Ring out 2020

 Is there anything cuter than a 3-year-old in brand-new toddler underwear?

Such hope.

Such promise.

Can I REALLY be done with diapers?!

Needless to say, it's completely consumed the last 5 days.  I felt it was an appropriate way to ring out the old year.  Tommy has been pretty good... so far... 

In other non-pooping news.  I've been using this opportunity to catch up with blogging and journaling and cleaning the house.  We had absolutely no plans for New Year's Eve, until Drew swallowed a cylindrical neodymium magnet from the set of cheap magnaforms.  One magnet by itself isn't that big of deal, but we needed to make sure.  After a quick trip to instacare and a couple of x-rays, I was able to tell Mr. poisoncontrolguy that Drew checked out with a toilet "hat" and some latex gloves.  I'm sure we'll see it pass by sooner or later!  We made it home in time for fireworks and an early bedtime.  We had some leftover sparklers and a few spinny things that weren't that impressive.  Next year, I'll plan better.  Good thing some neighbors down the road had an impressive display of aerials.  We felt fulfilled.  So long 2020!

Children's Discovery Museum!

The kids were so excited to go back to this children's museum!  It made a great gift from Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins last year and makes and even better gift this year!  We were able to get in an hour before the crowds, which was nice.  The crowds weren't that bad anyway.  The exhibits were a little... scaled down.  Fewer props and toys, some were even closed.  Anna and Dallin were able to do the canopy tour which was so much fun!  This time I remembered to bring snacks so the kids could last until lunch.

For lunch, we went over to Pizza Pie Cafe.  It's still the same old pizza buffet and it was great!  Dallin got 3 plates of pasta and 3 slices of oreo dessert pizza.  They all got stuffed!  I sure love these memories.  Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins for the fun!

Day-after-Christmas Sledding Party

This is one of the longest-standing traditions in the Ackerson family.  It dates back to the mid 90's when we'd travel to Brigham City for sledding and hanging out with our Allen cousins.  When the cabin was bought a couple years later, a sledding run was the first thing cut into the scrub oaks and service berries.  It's still used 20 years later by Ackerson cousins, herds of deer, and occasional neighbor kids in the development.  It was a small party, again, but everyone had a good time with soup, breads, and old christmas neighbor treats.  We missed Vanessa's family, but she promised to come out for Sledding Party Part II.  There was BARELY enough snow on the hill and I had to go out with a shovel to cover some of the dirt.  We desperately need snow, or there may not be a Part II!

Christmas 2020

 It was a wonderful day!  Bevan had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but we made the most of it.  We needed to stir up some excitement so we took pizza to Mom and Dad's and decided it was time to end their quarantine.  'Bout time!  We ate pizza, pumpkin cookies, and watched Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, a family favorite.  

Christmas morning was a blur for me.  The kids were up at their usual time, 6:30.  Bevan was able to stick around long enough to open presents and eat breakfast.  It was perfect!  I spent the rest of the day just cleaning up anyway.  Our house is full of nerf darts, legos, and trash.  Dallin is in love with his little drone (I give it 3 days, tops),  Anna wore her unicorn onsie for a whole week, and Drew and Tommy dumped the entire bottle of bubble bath into the water.  Beverly and Lloyd came up to visit and eat Christmas dinner with us.  It was a perfect day!

Ackerson Family Christmas Party and Cousin Covid Exchange!

I love the new name for this!  I think it'll stick for years, even after covid is long gone.  For those of us who just don't care to put our lives on hold, we got together for our annual party.  The traditional ice rink was all booked out, so Nora found us a groupon for her local trampoline park... and my kids LOVE trampoline parks!  It was technically for only an hour, but they let us have a little more time.  The place was dead, but the teenagers were pretty much done after an hour anyway.  They had such a blast with the dodgeball arena, open jump, hanging nets, and super high swing!  Tommy loved the foam pit and Paige and Meg kept having to fish him out.  Cousins are amazing!  

