Merry…Fall?

Last Christmas Nathan jumped on the whole experience gift train and gifted Kevin, Malia, and I with a trip to Color Me Mine. He went back to school after Christmas break and was out of town with friends for his spring break. Once his semester was over, we were neck deep in getting a missionary out the door and planning a wedding. About five minutes after the wedding, school started again. And so, though it had not been the intention, we found the calendar rapidly creeping towards Christmas once again and had yet to redeem last Christmas’ gift. Nathan only had one day for fall break this year, but he didn’t have any plans, so he drove down and helped us make applesauce last Friday. And on Saturday, we finally made it to Color Me Mine!

As it is fall, the Halloween and Christmas pieces are in stock, so Kevin and I opted for something Halloweeny. Kevin chose a sorcerer’s hat, and I painted a cute jack-o-lantern. Nathan opted for a super cute dinosaur mug, and Malia selected a roller skate. Apparently, Benson Boone has a music video in which he roller blades (I only know this because Google tells me so) and so her selection was in honor of her recent attendance at his American Heart Tour concert. She painted her skate red, white and blue, and paid a bit of homage to Boone by adding his initials to the back. It was super fun to sit for an afternoon and create a little something fun.

Once we finished painting, we headed over to Tsunami for dinner. We haven’t been since before Matthew left on his mission and we were all missing it a bit. And the funny thing is, all his allergy info is linked to Kevin’s account so even though Matthew was not there and we had a server we have never worked with before, she came to the table and immediately began to address the allergy needs. Which is why we love the staff at Tsunami! They are super fantastic! And another of the servers that we have worked with multiple times, asked where Matthew was and how he is doing. 😊

For those who have never been, ceramics painted at Color Me Mine get glazed and fired before you take them home, so there is a bit of a wait. Ours was actually a pretty quick one as our things were ready today, four or five days ahead of schedule. They all came out looking great! And it makes me want to go back soon and choose something Christmasy…

Genetics

Today’s post is courtesy of Nathan who, halfway through a walk today, was reminded that he looks just like Kevin. 

It’s true that Nathan is the one of our children that looks the most like Kev which is kind of entertaining considering the fact that personality wise, he is exactly like me. 😂

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Kevin’s dad was in the Air Force, so as he was growing up, things were all about the airplanes in his family. As such, it seemed perfectly appropriate that I should be initiated into the grand event that is an air show several months after Kev and I got married. Having no real idea what I was in for, I happily agreed to go. That evening, I returned home with one of the worst sunburns I’ve ever gotten and a massive headache from the heat. Needless to say, I have never attended another air show. I am glad that I experienced one though, so I have a frame of reference for the many that my boys have attended. I just don’t love planes enough to risk the misery that a long, hot day in the burning sun brings me.

With that bit of history noted, I once again introduce a guest blogger to report on an event I did not attend. This time Matthew has shared a few thoughts and just a few of the hundreds of amazing pictures he took today:

This airshow was my first experience with the Air Force Demonstration Team, the Thunderbirds. I've seen the Blue Angels numerous times, but never the Thunderbirds. It was a wonderful show of force from the aviation of this country, and it was quite the perspective seeing the shift from the Japanese A6M Zeros and the P-40, all the way to the F-16's, and the F-35's. I was able to bring my best friend Alex, and she had a wonderful time as well. It was a joy to be there with the people I enjoy being with. It ended up being hot and I got mildly sunburned, but overall it was totally worth it. At the end of the day my right eye was red right in the place where I squinted to look through the camera's viewfinder. It was quite the time, and I enjoyed it, and would go again with the same people.

One Day, Four States, and a Giant Thermometer

It has been one short week since our return from the lone star state and we are on the road again, this time headed west instead of east. Matthew’s high school band is touring southern California this year and like last year, he requested that Kevin shadow them to act as his emergency food backup plan. When we started talking about this tour back in the fall, Kev decided that if Matthew is going to Disneyland, he is going to Disneyland. And I figured that if Kev is going to Disneyland, Malia and I were going to Disneyland too. Because seriously, how sad would it be for the two of us to be sitting here at home while Kevin and Matthew are at Disneyland? And thus, a plan was born. A plan that would involve Malia missing three days of school to experience just a little bit of Southern Cali. And a plan that means Kevin and I are having two vacations in three weeks. After some initial hesitation to submit to the plan because she didn’t want to miss school, (I love the fact that she loves school that much!) Malia ended up being on board with the plan as well. 

