The evening of the 22nd we decorated sugar cookies. Alice was very precise with her work, Kendal layered up her frosting, and Peter wanted all of the sprinkles and frostings on his.
Peter got his one on one with Casey on the 23rd. He chose to eat out at Taco Bell. Not sure why, but he's into Taco Bell right now and their Doritos Locos tacos. Peter wanted to go see the new Spider Man movie with Casey, but they opted to wait till we were in Logan to go with uncle David too. After lunch they went and picked out new shoes for Peter to have for basketball season coming up!
Christmas Eve was spent cleaning up a bit around the house. I joined the kids late morning to play in the snow. Alice created a mini snowman, Kendal a snow bird, Peter helped me roll a bigger snowman (the snow wasn't coming together well so it was fairly small). We created some more snow birds and a penguin as well as a lot of tracks in the snow! It was chilly but fun. We went over to Brett and Vanessa's house for Christmas Eve tamales. The kids always love seeing their cousins and it was a nice bit of chaos for a bit. We came home and got ready for Christmas; the kids put on their holiday pj's, we put out treats, and read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Casey and I put up a wrapping paper barrier for the kids with the premise that it wouldn't come down till 7:00 Christmas morning. (It was genius, no 4 am peeking this year!)
Christmas morning the kids broke through the barrier just after 7 in the morning! They came into our room and we listened to the nativity story together before we headed out to presents. The kids were excited over their presents and we had a nice time opening our gifts! Everyone got a personalized mug and hot chocolate bomb in their stocking. Peter's is Marvel, Alice's is Frozen, and Kendal got a Harry Potter one that looks like her. Casey and I have our initials on mugs. The kids loved them! Alice was so excited to get her Barbie car and all that came with it. She spent the rest of Christmas Day enjoying her gift and having anyone willing play along with her. Alice also got new Barbie outfits, a charm necklace, cozy leggings, church shoes, new books (a Piggie and Elephant set, a princess book, a search and find, and Rainbow Fish), and a 2 sided puzzle. When I was busy with meals throughout the day, Alice was in with her Barbies singing all of the Christmas songs she knew. Peter got his much anticipated Ninjago ship as his big present. No joke, he spent six hours Christmas Day putting together his ship. It was over 7,000 pieces with 14 bags to put together and 300 plus pages of instructions. He was in build mode all day and came out every so often to eat and show us his progress! Peter got a Nerf electronic target, a new top (he's worn almost daily since), socks, a baby Yoda puzzle, and his books (History Smashers, Desmond Cole, Beasts of Olympus, I Survived). Kendal got the next Harry Potter Wii game, and a Bop-It from Santa. She also got a charm necklace, spinner ring, and a couple of pairs of earrings. She was very happy with her jewelry. Both girls wore their necklaces all day and the next! Kendal also got a Harry Potter puzzle, church skirt, and some books (Harry Potter Illustrated: A Magical Year, A Tale of Sorcery, and The Revenge of Magic ) Kendal put together her puzzle in the morning and she and Casey played her Wii game after lunch. Casey and I both got ear buds. I got a set of books I've been wanting, some slippers, and some treats. Casey got new work boots / gloves, underwear, and a rocket!! I made muffins and the kids snacked all morning. We had a brunch of crepes near lunch time when the kids were ready for a meal. Late afternoon we watched the new Disney movie Encanto! We got to face time Grandparents during the day and just have a nice cozy Christmas; just the way we like it!
We decided to go down to Logan on the 26th. We knew weather might be iffy, but we were totally unprepared for our drive. We had iffy roads till Burley, then it was crappy for the next hour. We had white-out conditions near Casey's parents - we thought about pulling over, but the amount of cars we passed stuck on the side of the road, and the fact that the exit wasn't really visible scared me, so we tailed a guy for a while. We could see a bit just before Switzer, but once we reached the hills Casey was white knuckle driving in a white out! It was crazy, probably our top worst winter drive ever. Thankfully once we hit Snowville we could see and the roads were better. Our trip took us over 3 hours, but the fact that we didn't wreck or slide off was a huge blessing. We half joked afterwards that we'd just driven through answered prayers since our area is praying for moisture. (The Lord has definitely delivered this past couple of weeks.)
