Merry Christmas from Whistler

Christmas morning! 

The aftermath wasn't too bad.  Henry got a comfy gaming chair and Parker got a desk but I think they put them away before I took this picture.  We left for Whistler a couple hours later so this was what the room looked like when we returned from our ski trip. Since the college boys were home for about 3 weeks, we decided we needed a trip to break things up.  I have a feeling Christmas vacations are going to be a new tradition for our family because it's the only time of the year when we will all be together.  This trip was forced family fun and it was perfect!

Christmas dinner at McDonald's in Canada.  It was kind of depressing seeing how many other people were there.  The menu was a little different than what we have in the States and their milk shakes are sooooo good!

We even had poutine! I look so tired, and I was!

We watched The Grinch.  It was the only Christmas movie I watched.  Worth it.  

Henry is my ski buddy.  He's getting really good and will be keeping up with the big boys in no time!

The snow was incredible!

The Ball Brothers 

Marcus got new skis.  Again.  Apparently the ones Randy bought him before he left on his mission weren't the best size.  I try not to think about the thousands of dollars we have spent on ski gear.

Henry is the Green Machine

The castle was finally open!  Henry and I had fun playing here for a while.  The slides are so fast!

Henry chugging from his little jug, just like the one my brother Greg had when he was little.

This has Randy written all over it.  

Henry got this tiny game of Candy Land in his Christmas stocking.  It's perfect for playing at restaurants while we wait for food.

Like this!

My lazy ski bums

December Part 2

Christmas Sunday is truly my favorite part of all the Christmas celebrations.  This year was no different.  We also experienced a Christmas miracle when the matching neck ties I had ordered a few weeks before arrive on Saturday night.  Cutting it close delivery guy!  Practical Mel bought matching ties that weren't Christmasy so the boys can wear them all year long.

I squeezed in a wedding that was almost 2 hours away.  Love these ladies who know how to make stuff happen and drop everything during a busy Christmas season to support a friend.

Randy bought another ladder.  The boys didn't die trying to screw in light bulbs that Randy removed for a seminary production.  I was eating my friend's homemade salsa she gifted to us while supervising my boys.  No one died.

That's Marcus and Landon playing lacrosse together in the annual Skyling lacrosse alumni game.  Both boys were in their element.

I spent Sunday afternoon whipping up many batches of delicious veggie dip and chopping vegetables for our neighbor/friend gifts.  I thought veggie trays would be well received because who needs more sugar at the end of December?  Not me!  My boys were horrified that I made them deliver vegetables to people.  I wish you could have heard them say, "Merry Christmas.  Enjoy your vegetables."  They are convinced we will be blacklisted from receiving future plates of cookies.  I think they're wrong.  I got so many texts from my friends thanking me for the veggies.  

You can find the ranch dip recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe site.  It truly is delicious!

Christmas lights in the car are always a hit and there was only minimal arguing over who had to go to each door.

My little elves

The last of the deliveries on Christmas Eve.  The Christmas Spirit was in the air!

Brothers Gifts

Steak Dinner was so yummy!  Let us not forget the kind butcher who threw in a bag of smoked candied bacon.  I don't love bacon but I sure loved this stuff!  If I had the money, I'd give it out next year instead of vegetables.

Christams Eve caroling to Sheryl.  Nothing better.

Some of the talents from the non-talent show

So fun having Marcus home for all the Christmas things!  It's been two years since we were all together for Christmas Eve.

After all the festivities I began wrapping all the presents and making sure everything was ready for Santa's big appearance.  This exhausted mom collapsed into bed at 2:30am.  Or was it 3:30?  It was too late, that's for sure. I didn't even bother taking a picture of the tree and gifts.  

Brothers Night

The tradition continues for another year.  I love that the boys feel like Brothers Night is as much a part of Christmas as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  They are all necessary parts of celebrating Christmas.  This year was so busy we barely squeezed it in.  The big decision of where to eat for dinner resulted in a heavy debate until we unanimously agreed on Din Tai Fung.  The wait was 2 hours.  "No big deal," we thought.  The brothers can do their shopping and then the table will be ready.  Oh, how wrong we were!  

