Wrapping up 2013

It has been a wonderful final month of the year. The first week of December came with an ice storm. When that happens here in Dallas, everyone just stops everything until it warms up and melts. That meant that Jarom got to work from home and we got to spend about 4 days sitting around the house together. The kids seemed to enjoy the ice in 10 minute spurts, so Lix would bundle them up, they would head outside and slide around the yard for a bit, perhaps knock down some icicles or something, and then come back inside to crawl under a blanket and watch a show. Fortunately nothing on the house was damaged and nobody wrecked a car during the freeze. After a long week of painfully slow commutes and slush on all the roads our wonderful Dallas weather returned and we saw some days back up in the 60’s, just in time for the arrival of Jarom’s parents.

 Brrrrr.....

 When it is too cold to go outside you pretend to be afraid of Mitch on the stairs 

and turn pantry doors into snowmen

Bruce and Nancy came for a 12-day stay that would be split between our house and Nate’s. Nancy had been here once for Callie’s birthday, but this would be Bruce’s first visit. The day they arrived was lovely, so they grabbed some dinner and headed out to the park to enjoy the sun and let the kids swing and play. That became the theme for the next few weeks. Grab some food and go somewhere so the kids can play. It was great. Grandma took the kids to see Frozen, everyone went to see ICE at the Gaylord hotel, the Moms got to go shopping together, some golf was played, there was bowling, Alixa and some recruits did a great job singing in the ward Christmas program, BYU lost their bowl game, the zoo was visited, the adults had a nice dinner out with no kids, Jarom and Nate avenged an early season loss in their rec league, and somewhere in the middle of all that we managed to celebrate Christmas.

 Enjoying the 9 degree temps at ICE

It was wonderful to have grandparents around to play with the kids and spoil them. Christmas was mostly sponsored by Grandma and Grandpa. Bo got lots of Planes gear, from the movie to toy airplanes to pajamas. Jenna got a new pillow pet, because she has been sleeping on Pete for almost 4 years and he is starting to look his age. So now she has a unicorn named Violet. Emily got to chew on some wrapping paper and found some stacking blocks and rings underneath it eventually. Alixa got a few house cleanings and Jarom got a new set of golf clubs. And the entire family is getting a trip to Disney World at the beginning of February. The kids have paper chains that they can use to count down the days. In terms of presents, it was a wonderful Christmas.

 Emmy is pretty much crawling now, although not very quickly. And Bo wants a puppy. Great.

Enjoying the beautiful weather

 Experiencing Build-a-Bear for the first time

A few days after Christmas Alixa got a bonus present. She has been asking for a new ceiling fan in the family room for a long time now, but Jarom has dodged her requests. But in an ill-fated (or not, depending on your perspective) attempt to change the bulbs in the old light Nancy managed to short out the fan, thus requiring a new one to be purchased. It is now bought and installed, and Jenna commented this morning on just how beautiful the new fan is. I even got into the Christmas spirit by sparing the life of MousySkunk, the friendly black and white rat that Jarom tried to feed me. After letting him hang out for a day he let him go outside, where he will have to take his chances with the hawks.

 Old people and less old people, doing fun things

 Grandma and Grandpa did some leaf bagging while they were here. It was a wonderful favor, and a much bigger job than they thought it would be when they started it.

  

But it isn’t all good news around here. Alixa ended her fantasy football season by losing to Jarom in the playoffs in both of their leagues. Jarom followed that by losing in the finals in both of the leagues, to Abe and Bruce. He did get to try his new golf clubs, and they are a significant improvement over the old ones. After playing hundreds of rounds with his old clubs and never damaging any of them, he made it all of 18 holes with his new ones before misjudging his follow through and bending his 5-iron on a tree. But tonight he gets to take out his frustrations by playing dodgeball with high school kids. Happy New Year everybody!

Jenna gave her first talk while all her grandparents were at church with her. 

This is obviously not at church, but it is the same talk.