Let it snow! This year, as part of Jacob and Jason's Christmas present, we purchase ski passes for up at Brighton. Since we've had good snow they went one day over Thanksgiving break and then a few times more. Jacob has wanted to work on his snowboarding so one of the days he and Jason went up and Jacob boarded rather than skied. This is the only picture I have so far of their adventures. They have been going with the Ahyous.
December started out slowly. Jason left for a 2 week trip to Houston the Monday after Thanksgiving. He had to stay the full 2 weeks--the person organizing it said she wanted them to be together over the weekend to bond.
They ended up being done with classwork on Thursday and didn't do anything over the weekend.
Jacob and I were bored that Saturday so we called Luke, our neighbor, and I took the boys to Airborne to jump.
During the pandemic Airborne took the time to do some remodeling. They got rid of a section that used to have more foam pits you could jump into, some individual sections where you would do hand-over-hand types of activities etc. The boys said they added more trampolines, but they wish they had left the other things.
On Sunday MarySue and Randy had everyone over for dinner.
I have done a monthly (more or less) lunch with 3 sisters in my ward for about 10 years now. I call it lunch with the Julies. In December we have usually gone to Village Inn because Teresa, the non Julie, loves their peppermint pie.
During Covid the Village Inn near us closed. I called another one to see if I could get a pie, but they have changed pie vendors and don't carry it. So I made one! I got the recipe from Cakes by Courtney. Turned out well and we had a fun visit.
On Sunday we had Ahyous over for dinner. Here are the boys and Tenyea playing video games.
Jason left again on Monday for meetings in Houston. He was gone until Thursday this time. During the entire 3 weeks he was gone it snowed SEVERAL times. I shoveled a lot!
On Saturday, December 17th, it was Joy and Matthew's 34th wedding anniversary. It was also Linnea's wedding day! She married Bryce Baugh and it was a beautiful wedding and reception.
Kristina's family (most) was there. Jessica flew in with her boyfriend Keith. He is such a great guy. He is 31 and a convert of about a year to the Church. He is nice, friendly, and so easy to get to know. They seem so happy. Will be interesting to see what happens with them.
Most of December Marcia, sometimes Sherrie, and I walked at the mall due to snow. Here we are walking before Christmas.
Jason left again on Monday for meetings in Houston. He was gone until Thursday this time. During the entire 3 weeks he was gone it snowed SEVERAL times. I shoveled a lot!
On Saturday, December 17th, it was Joy and Matthew's 34th wedding anniversary. It was also Linnea's wedding day! She married Bryce Baugh and it was a beautiful wedding and reception.
Kristina's family (most) was there. Jessica flew in with her boyfriend Keith. He is such a great guy. He is 31 and a convert of about a year to the Church. He is nice, friendly, and so easy to get to know. They seem so happy. Will be interesting to see what happens with them.
Family picture at the wedding |
Most of December Marcia, sometimes Sherrie, and I walked at the mall due to snow. Here we are walking before Christmas.
In September Jacob's jaw began to start popping when he opened his mouth. Here is a picture to show the jaw. The jaw is the only part of the body to have a hinge joint, to open, and a slide, to move it around.
At the back of the jaw, Jacob's slides back too far, and when he opens his jaw, it slides back into place, which causes the popping.
Prepping for the mold. |
We went sledding with the Anderson (our neighbors across the street). There is a hill in her sister's neighborhood that still had enough snow to sled.
On Friday night we went over to Cathey's to play games. We played Heads up...Here are the boys trying to act things out for one of them to guess. We played boys vs. girls.
Stretching |
????? |
Flossing |
These pictures are from a game called Throw, Throw, Burrito....
...this picture is in between games when Jaxon challenged us to see how long we could hold the dead cockroach pose.
We had fun and the boys played with us all evening. That night Jaxon came home with us for a sleepover.
The next day was Christmas Eve. The boys played video games in the morning and Jason took them to the library and then took Jaxon home. I made potato casserole for Sunday's dinner and cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.
Christmas was on a Sunday this year. We usually go to Jason's dad's house around noon. Stephanie's dad's birthday is on Christmas and they go there around 5 p.m. Our normal church time this year was at noon. So we decided to go to the 9 a.m. church, come home, open presents and then go to Randy's.
Here is our pre-church, look in stockings. Jacob got a shower speaker. We'll see if it works. All of us got candy and and orange. Jacob also opened his gift from Elias. He got Robux money for his video games.
From Grandma Safsten. A note and $20. He was happy with that. |
Mom gave us some sheets.
He also got cinnamon bears from his dad and MarySue. I got Oreos from them. Jacob received more Robux $.
This was an interesting year for Jacob. There were no major electronic gifts...he got things he needed and some things he asked for. He did a good job in working to be pleasant about it.
Jason got bike cleaning gear |
He also got cinnamon bears from his dad and MarySue. I got Oreos from them. Jacob received more Robux $.
This year Jacob received a lot of clothes. Here he is showing the great amount of joy he got out of opening more clothes! |
At some point the growing up part of Christmas happens. This was this year for him.
I was tremendously surprise when I opened a new iPad. Our other one is 2nd gen and 10 years old. This was a fun gift!
After opening presents we went to Jason's dad's house and opening gift exchange and had lunch. Here we are playing the game 1-10. It was fun and pretty funny!!
The week in between Christmas and New Years...on Monday Jason and Jacob went skiing. They went up on the bus to see how that worked. They got there about noon and did a run with Ben and Elias before they went home (they got up there early).
Tuesday Jacob spent all day working on the extra hard drive he got for Christmas. We thought the computer had a 2nd expansion slot, but the computer does not so he had to figure out how to get the info off his computer hard drive to transfer to the bigger drive.
Wednesday night Cathey's came here for a potato bar and to play games. We played Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza and watched a movie.
Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza game...making the Narwhal pose before slapping the pile |
Thursday we ended up putting Christmas away. That night I had my first Activity Day meeting. I'm working with Karlena Gonzales again and that will be fun.
Friday Jason and Jacob went skiing again and I went to lunch with Natalie. It was so fun to see her!
Saturday was New Year's Eve. We went over to Cathey's for dinner. Kids did some video games, we watched Loki. Towards midnight we played charades and at midnight we made a toast to the new year!
Here comes 2023!