Matthew and the band are leaving Utah this evening and driving through the night, but Kevin and I 1) are  getting too old for that kind of travel, 2) will have a serious need for at least one of us to actually be awake for the whole driving part, and 3) are hoping to have enough energy to have fun at Disneyland tomorrow, so we left home bright and early this morning so that we would already be where Matthew needs us to be by the time he arrives in the morning. Malia was not a fan of the “bright and early” part, but she was excited to go and since Tiny Toothless got to accompany us on our Texas trip, we decided to take Baby Buc-ee with us to California.

Unlike the kids on the bus, we got to choose our pit stops and being the wacky folks that we are, we opted for some rather unorthodox stopping points. We did stop in St. George, which is a totally normal stop for breaking up a long drive, but another of our stops was in Baker, CA. What is there in Baker, you might ask? And the answer is…practically nothing. Baker is really just a wide spot next to the freeway. But it does boast several random tourist attractions that are just our cup of tea. Our first stop was to see the world’s tallest thermometer, which is appropriately placed as it is very near to Death Valley. Even in mid-April, the temperature in Baker was 92 degrees. It was in the 50’s when we left home this morning, so that was a big temperature swing for us.

When Kevin discussed our upcoming trip with his work crew, one of his co-workers told him he had to stop and get some alien jerky. Yes, I know that sounds a little weird. It definitely sounded weird to be too. But what I discovered is that just down the road from the gigantic thermometer is a store called Alien Jerky. Their specialty is beef jerky in a variety of flavors, all alien themed, of course. In addition to the giant wall of jerky, they carry a small collection of drinks and a freak ton of alien themed mementos. There is also a big old UFO of some sort being constructed behind the main storefront, so in future there may be even more out of this world experiences to be found in Baker, CA.

It seems like the dullest part of any road trip is the actual driving down the road part. But with a couple of totally random stops, we managed to visit four states (Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California) with only a bit of mind-numbing monotony. And tomorrow we are off to visit Mickey Mouse so that promises to be far more exciting!

A Weekend Away

This weekend Kevin, Malia and I were in St. George. The state high school marching band finals were this weekend and we drove down to watch the competition and to act as Matthew’s food related emergency backup plan. This is the first time he has done any kind of an overnight trip without us. When he was twelve, he had planned to go on the yearly summer scout camp out, but as the dates got closer and closer, he got more and more uneasy, and he and Kevin decided together that going was not the right thing. The year after that was when Covid hit, and all such activities were cancelled for so long that he really hasn’t had many opportunities. But band is important to him, very important, so making this trip work was a necessity for him. In fact, he felt like this three-night jaunt would be a trial run for their longer and further away full band tour in the spring.

We have been talking and planning for months and while Matthew had a food plan and wanted very much to handle everything on his own, he did ask if we could be his emergency back-up just in case something went sideways. Well, nothing went wrong. He did great and had great support from the band teacher and the boosters. In fact, he felt so confident after several successfully managed days that the rest of us came home yesterday instead of staying until this morning like the band did.

While Matthew was busy living it up with his band cronies, Kev, Malia and I were having a mini vacation. We did attend the competition on Friday night though. The finals are held in St. George each year so that the weather is more temperate, but there has been an unusual cold snap and it was cold, so very cold outside. I think Malia and I were nearly frozen to the bleachers by the time the performance was over. At least we were smart enough to bring our coats and Kev brought the stadium blankets that he uses when BYU football games are played in inclement weather, so we were reasonably well prepared for the frigid temperatures.

