Ruidoso, New Mexico

 Dan and Macey planned a ski trip on a New Years Eve and left on New Years Day, which was a Sunday this year. They Sophia with them. Dan had to buy snow chains for the Accord and was scared driving through the mountains. The girls learned to snowboard! A fun quick trip to the snow.

Celebrations

Cozy days.

Wrapping. Here is a man who loves giving gifts at Christmas time. We keep a spreadsheet and he is actively involved in making sure there is enough under the tree. I admit that I am miserly and DH is the reason Christmas is so fun!

Holiday baking!

Alex joined in on our mess.

I was joking with the kids that I couldn't wait to share these Pinterest worthy cookies. LOL!

Next year, I commit to making royal icing and a real effort to make pretty cookies.

The teenagers slept in until 10 am on Christmas morning. 

Alex taking care of construction projects.

Ryan the last one to have Christmas tree waffles.

Overcooked players. I love this Switch game. I'm glad these two will play with me.

When your birthday falls right after Christmas, your mom tries to make it fun even if you are too old for dinosaurs!

But money in balloons is fun no matter your age! We saw Ry briefly when he got up at 11am. Then he went out with friends and we didn't see him again until 11pm!

Macey and I ordered this Ms Pac-Man machine for Dad and Ryan for Cmas/Bday. It came a few days after the holiday.

Our family gift this year was these folding tables. We only had 1 before and people would shift from room to room.

Yum! Black eyed peas. I was home alone on New Years Day so I made this batch just for me. 

Outdoor hockey on Cmas day.

Soda's dan bought for Cmas. Grass stated like apple and grass. So weird.

Church on Christmas Day. Macey and I sand with the ward choir.

December

Performing at Curtsinger Elementary was the same day as the MCO concert again. I tagged along with M, one because I sub there a lot and I'm known on campus and two so I could snatch her before they got on the bus. She wasn't going to Wester. She was heading down to the Meyerson. 

Another concert day with my girl! We'll see how many we have left with high school coming up next year.

 

Bob and June were here for the band concerts and the MCO performance. It is so fun to have them around for the holidays!

For our 21st anniversary, Dan got us tickets to a circus performance. It was a fun holiday outing. Even if it was on the coldest day of the year! The windchill was like negative 10 when we left the arena!

You never know what excitement the band hall has in store. This day I got to help hang bamboo chimes for the percussion.

I also got the privilege of hemming this sweet suit.

Yay! Caroling with our friends! This was so fun. We had 4 families and everyone brought treats and picked 3 houses to go to sing. 

M and I went to watch Wes Dunford and his rock band perform at an outdoor venue. We'll be able to say, we knew him when...

Braces have not been kind to the french horn player. Her mouth isn't adjusting and she is super frustrated by it. 

Tornado warning, which means there is circular movement in a cloud and touch down is imminent. Thankfully it didn't land near us. But I did clean out the closet under the stairs and jump in for a few minutes. The kids had to take shelter at school. Dan kept on working upstairs with no thought of sheltering or even coming downstairs. Such a brave fellow!