New Year's Eve

This morning we had our first order of authentic fireworks delivered to our front door.  The price tag was more than we were expecting and so was the display we set off at our newly purchased lots!  We invited some friends over for appetizers and some Nintendo Classic Mini (Kyle's mind blowing gift from Nana) before braving the cold and shooting off fireworks with our new neighbors on Yarrow Drive.  So cool, can't wait for next year!

Homemade Goodness

Our favorite gifts always include the ones the kids make at school.  This year was no different.  Norah really stepped up her game and presented us with a grocery bag full of homemade gifts.  The other kids did the same and even bought us each something from their school Mini-Store.

Real Tree

Last year was our first experience with a live tree and this year in spite of all the chaos we have been experiencing with living situations and Kyle's work schedule, we wanted to carry-on the tradition.  We didn't actually get the tree until last week, but at least we got it decorated the same day and have been enjoying it ever since!

Our Tree

The kids are actually all smiling in this photo!  Such a great picture of everyone in their Sunday best under the Christmas tree excited to start opening presents now that we are home from church!

Christmas Sunday

Having a shortened church service in the morning today, was the perfect addition to an already awesome day.  Bringing the Spirit into our morning and reminding us what we are really celebrating really impacted the overall feeling of the day.

We waited for someone to come out of church and asked them to take this perfect picture of us in the beautiful snow that had fallen the night before.  This is Ben and Norah's first white Christmas and definitely one we will all remember for a long time!

The Unwrapping

We have to wrap the kids into their rooms on Christmas Eve so there won't be any sneaking around. The way the town home is set up, we only had to wrap the hallway, allowing all the kids to be up together!  Ben was sad after the big kids burst through the paper, leaving him nothing to fun through.

It turned out to be an earlier morning than expected, but Ava gave us the greatest present imaginable and entertained the kids from 3-6AM!!  We didn't find out until later what she had done to make this day so much more enjoyable!

Christmas Ever Dinner

After a fun time on the slopes, we headed home for our traditional German Christmas Eve dinner.  The raclette is still in a box in the storage unit, so we ordered a new (and better) one that came and was picked up from the post office just in time to be used tonight!  All the usual toppings were on the table and then we opened 1 present each for dessert!

Christmas Eve Skiing

After a full day of getting ready for tomorrow (ie grocery shopping and meeting some TX friends at Kneaders in Ogden), we ended our day on the slopes at the resort across the valley from us.  Every night we can see the lights of Nordic Valley.  It was so fun to be able to finally ski there!

Done!

This girl has read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants, the New Testament and tonight she finished the Old Testament!  Her goal was to do it before she turned 12, that's over 3 months away!  This girl is so faithful at scripture study, what an amazing accomplishment!

Pow Mow

Today, we made our first family trip to Powder Mountain.  We missed out on season passes and were forced to buy the night ski passes instead.  We wanted to ski during the day today, so we bit the bullet and bought lift tickets.  It was an amazing day.  The slopes weren't very crowded, the sun was out and it wasn't too cold out.  We all had a blast until our hands started getting cold around 3PM, so we went home.  So fun to live 8 minutes away from this amazing resort.

Temple Lights

Jack's face doesn't reflect how awesome this night was.  The lights were amazing, we all just kept talking about how cool they looked and how much we all loved the different nativities.  Kyle had mistakenly bought some marzipan chocolate for the kids at the German Deli and Jack was not a fan!

German Deli

We have been meaning to go see the Temple lights all month long.  It finally happened tonight after we dropped off our donations for the Children's Hosptial and enjoyed a German dinner at Siegfrieds.

Kinder Sled Party

Today was a half day, so after school ended, we headed to some friends to celebrate the last dayl. Ben was invited to a kindergarten sledding party, so I left the kids and went with Ben to a sledding hill in a backyard in Liberty.  It was so cold, so I warmed up inside while he was sledding outside.  He had so much fun finally seeing some of his friends from class.

Ava Sing-a-Long

The 6th grade did an amazing rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas using only musical instruments and other various sounds for each verse.  They were the last ones to perform and Ava's cowbell was always right on cue.  The kids were allowed to wear pajamas to school, but this girl doesn't have any that fit her, so she opted to wear her ski pj's.  So adorable with her santa hat and waves.

Ben Sing-a-long

Each year, the elementary school puts on a Christmas sing-a-long where each grade performs a Christmas carol in the gym while the other grades watch.  I was able to attend and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the kids with their friends singing their hearts out.  Kindergarten sang Santa Clause is Coming to Town.  Ben was scowling during most of the song, but I caught him off guard afterwards!

Jack Sing-a-Long

Up on the house top was the 4th grade musical number.  Jack towered over all his classmates and sang equally loud!

Norah Sing-a-long

Norah and the 2nd grade sang Sleigh Ride.  It was so adorable, they tried snapping to the music!  Norah has made some cute friends here these three had a blast!

