We were so happy that Bailey came home on Friday, December 18th! Dan and I left his work Christmas party early to pick her our wonderful oldest daughter at the airport. When she walked into the house after being gone since August (home for a short break in August, but she started college last June), she was ecstatic about so many things. Our carpet, a full refrigerator stocked with food, fresh fruit on the counter, her really big bed, her own room . . . .
It wasn't long before the Bailey-inspired selfies of the kids began.
The next day Aubrey had a special advanced vocal recital, during which four of her vocal teacher's "senior" students performed multiple numbers. She and her friend Emma also sang backups for her teacher Sara (who played and sang a song she had written). Aubrey sounded absolutely beautiful!
Between every number the girls changed their outfit somewhat, just like professionals.
The duet "Marry the Man Today" with Emma was HILARIOUS!
Joseph missed the concert because he went with Kartchners to his last basketball game of the season. We were so sad we missed watching him! He was instrumental in helping his team win the game, including making the winning free shot just before the end of the game!
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That night I took the girls to Portland for a special Christmas concert in the Newmark Theater.
Early Saturday morning Dan and Joseph went with Kartchners to the first showing of the day of Star Wars (8:40 a.m.!)
The next day (Sunday) we went into baking overdrive and made four kinds of cookies to give out as neighbor gifts. I also ran around plates to the people I work with through the stake primary.
The mess we left in our kitchen after our cooking marathon. Yikes!
Preparing the plates.
The next morning (Monday) the girls and I drove early to the Verizon store where they got their early Christmas present, an upgrade to their phones. Bailey thoughtfully considered whether to get a flip phone or a new iphone. NOT!
We then ran to Best Buy to try to get Bailey's laptop fixed (no luck) before dropping off Aubrey at rehearsal and then heading back to begin watching Rex. He is the adorable son of our friends and is one of our favorite little guys. He suffers from Angelman's Syndrome, a subtype of microcephaly. We watched him for a day and a half while his parents flew to Utah for a funeral. The girls were very helpful, especially with monitoring him when he had his feeding tube inserted into the port in his stomach for an hour four times a day.
Monday night I slept at Rex's house so he could sleep in his own crib. By sheer coincidence, that same night our friends the Kartchners had an emergency and needed all four of their kids to sleep at our house. So, both Dan and I were overnight babysitters!
On Wednesday, after all the extra kids were home, the girls had eye exams, after which they sported these really awesome sunglasses.
And then Bailey and I headed to the Apple store in Portland to finally actually get her laptop fixed.
That night we drove as a family to see Christmas lights, including the ones at Portland International Raceway.
And Bailey and Joseph made our gingerbread house.
Bailey loves playing with babies, and we found a few to borrow while she was home.
Two days after Christmas we made a brief snow surprise! It melted almost immediately, but it was fun.
That night Dan and I left to Portland overnight to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at The Nines, right in the center of downtown Portland. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Departure, and we saw Star Wars. I was shocked that I really liked it!
We stopped to take a picture by the huge Christmas tree after the movie. Before I could get a picture of Dan, we got worried about the large number of clearly drunk and drugged people loitering around us, and we left for our hotel.
After we returned home, Bailey took Aubrey out to lunch at Panera for a fun Christmas gift.
One of families Bailey used to babysit for all the time stopped by to say hello.
On New Years Eve we invited two families over for festivities. The kids ran wild while the adults talked, played Bubble Talk with the older kids, and ate goodies. Bailey went to a party with some college age kids home from school.
Mark used cups to explain "off sides" in soccer
These boys are so darn cute!
We are not very good late night partiers. We all struggled to stay awake until midnight, but we made it!
Happy New Year!
Watching fireworks outside.
Brrrrr, Joseph, really? It was 28 degrees and he was wearing flip flops and shorts!
On Saturday, January 2nd Bailey packed her very small bag and flew back to college. We are going to miss her! We are all too cheap to pay for luggage fees, so she packed everything for her trip in a small carryon bag and even fit her Christmas gifts in the overstuffed bag on the way back! It was so incredibly heavy that she was relieved when they made her check it at the gate, because then she didn't need to lift it into the overhead compartment.
On Sunday morning, the last day of our winter break, we got a fun snow surprise! This time the snow fell and stuck and temps in the high 20s ensured that the roads were icy enough for the stake to cancel all church meetings! We got an unexpected quite day at home. We relaxed and played about 10 games of Clue.
Aubrey has always loved eating snow. She and Joseph ate one glass after another, flavored with vanilla syrup.
The snow continued most of the day, and the next morning school was cancelled! Within a few hours the snow started a slow melt and became a slushy mess, but we still went sledding.
We eased back into school and early morning seminary because the next two days were two-hour late starts (with no seminary) because of freezing rain and freezing fog. We love our short-lived exciting winter weather!
Meanwhile in Utah, it was plenty snowy and cold, but school was not cancelled for Bailey! This is a picture of her on the first day of Winter Semester, enjoying the fact that there was cold white stuff on the ground.
Bring on 2016! We are ready!
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