1,000 hours outside, take three

The past two years, we've set a goal to spend 1,000 hours outside. With being pregnant in 2022 and having a new baby in 2023, we've only made it to 850-900 hours each year. These have still been wins in my book because that's way more time outside than we might have spent otherwise! But this year, I'm determined to make it all the way to 1,000. Nothing lifts our moods, aids our exercise, burns off excess energy, drives away the grumpies, or brings us together like time outside. Already we've had some wonderful adventures this year.... 

How do we do it with Walter? We dress him for the weather and bring him along. He LOVES the outdoors and is always calm and relaxed in nature (as long as he's not cold). 

Forest School is always a favorite way to get outside. 

One Sunday before church we visited a park in Provo that the girls used to love when they were little and we lived there. As we walked up, the ducks mobbed us looking for food. 

Michael and Orson got to enjoy some time shooting. He says Orson's getting really good! This is the first time he's shot standing up. 

Walter LOVES to eat snow. 

Another Sunday we built the cutest snowman! 

We found Hazel's street! 

And enjoyed the BEST way to spend time outside in the winter! 

One afternoon while the big girls were at book club I took the younger kids to the pond and we spotted a baby turtle! Can you see him in the water? Plus Mom and Dad on the roots? 

Cutthroat Kitchen

It's no secret that Michael LOVES cooking and watching cooking shows/competitions. He's learned a ton over the years and has become a truly incredible cook. He's always talked about how fun it would be to compete on one of these shows. So, as a unique Christmas gift, I decided to host a "cooking competition" for him modeled after the show Cutthroat Kitchen. 

Our great friends the Spurgeons joined us for our epic competition with Angie and their girls competing and Matt acting as our judge. 

Round one was our kids round...

Teams: 

Hazel 

Eliza

Lenora, Olive, and Ruby 

The Challenge: A BIG Breakfast

These girls were SO cute on their round and blew us all away with how well they did. Their sabatoges included replacing their meat with SPAM (Eliza), cooking only in teeny-tiny pans (Lenora/Olive/Ruby), and playing "keepy uppy" the last five minutes (Hazel). They were unfazed and turned out some beautiful plates! 

Hazel - Bacon, Hashbrowns, and from scratch Baked Apple Pancakes

Eliza- Bagel, Breakfast Sandwich, SPAM hash, raspberry pancakes, and a smoothie

Lenora/Olive/Ruby - Pancakes with a side of toast, sausage, and fruit

Matt said everything tasted great, but declared Eliza the winner of round one! 

Next up was round two.... the Adults. 

Teams: 

Angie

Michael

The Challenge: Shis-ka-Bobs

Michael's prep station was legit

Stabatoges: 

Hunt town all your skewers from these two Bobs

Skewer fake meat/veggies on a stick every 3 minutes 

Hold your phone and film yourself in selfie mode for the last 5 minutes

This round was great! Michael and Angie are both incredible cooks, so it was super close. But in the end Matt voted that Michael was the winner! 

For the Final, the kid's round winner went face-to-face with the adult round winner. 

Teams:

Eliza

Michael 

The Challenge: Any Dessert Featuring Apples 

Eliza was sabatogued to bob for all of her apples! In the end it was a close call but the winner was ...

 

Michael (left) - pancakes with apples and candied bacon, Eliza (right) - Vanilla cake with apple topping

ELIZA!!!! 

Her cake was seriously SO good! She really dressed up the apples and whipped cream too. 

It was SUCH a fun day. Michael loved it and so did all the kids. The best part of the day for me was this... 

I loved seeing Michael and the kids cooking along side each others. Michael has made delicious food an important part of our family culture. He takes time to prepare some amazing meals and has also taken lots of time to teach our kids along the way. Maybe his mentoring is too good since they're coming back to take the prize! 

Christmas 2023

We enjoyed such a beautiful Christmas season this year. Of course there were Christmas parties and concerts along with plenty of hustle and bustle to prepare gifts and treats. 

But my favorite moments were easily the ones we spent together as a family as we counted down to Christmas with our traditional advent. This year, we focused on our relationship with Christ. We read stories about times he interacted with individuals and what we can learn about who He is from these encounters. 

Each of us selected a picture we love of the Savior, adhered it to a sheet of paper, and recorded what we learned every day. By the end of the month, we'd created a touching, visual reminder of who He is and how much He truly loves us. 

Our Christmas was also made extra special this year by a visitor from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. Han is a deaf student from Japan, and a friend of another sister in our ward. She's currently in the US studying at a university in Washington while learning ASL and English. She wanted to visit Utah and experience Christmas, so we jumped at the opportunity to host her in our home for a few days and share our Christmas traditions with her. 

Han in turn treated us to some wonderful conversations and cultural education, beautiful origami flowers, and delicious Japanese treats. Han, it was wonderful to meet you, and we are so thankful you joined us for Christmas! 

Christmas Eve we attended church then headed to our family Christmas dinner. This year for the nativity, Eliza decided to make Walter a wooly sheep costume. It was the best! 

The nativity was a hit especially with Henry the wild inn-guest and Walter the rouge sheep trying to poke baby Jesus in the eye. In all seriousness, the kids did a great job and each year the retelling gets a little more polished and sacred. 

Another highlight this year was playing Christmas songs with boom-wackers (sort of like handbells but made of plastic tubes). This will need to become a new tradition because it was a blast!

Christmas morning was magical as always. All the kids enjoyed watching Walter experience Christmas for the first time. 

Our gift to the kids this year is an evening and a day of skiing. I can't wait to get them all up together! Jamie helped me make these adorable ski ornaments for them to unwrap, and they turned out SO perfectly! 

We spent all of Christmas day relaxing and playing games with Alicia and Han. What a beautiful, slow day as a family. As an adult, this is the magic of Christmas to me.