The kids were thrilled to get to Grandma and Grandpa's. We had a quick lunch before we opened gifts. Casey got a jig for his saw, a wooden puzzle/board, and a nice winter hat. Peter got a monster puzzle, a sweatshirt, and Peter and the Starcatchers book, and revolting rhymes by Roald Dahl. Aunt Katherine gave Peter monkey books and a Gryffindor top for his build-a-bear. Kendal got slippers, A Tale of Magic fairy tales, a headband and cute earrings. Aunt Katherine gave Kendal a Hufflepuff top for her build-a-bear., and the Wingfeather Saga book. Alice got a Lego book, Frozen set, she got a little Anna and Elsa doll, a cute Disney Calendar, and Who You Were Made To Be. Aunt Katherine got her a robe for her Elsa bear, and Uni the Unicorn! I got a new hand mixer!, fun reading shirt, frosting tips, and a book. Katherine gave me a USU shirt. We were spoiled as always and so thankful for their generosity. We had a nice family dinner and played some games afterwards.
Monday we got to have Elliot and Isaac over for the afternoon. We had Nana over for a post-Christmas Christmas dinner. We ended the evening with games again! Tuesday, I took the kids out to Smithfield to play with cousins for a bit. That afternoon Casey, Peter, and David went to see Spider Man. We had pizza for dinner as a family! Wednesday we got in more cousin time when the boys came over to make cookies with us. The kids had so much fun cutting out and decorating their cookies. The kids had a full day of cousin time! Kendal and I got in a visit with Nana before dinner, and we had some more game time after dinner!
We headed home early Thursday to avoid bad weather and roads. We were grateful our trip was uneventful and we got home safe and well. When we got home though we found lots of snow and our porch had icicles from the roof to the steps, and a thick sheet ice on the steps. Casey headed off to basketball practice, and the kids were happy to be reunited with Christmas presents to play with. Peter worked on his Yoda puzzle, Kendal worked on her Hogwarts train puzzle (belated birthday gift from David and Anica). I hacked away at the ice for a while in the afternoon, and Casey helped with the rest when he came back from taking Kendal to get her second C shot. Our steps keep accumulating ice and it'll only continue with the amount of snow we've got on the roof. So were in for some interesting weeks ahead with snow, ice, and such. (The ice pictures don't do it justice, the first is our porch after 40 min of me hacking away, and we didn't get a picture of the insane icicles on the porch, so I took one of the patio.)
For New Years Eve we went out to lunch. After much debate Subway was the choice of the day. The kids played the Wii while Casey was at practice. We finished Kendal's train and the baby Yoda puzzle. The kids spent the late afternoon playing in the snow. It was so deep in the backyard their boots were so snowy! We had homemade burgers and fries for dinner. Afterwards we let the kids each pick a game to play while we enjoyed Orange Julius' and a treat. The kids went to bed just after nine. Casey and I played some games and ended the year with some Rhett and Link.
Casey and I spent this last week in crunch mode because we made a goal to read 100 chapter books together and as of two weeks ago we had over 10 to go. Friday afternoon we finished our goal and wrote the last of our 100 books on our chart. It's been fun to chart and have a little competition over reading. We'll keep track again this year, but probably won't push to have to get to 100 books. We have some good memories from this past year, and look forward to what 2022 will bring!
We kept Alice's date till we got back home. She wanted to go to the trampoline park and we asked if her siblings could join. She chose Noodles and Co. for lunch and the kids had such a fun time at the trampoline park for an hour. Casey and I mostly watched the kids; we also played each other at air hockey (I won by one!). We ran a couple of errands in town. Kendal and Peter spent Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa on earbuds, and a nerf gun. We ended the day watching Hawkeye on Disney +. I'd say it's been a good start to 2022.
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