The Monday after Christmas, Kevin and I planned a getaway to celebrate both our birthdays.  But before we left, the kids wanted us to take them sledding.  God gave us lots of fluffy snow for Christmas, and Grandpa and Maria gave us a sled, so we had everything we needed!

In the afternoon, Kevin and I drove up to Park City.  We found some trails to hike to enjoy the beauty of the mountains in that ski valley.  We had dinner and sat in the spa and watched a movie!  It was a fun night.  The next day, we drove into Midway and found some fluffier snow so we could try out the snowshoes we had borrowed from our friends.  It was a fun way to be out in the sunshine even when the weather is colder!  And of course, I loved spending time with my man!  Happy Birthday to us!

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur.  The kids were all home from school, but Kevin went back to work.  Sarah organized some games with friends and explored a couple more job options.  Megan worked at Funfinity.  Mariah had basketball practices.  Cali and Chey played with friends and read books and went sledding at least twice more.  Beth played with friends and with her new dolls and with her sisters.  Ben had a Karate party and played Minecraft and watched all the episodes of Troll Hunters and may have completed Ninjago again.

Saturday night was our big New Year's Eve bash that we have every year with the Groslands.  We had a couple of extra friends and with all the grown-up kids we're accumulating, it made for a big group!  We played games and had snacks and then counted down the New Year and toasted it with sparkling apple cider!  Then we took our noisiness outside for a walk around the block.  It was a great night!  Happy 2017!  It's going to be a good one!

We had four more days of school to finish up this week.  Gifts had to be delivered for Relief Society's sub for santa.  Cali and Chey had another day of tennis.  Ben had two more days of Karate. I still had a couple more gifts to obtain and a funeral to oversee the luncheon for on Friday!  Not to mention, two birthdays and Christmas!!

Kevin's birthday was on Wednesday.  Someone donated tickets to the Heber Train's Polar Express Ride to all the first graders and one parent,to be used Wednesday evening.  So, for Kevin's birthday, he got to take his son on the Polar Express!  Pretty fun, right?  They had a great time and went out to eat for burgers afterward, but no worries, I made Kevin his fried chicken the night before and buttermilk pancakes for breakfast.  We love that dad of ours!

The next day was Megan's 18th birthday!!!  How did she get to be that old?  It's like she's all grown up or something!  To celebrate, we headed over to the Brick Oven for pizza and root beer and free chocolate pie.  Oh, and the teen boy making balloon creations, spent extra time at our table!  Afterwards, Meg REALLY wanted to see Christmas lights.  So, we went to Christmas in Color in Provo where the lights are synchronized to music and very incredible.  The pictures don't do it justice.  We went to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's after that for a very special cake and finished up by opening presents including a phone headset Meg could plug into her cell phone--from Savannah!  It was a very fun day.

Saturday was Christmas Eve!  Sarah, with varying help from her siblings, made gingerbread men and shortbread cookies on Friday while I was helping at the church.  So, on Saturday, we were able to pile in the van and deliver to our church teachers and friends and thank them for all they bring into our lives!  That night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's for our traditional candlelight dinner, talent show, nativity, and Grandma and Grandpa gift exchange.  It was lovely.

Sunday was Christmas Day!!  The kids woke us up at 7:00am.  Actually, I should say that they woke me up.  Kevin had been up for an hour shoveling already.  Our world turned from wet, black shiny streets to deep white everywhere overnight!  We opened presents and had French toast breakfast and opened more presents.  Then, guess what?  It was time for church!  So we got dressed up and headed over to the chapel through the snow.  Mariah, Cali, Cheyenne, and I sang in the choir and we sang three songs.  There were also two great talks and afterward there were hugs and Merry Christmases from so many of the people we love!  Then back home to work on our turkey dinner and to get the computer set up for . . . OUR TALK WITH SAVANNAH!!  It was just too short!  But it was so great to hear her laugh and see her face and listen to her stories.  We sure love that girl!  Having her face on our screen was the best part of Christmas.  *Sigh* Then we went back to dinner preparations and had a lovely dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik.  After cleanup, we played the game Megan gave us for Christmas, Ticket to Ride, where Kevin beat us all by a gazillion point margin, just like he does in every game!  How does he do that?  Anyway, we love him and we love our family and we had a great time being together all day!  We are so grateful for the gift of God's son and our chance of eternal life and eternal family because of Him.  We hope your Christmas was just as filled with love!

 

 

Sarah came home this week!!!!  Yay!!!  Kevin took a bus up to Rexburg on Thursday night so he could drive her home.  We knew from the weather that Saturday was supposed to get a lot of snow.  It got so much snow, that Kevin's dad lent him his jeep so they could get back safely.  So, we will still need to go back and get Sarah's car at some point, but for now, Sarah is home, done with finals, and ready to live with us again for a few months.  We are so ready for her to be back, too!!

Megan worked holiday hours at Funfinity all week including Saturday morning.  She needed the evening off so she could go to the Christmas Dance with Kaden!  They wore "ugly" sweaters, decorated gingerbread houses at a friend's house where they had lasagna, went to the dance, and then went to another friend's house for cheesecake afterwards.  Fun times!

