Merry Christmas

After a late night Christmas morning comes really fast.  Ryder waited patiently until maybe 7:00 am.  We then let him loose to get the girls up which took a lot of work.  While everyone made it slowly downstairs the dogs were eager to be right in the middle of it.

Dexter found his new toy
all by himself.
He proudly showed it off to everyone.

Reganne's present to Dad
I believe he was surprised.

Another surprise from Reganne.
Cherry Chocolates!!
She loved the story about Grandma & Grandpa Waters
and wanted him to remember it as well.

Rylee loving new punching bag & gloves.

Ryder loving his Xbox accessories
They will teach him how to drive.

Finally I an wear my Doc Martins

The presents were all opened and the girls headed back to bed.  We started a new tradition of Christmas Morning Breakfast with the Wheelers.  Dacoda & Ryder were starving and dying to eat.

The Dads were cooking.

It was really chilly & rainy
to eat outside.
They did an awesome job.

Time for a nap and it's only 9:30.  

After a long nap everyone was starving and ready to eat again.  Time for more Christmas fun.

Ryder's present a large Nerf gun.
This boy is in heaven.

Let me show you how it works.

Family Christmas Picture
2018

Lets start another tradition . We have tried it in the past without much success.  However, the kids are growing up way to fast.  There needs to be documentation of how they are growing and changing.  More important how we are expanding.

Using auto take.
Dacoda didn't quite make it.
I do love the Superman effect.

Much better.
Christmas Day 2019

Time to play
Ginger had to play.

And play...

It was a great day full of family, surprises, and yummy food.  Only 364 days until the next celebration.  It may take some of us longer to recoop.

Christmas Eve...

It's finally here!!!  The presents are wrapped and under the tree.  School is out for the year.  Time for our family traditions and if we are lucky we might a few new ones.

I still had some shopping that need to be done.  The girls wanted to sleep in and Ryder wanted to get the show on the road.  We finished the shopping, errands, and everyone was hungry.  Time for some food and where are we going to go to get our Chinese food?  The kids vetoed the one from last year.  How about the newest place in town Hu Hut.  Oops they are closing at 4.  No Chinese this year.

Everyone in town has found out about our next tradition going to the visitors center.  The crowds grow each year and this year they added a program by the sister missionaries.  The crowd was even larger.

Trying to photo bomb each other
at the Book of Mormon Tree

Temple picture
I love how they arranged themselves

Checking out the lights.
It's cold outside and Reganne refuses to wear a coat.

One more picture
of my family

Pretty good picture
for an iPhone camera

It was a great day and full of fun adventures.  It seems really weird this year that we won't be setting out cookies for Santa.  The kids are growing up and changing daily.  My one Christmas wish is that we still have the excitement tomorrow morning brings.  Reganne out lasted everyone and was the last one into bed.

Christmas Eve Eve

It's Sunday and with still 2 days away from the big day.  We loved the Christmas Program at church was really good.  We then had the rest of the afternoon to relax and enjoy before the craziness starts.  

We have a live tree upstairs that when Dave found another one on for dirt cheep he just had to get another one for downstairs.  It was time for a little family togetherness and decorate the new tree.

Gathering together
and trying not to fight.

Finding the right ornaments
and adding a few more lights.

Perfection!!!

It looked perfect but once again all the strong opinions and emotions makes it struggle sometimes to complete a family task.  The end product looked amazing the only thing left was to add presents.

Let's get the party started and enjoy this holiday season with family and friends.

Doing Scary Things

And being successful is hard for everyone.  Rylee has been taking piano lessons for about 9 months.  The music studio holds 2 recitals each year at Dixie State University.  She has been working really hard on the piece of music that was selected just for her.  She was ready to give it her best.

A little bit of craziness to get there and for her to get warmed up.  

Walking on stage with Sam.

YES!!!
She did it and sounded great.

She made it off stage and back to where we were sitting.  Sam was awesome and a quick thinker in moving her to the first position in the program instead of towards the end.  I think my favorite part was the big smile that was on her face as she walked towards me afterwards.