Austria Report

Norah picked Austria for her country report.  She made the flag out of construction paper, cut out the Edelweiss flowers and wrote an amazing report on Austria.  She touched on Austrian cuisine, culture, holidays and her family ties to the area.  When I was in Dallas packing up the house I made a special trip to Kuby's and picked up some mini Manner wafers for her to share with her presentation.

Science Fair

Ava has been working on her science fair project since October.  Her and Kyle grew bacteria in agar plates twice hoping to figure out what foods were highest in probiotics.  Despite the lack of actual growth, both scientists learned a ton from their work on this project.

Nordic and The Club

Each morning I go to the gym and when I walk out afterwards I see Nordic Valley Ski Resort across the valley.  Now that there is more snow on the ground we need to ski more often.  We have the kids signed up for Nordic's After School Ski Program in January, can't wait to have an excuse to ski there each week!

Biome Diorama

Being gone all last week and coming home late on Sunday did not give Jack the requisite time required to produce an amazing diorama of a biome in UT. We tried to get some of it done before we left, but of course there was plenty to complete before it's due date on Monday.  Jack was convinced he had an extra day to turn it in and so we were able to get it done last night and this morning. Turning it in late was pretty daunting to Jack, but afterwards he felt good about the work he had it produced and chose to display it in the library instead of taking it home.

Landscape

Each morning we wake up to a beautiful new landscape in the valley.  Today is was fog on the lake and snow on the ground.  I snapped this amazing picture on a walk I took near the school.

Alps Art

Our last trip up here we spent our final evening putting up artwork all around the cabin.  The pictures are all from Germany and Austria to remind us of our amazing experiences over there.  We are excited to someday ski the Alps!

Heading Home

The only run that is open right now is Heading Home.  The backside of the mountain is closed due to lack of snow.

It is so early in the season that the resort has to make snow.  Despite having only 1 run open, we are thoroughly enjoying our time here.  We have been racing down the mountain in record breaking time and doing all the terrain parks.  It has been so fun to be on the mountain together!

Big Day

Today we are all a bit exhausted.  After our long drive yesterday and late bedtime we started our morning off trying to close on our TX house.  We printed the 40+ page documents at a print shop in Durango, CO on our way to Angel Fire yesterday and met with a notary this morning.

The problem we ran into was the drama concerning our HOA violation regarding the removal of the dead tree in the front yard.  Because we didn't get the approval of the ARC, we were slapped with a violation that was preventing the closing of the house.  With the help of our contacts back in the neighborhood, we were able to resolve the issue but not in time to mail the documents out.  We finally dropped everything off at the post office after ending our day of skiing at 4.  Funding won't happen until Monday, but we are officially done.  It's such a bittersweet day.

Super Skiers

These two are so tough, they keep up with the rest of us and ski just as hard as Ava and Jack.  To do so, though, they need some deep fried mini corn dogs and fries.  Jack and I kept it light and opted for some soup!

Hard Worker

We made it through the 11.5 hour drive today, and the first thing Kyle does after we put the kids to bed is get to work.  It is so hard for him to take a break and despite exhaustion, he needs to push through this month of horrific deadlines.  We are so glad to be at the cabin for opening weekend, hoping to enjoy the family this week.

Ready!

We finally strapped our carrier to the car and are loving the rugged look of the QX with the black snow tires.  This car is only 2WD, but we are hoping that with the snow tired in place we will be ok in Angel Fire this week!

Artist

We are participating in the light the world campaign by our church and today Norah drew this cute picture of the nativity.  She is such a great artist, this picture is perfect!

Catching Up

Laundry never gets done when I'm not around, thankfully this cute girl actually helped me get it done!  The kids can be so sweet when they want to be,

Sleeping IN

Kyle let me sleep in this morning in hopes of allowing me some time to decompress, the extra sleep definitely helped and so did this view.

Jim Gaffigan

After so many tears of sorrow, the tears of joy I shed tonight as we attended a Jim Gaffigan show with some friends were so much more worthwhile.  Laughter definitely helped dispel the sadness of saying good-bye to our TX life.  Ubering home from the airport and reuniting with everyone after a few days away was pretty awesome too!

New Tree

Yesterday, the tree was successfully planted in the front yard for buyers.  It is a beautiful tree and although it was really expensive and hard to figure out, it really made the yard look complete again.  I snapped this picture before heading over to the airport for the last time.  Saying good-bye to a part of our lives by myself and dealing with everything that entailed was way too much for one person to handle, but somehow it is over now.  Saying bye to Vicki was super sad, her and this house are seriously my favorite parts of TX.

Done

My last experience at our dream house was scrambling to figure out keys for the lockers the buyers wanted to purchase, finding a place to throw things away in the garage that were hiding behind the overflow pickup stuff that was to be picked up later that day, a light bulb shattering on the counter and me running to our neighbor's house for help cleaning it up.  It was a chaotic morning, one I want to forget ASAP!!

