January 2016

We're well into February and I'm just now posting for the entire month of January!  January was busy.  For one thing, Ceci returned home to homeschool.  Her teacher wasn't the right teacher for her, and the school model for her age-group just isn't where the school wants it to be, yet.  To be honest, I LOVE having only one kid at home, and I am so grateful for the one-on-one time with Ceci every day.  She has not once mentioned missing school.

She works hard every day, and we spend a good 4-5 hours together cranking through all sorts of learning.  She has been accepted to a new Waldorf charter school opening in Utah next Fall.  Or maybe she'll return to AISU.  Who knows, maybe she'll continue homeschooling.

Adele turned 14!  Geoff and Ceci fit in a little serenade to the Beatles, You Say it's Your Birthday, before Tennie headed off to school.  Adele took the day off.

We had signs up throughout the house wishing her a good day and celebrating what we love about her.

Several of her friends did tributes to her on Instagram, all of which made her day. 

She made some hats for her birthday lunch:

Adele, Ceci and I met Emily, Bailey, Nikki and Britt and Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

We had a treasure hunt with the jackpot being a pile of gifts.  The thank-you-for-the-gift-hug:

A few friends came over for dinner and to hang out that evening.  She is taking her birthday party money to London this summer, assuming her plans to spend a few weeks with her friend, Esther, and go to EFY there all work out.  It was a great day celebrating an unusually beautiful person, inside and out.

My friend Monica and I organized a motherhood retreat in Laguna Beach at the incredible home of our hostess, Margaret.  It is always so much fun to reconnect with these great women, share ideas about mothering, and discussing gospel topics.  We were incredibly pampered with the location and a very healthy caterer who provided all delicious meals.

Ingrid, Emily and I went out a day early.

All the ladies who could make it this year:

It was a smaller group (by about 1/2) but very intimate and rich. Look at this view from the kitchen:

Amazing!  Meanwhile, Geoff and the girls sent me a picture of their traditional breakfast while I'm gone at these retreats:

Chocolate cake waffles.

Geoff and someone go skiing every week, sometimes twice.  Mostly Geoff and Ceci make the effort.  We've had a lot of great snow this year.  It was a good year to start this sport!

Geoff and Ceci.

Geoff and Em sans kids.

Geoff got some skis in the mail:

We celebrated Geoff's dad's birthday:

Ceci took a bunch of pictures with a friend, and all give a glimpse into her fun personality:

I also found this random shot on my phone:

Tennie always says things that make me laugh.  The only one I wrote down this month was, "I make up so many words, I'm practically Shakespeare." 

I've been going one morning a month to help my dad's wife, Babs, organize her pictures in preparation to create a personal history.  Isn't she adorable?

My calling as stake young women's president was unusually busy.  I prepared a talk for, and went to, one ward conference, created and put on a ward young women leadership training, helped with a stake Book of Mormon activity, assisted with recommendations, and got to know, a ward with two young women that joined our stake after some boundary changes, attended a New Beginnings, chaperoned a multi-stake dance and went to a multi-stake fireside, and had the typical stake council, presidency and stake youth committee meetings.  It felt a little non-stop.

Adele at her FIRST mutual dance with her young women president Charlotte, and a fellow young woman, Rachel.

Tennie and I went to a meeting about concurrent enrollment at Salt Lake Community College for next year.  We're getting our minds around college admissions and credits, driver's permits, a summer internship in Paris, and scholarship opportunities.  This is a whole new world we're entering!

Our hall has been in the process of a remodel since last May.  We got a new door in January:

We had dentist and orthodontist appointments, and we registered for EFY at BYU (which is not for the weak of heart!)  And now we're on to February...

Christmas in McCall - CONTINUED

Before continuing, let me give photo credits where they're due (sort of).  Everyone shared their pictures at the end of our time in McCall and I don't totally remember whose are whose, except a few beautiful pictures in the last post that Britt took.  So, I took a lot of the ones here, but there are several from others too.  Thanks to them for sharing!

After Christmas it was just snow play, skiing, hanging out, reading and games.  Most of us planned to leave Sunday but ended up staying until Wednesday.  

Fun in the lodge.

Fun on the slopes.

One night Santa was at Brundage (the ski resort), and there was a big bonfire with fireworks.

One evening there was a huge snowball war:

One day Geoff's dad wrestled hard with these three for at least an hour!  He sure is good at taking a beating:

One night Booch made up beatbox music mixed with lyrics and kept the kids dancing hard for a good 45 minutes.  It was amazing.  The kids ate it up, and it let out some of their cramped up energy.

There were quiet, precious moments too:

And lots of cousin time:

We now only have two Christmases left before Tennie is off to college, mission and life. While she'll be home for the holidays, she won't be home for the season. We treasured every bit of it.  We're trying to get time to slow down.  So far we haven't been successful...

