Scavenger Hunt

We spent the morning in downtown Denver completing a scavenger hunt on Christmas Eve morning. We have enjoyed these Urban Adventure Quest scavenger hunts in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Boulder, and Houston. They are a lot of fun and introduce us to parts of different cities that we wouldn't otherwise see. After 18 years, we made our first stop at Union Station, discovered Dairy Block, and Confluence Park where Cherry Creek and the South Platte rivers converge.

We were blessed with pretty nice weather for the middle of December.

Some of our non-morning people took a little time to get happy, but we all ended the day on a positive note.

The Giving Machines

On Christmas Eve Day, our family spent the morning in downtown Denver completing a scavenger hunt. Our hunt ended close to Writer's Square where the Giving Machines sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were located. Making selections at the Giving Machines was the highlight of our morning.

Seminary and The Giving Machine

I teach early morning seminary and as a class, we decided to raise funds to donate to the Giving Machine in Downtown Denver. The students were given the option of earning money and donating anonymously. As a class, we collected $112. With those funds, we bought a pig and three chickens. So proud of the young men and women that I have the privilege of teaching.

Trucks at School

Apparently it is a thing for the truck-driving "cool" kids at school to back into a parking spot every single day.

Washington DC at Christmas

Chris had a little extra time one evening while finishing up his last trip to the East Coast for the year. He ventured out to see the White House and a few other sites around Washington D.C.

Movie with Chris

Chris and I had a Saturday afternoon to ourselves and, after finishing some Christmas shopping, decided to take in a movie. We were able to see "Midway" and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great reminder of all of the men and women who have sacrificed so much for this country.

The theater was fairly empty.

More Birthday Celebrations from Grandpa Kline

Amy and Grandpa Kline said a quick "hi" and "goodbye" at the curb as Amy arrived home from Utah, and Grandpa returned home to Arizona after a visit. He left some presents for Amy's birthday. I remember a time when Amy said a definite "no" to borrowing Mom's pencil skirts. Styles change and now she is adding pencil skirts to her Amazon wish list.

Grandpa Kline Visit

Grandpa Kline just had shoulder surgery, however his doctor did clear him to fly and he spent a few days at our house recuperating and reading a book. He's not one to sit still for long and noted a number of times how nice it was to just sit and read; he hadn't done that in a long time.

Grandpa was able to join us for Kristen's Winter Gala Christmas Concert at the school on Wednesday night. On Thursday, we had dinner at Bonefish Grill and then introduced Grandpa to the wonder that is Scheel's. He was duly impressed and even went home with a gift or two. Ya gotta love a store with a ferris wheel!

St. Vrain Christmas Walk

A homeowner in the Saddleback neighborhood of Firestone had the ingenious idea to encourage his neighbors to decorate the back of their homes along a pathway paralleling Saddleback Avenue. Over the past couple of years, the event has grown to include more homeowners decorating, carolers, pictures with Santa, and hot chocolate and apple cider stands.

Chris and I took Kristen to meet up with her friends. Amy and her friend, Aleksey, meandered along the pathway in front of us.

Christmas Concerts at the School

Kristen had two nights of concerts. Grandpa Kline came to visit and attended the concert on the second night with Chris and I. Kristen was a little nervous because she had a solo. She rocked it.

Video

Birthday Celebrations

Amy finished finals yesterday and happily packed her bags and left Logan.

She drove first to Julie's house in Layton and then Julie and her family and Amy met Misha in SLC to celebrate Amy's birthday. They had dinner at a steak house, enjoyed Temple Square, and bought a pair of glasses at the Giving Machines (google this) next to Temple Square. I loved seeing the pictures of them together.

Amy and Misha drove back to Provo together and had a sister sleep over.

Crying at College

Amy sent me this picture from outside the testing center at Utah State University. She told me about it a couple of weeks ago and snapped a picture for me during finals week. Gotta love that the kleenex box is empty.

She's 20

Can't believe how fast the past twenty years have flown. It just seems as though it was yesterday that the nurses were placing this sweet little girl in my arms. Twenty years ago when Chris and I marveled at the wonder of this miracle in our lives. Twenty short years as we have watched her grow and succeed and be beautiful. Happy birthday my girl.

The Finals Countdown

For the past couple of weeks, Amy and Misha and Kristen have been counting down the days to the end of school. Last number of days of classes. Last homework assignment done. Last final.

Amy is finished on December 11 (Happy birthday!). She flies home on the 13th. Misha is finished classes on December 12 and flies home on the 18th after her finals are finished. Kristen's last day of classes is Monday the 16th and she is finished her finals on the 19th. Kristen and I are both finished seminary on the 16th. Hallelujah!

