Goodbye 2019

Well another year has gone by.  I don't know if it is just me or if others feel this way but I really felt like this year flew by.  I felt like we just kept going, going, and going and the time just zipped passed us.  I probably say this every year but I really felt it this year. I seemed to always be behind on things I was supposed to do and I never really got the things done that I wanted to.  

On the plus side though, we did have some fun times this year.  We started the year off right with a trip to Disneyland.  The kids absolutely loved this and still talk about it to this day.  They are always asking when we can go back.

In February, Logan turned six.  He is really growing up and getting bigger.  Logan loves life and everyone he meets.  He is our social kid and is very aware of others feelings.  He is learning a lot in school and is becoming quite a good reader.

March was a busy month.  Colby turned eight and started preparing to be baptized.  This boy is also growing up too fast.  Colby is our level headed child.  He likes things a certain way and makes sure they go that way.  He is very aware of situations and quite serious.  He does like to have fun though and I love his personality.  Also in March we attended Cassie and Jakob's wedding and Braden's mission farewell.  We love supporting our family members.  On sad thing that happened in March was our dear Grandpa Maxwell passed away.  We loved that man so much and he will definitely be missed.  

In April, Colby was able to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This was an amazing experience watching Colby get baptized.  He had been looking forward to this for quite a while and was so happy to finally be baptized.  We hosted a lot of family that weekend and it was a lot of fun having everyone around.

In May, Emily broke her arm when she fell while running.  She was so sad about it but, fortunately, it healed quickly in a few weeks.  Russell was also promoted in his job.  He is now an Firefighter Engineer which means he drives the fire truck and makes sure the other fire fighters have the right amount of water and pressure to fight the fire. He was enthusiastic about this promotion which came a year earlier than he expected.

June started our favorite time of year, summer!  We filled June with baseball games, camping, going to the Manti pageant for the last time, and Cub Scout Day Camps.  In July we continued our summer fun by doing a lot of camping.  Also in July we took an unforgettable trip to Glacier National Park and Canada.  This trip was the highlight of our summer and one we will definitely remember for years to come.  We want to plan another trip there someday.

In August we did a lot of Kayaking and spending time at the lake.  We had to get in our last few adventures before school started again.  This year the kids started 5th, 3rd, and 1st grade.  They are gone all day now so Charlotte and I spend the day together.

September was another busy month full of birthdays and weddings.  Charlotte turned three this year.  She is our little spoiled child.  She gets whatever she wants.  I know this is a bad habit but when she gives you that smile and says, "Pleeaase?" how can we say no.  And she throws a major fit if we say no so there is that.  What have we done to ourselves?  Emily turned eleven this year.  She is growing up way too fast.  I miss my little girl but Emily is turning into an amazing big girl.  She is willing to help around the house and is very smart in school too.  She wants to start babysitting kids so she has been a big help with watching her brothers and sister while I run short errands.  We also attended Tyler and Ashley's wedding this month.  It was awesome to see Tyler finally tie the knot and see how happy he was while doing it.  We are excited to get to know Ashley more and welcome her into the family.

October came and went with a flash.  I accomplished my resolution of running the St. George Marathon.  This was something I had been working toward all year.  Colby won first place in his pinewood derby, and played flag football for the first time.  We also celebrated a fun Halloween in our spooky costumes.

November was full of basketball games every Saturday.  We also put the finishing touches on Emily's new room downstairs which she loves.  We celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Phillips clan and enjoyed every moment.

Finally we come to December.  This month we celebrated Christmas and the birth and life of our Savior.  We also reflected on the past year and tried to decided how we had done with our goals.

I feel like I accomplished a few of my goals but let others slack.  I had four goals last year.  First, Educational: Read 20 books.  I was actually able to finish 42 books last year.  However, I had hoped to read some non-fiction or faith based books and I did not do that.  The ones I read were mostly novels...  Second, Physical:  Run a half and full marathon and eat healthier.  Well I did run a marathon and two half marathons.  However, the eating healthier part I kind of slacked off.

Third, Spiritual: Read the New Testament and the Come, Follow Me lessons.  I was able to do this goal.  I read the New Testament and Come, Follow Me.  I really liked learning more about the Savior's life and teaching and remembering some of the things I learned in Seminary.  One thing I wish I would have done better though is to spend more time in the scriptures.  It seemed like I was always behind the lessons so I would hurry and read really fast and cram in a bunch of chapters to get caught back up. I was also not very good at doing family scripture study because I felt like I needed to get control of my own study and reading before I could help my family.  I hope to be better about that in the future.

