It was a
wonderful, busy holiday season! Dad
arrived on Thursday, December 15. His
flight was an hour late so I had to change my plans a bit, but we still had
time to go to lunch and run errands. We stopped at JCPenney so I could return
some things and then we went to AutoNation Honda so I could drop off my car for
service. Andrew and Daniel picked us up and we went to lunch at Olive Garden.
We did some shopping and I did some returns and then we picked up the car and
came back home. When we read scriptures, Dad used Grandma Kathy's Bible, the
King Joseph version. We were reading Malachi chapters 3 and 4 and the words
were pretty similar. We talked about our day tomorrow and had prayer. We
watched Young Sheldon. I had the boys help me bring the gifts down so we don't
have to do that in the morning. Then Michael and I went to the gym.
December 16,
Friday
We spent the morning wrapping presents.
Dad did most of the wrapping while I got everything organized. We got everything done that we could and
there are still a few more gifts that will arrive over the weekend.
We had Panda Express for dinner, then we got
ready for The Nutcracker. We were in our seats by 7:15 PM.
It was a little slow in the beginning, but it got really good
and I loved the music so much! I loved the second half even more than the first
half. It's my favorite music and I loved the dancing. I asked the boys what
their favorite part is and Jonathan said it was intermission. Daniel liked the
rats and Andrew liked the dancing grandpa. Dad loved the music and the Russian
dancers. Michael said he really liked it, too. He used to go every year when he
was a kid. I especially liked the snowflake dance right before intermission. I
also liked the part right after intermission where there were little angels and
they seemed to be gliding but they were just walking. I also really liked the
costumes, especially the three dancers who were dressed like a spinning top.
And the two principal dancers that played the king and queen were
amazing!
December 17,
Saturday
Nathaniel, Audrey, and Emily all made it here safely today.
It was nice to be able to sleep in. Dad and Andrew went to go get Bosa donuts.
We read the Come Follow Me lesson. The boys did their laundry and I washed all
the bedding. Dad and Daniel went to pick up the cookie icing and then they went
to the Casteel parking lot to practice driving for half an hour. Dad said
Daniel did really well. I finally got the cookie dough made and then I did a
bunch of chores on the computer. I ordered Barro's pizza for dinner. The kids
arrived at 6 PM. We all had pizza together and then everyone watched the BYU
bowl game. Well, Emily and Jonathan watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the
Squeakquel. Daniel went to his friend Luke's party. When the bowl game was over,
the kids played Mario Kart.
December 18,
Sunday
We had a good day at church. We were able to get a row for the whole
family. We almost didn't fit. After church, Michael stayed for a little bit to
do tithing and the rest of us went home. We got out some food for lunch and
waited for Michael to get home and then we took some pictures outside and
inside. I'm so excited about my new tripod! It's got a remote on it and I can
use it with my cell phone and it works great.
After lunch we cleaned up and then I started
making the sugar cookies. Dad helped a lot with putting them in and out of the
oven and Emily helped as well. She rolled them out a couple of times. Once the
cookies were baked, we set everything up to decorate cookies. I think the kids
had fun. Everyone was taking it pretty seriously. We had one outline bag and
three fill bags for each color, plus one outline and one fill of black.
Everyone was pretty creative and had a fun time.
Dad took Daniel driving again. They drove around Sossaman
Middle School and through the neighborhood a little bit. Apparently, somebody
honked at him for driving too slowly but Dad said he did a good job. I made the
noodles and rolls and salad to go with the chicken noodle soup. After dinner, we
had family home evening and Michael gave a lesson. We did all of our normal
stuff and had a family prayer. Then the kids wanted to play Jackbox so we did
that for a little bit. Then we took a break to do the dishes and the kids
wanted to play more games but I suggested we play an actual board game. They
brought some options down but then they asked about that Herd Mentality game
that Toni had sent so we played that. It was pretty fun. You had to choose
things in a category that you thought would match what other people would say.
Michael won and then Emily won and then Daniel won. It was a great day!
December 19,
Monday
I've been planning this day for over a month. I'm glad it went well. I
spent the morning getting as many chores done as I could. I was busy all the
way up until we left at 12:20 PM. We got to Game Show Battle Rooms right on
time. We got checked in and he explained the game and everything. Then we went
in and started the games. It was a really cool set that they had. I tried to
take lots of pictures and videos. The teams were chosen at random and it was
Nathaniel, Jonathan, Michael, and Emily and their team was called The Winners.
The rest of us were called The Fantastic five. The first game we played was like
Family Feud. We were up four to zero and then they started coming back.
Next, we did the Wheel of Fortune game. There
were a few puzzles that I knew the answer to but I never got the chance to
solve it before Emily did. She did an awesome job and the host and producer
were pretty impressed with how quickly we were getting the puzzles. At the end,
Emily and I did a lightning round. The first one was the Las Vegas strip and I
got that with only the L_S in Las. Then Emily got the next one which was A
Charlie Brown Christmas Thanksgiving. And then the last one it was "keep
the change ya filthy animal" and I got that one.
Next, we played a game where you had to put the
right price on the products. We only got three right the first time and the
other team got three right the first time. Then we got a chance to switch them
and the second time they got only two right and we still only got three right.
There was another game where you had to roll the dice and then choose what
place value you wanted that number in. That one was kind of tricky and we lost.
