Wicked!

I have wanted to see Wicked for a very long time. We were super excited to hear it was coming to Columbia. We used Christmas money from Grammy and Granddad to buy tickets. It did not dissappoint. It was amazing.

Our seats were not bad. We were on the second tier near the center. We were on the back row and I loved not having anyone behind us.

It was such a fun thing to do as a family.

Temple Trip

With some recent changes in Church policy, Baylie is now able to go to the temple. (She is also now in Young Women.) She has been so excited to go. She was able to be baptized for 10 people from our family ancestors. Some were from Gigi's family and some from Grandad's.

We decided to make it a family affair and we all went. David and Jalen waited for us.

Afterwards, we let Jalen choose where to eat out for his birthday and to celebrate Baylie's temple experience. He chose Smashburger! (I had a salad.)

It's hard to believe how quickly the time is passing, but I'm so happy with the people these children are becoming.

And That's a Decade!

Jalen is 10! I can't believe how much has happened in these past 10 years. It seems like forever ago that we rushed to Roanoke to meet him for the first time. I recorded my thoughts in THIS and other blog posts.

Since his birthday was on a Sunday, we celebrated Saturday. He didn't have a party this year, but he was able to invite two friends for some fun. He chose to go to Frankie's Fun Park - one of his favorite places.

We hadn't been there for awhile and were surprised at how many new games they have.

Baylie and David loved the new virtual reality game, although it scared Baylie half to death.

The boys' favorite game was a Ninja Turtle one where they could all play together. 

The boys had a hard time choosing which games to play because they were in heaven.

After Frankie's we came home and everyone made their own pizza.

While the pizza was cooking, Jalen opened his presents.

I t hink the Air Heads were his favorites.

He was very excited to have such a big present. I don't think he really cared what was in it, he just loved that it was big.

After presents, it was pizza time!

Jalen has had an obsession with caramel lately and he wanted a chocolate caramel cake. I experimented and made a Devil's Food poke cake where I poked holes in the cake and poured sweetened condensed milk over it. Then I melted caramels and poured that over it and then covered it all with melted chocolate chips. Last of all, I covered it with whipped cream. I don't care that much for chocolate and I thought it was amazing.

Jalen got three Lego sets and the boys had fun playing with them all afternoon. It's amazing how three wild boys can be completely absorbed by Legos.

Jalen has always wanted a gaming system, but we don't want one in the house. We ended up getting him a retro Frogger game. It is totally old school, but he loves it.

The big present was a basketball game that can be converted to football and baseball as well. He loved it and the kids have already spent a lot of time playing with it.

Volleyball!

Baylie has been excited about volleyball for quite some time. She has attended a couple of high school camps, but I have never seen her play. She was super excited when we learned that the YMCA had an affordable volleyball program. I was super excited to see her play and find out that she's actually pretty good! (The YMCA's volleyball program was not.)

She was probably the best passer on both teams (there were only two teams).

She was the only girl that was able to serve overhand. I didn't even know she could do that!

It was especially fun because she was able to play with one of Jalen's classmates, the daughter of a fellow teacher. All the girls got better throughout the season.

Club volleyball is very expensive so we aren't quite ready for that, but we are sending her to BYU's volleyball camp this summer - together with the twins. And then in the fall she can try out for the middle school team. I'm glad she loves volleyball becaue so do I!

Post Holiday Happenings

I have the best friends. In high school and college, my best friends were guys. I related to them better than most of the girls I knew. But as an adult, I have been so blessed to have friends that are amazing women. They are supportive, trustworthy, and just downright good people. I am so grateful for them. They are also wonderful role models of motherhood. They also like the goodies I bake :)!

April Alsup, Esther Courtney, Me, Yasmin Baltzeggar

So I thought it would be fun for them to come over with their girls and have the girls learn how to make some holiday sweets. It was so much fun. I made the girls their own little recipe booklet.

We made peanut clusters - three flavors.

Addi and Alexa - white chocolate

Baylie - chocolate

Cam and Isabella - butterscotch

 There were seven girls in the kitchen!

Cam, Isabella and Baylie

We dipped pretzel rods.

With Jackson (yep, brothers came too)

Baylie, Jackson, Esther and Skylar

We made divinity.

We also made chocolate drop peanut butter cookies, gingerbread cookies and English toffee.

The boys were great taste testers in between playing.

Jalen, Jackson and Bo

The girls also had some outside play time.

Alexa on the zipline

I love everyone in this picture.

Back: April, Baylie, Ava, Addi, Cam, Skylar, Yasmin, Esther, Me
Front: Esabella and Alexa

I didn't take any pictures, but we went to see Maleficent 2 - and we liked it.

For New Year's Eve, we got together with the Ruppes.

Josh, Ian and Jalen

 By midnight, the adults were tired.

Cami and Doris Conrardy

Baylie tried, but couldn't make it to midnight.

 We woke her up in time to drink sparkling cider and do the poppers.

The boys were still going strong. Happy New Year!!

The kids got a tetherball for Christmas and David set up the pole in a tire filled with cement. The cement had to sit for a couple of days and today we were finally able to play with it.

Things got a little rough and both kids got hit in the face...

...by their dad.

It's been a great holiday so far and we still have a few days to go.