Ring out 2016!

The turn of a new year always brings self-reflection for me.  What happened?  Lots!!!

The kids got a little bigger.

Anna and Dallin started school.

Drew started walking.
Dallin started wearing glasses.
Anna lost and gained several teeth.

Bevan and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary!
I can't wait for the new year.  These kids are amazing and have taught me so much about what matters in life!  These were the last pictures I took in 2016.  It warmed up to 40 degrees one afternoon, before New Years, and we all went to the park.  So very nice!

Day-after-Christmas Sledding Party

I was thinking back to our many family traditions and nothing has stood so long on my side of the family as the sledding party on the day after Christmas!  I don't know how, exactly, this started as a tradition, but it's still going strong.  With all the fresh snow from the day before, it was going to be epic!  We arrived nice and early and Dallin got immediately busy with his snow stuff.  He went down the hill at least 20 times.  I think Bevan pulled him up every time too!  Anna was more happy playing inside with her cousins, but she did take a few token tube rides.  I was excited to try out my Christmas present, a new pair of cross country skis!  I bought the poles and boots used, but the skis were new and ready to glide!  They glided alright, almost a little too much, it was tough trying to get some grip going uphill, but I blame that on the new snow.  Anyway, it was amazing and I could've gone on forever!

I love these pictures of the kids!  I wish they could all stay this small, including the cousins.  They have so much fun together and I cherish these family parties!

Christmas 2016

We tried to keep Christmas Day really simple this year.  The kids don't get a million presents, but definitely enough to keep them entertained for an entire day!  It was a challenge to make it to 9am church, but we made it!  It was a special meeting with really good talks and musical numbers and really focused on the savior.  The kids were somewhat well-behaved, considering they had to leave their new toys at home.  It had really snowed the night before, which made for an amazing white Christmas!  I love freshly-fallen snow!  I don't even mind shoveling it.  Because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, Bevan naturally had it off from work!  This was a special treat!  We loved having him home all day.  We had both sets of grandparents over for Christmas dinner.  I just HAD to have cheesy potatoes!  Sure, ham and rolls are good... but nothing beats cheesy potatoes!  It was nice to just not go anywhere, but stay home and watch the snow fall, stare at our amazing Christmas tree, watch the kids tire themselves out, and just enjoy the Christmas day!

Christmas Shin-digs!

Who doesn't love a good Christmas party?!  We had a couple this year, starting with our ward's Christmas party on the 13th.  They held it at the Midway Community Center, which was right next to the outdoor ice rink!  The building was only big enough to hold HALF our ward, so we ate dinner where we could.  Ya know, the hallway was really a good idea actually.  Drew had an area to crawl around without getting stepped on.  It all worked out!  After dinner, Bevan took Anna and Dallin to ice skate.  Anna picked it up really quick, but Dallin relied on the walker to get around.  It then turned into him SITTING on the walker and Bevan pushing him around.  I had a blast wandering around with Drew, chatting with everybody in the cold.  We have an amazing ward with a lot of fun people!

Our Ackerson family Christmas party was on the 23rd and it turned into an all-day-affair with ice skating in the afternoon, followed by dinner and gift exchange at Nora's house.  It was so nice to let my kids just go and play with their cousins.  Even Drew could wander around, finding various things to chew on, and I would never know!  The food was amazing, as always, and my kids loved getting early presents!  Luckily, the big snow storm held off until the next day and the drive home was fortunately uneventful.

Christmas Eve at the Hawkins house is always a special event.  Beverly and Lloyd always come up with fun games and try to make it enjoyable for all the teenagers and our little ones.  Lloyd reads his special Christmas family poem/ letter, detailing all the happenings among the family.... in rhyme!  He really nails it!  Drew finally started walking and was admired by all the family.  Dallin really hammed it up and was going bonkers over all the excitement.  I think most of the grownups were relieved when it was time for Dallin to leave!  That boy has endless energy.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

I love love LOVE natural Christmas trees!  They smell so good and I love how each one is so unique year after year.  Last year, we bought ours at Home Depot because I just couldn't pull off getting a permit.  This year I was determined!  To get a permit to cut down your own tree in our area, you have to stand in line at Soldier Hollow before the forest service guys start handing the permits at 6am.  This is the Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving.  You really have to plan in advance!