Fourth, Social: Be more aware of others needs.  I feel like I totally failed this one.  I don't know if I am selfish, a hermit, or what but I have a hard time going out of my comfort zone.  Also, like I said before, I felt like I was always behind and scrambling to get things done this year. I felt like if I could just get my act together, then I could help others.  I know this is the wrong mindset but I do need to be better at this in the future.  So there you have it, my goals for last year.

Well on to the New Year and turning over a new leaf.  For New Year's Eve, we invited some friends to come over for games and snacks.  The Checketts and the Sunada's came over and we all had a great time.  We just had everyone bring snacks to munch on throughout the night.  Emily was so excited to try out her Chocolate Fountain.  This was the main hit of the party especially with the kids.  We all dipped strawberries, bananas, rice crispy treats, pretzels, and graham crackers in the chocolate.  It was so good!

And Russell put his smoker together and smoked us some delicious ribs!  As you can see, they were a big hit because by the time I got a picture taken, they were almost gone.  Russell worked all day on these ribs and his mouth was watering the whole time because he could not wait to taste them.  They were very good!  Russell has been looking up recipes and watching YouTube videos on how to smoke different things.  He cannot wait to smoke something again.

We played a lot of fun games that night.  When the clock struck midnight we all ran out of the house into the cold and yelled "Happy New Year!!!"  2020 here we come!

Ice Skating

On the day after Christmas, I found an ad telling us about a free family skate night at the Eccles Ice Center. We decided to take advantage of it and go ice skating!  All we had to do was bring some canned food items to donate to the Food Pantry.  This was definitely a good trade for us.

We arrived early because we knew there would be a lot of people.  When we got to the skate rental booth, we decided that since it was free, we would get Charlotte some skates and let her try.  We figured we were not out anything if she didn't use them very long.  It was so fun to watch her try.  She very carefully skated with Russell and the walker helping her for one lap around the rink.  Then she was done and wanted the stroller.  I think she didn't like the feeling of not being sure on her feet.  We kept trying to get her out on the ice with her skates but she preferred riding in the stroller as we pushed her around the ice.  The other kids were doing amazing.  They get better and better every time we go ice skating.  Logan still likes using the walker but he can skate without it.  He just can't skate as fast without it.  Colby is doing really well and is pretty confident.  The one thing he did not like about this ice skating trip was that the skates he got had a toe pick.  He is used to the hockey skates that don't have the toe pick on the end.  He kept snagging the toe pick on the ice and it would cause him to wreck. By the end of the two hours, he was ready to be done and knew he was covered in bruises.  

Emily is also getting really good at skating.  She is pretty sure on her feet and is getting more confident.  Russell was trying to teach her some fun dance moves on the ice.  Emily loved being twirled around by her dad even if she slipped a few times.

Russell and I saw a couple of really good skaters doing some twirly tricks and we though we would be cool and try them too.  First we skated toward each other, then we grabbed hands and spun around.  It was so much fun and actually easier than we thought it would be.  Coming out of the spin was a little more tricky but we managed to land it a few times.  We should have been figure skaters!

This was such a fun family skate night.  I am glad we found out about it and were able to go.  We love ice skating. 

Merry Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!  We enjoyed another great Christmas season this year.  We had a month full of fun traditions, parties, and service to others.

We loved decorating our tree this year because it was homemade ornament year.  This year we made all of our Christmas decorations.  We strung popcorn and cranberry garland and everything.  All of our ornaments were things the kids have made over the years.  To tell you the truth, I like decorating the tree like this better than using the store bought ornaments.  It is more simple and more meaningful.  It is also a lot of fun doing the popcorn/cranberry garland.  Maybe we will change our every other year tradition and do this every year instead.

Russell worked on Christmas Eve.  The kids and I packed up our dinner and went over to the fire station to eat Christmas Eve dinner with Dad.  This is also becoming a tradition because Russell has worked every Christmas Eve we have been here.  That's okay though because he is always home for Christmas Day.

While we were there, we got to open our Christmas Eve presents... Pajamas!!  The kids love getting new pajamas for Christmas.  This year the girls matched and the boys matched too.  Russell and I also got new pajamas but they didn't match.  After visiting for a minute more, we decided we had better head home if we were going to get to bed on time for Santa to come.

Here they are in their matching PJ's.  Of course when I tried to take pictures, they were just being crazy because they were so excited.  

This year they started a new tradition of sleeping altogether downstairs.

