New Years Eve

 We made it to the Murdock’s cabin today in Island park. It is a winter wonderland down here! I love it. We celebrated the New Year eating lots of yummy food, playing fun games, and enjoying family time. The kids even got in the hot tub and rolled around in the snow. 

The best part of the night was playing ‘Laugh You’re Out’. It’s actually kind of a lame game that I don’t think we’ll ever play again. You pick a card that tells you how to act and you have to try and make everyone else laugh by doing what the card says. Everyone else is trying their hardest not to laugh. Brad really came out of his shell and I was dying laughing with the things he was doing. On one of them he was supposed to act like a piece of toast and then once he popped out of the toaster ask people to spread peanut butter on him. It was hilarious. 

I’m definitely grateful for 2024. It’s been a good year. And I’m so excited for 2025!

3D Printer

 Our new 3D printer is quickly becoming the kids’ favorite Christmas present. Kade has made a pencil holder, Tenley made a flower, Ryder made a t-Rex puzzle and Luke made a lizard. It will be fun to see what they come up with next!

We woke up to snow this morning! It was a few days too late but the boys were still excited to play in it after they helped me shovel of course!

Volleyball

 Tenley had her first middle school volleyball practice of the season today. She gets to play with her friend Ava and she is so excited. They had a blast! We’ve enjoyed a little break with no sports but I’m also excited for games to start back up again!

Day Trips

 We needed a day out of the house so we took the kids down to Helena for the day. Brad and I did some temple work and then we had some errands to run at Costco and Lowe’s. The kids were looking to spend their Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa Woodruff at Costco but they didn’t love anything there. We’ll have to do some shopping in town tomorrow. And Brad bought more Christmas lights at Lowe’s. It’s hard to believe that he can add any more lights to what he already has but I guess somehow it is possible! Then we took the kids out to eat at their favorite pizza buffet restaurant. They love it so much. It was a fun day out!

Waffle Cone Maker

 One of my gifts for Christmas from my kids was a waffle cone maker. I love fresh waffle cones with delicious ice cream. We tried out the waffle cones tonight and they were so good! It was the perfect treat after a long day of taking down all the Christmas lights. The kids worked so hard getting them all done. It took many weekends to put them up and they got them all down in a day! 

Christmas

 We had the best day as a family today. The kids weren’t up until after 8 and then we had our traditional cinnamon rolls and omelet breakfast. After breakfast we went downstairs to exchange gifts. They all seemed happy with what they got! Luke got two Lego sets and spent the rest of the day building them. He finished them both right before bed! I asked him if he had a good Christmas Day and he said, “Yep I had a good Lego day because that’s all I did today!” 

After gifts Brad had a scavenger hunt planned for the kids. It led to his truck where they found a 3D printer. The kids are excited to make things with it! And then he surprised even me when Tenley found a clue for a scavenger hunt for me in one of my presents. I usually enjoy sitting back while the kids run around but this time I had to join in and figure out each of the clues. One of the clues led me to a puzzle which took me 10 minutes to put together only to realize a piece was missing. Brad had the missing piece and on the back he had written, “Just kidding! Your next clue is actually in the mailbox…” Oh my word…But we did finally find out that he planned a family trip for us all to Kauai for next month! He booked an Airbnb and flights and everything! I don’t know how he kept it all a secret from me. We are so excited. I’ve been wanting to go and have dropped many hints to him. I guess he listened!

Brad and I went for a walk tonight and as we were leaving the house a family was there looking at our lights. They asked if the wind really knocked our tree over. I guess they thought the grinch was so funny on it that maybe we actually did that on purpose! It’s a sore topic for us. Hopefully next year is better.

It really was just a great day hanging out at home and enjoying having nothing to do!

Christmas Eve

 We had a fun Christmas Eve today! Kade and Tenley delivered the last gift of the 12 Days of Christmas. We really enjoyed doing that for our neighbors. We made fruit cocktail and all the kids helped. Luke cut up the grapes and did a really great job. They all did a great job it’s just cute to see little Luke getting involved with the big kids stuff.

We had a delicious turkey dinner and while I was making it I realized that I didn’t have any candy canes for our peppermint ice cream! All the major grocery stores had already closed for the night so I drove around to some gas stations hoping for a miracle and found nothing. As I was on my home I saw that Walgreens was open! And they had candy canes for half price. What a life saver. The kids were so happy. So we got to enjoy our chocolate cake and our peppermint ice cream. It was delicious. The kids opened their cozy new pajamas and went to bed so happy that tomorrow is Christmas!

Old Christmas Cards

My uncle posted some of my grandparents old Christmas cards on social media today. They were from way back when they still had kids at home! I guess Christmas cards have been around for a long time! It was so much fun to see their old pictures and hear their memories of each year. I should be better about a family update with our cards. And I should be hanging on to them for my posterity! Because I sure loved seeing the old cards!

Sunday Christmas Service

 We had a one hour church service today because it’s the Sunday before Christmas and it was a beautiful service. There were several musical numbers and Brad narrated the whole thing and then shared a meaningful testimony at the end about how life doesn’t often go as we plan but Christ will make it right in the end. He shared the story of Lazarus from the Bible to reiterate his point. I loved it. My favorite musical number was a duet with a father and daughter. He played the guitar and she played the violin. It was so beautiful and touching. It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit even more. And now we get a whole week together to hang out! No school, work, or lessons. Just family time. That’s the best part about Christmas break. I’m so excited for this week!

