Goodbye 2018!

Goodbye to Rachel and Jeremy and family this morning!

The rest of us decided it was too cold to ski today. 7* plus wind chill wasn't inviting.

Except for Chris who must have a goal to go every single day!

Dan took us to the snow gate up Millcreek Canyon where we could 

hike and snowshoe and take Kershaw too.

It was beautiful and fun to do something new. Dan likes to do this trail with his back country skis. Hike up, ski down.

Cafe Rio for a late lunch.

Snowshoeing!

The fresh powder was clumping in Kershaw's toes!

We were frozen after our hike, so Dan and I and Michelle and Brent got in the hot tub.

Yay! The first hot tub excursion of the winter.

Matt showed up with his kids and they got in after us.

We had considered going to the torchlight parade at Alta again this year, 

but then decided it was really too cold.

Courtney went with their friends -- so good for them for being brave! They had a blast! 

(And then they went hot tubbing to warm up. Lots of use today!)

We stayed home and played Phase 10 with Bekah and Lucy. 

Chris and Isaac went to a party. Nick and Ethan played games with us for a while and Fortnite.

Then we watched Jim Gaffigan for some laughs.

And then at midnight ran outside to light fireworks, bang pots and pans, and Freeze!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday Fun Day

Way back when we were planning Christmas Break and how to make sure we didn't feel overwhelmed, we planned that Sunday would be a good recuperating day. Sleep in in the morning. Church from 1-4. Quiet evening watching movies or relaxing.

But plans changed. First off, Joylyn's mission homecoming was 9:00 a.m. and Courtney and I didn't want to miss it. So no sleeping in. Then we found out Orman and Phyllis were in town! They came to New Mexico for Dan's Dad's funeral, and that's the first time we'd seen them since Thanksgiving 5 years ago! And we didn't get that much time to talk to them. So getting them (and Courtney and Garrett) to spend the night with us was really great.

And as long as we were making dinner for them and Lymans and Pauls, we may as well invite everyone. In addition, having Jay and Peggy Paul for dinner when Brent is in town is "becoming a tradition" as Jay put it. Michael and Katie, Bekah and Matt (who moved over to Nugents last night), came and Sheree was able to come too.

Dan made ribs and BBQ'd chicken (thighs on accident, but actually very tasty) and I roasted 3 heads of cauliflower (the full heads -- easy and so yummy).

Afterward we were going to play Phase 10, but we had too many people. So we played a big game of Taboo instead. We've had so much fun playing games each night! It's been fun to have the teenagers play with us too. It's been fun to have everyone here this Christmas because we've had so many people to play games with at night!

So it wasn't a quiet, recuperating, lazy day. But it was fun.

Amazing Tricks by Morgan

Lucy's Baptism

Saturday morning we got to participate in Lucy's Baptism. Gathered together with both sides of her family -- both Rebekah's side and Matt's side -- felt what Heaven must be like.

Courtney was having a party that night so Bekah and Rachel's families slept at in-laws or a hotel. Michelle and family had their friends evening down at Utah County. All clearing out so Courtney and friends could have the house to themselves, and also so the babies wouldn't have a hard time sleeping with so many people over. We realized it's pretty quiet back in the guest room and in the bunk room, but as it turned out, everyone wanted to try the rock wall and explore, so it was good they didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone.

Dan and I helped Courtney and friends prep for their party, then went to a wedding and dinner. Afterward we watched a movie in our room (When Harry Met Sally. I think we've officially watched every holiday romcom out there!)

When Michelle and Brent got back we played Phase 10 in the attic with Isaac and Morgan. We've had non-stop nights until 1 or 2 this Christmas Break. It's actually not that unusual when my sisters are in town!

Sisters Day

Sisters Day pedicures, lunch at Nordstrom Cafe and a little bit of shopping. Sheree and I were at the end of the line for pedicures so we got some time to catch up and talk.
The dads took the kids sledding, to lunch, and sledding. So also a full day. Dan even squeezed in a funeral and Christmas returns.

Bekah and I made a few last minute errands for Lucy's baptism tomorrow so I got some one-on-one time with her too.

Everyone had evening plans with their other family members, so Mom and Dimitrios and Dan and I had a quiet dinner at home then went to the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody. It was SO GOOD!

We actually got home later than everyone else at 9:30! After the littles were all put to bed, the adults and older kids played "What Do You Meme?" together. (User Tip: Toss the "Mature Adult" card pack.) What a fun evening laughing until way after midnight. Lots of late nights when the Adair's are all here!

Karaoke Party 2018

It always starts with a big crowd and lots of laughs.

But by the end of the night, it seems my sisters and I are just dancing by ourselves! 

