DECEMBER 2019

DECEMBER ACTIVITIES WEEK ONE - Kasen received news that he was accepted into the GT program in Jefferson County.  It is once a week for part of the day like in Eagle.  He was pretty excited.  It isn't quite as academic as in Eagle, but it is a nice break.  I tried to get a picture of Kasen getting on the school bus, but he wasn't too interested in doing that so I had to catch him mid-stride.  I finally got all the presents ready for the Secret Santa project from the gym.  I had taken four stockings that were close to each of the kids ages.  My hopes were to take the kids to shop for their foster kid personally.  It just never happened with everyone's schedules so I got all of the presents and wrapped them and got the stockings ready.  I've got to be more intentional about scheduling service for the kids.

We started off the month with a plan to get Dallin potty-trained.  It started out pretty good for the first few hours.  We went and bought tons of juice boxes and some toys/treats for rewards.  It lasted about 3 hours and then Dallin went and hid to go to the bathroom multiple times in a row.  With everything else going on we, meaning me, made the decision to postpone potty training.  The same day Dallin also got in a little bit of trouble by breaking off Joseph's head.  It is crazy how many things have made it through moves across the country and three other kids only to fall into the hands of Dallin and be broken or destroyed.

We had some snow which got me stuck in the school parking lot in the van.  We had talked about trading it in for something with four wheel drive, but then decided to just get new snow tires on the van and keep it for a little while.  A few days later Jed took the van to a YM activity at the stake center and got stuck trying to pull out.  Not one person stopped to help him get unstuck.  The next morning we were down at the dealership looking for suburbans.  We bought a silver one and while I was not super excited to get rid of the van yet, the suburban has been so great to drive.  It hasn't been too big and the doors haven't been as bad as I expected after the van.  This week our black friday purchases started arriving and Jed regretted all his previous decisions to let me be in charge of the money.

A couple of pictures that Kinsley snapped of Dallin.  She loves swiping my phone and sneaking around taking pictures of everyone, but lately has just been spying on Dallin with her paparazzi skills.

WEEK 2 - The kids had been begging to set up the Christmas decorations for about two weeks.  Finally on Sunday I agreed to set up a few things.  I got out only about 1 tupperware of Christmas decorations which was depressing.  Sometimes I very much dislike our little house. We now only have room for our little tree again. :(  The kids were still pretty excited to set it up anyway.  We noticed that our friend Big Booty finally collapsed. 

This was a good week for Dallin.  He hasn't touched anything basketball since we moved to eastern Idaho, but one night while Kasen and Jed were at basketball practice I heard someone talking to themselves on the stairs.  I peeked over and Dallin was all dressed up in his Steph Curry uniform and was looking at his basketball cards.  A few days earlier Jed had found Dallin's GS basketball and after looking through his cards for a few minutes Dallin was upstairs dribbling.  I said, "Oh wow Steph Curly is back!  Where did he go for so long?"  Dallin said, "I was hiding in the shadows."  haha After dribbling for awhile he took a timeout and danced around playing his Russian harp.  Dallin has been such a great helper, sometimes too much of a helper!  His favorite thing to do is to "help" fold the laundry and do the dishes.

We had our ward Christmas party this week as well.  It was a little different than we have had in the past.  There was a really long program in the chapel and then we had cookies and milk in the gym with the HS choir singing in the corner.  The bishop made a few announcements that we needed to quiet our visiting so we could hear the choir sing.  So yep a little different.  Dallin was so excited to sit on Santa's lap.  We waited in a really long line and he was so excited jumping up and down yelling "It's Santa it's Santa!"  Then when we got up to Santa for our turn Dallin wouldn't say a word.  It was probably the first time in his entire life.  Afterward we made some snowflakes to put into our box for Grandma and Grandpa Foster. 