All four of them piled into Emily's room for the night.  They had each made their own beds out of the couch cushions and were all cozy and warm.  This lasted for about an hour before Charlotte decided she would rather sleep in her own bed.  So she kept bugging everyone down there before finally Emily and Logan brought her upstairs.  Colby was out the minute his head touched the pillow so he didn't care.  Finally I put Charlotte in her own bed and told the others to go back downstairs and go to sleep.  The were all asleep in minutes after that.

The next morning everyone was tired except Colby.  He was the only one that got any sleep!  He woke up and watched TV until Russell got home and woke everyone else up.  It was time to see if Santa had come!

Well he sure had and he brought a lot of good things!  We are going on a cruise in January so that was the kids' big gift this year from us.  According to the note that Santa wrote to us, he knew about the cruise and brought the kids things they would need for that trip.  Each of the kids received new swimsuits, sandals, water bottles, and a journal to record their experience.  They also received snorkels, goggles, and buckets for the sand at the beach.  They were a little confused as to why they didn't get the things on their lists but we told them that Santa knew what you needed and brought those things.  

After our traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, orange rolls, and eggnog, it was time to open presents.  Since we didn't get any new clothes, besides a swimsuit, we just stayed in our pajamas all day long.  We loved it!

Emily received some fun things this year.  She wanted a chocolate fountain so Grandma Morwood gave her one.  She was happy about that.  Emily also received a pretty gold necklace of her name, Shrinky Dink kit, and socks.  Colby knew Emily had been saving her money up for a new fishing pole so he decided to get her a one for Christmas.

Colby also received some cool things.  He got a new watch, socks, and underwear (remember Santa told him he was going to bring him some?).  Logan knew Colby loves playing with Lego's so he decided to get Colby a huge set of Lego's.  There were 900 pieces in this box and Colby immediately dumped them out and started building!

Logan had a good Christmas too.  He asked Santa for a cool toy called Foam Alive and he got it in his stocking.  This Foam is really fun to play with and feel with your fingers.  It even looks like it is alive and moving when you watch it.  Along with the Foam Alive, Logan received socks and underwear too.  Logan has been needing a new scooter because his was broken.  Emily found one at the store and wanted to get it for Logan.  He loved riding his new scooter and watching the wheels light up.  He rode that thing all over the house all day long.

Charlotte loves Christmas.  She loves opening presents and seeing what is inside.  She got excited anytime someone opened a present and really happy when it was her turn.  Charlotte received socks and underwear like the rest.  Her big present though was an American Girl Bitty Baby.  She was so excited for a new baby because that is what she asked for.  She named the baby Ruth.  I don't know where she came up with that name but it stuck when Russell called it "Babay Ruuuth!"  So now the doll goes by Baby Ruth.  Charlotte also received a scripture case and her own Book of Mormon because she will be going into Sunbeams in January.  Can you believe it?  Our baby is going to be a Sunbeam!  She can't, she's too little...

Russell and I also had a good Christmas.  I received an InstaPot pressure cooker and a running belt that will hold my phone.  I am looking forward to learning how to use my InstaPot and finding some new recipes.  I am also glad to have this running belt.  I never took my phone on my runs so I think it made Russell nervous.  That is probably why he got it for me.  I am glad to have it because now I feel safer too.

Russell received a big gift this year.  Ever since our barbecue grill tried to burn down the house, he has wanted a new grill.  Well he didn't get a grill this year, he got a smoker instead.  He was so giddy about it and wanted to cook something on it right away.  Unfortunately he still had to built it and put it all together.  Soon he told us, soon we would be eating good!  Russell and I also got some nice swimming goggles.  One of our goals for the new year is to learn how to swim and possibly do a triathlon.  These goggles will help and they will be handy on the cruise.

After the presents were all open, we just hung out for the rest of the day.  We didn't have any plans or anything we had to do.  We played games, built Lego's, did Shrinky Dink, and played with Foam.  It was a great relaxing day.  I even got a nap which never happens!

That night we decided to drive around and look at all of the Christmas lights in the town.  I found a map someone had put together of all of the best houses in Cache Valley.  We sent the next 2-3 hours driving around and looking at all of the cool houses.  Many of the houses' lights were synced with a radio station.  At these houses we could tune into a certain radio station and watch the lights and they blinked in time with the music.  They were pretty awesome.  One of our favorite houses had synced their lights to go with the USU Fight Song.  It was outstanding!

Over the next couple of days, Colby got his creative juices flowing and put together this armor out of all of the cardboard boxes from Christmas.