Wrapping Paper

I just love the country-themed Christmas decorations, especially the red trucks. It reminds me of visiting my grandpa's farm when I was a little girl. He had similar trucks on his farm, some that his grandkids loved to play on. So, when I found this wrapping paper to match my other decor, I was pretty happy.

I "just looked" at this cute stuff at Hobby Lobby.

I had to say a big "no" to this truck though. It was at Michaels with a $2000 price tag. The tree in the truck bed was extra. But cute right? A lawn decoration at Christmas. A used car lot for the rest of the year.

Christmas Tree Star

I bought a star for the Christmas tree and it was so heavy that it wouldn't even stand up. So, I had to rethink how big the star could actually be. I found this blingy one, and in the right light, it looks as though it is lit up.

Gingerbread at BYU

I was impressed that Misha made gingerbread cookies this past weekend. She had to buy molasses, spices, and cookie cutters, but the end result was pretty fun. She even shared them with her co-worker Emma and Emma's boyfriend, Jon.

A Visit to Texas

Chris made a stop in Texas on his way home from a busy week on the East Coast. He spent a couple of days with his parents and with Kevin and Candace and family.

Much of the day on Saturday, Chris helped his parents set up and troubleshoot all of their electronics in their new home. He pretty much rocks that stuff and his parents were so grateful for all the tweaks he made. (They even sacrificed and stopped at the Relax the Back store to try out so massage chairs for me!)

He got himself some brisket for dinner (don't mind the mouthful).

On Sunday afternoon, Kevin's son, Jonathan, had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Chris was grateful to be there and share in some family time.

Nails

Kristen loves earning money by doing my nails. She convinced me to let her paint my fingernails. (My toenails are getting a rest after having polish applied for ten years straight!)

And the foot spa? That's an early Christmas gift from Kristen. Kristen also applied a moisturizing mask to my feet. Think of it as similar to walking in mud and having the mud squish up between your toes.

Shopping with Kristen

While Chris was enjoying the balmy weather of Texas, Kristen and I enjoyed spending the day going for lunch and shopping.  We stopped at this new restaurant called Snooze. She ordered breakfast and I ordered tacos. Her two pancakes were humongous and my two tacos were...not. But they were yummy.

I think Kristen was able to finish up her Christmas shopping. Mine is mostly done (and mostly done online).

Double Wishes

Kristen saved the wishbone from our Thanksgiving turkey. After a couple of days, it had sufficiently dried out so that we could make a wish. I have never seen this happen before, but the wishbone snapped equally in half. Wishes for both of us!

One More Time

Amy submitted her application to BYU. With fingers crossed and an abundance of prayers ascending to heaven, we are hoping and praying for a positive outcome in February when admission notifications are sent out.

Stuck Truck

I picked up Kristen from an after-school choir practice. It was raining and the muckiness just added to the muck from the snow that has stuck around. We got stopped in traffic and watched as one large truck tried to pull an equally large truck out of the mud. It was slow going until the stuck truck finally gained a little traction. As the truck was finally free of the mud, the driver hopped out of the truck to unhook the chain connecting the two trucks.

All of a sudden, I noted, "He forgot to put his truck in park!" as it started rolling forward (at least it wasn't rolling back into the mud!) The driver quickly climbed back up into the truck cab, put the truck in park, and then hopped out again.

December 1st Jammies

Our tradition is to give the girls new pajamas on December 1st and then have a drawing for a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. I found some awesome shirts for all of the girls, and though it had to follow Kristen's "Pwesent" t-shirt, the shirts still got a laugh.

The girls always sign their cards to us, Chris especially, with "Love, Your Favorite Daughter." Now, it is official. They are all our favorite!

An Early Birthday Pwesent!

Amy celebrates her 20th birthday in ten days. Kristen had been working on a gift for Amy and wanted to have her open it while Amy was home for Thanksgiving. This is a gift that needs a little explaining. Amy, as a little girl, loved it when we would make movies of her. If Misha was the focus of the camera, Amy would start saying, "Hey, hey." She would then pout until the camera was turned back on her. One morning I was filming both girls. Amy was almost two and her birthday was coming close. She and Misha were sitting in Misha's crib (Misha was five months old). In order to coax Amy out of her pout, I asked her if her birthday was coming soon.

She was thrilled by the thought and said something like "Habirthday" (Happy birthday) and then drew in her breath and said with wonder, "Pwesents!?" We have watched that clip over and over, especially Kristen and it has become a family joke. This year, both Kristen and Misha came up with the idea separately to make Amy a t-shirt. Kristen started working on it first so she got dibs.

It was pretty funny when Kristen unfurled the t-shirt she had created. Somehow she had done a screen capture of Amy's face from the video. And there was much laughter.