Rock Climbing

My kids are really into planning outings & parties with their friends.  I wonder where they get that from?  ha ha ha.

Since it's absolutely FREEZING here, we've been trying to find some ideas of things we can do that are indoors.  Germany is amazing in the summer. . .they are outdoorsy people & have parks, & all sorts of things to do outside.  In the winter, it's a lot harder to do things because there's not a lot of indoor activities.

The base has a rock wall inside the outdoor rec store so we went a few times over Christmas break to get out of the house & do something physical.  We had a blast each time we went.

And of course, there were always a lot of teenagers having fun with us.

I also loved having some one on one time with Bladen.  He loves to climb so I took him on a mini-date just the 2 of us & I think he really enjoyed that.

It's been a super fun 2 week vacation from work, school, responsibilities, & life.  But it's time to get back to the daily grind.  Happy New Year everyone.

Silvester (AKA New Year's Eve)

My girls begged if they could invite a few friends over for New Years Eve.  I told them just a couple friends each & "somehow" we wound up with 25 teenagers at our house.  They were all good kids.  They had a Nintendo Switch tournament, boxed, raced cars on the racetrack, played games, & sang karaoke until the wee hours of the morning.  Oh, & we ate LOTS & LOTS of food.

Trek was excited to be in Germany again for New Years.  New Year's here is CRAZY.  The minute the clock strikes midnight, there are fireworks going off for an hour straight.  It sounds like a war zone outside & there are so many fireworks going off that there's light everywhere in the sky.  It's nuts.  He gets excited because anyone can buy & light fireworks on Silvester.  There isn't anything that is illegal & so you are permitted to buy some pretty heavy duty things.  He went nuts at the German stores & bought a TON of fireworks.  We had over 700 "shots" to shoot off.

Fireworks Video 1

Fireworks Video 2

Fireworks Video 3

We eventually went into the backyard & set off a bunch of rocket style fireworks too.  We were shooting fireworks until 1 or 1:30 & then all the teens went home around 2ish.  It was CRAZY, but it was a blast.

Christmas 2019

Christmas has come again.  Christmas is such an exciting time in our house.  The kids look forward to it all year.

A different tradition that we have than most people is our stockings.  My mom made all of our stockings (except for Canyon's which I made after my mom's eyesight got too bad to cross stitch anymore) & they are HUGE & beautiful.  Stockings are my favorite tradition.  Santa doesn't fill our stockings, we fill each other's stockings.  The kids collect things throughout the year or save up their money to buy some candy or a trinket to put in each other's stockings.  Every year they seem to get fuller & fuller & fuller & the kids look forward to filling them for each other.  It's really special.  We always open stockings very last on Christmas day. . . after presents. . . after breakfast. 

The kids must have have been good this year because Santa brought them all sorts of fun things.  The boys got a big AI racetrack with 3 remote controlled cars to drive.

Taya got a Harry Potter lego set.

Cadence got a super adorable Hufflepuff jacket.

And Lorien got what she really really wanted: a new backpack & lunchbox.

The kids set their alarms for 5am (YIKES) & woke us up way too excited to see what Santa brought them.

Christmas Morning Video

We spent several hours opening presents & playing with what we got.  The kids were in heaven.

The kids got presents from their grandparents, 3 from Trek & I, & a few family gifts from aunts & uncles which were super fun too.  My friend Nancy gave us a TON of new clothes & shoes for the new year.  She always spoils our family rotten.

Nancy got me a beautiful Tinkerbell necklace with a floating diamond inside.  It's GORGEOUS.

My "daddy gift" this year was a new set of scriptures.
My dad knows I love to mark up my scriptures
when I study them & I needed new ones SO badly.

After presents & after breakfast, we finally allowed the kids to open up their present from Auntie Tylee.

They were SHOCKED to open up a Nintendo Switch!

Thank you Auntie Tylee!!

After breakfast, setting up the switch, & clean up. . . we finally sat down & opened up our stockings.  The kids LOVE seeing what is inside their stockings.  They also love yelling out "That is from me!  I got that for you!"

I got a lot of wonderful things this year.  Trek & my dad spoiled me with tons of new markers (for calligraphy, writing letters, for my planner, & just because I'm kind of obsessed with markers).  My mom bought me an adorable vintage style swim suit.  My dad got me my new scriptures & Trek also got me some cool electronic things to help me use my phone in my car & a new spice rack.  And my friend Nancy completely spoiled me with new clothes, shoes, socks, & pretty jewelry.

It was a wonderful Christmas.  We loved every second of being together, enjoying the magic, & all the fun.  Merry Christmas everyone.