Puna had a doctor's appointment to get back to, but it was lots of fun.

 Everyone got on our suits and boots and made out way through the snow trails to the hot tub. In true Tommy fashion, he changed his mind and decided not to try something new. Poor kid missed out on a lot of fun.

 Lily was so impressed that Papa would get out and sit in the snow. She worked up the guts to try it too.

 BRRRR!

 Then Annie and Daddy gave it a try!

 Then Papa again! This was one of Annie's most favorite memories. She talked about it for weeks after the trip. Thank you Papa for being a good sport and giving the kids such a memorable experience.

 Annie was even inspired to get out again!

 Mommy stayed safely inside the warm water.

 Most people travel to the tropics to escape the cold of winter. Not us! We love the snow! After finishing our "swim" and returning to the cabin. Tommy declared he was ready to try the hot tub. Unfortunately we had to get packed up and leave. Maybe next time, Bubba!

 We stopped for a potty break and a snack on the way back to Puna and Papa's house. All the kids chose ice cream. The joys of vacation -ice cream for lunch! We had a great night trying to catch up on sleep before the long drive back home. In the morning we couldn't find Annie. Can you spother in the picture below? She had turned sideways and slid off her mattress and ended up on Tommy's legs.

Everyone was excited to get packed up and return home. Miraculously we fit everything into the van and left on time. Mommy was sad to leave behind her new temple picture but we were afraid it would get smashed in the car.

The drive home went as expected. Some grumpy moments, but mostly good times and lots of potty stops. We did the whole drive in one day in order to get ahead of a weather pattern expected to hit our area. Roads were clear and safe and we made it home in good time. We tried a new restaurant in Baker City called Sumpter Junction. The food was ok, way overpriced for the quality, but the train was a real treat. It was hard to get the kids to eat because they wanted to follow the train as it drove through the restaurant. 

We were so happy to see this sign! It still meant five or more hours of driving, but it also meant we were more than halfway home.

December was a busy month. We tried to give the kids lots of opportunities to serve and give. The girls used their own money to buy gifts for the family. Tommy potty trained himself in a day. And we had a joyous Christmas. We are happy to end 2016 and start fresh in 2017. Happy new year!