New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was another busy day.

We started our day early by driving to the Stake Center to help with our church's food bank and distribution. This is the third or fourth time that we have been able to participate, and it is always an uplifting experience.  We invited our friends the Bells to join us. They are non-members, but their daughter Sierra would truly love to join the church.

This was the stack of toilet paper that we helped to distribute to families in need.  Other items include toiletries, meats, fresh produce, breads, canned goods, etc.

Once we returned home, I got started on more cleaning projects.  I will say that Chris was able to get a lot of things done on his list.  I had the girls help me put away the Christmas decorations, rearrange furniture, and get our house back to its "normal" state.  As much as I love Christmas, I love the feeling of clean and airy too.

Amy went to a party and sleep-over at her friend Kenadi's house.  Kristen had a sleepover with two friends.  Misha who was still recovering, stayed home with them.  We got a text from her midway through our evening:  "Why did you buy those horns?'  The horns were a little loud.

Chris and I drove to Ft. Collins to watch a movie at the AMC Cinema Saver theatre.  We preceded the movie with a quick dinner at Garbanzo's and followed it with a late-night snack at the Chocolate Cafe.  Delicious, but now I am ready to get back to healthy eating.  It was the first time in months that Chris and I had actually been able to go on a date.

We were home after 10 pm, and though we tried to convince the younger girls that we could do an East Coast countdown, they were having none of it.  I think I dozed at 11:58 and was abruptly wakened at midnight by those stupid horns.  I shuffled those girls off to bed, tucked Misha in as she had also managed to stay awake as well.  We were all asleep in no time...and the horns?  Well, they met a timely death.

A Gift from Misha

My girls love the 80's.  Amy loved her gift from Misha but lamented that she wouldn't be able to wear it to school--guns.

Going Home

Balls arrived at our condo at 7:53 to say goodbye before heading out. They had two long days of driving ahead of them and wanted to get an early start.

Misha had had a rough night with a painful ear around midnight.  Chris and I both got up with her.  So when morning came around, we were ready to pack things up and head home.  Besides there were so many fun adventures ahead of us--laundry, cleaning, a to do list.  Why hang around Estes Park when you have that to look forward to?

Beyond the cleaning, I started to pack up Christmas.  I left the bare tree up and the lighted garland on the stairs for one more day.  I love waking up in the morning to the soft glow of twinkle lights.  The rest of the decorations were stacked on the dining room table until the 31st.

Misha was too sick to go to the New Year's Eve youth dance, but Amy went with friends and had a great time skating for awhile and then dancing, followed up with a late-night snack at McDonald's with friends.  I am glad that she had a great time.  Misha is slowly getting better.  I wish I knew a remedy for unplugging ears though.

Sledding and Star Wars!

We all slept pretty well, though Misha was getting stuffier with each day.  I'm sure going up in altitude didn't help her at all as she complained of plugged ears.  Oh, if we could all just be healthy.  She was just sick a couple of weeks ago during finals and the first part of our vacation!

I called ahead for seating at 8:45 am at The Egg and I.  It was a hearty breakfast which filled all of our empty spots for the morning.  Kevin is always good to pose for the camera.

Misha opted to stay at the condo for the morning since she wasn't feeling so great.  Not a problem since there was a CSI marathon on tv.  We headed back up in to Rocky Mountain National Park to Hidden Valley.  It was an old ski area that had been converted to sledding hills.  From the looks of it, it would not have been a big ski area.  On the way, Kevin and Candace stopped to rent two bowl-like sleds.  We had our four sleds and they seemed to be the more popular option for sledding.

We stayed for about two hours.  I was certain my fitbit would show my footsteps well over 15,000 for the day with all the hiking back up the hill after sledding down.  Maybe it was just too cold, but it registered only 9000 something for the day.  Not true.  Our time at the hill lasted about two hours before kids started to get tired, the snow became more and more packed, and a new surge of sledders arrived.

We had a lunch of sandwiches at our condo and the kids watched movies until the big event.  Star Wars.  Really, that is the only reason Misha wanted to come to Estes Park.  Candace and I had purchased our tickets in advance, but when we arrived at the smallish theatre around 3:30 pm for our 4:00 showing, the line was already backed up.  One guy was manning the candy and popcorn counter and simultaneously taking tickets at the front door.  We were held in line until the theater could be cleaned from the previous showing.  Finally we were able to be seated.

Chris and I sat next to Amy and Misha, which was most fun just to watch their reactions to music and actors.  When Han Solo and Chewbacca appeared on screen, there was excited quiet clapping and a huge intake of breath on Amy's part.  We all loved the movie, except for when a certain someone died.

Amy's Recovery

The first couple of days after Amy's wisdom teeth surgery were full of lots of pain meds, liquids, freezer packs, and ahhhh....finally, hot packs.  She was great about keeping the ice on pretty consistently for the first couple of days which helped the swelling not get too out of control.

