Coming to a close

Another year, coming to a close.  It's been a good year, and I love new beginnings, so bring on 2014!    I had a few older pictures that I finally figured out how to get off of my new phone - Merry Christmas to me!

These were from our trip to Hurricane to see Tyler's mission farewell.  It was a fun trip and the kids especially enjoyed staying at aunt Terrisa's house because there are pets there for them to love.  They are dying to have one of their own!

And Kip with Tyler, who is at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and heading to Mexico soon -

Also I found the picture from Rachel's winter showcase week at dance:

 Lovely with the fingers in the mouth, right?  She's so funny.  She does quite well in dance, but she wants to do gymnastics instead like Ella.  I told her she has to finish out this year because I've already bought the recital dress, then we can decide from there. 

And this was from our ward Christmas party, McKinley was hauling this giant (empty) present around, so proud of herself.  It was very funny! 

Back to now... we have sent out this year with a bang ~ we celebrated Christmas in Grand Junction with many of the Thygerson cousins.  Our pictures from that morning are foggy because the camera was frozen in the car and we couldn't get it to thaw out very quickly. :)  Ella helped us feel festive by playing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Away in a Manger" by memory.  (Many, many times through the week.  She's doing great with piano!)

 McKinley was showing what the rest of us were feeling - YAWN!

 Some very excited kids can't wait to see what their presents are!

 Yay SOCKS! (By now you can see the camera had stopped fogging up)

 Very stylish.

 

 Whoopsie.  Excited kids accidentally brought the tree down.  No one was injured.  :)

 

 Caleb building Cayden's Legos for him.  Doh!

 Ella and Lizzie

The next day we went sledding at Old Powderhorn.  Rachel went down a few times, then she just wanted to crawl around like a kitty.  I think McKinley made it down once or twice, but she is always happy just to sit and eat snow, so no problems there.  But she did NOT want her picture taken. hehe.

 

 Ella dug a "lair" in the snow. 

 Caleb went over the to bigger side with Dad - he could have stayed there all day!

 

 

We had a lot of fun with all the cousins in Grand Junction, playing card games well past their bedtimes!  Caleb got to practice with his new BB gun, Ella and all the girls made about a billion rubber band bracelets, and Rachel and Juliana played lots of pretend games with the younger cousins.  We spent some time playing dodge ball with friends and Kip was very impressed that all of the "old gang's" children fill up an entire church gym. :) Now that we are back in Parker, they are in cousin-withdrawals. :)  Today we rounded out our year by using our Nature and Science Museum Pass.  It was fun!

  

Everyone watching "Galileo" perform a gravity experiment.

 

 Caleb playing some kind of asteroid program.

 ...and Rachel, in red peg-board fashion.  So funny!

I am excited for the new year and making all my normal resolutions to keep the house cleaner, be more patient, and simplify our schedules.  Haha!  At least I get points for positive thinking, right!  Happy New Year!

Walking in a winter wonderland :D

Ella: (singing): "In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Charlie Brown..."
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Caleb: When we get a dog (common theme at our house) maybe we can get a laboratory like the neighbors.
Me:...a labrador?
Caleb: Yeah.

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Rachel: Mom, what is frankenstein-cense?
Me: You mean frankincense?
Rachel: Yeah.  The wise men brought it to Jesus.
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We have survived the holiday rush or finishing school, making gifts, youth activities (and scouts and activity days) at church, the ward Christmas party, piano recital, a visit to Utah, and teaching Sunday lessons.  I should be enjoying the season more, right?!  Kip was kind enough on Saturday to take the kids all day per my request so I could finish gifts and wrap everything for this week. Whew!  I still have not figured out how to find the balance of "slowing down" and "simplifying" with the season. :)

Caleb was very concerned that we had not yet made our traditional ginger bread houses, so we did that this week.  I didn't get a very good picture, most of them turned out blurry.  But believe me, they were having fun, including cousin Anders, who got to eat a lot of marshmallows with us when Brian and Rebecca stopped here for a night on their way out to Washington.

Our friend Maria also invited the kids over for a party, where they ate pizza, made cookies, and then a visit from (a very young and inexperienced) Santa! (I say inexperienced because he did not know to look up for photos - he just leaned around trying to talk to the kids.  Which was good in it's own way I guess.)  Caleb and his friend Noah were two of the three oldest kids there - Caleb was feeling pretty bummed until Noah showed up.

 

Kinley says CHEESE!

  

Rachel and her friend Parker showing off their green sprinkle tongues:

 

 McKinley was enamored with Santa.  When he walked in, most of the kids shied away, hung back, ran to their moms and dads.  Not Kinley.  She screamed "It's SANTA!  It's SANTA!" Over and over again.  While hopping with both feet.  She ran back and forth from me to him again and again, I had to keep calling he back to me so other kids could have turns on his lap.  She was so happy.

 Ella even wanted to sit on his lap, even though she joined the "I know the truth about Santa" club this year.  She kept loudly asking at dinner times that she wished someone would just tell her the truth about Santa because she was so confused, since some people said he is real and some people said he is not.  So, I did.  I told her the same story about the real St. Nicholas that I told Caleb two years ago, and that she is now a "secret Santa helper" for mom and dad.  She was excited and has made a real point of telling Rachel, "Santa is real!  He will bring you presents!" Funny girl.

