MONDAY OFF
Nate did the coolest thing and took Monday off this week, so that we could finish up (or get closer to finishing up) our Christmas shopping- considering there were only a few more days we would have together to do that. It was super productive! While we were at Costco in Salt Lake we ran into Elder Holland!! Nate had seen him while I was with Molly at the bathroom and then when we were catching up to Nate, he pointed out Elder Holland! I couldn't resist, I had to ask him if I could shake his hand :). Nate had earlier too :). SO COOL!! Doesn't matter where you are or how short, or even the fact that he gave me his left hand to shake my right, you can still feel the Spirit of that calling! So cool!! I just love running into those guys. Made my day. 12-17-18
BRADLEY SINGING AT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Brad was so excited for his Elementary school tour. He sang at three schools on Monday. Columbia being the last. He was so excited he invited Nate and I to attend and I feel horrible that we missed it, but we were just so busy that day! But we did hear all about it and heard that Brad had told one of his friends which kid was his little brother, Jack, and Jack had gotten a kiss out of it :). Fun stuff. I love that these little guys have big brothers and sisters to guide them through life. 12-17-18
TEMPLE SQUARE FHE
We went on our traditional FHE to see the lights at Temple Square. This year we added a few elements. We had invited Grandma, Simon and the Kirschbaums, but no takers. We headed over to Subway, got our sandwiches, salads and chips, then ran over to the train. We were not in as big a hurry as we have been in before, but we always feel this sense of urgency. We only waited a few minutes before our train was there and we boarded. We were able to eat our food on the train, then got off in Salt Lake. It is always fun to watch the kids on the train. Especially Jack this year :). He was loving it, talking about everything he saw. Someday we should go when it's light outside though... So we got off on South Temple, walked over to Temple Square. Made our way through the south Visitor's center, we love the model of the Salt Lake Temple. We saw some lights and headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to check out the vending machines. This was a much anticipated addition to the trip. I think Kelly was the most anxious for it. We found the really long line, got our menu and began the process of deciding what to buy! This is a very tough decision! We divided the kids into pairs and each pair had a certain amount of money they could spend. This gave us something to do while we stood in line for 20-ish minutes (which is a lot less time than I would have imagined looking at the line). We got up to the front of the line and everyone was very excited! We walked over to our machine and one by one they told us what they had chosen. It was pretty thrilling and to top it off, we got Molly squeals and shrieks every time something fell to the bottom! She was SO EXCITED!! It's funny how much everyone else's excitement can rub off on her when she has no idea what is going on. She was jumping up and down... perfect for the camera guys to get a shot of. I hope she makes it into one of the videos :). It really was such a thrilling experience! How fun that we get to choose where our money goes and who it can help. The kids loved it, I loved it, it was a neat experience. We need to save up this next year and bring enough to buy a school :). After the vending machines we were pretty much done. We wanted to get some hot chocolate so we walked down toward the candy windows and looked at those. Always fun. There was a little crepes stand with hot chocolate and apple cider- so that was perfect! Saved us from having to go to JB's and sit and wait (which is funny considering how the rest of the evening went). We walked back to the trax stop, made our way to the front runner station and then our evening took a bit of a turn! When we got to the boarding platform we learned that the train was running behind schedule. Not sure what that meant, the kids began playing some loud games and entertaining themselves. After about 45 minutes, we started to wonder where the train was. It was starting to get really cold, Molly didn't have her coat on (wouldn't put it on I should say) so Nate had crammed her into his coat and was holding her in his arms. Everyone else was still in good spirits, but slowly losing their patience as well. It wasn't until about an hour and a half had passed that I finally got the idea to say a prayer together- I had already said many on my own, along with calling Charity to see if she would be able to come get us if it came down to it- but it was time to involve the kids. I almost wanted to involve some of the people around us, but instead I grabbed my kids, dragged them over to a dark area on the platform and in a huddle, we said a prayer. It was awesome. I felt so good after! Didn't even matter if anything happened from it, it felt good to be the one to initiate a prayer- it's usually the kids. But the miracle of all miracles happened and only minutes after our prayer- there was a our train!!! It was too exciting! I couldn't contain my smile! I was so happy! Slightly bummed that I hadn't thought to do that sooner, but still so awesome! I loved our little miracle. We got home pretty late and were so exhausted from shivering in the cold for an hour and a half, that we just went right to bed after reading scriptures and praying together. Cool memories! 12-17-18