Homemade Ornaments

 We got a lot of house chores done today. It feels like we haven’t had an open Saturday to do that in a long time. I even started building a new desk for my new office that I’m so excited for. And Tenley helped me finish making some homemade ornaments that I plan to gift to our friends and neighbors. I grew up getting handmade Christmas ornaments from my grandma each year and I’m trying to start the same tradition myself. I’m not a crafty person and I’m sure I’ll never knit or crochet ornaments but making these homemade salt dough ornaments was a lot of fun. And I think Tenley put more work into them than I did. Luckily she loves to craft! It’s such a fun tradition to keep using! Especially with Tenley’s help!

One other fun thing, I came home tonight and there was a couple on a walk with their kids stopped in front of our house admiring all the lights. Obviously the lights have been so disappointing for us this year so to hear the kids laugh about the grinch and have the adults thank us for spending so much time on the lights meant a lot!

Skiing

 We finally made it up to the ski hill today for the first time this season. It was a sunny, beautiful day and the skiing was great! Luke wanted to ski on the magic carpet for a few times first so Brad, Kade and Tenley took off and my little boys and I stayed together. We did get to ride the lift too. Luke’s first time down a run was a little rough. He wasn’t thinking about turning at all and just totally bombed it. He eventually wiped out pretty hard but he didn’t cry and he got right back up and started practicing his turns. 

Simple Things

 The wind roared like crazy yesterday. The think it got up to 75 mph. It was crazy. And it ruined so many of Brad’s lights again. The grinch was flopping all over the place. His candy cane lights broke. The manger about flew away. It’s a mess. I guess we’ve learned our lesson the going crazy either way Christmas lights in windy great falls is not worth it!! 

The wind did bring in some warm weather today and the boys enjoyed jumping on the tramp. It was sweet to look out and see Luke lying on Ryder’s shoulder and them both looking up at the clouds. Those sweet boys are so good at enjoying the simple things in life. I should have joined them!

Ryder’s Basketball Season and Kade’s Choir Concert

 Ryder had his last basketball game of the season tonight. It’s been a great season and he’s had a lot of fun. The game was intense tonight and it was fun to watch the boys play their hearts out.

Kade’s Christmas choir concert was tonight. I can’t believe he’s halfway through his freshman year! His choir sang some great songs and Kade looked so handsome up on stage!

Bop It!

 Ryder’s white elephant gift from co op last week was the game bop it! The boys have all been having fun with it ever since he got it. Kade had the high score of 88 but then Ryder beat that high score yesterday so Kade tried to surpass him again but then Ryder won the game with a score of 100! Who knew there was an end to the game? They were having fun competing back and forth. 

Brad’s bright and elaborate lights have attracted a bunny rabbit. We have a lot of wild rabbits in our neighborhood. The bunny is in our front yard every night. It may be the lights or he may like eating our grass. Although, a few weeks ago he did eat through and ruin a light strand which started a war between him and Brad. Brad tries to run him off every night now. Tonight he ran out with a broom hurdling over the light fence. It was a scene I wish I had on video! Haha

Piano Recitals

 The kids had their Christmas recital today. They all practiced so hard on their songs and it paid off. Tenley played two flute solos, one group flute piece, two piano solos and a piano duet with Kade! That was a lot of work! Kade played a very long, difficult and beautiful arrangement of Still, Still, Still and the duet with Tenley. Ryder and Luke both played two songs each and they were adorable! I love listening to them play. We took them out to dinner to celebrate it being done.

12 Days of Christmas

 Last weekend Tenley had the idea to do the 12 days of Christmas for our neighbors with three cute little kids. We spent all day Sunday planning each day and she spent the next few days making tags for each of the days and planning her route to drop off the gifts. They have a video camera on their doorbell so it makes it tricky! Tonight was her first night leaving a gift and she dressed all in black to hopefully disguise herself. I think it worked out! I love how much detail she uses when gifting to others. She has a huge heart!

Solutions

 We’ve spent most of the week discussing how to fix our Christmas light problem in the front yard. The kids didn’t want to take it all down and do it again with a new flag pole so they decided to make it funny and hang a grinch on it. It’s still sad to see but it does add some humor to it!

Dribbling

 Luke came to the church with me tonight to pick up Ryder from his activity. While we waited for Ryder to finish up, Luke got a basketball to practice dribbling. He ran up and down the court for almost ten minutes! He’s a stubborn little man and will practice hard if he wants to accomplish something. For the most part it’s a really great quality!

A Quiet Hour

 We had a Christmas party at co-op today. The kids played games, ate food, and exchanged gifts. And then they got to  go to their friend’s house afterwards which they always love doing! And I came home to an empty house! It was so strange. I had a whole hour to myself. And then I picked up Kade from school and my friend Alecia asked to keep the kids longer. The three youngest didn’t end up coming home until 7. Kade felt like an only child having dinner with just Brad and I. It was different and we were happy to have everyone back.