The three of us spent the morning on Friday visiting some church historical sites in the St. George area. We visited the St. George temple and spent some time with the missionaries serving in the visitor’s center and got a peek at the current state of the temple renovations. We also took a tour of the St. George Tabernacle. I’m always terribly impressed with the quality of the pioneer workmanship that went into creating these amazing buildings, and this tabernacle was no exception. It was absolutely beautiful, and we heard some pretty neat stories about the history of St. George and the tabernacle itself. 

We visited Brigham Young’s winter home as well and learned a bit more about this particular prophet. I think my favorite story was about the building of the St. George Temple. Brigham Young knew the temple should be topped by a dome. The original plans had a steeple, but since the tabernacle had a spire, he wanted the temple to be different and knew a dome was just the thing. Plans were adjusted and there was a dome built. But when Brigham Young saw it, he declared that it was too short. The dome needed to be taller, and he wanted them to fix it. Not long after that, Brigham Young passed away, so those working on the temple just left the short dome in place. But to their chagrin, within a year of Brigham Young’s death, lightning struck the temple and the dome was destroyed by the resulting fire. The rest of the temple was unaffected. At that point, the decision was made to make the dome tower taller, just as Brigham had told them it needed to be.

Yesterday morning we went on a hunt for some petroglyphs. I found a site that was not far away, just over the border into Arizona, so we decided to head out and see the sites. We followed the directions we found on the internet, and it only took us a few minutes to realize that the website had neglected to provide the information that you really needed a truck or 4-wheel drive off roading vehicle to get to the site. We quickly decided to abort that mission and set to work finding some petroglyphs elsewhere. We ended up driving to a giant rock covered in petroglyphs that was located in the middle of the neighborhood. Obviously, the rock was there long before the houses, but the developers had designed the neighborhood around the existing rock and made the area into a small park. The fully paved roads in a calm, residential area were a much better match for our vehicle! And we still got to see some cool petroglyphs. 

After the petroglyphs, we took a tour of the Jacob Hamblin home, another church historic site, but it was underwhelming after our time in the tabernacle and Brigham Young’s home the previous day. Many of the stories told were the same and our interest was waning at that point. We did see a roadrunner while we were in the parking lot though. None of us had ever seen a roadrunner in person, so that was neat!

As I said earlier, Matthew felt comfortable enough in his ability to feed himself safely that after conferring with him, we decided to head home mid-day yesterday rather than stay until this morning. We arrived home last night, slept in our own beds, and awaited Matthew’s return. He got home midday today and despite the disappointment over the judging, he had a great time. He feels like he can handle the upcoming tour and that with some advanced planning and continued support from the band director and the parent chaperones, he can make it work. I think he can too. It ended up being a very successful weekend. Not only did we all have fun, but Matthew has gained some real confidence in this ability to feed himself safely on a school sponsored trip.

Snarky Pants

Malia spent this afternoon with her longtime friend, Raylee. As they talked, Raylee noted that the top of the doorframe to her grandma’s backyard playhouse now hits her mid-chest which proves that she has grown. Malia related this comment to us at dinner this evening. Kev being snarky replied, “I’ve hit my head on a lot of doorframes…maybe that’s what happened.”

Without a pause, Malia added, “To all your hair?”

Loud laughter from all, including Kev. I’m so proud that her wit is up to our family’s standards.

A Mixed Bag

Yesterday was back to school day for Nathan and Matthew. Today was back to school day for Malia. They have all come out of their first days with mixed feelings.

Nathan’s A days are rough. Being in two choirs in a Covid world is not all that fun. Singing in a mask is hard. Add to that all the social drama that he desperately wants to avoid, and choir becomes a virtual smorgasbord of ulcer inducing anxiety. He originally had four choirs, but over the past couple of months he decided to drop two of them and add a couple of math classes into his schedule instead. Math translates to Covid altered learning much more successfully than choir. And honestly, he’s so stinking excited about the math that it just makes more sense for him to spend a bit more time there. Luckily, one of those math classes and ASL 3 (he took ASL 1 last year and learned so fast that his teacher told him to skip right to ASL 3), both of which he loves, give him a break between choirs and add some redeeming grace to his A days. So there is a bit of a silver lining there.