By Thursday evening, Christmas Eve, she was getting back to her normal self and she wasn't terribly puffy in her cheeks.

She had a check up on December 28, one week after the surgery.  Her disolvable stitches were still in place, so she was given instruction to brush the area.  Not too vigorously, but enough to further the healing process.  And she was given a syringe for irrigating the back of her mouth.

Estes Park

A couple months ago, we made reservations to stay at the Worldmark condos in Estes Park while the Balls were visiting.  It was a crazy morning with Balls packing up their van as they were going to head home from Estes Park on Wednesday and needed to make everything, suitcases, Christmas presents, and some snow gear fit.  I started laundry and cleaning so I wouldn't be quite so far behind on Wednesday when we returned from Estes Park.

I didn't want to forget Ashley's birthday and treated her to one of our family traditions of candles in a birthday breakfast.  I made orange rolls for her. 

Amy had a follow-up doctor appointment at 11 am and 10:40 was our cut off time to get done all that we needed.  We had to make sure that each of us had plenty of winter gear--snow pants, boots, gloves, hats, scarfs, balaclavas--as well as Balls.  We borrowed boots and snow pants from friends, and even then, we ended up short a pair of boots.  Plus we worked on just our regular packing for a couple of days away.

Misha woke up not feeling very great.  She wasn't keen on staying home by herself for a couple of days, and I probably would have stayed home with her if she had opted to stay home. 

We got everyone packed up and left Balls to set the alarm and get groceries as we had to get to Amy's appointment.  Chris took time to wash the car while they waited for us.  Amy's mouth looked good, she needed to take more care to brush the area and received instructions on how to irrigate.  Happy day!

Before leaving Longmont, we stopped for a few groceries and then were on our way.  Our next stop was Subway in Estes Park where we met up with Balls.  The Subway was small and very busy so we ate in our car.

We drove to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.  The drive was a little slower going than usual with ice on the roads, but we all made it safe and sound.  And then we had to put on all of our snow gear in the car.  Kristen was worried about people seeing her change, but seemed to give up on that thought as she struggled into some long john type pants and then another pair of pants over that.  At one point, she had her undie-clad bottom pressed against the window, not caring who saw her.  "Just get these stupid pants on!"

We walked on Bear Lake and then because the hour was later in the afternoon, we headed down to the Alberta Falls fork where we would meet up with Chris as he shuttled our car down to the Alberta Falls parking lot.  I waited at the fork for Chris, Amy, Misha, and Jonathan for about ten minutes.  They still hadn't come so I thought maybe that had already gone ahead of me.  I passed Candace and Joseph making their way up the path.  I was breathing pretty hard in the effort of walking in the snow, so I could just imagine how these Texans might be feeling at such a high altitude.

It was probably 20 to 30 minutes later when Chris and kids finally reached the frozen waterfall of Alberta Falls.  If you have ever been to Alberta Falls in the summer and heard the thundering of the waterfall, you would be amazed at the peace and quiet in the winter.  Kids and dads played until the sun started getting low in the sky, and we decided to head back.

Chris and Kevin and Amy drove back up to the Bear Lake parking lot to pick up Ball's van while the rest of us waited trying to find a spot protected from the cold breeze.

We were all happy to get checked in to our Worldmark condos, peel off the layers of clothing and winter gear, and warm up.  Candace had plans for dinner, so we headed over to their condo, leaving Misha to rest and trying to breathe through her stuffy nose.

I didn't stay too long, returning to our condo with some soup for Misha and then dozing until the others arrived.

The Sunday After Christmas

We didn't have church until 1 pm, so it gave plenty of time to get "ready".  Chris and Kevin headed off early to the recycling center to drop off all of the extra boxes and used wrapping paper we had accumulated.

I used my new crock pot from Amy and Misha to make chicken for fajitas.  It is pretty fancy dancy.

As we sat in the chapel during the closing prayer after Sacrament meeting, Amy somehow leaned in to her iPhone, activating Siri, "What is your wish Master Jedi Kline?"  Everyone around her was laughing by the time the prayer was over.  She was just a teensy bit embarrassed.

Kevin drove Grandpa Kline to the airport after Sacrament meeting for his flight home.

Amy and Misha invited friends over for dinner.  I don't think Jonathan was too upset with the cute girls in the house.

Boxing Day

Chris headed off to the airport early in the morning to pick up Grandpa Kline from the airport.  He wanted to spend some time with his family at Christmas.  When they arrived home, everyone got dressed up in snow gear to head outside to play in the snow and get pulled behind Max.

We were out of boots and snow gear, so I was happy to stay in the house and clean the kitchen and create a little order out of the chaos of eleven people.  I had hot water for hot chocolate on the stove for every one when they came in and lunch on the counter.