And...this is about the best "Christmas" picture I could get of all the kids.  It'll have to do for this year.  The cards that I ordered from Snapfish  are not scheduled to arrive until Christmas Eve (when we'll already be in Grand Junction), so with apologies that we probably will not send out Christmas cards this year...here are the pictures that made the back side of the card:

 

Lost, and found

Things lost at our house lately:

Kip's keys
Duration: 2 weeks
Found: in the battery pocket of the camera case.  Glad that we did not have to fork over $100 for an extra car key.  Spent many hours searching - thought McKinley had walked off and stashed them someplace secret.

Caleb's retainer
Duration: 1 week
Found: in his suit coat pocket.  We assumed it ran away with the keys; he must have pulled it out eating a treat on the way home from church.  Still fits.  Glad that we did not have to fork over $225 for a new one.

Rachel's ballet shoe
Duration: less than one week, but gone on ballet class day
Found: Behind the basket holding all the scriptures for family reading.  Had to wear mis-matched slippers - we have other ones given to us by friends - but still made it to class.  Would not have forked over $25 for new slippers, she could live with mis-matched ones, but still glad we found the lost slipper.  Guilty party: McKinley the hoarder.  (She loves to collect things from everyone, put them into purses, backpacks, or bags, and then leave the items somewhere random.)

4 out of 6 name tokens from our Family Night board
Duration: over 1 week
Found: on the ground in the crack between couch pieces.  No cost - homemade pieces, but went two Mondays not knowing who had which job for family night, so everyone wanted to be only game or treat.  Guilty party: McKinley the hoarder.  Note to self: move board where McKinley can't reach the pieces.

McKinley's blankie
Duration: a couple of hours...right at bedtime
Found: stuffed in the shoebox that serves as a barbie refrigerator. No cost - but some emotional suffering.  Guilty party: McKinley the hoarder.  Amazingly she went to sleep without it, but not without a few tears.  Reunited the next morning. Whew!

I know that God must roll His eyes every time I start with "I know this is not very important in the grand scheme of things, but if you could give me some idea of where to find  (fill in the blank)..."  :)  Well, actually I don't imagine that He ever rolls His eyes, but we are very thankful every time we find the things we have lost. :) 

Baptism + Thanksgiving = One big happy family vacation!

We had a super-party-week-and-a-half - as much fun as we could stuff into 11 days!  It started with Ella's baptism on Saturday, the 23rd.  Things went very smoothly, aside from being locked out of the building for a short time and almost freezing to death (okay not really freezing.  It wasn't that long!)  We had many friends and family that were able to attend and support Ella, and we thank you so much for efforts you made to come out for the weekend.  Ella was very excited; she really loved her "new-to-her" white dress (kindly passed on by a friend), and has been working hard to choose the right. :)

 With her great grandparents Ralph and Ella Mitchell, and grandparents Diane and Bruce Mitchell

 With grandparents Gerald and Nedra Thygerson

Ella commented right afterwards as I helped her dry off, "That was easier than I thought!"  :)  She is a sweet, thoughtful girl.

The kids enjoyed some time with cousins and friends, and a giant pile of cupcakes made by our friends the Smiths.  They were so delicious and beautiful!  And delicious!

We spent Thanksgiving week doing NO SCHOOL (the kids were thrilled) and having adventures with my parents.  We visited a museum, saw a movie, went to the zoo (well, Kip and Dad and the kids did while Mom and I shopped on Black Friday, woohoo!).  We hiked Castlewood Canyon and made 9 pies for Thanksgiving.  Nowhere close to the numbers that the Thygersons made for the group in GJ, but we thought 9 was a respectable number for our group!

Visiting the Bass Pro shop with the cousins (Juliana, Rachel, & Lizzie):

Kinley getting her first archery lesson!

 

 And the Wildlife Experience - Ella with her BFF Bella:

 Grandma and Rachel outside

 Caleb and McKinley riding the statue wolves

 

 Beautiful Day!

 Hiking Castlewood Canyon - checking out different kinds of rocks. 

 Caleb on top of a huge boulder...

 The kids going into a cave...potentially housing a slumbering BEAR! (not really, but..)

 They hurried right back out, just in case.

 The dam at the end of the hike/loop; or what's left of it:

 Nature calling

 The three older kids on top of the dam - I LOVE this picture! 

 McKinley watching from her sweet ride on Kip's back

 Oh yeah, keep off the dam.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving morning - Turkey Day 5K in Parker.  Grandma and Grandpa M pushed the girls who were all bundled up against the chilly morning. :)

Caleb ran his second 5K, coming in with Kip around 28 minutes.  Ella ran her first 5K with me and we were not anywhere close to 28 minutes, but we did it!  She had to stop and rest with me a few times while I stuck my head between my knees - silly arrhythmia.  I think my heart did not like the cold weather.

Rachel decided this week that she wanted her hair chopped off, so we obliged, as you can see in some of the photos.  She loves it now because it doesn't get hardly any tangles, so brushing it is a breeze.  Yay!

We enjoyed plenty of good food and good company for Thanksgiving, and had many leaves on our thankful tree that ranged from food to beds to toys to music to flowers to doctors to the Marines to...ostriches.  :)  You have to get very specific when you have so many leaves to fill in!  We really do feel blessed to have all of our needs met and will be looking for ways that we can lighten the load that others may carry as we lead up to Christmas.  I do love this time of year!