Peace Out, 2020!

 The kids came back yesterday!

Per Courtney's request, we ordered Porcupine Grill for dinner

and then played many rounds of King of Tokyo. 

Today with an extra burst of maximizing our Holiday Break fun,

I took down the Christmas tree and garland and put UP simple

New Year's Decorations!

No reason the 2004 noisemakers can't be used again! 😂

Dan grilled salmon for dinner -- I love gathering around the table with all of us! 

And then Nick rushed off to his New Year's Eve party with friends,

and Courtney, Michael, Marty, Lizzie went to a socially distanced Jazz game.

Dan and I watched live action Mulan. We really, really liked it.

Marty and Lizzie went to a friend's after the game, but 

Courtney and Michael came home so we had more festivities before midnight.

To the tune of healthy chocolate shakes that were not-at-all-like Wendy's Frosty

(as advertised by Pinterest),

and more rounds of King of Tokyo.

Michael was keeping track of the time and suddenly at 11:59 we all jumped up and 

ran to the porch to shout and cheer and make noise.

Around the neighborhood we heard everyone else doing the same and fireworks 

celebrating too. 

Wearing the 2020 sweatshirt one last time. When I bought one for each of my sisters and Courtney 

last year, it seemed a lot more fun than it turned out to be.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

I think these little mung bean sprouts are just proving that 

there's an opportunity for growth in any situation.

Even when you've been brushed into the never-used sink in the butler's pantry.

You go, girls!

Out and About, Winter Version

 Yesterday Jo and I went to the spa -- a gift to both of us from each other for Christmas.
A facial, massage and lunch afterwards at Freshie's. Absolutely Heavenly!

Jo has the best gift ideas! 

A few years ago she got us tickets to Casablanca with the Symphony for all of us to go together.

We always love an excuse to try new things together.

Keeping the relaxation theme going, Dan and I got in the hot tub that evening.
We were going to watch a movie, but ended up sucked into the puzzle for HOURS.

This morning we hiked up Desolation to the Salt Lake Overlook.

Not much haze right now. But I could tell it's been a while since I've hiked.

So good to be out!

Courtney and Michael FaceTimed me from cross country skiing 

believing that the sun and the snow and the beauty of both, combined 

with their enthusiasm and description of how it works could convince me to try the sport.

And they were right! I'm excited to give it a try.

Deer Valley Turkey Chili for dinner.

Perfect copy and so delicious!

Finally finished puzzle #4 and I think I'm officially puzzled out. 

MasterClass by Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck chicken with demi glace and couscous salad.

(Not pictured: sweet potatoes)

Soooo yummy!

Dan got lots of tips and menu ideas from watching MasterClass today.

This gift is going to really pay off for all of us! 

Tamale Time

Tamales at the Shaeffers topped off with 

a walk down 70's-TV-shows-memory-lane
AND younger-brother-reveals-dad-was-a-rocker --

playing classic songs and older brother still knows every word.

Sponsored by Spotify.

We were having a lot more fun than these photos captured! 

(At least the people who lived in the 70's were!)

Deep in thought ready to guess the next 70's TV show...

I helped with the final touches of tamales and look forward to making them on my own!

Merry Christmas!

For the first time ever, Nick slept in on Christmas!

Dan and I even had time to sleep in ourselves, get showered and dressed 

and have omelet mix-ins and fruit salad all ready to go.

By 9:30, we texted the kids to see if they were up.

Marty literally dragged Nicholas out of bed!

We're all so grown up, we even ate breakfast before opening presents.

I think this is the first Christmas ever not having 

Aunt Marge, Mom or Rachel at our home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning

or having extended family gather for food and games in the afternoon. 

#CovidChristmas

Marty making home made chicken nuggets to accompany his Chick-Fil-A sauce

Lizzie's figuring out her new Apple Watch she got from Marty

Nick and Dan installing Nick's new subwoofer in his car.

We got to talk to Chris who was in the library of the institute building.

I'm snapping pics with my phone and Dan is holding Courtney and Michael on FaceTime

with his phone! Grateful for technology bringing us together.

The rest of the day had everyone trying on their new clothes, Nick loading up his new golf bag, 

the boys checking out MasterClass, napping and preparing a turkey Christmas dinner.

Goodbye to Lizzie and Marty all packed up with their new suitcases and bags to stay for a few days at Lizzie's house. Ten minutes away.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Quiet Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve with just three of us is quiet! 

Dan and I actually went to bed at 10:30. Incredible that we're at this phase!

Back up to Christmas Eve morning...

Michael and Courtney left to Sundance.

Lizzie, Dan and I worked on the puzzle, then she and Marty left to Rosen's. 

Nick took a nap and Dan and I got massages at our local Chinese foot massage spot.

Aaaahhh!

In order to make this Christmas Eve more memorable with just three of us,

we decided to spend some time doing something for others.

We made sandwiches and put together lunches with some cash to deliver to the homeless.

We found a woman on one side of Walmart and a group of three guys at the other.

They all had lots of bags of gifts and food, but they were so sweet, saying, 

"Thank you so much! We really do appreciate it!"

