Christmas was fantastic this year. The anticipation was thick. The stress was low(we had bought and wrapped everything earlier in the week) and we had zero travel to worry about...we could just focus all our energy on enjoying. It was really fun. The kids are at perfect ages right now for this. Seriously, the excitement was palpable. They were even pumped about their new chruch socks and snow boots and clothes. So fun. A week before we had a Baxter family gift exchange and celebration. We acted out the nativity. Highlight was the next day when Hansen was remembering and said, "I was Joseph, Garrett was a shepherd, Molly was a star and Abby was a butterfly(angel wings looked an awful lot like butterfly wings). A couple days before Rich and Gwen came down so we had a big get together as a family and ate up at Grandma and Grandpa O's house. Played with cousins. Talent show! It was great. So tons of family. Tons of good food. Tons of fun. We caroled the widows in our ward, and delivered caramels. Then went to Sam's work and caroled some of the long term patients. I don't know that it was the highlight for the kids, but it was one of my highlights. Nothing like getting a smile when three little kids are singing Mele Kalikimaka with the Uke. It was pretty cute. Kids slept great on Christmas eve but the excitement was too much for Olivia and she was up for hours with teeth problems. But it worked out bc our crawler slept through the present opening...and the kids didn't have to worry about protecting their new stuff from our curious little one. Perfect. Crepes on New Year's Day finished off the holiday season and skiing filled our Christmas break. Great memories...and we made it through pretty much unscathed from viruses. So it was a healthy fun time which is kind of a miracle at our stage right now. :-)
I had taken the two older kids to ski a couple of times and Hansen was getting pretty devastated he didn't get to go. So...we took him up. He was super happy to ski. I use the term "ski" very loosely with him. It was more of a mom catch me every ten feet kind of a thing but he loved it. And kept telling me to go backwards so he could go down the steep hill. He didn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation, and the pain that would be involved. Molly and Garrett are bored with the bunny hill. Garrett built a jump. :-) So we will have to start paying money for it now. :-) It is great to get up in the mountains and breath the fresh air and watch the kids master a skill. They are proud of themselves and it is fun to see them get more and more confident. Gavin and Logan came along and Gavin learned too! So fun to see him go from terrified and gripping on to his mom, to skiing independent. Greatest comment ever was when I overheard Garrett a couple days later trying to convince one of my friends from Arizona to come and learn to ski. He said, "You can learn no problem, my mom is an awesome teacher." Livi Rue was pretty cute just chillin in the backpack and watching what was happening. She is so cool. Love her. I think a trip to Alta is soon to come!
Christmas was fantastic this year. The anticipation was thick. The stress was low(we had bought and wrapped everything earlier in the week) and we had zero travel to worry about...we could just focus all our energy on enjoying. It was really fun. The kids are at perfect ages right now for this. Seriously, the excitement was palpable. They were even pumped about their new chruch socks and snow boots and clothes. So fun. A week before we had a Baxter family gift exchange and celebration. We acted out the nativity. Highlight was the next day when Hansen was remembering and said, "I was Joseph, Garrett was a shepherd, Molly was a star and Abby was a butterfly(angel wings looked an awful lot like butterfly wings). A couple days before Rich and Gwen came down so we had a big get together as a family and ate up at Grandma and Grandpa O's house. Played with cousins. Talent show! It was great. So tons of family. Tons of good food. Tons of fun. We caroled the widows in our ward, and delivered caramels. Then went to Sam's work and caroled some of the long term patients. I don't know that it was the highlight for the kids, but it was one of my highlights. Nothing like getting a smile when three little kids are singing Mele Kalikimaka with the Uke. It was pretty cute. Kids slept great on Christmas eve but the excitement was too much for Olivia and she was up for hours with teeth problems. But it worked out bc our crawler slept through the present opening...and the kids didn't have to worry about protecting their new stuff from our curious little one. Perfect. Crepes on New Year's Day finished off the holiday season and skiing filled our Christmas break. Great memories...and we made it through pretty much unscathed from viruses. So it was a healthy fun time which is kind of a miracle at our stage right now. :-)
I had taken the two older kids to ski a couple of times and Hansen was getting pretty devastated he didn't get to go. So...we took him up. He was super happy to ski. I use the term "ski" very loosely with him. It was more of a mom catch me every ten feet kind of a thing but he loved it. And kept telling me to go backwards so he could go down the steep hill. He didn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation, and the pain that would be involved. Molly and Garrett are bored with the bunny hill. Garrett built a jump. :-) So we will have to start paying money for it now. :-) It is great to get up in the mountains and breath the fresh air and watch the kids master a skill. They are proud of themselves and it is fun to see them get more and more confident. Gavin and Logan came along and Gavin learned too! So fun to see him go from terrified and gripping on to his mom, to skiing independent. Greatest comment ever was when I overheard Garrett a couple days later trying to convince one of my friends from Arizona to come and learn to ski. He said, "You can learn no problem, my mom is an awesome teacher." Livi Rue was pretty cute just chillin in the backpack and watching what was happening. She is so cool. Love her. I think a trip to Alta is soon to come! 
