A Fun Packed Week… Christmas Activities & More

Monday Dec 13: I decided to take today off of running too… We woke up to the 1st real snow fall of the winter season. I was a little sad that I didn’t get out this morning for a run because I love running in fresh snow when I’m not in training!! But the girls hurried and got ready for school and went out to play before school started. This was the 1st time our “puppy” (8 months) has seen the snow.  Pretty funny to watch. I checked the girls out of school a little early to take them to the dentist (for their 6 month cleaning). It’s sad when they are so excited to be checked out for the dentist but last year when I came back from my Greece/Spain trip, the 2 older girls cried and complained that I checked them out early. 😁 

 For the Christmas activity, the girls wanted to wrap their presents that they got for each other. I decided to wrap all the rest of the presents just to be done with it. I was able to stay within our budget of $50-$70 per kid.    Shortly after dinner we were hanging out. Someone knocked on our door and when we went to answer it we saw a couple of garbage bags with gifts in them from “Santa”. I have no idea who it came from but we were so shocked and the girls were extremely excited! Whoever it was… Thank you!!! Words can not express the feelings we have felt!  

I had a soccer game tonight. We actually won our 1st game. We had a double header… The 2nd game we did what we do best and lost, but it was still a blast. We got home so late!! 

 
Tuesday Dec 14th: I took the girls to school. It was cold today! I did RS visits this morning. And then I ran errands and cleaned until it was time to get the girls and neighbor kids from school. For our activity today we played in the snow cave (that Corom and the girls built) and had a snowball fight. The elderly neighbor across the street came out and played with the girls and neighbor kids.  He is so fun with the kids. 

 We started in-door track today. The distance runners start in-door but end up outside. It was a good, cold run. 😊

 The 2 younger girls had their last dance practice before their dance recital (tomorrow night).  My youngest had a little fall and hit her face on the floor… Dancing is not her thing. 🙂 

  We started to deliver our neighbor’s gifts (this is a few day process). And then our home teacher came over for a nice little message…  

 
Wednesday Dec 15th: The morning started off amazingly! My oldest thought it would be funny if she drew whiskers on our youngest last night when she fell asleep. My youngest wasn’t too happy about it as I was scrubbing it off her face.  

 I substituted today in my youngest’s class (Kindergarten). It was the easiest day to sub! The entire school walked to the HS and watched a performance by the choir. The great thing about going was the 6th grade class came and each 6th grader took a kindergartener as their little buddy (to help watch over). It was nice. It was fun to see all my girls there. We got back with just 20 min of class left. We had a lady come in to read a Christmas story… Then it was time to go. Great subbing job today.  

 The girls and some neighbor kids decorated Christmas cookies…  

 The 2 younger girls had their dance recital… It was an 8 class course through the city. They wanted to try out dance and by the end of the course they were done. The class and instructors did a great job but my girls were not into it. Which I am totally ok with that! As I mentioned before… I have vouchers I recieved from the city for the amount of work (a lot of it volunteer) I do for them. So it’s nice to be able to put them in the sports, programs, etc that they want to do and try. They did look so cute during their little dance routine, though. 🙂 

 
Thursday Dec 16th: I met up with Beth for a easy hour run. It felt nice to get out but it’s been nice not having to get up and run. My coach sent me a text today reassuring me that I can and should take more time off if and when needed. “No pressure” on feeling that I have to get up and going. It was nice to hear that because I do feel that way a lot. My kindergartener had her Christmas program today. They are all so dang cute!!  

 My 2nd child and Corom had to go back to the dentist for cavities to be filled…  

For Track practice, I just sent the kids off on a 50-55 min fun run. I find it ironic that the distance runners jumped on the elevator just so they didn’t have to walk down the stairs before they headed out for their run. It made me laugh as I ran downstairs just to hurry and take their picture as the door opened.  

The girls had their 1st gymnastics session tonight. They loved it!!! I did my RS/visiting teaching while they were there and then Corom and I did home teaching together. It was nice to get it done without having to worry about the girls.  

 
Friday Dec 17th: So I took another day off of running. My problem is, is I’ve been staying up so late every night watching movies… Pretty much playing catch up with all the nights I’ve been going to bed early. I helped in my 2nd daughters 2nd grade class. They had a Polar Express party today.  

 The kids also had a sing a long in the cafeteria that I stuck around for. Later in the afternoon I checked my email… I wrote to the directors for the Boston marathon about a week and a half ago. Well I got a response back…  

 I got into Boston marathon! I signed up and now need to figure out if I’m able to go with the high expense and with the time away. The girls and I went out to deliver neighbor cards when we got a little distracted…  

 We eventually made it home… My 2nd daughter (for who knows what reason) had her feelings hurt from her older sister. She refused to come to dinner and eat with all of us. So I thought it would “cheer” her up if I brought dinner to her… In bed.  

  It worked and she loved it. We did have the Barney’s over… We put a movie on for the kids upstairs and the 4 of us watched a movie downstairs.  

 It worked out great. 

Saturday Dec 18th: I met up with a big group of runners at the base of Provo canyon. We soon broke off in smaller groups/pairs for everyone to run their own paces. I didn’t take a watch or anything but I got in around 13-14 miles. The other 2 I ended up running with pushed the pace… It felt great!  

 The girls and I went out to finish passing out our neighbor cards… We did get distracted with one of our neighbors houses. The cutest ladies put out a mini “library” for people to come trade books out. My girls wanted to check it out.  

 At home we did lots of cleaning, organizing, packing and getting our pets situated. We are having a white elephant Christmas party at our house tonight and then leaving for California tomorrow after church. So getting everything done today kept us busy! The white elephant gift exchange was so fun! Corom’s gift was very entertaining… He put a live hamster in a box and wrapped it up. Someone actually stole it from the 1st person who picked it. Too funny! 

 There were some really funny gifts! The kids had fun downstairs…  

 Well until Corom told the girls the hamster was supposed to be for them but decided not to give it to them because they don’t take care of the pets they have now. Talk about 4 meltdowns the rest of the night. 😁 I didn’t know about the hamster and that it was in our garage for the past 2 weeks. I am glad he gave it away… Another animal in the house… 

Corom and Mike played a little prank on the Barney’s. It’s kind of tradition to play a prank on someone after the party.  I know they tied the trash can to Travis’s car… Which we found out the next day that it worked. 

 
Sunday Dec 19th:  We finished up everything (for California) and headed off to church. It was excellent today! I do love the Christmas Sunday’s. The spirit was so strong. My 3rd daughter had a talk in primary and she did a great job.  They did have their matching Christmas dresses that my mom gets for them every year. I love it! 

 They are so dang cute. It is funny trying to get a few good pictures from them… They are always goofing off. 

  We were finally on the road by 3:30 p.m. A little later than what we wanted but it’s all good. Corom hooked up a tv in the van… We have never had a TV in the car before so the girls thought it was a real treat!  
 Soon they fell asleep as Corom and I continued to drive well into the night.