She gave me an awesome example to follow that we all can do scary things and be successful.  We just have to try.

IMX Swim Meet

It is time for another swim meet and this is going to be a big one.  The IMX Meet brings teams from across the state as well as a few from Nevada.  This year there are even more kids competing which requires an additional session.  We arrived in plenty of time to find good seats without getting to wet.  Ryder was checked in and ready for warm ups.  

Events for Session 1
Thanks goodness for wipes.  They
clean Sharpie off.

First scheduled event was actually a combined with Event 2.  This meant Ryder was a no show for his first race.  The Heat Sheets, kids, and even the coaches were confused on what was actually going on.  Ryder was very disappointed that he missed out.  There was still one event left tonight that he needed to get ready for.  He swam a good clean race.  Time for some food and a good nights rest.  We didn't need to be back until 12:00 for Session #3.

Warm Ups
Love to watch the arms & legs in
full range of motion.

Take your mark.

Good clean strokes

In the zone
on his backstroke.

He worked hard and was successful in completing each event without getting DQ'd.  Now we have to wait for his finally results that should be posted in the next day or two.

11 Male 100 Free 5th Place Overall 1:20.83  Entry Time:  1:31.39

11 Male 100 Breast 3rd Place Overall  1:51.52  Entry Time:  1:51.87

11 Male 100 IM 1st Place Overall 1:34.01 Entry Time:  1:39.76

11 Male 100 Back 4th Place Overall 1:46.96  Entry Time:  1:32.00

4 Ribbons and the biggest smile ever.  He has worked really hard to compete in the new age bracket.  He proved to himself that he can compete with the 11 year olds and be successful.  6 weeks until the next meet.

Christmas School Concerts

Fun Christmas adventures are over and time to get back to every day busyness.  School activities are in full swing.  First up was Ryder's choir performance.  The kids are ready to get the show started and show off all that they have learned.

Put your hands behind your back.

Or by your sides.
He looks so uncomfortable. 
They sound really good.

Actions are the best.

The program was supposed to last 25 to 30 minutes and they delivered.  Monday arrived with Reganne's choir concert.  No pictures for this one due to bad lighting and my bad eyes in trying to find her in the crowd.  They too sounded awesome!!! 

 It was then off to my work Christmas party.  This year we chose the new Fantastic Beasts... arriving late didn't help me out any.  I was completely lost and couldn't figure out what was really going on.  Rylee & Ryder weren't much help in solving the mystery for me.  We should have seen the Grinch instead. 

I am so proud of the hard work and determination the kids are putting into everything they do.

The North Pole Express

Aka the Heber Creeper Train.  We had a busy morning with Dave & Ryder shoveling the walks again for Grandma & Grandpa.  Then it was off to Provo Towne Center for lunch and a movie.  Lucky us choosing Creed II on a Monday in the afternoon guarantees your choice of seats.  The food court gave everyone their choice of yummy food for lunch.

The movie was great except for the only other people in the theater kept talking really, really loud.

It was finally time to head up Provo Canyon to Heber.

Dinner @ Chick's
WOW large portions!!!

Yummy scones!!!

Time to find the train station and hope that we are dressed warm enough that we don't freeze to death.

Early Birds
Waiting patiently for the train to arrive.

It's freezing outside
We are waiting patiently to start boarding.

Yummy Hot (lukewarm) Chocolate
with Choc Chip Cookies

We are inside and warming up.

Entertainment from Santa's Helpers & Elvis

Selfies

Reganne jumped out of this one.

Santa climbed aboard when we reached
the North Pole

Ryder giving him his list. 

Dave showing his antlers.

What does she want for Christmas?
The movie Alpha.

We had a fun time.  Rylee asked why we didn't do this when they were younger.  I replied that we only heard about this a couple of weeks ago.  It was a fun adventure but soooooo cold!!!

It was now time to head towards home so everyone can go to school tomorrow.  Lucky us the snow had stopped on Sunday so the roads were clear.  Arriving home safe and everyone was in bed by 2.