Wisdom teeth

Andrew had his wisdom teeth removed today.  It was much less expensive to have it done in Utah, so we waited instead of having him do it during the break.  Luckily Beth and Rick were willing to take him to the appointment and then bring him home for the long weekend.  It's so nice to have family there.  

Andrew's looking pretty sleepy on the ride home.  I love that they matched his bandage to his sweatshirt...nice touch!

Beth sent me a few more pictures once he was home and resting.  Hopefully he will recover quickly and it will all go smoothly.  

My cute boy...kind of looks like a frog right now!  I'm glad he's in good hands, it's hard not to be there to be mom, but I know Beth and Rick will love him like their own.  

Blind taste testing

We did a blind taste testing for YM/YW this week.  It was a Word of Wisdom based activity, so we had all kinds of grains, vegetables, fruits, cereals, etc.  We also had a few more fun things for them to try.  At the end, there was a challenge round for food they had probably never tasted.  A few brave kids came up and tried crickets, meal worms and sardines in mustard.  They loved it and it was really fun to watch the kids!

Try-outs

Ava was helping Zach practice for his choir try-outs.  We could hear them working together and it was so great.  When Greg went downstairs later, he saw the board that Ava had writen up to help Zach.  It's awesome to see them working on music together and that they can really help each other.  I love it.  

The mountains

Andrew was talking to me on his way back from class and talking about how pretty the mountains looked with the fresh snow on them.  He sent me these pictures.  He is really enjoying the majesty of the Rockies!

Dancing and Noah's Arc

The Bishop was on the BYU ballroom dance team and he wanted to teach the kids some dances.  We had a great turnout and the kids had a lot of fun.  They learned a bit of waltz, cha-cha, and swing. 

I was shocked at how well they all did and how much fun they had doing it.  I think we will definitely do it again - and maybe do some swing tricks!

At the same time, Ava and Kathleen were working togehter to make a gingerbread house.  Well, everyone else in the group made a gingerbread house and these girls decided to flip it upside down and turn it into Noah's Arc.  They even made little animals.  It was really fun and creative.  Cute girls!  It was a great way to start the new year at YW/YM!

This is love

Hmmmm

What do these looks mean?  These are the looks I was getting while we were waiting for our pizza...hmmmm...

In the Lake of the Woods

Andrew and Zach both had to read this book in Honors 10th grade English and both of them wanted me to read it.  I never got around to it when Andrew was in the class, but I told Zach I would read it over the break.  He was teasing me that I wouldn't really do it and I had gotten to the last day of break.  So...I sat down and read it in one sitting!  It's kind of a crazy book, and has very mature themes, but I can see why they wanted me to read it and be able to discuss it with them.  I'm glad I could spend a few hours reading something they wanted me to.  The conversation that followed with Zach was a very good way to end my break.  

Back to School

I can't believe it's already time to send Andrew back to school.  It wasn't really any easier this time.  It's so great to have him home and to get to soak up as much time as we did.  

Kayleigh is headed out to BYUI for the semester and they went out on the same flight.  Her parents were saying goodbye for the first time while we were saying goodbye for the second.  

They were happy to be flying out together and to get to spend a few more hours together.  

It was an eventful vacation with Andrew.  I helped him fill out his mission paperwork and made sure he got all of his appointments taken care of.  It made it feel so real that he will probably be leaving this summer and we won't see him for 2 years.  I'm glad to be at this stage first, it seems crazy if he would have gone straight to a mission.  I love this boy and am so grateful he was home for a few weeks.  I miss him already.  

More style

Zach sent me this picture when he and Ava were out shopping.  I can't believe the 90s are back in full swing!  This jacket cracks me up!

Sleepy girl

We have been staying up super, super late and the kids have been waking up super, super late!  This picture was taken at 1:00 in the afternoon and even with Duke's help, it was really hard to get her up.  We are going to have a rude awakening (pun intended) when school starts in a few days!

The Twilight Zone

I saw that there was a Twilight Zone marathon on and so I recorded a couple of episodes.  The kids hadn't ever seen a full episode before, so it was awesome to show them some of the most famous ones and tell them about watching them as a kid and how freaked out I was.  

There were mocking my terror as a child, but it was really fun to watch them together.

I would have to say that costuming and makeup have come a long way!  This monster that was on the plane wing looked a little like a guy in a Fozzy Bear costume!  The episode is still awesome, even if you have a few laughs along the way now too.

Style

We took the kids to use some gift cards they got for Christmas and Andrew was entertaining me with some unique style choices.  I love this kid.

Happy New Year!

We had friends over for New Year's Eve and had a wonderful night.  Andrew's friends that were home for break came over and we had 4 more families over.  We had tons of food, fun and laughter!

And we had the Dude at the party too...he's great at parties!

Counting down...

Ringing in the New Year with my favorite people!

After the party was over, and all cleaned up, Bindi and Solomon stayed and played games until 4:00 in the morning!  They did the same thing last year - it's a fun tradition!  We love them.

Happy New Year!!!

I am loving these!

A Magical Christmas

With Greg out of work for the past 4 months, we all knew this Christmas would be different in some ways.  We did everything we could to make it as normal as possible, but we definitely had help.  My parents sent Greg and me money instead of presents so we could use it to purchase all of the special food items we have and buy the treats for the stockings.  We also had a few friends send us gifts that normally wouldn't and then we recieved some anonymous gifts.  We were showered with love.  Our tree was every bit as full as it's ever been, but it definitely wasn't normal.  

We went to bed with tears of gratitude in our eyes.

The kids came out on Christmas morning and we took our traditional pictures!  The new pajamas they are wearing were bought by one of our friends this year.

Then we opened our stockings so we could all eat our way through the opening of presents!

Ava was really happy with her new earrings.  

The kids looking at the Christmas tree lights through the glasses that make them into angels, stars, etc.  

The kids were loving their gifts from the Whisamores...

And Greg loved his gift from the Whisamores and my parents (combined birthday/Christmas)!

My favorite thing about the morning is always the hugs!

Zach opening his traditional Legos!

Duke was in heaven...we let him chew up the boxes and the papers!

Andrew's new ski helmet to go with his pass.

We used the money from Grandpa Robinette to buy Disney + for the year! 

 

I got a box from Susie and she said had a "little something" in it for me.  She got me these earrings when she was in France.  I love them!  They are made from geodes.  

The box also contained hundreds of dollars of gift cards.  I cried like a baby.  

The kids in the new snuggies.

We got Duke a new monster!!!  He was going crazy.  Eventually he got too tired and just grabbed his monster and took a nap.  So cute.  

It was such a fun morning and we were blessed by the people around us - over and over again.  Since all of the kids are older, we were able to explain exactly what had been done for us.  The generosity was overwhelming and beautiful.  

Duke slept almost the rest of the day.  He curled up on a snuggie and settled in.

Time for our traditional Christmas day foods!

Zach got his Legos put together...

Greg put our gnomes in the tree...

And we spent plenty of time playing games together.  It was a magical Christmas, definitely not normal, but magical in ways we have never experienced.