Game Day

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Once or twice a year we have a Game Day.  Each member of the family gets to choose a game that we all play together. I had spent a good part of the break in bed and needed a fun day before heading back to school. I went with Ryan's suggestion of Walmart BINGO. We had a list of ghetto type people you tend to see at Walmart, like a woman in her pajamas, on a BINGO board and had to get 5 in a row. It was Lex and Seth against Dave, Cam, and I. Lex and Seth beat us with time to spare.

Dave choose to use an idea the Goons had given us, Blindfolded Burgers.  We got 5 meals from In-n-Out, Wendy's, McDonald's, Dell Taco, and Burger King.  We had to taste the fries blind folded and guess where they came from. Dave got them all right. Then we cut each of the burgers into 5 pieces and tasted those too.  Dave and I both got all the burgers right, making Dave the winner of this game. I discovered I like Burger King Burgers and Fries best. It was fun and a little gross at the same time.

Lex had 2 friends spend the night and had gotten very little sleep the night before.  She picked the fastest game she could think of - a staring contest.  Seth won.

Cam picked Pictionary. We only played around half the board. Dave, Cam, and I were a team and we won.

Seth choose Apples to Apples. He had a hard time knowing the meaning of many of the words and got really frustrated. I won that game.  

I love our game days, but as always we are ready to finish at the end of the 5th game.

New Year's Eve

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Lex is too cool for our New Year's hangout at Ryan's, she went to a dinner at the Haycocks, a party at the Lee's, and watched the fireworks on the roof of the South Point's Parking Garage.

The rest of us headed over to the Jenkins' house.  The kids played Just Dance.

We adults played a few games.

We all brought too much food to share and we ate until we were feeling sick.

We played more games like Guesstures and Catch Phrase.

At midnight, we drank gross sparkling grape juice and had a midnight kiss.

Christmas Day

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Our kids are officially old, as evidenced by us having to wake them up to see what Santa brought. Lex got an iPhone, Cam got Beats Headphones, and Seth got a PowerWing Scooter.

We headed over to Ryan's house for a waffle breakfast and had our gift exchange.  Lee had sent all his gifts to my house to wrap and take over, so I got to wrap my own gift! I had Ryan. His wish list only said dress shirts and ties. I got him a shirt and different types of ties - hair ties, twisty ties, Thai noodles, a picture of a tie fighter, and an actual tie he can wear to work. Innocente!

My kids were very happy with their cousin gifts - Lex got a cassette that connects her phone to her car stereo to listen to her music, Cam got Uggs and fuzzy socks, and Seth got a Nerf Bow.  The Nerf bow is fun, but stings a bit when you get hit.  We have target practice down the hall, shooting each other.

                                                     

The kids were super excited about their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins - pajama pants and $50!

We dropped the littles off at home and went to see Unbroken, with the Tatums, Chris and the twins, and the Goons.  The book was amazing but the movie just wasn't as griping.

We took a break for a few hours, then got back together for ping pong and nacho supremes. Ryan won the tournament.

The kids played games and the women folk just chatted. 

It was a long, fun day filled with lots of family time.

Christmas Eve

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

It was finally Christmas Eve. Donna came to stay the night.  We had London Broil for dinner, read books that make me cry, and watched the He is the Gift video.

Then it was time for presents.  We open all of our gifts on Christmas Eve, and just get Santa gifts and gifts from extended family the next day.

Dave got a water softner put in for our Christmas, so we just got a few little things for each other. Lex mostly got clothes, especially sweaters.

Cam got a lot of clothes too, but was also pretty excited about receiving movies and CocaCola stuff. Seth got a few toys and his own fishing gear.

After all the presents were open we watched Elf together, before the kids headed to bed.

Girl's Night

Friday, December 12, 2014

Every year Alexis' group of girls has a special night out around Christmas time. They take pictures, go to dinner, and exchange gifts. Lex always gets something way too girly for her, but she has a good time.

Leading Up to the Big Day

December 2014

December is always busy and there are always so many activities to keep us that way.  Our family signed up to participate in Ward Pixie Week. You visit an assigned family for 3 nights, leaving small gifts and trying not to get caught.  Unfortunately, we were assigned the Goon Family this year. They tend to wait for their deliveries and pounce on their poor Pixies.  The 1st night we knew Taz would be waiting, so we parked outside their neighborhood and Lex and Robbie climbed over the fence into an alleyway and snuck around to their house, without getting caught.  Taz wasn't home the other nights so we were able to make it through the week without getting caught.

We also went and picked out our tree at Home Depot. They only had rather small ones and Seth kept hugging them and saying this particular one was his girlfriend, so we chose that one.

That Friday, the Primary put on a Drive-Thru Santa. You dropped your kids off at one door, they went in and visited Santa and got their picture taken, then you picked them up at another door.

That same Friday, we went with my parents, Chris, and the cousins to see the Live Nativity. Lex had her Girl's Night and didn't go, but the rest of us enjoyed it.  This is my favorite Christmas activity. I always feel the Spirit and I am reminded of the reason Christmas is so special.

The next morning, Lex came home early from staying over at Shae's and and we picked Camryn up from staying over at Heather's so we could meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins and the Tatums at Bass Pro Shop.  They always have the best Santa. Lex asked for a Nixon camera (she didn't know what to ask for and did not come up with a good fake request), Cam asked for Uggs, and Seth asked for a Power Wing Scooter.

We were so busy with other activities, we decorated our tree a little later than usual. It was right before we ate dinner, which is Lex's nap time.  She was a little grumpy.

The girls had some dress up days before school let out for the break.  One day Lex dressed as a present and Cam had an Ugly Sweater Day.

One night we made a trip to see our favorite Christmas lights on Quiver Point.

We went to get hot cocoa and donuts, but the place was closed, so we went to Tropical Smoothie instead.  It seemed kind of a funny thing to do after looking at lights, but they were good.

We made Aunt Crysta's buttermilk cookies,

and we had midnight breakfast at the GVR with Jo, Bo, Abigail, Chris, Madison, Tyler, Sydney, Chase, and Zach.

I love all of our holiday traditions!