Notice in the mirrors, Michelle and I are still dancing. And the couches are empty!

Winter Wonderland for the Holidays

We had originally talked about me going skiing with everyone else today. We thought we'd all go to Park City so we could watch Chris and Nick do tricks in the park. But then Chris had wanted to go with friends to Alta. We had a true family council (albeit sitting in the car driving home from Sheree's), each sharing what they would choose if it didn't affect anyone else. I only wanted to go mainly to watch the kids. Nick really only wanted to do the park if Chris was there too so he could teach him some stuff. Dan was kind of exhausted and not sure if his body could take another day of skiing. Courtney kind of wanted to go to Park City, but not so much that she wouldn't happily go somewhere else if everyone else wanted to.

I ended up staying home and they all went to Alta. Which turned out perfect because there was tons of new powder from a somewhat surprise of a storm Christmas night (much more snow than was predicted). So the skiers had a dream day skiing in fresh powder and they were all good enough to ski hard. They even ran into Chris and his friends and skied a few runs with them.

Yesterday (Christmas Morning)

Today

So they got all the fresh powder and I got to stay home and play Phase 10 with Bekah and Matt and Jax. I loved hanging out with Jax! I haven't hung out with him... well I don't want to say ever. But it may be ever. He was darling and I love playing games. It was relaxing and fun and a perfect day-after Christmas. Matt and Bekah's snow clothes were all in their luggage which was in the back of Matt's Mom's car which was with her at the temple. The good news about that was everyone just stayed inside for a cozy, lazy, winter afternoon.

Merry Christmas 2018!

We decided to get up by 9:00.

Dan and I had a waffle breakfast ready for serving when they came downstairs.

(They still had to wait on the stairs until we said they could come! 

Tradition!)

How happy this makes me that they put on their old Christmas Jammies!

After serving up waffles, eggs and bacon, we sat in the Family Room and went around our family each sharing one or two things we did this last month or last year that showed we Remembered Christ.

Angela: My weekly time with Clara. Following the prophet and reading the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.

Nick: Willingly reading 3 pages each night in the Book of Mormon with our family.

Chris: Serving in Mozambique and with the Special Needs kids in school.

Courtney: Going through the temple this year has strengthened her relationship with God and Christ.

Marge: Reading the Book of Mormon (twice!) when the prophet asked.

Dan: Serving in Elder's Quorum but making a priority in visiting each member or taking them to lunch to get to know them and love them. Also reading Jesus the Christ.

Remembering Christ is remembering that he is there to walk with us in our life -- through good times and hard times. It's not about being perfect in following "the rules," but in choosing to bring him into our lives so we can more fully appreciate and understand his love for us. 

And that he wants us to be happy.

And then it was time to open presents!

Sweatshirt and T-shirts Chris made in graphics for Nick and Courtney.

New trick skis for Chris!

He also got an electric guitar and lessons from Mom and Dad and new Converse Flyers from Courtney and Nick.

Courtney got a new Sonos speaker for her apartment and noise-cancelling headphones so she can study when friends are over -- social and working at the same time. 

And a "Just Send It" sweatshirt from Chris and Nick.

Nick got a drone (my classifieds sleuthing I talked about earlier) and worked really hard all afternoon figuring out the software and how to get it up and running. Also a basketball hoop for over his door.

And...

when you discover Santa didn't bring Nick and Chris a present, 

so there must be one more somewhere in, under, on or around the tree!

The extra present!! And it turns out to be a good thing it didn't snow on Christmas!

This is what Dan was figuring out with his cousin, Rob and KSL Classifieds last Friday.

A pit bike motorcycle.

Marge got Hale Theater tickets with Angela and Dan for 2019.

Angela got a new Vespa helmet (from Santa), a book from her favorite author from the kids, and Elton John concert tickets from Dan!

Dan got grapefruit knives, a Dallas Cowboys blanket, ski goggles from the kids and a Helicopter Skiing excursion (with Chris) from Mom (and it was Nick's idea too!)

Kershaw got treats from Aunt Marge and a new shark dog bed from his family (another of Nick's ideas! Nick is a great present gifter -- he always has been!)

We had lunch in the dining room: Honey Baked Ham, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole and rolls. Typical, but satisfying. And during lunch Chris talked Nick and Dan into going skiing at Alta!

Courtney, Marge and I stayed home and had a nap!

Marty's cute friends came over to visit for a bit. They are excited for him to come home too!

 That evening we went to Sheree's for dinner, to visit with everyone -- Mom & Dimitrios, Diane, Luke, Sam and Max; and Bekah and Matt and kids had arrived and gone straight there.

We had made a plan to play games so we didn't just sit around and talk and bore the kids. 

