Christmas 2017

Sunday, December 24, 2017

We started a new tradition this year. I got a pickle ornament on the Countdown Calendar and you are supposed to hide it in the tree on Christmas Eve and the person who finds it gets to open the first gift. We open presents on Christmas Eve so I just hid it a little before dinner. Dave made steak and we had mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls. After dinner, we watched a short Christmas video, then the kids searched for the pickle. It was pretty hard to find, but Cam did.

  

Cam got to play Santa and open the first gift. Seth got a ripstick, ties, X Box storage, a blueray player, and lots of games.

Cam got clothes, makeup, shoes, a lamp, a blueray player, and a record player.

Lex got lots of clothes and shoes.

Dave and I got each other vacuums and a few other things.

We all had a good Christmas.

After opening presents we played a few of our new games and then watched The Grinch.

  

Monday, December 25, 2017

The next morning, we had to get the kids up to see what Santa had brought. Lex got money for the Thailand trip she has planned for this summer.

Cam got a Fender guitar and an amp.

Seth got a TV.

They must have been good this year.

Christmas Adam

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Ryan ruined Christmas, when his flight was moved to very early Christmas morning. We decided to get all the Jenkins Clan together on the Eve of Christmas Eve (which they all started calling Christmas Adam).  The Hills took a quick picture before we headed over to Ryan's. We had a big breakfast of egg casseroles, waffles, sausage and bacon and grapefruit. It was all so good.

Then came the main event - the present exchange. Seth got a book and a bowtie.

  

Cam got earbuds and a movie. Lex got jewelry and hair care products. Dave got a new hat.

  

I got he inoocente gift from Ryan. I had asked for a mobile cupcake carrier and Ryan made me this:

  

Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids pjs and the adults a bag of goodies

and money. Dave used his Christmas Money to fix the pipe he drilled into when putting up a shelf in Seth's room.  I used mine to pay for a ticket - stupid speed traps!

  

Lex got her hair cut and dyed. Cam got some Coldplay records to play on her new record player.

  

And Seth got FIFA 18 to play on his X Box.

December

December 4-8, 2017

Camryn on Pajama Day and Ugly Sweater Day during Winter Week.

  

Saturday, December 9, 2017

We got our tree at Home Depot. It was very tall and full, but the top was crooked, so the star was too.

  

Sunday, December 10, 2017

We invited my siblings over for soup, rolls and gingerbread house making. Jolynn and Bo brought their families. We could not get our house to stay up, so we spent the whole time putting it back together and then watching crash.   

We had to leave to go to Camryn's piano recital and when we got back, we broke down and used the hot glue gun to get it to stay up and then we decorated it. 

Cam played Toyland and Mary, Did You Know? at her recital. We love having Kim teach her and we love the recital treats afterwards.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Seth had his 1st band concert. The Intermediate Band played Fiesta on the Housetop, The Night Before Christmas, and Escape (The Pina Colada Song). Seth played the Glockenspiel and the snare drum. The concert was short and sweet.

 

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Goons had created a Horror Movie Escape Room in their house for Cynjyn's birthday. Before they took it all down, they invited a few couples over to play. Dave and I started cheating the second it started, pulling off our chains before finding the keys. We had to go through several room figuring out clues, putting together puzzles, and finding codes and keys to get out. We made it - just barely.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

The Goons had us over again the next night for the Annual Ugly Sweater Party. I wore a weird elf sweater and Dave wore a BYU sweatshirt - to anger some of the other guests. The invite had puns about hamming it up and being cheesy - so we potlucked ham and cheese dishes. After eating we played a few games. 

Friday, December 22, 2017

We had never been out to the Speedway to see the lights at Christmas, so we went Friday night. Donna and Taylor Thomson came along. It was so busy we had to wait forever to get in.

They had different light displays sponsored by different companies. Some were cool but some were just really random.

You were supposed to tune into a certain radio station to listen to music as you drove through, but the music went in and out and didn't have anything to do with the displays, so we started trying to think of and sing our own songs that had to do with what we were seeing.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Even though Shae and Courtney are on missions, the rest of the girls from that group got together for Girls Night. They exchanged gifts, went to dinner, visited Amelia (Shae's mom, who usually hosted), and hung out at Paige Lee's house.

Friday, December 29, 2017

We used our Pogo Pass to check out the Lion Habitat, where the lions from the MGM are housed.

We got there just in time to see the giraffe paint. She just held the brush in her mouth and rubbed it on a canvas.

We walked around and saw the lions. They mostly just lay around. They did start roaring back and forth while we were there.

We also got to see the lions be fed. The worker told us that all the lions are descendants of the lion at the beginning of the MGM movies and a few other fun facts, like that they feed the lions horse meat. It was a nice facility.

Utah Adventures

Friday, December 1, 2017

Thursday evening we headed up to Paragonah. We visited with Grandma and Grandpa before heading to bed. We slept in a bit, had breakfast and then Cam and Seth rode Grandpa's horses. Grandma sent us back on the road with sandwiches.

  

We drove the rest of the way to Price (taking the LONG way) and took Lex and Tristan out for a late lunch in Helper. We ate the The Balance Rock. The food was good but Cam and I split a breakfast burrito that had lots of peppers. It was delicious, but that decision would come back to haunt me later. Lex had to get ready to cheer, so we checked in at the hotel. We tried to think of something to do but it's Price. We laid around until it was time for the basketball game.

Lex was so cute in her uniform. She smiled and looked peppy the whole time. This older guy got some pompoms and joined in.

The dance team and cheer team both did a dance at half time. We got lots of video and pictures. AFter the game there still wasn't anything to do, so we got some ice cream and walked around Walmart.

  

Saturday, December 2, 2017

The next morning Lex took us to the gymnastic place the cheer team works on their stunts at. The floor was springy and the trampoline was extra bouncy. The kids jumped through this tube for a while, then we played a very strange version of kickball, where we had to run around on the equipment. It was so much fun! This was definitely the best thing to do in Price.

    

We met up with Tristan at JB's to eat lunch before he headed for the weekend and then we took the kids to do a little bowling. The bowling alley looked stuck in the early 80's.

Lex stayed in Price because she had another game to cheer at, but the rest of us drove up to Sandy to stay a night with the Sokols and to be there for Baby Ryan's blessing. We set the kids up with pizza for dinner and the adults (us, Jack, Jeff, Mom, & Dad) went to eat at Spitz. We had street fries that where so good and shared pita bread and humus. We had to explain what humus was to Dad. 

After dinner, we picked up the kids and went to look at Christmas lights. We saw the Tree of Life at the park and drove to a neighborhood where 3 houses had decorated and synced their lights to Christmas music. Lex had some friends bring her up and drop her off at the Waffle Love near Jack's house. Cam and Dave volunteered to go pick her up and taste some waffle while they were there. I stayed at the house to frost the cake for the next day.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

The next morning we went to church with the Sokol and was able to be there for the blessing. Jack had a big soup, salad, and homemade bread luncheon afterward to celebrate the blessing and Anna's birthday.

  

After lunch we took off to head home. I got so sick in the car. Those peppers had come back to get me. The weather was pretty bad, but we made it back home after a stop in Paragonah to eat the dinner we had left on out way up. It was a good trip and I loved staying and visiting at a different place each  night.