In direct contrast to A days, Nathan says B days are going to be awesome. He starts the say with seminary (always a fantastic way to start the day!) and has AP Physics C and AP Statistics on these days. He also has a mythology class, but that one is just to finish filling in his language arts requirement so he can graduate. He’s definitely interested in the topics they will cover, but he’s nowhere near as excited as he is for his heavy math classes. Have I mentioned that he really loves math? I mean really, really loves it. He does math on his own time for fun. Daniel reviewed over the summer so he would back up to speed when school started and Nathan happily, nearly giddily, helped him remember the finer points of calculus. So he’s super excited for B days. His entire demeanor after school today was lighter than it was yesterday.

Matthew is going back to school with a hybrid schedule. He has several classes in person, but he’s not ready to be a part of the mass of humanity that is the middle school. His stress level about being an asthmatic in the midst of Covid is still really high. So he’s going to the school for band, drawing and stage crew (and his teachers have been fantastic about helping him find less populated routes to get from one place to another) and doing the rest of his classes online. We don’t really know what online school is going to look like as of yet because nothing has been posted. We’re not even really sure who all his teachers are, so that could be interesting and is providing a bit of anxiety for him. But the band part is great. His face was lit up when he came home yesterday. He said it is so good to be back in the band room. His eyes were alight when he came home today as well. (The middle school is also using a block schedule this year to help lessen the amount of time spent cleaning each day and to minimize the number of passing periods in each day.) He has tons of friends on stage crew and being able to see them and interact with them was amazing. The only damper on things right now is the fact that the before school jazz band has not started yet. They just barely hired a new teacher (the previous one went full time at the high school so is no longer available to pick up those couple of classes he was teaching at the middle school) and he hasn’t had time to work out all the details. But it will come. And Matthew is ready to go when it does.

School definitely looks different for Malia this year. In response to Covid and the need to push the school start date back from the end of July, our elementary has switched from their year-round calendar to a traditional calendar. That meant that for the first time ever, she had a full summer vacation. She seemed to enjoy that, but we’ll see how she feels later this year when she doesn’t go off track. One of the characteristics of year-round school is the fact that at least half of the kids in each class remain in the same class from year to year. It’s those families (like us) that have a preference for a specific, less popular track and always request that one. But moving to a traditional calendar means a lot more mixing of kids across classes. And to her dismay, Malia only knows a couple of the kids in her class this year. Add to that the fact that they are doing everything they can to keep the kids as far away from each other as possible, and my normally friendly girl is having a hard time getting to know the new people in her class. But she does say that’s its good to be back in the school. She loves school and has missed it a lot. During the stretch of online school in the spring, there were several occasions when she told me that she just learns better when she’s in the school with her teacher. I completely agree with that and hopefully she will learn to navigate the social aspects of school from behind a face mask.

As for me, it has been a really long time since the house has been as quiet as it was this morning. Kevin is still working from home, but he’s tucked away in the sewing room in the basement and I’m rattling around in the rest of the house. I’ve always valued my limited time alone at home, but it has been so long since I’ve had any that for right now, it feels a little desolate. But I’m sure that in no time I’ll fall back into my routine and learn how to cherish these silent moments again. It will probably happen just in time for all the schools to close again when cold and flu season collides with Covid in the fall. 😜

So mixed feelings all around. Excitement and joy interlaced with worrying and wondering. But life is like than, even in more normal times. And these are most definitely not normal times. Some mixed feelings are to be expected and, in my opinion, are much preferred over the raging negativity we could be experiencing.

A Summer’s Work

Just about as soon as school got out earlier this summer, Daniel and Nathan headed to the temple. They made it a priority, and both went as often as they could with an ever-rotating group of friends. They didn’t limit themselves to once a week but went as often as the fancy hit them. I think Nathan went five times in two weeks once and Daniel went four times last week alone. Matthew went several times as well, although he was not able to get there as often because he doesn’t drive yet and was not always included in his brothers’ trips.

Early in the summer, Nathan found an entire family’s worth of siblings, five brothers and two sisters, that all needed their work done. He printed the names and we set to work with the goal of finishing them in time for a family sealing session my dad had scheduled. The boys worked together to complete the baptisms (Daniel had a female friend do the baptisms for the two sisters), then Daniel did the initiatory and endowment for the brothers and I did the work for the sisters. He did the last endowment yesterday, so we were all ready for this evening’s sealing session.