WEEK 3 - December goes by so fast.  The last of week of school before spring break.  Ava finished basketball season as a team manager.  She really enjoyed being a part of the practices and learning how to take stats.  With three games per week, it was a big time commitment.  The girls team ended up losing in the district game and taking 2nd.  We had some work parties for Jed and during a white elephant gift exchange with his office he got a beta fish.  The kids were very excited about it.  Ava has been keeping it alive each day. (Now the middle of January and beta is still alive!)

Kinsley's 9th Birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  We didn't get a friend party planned in time this year, but Kinsley was ok with it.  Kasen had a tournament all day so we woke up early and opened presents with Kinsley.  She got some new fur boots, a Spirit dvd, Spirit horse set, a new outfit, and some multiplication cards and books.  It is so fun to celebrate the Christmas holiday season by starting out celebrating our special Christmas baby.

Everyone but Ava went down to the basketball tournament in Pocatello for the day.  Kinsley took her new toys and played really good, but Dallin got a little bored.  Sitting through games is long and they always ask Jed to do the score table or keep stats and it is so annoying because then I have to wrangle everyone by myself.  Although the positive is I don't have to listen to Jed yelling at Kasen.  During the break between games Kinsley chose to eat at Five Guys.  Dallin revolted and climbed into a baby high-chair.  You can see the progression of his anger at me taking pictures of him and saying he looked like a cute baby.

On our way home we stopped at a cookie shop and let Kinsley pick out a big yummy cookie.  We had given her the option of going to the movies or going swimming after the bball tournament.  She chose swimming so we raced home and everyone got changed and we drove up to Heise Hot Springs.  We had just gotten in the pool for about 10 minutes.  Dallin was jumping in and out of the pool and I was catching him.  He jumped in and went under and swallowed a bunch of water.  As he came up he threw up on me three times.  I panicked and yelled up to the lifeguard that my son had thrown up.  Well that was a bad decision.  It was so dark you couldn't see anything and it was mostly water with a few little chunks of swedish fish so it was really nothing.  I shouldn't have said anything.  But since I did they made everyone get out of the pool for 45 minutes as they cleaned and sterilized it.  So about 50 people were sitting smashed together in the hot tub.  We got lots of dirty looks after that!  It was so embarrassing!!!  If we hadn't spent over $50 to just get in we probably would have left.  Finally we were able to get back in the pool.  We had been in the pool for maybe 5 minutes when I noticed Dallin standing on the stairs funny.  I looked in his diaper and sure enough diarreah!  So I took him into the dressing room and changed him.  It was very runny and stinky and his diaper was FULL!  How embarrassing would it have been to have cleared the pool again with poop.  I can't even imagine.  We will probably never take him swimming again! 

 

We had also stopped at Costco and picked up a birthday cake for her Sunday party with family.  She chose a blue and white one that looked like a Frozen winter cake.  It reminded me of when she turned 3 yrs old and we were in Idaho for Christmas break and we got her Frozen cupcakes for her birthday party with family.  Time goes by so fast! 

WEEK 4 - Christmas Sunday we only had one hour of church.  I had wanted to do a picture like every year.  I'm always impressed at how the kids and Jed can act so incredibly shocked at the idea of a Christmas picture in our sunday clothes.  They are equally shocked when I suggest we wear Christmas colors or something matching. This year Kasen and Dallin had matching sweaters so I said let's wear Green, red, white, or black.  Jed came out in a bright blue sweater.  I swear. ?? It always takes a few tries to get a picture of course.

Later that night everyone came over for Kinsley's bday party.  We had cake and ice cream.  Josh had gone down to pick up Katie and family.  It was fun to see them after 6 long months!  Monday night we decided we would all go out to the Christmas River.  Our friend James Stoker had started the Haunted River this fall but we never made it out there.  So when we found out that he was going to do a Christmas experience at the river we knew we needed to get out there.  Jed was later getting home from work that day so Syd and Abby had already gone out before us.  So it was just Katie's family and us but it was still really fun.  They had characters and lots of lights everywhere. Katie and I had discovered we both bought the same coats on amazon but in different colors.