We loved hearing all of his big plans for making this armor.  He would come up with new ideas everyday and the armor evolved over time.  He had a helmet, breast plate, shield and sword.  The eye guards on his helmet were even able to go up and down.  Colby was so funny.  He wore this stuff all over the house.  He loved it so much that he actually cried when the shoulder part ripped.  We had to use a lot of tape but we got it fixed.  I love his creativity.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Parties

Christmas parties are also a fun part of the Christmas season.

This year I was the head room mom for both Colby and Logan's class.  Because of this, I got to plan both of their class Christmas parties.  I had a lot of help from the other room moms so the parties were great.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of those class parties because Russell and I were too busy helping the kids make their craft.  We decided to have the kids make harmonicas out of large Popsicle sticks and rubber bands.  We learned about this fun craft in the Cub Scout Wolf book.  As we were helping Colby pass off his belt loops, he had to learn about wind and this craft was one of the requirements.  When we made them at home for Scouts, we absolutely loved it and knew we wanted to share this with the other kids.  So we made harmonicas so that the kids could make and play Christmas music over the break.  

When the kids made their harmonicas, it got so noisy!  The kids loved their instruments and wanted to play them the rest of the time.  It was so great!  It made Russell's and my day.  I don't know that the teacher and the other parent helpers liked it but we thought it was so funny!  We may never be asked to help again but it was worth it.  Colby said that after the party his teacher made everyone put their harmonicas in their backpacks... Sorry Mrs. DeCoursey...  Logan's teacher thought the harmonicas were so cool.  She actually sat down with us and had us teach her how to make them.  After the party, she did tell the kids they had to put them away because they were headed to an assembly and she didn't think Mrs. Williamson (the principal) would appreciated their music.  

After the boys' parties, Russell and I went over to Emily's class to see her party.  In her class they were having candy sleigh races.  They had built little sleighs out of candy canes, candy bars, and other candies.  Then they raced them down a slope similar to a pinewood derby.  It was pretty cool to watch.  Russell and I decided that when we are in charge of the Morwood Christmas party, we were going to do this.  

When the kids got out of school, we headed straight to St. George for some more fun.

On Saturday night, we went to Grandma Morwood's Christmas party with all of my dad's side of the family.  It is always fun to get together with extended family and cousins we don't see a lot.  After dinner of soup, all of the grandkids, well great-grandkids now, put on the Nativity story.  Every year Emily hopes she will be picked as Mary and this year she was!  She was a great Mary.  Charlotte and Logan were angels.  Colby didn't want to be in it because he is too cool.  It was a good little play.  Charlotte waved to everyone while she was on stage.  She loves getting attention.

Then it was time for Santa!  The first thing Santa did when we walked in the room was go straight over to Grandma Morwood.  He gave her a hug and talked to her for a bit.  It was so cool to watch and all of us grabbed our phones and started taking pictures.  This just goes to show you that you are never too old for a visit from Santa, even if you are 101!

The visit from Santa is always the highlight of the night because he always brings each kid a present.  Our kids could not wait for their turn.

Each of the kids were so excited when they heard their names called.  I thought Logan was going to take Santa out when he got his present.  He sprinted up to Santa's chair and leaped onto his lap.  He was a little too excited!  Logan loved the Lego's he received. When Colby's name was read, he very coolly walked up to Santa and sat down.  You could tell though that he was trying to hold his excitement in.  He also loved his Lego's and started building immediately.  Emily was all smiles as she sat on Santa's lap.  She received a Bop It! game and has played it nonstop every since getting it.  Her high score is 62 which is pretty impressive.  Finally, Charlotte was the funniest.  When she heard her name, she ran right up to get her present.  When she sat on Santa's lap she said, "I'm Charlotte and I'm here for my present!"  We all laughed at her and Santa gave her the present.  Hers was a little Nerf gun.  She was excited about this because now she had a gun like Colby.

The next day on Sunday, we had the Terry Morwood Christmas party.  Clay and his family were in charge of it this year and they did a great job.

We all had a good time playing Bingo, and a bunch of Minute to Win It games.  The games were really funny to watch especially when the little kids would really get into it.

We blew bells across the table, stacked marshmallow snowmen, stacked towers with candy canes, and put all of the reindeer in order without using our hands.  We all had a blast laughing, being competitive, and just enjoying being together.  

At the end, we played one last game called CLR.  In this game we all started out with $3.  Then we would go around and roll the CLR dice to see if we got to keep the money, pass it to our left or right, or lose it to the center.  Whoever was the last person with money won all of the money in the center. It was a gamble playing this game but it was still fun.  The game lasted quite a while because of the big group.  We kept cheering whenever we got more money and booing every time we lost some.  Jess's boys were doing really well and we thought they were going to win.  Finally, in the end, Klint won the center.  He won $111!  We were all jealous.  

