Twisting candy canes

"First we made root beer candy canes and pina colada and then cherry candy canes.  We pulled and twisted the candy canes.  I liked the ones that looked like lollipops just without a stick."  Kelton

"How we made candy canes was first we had to boil the water and sugar to 295 degrees.  When it finally got to 295 degrees we stirred it around a tiny bit to cool it off.  Then we picked it up and put it on a chilled marble slab.  There is where we put the flavoring.  We stirred it on the slab until we were able to touch it without burning ourselves.  

She brought it over to a hook on the door where we had to pull it down and around the hook until it turned white.  We had to move very fast.  

We hurried and brought it over from the hook and put in the color.  We didn't want it to stiffen up before they were shaped so we had to hurry while making the cane shape.  

Our first batch, the root beer, did not turn out well and were not very pretty.  But they tasted great!  The pina colada and cherry were a lot better.  The grown ups had to do the hook because it was so tall.  So because of the that the kids were able to make the shape of the candy canes.  Some looked like candy canes, some looked like squiggly blobs, and some were just a mess.  

They were delicious.  I want to do it again."  McKenzie 

Discovery moments

Somehow Cambrie and I were discussing typewriters the week before we left for Utah.  I told her that my mom used to have some, and probably still did.  I would type the occasional school report on them just for fun.  Cambrie was so excited and in disbelief that Grandma would have something so "old!"  I laughed and said that we could probably get them out when we went to visit.  When my mom pulled these out of the closet, Cambrie's eyes lit up.  She and my mom had so much fun typing, learning, and playing with them.  

Cambrie even wrote a letter to her friend Ayla.  

I love seeing the two of them like this.  

Another activity that totally made Cambrie's day, was learning how to pour paint with Ivie.  Ivie and Richie are family friends and have been living at my parents' house for awhile now.  Ivie loves to paint, draw, sketch, and create.  She's been making these canvases for various gifts and was gracious enough to teach all of us.  It was awesome.  It's a super simple process but you can never quite predict the result of what you've put together. 

 It was hard for the perfectionists among us to watch our paint sliding all over our canvas and not be able to do anything about it.  The boys just thought it was awesome watching it slide around.  The paint took almost two days to dry enough to stop shifting, and every time we looked at them something had changed.  We're really happy with our results though.  I think we just might be making these again.

Willow art at USU

My memories of walking around Utah State include seeing large sculptures placed all over campus: the french fries, the giant metal sticks, etc.  I never knew the name of any of them, but they were still interesting to look at as we wandered from class to class.  There's a new art installation up on campus now, a huge willow fort.  It was so intriguing.  Artists and students gathered all of these willow branches then wove them into this creation.  There are windows, rooms, door, and just a great flow.  Even though it was absolutely freezing that day, I'm glad we went to check it out.  The kids played tag and hide-and-seek.  They said it reminded them of Hobbledown Park in England, and I think it would fit right in. 

 

Peeking out through some of the windows.

Daxton exploring

Trying to get all four kids in the same picture...this was surprisingly challenging. They kept moving!

But don't worry, I held still for my picture.

Isn't it great?

Good old fashioned sledding

"I shared my new sled that I got for Christmas.  And we had fun going down the hill.  I went on top of mom and we went far.  And when I rolled down the hill without the sled I stopped and a dog licked my face.  It actually tickled."  Kelton

It warmed up just enough that we were able to go sledding at my mom's house.  Luckily there's a fabulous hill just around the corner so it's a quick and easy walk.  We used Kelton's sled and took turns sliding down the hill.  Each time we tried going farther than the time before.  

Daxton didn't mind waiting his turn, he simply rolled down the hill time after time.  

There was also a jump which ruined some of our plans, and both girls had pretty sore bottoms from rough landings.  

We tried standing on the sled and snowboarding down, but that was pretty tough.  

We learned that the best way to go fast and get some distance was to "penguin" down the hill on our tummies. 

   Yea for warm (ish) snow days.