Afterwards, we headed back to Nora's for food and presents.  Baked Ziti and garlic knots are a new favorite!  The present exchange was a blast, as always.  My kids love having an "early Christmas" and genuinely love their cousin presents.  We had some family join via zoom, which was fun, but not as much fun.  Hopefully next Christmas we can have a full house again.  If there's ever LESS than 20 kids, it's borderline boring.  I love our big family!

Anniversary Soak

Our anniversary was not that eventful this year, but still one of our BETTER anniversaries.  I partially blame covid.  Bevan still thinks we're going to make it back to Kauai someday.  In the meantime, we decided to do something we've never done before, soak in the crater!  How have we never done this?!  It was amazing!  Bevan had the day off and we found a sitter for Tommy since the only time they had available was the middle of the day.  It's like swimming in a giant, 95-degree bathtub!  As far as things to do it Midway, it's so much more enjoyable than the ice castles... and cheaper.  I can see how bringing small kids would make it less relaxing.  We soaked up every minute of it.  Afterwards, we went to lunch at Goochy Goo Barbeque, also here in Midway, and also something we've never done.  It may not be Kauai, but we got to swim in warm water and eat good food.  Happy anniversary, Bevan love!

Oh, Christmas Tree

This year held a couple of "firsts" for us.  Christmas tree permits were now available to purchase ONLINE!  No more standing in line at 4am at Soldier Hollow!  Has the USFS finally reached the 21st century?  They turned it over to recreation.gov.  Boom, permit within a minute.  Yes, I love technology!

Another first was allowing children to come with us.  Typically, we use it as a excuse for a "date".   But they all had the day off school and Dallin was begging to go!  We thought that since there wasn't much snow, it would be easy for him.  It turned out to only be partially a mistake.  He started complaining after 10 minutes, but by then we were only 5 minutes away anyway.  Once we got to the sweet spot and started wandering around for the perfect tree, he got adventurous and into the spirit of it all!  It was kind of fun.  

Our last "first" was cutting the tree down by hand!  The family chainsaw was out of commission, so we took our regular saw.  It was so light and easy to carry in a backpack!  And with Bevan's sweet cutting skills, the tree was down in less than a minute anyway.  I don't think we're going to use a chainsaw again.  The poor tree was so starved for water from the exceedingly dry summer, it was light as a feather!  Good thing it gets to spend the last month of it's life in a pot of water.  Drink up!  It's not as tall as year's past, so I didn't have a lot of extra branches for a wreath.  It turns out our yard is full of evergreens.  Alpine fir boughs got paired with juniper, spruce, and yews.  Let Christmas begin!

#givethanks

 I am so grateful for this time of year!  It's starting to snow, the landscaping season is wrapping up, and it's time for Thanksgiving!  Even though it's our year to celebrate with Bevan's family, we were able to spend time with both families.  We went up to the cabin on Wednesday where there was food, warmth, and cousins to play with!  

We drove down to American Fork on Thursday where Beverly and Lloyd prepared a TON of food.  The toys were moved downstairs so that kept the kids somewhat occupied.  It was so nice to visit with Bryan and Rebecca and catch up with their lives.  

We trekked back to the cabin on Friday for the after-party.  There wasn't any snow for sledding, although Paige and Meg tried to sled.  The "Big Loop" was nice and dry and Vanessa let me tag along with her once.  Other than that, we just hung out, ate leftovers, worked on puzzles, and spent black friday shopping on our phones.  How times have changed!  I definitely don't miss middle-of-the-night shopping excursions to Park City.  It's a sign I'm getting old!