We played Qwerkle and another one... what was it? I can't remember the name, but it was like Nerts. 

It was super fun to play games together!

By 11:00 we dragged ourselves away and to home.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

(That means you, too, Chris! Ha, ha! He keeps us laughing!)

Elder Shaeffer -- Marty

Now that we're getting so close to him coming home, I feel like I can finally listen to my heart and feel my emotions about him being gone.

I miss this smile... this one right here... SO. MUCH.

Today everyone went skiing. I stayed home and wrapped presents, took a walk, tidied the house, made sure it smelled good, did the laundry and organized the bedrooms to ready them for guests.

Meanwhile my sisters were texting. Bekah and Rachel were commiserating that they were so tired.

I discovered that my desire to be home on Christmas Eve while my family was out skiing was probably a form of PTSD.

We're finally at a stage that I'm not exhausted leading up to Christmas. 

And I still need a few more years of reveling in that "not exhausted" feeling before I move on to "actively going out and making a day of it."

I had a perfect day. And so did everyone else who were up skiing.

Kershaw is sitting in my spot.

5:30 we gathered to talk to Marty. I'm so excited to be on the month countdown.

For Christmas they were going out shopping and Dan said they could use the credit card to get a nice meal. (Marty said he'd told his companion they would probably get to go out because he thought his Dad would offer up a nice meal on the card. Ha!)

Marty is happy. He has a testimony. He's loved being a missionary. He said it's been the hardest thing ever and a year ago he thought he couldn't recommend a mission to Chris. But since that time he's grown to know it was absolutely the best thing. That area that was his hardest, is also the area he's most excited to return to and take us when we visit Japan. He told us he'd give us all the details when he gets home.

He said he's not trunky. But he is looking forward to finishing and coming home. He said he's excited to work hard for the next month and enjoy his time in Japan and as a missionary. 

But he won't be sad when it's over.

His plan is to get home about 1:30 p.m. He thought it's generally about 5:00 when the Stake President has time to release the missionaries. And then he wants two solid hours to listen to his music. He has a playlist of about 17 songs he can't wait to listen to. I thought it was interesting his plan was to wait until he's officially released. In my head once you're home, you're done. 

I think it would be easy to say, "I've served. What's a few more hours. It's no big deal to listen to my music now. It's just music after all. It's close enough."

But that being said, what's a few more hours to say you were obedient to the very end.

I'm proud of his attitude.

We met Grandma and Dimitrios (Marge was with us too) at Asian Star for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. It was crowded, but comfortable and delicious. 

We came home and opened a Christmas Eve gift -- "What Do You Meme?" 

Then watched "Christmas Vacation" for our Christmas Eve movie.

By midnight, everyone went up to bed and Dad and I wrapped a few more presents, filled the stockings and then we went to bed.

I would like to say that "the children were nestled all snug in their beds," but in reality we found out the next day that Chris had snuck out at 2:00 a.m. to get burritos with his friends, got stopped by the cops (who called back-up) when it looked like he was casing a neighborhood ("get out of the car with your hands up"), then made friends with the cop and then were sent on their merry way when his friend came out of the house and collaborated the burrito story.

I found this out from Courtney who saw it on his Snapchat the next day. 

He said since Courtney told me he had to now block her from following him. But I don't think he will. He was too excited to tell Dan the cop story so had already confessed earlier.

The Goose is Getting Fat

8:00 wake up call to take the Young Men/Young Women to 

Music and the Spoken Word Christmas program.

The Conference Center looked beautiful for Christmas.

After one hour special-edition Christmas Church (just a warm up for permanent two-hour church),

we went to Jo and Kelly's for early dinner.

We love spending time with them. Jo has always been a great cook. And Kelly is every bit as talented. We exchanged gifts which turned out to be a little bit like The Gift of the Magi.

They gifted us tickets to go with them to a special Utah Symphony Performance accompanying Casablanca... On the same night that we gifted EC a performance of Evita with us in Arizona! 

Ha, Ha! We'll get it figured out!

The best part is that we enjoy each other so much, the best gifts are 

that we want to have experiences together!

On the way down we noticed the Tesla offered "Santa's Sleigh" mode:

Nick got to pick tonight's movie. We watched, "Psych, The Movie."

Yep, it's very Christmasy.

Family on a Saturday

Random Photos of Family on a Saturday before Christmas:

Dan and I took Nick and friends skiing at Park City.

(Courtney skied with Taylor and Cole at Snowbird. Chris skied with friends at Alta.)

Dan and I stopped at the outlets at J. Crew and Ralph Lauren. 

Because I sort of have an addiction to "let's just see what they have." We got a few good deals!