I love doing sealings because they are the culmination of all the ordinances we do in the temple. It is the one that binds families together. Doing a session with Kevin, Daniel, my parents and my sisters and their spouses was fantastic. It was the first time Daniel has done a sealing session so that made it an even more amazing experience. I know this isn’t the first time I’ve said this, but I love being in the temple with my family. It just reminds me that family is really what it’s all about. And the officiator for our session was so personable and really helped invite the spirit to be with us.

For the names Nathan had discovered, Kevin and I were proxy for the parents and Daniel was proxy for all the sons. One of my sisters was proxy for the daughters. We did all seven names in a row, binding those children to their parents. It made me smile to think about all those siblings rejoicing as they were finally sealed together as a family. I may even have been grinning like an idiot. When we finished the last name, my thoughts suddenly turned, and I had the thought that we were missing someone. I felt a need to check and make sure. The feeling didn’t wane as the session continued and with all the great technology we have, I was able to check as soon as we got back to the car. What I discovered were three more siblings-one brother whose name had been reserved for nearly two years but the work not completed, a sister (the youngest sibling) whose death date means we aren’t able to do her work yet, and the oldest brother for whom no work has been done and whose name is unreserved. Daniel immediately reserved the oldest brother and his wife and printed the cards as soon as we got home. He plans to get the baptisms done tomorrow morning at his next planned temple trip. And the reservation on the other brother will expire in October if his work remains unfinished so I will keep my eye on that to make sure he can join his family as well. As for the youngest sister, we’ll have to let time pass until we can do her ordinances.

To me, having the spirit speak to me about those missing siblings is yet another confirmation that all this is true. These aren’t just random names on paper. They are real people and the work we do for them is vital. The sealer in our session assured us that the acceptance rate of the gospel is far greater on the other side that it is here. Without the veil clouding all we once knew of where we came from, I very much believe that to be true. And I believe this particular family, whose last name is the same as ours, is so happy and so anxious for the remaining siblings to be sealed to them as well.

My boys have been such an amazing example to me all summer. Their desire to be in the temple is inspiring. Their willingness to devote their time and sacrifice other activities be there is humbling. I feel blessed to be their mother.

(Nathan has kept nearly all the name cards he has done baptisms for this summer. He has seventy cards in hand and about thirty more that he doesn’t have the cards for. That is an amazing amount of work done in one summer.)

It Was THIS Big!!

A few years ago, Kevin and the kids took a day trip to Ogden to see a train called “Big Boy” as it passed through on its way to Denver to be restored. This weekend, it came back through, under its own power this time, as part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the driving of the golden spike that connected the eastern and western portions of the transcontinental railroad. Daniel and Nathan had scheduling conflicts and were not able to join us, but the rest of us drove up to see the train. It is aptly named because the thing is gigantic! The wheels alone are more than 6 feet tall! There were about a gazillion people there and navigating the crowds was a bit of a chore, but I’m glad we were able to see a piece of history.

Varied Motivations

Having Matthew gave Kevin someone who goes to ball games because he thinks sports are cool. Having Malia gave him someone who goes to ball games because she thinks cheerleaders are cool. 😊

Rite of Passage

When I was in high school, a dance meant dinner before the dance, the dance itself and then some kind of dessert afterward. Nowadays a high school dance has become an all day adventure: a day date, a short break for everyone to get all dressed up, dinner, dance, and another activity afterwards. Today was Daniel’s very first school dance. The day date included games, snacks, etc. and ran from 9:00 a.m. until about 1:00 p.m. Daniel had a bit of time to kill since it only takes him a few minutes to get all suave looking, and then he was picked up at 5:00 p.m. for pictures, dinner and the dance. After the dance there was dessert and a movie. So it was an all-day adventure and he had a fabulous time. His date looked lovely and her dress was fantastic. It made me wish I had an excuse for a fancy dress.