The last thing was a Plinko game. Michael got 1000 points and
so it was hard to catch up because we never got that and they ended up winning
the game. It was pretty close. I think everybody had a really good time.
After the session, I convinced everyone that it
was a good night to go to the Mesa Temple since it was on the way home. I
promised we would only take half an hour. We parked in the parking lot by the
visitor's center and walked around for a little bit. Then we got a picture by
the reflecting pool and walked around a little more and left. Jonathan said I
didn't do half an hour because it was only 29 minutes, ha ha.
On the way home, we all met up at Cold Stone Creamery. We had
taken two cars. The kids played some video games for a little while.
December 20,
Tuesday
Today was a long but wonderful day. I hurried and got ready so I could
go to the gym. I had so much to do that I didn't leave until 10:30 AM but I was
home by 11 AM. Emily wasn't quite ready so I had time to get changed and ready
to go shopping with Dad and Audrey and Emily. We went to Ross first. We spent
quite a while there and found some great stuff. Emily got a couple of dresses
and sweaters. Audrey got two blazers and a sweater. I got two tops and a
jacket. Dad insisted on paying for everything. We ran a few more errands and
then went home. I didn't have a lot of time to do what I needed to do but
somehow, I got it all done. Dad took Jonathan for a haircut and I tried to fix
the digital frame but it still didn't work. Then we all started getting dressed
and ready to go to dinner. We left a little after 4:15 PM and made it right on
time for our reservation at Ruth’s Chris at 5 PM. They seated us in our own
little room with a large table with nine chairs so that was perfect. I really
liked that configuration so we could talk together. Once we made our order, I
excused myself to use the bathroom and I stopped the server and asked him if
the cakes were there and he said they were. His name was Chris and he and his
partner server Lindsee seemed even more excited about the cakes than I was.
They said they looked really good and couldn't wait to show me. They looked
amazing! I was so glad I went through AJ's Fine Foods to get them. I told him
the plan for the surprise. We all enjoyed our food so much! We had two orders
of lobster mac & cheese brought to us as an appetizer. Dad and Daniel got a
salad and Andrew wanted his potato with the appetizers. We also got an
appetizer of calamari. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their steak. Dad got the
cowboy ribeye, Jonathan and Emily got the filet and shrimp, Andrew got the
T-bone, and Audrey got the filet. Michael, Nathaniel, Daniel, and I all got the
ribeye. It was amazing, as usual! We had fun talking together. We talked a
little bit about Europe. When he came and asked if anybody wanted dessert,
nobody said anything. I paused for a bit and then I said, yes, we should get
dessert because we're celebrating a couple of things. I told him that Audrey
just graduated from college and that my dad is about to retire. I said to
please bring us some dessert. It took them a little time but they brought the
cakes out. They were amazing! Audrey and Dad were pretty shocked. None of the
kids knew what I was doing either and they were all surprised. Audrey's cake
was Harry Potter themed.
Dad's cake had a little guy in a boat and it
said Gone Fishing and Happy Retirement.
They both looked awesome! I got lots of pictures
and video. We got some great pictures of everyone. I also took plenty of
pictures of the actual cakes. We decided we should cut up Dad's cake since he
is leaving tomorrow and everybody got a piece of the vanilla cake with the cake
batter the birthday cake filling. Everybody was pretty full already but they
all ate it except for Andrew. Audrey and Dad liked their gifts, as well. They were both very grateful for me doing
that for them. I've been spending weeks planning this so I'm glad it worked out
and everybody was happy.
When we were done eating, we walked across the
street to McCormick Stillman park to see the model train building and everyone really
liked it.
After that, we drove over to the Giving
Machines. We all chose something to donate.
When we got home, we put things away and then we exchanged
gifts with dad. He was pretty happy with his Remember Everyone Deployed red
T-shirt and his little sign that I had ordered from Etsy. It said: as great of
a dad you as you are, it's even better that my kids get to call you Papa. I
also got him a green sweater and a little coaster that said, "my gun
identifies as a cordless hole punch." The kids got Band of Brothers for
him. I sent him home with a calendar and some gifts for Debbie. Dad said good
night to everyone and went upstairs to pack and go to bed. The kids roped me
into playing Mario Kart with them. I actually held my own pretty well this
time. I even came in fourth place on the first race. It was a long, wonderful
day.
December 21,
Wednesday
I got up this morning at about 6:30 AM so that I could get
ready for the day and get the beef stroganoff in the crockpot. At 7:30 AM, we
had a family prayer and everybody said their goodbyes to Dad and I took him to
the airport. I had a hair appointment at 9:30 AM but I was able to drop Dad off
pretty quickly so I arrived at her neighborhood at 9 AM and it worked out
perfectly for her that I came over a little early. I came back home and got a
bunch of chores done. I did a load of laundry and all kinds of things I needed
to do. The kids all helped get everything ready and set the table and
everything for our dinner with the missionaries. Everyone enjoyed the dinner. I
gave them their gift of a little temple picture on the wooden photo board. They
seemed to like it. We took a picture and then they showed us the Christmas
video from President Nelson. I've been wanting to show that to everybody for a
while and I just keep thinking of it at the wrong time. We had a family prayer
and cleaned up. Nathaniel wanted to watch the movie My Girl Friday with Cary
Grant. We started it at about 9:30 PM but luckily it was only an hour and a
half movie. I didn't love the movie but it was kind of fun to see it anyway.
Then we all got ready for bed.
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