My Dad's 60th

Last night we combined two parties into one. We had our cousin gift exchange, but more importantly we celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday. Camille had come prepared with a fun game for everyone to play. She put random questions inside of balloons and we took turns popping the balloons to discover the question inside. The questions were things about my Dad's life such as what you had to be a wizard or a ninja, how many surgeries has he had, and where would you like to visit most their Hawaii or Lake Powell? 

If we got the answer right then nothing happened. If we got it wrong however the person whose turn it was had 3 minutes to study our family tree. Camille would ask them a question about him and if they got it right they were off the hook. If they got it wrong then they got pie-faced! The kids wanted to get the questions wrong because they really wanted to eat that whipped cream! 

After the game we went downstairs to watch a slideshow of my Dad's life. My mom pulled together some fun pictures of his childhood and some of trips they've taken. I hadn't seen about 80% of those photos. It was fun to see and hear about so many stories I didn't know. All the grandkids got a good laugh at everyone's hair and all of the pictures. 

We finished up with cake and a round of happy birthday. These kids have a pretty great grandpa. And I grew up with a pretty great dad.

Since we had everyone together, we decided to quickly open up all of the Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.  I think the marshmallow shooters were some of the biggest hits of the night.

But then again, the man crate we bought for my dad was a pretty close second!  It was duct-taped like crazy, then he had to use a crowbar to open up the wooden crate.  It was definitely a challenge and made us laugh!

He was pretty covered in sawdust once he was done.

Christmas

The Christmas post is always a hard one to put into the blog, simply because it's so long.  But, most of the pictures tell the story so I shouldn't worry too much.  I'll start with Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve we had absolutely nothing on the calendar.  We decided to have a Christmas movie marathon while we wrapped up little details like wrapping presents or baking Christmas cookies.  We made sugar cookies for Santa and Kelton was so involved in the whole process.  He was trying to be a good example and instructor to both Stockton and Daxton on how to places the cookie cutters.

Look how great his little dancing gingerbread man looks!  

Once they were frosted and had sprinkles on them they looked perfectly festive for Santa.  

Yup!  Santa liked them!

That night we went over to the King's house for Christmas dinner.  Brody had spent all day smoking a turkey and it was definitely time well spent.  That turkey was amazing!  

We played board games, pool, and generally had a good time before opening our Christmas jammies.  Leesa was able to find jammies that matched every size.  Don't we look festive?  

The boys were too cool to match :)

Waiting to open them was the hard part.

Party time.

It didn't take much convincing to get the kids in bed that night.  They all knew who was coming.  They had been tracking Santa through Alexa all evening: Africa, Europe, then finally the US.  Santa's coming!  

There are so many fun little stories, so many fun reactions on Christmas morning that it's hard to remember and capture them all.  Mostly I love how magical it is for the kids right now.  Christmas morning always starts with the girls being up bright and early, just waiting for everyone else to get out of bed.  Jeremy took potty break in the middle of the night and the girls were up instantly, "Is it time!?  Is it time?!"  When 6:30 rolled around then we headed upstairs.  The kids started opening their stockings and gifts.  I love watching their smiles as they unwrap something they really wanted, or something that they didn't know they wanted, but are thrilled to have.  

I love watching their expressions as they watch their sibling open the gift that they chose for them.  They have the most tender hearts and love to see their brothers and sisters happy.  

Cambrie made McKenzie a pink blanket.  I'm not sure who loved it more, McKenzie or Tia.

Kelton gave Cambrie a Harry Potter rubber duck.

McKenzie gave Daxton a yellow Bumblebee remote control car.  I was shocked by how well Daxton drove that thing around the house.  He almost never ran into things.

Daxton gave Kelton Pokemon legos.

