Christmas came. It was surrounded by family parties, but Christmas was a day at home. We went on a walk to see Christmas lights and sing a few carols on Christmas Eve. And then we got down to the business of opening presents, which could not come fast enough for Zack. Christmas morning brought more presents. Our biggest present this year was an inflatable hot tub that has been a big hit.
Christmas changes when you have older kids. The younger ones love presents, but with the older ones, it feels more about spending time together. And that is better.
I miss the more snowy winters of my childhood, although I sometimes don’t find consistent weather in the 40s during December. But there is still snow in the mountains to enjoy. We found snow on a recent hike. So much snow that we changed plans and went on a shorter hike. Evie took off her gloves to better play with the snow and discovered snow was very cold. She wouldn’t put them back on, so we went back to the car to warm up. It was a good time to do a very short hike.
We found Santa at our church’s Christmas party.
Henry had a birthday, and we went out to Sushi. While we were there enjoying our food, I heard crying from Evie. She had tried a big glob of wasabi and discovered it was very spicy!
Zack finished up Junior Jazz. I coached him. He was honestly not a great player, but he loved it and looked forward to it each week. That’s the important part at his age!
We’ve also enjoyed Christmas Lights, basketball games, movies, and children’s museums.
Some days are filled with fun adventures, like going to the zoo, the park, or the children’s museum.
Other days are filled with laundry, cleaning, and, worst of all, sick children. I’ve done eight loads of laundry the last two days and gotten up four times in the middle of the night to help clean up some type of mess caused by stomach flu. And the family pictures below involve multiple people super upset because no one can smile at the same time, and everyone would rather goof off or do something other than stand and smile for the camera.
I’ve had a very full life recently. I’ve had many things that I longed for: lots of travel, time to go hiking, and time to work on projects. And lately, instead of wanting more, I’ve wanted less. Fewer things to do and time to reflect on what I’m doing, why, and how I want to continue.
There seems to always be a push to get things done. But a life of constantly being busy doesn’t often allow for the things that are most meaningful: saying I love you, appreciating the things we already have, just listening to people, laughing and having fun.
I will always be a busy person: it’s part of nature, and I have five children…but maybe I don’t need to worry so much about filling in every single moment with productive things. Instead, I can take a minute to reflect, do something that doesn’t have some great purpose, and spend more time doing nothing with the people I love.
Picture: we went to a Salt Lake Stars Game, hiking at Wasatch Mountain State Park, and pics from normal life.
In exciting news for the family, Peter made the 9th-grade basketball team. Curtis also made a basketball team, so basketball season will soon take over much of our free time.
Over the weekend, we went out to the Tree of Life garden at Thanksgiving Point. It was really cool, but also a little cold.
We also went out to the hot springs. The Inlet Hot Springs ranks low on our list of hot springs we’ve visited, but it’s also nearby and free. Everyone enjoyed it, but everyone also needed a shower after to remove dirt.
Just a compilation of photos from Curtis’s football season I haven’t posted yet:
Game photos are taken by Greg Baird, @photogreger. He played nose guard and right tackle (I think). He’s a lineman, the biggest kid on the team, and played both ways, almost all the game.
I have zero pictures of Peter playing flag football. He’s an awesome player, his team was ranked first and lost out in a close game for the semifinals. He is a great wide receiver and also gets a ton of interceptions.
The changing of seasons came a little fast with a warm October and it is hitting me hard. Some days I feel like I can’t get warm. But still lots of time for adventures with Evie…
Joe’s took the kids to both SeaQuest and The Leonardo. (I was on vacation with Peter, and working on a volunteer project.)
Halloween was a blast this year. Nothing fancy for costumes, but good candy hauls. We also went and saw Halloween lights, visited cousins for a party, and went to the church party. Last year we got close to zero trick-or-treaters. I theorized it was because I had leftover apples on my porch and no decorations. So I decorated this year, and we got a bundle of trick-or-treaters. I gave out soda and glow sticks. Some people didn’t take much of anything, but others said it was the best house ever.
I wanted to take all my kids on solo trips during their teenage years. They can choose where to go, as long as it fits our budget. Peter decided to go to Universal Studios, Six Flags, and Knotts Berry Farm on successive days over fall break. We drove out to California and had a ton of fun.
The best park was Universal Studios, but we enjoyed all three parks. We rode nearly everything at Universal Studios, some of the rides multiple times. That’s just a really solid theme park, but it does only take one day to do everything.
Six Flags is fun, but neither of us wanted to ride the more extreme roller coaster. There’s still plenty of roller coaster. But that’s about all the park is: roller coasters. And some carnival games, Peter did a basketball one and ended up winning the bottom-tier prize.
Peter also ended up with laryngitis for two days and couldn’t talk that well. I didn’t realize how much I like to talk to people until I couldn’t have a decent conversation with anyone around me.
Knotts Berry Farm has some rides we enjoyed quite a bit, but then it got to be afternoon. We got in a long ride for a ride that was terrible, ate some lunch, and then got in a long line for a ride that shut down right before we got on it. The moral of the story is don’t go to theme parks Saturday Afternoon. Also don’t buy theme park tickets in a rush on a phone because I had to deal with two different issues and get two different refunds. Knotts Berry Farm is also tons like our local amusement park Lagoon, so it wasn’t someplace we’ll probably go back to.
After a long day of long lines, minor illnesses, and tiredness, we finally went to our hotel, only to find that the town had a random parade and we couldn’t drive to our hotel. We had to park a few blocks away and walk in. It was such a random day, I felt like I was in a Malcolm in the Middle episode, except none of my kids got in trouble.
After we got back, I took the other kids down to Cornbellys in Spanish Fork on the last day of their fall break.
We took the kids up to Buffalo Peak. And I’ve been a few other places with my sister and Evie. It’s been a beautiful fall for hiking.
And Peter had a birthday. He’s getting his learner’s permit soon! He had a big bunch of friends over for a party. He tolerates percussion and piano, but really mostly likes sports, especially basketball.
Liz Braithwaite 