After the game we headed home.  It was late, around 8 pm, so we knew it would be a late drive home.  Sometimes those are good though because the kids sleep the whole way home.  We finally got home at around one or two in the morning.  We were so tired but it was a fun trip to St. George.

Christmas Concerts

Every December we get to attend a few Christmas concerts and recitals with the kids.  First this year was Colby and Emily's Christmas piano recital at the Blacksmith Fork Assisted Living Center.

They both did an amazing job on their piano pieces.  They each played one song alone and then they did a duet together.  They practiced so hard especially on the duet.

Emily played "The First Noel" and Colby played "Jingle Bells"  Then together they played "Away in a Manger."  This duet was a little trick for them and they had a hard time counting together and playing in the right places.  Finally after a lot of practice together, they figured it out and the song sounded great!  Good Job!!

Next was Emily's Christmas Choir Concert.  Emily has been in choir now for 4 years and she loves it.  I don't know that she likes the early morning practises but she loves choir.  Colby decided not to do choir this year.  He liked being in choir last year but wanted to do other things this year. 

The Choir concert was very good.  The kids sang some of the traditional Christmas songs this time.  During one of the songs, some of the girls got to do a dance while the choir sang.  Emily got to be part of this group.  They did a little Irish dance.  Emily loved being part of this.  She also had a solo singing part in the song "Caroling, Caroling."  She did a wonderful job singing her solo.  Emily would like to do more solos so she has talked about wanting to take voice lessons.  We will see if we do that.  

There is nothing better than listening to Christmas music to get you into the Spirit of Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

During December we have a lot of traditions we like to do with the kids.  Here are a few we did this year.

One of our favorite traditions for the Christmas season is making gingerbread houses. 

We make our little gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and left over Halloween candy.  It was fun watching all the kids do their own designs.  They get really creative with the candy and icing.

Logan went to town on his even though he was not feeling well the day we made them.  Emily is funny to watch.  As she gets older, her house is starting to have some cool details. She watched Mom make her house and wanted hers to look like it. Colby was a tootsie roll house with Santa on top of the house.  He even made a sleigh and a reindeer to pull it.  Charlotte had fun eating the candy and putting it on her house. She probably ate more than she used on her house because she is our sugar addict. They all turned out really great. We always have a great time making a huge mess and creating our houses. We just let the kids do whatever they want on their house and we don't even need to help them.

Another fun tradition we do every year is go to the Live Nativity in Nibley. 

This year they did it a little differently. They had the nativity set up in a smaller barn rather than the bigger one. I actually liked this set up better because it was less crowded and it just flowed better I thought. It is also cool to see a real camel in the middle of winter. 

 Moses the Camel is there every year and the kids love to pet him and see him.  We also love the hayride to get from the parking lot to the Nativity and back.  We like singing Christmas carols with the other people as we ride.  It was good to see the Nativity and remember the true meaning of Christmas. 

This year the kids wanted to be more festive, so Tiff got out the ladder and put up the lights without me. I got a text message saying Tiff was so proud of herself. I laughed and texted her back with a big thumbs up. She was not happy with the plugging in part. She didn't think about where the plugs were at when she finished. Thank goodness for extension cords.  I think it looks good.  

We are all excited for Christmas and celebrating our Savior's birth and life.

Holiday at Hardware Ranch 2019

Going to Hardware Ranch is a fun tradition we have in December.  We always go on the Hyrum City Holiday at Hardware Ranch day.  This event is free to Hyrum residents and we love taking advantage of it. 

For some reason though it seems to always land on a day that Russell is working.  Oh well, the kids and I always have fun together.  We always bundle up in our snow gear to prepare for the wagon ride around the elk.  We also like to get there at least a half hour early so that we are the first few people in line and on the first wagon.  This way we don't have to wait out in the cold for very long.

The elk were amazing to see as usual.  Since this was the first day of feeding for the elk, all that were there was the cows.  The bulls don't usually come down until it is really cold.  The cows were still awesome to see.  Russell would have been glad we didn't see any bulls while we were there because he is still disappointed about not getting an elk.

After seeing the elk, we headed up to the visitor center to see Santa!

This is truly the real Santa.  The kids loved visiting with him and Mrs. Claus.  They didn't really know what to tell him they wanted for Christmas so he told them he would bring underwear.  I told him that they actually did need new underwear so that would be great.

As we were driving back home through the canyon, I had to stop and snap a few pictures.  To tell you the truth, I am not a fan of snow, but there is something beautiful about snow covered pine trees.  I don't know, maybe winter is rubbing off on me...