Pinewood Derby

 Jaxson had the Pinewood Derby at the end of March. He had high expectations for himself after winning last year. This year they had two races, a normal Pinewood Derby car, and then a lego car. Wes helped him a little bit, and I still need to get those pictures off his phone.

 

(Showing some nerves)

 (Jax and his good friend Max- Jax showed a lot of character this night, but I won't write about that here)

 In the end, he came in 1st with both of his cars. And now the pressure is on for next year, his final derby.

Random December

always trying to steal my phone and take pictures

Ward Christmas party

trying to get caught up on the blog- a never ending job

the whole reason he bought this huge chair-so his girls would snuggle with him

got to love her outfits

Playing BINGO at the Beehive house with the YW. It was so much fun!

Another Hozho performance in the books.

New chairs for the living room

Batch after batch of white chocolate peppermint popcorn for all our friends and neighbors

Eczema is back with a vengeance

Wish I could have been there to see my dad and his siblings performing bells at the annual Wright Christmas talent show.

Addi's clay horse she made from a clay animal kit she got for Christmas

Swimming with new friends at their hotel. The kids kept bringing snow in to play with.

New Years Eve

 We invited some friends over for New Years Eve.  We played games (lots of Sequence), and listened to the girls dress up and put on a fashion show. The kids all made it to midnight, no problem. We drank sparkling cider and watched fireworks outside at the McDonalds house. Then Wes remembered we had some old fireworks in our closet. So then he set a few off, and the kids played with sparklers. It was a fun way to close out the decade and crazy to think of where we were in 2010 with 3 tiny kids. Life has changed a lot in the past ten years, and I'm sure we will be shocked at our it changes in the next 10!

Addi was spying on us while we played games, and I found this the next day. I thought it was hilarious.

Christmas Day 2019

Obligatory hallway lineup picture.  The kids were all happy with their gifts and we had a good little morning opening presents. Then we went to Denny's with Marshall and Thelma for our traditional Christmas breakfast out-to-eat. We spent the rest of the day playing with toys and presents, watching movies, and then had dinner at Marshall and Thelmas. Instead of the prime rib we usually eat on Christmas, we ate one of our hams from our pig we recently butchered and it was pretty good.

 Santa brought Hallie wireless earbuds, Jaxson a bike, Kamryn a fitbit, Addi a hoverboard, Kimber a Bluetooth microphone, and Morgan WikkiStix.

 It was really fun watching the kids open gifts from each other. They draw names, and try to keep it a secret until Christmas, but most of them are able to figure it out.

The girls loved their robes and wore them constantly over the break

My gift from Jaxson. 

It was a really good Christmas and Christmas break. We played a lot of games, and watched movies, and didn't go anywhere!

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve was a little different this year because we had the Spanish group come over to join us in our lasagna dinner. (I don't know if I've written about it before, but Wes recently got released from the Bishopric and was called to be the Spanish group leader, with the hope that it soon can become a branch. Me and the kids get to stay in our own ward). Rebecca, Alexis, their kids and the Spanish elders all came over. Our kids had a lot of fun with all the little girls...the language barrier doesn't matter so much when you play with toys. Kamryn, Addi, and Kimber are learning Spanish at school and know a few words at least. I had a harder time trying to make conversation with the adults.

 We ate dinner, played games, and watched the new Christmas video that the church put out this year. After dessert and jumping the car we got ready for Santa to visit our house. Addi wrote the note, we played our new game, LCR, and then the kids went to bed.

Annual Ornament Exchange

My friend Megan has been hosting an annual ornament exchange party for the last several years, probably 6 or 7 years. It is my very favorite party of the whole year. Some people make ornaments, some are store bought, but they all are so unique and fun to add to our trees each year.This is what I made this year. I also made a few for my Christmas tree.

My friend hand painted this! I was hoping to win it, but it got stolen from me.

The handmade ornaments (my friend Yoni made owls, from the same pattern I did! What are the odds?)

Store bought ornaments

So grateful for all these ladies and for all the laughs we have shared over the years!

Preparing for the next renovation

 It has been a year since we remodeled Jaxsons/guest bathroom, and we are gearing up to tackle another space...the master bathroom and closet. It will be another full gut job to make better sense of the space. Demolition is set to begin in January, so we are making plans for finishes now to try to get ahead of order times.