I didn't do daily social media posts of what I'm thankful for, like we were supposed to, but here are a few...

my health.  It's no secret it's rough getting old... and I'm not even that old!  Sure my knees are rickety and my body doesn't bounce as well as it used to, but I've been pretty blessed. If anyone out there knows the secret to eternal youth, please pass it along!

my house.  I'm sure glad we found our house when we did.  I can't believe it's been 10 years!  Sure, it has it's quirks, but overall, been perfect for our growing family.  I love that Bevan has a garage to park in the winter time, I love that it also fits all our bikes and skis.  I've actually come to appreciate it's limited storage.  It keeps us from accumulating too much junk and makes us evaluate what's really important.

my kids.  There are no words to describe my love for this amazing family.  They all have their different qualities, which I love them for.  Even Dallin has his tender moments and is starting to mellow out a little.  Anna is now 10 and growing more responsible every day.  Drew is a smart little preschooler.  Tommy always has so much to say, even though you can't understand him that well.  I can't believe my baby is 3!

my Bevan.  We're coming up on 14 years being married!  Where has the time gone?  He constantly reminds me to do the "right" thing and keeps the entire family in check.  He is often found doing the dishes or reading to the kids.  We still tag-team running, biking, or skiing, but someday we'll do them together again.  

my job.  I never thought I'd still be working with 4 kids.  I always wondered how working moms survived.  I still don't know how they survive!  I love making places more beautiful and being able to KEEP them beautiful.  We've finished up some amazing projects this year and already have a full summer booked out for next year!

my testimony.  I still can't believe that I lucked out being on earth at this time.  We have such an amazing country that has supported the restoration of the gospel.  I can't imagine my life without it.  I've been pulled and stretched in every way possibly lately, but being grounded in something so simple and beautiful has made it easier to focus on the important things.

Birthday Week!

 This is the best week of the year!  Bevan, Drew, Tommy, and Anna all have birthdays!  We had so much fun.  Bevan and I went out to a peaceful dinner with Beverly and Lloyd on Tuesday, followed by his favorite cake with the Jarvises, who were also watching our kids.  That was the sweat end of our deal.

For the kids' birthdays, we spent Saturday morning at Hang Time Adventure Park!  We've actually never been to a trampoline park and the kids loved it!  They wanted to spend the rest of the day in there, and we probably could've with the few inattentive teenagers running the place.  They had a foam pit, a trapeze, ninja course, zipline, dodgeball, and a massive trampoline area!  I just had to steal a few jumps.  It didn't disappoint.  I forgot what a workout it is!  We headed for Pizza Pie Cafe for lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins.  I was pleasantly surprised it was still open and thriving.  Everyone got what they wanted.  We went back to American Fork to open presents, play and eat cupcakes.  We also watched the BYU football game.  I am so glad they're playing so well, even if they are playing easy teams. 

On Sunday, we had yet another cake with cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Ackerson's house.  We love our cousins so much!  They made Anna feel special, which was extra important because she couldn't have her regular "friend party" this year.  At least I could make her favorite cake, with Grandma's special chocolate frosting.  

Lagoon and Halloween!

Lagoon is one my favorite places ever!  This love goes back to my childhood, when Stake Lagoon Day was the highlight of my summer.  And now I get to watch my kids have that same amazing experience, whenever those stars align for us to go.  This time around, we went late in the season, but we couldn't have asked for a better day.  The weather was perfect, the rides were all running, Nora and her kids were there, there were NO lines, and we only lost Dallin twice.  I know I'm getting old when I actually enjoyed a stroll through Pioneer Village (my head and neck needed a break from the pukey rides).  We brought amazing lunches and snacks and the kids got to trick-or-treat for candy.  Dallin would taunt the zombies and then turn and run away from them.  He thought it was funny.  Anna could go off with her cousins for some more grown-up rides (although there are still some she refuses to ride!).  Drew and Tommy were perfectly happy in kiddie-land with endless choices.  They DO have an amazing kiddie-land!  We ended up staying until closing, sneaking one last ride on the carousel.  

It was too late to drive back home for trick-or-treating, so the kids went around Nora's neighborhood instead.  They made quite a haul!  Tommy was so exhausted from the day, he slept through it.  The others got plenty of candy that should last them for weeks.  It was a great way to end an exciting month!