Christmas 2022

This year we decided to travel to Arizona for Christmas.  We made it on the road by 7 or 7:30.  Pretty good.  

I convinced the kids to mostly just bring a blanket in the car instead of pillows and toys and blankets, so there was a lot more room in the car this time.  :) These kids are such good travelers.  We only had to stop maybe 3 times.  

First stop had a dino statue.  We got some fresh air and stretched our legs and hopped back in the car.

We ate McDonalds for lunch and went on our way.  We made it all the way to Wickenburg and as we slowed down we heard a weird noise.  We pulled over and saw that a piece under our car had been bent back and was dragging.  Rob managed to push it back into place and we drove the rest of the way to my parent's house.  What is a trip to AZ without car trouble?  The frustrating thing was that we had just picked it up from the car shop a couple days before so they had forgotten to attach it correctly to the bottom of our car.  ANd we realized upon further inspection that there was a whole piece missing from the bottom of our car.  Which explains why my feet had been freezing off the entire trip.  Sigh.  

I don't quite know what is happening here but it looks like grandpa has their full attention.  He must be telling a story or something.

We walked over to the park and enjoyed some nice warm weather.  The kids are all wearing shorts and short sleeves.  :)

A friend of ours has a daughter who got called to the Phoenix, Az mission.  We went to the place where the Giving Machines were to see if we would run into her.  We tried twice but learned that Sister Lara was in a different area.  Oh well, we tried.  It was an interesting Christmas activity.  The kids all thought it was so weird that there wasn't any snow.  This was like a carnival where you could buy fried food and snacks and all kinds of light up toys and look at Christmas lights.  

My favorite were the lit up palm trees. 

We visited uncle Scott and aunt Christie's and had a great time hanging out with them and cousin Cade.  ANd the other kids too.  

Our thing started dragging again.  This is when we just pulled it off.

We went back to the giving machine during the day.  It was a lot less crowded.

We donated to the giving machines. 

Then all of my kids turned into a snowman.  This is an AZ snowman.  Here's Finley.

Emery.

Zac

Sadie

Riley, who was in a bad mood because she wanted to go first.  

Riley and Grandma did some baking.

Christmas Eve Elf chart gifts.

Great grandma got some good stuff.  

This was the kids opening their sibling gifts.  I love how much thought and effort they put into making sure they get something they know they will like.  This year, Sadie bought for Riley, Zac bought for Emery, Emery bought for Sadie, Riley bought for Finley and Finley bought for Zac.  They all loved their gifts.  

Early Christmas morning.  

Uncle Isaac got the card game Deal or No Deal for the kids because we had watched a few episodes recently and we kept talking about how silly the contestants were.  They always lose so much money!  ha ha

Emery got a 3d printer pen.  It was her favorite gift and she's made lots of cool creations.  

On Christmas afternoon we acted out the Nativity.  It was really good.  We had run through it the night before so most people knew their parts.  

Emery made Uncle Scott some glasses with her pen.

Our good friends the Bryants that used to live down the street from us moved to AZ last summer so we met up with them while we were there.  It was fun to see the kids just picked up where they left off and hang out with each other.

This is at Uncle Scott's house.  They introduced us to a new game on the Switch where you cook food and serve it up.  The kids really liked it.

Sadie and Me.

Zac and Braden.  These two.  They crack me up.

Within 10 minutes of meeting up with them, Evan kicked a ball super high into tree at the park.  They tried throwing oranges at it to knock it down.  They had all the dads trying too.  They eventually gave up after probably 45 minutes.  So they got a friend to bring a really high ladder and Zac climbed up and got the ball down.  He came home with cuts, bruises dirt all over his shirt.  Pretty typical outing with Braden.  We miss having him live near us!

My dad put together a mystery box for us to do.  It was a blast.  The kids (and Rob and I) love when he puts one together for us.  

We were in the car maybe five minutes and Finley fell asleep on Sadie's shoulder.  :)

I wont give too many details in case he wants to use this puzzle for anyone else, but it was a good one.

More car trouble.  Our breaks were making a weird sound even though we had just paid 1600 dollars before the trip to fix that.  We replaced the bearing.  Then my dad helped Rob figure out that there was a problem near the tire.  We took it to my dad's mechanic and another 600 dollars later, we thought it was fixed.  Although now we are hearing a bad grinding noise again.  So annoying.  

Finley feeding the chickens with Grandma. 

December 28th was our 16th anniversary.  Also the 5th Anniversary of when I discovered my brain tumor.  We had a great day and once again I was humbled and so glad that I am still around to be with my family.  

We started the day off with the older two kids at the Phoenix temple.  Sadie and Zac did some baptisms.  My dad came with us and my mom watched the younger kids.  Thank you!

Then we met up with my brother Scott and did some go kart racing.  So fun.  Emery was very brave and drove a car.  I was very proud of her.  

When we got back, this is how I found the girls with grandma.  They had a great time. And now Finley asks me to do her hair like that all the time.  ha ha

We ended the night at BJ's for a yummy meal.  Rob got Jumbalaya and loved it.  I got a yummy burger.  

 

We got to meet my grandma's new dog Billie.  They love her!

We played a new game.  Some people did better than others!

Cade was so cute

Deal or no deal action

Trust Falls

We got my mom one of these for Christmas.  Scott found it online.  Here she is trying it out.