Christmas 2016

I should say at the outset that I did not take any pictures of Christmas--I forgot my camera, and then I decided I'd rather be in the moment anyway. So if you clicked over excited by the prospect of my kids with their presents . . . sorry!

Pictures aside, we had a lovely week. Dan and I went to the new Star Wars movie on Monday and were both quite pleased by this newest installment. I'm not exactly a fan girl, but Star Wars was such a big part of my childhood (I'm not sure how many years I dressed as Leia for Halloween, but it was at least a couple)--and I think Star Wars was the first movie we both saw in theaters. I was six months old, Dan was about 10 days. (Also, our family may have all gotten Star Wars pajamas for Christmas.)

After the movie, we joined Bubby and Poppy and our kids at the Top Spot (aka The Cow) for one last celebratory fry and drink, since the Cow closed it's doors on Christmas Eve. It was more crowded than I'd ever seen it--we will definitely miss going there with our family!

We spent the lead-up to Christmas spending time with our kids, including the obligatory sugar cookies and frosting (and then massive clean up). But the kids had a lot of fun decorating--especially Oliver, who went through at least three knives before we convinced him he couldn't lick the knife he was using to frost cookies. (Not sure he was totally convinced).

We took the kids ice skatins on Tuesday. Dan and Oliver bowed out early--Oliver's response later was, "that was way not good!" Evelyn was shaky but determined and Andrew was, as per usual, a trifle faster than his skills allowed for. After tightening my laces, I did much better.

Thursday morning, Dan woke up early at Andrew's request to wake him up at the moment he turned 10 (3:57 a.m., for those keeping track). Andrew went right back to sleep--I'm not sure he ever really woke up--but Dan struggled a bit.

We'd planned a big breakfast for his birthday--crepes and sausages, at Andrew's request--but then Bubby and Poppy surprised the kids with Great Harvest cinnamon rolls, so breakfast became brunch instead. Andrew got to open one of his birthday presents (a Playmobil castle).

Also on Thursday, the cousins finally arrived and there was much rejoicing from my children, who were getting bored with just our family.We played games during the afternoon, then went our separate ways to prepare for dinner--as is becoming tradition, Christmas Eve dinner was a bunch of side-board dishes: potstickers, ham/sausage/pickle skewers, pigs-in-a-blanket, Asian salad, sandwiches, Aaron's famous Spanish tortillas (made with potatoes, and thick). Desert, at Andrew's request, was a sour cream lemon pie.

We rounded off the evening with a talent show from the children (mostly piano performances, but Andrew recited, "Twas the Night Before Christmas," which his teacher had all the kids memorize), and a hastily organized nativity that may or may not have involved several Star Wars cloaks and a Yoda costume (minus the Yoda hood, which we lost a long time ago anyway) . . .

Christmas morning, the kids dug through their stockings and we opened a couple of presents before heading back to Bubby and Poppy's house for breakfast and more presents. I tried to restrain myself this year, but I'm not sure how successful I was. We did get some electronics: kindles, a new WiiU (after our old one died), etc.

Oliver's favorite gift, after the Spot It! junior set (which he has made everyone play with him--warning: he cheats if you aren't careful!), has been an electronic race car course. I tried to get a video of him giggling delightedly when he did it, but he didn't giggle during the shots I took. But I think you can still catch some of his delight.

I also spent this week making pomegranate jam. Lots and lots of it. And then delivering it, which was fun, both to remind myself what a wonderful community we have and to hear how many people had loved the jam last year and were excited to get more this year. Which is, come to think of it, why we keep making it.

Today, as the last Sunday of the year, was a little hectic in my position as primary president--I taught a combined sharing time, and spent all of singing time making sure my teachers had their manuals, etc., for next year.

We curled Evelyn's hair for once, so we had to document it with a picture.

Looking forward to another week of vacation before school starts again. Hope everyone reading this had a lovely holiday and stayed safe and warm.

Sledding into Vacation

We survived the last week of school before the break, with all its activities and treats.

 

We also celebrated Andrew's tenth birthday party with a party at the aquatic center and a bunch of his friends from school. That wound out being just about perfect, because they had plenty to do, they could be as energetic as they wanted and they didn't destroy my house (and I didn't have to clean!) After the kids were done swimming, we had cake and presents in another room at the center. After the kids went home, we had dinner at Alberto's (Andrew's pick) and then drove to see some of the lights in town. All in all, a pretty close to perfect day for our birthday boy. (Well, his birthday isn't until Thursday, but we wanted to celebrate before everyone left for the holidays).