We saw some fun characters along the path: Elsa, Anna, Skeleton Santa from Nightmare Before Christmas, and most exciting for Dallin... the Grinch!  The Grinch had apparently scared all of Sydnee's and Abby's kids and they were left in tears so I was a little worried about Dallin. 
But no Dallin and Kinsley had been watching the Grinch movie over and over all month so Dallin must have been used to him.  He kept his distance to be sure, but when the Grinch tried to kiss Ava Dallin laughed for about ten minutes.

We also saw Kristoff and Svend and best of all Santa.  This Santa was really good.  He even had an elf friend.  He looked pretty legit.  Dallin was much less scared of Santa this time.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve.  We spent the morning baking cookies and spending time with Katie, Deantre, & baby D.  Jessica had invited us down for a Christmas Eve party at her house that night.  We went and had dinner and visited.  Then we celebrated Ron's birthday.  He turned 60 so his kids got him a funny cake.  The detail on the toilet paper roll was pretty awesome.

We came home and had a little family devotional about Christmas and then decided to watch a Christmas movie.  Dallin made sure to put out the sweets for Santa, but circled back after a few minutes to test them out himself.  Jed fell asleep during the movie and I ended up wrapping all the Christmas presents myself.  If only kids appreciated all that their moms do for them!

Christmas Day - The kids woke up earlier than they ever have on Christmas.  I think they were all awake by 7am.  Waiting on the stairs was really dramatic for Dallin.  Here's a few of his faces as I tried to capture a picture of them.

This year the kids got a more minimalist Christmas.  We focused on getting each kid four gifts based on the four areas that they will be working on through church: Spiritual, Intelecttual, Physical, and Social.  For spiritual they all got some study books to help with their Book of Mormon study this year, for Intellectual they all got some homeschool study books, Physical they got ski helemets, and their Social gifts were individual things they wanted.  (Ava got clogs from Sweden and a sweater, Kasen got a Dribble Up basketball, Kinsley got some Polly Pockets, art kit, and slippers, and Dallin got some toys. Santa brought each kid a gift as well:Ava and Kasen each got Beats headphones and Kinsley and Dallin got a toy grocery store.  The kids also got small gifts for each other and some pjs from Grandma and Grandpa Erickson.  They had a special package under the tree from the Marshall Islands with some island gifts and shells from Grandma and Grandpa Foster.  Even keeping things minimal everyone sure was blessed with plenty.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and trying out our gifts.  Jed was most excited about putting together the 800 pieces of the grocery store and made sure to tell Santa it was such an awesome present and not a bad idea at all!!!

Later that day we went up to Sydnee's for a Christmas dinner that took a really long time to cook because Josh left the plastic on the ham.  haha  The Rasmussen kids had a new sand table built into their  house which was pretty cool and fun to play with.  The kids had a great time playing together and it was fun to sit around and laugh about Christmas' past and watch parts of the Christmas story movie.

Thursday and Friday Jed worked and the kids and I spent time playing and spending time with cousins.  We had a little gathering for extended family Friday where the kids made sugar cookies and everyone brought a treat to share.  It was fun.  Saturday was the Erickson family party and since all of Jake's family had gotten the flu we were able to have it at the loft.  Coleen had planned for over 55 people and I think from here on out we need to just plan to have it at a church or event center.  That is a lot of people to accomodate. 

Jana had brought her bag of goodies and all the kids were so excited.  Susan had asked me to take some pictures of everyone.  I tease Jed that I have never met another family that takes as many sibling pictures as his.  :)

This year since it was my camera I invited the in-laws into the picture for once.  Treena and Brian weren't there but everyone else was.  Then we did a grandkids picture and a great grandkid picture.

