This was Maliya's first combined youth activity.  Our bishop sent me this picture because he thought it was awesome when Maliya ended up as the only one left in the game on her team, her against all of those older boys.  Go Maliya!  She sadly took a ball to the head shortly after that but they said she handled it like a champ.  That's my girl.

Madison's lovely make-up. Our new car that only took 11 months to get! A beautiful sunset. And Madison started Ninja Warrior lessons and is loving it!

Dinner at Sams is always a treat, especially when I let them each get their own soda and I don't make them do any shopping.  Triple win!

The girls and I came home from play practice last week (they're both in Jr. Aladdin!) to find this cute little guy in our way.  The boys think they're so funny!

Cole made pizza at young mens and it turned out so good. Like it looked professional, he loved the taste, and Brother Thygerson, who used to work at a pizzeria, said his was really really good.  Nice work boy. 

I'm official, I have business cards!

Cole's friend Carter came over last Saturday and we had to document his first time ever trying pepperoni pizza!

And the kids and the missionaries were representing the 'west side' of the mission ("West is Best"). They're fun missionaries.

We've been getting some stellar sunsets lately. The girls took these shots while we were driving. They did great! Now just imagine these but 10x more stunning (pictures never do sunsets justice).  I love where we live. I love sunsets!

Today was the first Caprock ski session of the year and Madison was finally old enough to go! She was so excited and ended up having SO MUCH FUN! When she walked into the house tonight she had the biggest smile on her face.  I loved it.  Everyone had a blast and it was fun to hear their stories. Sadly Maliya wiped out once and kinda hurt her knee, but it wasn't as scary as the time she jumped off the ski lift:). (While they were gone Max and I enjoyed a fun mom/Max day at home. I love my little buddy, he's so great.  And such a gentleman! When we got home from the store he let me go around the car first as he said 'ladies first'.  He's such a doll.) 

 

 Max Funnies:

1. Today Max told us that he's not a baby anymore because he's too heavy and he knows stuff

2. On Tuesday of this week we surprised Max with our new car.  That night at dinner he said 'Mom, I actually knew we were going to get our new car today.' When I asked him how he knew he said 'I knew it cuz my hippocampus is gettin' bigger.'

3. Yesterday me, Max, and Madison played Toy Story Yahtzee and Max won! After raising his hands in the air and yelling 'yea, I won!' he got a sad look on his face and said 'but I didn't want to win'.  Nick was next to us and asked Max why. His response was 'Because this game isn't about winning, it's about having fun and spending time with your family.'

4. One night a couple of weeks ago we were all watching shows before bed. It was during winter break meaning it was pretty late. After awhile Max came up to me and said, as he rubbed his red eyes, 'Mom, I'm pretty sure it's bedtime because my eyes don't want to see anymore.'  When I told him he could lay next to me and rest his eyes he said 'Oh, I know! I can just do this (and he used his fingers to hold one eye open wide) and then this (and he used his fingers to hold his other eye open wide) and then I'll be good!'

WE LOVE THIS BOY SO MUCH!!!!

Last Thursday (December 29th) we got snow! Nick had to work the AM shift so Max, Maliya, and I made our own little attempt at a snowman.  We thought he turned out pretty cute! Go Cougs!

Bottom pictures: Cole and Maliya demolishing our IPad that's been broken for about 5 years (I finally admitted that it wasn't fixable) and Max making cookie dough!

We woke up to more snow (lots of snow) last Friday. Nick, Alex, and the kids went to work and made a super cool fort!

There was even more snow on Saturday(!) and so, after getting our cleaning done, we all (me too!) added on to our fort. It was a legit igloo when we were done. So cool.

That (Saturday) was New Year's Eve day. After building and then coming in for cocoa (of course!) we did even more cleaning. (We've been on an organizing kick and over the winter break have managed to clean out and organize almost the entire house!) Once we were done we had lunch and then all watched the Michigan bowl game together! We were all dressed in our new Michigan duds and had fun watching together ... despite the fact that Michigan lost. Bleh.

After the game we decorated the jammie shirts that we should've been decorating in Utah with our cousins.  We were originally supposed to spend New Year's weekend at a Rolfe family reunion but it had to get postponed due to weather. Again, bleh.  We were super bummed (especially Cole!). It would've been such a fun trip.  We managed to have some fun at home, though, and are looking forward a having the reunion in the summer.

After the Michigan game and dinner we played some really fun minte-to-win-it type games that Kim and Robert gave us for Christmas. They came in a big rootbeer-shaped can and the object was to win 'ingredients' to make your own rootbeer float.  We all played, Max included, and all enjoyed the games, especially Maliya, who ended up as our grand winner!

After games we busted out the bubbly (just soda) and toasted the new year.  It was only 8:30 but we figured we'd do it then so Max could enjoy it.  That was a good idea because we started movie time next and Max was ready to sleep by about 9.  Actually he and Madison both were.  I took them to bed and read them a book and then left them to sleep ... but they came down 15 minutes later mad that I'd 'put them to bed', even though they'd wanted it. Ironically they were both asleep on the couch 15 minutes later.  (We did wake Madison up and then she fought to stay awake until 12. Poor thing, she seemed slightly miserable!). Not surprisingly, Cole and Maliya both made it to midnight! It was a fun AND relaxing night.  (Although I was sad about the reunion, I actually didn't mind having a peaceful New Year's Eve celebration.)