To celebrate the end of school, the kids and I went sledding Friday afternoon--and again on Saturday with Dan. The sun was shining, it was almost warm, but the thick snow from earlier in the week (see photos above) was still on the hill so the sledding was great. The kids especially enjoyed breaking in our newest sled.

All the fun wiped Oliver out. He took a nice long nap and then snuggled with his dad when he woke up (I was busy making pomegranate jam). 

Come Let Us Adore Him

This week has been pretty ordinary--school, work, writing (that is, trying to figure out how to reorganize this new book I wrote), etc.

Friday was our ward Christmas party. We arrived a few minutes early, which meant that we then waited almost half an hour for food to be served (pretty typical, and one of the reasons Dan *loves* ward parties). But the company was good and we felt it was important to go and show support.

Also, there was a live nativity after the dinner, and our kids were featured prominently in it.

(This nearly didn't happen. Andrew was so frustrated by the itchy beard during rehearsal that he nearly refused to come back for it. But I'm glad he did.)

Some outtakes of our Christmas card pictures. (Sadly, the real card pictures aren't much better--see if you can spot which picture we *did* go with).

Remembering

We don't have a lot to report from this week--the college semester is ending and we're (well, Dan is) heading into finals. The kids have been busy with school and preschool, and we had lots of fun playing with Sarah and family this weekend (so much fun, in fact, that we neglected to take pictures).

So I thought I'd share instead some pictures Laurie gave me a few weeks ago (which I just rediscovered in my email inbox) from our trip to Dallas five years ago next May. It makes me a little sad that these kids will never be this small again, but mostly I'm happy about the people they're growing into instead.

Thanksgiving

Not a lot of pictures from this week--we were too busy enjoying ourselves!

We had Thanksgiving with my parents, and Justin and Lia graciously hosted us. We arrived early, as per Lia's request, and spent the time hanging out and making up Thanksgiving theme games and crosswords to torment--I mean, entertain--each other. We had a wonderful dinner (Dan did wonders with the turkey, again, and everything else was good too), and then played tag games and ultimate frisbee until we were too cold to keep playing. We had pie, hung out some more, and then enjoyed the children's interpretation of Native American legends, some (Eli's) more polished than others (everyone else).

Friday, of course, my mom and I went shopping. I understand why a lot of people don't like Black Friday, but for me, it's mostly about spending time with my mom doing something we both like (hunting for bargains). It wasn't too crazy this year, and we managed to take care of a good chunk of my Christmas list, which was nice.

Friday night we got together with my brothers and their families at my parents house--we had pizza and pie (well, the kids had cookies since the two pies--buttermilk and hazelnut-chocolate--were a little advanced for their palates). The kids played well, the adults had fun talking, and it was lovely to see everyone. (We do miss Jeni, though!)

And yesterday we came home. Exciting, no? But really, we had a wonderful time and aren't really looking forward to reality tomorrow.

Grace

God's grace is a funny thing--it's ever-present, but I think sometimes we miss it until we need it, and then find it's always been right there.

The last couple of weeks have been hard for me for varying reasons. Thursday, I was asked to speak in church today along with the rest of the primary presidency, on finding peace through the Atonement. As president, I got to go last. My counselors gave wonderful talks on finding peace through repentance and forgiveness. And I--well, I felt prompted to focus more on the way the Atonement heals the daily heart-aches of life. So I did. And I cried--as I'd cried every time I tried to work on the talk. (I still can't think about that talk without weeping). But I also felt the spirit, and I remembered that God loves me (all of us) despite of our brokenness.

So that's really the main thing I want to say today: God loves us, and he knows what we're feeling, even in our darkest hours, and his love and faith are always there for us.

Anyway.

Jared and Mitcee came down to visit on Friday with their kids and we had a lot of fun just hanging out: playing games, watching the kids run around the park (or chasing the kids around the park, if you're Jared), walking/hiking up the canyon creek trail (and seeing the deer leg at the side of the trail), and taking them to some of our favorite restaurants in town (Bruno's and Brick House). They got to stay just long enough to see me cry in church (lucky them!). It was wonderful having them--and we're glad we don't have to wait long to see them again!