I tagged along with Kristine and her family at 5:30am on Friday.  It really stinks standing in line by yourself.  Having good company really passes the time!  We didn't get there early enough because there were sooooo many people already in line!  It's gotten really popular.  They ran out of permits before we got to the front.  Noooooo!  We made plans to come back the NEXT day, even earlier!  I don't care to remember HOW early we went.  Anyway, it worked and soon we were heading home to go back to bed, clutching my permit in my sleep!  Anyway, that's only half the story!

Bevan and I learned early that we are much more successful cutting down trees if we don't have the kids with us.  Some day, we'll make it a family event, but for now, it's just us.  Luckily Mom and Dad live near a national forest so it's easy to just drop them off for an hour or so.  We drove to just beyond the forest boundary sign, pulled into the first parking lot we saw and started snowshoeing up the nearest trail.  It was a gorgeous winter wonderland with about 2 feet of fresh snow!  I thought there was no way there were any decent trees this close to civilization.  I was wrong!  After only 20 minutes, we saw it.  There was a lot of snow and ice stuck to its branches, which made it awfully heavy, but I could tell it was a good one.  Botta bing!  We're done!  For only $10 and a LOT of hassle, we finally have a tree.  Let Christmas begin!

Birthday Birthday Birthday

When Anna was born, we thought it was so neat that it was only a week after Bevan's birthday!  And then when Drew was born right between their birthdays, I thought, "Oh great!  3 birthdays within a week!"  That 3rd week of November is just extra special for us!  I went through a LOT of cocoa and powdered sugar, that's for sure!  Bevan got his favorite oreo ice cream cake.  We couldn't eat it all (although Drew tried), so a couple days later we took the leftovers to Grandma Christy's for Drew's birthday party.  He shares a birthday with his Uncle Allen so there were multiple chocolate cakes for our large crowd.  Drew did a good job eating MORE cake, but this time, a lot of it went on the floor.  My sweet one-year-old!

Anna's 6-year-old birthday was the largest fiasco by far!  We had ANOTHER chocolate cake (no complaints here) made by Grandma Christy at her house on Thanksgiving evening.  By this time, Dallin was fed up with all these birthday parties that were NOT for him!  He started emotionally cracking and I knew that Saturday would be the breaking point.  Anna invited a dozen kids over to our house for a huge party!  What could I do with Dallin?!  Luckily, Grandpa Chuck came to the rescue and took both him and Drew to Dairy Keen and the park for 2 hours during the party.  Hallelujah!  As far as birthdays go, we are done for a while.  Good thing slices of cake freeze well!

A Day of Thanks!

I love Thanksgiving time!  Not just for all the many birthdays in our family, but for Thanksgiving itself!  It was always the biggest deal in my family!  I remember as a kid going to grandma and grandpa Allen's house and seeing my many cousins.  Then, when our extended family got too big, we started having it with just our family.  The cabin came along and it was the natural place to hold Thanksgiving dinner.  It's been that way ever since.  There's no "on-year" or "off-year", it's just whoever can come is welcome every year.  We had Nora, Vanessa, Allen, Paul, and my family and it was quite the crowd!  Nora brought crafts, woven placemats, which were a huge hit!  I hardly saw Dallin, he was busy with the boys.  Occasionally, kids went outside to sled, which made for a huge collection of snow gear in the greenhouse.  The food was amazing, of course, and I especially loved Vanessa's turkey veggie tray.

After dinner, Mom, Vannessa, and I went to hike the loop.  I underestimated how much snow there was at the top and after a while, it became quite the donner-party-like trek!  I think I burned off my dinner by the time we were done with the 6 miles.  I love that loop!  Such amazing views!  We moved the party to Mom and Dad's house for pie and birthday cake for Anna.  There were also pumpkin rolls and ice cream.

The next morning, we loafed around, ate leftovers, admired the black-friday deals from Nora and Vanessa's 6am shopping trip, cleaned up, and waited for Bevan to get off of work.  He had to go in for half-a-day, but got off in enough time for swimming at the rec center in Kamas.  Vanessa's kids swam with us, which was good for needing extra hands.  As it turns out, Dallin and Anna are pretty independent at swimming pools with their puddle jumpers.  Dallin even snuck off to go down the BIG slide by himself!  Several times!  That kid is fearless!  I wish we had a pool like that near us.  Oh, well!  It makes it all the more special when we DO make it there.