Suz's Family Visited

We were so excited to have Ben and Suz and Whit over for Christmas!  I wish I'd made videos of everyone's reactions when we found out.  I completely flipped out, as did the girls.  It was pretty great.  We couldn't meet them at the airport since Ben and I had a big commitment the night they were flying in, so we welcomed them to the USA by decorating the guest room instead.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out while they were here.  They told/showed us a lot about their travels; we ran errands and ate out a few times (Costco counts) and saw "Mary Poppins Returns"; we showed off Ben's new office and the kids played at a trampoline park; we stayed home playing, talking, watching movies, reading books, etc.  Ben O. even assembled a crew of workers to organize some of his merchandise.  Oh, and Suz and I dressed like twins.  Accidentally.

Andy's Family Visited

Andy, Amy, and Sawyer spent a few days with us during the week of the Tabernacle Christmas concerts, since they had tickets to attend.  They arrived on a Thursday afternoon and we met up in Temple Square to hang out, eat dinner, and let the visitors see the lights.  They'd been hoping for some good snow so they could enjoy it during their visit, but we didn't get much.  Sawyer didn't care about the amount of snow, though.  He wanted to stop and play in all the little piles he found.  Dinner at the Lion House Pantry was delicious, and the lights were great, but the kids were a little rambunctious and ended up going home before it was very dark.  (I left the group shortly after dinner to sing in that night's concert.)

  

Cat had an exam she needed to take the next morning, but I kept the other kids home from school and as soon as Cat was ready, we all headed to Midway to check out the Swiss Christmas Market at the Zermatt Resort.  We enjoyed perusing the wares for sale, drinking hot chocolate, and sampling crispy pressed Swiss cookies (pizzelles?).  But the younger kids got bored pretty soon, and we didn't know about the free carousel or the petting zoo on the property (found out right after we left) so we didn't stay very long.  The next stop was Dairy Keen in Heber, which is always a crowd favorite.

When we got home that afternoon the kids watched "Home Alone" and we made Kiss Cookies.  In the evening, Ben brought our older three to the TabChoir concert, so Andy and Amy and the younger boys hung out at home.  On Saturday morning we picked up doughnuts at the Lehi Bakery and brought them home for everyone to enjoy.  Then we went to Ben's new office to take Andy and Amy on a tour (deciding that Andy needs to rent one of the breakout rooms in the office as his own office space as he prepares to start his own one-man consulting company).  Eliza was sick that morning, so Amy, Eliza and I left Lehi and went home so that Amy could stay with Eliza while I went up to Salt Lake for my recording session with the Choir.  Meanwhile, the Dads took Cat to her futsal game and the boys to the Curiosity Museum.  Andy and Amy attended the TabChoir concert that night.

Andy and his family left the next day after a big breakfast with Ben.  We were so glad they came and had lots of fun with them!  (Sorry for the lack of pictures, but it happens.)

Real Gymnastics, Finally.

Eliza has been wanting to be a gymnast for years - I'm finally breaking her of the habit of doing spontaneous cartwheels whenever and wherever she wants, without checking for people or things that might not want to be kicked.  I put off signing her up for classes because she's so tall, hoping she'd change her mind and decide to learn a sport where her height would be more of an asset than a liability.  (Wouldn't she make a beautiful ballerina?)  But she has only ever really been excited about gymnastics.  At least she's ridiculously flexible.

Eliza tried a tumbling class over the summer in 2017 but I wasn't impressed with the gym.  So in the summer of 2018, we tried out a new gym, and this time Eliza took an actual gymnastics class, and she loved it.  The gym is much better than the first one we tried, and Eliza has had some really good coaching.  She spent about 4 months in Level 1 before being advanced to Level 2.  She now takes two classes a week, continues to learn and progress, and is beginning to talk about being on a competitive team.

Disclaimer: most of these pictures and videos were taken from the observation room, through dirty glass, using my phone.  I apologize for the poor quality.

These clips are in chronological order, so you might be able to see her progress over the first 6 months.  The second video (below) will show a significant improvement.

When Jack finished flag football I decided to let him take a class as well.

It worked out perfectly that there was a beginner class for older boys

at the same time as one of Eliza's classes.  Jack had a lot of fun with it,

but didn't take to it quite as naturally as Eliza and wasn't as passionate.

He only took classes for a few months.

Eliza (front-middle, black leotard with blue shorts) is probably the most flexible one in this picture.
Jack (back-right, neon green shirt) is probably the least.

Ditto.  Can you spot both of them?

  

In December, Jack and Eliza participated in a little meet for the recreational gymnastics classes.  They both did well and we enjoyed seeing their progress.  You can see some highlights in their videos below.

The First Two Weeks of December

The kids loved all of the inflatables at the house across the street.
Jack and Luke even turned it into their own battle ground.

The Christmas celebrations began promptly, with a Breakfast with Santa party put on by Ben's work the morning of December 1st.  It included a yummy buffet of real food, a second buffet of candy, and a hot chocolate bar.  There were coloring pages on the tables and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was projected on a screen on one end of the room.  Then there was a great-looking Santa sitting in front of a green screen, with a photographer at the ready and a table of photo booth props.  We had a great time.

Later in the day, Ben and Jack bought our Christmas tree from Costco, ceremoniously grabbing a random one out of the back of a semi.  (The tree then sat in our garage for three days before being placed in a stand in the living room.)

And at home that afternoon, in typical fashion, the kids enjoyed seeing decorations and books that are familiar but tucked away 11/12ths of the year.

Then that evening we hung out at the cousins' house while Joe-z and Lindsey went on a date.  My kids had lost TV privileges but nobody seemed to mind a screen-free evening of play.  It worked out great.

We got a good amount of snow that Sunday and the kids were still enjoying it a few days later.  I think this was their first attempt at building snow forts this winter.

Jack received a few awards at Pack Meeting that night, and the kids enjoyed all of the knight-related activities: jousting, pulling a sword out of a stone and being quizzed on how they apply the Scout Law in their lives, and posing for pictures holding a real (heavy) sword.

While I was in Salt Lake singing at the First Presidency Christmas Devotional a few days earlier, Jack began a project that I will try to relate without editorial commentary.  He decided he needed a Polar Express train, so he took several Thomas train cars (considered vintage by our standards) and drew on them with black Sharpie to make them look more like the train in the book/movie.  Then he did the same with our wooden Thomas tracks.  And he wanted buildings and accessories, so he constructed a dozen out of Duplo blocks and similarly branded them.  He wanted me to document the finished product before the tree was placed in its spot.

Luke really loves eating snow.  I only wish he was more discerning about it.

And finally, the fateful night I wrote about here,

including the Ward Christmas party and our family Christmas tree decorating fiasco.

I took this picture because it cracked us up that Jack, perhaps the biggest child listening to Santa read a story,
was ridiculously anxious to be a part of this group.  It reminded me of Buddy the Elf saying,
"Santa's coming!  Santa's coming!  I KNOW HIM!"

Back at home, Luke found a way to entertain himself
while we tried to figure out how to solve the light dilemma.

 The next day, Saturday again, we were able to enjoy the Polar Express train ride.  This is such a great little tradition and I love that the families do so much work to put it on year after year.

12/12/18
A snowy, Christmasy view in the living room.