(This is Joshua, rolling down the hill after our "hike"):

Oliver, especially, was smitten:

The rest of the week was pretty average school/work stuff. One piece of news--still mulling over how I feel about it: my publisher decided to push my book back from Fall 2016 to early winter/spring 2017. My editor explained that they want my book to have a chance to stand out and felt it would be competing against too many big fantasy trilogies that Random House is releasing in Fall 2016. Part of me is disappointed--I have to wait longer, I won't be published before I'm 40 (lame, I know, but part of the sting), lots of people who sold their books after me will be published before me. On the other hand, both my agent and editor think it will be a good thing as it will give us more time to build buzz pre-release. And it will give me time to get the other books in the series written before this comes out!

To round things off, here's a picture of Oliver from preschool a week or so ago. He got the mustache as he was leaving school but didn't like it--he wanted to take it off as soon as we got home (thus why he's still in his coat). I think he's cute--looks a bit like a baby Tom Selleck.

Falling toward Winter

This week has been a long, busy week.

The first part of the week, Dan had events (college research fair, recruitment) that kept him out until after the kids were in bed. Andrew and Evelyn had gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do as usual, so we were grateful Bubby and Poppy could help him get home on Wednesday after Oliver and Evelyn were in bed.

Then, just as Dan's schedule slowed down, I took Oliver up north with me for a book signing at the King's English (Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, with local author Dan Wells). I know I've been doing these more recently, but they are kind-of work related: they're a chance to network with other (better known) authors and they also give me a better idea what to do if (when?) I get asked to do similar signings on my own. And in this case, Amie and Jay have not only the same agent as I do, but the same publishing imprint (Knopf/Random House), and I was hoping by meeting them I'd get a little better idea what to expect--except, of course, that their book was huge (it's been on the NYT bestseller list for three weeks running), so it's sort of out of my league. But I did get to go to dinner with them (and several other author friends) at the Dodo after the event, so that was fun. I can now say I've had dinner with bestselling authors.

Friday the kids had school and Oliver and I hung out with grandma (i.e. we did lots of shopping we can't do at home). Saturday, the kids helped Dan rake the yard, and then they went with Poppy to the dump--and generally  had a good time hanging out with Poppy.

I went to a board meeting for the upcoming Writing for Charity conference, which I've volunteered to help with, and then Oliver and I drove home.

Not a spectacularly exciting week, but we got through it--and through the brief spurt of extremely cold weather (though we have another coming this week). I don't love the early dark nights--it's only mid-November and already they feel oppressive.

Hoping everyone reading this is safe, warm, and happy!

Welcome Winter

We had our first snow storm of the season last week, and it reminded me how unready I am for real winter.

Not to mention the fact that it curtailed Oliver's newest hobby of collecting fistfulls of leaves on the way to--and from--preschool each morning. (Okay, maybe that's not so bad. It does take us twice as long when he stops to inspect every leaf that catches his attention. As we live on a tree-lined street, this is a lot of leaves).

This past week was a little intense for me. On top of the usual things (Evelyn's gymnastics, Andrew's Tae Kwon Do, writing deadlines, etc.), this week was Pitch Wars. For those of you non-writers (most of you), this is a big annual contest where writing mentors select aspiring writers to work with and read and give feedback on their entire manuscript, and at the end of the two month revision period, the pitches and first pages are posted and literary agents (the people who submit your manuscript to big national presses) publicly request the books they're most interested in.

It's a great contest. I had a lot of success from it last year (that's the book that's going to be published next year) and I wanted to pay it forward (the contest is all volunteer run), so I volunteered as a mentor. I got to spend most of September-October working with two incredible writers on their books, and this last week was the agent round. Both of my mentees got requests, which was a huge relief (it's hard to spend so much time on something with little to show for it). But the three days of the agent round also meant I was even more distracted than usual. I think I was more anxious for my mentees to get requests than I was for myself last year.

Anyway, because Dan had to put up with me talking about it all week, I figure it's only fair to subject you all to it as well. If you're interested, you can peek at my two mentee's projects here and here.