Mariah had three basketball games last week!  She is having fun and playing hard!  On Saturday morning, her team had a fundraiser offering breakfast with Santa.  She wore an elf hat and served fruit and we all came and ate pancakes and Beth and Cali and Chey even talked to Santa!

 

Cali and Chey had a basketball game on Saturday and they lost but played hard.  Their coach is really pleased with their hard work and good technique!  They also had basketball practice and tennis and a piano recital!  They played a trio at the piano with Bethany!  It was so fun.  The highlight of the week was their school choir concert where Cheyenne sang a solo!!  She didn't even tell us about it!  She wanted it to be a surprise.  It sure was.  She sang lovely!  What a brave soul!

Bethany had her dance recital on Saturday!  She looked so cute and danced so lovely!  Meg had to work, but the rest of us all went and ooed and ahhed over her and her dad bought her flowers.  No wonder she loves to dance!

Benjamin doesn't really like dance concerts, though he does much better with them than choir concerts.  He told us that he didn't want to go to the pancake breakfast because they wouldn't be serving vegetables and he needs to eat his vegetables.  (We did get him to go, though).  We also watched Forgotten Carols over at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house tonight and when he got bored of the movie, he whispered to me, "Can I have the keys so I can drive home and get some toys?  I'll come right back!"  Um . . . no, sweetie.  That's not going to work.

Megan worked 18 hours this week at Funfinity, including a 9-3 shift Saturday during the busiest hours!  She came home exhausted and collapsed on the kitchen bench.  She's a hardworking gal!  She got asked to the Christmas dance by her sweet friend, Kaden, on Wednesday night and she delivered cupcakes that spelled "Y-E-S," on Saturday.  Good thing she made them Friday night or she would have been too exhausted!  Also on Friday night, she and I performed at our ward Christmas party.  She played mandolin and I played fiddle and we played "Carol of the Bells."  We totally rocked it.

Mariah went to Las Vegas this weekend!  She went down with the basketball team to play in an invitation-only tournament at Bishop Gorman High School.  They played in four games and got back after midnight on Saturday night.  She was pretty exhausted when she got home, too!  My mom and dad were able to watch her in some of her games there!  Mariah loved that and I love it, too!

Cheyenne and Calianne had another busy week with tennis and piano and basketball.  We are all looking forward to when it is just piano and basketball.  That's plenty!  Especially since they are on two basketball teams.  They played a bantam game yesterday evening.  They got beat but they played really hard.  Their coach was proud of them!

Bethany is enjoying her basketball practices twice a week, and she is my only player who can do a lay-up.  I'm pretty impressed with her.  She is also getting ready for her dance recital next week AND her piano recital.

Benjamin met a new friend in primary.  They talked Minecraft.  Ben was excited.  He's biked over to his house three times this week!  And they have played things other than Minecraft--mostly because of their moms!  Ha ha!

Kevin's cool media team at work helped him make 10 videos this week to go along with the book he is writing on betrayal trauma.  He's been very busy, as usual.

Katy did some accounting and did some reading and tried really hard not to be busy, as usual.  Ha, ha!

And she just took this one picture from our ward party.  Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday was Mariah's sixteenth birthday!  She has grown into a beautiful young lady and we love her so!  Don't worry.  We played her lots of sappy turning sixteen songs!  We had a lovely birthday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's on Sunday and opened presents and such on Tuesday, too!  She had basketball practice all week and her first home games on Friday!  She played the majority of the JV game and a good part of Varsity, too.  Kevin and I watched her play (as did Megan and Cheyenne) and it was great fun!  What a great girl she is!

This is us cheering Mariah on at her game!

Megan had a busy week as college application deadlines for BYU and University of Utah were December 1st.  Yes.  She submitted both applications on the same day.  We're willing to bleed red and blue at this house!  She's also been busy at work as Funfinity stays open until 9pm every night during Christmas season.  Apparently, though, when she and her friend, Rebekah, work, sales go up!  Enough that the owner has taken notice.  She is pretty cool.  It's not so hard to notice.

Cali and Chey continue to find time to tell me they're bored in spite of piano lessons once a week, tennis twice a week, basketball practice four times a week, and their first bantam basketball game--which they won.  Oh, and they do go to school, too.  Actually, they have new pieces for piano and have been sitting down to play often throughout the days.  I pretty much love it!  They're also big readers and fill their time with that, too.

Bethany had dance and piano and lots of play dates.  She is also trying to lean Ben's Minecraft game, you know, to spend quality time with her brother.  Her basketball team started practices this week and I have it on good authority that she is her coach's favorite!  (Ha, ha!  That would be me!)

Benjamin is still enjoying school and striving to do his best.  He is also liking Karate and finding his cousin, Dylan, on Minecraft.  He's broken all his pairs of glasses again and has a split lip.  He's awesome!

I found time to go hiking with Robin again this week.  We went on a trail at the mouth of Provo Canyon.  It was beautiful and I wasn't cold, but I was wet when I got home!

Gorgeous, right?