On Monday the 2nd we made the kids do more organizing and to reward their hard work (they really did work hard) we went bowling. Madison rocked it and got a ton of spares! She even broke 100!

Random picture - the girls and I have started studying the CFM manual together (using our new journals) and have really enjoyed it. I'm very excited to come closer to Christ and closer to my sweet girls through our studies this year.

Also random, Mandi sent me these gems a few days ago!

Christmas 2022!

On Christmas eve we had homemade pizza for dinner and then went out and looked at lights (our countdown activity for the day).  When we got back we watched the church's nativity video and had a nice discussion about what all of the different people (shepherds, etc) might have felt and thought, what we might have felt and thought, and what we could give Christ as our gift for the coming year. Then we made it to, in the kids' eyes, the main event - sibling gifts! (They'd been asking for 2 days to open those!) Max got Madison a stuffed sloth and she got him a Paw Patrol notebook and an egg with a surprise dinosaur inside.  Maliya got Cole a light-up gaming keyboard and he got her a notebook and pen and a Chinese hand fan. They were all very excited with their gifts:) After presents we had treats and played a new game, Medium, which everyone loved. Then everyone got cozy in jammies and the kids put on a movie in Max's room (sleepover in the fort we'd made a few nights earlier).  That was at about 8pm - a record I think!

Nick and I also relaxed to a show that night, and then I snuck out and took a picture after Santa had come. I love doing that. It's so fun to see what he's left!

Christmas morning (Sunday morning) was Fabulous! Nick and the kids hung out upstairs until Alex came at 7 (apparently Cole woke up at 3 and Madison at 4 ... so they say) and then we dove into presents!  We did stockings and Santa presents, mom and dad presents, grandma and grandpa presents, and Uncle A presents.  These kiddos were a bit spoiled and all enjoyed a very full morning of opening and playing with presents.

I don't remember ALL of the presents, but I'll do my best to list most, for memory sake:

Max

Santa: Gabby's Dollhouse with accessories! (The day before Christmas he came to me and sadly told me he had looked at the presents under the tree and knew he wasn't getting Gabby's dollhouse. He was SO sad.  And SO excited when Santa came through!) Polly Pocket dino museum, sticky hands, Gabby's dollhouse card game, chocolate coins, doggy slipper socks

Mom and Dad: Iron Man lego set, dinosaur journal and cool pen, Michigan shirt, choice changer he picked out in Utah

Grandma and Grandpa G: Money and Lego mug

Grandma Lexie and Grandpa Jack: Hot Wheels and 2 carries (shark and something else)

Alex: Cool dude shirt

Madison

Santa: GIANT PANDA (She's been asking for that since last Christmas), polly pocket treehouse, pup purse, sticky hands, chocolate coins, face lotion (per her request), unicorn sock slippers, lip gloss, battery pack for the car (for her tablet)

Mom and Dad: Panda pillow with baby pandas inside, Michigan shirt, panda stuffed animal she picked out in utah

Grandma and Grandpa G: Money and Lego mug

Grandma Lexie and Grandpa Jack: LOL Doll

Alex: Baby Yoda shirt

Maliya

Santa: scripture purse carrier thing, gel pens, money, sticky hands, mouse sock slippers, chocolate coins, lip gloss, fidget pen, MP3 player carrying case, plasma ball, battery pack for the car (for her tablet)

Mom and Dad: Nice headphones, Michigan shirt

Grandma and Grandpa G: Money and Lego mug

Grandma Lexie and Grandpa Jack: money

Alex: Cute gamer shirt

Cole

Santa: Infinity Gauntlet Legos, Five Nights at Freddy's video game, light stick, money, sticky hands, lava rock lamp

Mom and Dad: Michigan shirt, BYU shirt, Nintendo switch car battery

Grandma and Grandpa G: money and lego mug

Grnadma Lexie and Grandpa Jack: mini Jenga & money

Alex: I left my Brain shirt

Family Gifts: Extra Gaming Time coupons and games (Ransom Notes and Puns of Anarchy)

We played all morning, ate lunch, and then went to church where we enjoyed a really nice musical program that me, Nick, and the girls are participated in.  I put it together and was very grateful for the many people who were willing to participate.  It was primarily based off of the Forgotten Carols and I think it came together nicely. Mostly I was praying that people would feel the spirit and maybe see Christmas from a different perspective than normal. Because I was so wrapped up in the logistics it's hard to know how it really came together but Nick said it turned out nice:)

After church we met up with 4 missionaries and the Zollingers and did ... my favorite ... our fudge thing! We passed out almost 50 things of fudge and had one person give us a handful of snacks and another a $10 bill, which I always take to mean that they appreciated our efforts and were maybe touched by our gift.  I love love love this tradition and sincerely just hope that by doing it we're able to help people feel loved and feel a little joy.

After fudge we went home and had steak, rolls, veggies, and baked {sweet} potatoes. Yum.  We spent the rest of the evening playing our new games, relaxing, eating brownie ice cream and other goodies, and watching a movie.  It was an absolutely WONDERFUL Christmas day.  (I LOVED having Christmas on a Sunday!!!)

Cute Max was SO excited to put together his Lego's with Nick!  And the day after Christmas we all enjoyed going out to the movie theater! Max and I had a date seeing Puss n Boots and everyone else saw Avatar. Oh, and the picture of Nick and Alex! Kim gave them instant underwear and they of course had to model it, ha ha ha.

 

I love this crazy bunch SO much