Andrew got to go to an event for the Confucius Institute on campus and break a board (part of his Tae Kwon Do group). He was really excited. Dan, who won the parent lottery to attend with him (I got bedtime duty), was less excited. He said there were a LOT of people there. Supposedly, there are pictures, but I haven't seen them yet.

Dan and I went to the temple Saturday morning (much overdue) and it was much needed for both of us (it helped me, in particular, feel peace about some things that had been troubling me a great deal recently. Not going to say more than that, because it's still a little raw, but as this is an account of our family life, it would be less than honest to gloss over that entirely). (And wow, this post has a lot of parentheses!) Afterward, we got to have lunch with Bubby and Poppy at an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet (with, thankfully, other options as well. I've discovered I like *some* sushi at the Ninja, but unfortunately, that has also made me a sushi snob . . . ). We took the kids to Costco, which was just as exciting as you'd think on a Saturday afternoon and then headed home to clean the basement.

We've been playing "The Lake Game" (I learned it in high school as "The Expletive Game") with A and E most nights this week and it's been a lot of fun. Partly because I like the game, but partly because I enjoy watching the kids learn about gaming strategy. Evelyn's still working on it--she tends to overbid or underbid--but she's fun to watch.

It's nearly time to head to Bubby and Poppy's for our weekly dinner, so I'll sign off. Hoping our readers had a lovely fall week.

Oh, and two pictures.

I got my hair cut (finally!) and the lady also straightened it. It's a different look for me--I'm not that patient to do it in real life. And since I was taking selfies, Oliver had to have his picture taken too (with, what else, one of his leaf treasures).

Happy Halloween!

A good week. The cold, drizzly weather threatening midweek didn't hold through the weekend and Halloween was, all expectations to the contrary, nice enough for the kids to go out in their planned costumes without too much extra layering. Hooray!

I turned in my round two edits late Monday night--it was a relief to finish that round, though we're still far from done. (For those wondering, I may have another round of content edits, depending on how well my editor thinks I did this round, then copy edits, where another editor goes through looking at grammar and usage, then first pages pass, when I get actual proofs of the book with pages laid out like they're supposed to appear, and then an advanced review copy, which looks like an actual paperback book but isn't final copy yet. Whew. No wonder this thing won't be out for a while!)

It was a good thing I finished early, because then Oliver got sick (croup, again) and I got very little done midweek while he stayed home sick. He missed dressing up for preschool, which made me sad but I don't think he cared much (or even realized it was happening).

Saturday started bright and early with chores: winterizing the yard, cleaning kitchen cupboards, etc. But in the afternoon we took the kids to a Halloween activity at the hospital where they got to walk around the trail outside and stop at various stations to get candy and other goodies. Then home for a quick dinner, and then the real business of Halloween: trick-or-treating!

 

We went to a few homes on our street, and then, for the first time ever, let Andrew trick or treat with friends instead of with us. (He went to Bubby and Poppy's neighborhood instead of ours). We swapped him out for his friend's younger sister, so one of Evelyn's friends came with us, and we joined up with a third friend mid route.

Oliver cracked me up. He kept running so fast to keep up with the others and his bag was so heavy (for him) that he fell over about two dozen times. Every time, he popped up, "I'm okay," and scurried after the others. He even knew how to say "pterodactyl" which impressed a few people. I brought the stroller, but we only used it at the beginning and the end--Evelyn's third friend had a younger brother with her, and he took it on himself to "be the boss of" Oliver, to their mutual satisfaction (the other kid is the youngest of five, so I think he enjoyed having someone smaller around). In any case, everyone seemed to sleep well!

Octobering

Short week, because of Fall break, so not a lot to report. Wednesday, both the big kids had friends over for the last day of the break (Dan was already back at work). I think they had fun. No one died anyway, or refused to speak to someone else.

I tried to take the kids in to get flu shots after their friends went home, but the doctor's office was out--and now Andrew came home sick from church complaining of various pains all over his body. I sincerely hope it's not flu!

Yesterday we had our practice for the primary program and today was the program itself. The kids did great, the program was moving (the bishop could hardly speak when he got up to talk after the final song), and now we're done! At least, until next Fall.

Costumes arrived this week, and shortly after the house was invaded by these scary creatures.

On Friday, because I didn't get in my usual writing this week (because of the break), I let Oliver paint while I sat nearby with my laptop. He *really* liked the paint. Maybe too much. Good thing it's all washable finger paint.