Too Much

Tuesday night I went to dinner with some friends, who neither offered to help or actually helped in any way.  It was hard to feel so alone with so much on my plate.  I knew everyone was busy, and thankfully, one amazing lady stepped up to the plate.  Vicki came over every night and sometimes multiple times each day to check on me.  She brought me meals, helped me run errands, supported me through tons of texts and walked about 1,000 pieces of trash out to the curb for a bulk pick-up. Thank goodness for friends-she literally saved me!

Wednesday morning, two packers showed up at my door to pack our 6,000 sqft home.  I was shocked that the movers only sent two people, but they seemed confident and sure enough, they were finished before the movers got to the house Thursday morning.

Once they left and the movers arrived, I also worked with the landscapers, HVAC man, sprinkler repair man and pool guy.  Everything that was on the inspection list got completed today, miraculously,  The movers didn't pull away until 8:30 at night after a miscalculation on the size truck we would need that cost us a ton of time and an extra $400.  It was seriously so stressful to see all our stuff not fit into the truck we were sharing with another family.  In the end, we had an overflow pickup scheduled for tomorrow and the truck's cabin filled to the brim with our stuff.

Once they left, our pool man, Robert showed up to drag away all the donations we had and then Vicki and I drug all the trash to the curb.  There was so many donations they barely fit in the truck and so much trash it barely fit into half of the road!  SO glad that day ended with a night's sleep at the neighbors'.  A shower did my good and then I crashed until 6 when I had to get up and get the food packed and do any last minute stuff at the house.

The Goods

When I discovered in addition to the Alaskan Halibut and Salmon that we also had a ton of German sausages from Kuby's I started to get nervous about how all this amazingness was going to get to UT.
The quote from UPS to ship it overnight was in the $600 range, so we needed to come up with a game plan quick.  I called the airline and they said I could check two "bags" (boxes) for $75.  Now all we needed was some packing materials and some ice packs.  We overnighted the ice packs via Amazon Prime and I made a plan to pack the food the morning of my flight on Friday.

Big Move

This morning after dropping the kids off at school, Kyle took me to SLC and put me on a plane to DFW.  We have been planning this trip for awhile but didn't pull the trigger until a week from last Friday when we got word from our realtor that our infamous buyers were actually going to close on Dec. 8.  We were floored, because they had been projecting the first part of January as a close date.

We booked my flights asap and here I am in McKinney packing up our dream home.  As soon as I flew in I drove straight to the house and started frantically packing up our snow/ski gear as well as some winter clothes to ship via UPS back to Eden.  Once that was all packed up I tried to figure out the blessed Alaska fish.  Kyle and I were face timing about the fish while it was looking so amazing outside.

Allergy Testing

Now that we are in a new place, Jack is needing to get retested for allergies.  The good news is, he is ok despite how bad his back looks in the picture.  The bad news is his peanut allergy is actually getting worse!  Epi-pen for life!

Leftovers!

Thanks to the amazing turkey leftovers, Kyle was able to whip these up for Sunday dinner!  Turkey pot pie is one of my most favorite dishes-so glad there are two of them!

Santa Run

Not sure when I became a big runner, but in the last 4 days I have run a 3K, and two 5K's.  Today's 5K will be run wearing this santa suit!  Kyle and I signed me up for the race last night and picked up my suit after our waffle love lunch.  We raced back to Ogden once I got changed and the kids sat on the road and cheered me on.  It was tricky to run and breath heavy with a scratchy felt beard on, but the giant hole in my cheap felt pants was by far the worst part of the 35 minutes.  I was glad when it was over and felt super cool that I actually did this!  We had 5 Guys burgers for dinner while watching the rest of the santas run by and then watched the Christmas fireworks that followed the race from the comfort of a warm car.  Great end to our Thanksgiving break!

Waffle Lovin'

We headed over to Waffle Love this afternoon once we had done some exploring on 25th street in Ogden.

The kids all built their own waffle-nutella, raspberries, chocolate filled and plain while I got the grilled cheese waffle with tomato bisque.

Kyle ended up ordering himself The Red Wonder with biscoff, strawberries, raspberries and cream. We all had waffle jealousy when his was delivered.  This place is just outside the canyon from Eden thankfully!

Moana with Cousins

Eric and the boys met us at Moana today before they headed down to Provo for the night.  It was so fun after a morning of sledding on Pow Mow to be able to sit down for a couple of hours and be thoroughly entertained.  The music and story were top-notch.  Disney did it again.  We will definitely be seeing this again.

The Crew

We were able to squeeze everyone into a picture before we took off.  It was seriously the best time at this cabin today-so grateful to have been invited and spend time with family on Thanksgiving.