We didn't have to be anywhere until later in the evening when we had a Groupon to an Escape Room in Boulder.  Since Grandpa was here, he took Candace's place and she stayed with the three younger kids.  The Escape Room was so much fun and stressful at the same time.  We had to figure out clues and codes to open locks and get "out" within one hour.  Sadly we were just about five minutes short of solving the final puzzle before our time was up.  At the end Kevin was yelling, "We're gonna die."  It didn't help much with our stress level but we all left thinking what a great idea it was.

We called Candace as we left Boulder and had her meet us at a restaurant in Longmont for dinner.

Planner Extraordinaire...

Kristen came up with a list of all kinds of activities for cousins to participate in if they got bored while they were here.  She even categorized each activity according to male and female or both.  Can you tell she likes to plan?

Christmas Day

Candace offered to make breakfast on Christmas morning.  She made an egg casserole and a blueberry coffee cake.  Chris bought donuts to add to the mix.  I had been up early to exercise and had time to shower before starting all of the fun.

We instructed all of the kids young and old that they were to remain in their bedrooms on Christmas morning until 7 am and wait for a parent retrieved them.  Amy and Misha hung out on the basement stairs thinking that we were forgetting all about them.

We brought Amy and Misha up to where the rest of the kids were waiting on the stairs and hide them guide the kids down to the living room while the adults took pictures and videos.  The kids got to open the stocking and Santa gift.  We connected on Face Time again with Grandma so she could join in the fun.

We started opening presents at 8 am before the coffee cake was finished cooking and then took a breakfast break.  While serving breakfast, Kevin took some of the kids outside to try out Joseph's "Super Miracle Bubbles" that didn't pop in the cold.

Kristen got an iPad mini.

Misha's response to Kristen's gift.  She was a little peeved.

Amy was gifted an opportunity to go on a international trip with her dad.

And our final gift to our girls.  A cruise.  They were a little bit excited.  We created some puzzles for them to decipher.

After presents we had a lite lunch of leftovers.  I got the turkey started in the crock pot.  Kevin and Candace were great about helping with dinner and getting the table set--there were a lot of legos to relocate.  We had our traditional Christmas crackers and Kristen was excited for the flavored jellybeans.  Each plate got two.  Somehow, somehow I lucked out with two good flavors.  Chris got two nasty flavors--grass clippings and something else awful.  Someone got skunk.  You could smell that one all over the room.  After a lovely dinner, we just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

It started to snow around 7 or 8 pm and many in the Ball family headed outside to play in the snow.  Kristen was thrilled to go with them.  For the rest of us, snow on Christmas Day wasn't such a big deal and we opted to stay inside by the warmth of the fireplace.  It's all about perspective.

Christmas Eve

Last night when we went to Target, I had bought a carton of egg whites to use in baking.  At least I was pretty sure that I had.  I looked through both of the fridges with no luck.  Hmmm.  A few of the kids were up, but everyone else was still sleeping including Chris, so I couldn't ask him if he knew where the eggs were.  At least I had a few eggs in the carton that I could use in my baking.

As I headed up to our bedroom to shower, I spied a Target bag sitting on the floor of the closet.  Well, that solved the mystery of the missing eggs.  Sadly I had to toss them in the garbage.

Today was a day for "wrapping up" things in anticipation of Christmas.

Candace had lots of laundry to do and presents to wrap that had been delivered to our house.  Kevin and Chris went in to Longmont where Kevin had a boil lanced at an Urgent Care and Chris ran some last-minute errands (including buying more eggs whites!).

The kids were quick to put on snow gear and head outside to play--sledding, building forts, tromping through the snow.

I spent time working on early preparations for dinner on Christmas day, baking, and trying to remember all the places I hid Christmas gifts.  As our evening drew to a close, the excitement of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day grew.

We picked up pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner.  Before it got too cold and late, we headed over to the Saddleback pathway to check out the Christmas lights there.  It was fairly cold so we didn't last too long, but I don't think any of us minded.

After pizza, we started our Christmas Eve festivities, starting with singing Christmas carols.  Kevin played the piano for us.  We Facetimed Grandma Ball who was in the hospital recovering from surgery and enjoyed a little long-distance Christmas spirit.

We attempted a nativity.  We haven't usually acted them out with our three girls, but we have always read the Christmas story and some years watched Mormon Messages that related.  As we had lots of kids for the nativity this year, the older ones were less inclined to want to participate and the younger ones gave us lots of opportunity to laugh.

We had our gift exchange and finding out who bought for whom.  I think it is safe to say that Joseph loved his gift.

And finally, my girls favorite activity of all, bringing the gifts up to put under the tree.  With two families, there were a lot and Amy sat under the tree trying to place them all.  They were pretty spread out, but I'll admit, I kind of like this part of our tradition too.

Kristen left a note for Santa.

And the last moment for Kristen was placing a reserved stickie note on the couch for her spot on Christmas morning.