One of the best moments was watching McKenzie open up a package that had a stuffed hedgehog in it with a gift tag around its neck that read, "Hi!  My name is Bob!"  Cambrie happened to be sitting right next to her and they grabbed each other.  "We're getting Bob?  We're getting Bob!"  Bob is a hedgehog that we visited back in November up in Logan.  Jake's sister-in-law had a bunch of baby hedgehogs that she was selling and I secretly claimed one a couple of months ago.  The girls have been trying to trick me into revealing something, and it's been so hard to lie convincingly!  McKenzie has wanted a pet hedgehog for years now.  It wasn't until recently when we started watching the hedgehog that lives next door that I decided we could do this.  

Not long after McKenzie opened up Bob, Cambrie opened up a gift with a stuffed snake who also had a gift tag around its neck, "Hi!  My name is Salazar!"  Cambrie has been asking for a rosy boa for months now.  She had chosen a name, where his tank would go, and had tried her best to alleviate any of my concerns about owning another pet.  

Finally the boys both opened up a box with stuffed fish, "Hi!  My name is....!"  They hadn't named their fish but knew they both wanted goldfish this year.  It became a Christmas of pet animals.  

When we made it back to Colorado a week later, we went to retrieve Salazar, Sunshine, Mickey Mouse, and Freckles.  Bob was able to ride back in the car with us.  The kids love their new pets and I think it's fun having their energy around the house. 

Meet Bob 

Do you like the maze the kids built for him once we made it home?

Meet Salazar

Meet Sunshine, Mickey Mouse, and Freckles

Jeremy's big gift this year was a new Wahoo Kickr trainer.  After a rousing wrapping paper fight he was finally able to see what was inside that huge and heavy package he hauled from Colorado.  He wants to up his trainer game and I hope he's happy with it.  

For fun, I also gave him a man crate.  He needed to open it with a crowbar which makes it the best kind of present.  Inside it was filled with jerky.  

He also got a Hypervolt massage gun to help with all those nagging pains.

My gift from Jeremy this year was a new set of race wheels for my bike.  I've been borrowing his or renting some for the last three years.  I'm ready to up my game and feel like I finally deserve to have wheels like this.  Aren't they pretty?  

Kelton was really sweet this year and made gifts for Jeremy and I.  We now have new Christmas ornaments to put on our tree.

Daxton explaining his painting to Jeremy.

My gifts from my sweet kids.  Can you see the gift earrings I'm wearing that McKenzie made?

Bruce and Leesa had ducked out partway through the present opening to go to the Kings.  Once they came back, we started with round two of presents.

And what father-in-law doesn't want a new triathlon wetsuit?

Once all of the presents were opened, we feasted on Christmas breakfast.

Then we spent the rest of the day playing with our new toys.  The boys received Mario and Luigi remote control cars from Bruce and Leesa.  The boys went out in the garage and played out there forever with their new toys. 

 Stockton brought his new hoverboard too that the kids liked trying out.  

All of the kids received new board games and we had fun playing Kerplunk.  

I think the kids may have liked Pie Face more, simply because they could eat so much whipped cream!  It was scary waiting to see if you'd get slapped in the face with that stuff.  

McKenzie welcomed it and taught us how to catch it in our mouth!

The boys each got new personalized books with them as the characters, and we loved reading those together.

Other toys were Kelton's new hover airplane from Santa.  That thing is incredibly stable and flies really, really well.

The tin can phone was also a hit with the kids.  It's shocking that it actually works!

A fun game for the boys.

Each kid also received an exotic fruit in their stocking.  Kelton's was super pokey.  Jeremy actually used it to help him open his duct taped package.  When we opened it, it was a lot like the fruit Kelton loved in the Dominican Republic.  He loves that green slime.

And while I didn't post any of these pictures in previous posts, they also make Christmas for me:  The kids opening their new ornaments.  

Daxton helping me decorate the house.  

The Christmas cards we receive from friends and family.  

Jeremy putting up the lights with the kids.  

And scenes like this that just look so peaceful and sweet.

 It was a great Christmas this year.  According to Cambrie it was one of the best ever!  Here are the kids with their Christmas haul.

Daxton

Kelton

McKenzie

Cambrie