Christmas 2018 is a wrap! (or unwrapped.)

    It's been a fantastic week and a great Christmas! McClane and Charlie began Christmas Eve participating in the ward nativity reenactment as an angel and shepherd. I love this Alpine tradition!

     Of course no Christmas Eve is complete without the opening of new pajamas!

Six cooperative kids!

     Christmas morning began around 6:45 a.m.

This was the before photo before the kids invaded.

    A new lineup on the stairs since going down the hallway won't really work anymore with the wall down. Poor Isaac had to sleep in the basement so Santa wouldn't be 'accidentally' disturbed during his visit.

A few different emotions in these six faces.

   Carter asked for a guitar and this is what Santa thought he meant.

He almost shed a tear over this 'miscommunication'.

   Even Smalls got a new toy. You may not be able to tell but he loves it.

It squeaks and everything.

     And you may or may not have heard but apparently we're going to be grandparents for the first time in 2019! This was a fun surprise!

Baby Wendel coming August 2019!

    Charlie's buddy J.T. stopped by with a little gift Christmas afternoon. She was a bit of a brat about it but she loves her buddy J.T.

All her friends are shorter then her even though they're older. Ha ha

    Here's a collage of everyone with their main gift from Santa. Carter luckily got the guitar he was actually hoping for! (I think the pink ukulele was a great option.)

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    Here's a few photos from the days festivities. Everyone was happy and content with their new toys.

Even Mark had to get in on the cool dollhouse fun.

     Here's a photo lineup of the sibling gift exchange, starting with Charlie giving to her person and then on from there.

Charlie to Carter.

Carter to Mark

Mark to Brock

Brock to the Wendel's

The Wendel's to McClane

McClane to Isaac 

Isaac to Charlie. 

    I can't believe we had a perfect rotation for the gift exchange! And while Charlie slept her cute cousin Elsie stopped by and had some fun with the new dollhouse.

    And not even adults can resist this dollhouse. Here's Kayli getting in on the fun as well.

The piano plays a little tune, the toilet flushes and the lamp lights up. A real dream dollhouse!

      The day after Christmas we cleaned house and put everything back in order. It always feels good to go back to normal.
      This photo (below) is to document McClane enjoying his favorite snack. Who does this!? When asked what his favorite hot sauce is he'll tell you immediately, "Chulula"!

     And Smalls finally got the haircut he's been needing for a couple months now. It's like we got a new dog! It's so weird but I sure like being able to see his face.

    The kids don't love his new haircut but give him a couple weeks and he'll look a little fluffier. 

So that's Christmas 2018! Simple, fun and done! Now on to the New Year festivities!

A few fun things

     We've had lots of fun this week. I can't believe we're only 3 sleeps away from Christmas. I also can't believe we finally have a fully functioning vehicle and I REALLY can't believe the price tag that had attached to it. ($1500) Thankfully there's an extra paycheck in the month of January so hopefully we'll be out of the 'hole' in just a short few weeks.

These were my cute little helpers out shopping last weekend. Brock is the Santa, Charlie's the grinch and McClane's the Rudolph.

      Sunday I was officially released from the primary presidency and our great former president insisted on a photo with the primary and the incoming new presidency. It's a little bitter sweet but for now I'm going to enjoy no calling for as long as it lasts!

Our primary is the best!

     We had a great time decorating candy houses Sunday with a good portion of our Kmetzsch family.  This year we came with our houses already built, which was genius! (That's going to have to be the new tradition for our family candy house mayhem.)

There was yummy soups to begin the fun.

Even the big kids got in on the fun.

Charlie was so happy to decorate her house with the garage.

This kid likes chaos and yes, this house was destroyed the same night.

Carter went with the garage theme as well and his house is the only one still standing today.

We had to make sure the photo had the gingerbread man front and center.

And while the majority of us watched a Claymation Christmas these diehard-candy-house-builders stuck it out in the kitchen.

     Have I ever mentioned what a total pain the dog can be when he's ringing the bell to go outside every five minutes and I'm the only one who seems to hear his demands?! Well my frustration is about to be lessened and maybe even eliminated with the installation of this doggie door. It's going to take a few weeks to get him totally trained and to realize he has absolute independence but this was a long awaited installation.

It is a little colder by my chair but it's worth it!

     And last night we agreed to endure the utter mayhem at Temple square so the kids could enjoy a train ride, a very crowded train ride, and the pretty lights. Was it worth it?! Maybe, but I'm guessing we helped make a memory and that's priceless.

Thankfully I had my good friend, Sabrina and her whole clan, to endure the crazy with us.

    And it's not really Christmas until we stop and see the dancing house lights just two miles from our house. This homeowner doesn't mess around and he's even got his neighbor's house lit up. I tried to upload a video to youtube but apparently it wasn't good enough quality. Just believe me when I say it's AMAZING!

He plays the best music too.

    This week I also made a few batches of toffee. I've wrapped the last few things that needed wrapping and all my shopping is done. I'm pretty confident we're 100% ready for Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone (all 3 of you) and Happy New Year!

Santa PLEASE!

     Oh what a fun ward Christmas party/breakfast we had last Saturday. The food was yummy, the entertainment was priceless and Santa even paid the kids a visit.

I love a good chalk itinerary.

Charlie was so excited to sit on Santa's lap.

McClane was a little reluctant to see Santa because he was feeling guilty for snooping around the house and finding his Christmas present.

Brock was feeling a little too old to sit on Santa's lap.

The cute primary kids sang "Let it Snow" and "Silent Night".

