Nails and Facials

 Christmas evening, the girls all wanted to try out their new facial masks and paint their nails. My first inclination was to say I needed to do other things, but just as I was about to, I felt the Spirit remind me that I had been praying for ways to connect with my kids more. So we painted nails and put on facial masks, which looked more like ghost masks. And it was fun!

Christmas 2019

 We had a great Christmas this year. We try hard to help keep the focus of Christmas on our Savior and giving, so the kids get to give gifts to each of the family members. It is so neat to watch them get excited about finding a perfect gift to give each other. This year Joseph even created a scavenger hunt for Ruth to find her gift, wrapping the first clue in a tiny mint tin. (This created much pre-Christmas conversation and angst.) I am grateful that they are so giving and loving to each other!

The Giving Machines

This year Denver was one of the cities selected to have the Giving Machine. It is a neat vending machine where instead of buying food, you buy things needed by people around the world. We encouraged the kids to earn money to be able to buy something for others in need. Ruth chose soap, Joseph bought a blanket, Miriam purchased a starter library, Rebecca bought meals for a women's shelter, I got some toilet worms, and Jack bought a sheep. It was a fun experience and helped us all to have a little perspective on life this Christmas Eve.

Christmas at Grandpa Mike's

Every year we get together with Dad and all the siblings that are in the area for a Christmas celebration. This is the only time all year we see some of these family members. We had a nice time visiting with everyone: Aaron and his family, including Samantha, Ryan and their three little ones, Ali and Alejandro, Jacob and Trish, Jonathan, Naomi and kids, and Brittany, as well as Great Grandma Wickham. It was fun to see everyone.

Carri, Samantha and Samantha's new baby

Aaron with jingle bells in his beard

Miriam, Ruth and Rebecca with Great Grandma Wickham

Ruth holding Samantha's new little one

Derik

Rebecca with Santa

Miriam with Santa

Joseph with Santa

Ruth with Santa

Brittany Huff

Multiple Piano Festival

Rebecca has been participating in the Multiple Piano Festival for the past nine years that she has been taking lessons. It makes for a crazy November, but the performances have become part of our holiday traditions. As she played for the last time, I felt nostalgic about these years, watching her go from a little girl to an adult on that stage. She is a beautiful pianist, teacher, friend, and young woman.

Casa Bonita

Ruth had been wanting to go to Casa Bonita for a while. She was little enough the last time we went that she doesn't remember it. So we decided to go for her birthday dinner. The restaurant itself seems like it is going downhill, but the cliff diving was neat to watch and we had a fun time as a family.

Trunk or Treat

 This year I was really pleased with the kids' choices of Halloween costumes. I felt like they had some thought and depth to them rather than just something they saw while we were walking through the store.

Joseph loves the book series, "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull. He is also slightly obsessed with bad guys. So Joseph decided he wanted to be Navarog, a dragon prince who appears in the form of a human and convinces everyone he is a good guy until his true colors come shining through. Joseph decided how he was going to create this costume himself, with a normal jacket that he attached wings we cut out of an old sheet (attached with duck tape!), as well as a construction paper mask on the hood and a sword at the waist. This is the essence of Halloween to me: creativity, work, and literary characters.

 Ruth loved the How to Train Your Dragon movies. She really wanted to be Toothless or the Light Fury, but we couldn't find a costume or a way to make a costume that would let her fly, so we settled with Astrid. I'm glad we could find that, at least!

Miriam was quite punny and decided quite a while ago she wanted to be a Disney Crews (Cruise). Ha ha ha! Rebecca was also a Disney Crews, but I didn't get a picture of her. She is fleeting these days!

Cross Country

 Rebecca decided that she wanted to run cross country this year. She attended practices during the summer to get prepared and to meet people. Since we don't live in-district with Erie High School, which is the high school closest to our house, she was not able to run varsity (even though that's where her times put her). Even with this setback, she decided to run and do her best. She made friends, supported her team members, and had a positive attitude even when she was hurting. She ended up lettering in Cross Country. Great job, Rebecca!

The Royal Gorge

 After school got out, we took the kids on a little trip down to the Royal Gorge in Canon City.  I remember going there as a kid, but Jack and the kids had never been.  It was much fancier than what I remember!

 We started our trip with a ride on a train through the Gorge.  There was an open air car that we could stand and walk around on.  The scenery was beautiful, and we even saw some rafters going down the river.

 Rebecca got a little motion sickness while on the open air car, so she spent most of the rest of the ride in our seats.

 We also went to a little Dinosaur museum in Canon City.  The kids had fun seeing a real paleontologist working on the dinosaur bones and the interactive kids area.  It was interesting for me to go to this museum because I remember taking a group of kids from a day care I worked at one summer in college.  The museum was much the way I remember it.

 The kids think the best part of any trip is the hotel pool.  They had a lot of fun playing in the water at the end of the day.

 We went to the Royal Gorge park the next day and had a full day of fun there.  First we had to stop and pick up a sweat shirt for Joseph at the gift shop since his jacket got left at the hotel, and the wind there made it cold! Then we rode the incline railway down to the bottom of the gorge.

 Miriam rode a pony, but Rebecca was too big and Joseph didn't want to. 

 We went on a carriage ride as a family.

And Rebecca, Miriam and I went on a mule ride.  That was lots of fun.  It was the first time I had been on a horse (really a mule, but a large animal) since I was a kid.  The girls both had a good time as well.  We tried to take a video of our ride, but it didn't end up getting shot, so you have to take my word for it!

Happy 4th Birthday, Joseph!

 After the great time Joseph had at Miriam's Chuck E Cheese birthday party, he was convinced that when you have a birthday, you go to Chuck E Cheese.  We decided that was easy enough, and went as a family to have a birthday party with the mouse.

 Joseph had a great time playing the games and giving Chuck E a big hug.

 Rebecca is getting old enough she could figure out some of the arcade games.

 Joseph's favorite was a school bus ride, but he wanted a passenger in the back seat.  If there wasn't anyone else willing, he wanted Ruth to ride with him!

 Opening presents...

 And blowing out the candle.  Great job, Joseph!

 Yum!

A super birthday for our super boy!