It was not the best timing considering Henry's surgery, but we went to Colorado this month! At the beginning of the month haha! He was on crutches because he couldn't put any weight on his foot yet, but he was feeling better than right after the surgery and we set off. It was important to go because all of Rusty's family was coming together to be at Grandma Joan's house for a Christmas party.
The party at Grandma Joan's was really fun! The kids loved playing with their cousins, and seeing their aunts, uncles, Grandma Joan and Granddad Irv, and Kirk and Phyllis. It was good for the adults to have time to catch up and chat too. It's always great to see Grandma Joan and Granddad Irv!
Chase was an all star and brought gifts for all the kids. They had so much fun with their toys!
Siblings with parents!
Cousins
Stop it I love Jasper so much
While we were in Colorado Springs we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We invited everyone to come with us, but only Desi, Josh and Phyllis were able to come. It was so fun to spend some extra time with them! And that zoo is so incredible! I always love going there, and Rusty has so many fun memories of going there when he was little. The kids loved it too!
Della's face STOP
Lia was loving these birds so much!
Because we were flying out to Colorado Springs anyways, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of nights and it was a blast! I have heard so much about it and have always wanted to go, so it seemed like a good time to try it out! It was a little hard with Henry's foot. By this time, he could get his foot wet but couldn't soak it. So I carried him up the flights of stairs to the water slides and then went down the slides with him, getting him out quickly haha. It was such a fun place! What a perfect escape for the winter.
"Please Daddy can we go to the arcade?!"
YES
My mom threw the cutest Grinch Party at her house this December and it was so fun! I love that movie and everything about Christmas, so it really was a blast. The girls got cute dresses and Henry got a shirt to wear too. We played some games, ate some yummy themed food, and then watched the movie. What a great night!
Pin the heart on the Grinch
It's a very serious matter
Amelia and her chapstick haha
The kids' cute Grinch outfits
I was trying to take a cute picture for Amelia's ornament next year and she kept making these faces haha
It was time for Iluminaria again! This year we went with the Bartons. It is such a fun tradition. I love seeing the lights but my favorite part really has become going through the garden with all of the beautiful sculptures of Jesus and remembering why we are celebrating this holiday season. We did something new this year and made s'mores! Rusty's work had set the whole thing up so we got some VIP access to make the s'mores. It was really fun!
Amelia loved these tulips!
We decided (Ok I decided) it would be fun to have a little Hot Chocolate Party and just get some different toppings for hot chocolate and then watch a Christmas movie! It was a big hit, and it was really easy! Maybe a new tradition? I don't know, we have so many Christmas traditions this might be better for like February haha.
Amelia's faces in those photos is so funny haha
We got to go get a Christmas Tree!! AHHHH!! I love real trees so much! This year with Henry on crutches was definitely not a good year to go cut one down, but we went down to the nursery in Heber and picked out a beautiful tree! I love the smell so much.
The guy was stingy on the twine he gave us to tie the tree on, so Rusty ended up getting the rope out of the back of the car and we had to hold on to it on the way home haha. So ghetto and white trash- my absolute favorite.
One of the plays that was going on this year for our subscription was Mama Mia. Della's favorite song is Mama Mia, and when we were in Jerusalem last year Kelsey said she sang that song a long, and played it on Alexa. So when I saw it on the list this year I told Rusty that one of us should take Della, and he said I could do it. So we had a special date! We went to Market Street for dinner and then to the play. She was absolutely in heaven, and I had such a great time having a one on one date with her. (I'm actually writing this in June and she was talking about this date today and said it was the best night of her life. She said, "It was a really lovely night for me." Stop it.)
My fancy girl!
The kids got to participate in two nativities this year! The one for the ward party and the one for the family Christmas Eve party.
The first one was the ward party. Cute Heidi Post was in charge of the party, and asked if my kids would be in the nativity (all primary kids are invited). I said that Henry would love to (as well as the girls) but he still couldn't stand for a very long time. She said she'd have a chair there for him, and then she told him that there was a story about a child with crutches that visited the Savior for the nativity and it was her favorite part of the story. She was so nice to Henry and made sure he felt included for the nativity.