     I got another surprise t-shirt in the mail. (Thanks again Mom!)

This is a great way to find 'my people' when I'm out in public.

     Our good friends joined us at this great place, The Crepery, which is so yummy. They have sweet and savory crepes. (I'm making them take pictures because I feel we neglect photo documenting when we're out with friends.)

Chubby little Jaden is an added bonus to our double dates.

He was a good sport while we did a little window shopping.

    For family night we put together a puzzle while I read the latest story from Grandma Baker. (Yes, I cried while I read the end of the story.)

    I convinced my friend to let me watch her two littles while she did a little Christmas shopping this week. They were so cute.

Jonah and chubbers, Jaden.

     And did I mention my friend is a dog 'whisper'!? This cute dog was commiserating through sincere eye contact about her dismay over the two new puppies her owners recently acquired. It was the cutest thing. She seriously was just staring at Sabrina so soulfully and as soon as Sabrina said something like, "They got puppies!" The dog got so excited and started putting her paw up on her lap and smiling and licking her. She was so happy to have someone finally understand how difficult her life has become.

I think she was hoping there was room in the car so we could take her away from the madness of two puppies.

     So that's the fun from our week. Unfortunately our car situation has not improved. The car has been at the mechanics all week and the mechanic was truly at a loss so we picked it up tonight and will look into the best Nissan dealership to take it to next. I sure am glad we have Mark's vehicles to borrow in the meantime but I sure want my car back and functioning properly. It was also very generous of the mechanic not to charge us a dime for all the time he spent researching the car problem. (He's a high school buddy of Greg's so that helped.) Anyway, lets hope we have this car problem figured out soon and that it doesn't put us on the verge of bankruptcy.
       On a happier note, I'm 98% done with my Christmas shopping! Next fun activity, candy houses with some of the cousins! Let the Christmas countdown continue.

Houses and Shooting

      It's been a nice week minus our car troubles. It's starting to look like we bought ourselves a 'lemon'! We've had the car all of 5 months and spent a couple thousand dollars so far on repairs including new tires. Recently the car wouldn't start on the first try and the battery was showing signs of distress so we finally replaced it hoping that would fix the problem but unfortunately it only made it worse, much, much worse!! After the new battery the car wouldn't start on the second try but more like the 10th try or more, very FRUSTRATING! Greg has fixed four different things in hopes of fixing the problem but to no avail. We finally had to concede defeat and he took it to a mechanic yesterday. Now we have the privilege of driving Mark's little red truck, covered in stickers and all dinged up, all over the county. I'm glad we at least have another vehicle available but I sure do hope our car gets fixed and that it runs properly from thereafter. Car troubles are the worst and thankfully this is really our first time with severe car trouble and hopefully our last.

      Anyway, aside from car troubles it's been a good week. Charlie got to decorate a gingerbread house at her buddy J.T.'s house. Greg and I went shooting with our friends and we have a fun ward breakfast to attend in the morning. Lots of fun stuff!

She loved decorating her house and loved breaking and eating it even more.

Fun with great friends, Sabrina and Jason.

I didn't hit a single clay pigeon but I at least didn't hurt myself!

     So that's our current story. Let the continued Christmas festivities continue.

Christmas decorating, pinewood derby & birthday celebrations

     It's been a great week. I can hardly believe we're only 25/24 sleeps away from Christmas. It's a good thing we're getting ready. It's also been a fun week with the pinewood derby (hopefully our last) and celebrating my 44th birthday. I definitely have felt loved!

We got most of the decorating done last Saturday.

We got a real tree this week that the three youngest we're excited to decorate. 

    This was a fun surprise that arrived in the mail last weekend. I'm a "Seinfeld" fan through and through and I don't know why I don't own more stuff like this. This shirt truly was a "Festivus Miracle." (THANKS AGAIN MOM!)

Now I just need a 'Pole'.

     I treated myself to this cute new dress at a new store down the road. I went in hoping to find something cute for Charlie only to find out it was really a dress store for women. (It's called "Twirl" and that sounded like little girl dresses to me.) Of course I couldn't help but look around and found this cute, comfy dress at an affordable price and decided, 'why not?!'

Pocket, stripes AND black and white! WIN, WIN, WIN!!!

     Brock earned his Arrow of Light and Webelos badge along with our good friends son, Jordan. It was a fun night at our pack meeting/pinewood derby. Brock will most likely be our last son to get this award. Fun stuff!

Lego Pinewood derby was a success and genius idea! 

    I surprisingly got recognized for helping out with cub scouts as well as a birthday shout out at the pack meeting. I felt like an idiot because as they were announcing the person they were recognizing I thought they must be talking about someone else from the cub scout committee so I was nodding my head in agreement to all the praise being dished out and then they called me up. I really thought they were talking about someone else, I was so embarrassed!

Plenty of candy!

     We really splurged for my birthday and treated, almost, the whole family to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was so yummy and even if a few kids didn't appreciate the meal it was still a fun time.

I love a good steak!

Kayli and Tanner spoiled me with a pile of new Harley Davidson shirts/sweatshirts!

And who can resist these "Cravings" cupcakes! And thanks for the card and money mom and dad.  44's not so bad so far!

     Greg and I also went to a movie for my birthday and saw "Instant Family". It is a fabulous movie and I definitely recommend everyone see it. Such a fun night and birthday! I sure have a happy life overall and can't complain too much! Ok that's not true, I could complain a lot and probably do complain too much at times but really am grateful for my family and friends and I wouldn't trade my life for anything.