Christmas in McCall

Packing to spend Christmas away from home is no small feat.  There are the bulky winter clothes, the gifts to take, and then there is food stuff and tradition essentials.  We simplified as much as possible and still were stuffed into our car.

These three didn't mind.  They had been counting down the days to go to McCall and be with Geoff's whole family (minus Ian).

We were the first car to arrive in to Trent & Ingrid's home in McCall and discovered the power was out.  The house temps were at 30 degrees.  Geoff and I went to the market to get some food and the shelves were disappearing fast under the generator lights.  We learned, while shopping, that the power could be out for two to four days!  We called the cars coming up to see if a plan B in Boise might be a good idea.  After a few hours the lights came on, cars turned around again (after turning around to head back to Boise), and our Christmas went forward as planned.

McCall had received 65 inches of snow in the previous ten days.  While we were there it probably snowed another eight to twelve.  It was a winter wonderland.  I haven't been around snow like that since my childhood.  It was magical.

I spent the first morning prepping eight meals for the crockpot.  They were in baggies ready to go, and it made my Christmas break a true vacation while still eating decently well.

Miraculously the house next door came up for rent for exactly the days we were gathering. It helped to have everyone in their own rooms, and having two kitchens and double the bathrooms was a game changer.  Even the wee kids could go back and forth as they pleased.  It was a perfect set-up.

The first night that everyone was there we had a Deck the Halls party that I had planned and prepped with the help of Adele and Ceci.  We had everything ready for assembly before the trip. The decorations were easy enough for all ages (mostly), and the idea was to bring us all together to decorate the tree.  We made popcorn strings, Danish paper baskets:

Paper globes with different Christmas papers:

And felt cardinals and doves:

We made paper chains to go up the stairs, and later to decorate for Booch's birthday party. Lastly, there were tissue paper lanterns with electric candles:

All during the party Geoff cranked out Danish ableskiver by the dozens.  Some filled with jam, some with chocolate, and others rolled in powdered sugar.  He really deserved some kind of endurance award!  And there was hot cocoa too.

The next day was my birthday, and we kicked things off in the morning with a gingerbread house decorating party for the kids.  I planned this too, knowing the event with cousins would add to the Christmas magic for my kids.

That afternoon a few people went skiing and others of us went sledding by the lake.  It was a blast.

That night we went out for pizza.  Little Zoey showed up like a movie star.  She's three going on twenty.  What a character!

Christmas Eve is Christian's birthday.  A group went skiing, including Geoff and the girls. The girls had never skied before, so we thought we would expose them.  We purposefully have NOT skied because of the expense, but they were hooked.  In the end we extended our trip so they could fit in two more days of skiing.  Ceci was determined to go down a Black Diamond run, and she did it on her fourth day.  She is fearless.  All picked it up well. Adele was more interested in shorter days so she went half days.

Trent spent a good portion of his skiing days helping our girls to ski.  He is a master teacher and they had it on their own in a few hours.  His generosity of time and skill was immeasurable.  Geoff is a good skier and teacher, but Trent has something figured out!

A few of us rented snowshoes in the late afternoon for a hike along the lake.  It was magnificent; one of my favorite outdoor outings ever.

 Photo credits: Brittany

Photo credits: Brittany

 

The most amazing ice crystals had formed on the shallow water: 

That evening we celebrated Booch with a fondue party organized by Ingrid.  Yummy melted cheese with ham, baguettes and fresh veggies followed by a chocolate dip with fruit, marshmallows and more.  Yum!

We sang Christmas carols, did some Christmas dancing, and went to bed ready for early rising.

Christmas morning still comes really early with our girls.  We beat everyone up by an hour, at least. They got the first glimpse of the tree.

Emily and family opened gifts together in the rental next door.  The rest of us opened stockings and then had our individual family holiday breakfasts before three plus hours of opening gifts.  We had a ham and veggie quiche with cinnamon rolls. 

On occasion my family will throw in some white elephant gifts when we spend Christmas together. Last year, when we spent Christmas with my brother Mitch and his family I got this beauty from Joann (it is a candle):

We gave it to Booch and Heather "from Santa".  It was mysterious and unexpected. Booch opened it with some anticipation.  I couldn't stop laughing before it was even open so they soon figured something was up.  Darnit!  Booch danced around and made a big fuss.  It added a great element of fun to the present opening.  We gave Nikki Happy Childhood Memories Mouth Spray, and Keenan got Handerpants.  I had a picture of him donning those babies, but I think I accidentally deleted it.  

It was a relaxing day at home with the house a wreck but the kids happily engaged with new toys and games.

TO BE CONTINUED...