Snow Tubing

When Mema and Papa offered to send us a lump sum instead of individual Christmas presents, we were excited at the prospect of taking the kids on an exciting adventure.  We decided to go tubing at Soldier Hollow, something we've been wanting to do for years but never wanted to spend the money.  Well, we loved it!

We reserved a two-hour time slot for the family, but arrived a bit later than we should have.  The timing worked out, though, because Jack didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of us and at about our halfway point he was pretty miserable.  Somehow we got him through until the end, and overall he still had a good time.

The tubing itself was really fun - even more so when we went down as a big group because we picked up so much more speed - but it was a little crowded since we were there on New Year's Day and it took a while to get through the line to the moving sidewalk up the hill in order to start the next run each time.  I think next time we'll have to cut school so we can be there when it's not crowded and we'll enjoy it even more.

In addition to the fun of the tubing, it was really beautiful to see the snow-covered trees and mountains, and Heber Valley below us, until it got overcast and started snowing, but then the snow was really beautiful, so we didn't mind that either.

When our time was up we drove straight to our favorite burger and milkshake place in the area for lunch, but opted for hot chocolate instead of milkshakes this time.  The kids got inflatable maces with their kids meals, so that made for an exciting drive back home.

I loved spending the day with these guys!

Looking Back at 2019

This really is my favorite New Year tradition.

2019 was a very good year, with its share of challenges and struggles,

but plenty of fun and adventure and joy as well.

It was particularly hard for me to come up with a song for this year's video.  Here are some of the other songs I considered before deciding on "I Promise You" by James Corden...

The Git Up by Blanco Brown - Cat said no
Into the Unknown from Frozen II - Cat said no again
Old Town Road by Lil Nas X - some unacceptable lyrics

Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles - too short

Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer - too much about getting through hard times
Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band -  too fast
Don't Stop Me Now by Queen - content
Return to Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins - this was my second choice
For Good from Wicked - too sappy

New Year's Eve Fun

We had a good time ringing in the New Year with Grammy!  In the afternoon we attended an absolutely wonderful production of Seussical at HCTS.  Amazing acrobats, great staging, spot-on costumes, and a spectacularly talented and funny Cat in the Hat made it the best community theater production I've seen in a long time.  We had a blast.

We stopped for a quick dinner at Subway on our way home, then set up the food for our NYE Party!  We planned to host a big group of my extended family in the area, but in the 24 hours before the party, one by one they all canceled except my cousin, her two youngest kids, and my aunt.  We had a lot of fun talking and playing Up and Down the River, snacking, and making Italian Sodas.

We were excited to try a balloon drop again, this time with a ready-to-use Walmart bag designed for the purpose.  Jack had the job of pulling the string, and though he seemed to pull correctly, the balloons did not fall correctly.

We hurried outside for some quick sparklers and our traditional "Fill it up!" plea for plenty in the coming year.  Then a couple more pictures before our guests went home and the rest of us crashed for the night.

2020, here we come!

The Last of the 2019 Miscellany

Eliza hurt her foot by walking so much when we were at Disneyland.
Luckily, a neighbor had some crutches for Eliza to borrow while she
recovered.  Jack was nice enough to help her with her backpack after school one day.

At the dentist's office -
"It must be weird for Buzz to be watching himself on TV."

Jack was SO excited to set the train up around the Christmas tree!

Yes, I actually found Luke sleeping like this.
Also, he said in December, "My species can't survive without macaroni and cheese."

One more pic from Breakfast with Santa.

 

Jack managed to complete 6 of the 7 requirements for the Faith in God award in less than 48 hours.

The 7th requirement he'd done on his own, earlier.  It was a mad dash but I'm glad he wanted to make

this happen in time for his final Pack Meeting ever.

One of my new favorite pictures of my boys.

Ben was out of town the night of the annual TabChoir Christmas dinner at the Grand America
hotel in downtown SLC, so Cat gave up her YW Christmas party in order to be my +1.  She was a great date!

The Grand America always has a cool real gingerbread house on display for Christmas.

With the YW Christmas party going on the night of the choir dinner, I struggled to find a babysitter

for the younger three.  Luckily, my newlywed cousin and his wife agreed to take care of the kids.

They even made this cool trailer while they hung out.  Best babysitters ever.

When Cat went to the SLC Temple with her friends from school, they also visited
the big family history center and found out more about their relatives, and were
given a cool 3D puzzle of the temple.  It now sits on her desk.

Don't let Jack's face fool you - these kids were THRILLED to go see Rise of Skywalker on opening
night.  They'd been talking about it for weeks and were really upset that we didn't have tickets.
Well, Ben's company ended up renting out a few theaters in the area so the employees and their
families could go see the movie, and we completely surprised them when we told them where we
were going just a few minutes before.  It was awesome.

Let's get this movie started!

Just a fun picture from the lobby of the theater.

We took the kids to see Christmas Carol at the HCTO
for the first time and we all really enjoyed it.

A random picture from when we were helping cousins get moved into
their new house, now less than 10 minutes away!

Luke stayed home from church one Sunday because he was sick, so after
some rest time, he and I put together this puzzle.  It was hard.

Jack's last Sunday in Primary!
He felt okay about it.

Jack was really sad when his new Woody's pull-string stopped working
just a few days after Christmas.  But he and Ben took it apart and were able
to get it working again, though not as perfectly as it worked before.

Eliza is now on her 3rd generation of Converse, and with the
latest addition we were able to finally get her permission to say
goodbye to Converse 1.0, which probably had more holey spots than not.

And my last miscellany post of the year would not be complete without a nod to Ben and the kids' favorite show to enjoy together.