NOAH'S CHOIR PERFORMANCE
We got to go to Noah's choir concert on Tuesday night. It ended up being a lot of fun. They sang a lot of fun songs and you could tell they had worked very hard. I ran into my old friend Meg Thorne (Zurkle now) who was sitting a couple rows behind us- which was really fun. So proud of Noah and all the time and work he has put into this choir! Good job, bud! 12-18-18
MOLLY
The other day I asked Molly to do something for me and then when she declined, I said, "Don't you want to help Mommy?" and she says, "I do... but I don't." Kinda cracked me up. 12-18-18
Another fun Molly-ism:
I gave her a kiss and she says, "I not wiping dem off." And I said, "awesome! why?" And she says, "cause I like dem." AWWWWWW!!! Melt my heart. 12-19-18
NOAH CLASS SPELLING BEE
Noah and I, as per tradition, crammed all the spelling words into his head the few days before the spelling bee and apparently it paid off- he won! Well, he was in the top three of his class! He will be moving on to the school spelling bee! The tradition lives on! 12-19-18
BRAD'S CHRISTMAS CHOIR CONCERT
We had a lot of finagling with schedules on Wednesday, but we made it all work! Nate and I and the four younger kids all got to attend Brad's choir concert. Kind of a bummer that the ward planned their caroling activity on the night when all the singers would be in that concert, but whatever. Brad was a lot of fun to watch! I love seeing him bring out this talent of his. They sang some really fun songs along with the "controversial" "Baby It's Cold Outside". I loved the cheering from the audience when she announced that she decided to sing it anyway, because it's "a cute song"! Thankfully there are still civilized people in the world. It was a fun concert. Glad we got to be there. 12-19-18
CHARITY AND HER JAZZ GAME
Charity's friends invited her to a Jazz game! She was overjoyed! We were all so happy for her that she got to be there at THAT game and then when she got home, she showed us HER on the TV, during the postgame show. Fun stuff. 12-19-18
PARTIES GALORE
So Thursday ended up being a pretty big day! It was a lot of fun, but I was definitely running nonstop. I was in charge of two parties, one for Noah's class, one for Erika's. We were doing a pancake one in Noah's class, for which I had to make 60+ pancakes. Thankfully the lady in charge of the syrup eventually showed up. That party was nice and quick. Very relaxing. I think the kids liked it. After that, we (Molly was with me- not one of her more shining moments for sure) went over to Erika's class for her party. This was a more traditional one, with the groups and rotating to stations. We were in charge of one of the games, we did the plastic wrapped candy into the big ball. I should say that Kelly did it for me the night before- wrapped up five huge balls using five boxes of plastic. Total lifesaver! This game was fun, but I think my patience was running thin towards the end. Some groups were less fun than others. The kids that cry when they don't get what they want irritate me. I so hope my kids don't do that when I'm not around. ulgh. But the party was fun. Erika loved it. Molly had a few moments that I probably shouldn't document. She was not the most cheerful little person. We came home and took a nap.
So during all of our party hooplah- Nate was busy carrying out a 150 person catering order! This was a HUGE undertaking and I didn't help him at all. He worked SO HARD!! It was a miraculous dash to the finish getting the food to the place on time, but he did it! It was fun to hear that it all went well, but I'm still feeling like a big jerk for not being more available to help out. He is amazing. 12-20-18
CHRISTMAS BREAK
So I have been horrible at documenting things this month! We spent those few days before Christmas finishing our homemade gifts for each other. That's always a mad dash, but we all got them done. Some of the kids spent time over at the snow hill once we finally got some snow, sledding. Some of us spent more time than we wanted to at the stores, picking up all the last minute stuff. It was a weird break this year, spread out funny. I wasn't a fan. But it was nice to have everyone home for a few days before the big day. 12-21-18--1-3-19