(We also went to Target to stock up on groceries in anticipation of The Arrival.

Which is to say, all the Adair's. 30 of whom are staying with us for the next week.

I also paid Nick double his allowance if he played his Christmas songs for the rest of the week.

It was a great trade! He got extra cash for Christmas and I got to hear his piano songs and have Christmas music played with no cajoling or arguing!

When we filled up with gas, Courtney offered to get out and do the filling up (and wash the windows)

while I sat comfortably in the car! 

Chris is strong and agile. He always has been!

My car was filthy and needed a wash. I vacuumed it out at home, 

then Dan and I took it to the self-wash.

Reminded me of my high school days with Jenny. 

The evening ended with our family going to the Jazz game. 

Courtney and I wore our Santa sweatshirts. For sure they would have been funny enough 

to get us on the Jumbotron... IF we hadn't sat down 2 seats away from 

Legit Santa and Mrs. Claus!! 

We cracked ourselves up anyway!

Tonight's Christmas Feature was Sleepless in Seattle. 

Last Minute Christmas Shopping

Nick and Chris had their last day of school today. 

But Courtney and I went shopping at Trolley Square for last minute gifts.

Returns at Williams Sonoma. A mug for Kay.

Books for stockings. Candy like Bottle Caps, Whistle Pops, Pop Rocks and 

Giant Sweethearts (for Dan!). Perfect gift for Nick from Courtney & Chris.

City Creek Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

Cutest baby gift at Anthropologie for Lyla.

Geodes for the boys and salt for Marge at the Salt Lake City souvenir store.

True shopping where you have people you're looking for but don't have to stress about

finding THE EXACT thing.

Meanwhile Dan had some searching and researching of his own for a special gift for Chris and Nick.

It required meeting his cousin, Rob Weaver, at his shop for a lesson in...

things he's an expert in. And sleuthing on KSL classifieds for the perfect gift.

I also had some sleuthing on KSL classifieds for another perfect gift for... someone.

Dan, Courtney and I went to Thanksgiving Point Luminaria display in the evening.

It was cool. But, you know, electric luminarias aren't New Mexican luminarias.

And we're partial to the real thing. But it was fun to get out.

The "Light the World" sculpture garden was our favorite part. (But I didn't take a photo.)

Porcupine Grill for dinner. 

Then Dan and I watched "While You Were Sleeping." Merry Christmas!

Christmas Movies Every Night? Yes Please.

We've watched a couple Christmas movies together as a family on Sundays. Remember how Dan chose Miracle on 34th Street and Chris and Nick ended up really liking it? Last Sunday we watched Home Alone 2. (It was Chris' turn to pick.)

But there are so many more -- so many rom coms -- that the boys were never going to pick, obviously. So Dan and I have watched a movie together every night this week. And we've said a few times, "What if our life was like this all the time? Where we didn't have anything to do each night but watch a movie together." It sounds actually very simple and calm. He hasn't been traveling as much lately, and it has been nice to have evenings that are more calm. And it helps that he does Elders Quorum visits on the same night me and Nick and Chris have Mutual (do we call it that again?).

Sunday: Home Alone 2. Monday: The Holiday. Tuesday: Serendipity. Wednesday: About a Boy. Thursday: Four Christmases. (If you need recommendations, The Holiday was good. About a Boy is one of my favorites. Serendipity is ok but frustrating. And Four Christmases is not really that good at all.

Also, Courtney got home tonight! Yay!

And in other important news... The Christmas tree is still alive! Amazing! We have only managed to keep it alive the entire season one other time in our whole Shaeffer Family history! It's still drinking a whole pitcher per day. We were going through 2/day -- one in the morning and one at night for the first week or two. Way to go tree! (And us! A lot attributed to Nicholas who is very responsible for remembering to water. I am also very responsible, so when one of us forgets, the other remembers.)

Organized

It took the entire time Dan and Chris were gone, but I got it done!

What started out as five photo boxes, four photo albums and piles of random photos...

Got sorted by date, and the duplicates and bad photos were tossed.

I removed the photos from the various albums and the old photo albums were thrown out as well.

Historical family photos were divided into Adair, Reagan and Shaeffer family binders.

This was right before the end. The photos have been consolidated into the two boxes you see in the middle of the floor.

The next step is to digitize them and then add dates to the computer files. 

Then print albums so they will actually get viewed or anyone who wants a photo can find it in the album.

At Clara's yesterday we got out her old photos. She has a small amount stored in a shoebox. Maybe 50 total. A handful of her as a child, then as a teen and older. A few of her parents and her beloved aunts and uncles. A few of her girls when they were little and a few recent photos of them all together and her grandchildren. We had fun looking through them. But it was plenty!