The boys shopped.  And checked out lots of stores.  And made their purchases.  And Randy got all his Christmas shopping done (December 23rd for the win).  We went back to the restaurant and waited another 45 minutes.  The boys were starving!  I was panicking thinking about how many dumplings they'd eat because they eat a ton even when they aren't starving.  Just when we were ready to forget it and walk down the street to Shake Shack, we got our table.  Nothing beats eating dinner at 9:30pm! There wasn't much talking, just a whole lot of eating in a record amount of time.  It was a late night for all of us.

Inflation finally demanded we change the rules for Brothers Night.  The boys had a $40 spending limit for their gifts this year because you can't buy much for $20 and you definitely can't find it at the mall!  Also, I think next year I'll just tell everyone to buy a hoodie.  That's pretty much what they all bought anyway :)

Straight to the Nike Store obviously

So much waiting...Waiting for Randy to shop.  Waiting for our table.  Waiting in lines.

They always seat us at the same table

Henry loves dumplings but not chopsticks!

Brother hugs on Christmas Eve after opening their brothers gift is always so fun!  They really are so thankful, even if they don't always like the present.  It's always nice to know my boys love each other, even when they don't think they do.

December Part 1

December flew by but was also the longest month of my life. I felt like I aged ten years and was frequently getting flashbacks from finals week at BYU because I was that exhausted. Time drags when you don’t spend any of it actually sleeping. Randy was busier than usual with all things seminary and we didn’t really see him until December 21st. No joke. Luckily for him, I took care of the Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, and neighbor gifts. And he got all the Christmas lights up in record time!  Then added a few more for good measure.  Our front yard is so bright it’s like noon day and you can probably see our house from outer space. 

We had so many things going on here and there that I’ll let the pictures tell the story. Read between the lines and see how I over-scheduled myself all in the name of lighting the world. I wouldn’t change a thing except for the part when I had to order more Christmas cards because I ran out, but I bit the bullet and ordered more, and still missed a few cards. Oh well.  I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas cards.  I love creating ours, and getting cards, but keeping track of addresses and updating all the new ones is WORK!

Parker joined the ranks of all his older brothers and joined choir. He had his first choir concert and he did great! Please bless he is the kid who actually learns how to sing tenor/bass!

Screenshot of Landon on Instagram. Yes, he’s still playing lacrosse for both Skyline and the Starz.  He’s so good and trying desperately to grow and gain weight so he can be a force as a freshman.   

I signed up to give Christmas for two boys for Toys For Tots. I envisioned all of us shopping together but it ended up being a last-minute dash to the store with Parker who was not happy about it. But once we started shopping (with a deadline of one hour to deliver the gifts) he was loving it! Hooray for lighting the world and giving!

Henry will do anything including Christmas shopping when bribed with Panda Express. 

We found a new star for the tree along with a few new ornaments. 

Pure gorgeousness. But don’t worry, this tree didn’t get up until December 7th!!

Sunday family FaceTime calls are fun

Spent a few hours volunteering at the Giving Machine with my friend and purchased a month of heat for a family in need. After losing power for a week, I appreciate this basic necessity.

Volunteered multiple times at the Festival of the Nativity. This event is huge and draws hundreds of people to it every day. I helped with set-up, take-down, and worked as a guide. 

There are over 600 nativity sets from around the world. Some are donated temporarily and some are part of the event. 

The details to make this event so beautiful are just amazing!

I collected donations to help the members of our Spanish branch have Christmas. Members from around the stake ordered gift cards and they were delivered to me for distribution.

We ended up with about $5,000 in gift cards. So awesome!

The annual ward Christmas party

Ethan brought his girlfriend with us to see the nativities. Henry and I found all the items on the scavenger hunt in record time—perks to spending so much time there volunteering. 

And Marcus was at a huge Christmas party with his girlfriend 

Randy’s epic seminary extravaganza. Here’s the temple they built out of cardboard

I brought the boys to check things out and see why their dad was MIA for several days :)