Daniel hasn’t dated much thus far, but he had a wonderful time and perhaps this has given him a taste of how fun these group dates can be. I didn’t date all that much in high school either, but there was one high school dance to which I took a crazy guy as an emotionally safe date and we had a great time. Though neither of us could have possibly predicted that we would end up married 7 years after that casual date and in fact, we assumed we would never see each other again after high school, it was a common experience that gave us a reason to remember each other when we met again much later. While most high school dates don’t end up in marriage down the road, if nothing else, they are a memorable part of high school, a highlight to be remembered with fondness.

“Totality” Cool

As I’m sure you all know, today was a total solar eclipse that was visible across the entire United States. Kevin and the boys, my dad and my sister Rachael and her family drove north into the path of totality. I would have liked to go, but August heat=migraine for me and I knew I would end up feeling miserable so I stayed home with Malia. Malia had school, but I went and checked her out for awhile so she could experience the 93% eclipse we got here. We went to the park next to the elementary school and Malia alternated between playing on the playground and checking in to see how the eclipse was coming along. It was actually pretty disconcerting to know it was the middle of the day and yet have no cloud cover and nearly no light.

The men folk had a great time and took a million pictures to share when they got home. Kevin had a sun filter for his camera and took so many pictures that he actually ran completely out of battery power.

Sprinkled in with the pictures of heavenly bodies were a few of the earthly bodies.

  (Nathan always comments on how I put the dorky pictures of him on the blog, but honestly what choice do I have? These are not staged by me. He just gets his dork on pretty regularly. 😉)

The boys were all completely awed by the marvelous show, and hopefully I’ll be around to see a repeat performance when it happens in our neck of the woods in 2045.

Year's End

As another year comes to a close, I find myself thinking about what the past year has brought to us.

Kevin has been at Adobe for over a year now. He has too much to do and not enough time, but he seems to be valued by many of the people he works with. He spent ten days in India in October meeting and working with the team of Indian employees he works with on a regular basis. He has discovered that like all jobs, there are pros and cons.

Daniel has grown a lot in the past year, both literally and figuratively. He is now taller than me and takes great pleasure in that fact. As an eighth grader he is firmly ensconced in middle school, is doing great, and still loves school. Knowing that high school credits begin accumulating in ninth grade, he is already making plans for the classes he wants to take so he will be able to participate in the programs that interest him.

Nathan is also looking ahead. Over the course of the past year he has grown from a little boy into a young man. He is excited to start seventh grade in the fall and with registration coming up in the next month or two, he has already decided what his electives will be.

Matthew is still as energetic as ever and although I still struggle to understand him, we are having fewer conflicts. As always, some days we get along better than others, but every bit of progress is good. He has grown at ease in his new school and is striving to gain independence in as many ways as possible. He is getting braver in many ways and little by little he is learning to deal with his fears and anxieties.

Malia has crossed the line from being a toddler to a preschooler. She loves school and is making friends of her very own. She makes me laugh regularly and I love her company. It seems that she is growing up far too quickly, but she'll still sit in my lap while I read stories and I intend to hold on to that for as long as I can.

As for me, the headaches are fewer in number and less intense. I continue to search for ways to make things even better and although I'm not where I would like to be, I'm grateful for the time I've regained and the days when I'm headache free. As my children get older, our days have become more hectic and I spend a good amount of brainpower making sure everyone is where they need to be when they need to be there.

Overall, I feel we've been very blessed in the past year. Like everyone we've had our struggles but relatively speaking, they have been very small.

Solitary Holiday

At last the fevers have broken! Maybe it was the snow that brought the cool. My kids sure were excited about it although Matthew and Malia were both bummed that they couldn’t go out and play in it. After three days of fever, building a snowman is not on the to-do list. Even if it is the first real snow of the season. And it is a Christmas snow as well.

With all our Christmas visitors (expect for Santa, of course) warned off due to the plague upon our house, we had a not exactly calm and/or quiet day but it was pretty laid back. It started early (long gone are the days when my children blissfully slept until they were fully refreshed on Christmas morning). In fact, Nathan was up, showered and dressed by 6 a.m. and that was about two hours after he actually woke up.