The other nativity was for our Porter family breakfast. Aunt Leslie had asked us to talk about the Resurrection and how it relates to Christmas. I had everything ready, but was still kind of embarrassed about it. Rusty was SUPER embarrassed. He went and told Aunt Leslie that I was too shy to do it in front of the family and she looked over right as I had pulled my hat over my eyes. The truth is, I was so embarrassed that he went over to talk to her- not to do the talk part! I thought it was overkill and hoped people knew I was doing it because I was asked not just because I like hearing myself talk.
CHRISTMAS!!!! I love this holiday so much! And actually I do think that my favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. We had the best day! We had both sets of grandparents, Jess and Aaron over for a little party. We did a talent show and then ate our food and watched shows. Dad read the Cajun Night Before Christmas, then we read the Christmas story in Luke and left out milk and cookies for Santa. The kids were giddy with excitement when they went to bed. Oh my gosh I just love this holiday so much! They all slept together in the playroom on nuggets.
Christmas Day!! The kids sat at the top of the stairs while Rusty came down to start a fire in the fireplace (our first one). That ended up being a colossal mistake because the venting was done incorrectly so it just smoked us out so bad. There was smoke everywhere!! But, we had a lovely Christmas morning even with all the doors and windows open and fans going haha. The kids were super excited about their presents and then we took them up to the garage and showed them their drift bikes! We spent quite a bit of time out riding them and having fun. Rusty gave me a scavenger hunt present that ended with tickets to Austria and tickets to go see Taylor Swift in Austria! WHAT?!?!
This year Rusty and I got tickets to the Nutcracker just us! I thought it was lovely and nice date night, but Rusty really felt guilty about leaving the kids and wanted to bring them next year. Usually I'm the one feeling that way, so it was funny to have it switched. Regardless, it was a great performance and next year we'll get 5 tickets so the kids can come! Ha!
Rusty had a ton of work parties for Christmas this year. Like 3 or 4. It was TOO many and I was not thrilled about it. But here are pictures from the parties to show that they happened haha.
My parents bought tickets to The Christmas Story play for the daughters to go to! It was really fun! Emilie and Angie couldn't go, but Jessica and I went and met Olivia and her roommate there. We had dinner and then watched the play and it was so fun!
House Stuff- Ugh I'm so tired of writing about the house. I just want it to be done. Jason finally did the master cabinets, and they looked terrible. Like an orange zebra. So we had to deal with that and he was not happy.
Extra Photos:
Play set
Doing foot exercises with Henry
Della made me breakfast in bed one morning!
The mail lady left all of our packages down on the road and this one got run over
Bailey loves watching the fireplace!
Judith watched the kids one night for us
One night while Rusty was at YMs, the girls and I (and kind of reluctantly Henry) came up with a dance and surprised him when he got home. It was to the song What's Up by 4 NonBlondes.
Charlie tried eating Bailey's dog cookies!
Watching Rudolph!! Best ever!
I split my lip from the cold air!
Gift from Emilie!
Chip dip for breakfast!
A trip to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Henry's final check up for his foot! He has been so good about doing his physical therapy exercises and the doctor was so impressed!
Henry's Highlights:
- I told him we should be getting our dining room seats next month. He asked how many seats and I told him 8. And he said, "EIGHT?!? That's like for eight billion ants!"
- He has been so brave through this whole surgery process. All of the tests and unknowns, the surgery, and the physical therapy we had to do (just at home, but it hurt him) has been hard to watch him go through. But he has rocked it and just pushed through everything and been strong and brave.
Adeline's Adventures:
- Della is absolutely killing her school work. She is reading confidently and writing and loves to write notes! I'm so proud of her for sticking with something that's hard and conquering it!
Amelia's Updates:
- We were in line to get a rental car in Colorado and Amelia wanted to see how tall she was. She stands next to me and puts her hand where her head goes on my body, about the button on my jeans. Then she yells out so loudly, "OH!! I'M ALMOST AS TALL AS YOUR PENIS!" I laughed so hard I fell to the side and knocked Henry over on his crutches and we were all a mess.