They sleep in tents. 

We found another gentleman at Smith's, another in Sugarhouse

and a husband and wife near Red Lobster.

We delivered Christmas gifts and food to Aunt Marge

and finally stopped at Diane and boys' to deliver their gifts and sing, 

"We Wish You A Merry Christmas." 

Back at home our artichokes were very done and our crab was a treat! 

Great choice, Nicholas!

After dinner, we watched episode 3 of The Chosen then read Luke 2.

I loved watching the depiction of Christ's life on Christmas Eve -- 

and that Nick was excited to watch it too.

Then Nick got online to play video games with his friends and Dan and I ended

up watching the Disney Sing-along. It wasn't amazing, but it was fun enough.

It was just a nice feeling not having presents to wrap or last minute projects to build!

And like I said, so great to get to bed early on Christmas Eve!

Pre-Christmas Christmas

Courtney and Michael go to spend a week with the Petersen family tomorrow

 (they're renting a cabin at Sundance so they're close!),

so we celebrated Siblings Christmas tonight. 

But first, Courtney and I ran around delivering gifts to her friends in the afternoon. 

Loved spending time together talking about the world we live in and life in general.

(name that 80's tune...)

And before dinner, we finished the puzzle!!

PHEW!

Then played a round of Qwirkle and Courtney got out another puzzle.

We were so into our game, we realized almost too late that we needed to pick up 

our Chinese take-out in five minutes!

Asian Star, per our Christmas Eve tradition! I wonder how many years its been? 

At least ten. 

The kids wanted to give their gifts to each other and to Dan and me when we were all together and 

we could enjoy each other's surprise/excitement. Best idea!

One of Marty's gifts was a 100 foot ethernet cable. It wound around the living room, through the rock climbing wall up to the attic where it was attached to his other present. A new game!

Back in the living room for everyone else's gifts.

Nick got a subscription to MasterClass. Looking forward to more kitchen eats he cooks up!

Michael got biking stuff from us and Dan loved showing him how it works.

He also got headphones that sit on your bone NEAR your ear so you can hear the world and your podcast.

Lizzie got a new dress from sibs, Courtney got running clothes and a suitcase from us.

And a future sib gift (arriving tomorrow)...

Dan got new sunglasses from the kids and

I got a super soft blanket with the words from Frog and Toad books!

Such a clever idea!

After presents, we finished a new puzzle -- which was a FAST one!

And Marty and Lizzie used superpowers to transport it to the living room table so we could make room to start a third puzzle while Marty and Michael played chess again. 

Marty finally has some actual competition against Michael! 

Dan made hot chocolate with the frother Rachel sent and everyone claimed

hot chocolate with frothed milk is the best ever. 

We also played a round of Marty's new game and it's so fun! 

Five Minute Dungeon! Quick collaborative card game -- the team against the timer.

Marty crawled around the tree checking out tags on presents and shaking boxes.

It's so fun to see how excited he is thinking about what's under the tree!

Nick left to do a present exchange with his friends. 

Kinda different to have the big kids home hanging out and the youngest child

now the one running out to be with friends!

Lizzie and I stayed up until midnight working on the puzzle. 

Yay! I love that Lizzie loves puzzles too!

Long after everyone else called it a night. Marty came back down to read and wait.

I called it a night before it was done. Such will power!

Camel Up!

Tonight Marty had the idea to all go to a big game store downtown to shop for a new family game.

We wanted it to be able to accommodate all of us -- seven or more players

and to last under an hour. 30 minutes would be ideal.

We came home with Camel Up, Qwirkle and Trial by Trolley.

Also Secret Hitler because we don't have our own copy.

All of them were super fun. My favorite was Camel Up. 

Each round is pretty quick and it's easy to learn and catch on. 

A pop-up palm tree and the pyramid to eject the dice was VERY clever and SO exciting. 

We're still working on the same puzzle we started over a week ago!

It's so hard! I've never been so stymied by a puzzle. 

But tomorrow is going to be a serious puzzle day!

Christmas Star

Our neighbors invited us over to see Jupiter and Saturn crossing paths through their 

fancy telescope. (Christmas idea for next year -- Telescope for Pagosa!)

I was so excited! Somehow they'd remembered a comment I made about loving looking through telescopes and appreciating planets and stars.

At BYU I was able to look through a giant telescope in the Eyring Science building and see the craters on the moon and Jupiter's red spot. It was a top moment in my life for sure. 

(Just now I almost assigned it a top life moment number, until I thought about Dan and the kids and I realized I had a long list of great moments. So let's just say it was a great one.)

We had a 5:30 - 6:30 window -- after dark but before getting hidden by their tree.

A couple other families were there too.

This isn't an actual image, but this is about what we could see through the telescope:

Jupiter, four of its moons, and Saturn with rings!

Topped off with a trip to Nielsen's and google searching Jupiter's moons.

There are 79 of them. Europa, Io, Callisto...

Finished the night watching "Catch Me if you Can" because Marty and Lizzie had never seen it before!