In addition to the normal silly stuff filling her stocking, Malia was the proud recipient of a Fisher Price Little People Castle. The princesses sing, dance, and talk. She thinks it is wonderful. And she is not the only one who has played with the princesses today. All three of my boys had to have a turn as well.

Here she is showing off the new doll purse I made her. Be sure to check out her awesome outfit. She picked it herself. And her uncombed hair is one of my Christmas day concessions: don’t make her stop playing long enough to get her hair combed. 

Matthew received a remote control car. He has a little Lightning Mcqueen rc car that my brother Adam gave him for Christmas about four years ago and he has literally driven that thing to death. When the gears got so stripped it wouldn’t drive, Kev helped him fix it as much as possible (these toys are never designed with repair in mind) and he has continued to drive it even though it is pretty sad sounding. So Santa picked a perfect car-one that drives super fast and is repairable. Believe me, the look on his face in the picture in no way expresses his excitement about this particular gift. He has been driving it as much as possible around battery recharging times, is trying to learn how to prevent crashes (this thing goes fast) and purposely 4-wheeling over the detritus littering our family room (including the princess castle). Believe me, he has driven over all of our toes at least once today.

Another winning gift was the flag football set that Nathan gave him. His face in this picture captures pretty well how he feels about it.

Nathan is definitely moving into teenager territory. He was super duper excited about food, in particular a bag of Cadbury chocolates. Daniel got a similar bag for his birthday and Nathan liked them so much that he asked for a bag of his very own for Christmas. It made it onto his wish list and everything.

While the chocolate was the sweetest gift, the iPod Nano was definitely the most rockin’. Nathan has been asking for a way to listen to music and general conference for months now. It would appear that Santa heard is request. Nathan was really excited about getting his own iPod, possibly even more excited than he was about the chocolate. ;-)

Daniel also received an iPod Nano, yellow instead of the blue that Nathan got. He was pretty excited about that although the pictures definitely don’t reflect how much he likes it. Both boys got an iTunes gift card to accompany their iPods and a portable speaker so they don’t always have to use the earbuds. Daniel also got some Star Trek models that he has been wanting.

Kev and I decided that instead of more stuff, we would give the boys “experiences” for Christmas this year. Matthew gets to go to one BYU basketball game and one BYU football game. As he has turned into an avid BYU fan in the past year, he is pretty excited. Nathan will get to choose one show at Hale Center Theatre and one at The Desert Star Playhouse. He has already looked up what shows will be performed this year and is having a hard time deciding which ones to choose. Daniel’s was a bit different but totally tailored to his interests. He got a one year membership to Origami USA, the national origami club. The membership includes several monthly publications, access to online resources and the opportunity to check out books from the origami library located in New York. We just need to pay for shipping. Kev made a gift certificate for each boy and I think that they are more excited about their experience gifts than anything else. This is definitely something we will be doing again.

We also gave Nathan and Matthew loft beds to replace their bunk bed. Their room is just small enough that the bunk bed, dressers, and toy bins take up all the space. Not only is there no room to play in there, but neither boy has any space that he can call his own. So putting loft beds in will allow them to have all the space underneath as their own private space. I’m hoping it will be a good thing for them.

As for the grownups, I received the iPad Mini I’ve been wanting and Kev got a new hard drive with tons of storage space so he can continue building our home computer network the way he wants.

This afternoon we discovered our next door neighbor snow blowing our driveway. We have great neighbors. We expressed our thanks and wished him a Merry Christmas.  A few minutes later there was a knock on our door and our neighbor presented us with this:

He says that he is good at snowblowing but not so good at finding newspapers. Yeah, we haven’t really been out for the past few days which means we didn’t even think about picking up the newspapers. We all got a good laugh out of it.

As the day winds down, I can honestly say that we had a good day. Matthew is already in need of some parts for his rc car. Nathan and Daniel have filled their iPods with their own personal perfect mix of music. Malia has finally calmed down and is headed for sleep. There are presents strewn around the house and skid marks on the ballroom floor. So yeah, good day.