The highlight for all the kids of course was the cousin gift exchange.  It is always pure chaos and I can't say I won't be sad when my kids are too old for this!!!  Although at the rate of growth in this family it will never end!! :)

It is always so fun to spend time together with family, but there were a few meltdowns and tantrums throughout the week.  I wish this time of year didn't have to be so busy with all the fun.  We had to do a few family cheers to get our attitudes back in check during the week.  The rest of the pictures are a few from a few other family get togethers at John and Coleen's house.

WEEK 5 - Sunday night we decided to have a pre-New Year's Eve party since Malorie and family had decided to come up for two days.  We, again, gathered at the Loft.  That place has come in really handy this pasts holiday season!!  We had pizza and treats, a dance party, and Ninetendo gaming.  It was really fun to end the decade (early) this way. My parents even facetimed in for the countdown.

Monday the 30th was Katie and Deantre's last day in Idaho so we rented out the Flips gymnastics center for a morning of fun.  The kids and the parents had a blast!

Toward the end all of a sudden the boys had made a ninja warrior course and stripped down shirtless so they could get faster times.  Kasen loves being the instigator of such shenanigans - mostly because he knows he will win I think.  It was fun to watch them being so "tough". Monday night we met at the Loft again for a group session of kundalini yoga.  It was interesting.  I took Ava and Kinsley in to it as well.  Ava really liked it.  Kinsley and I were just ok.  Then the New Yorkers left for an early morning flight.  Malorie and fam left the next morning as well.

 

New Year's Eve - I thought Jed had this day off so I had sceduled for the kids to be in a ski class for the morning.  I thought between Jed and I we would be able to tag-team to help Dallin on the bunny hill and get some skiing in ourselves.  But surprise Jed did work for most of the day so I was left to myself.  It was fine while the other three were in ski school, but after lunch when they all still wanted to ski and they weren't skilled enough to go up the mountain on their own it was a bit of a problem.  I took Kasen and Dallin to the car to watch a movie while I took Ava and Kinsley up the mountain.  Then I had to switch Kasen and Ava.  It was so much work from getting all the kids rentals and dressed and hiking back and forth from the parking lot all the way up to the tow rope.  I was exhausted.  We ended up staying the whole day and I was sore for the next week!  They all liked it though and wanted to know when we could go back again so that counts as a win right?!  We had plans to get together with Jake and Megan's family but they cancelled last minute so we hung out at home and watched a movie.  Jed of course fell asleep early.  Dallin and Kinsley fell asleep and I was exhausted so we went to bed before midnight too.  Ava and Kasen stayed up to countdown the previous decade and welcome in the new one.  Thank goodness for them!

It is pretty incredible to be in the middle of two decades.  It has been fun to think of all that has happened in the last ten years.  I don't remember the hype being out there the last time we started a new decade though.  Anyway, thinking over the last ten years has reminded me of how blessed we have been and how much we have to be grateful for.  Here's a little summary of all that has happened in the last 10 years...
1 - 2010  we took fieldtrips up to Wisconsin museum near Lake Michigan.  Ava was in a preschool co-op I helped teach.  Jed's grandpa passed away.  We explored all over Chicago with Malorie and Katie.  We found out we were having a baby girl and Kasen was not happy about it!  We welcomed Kinsley into our family and Jed finished six months of living away from our family doing rotations around the country (while I was pregnant the whole time!) He stayed four weeks in Denver CO, four weeks in Albuquerque NM, four weeks in SLC UT, four weeks Detroit MI, four weeks in Lousiville KY, and four weeks in Dallas TX.  Some months he was gone back to back months.  It is crazy we survived that.  We went and stayed with him in SLC and for a week in Detroit.
2 - 2011 we tracked down where my Grandma Manwaring lived when she was on her mission in Chicago.  We saw the green river on St. Patrick's day.  We went to Idaho for Malorie's wedding. Ava finished preschool.  Jed finished medical school and we left Chicago in March and came to Idaho.  I went to NYC for the first time to see Katie with Malorie.  Jed and I went back out to Chicago for his graduation and spent some time together in Chicago which will always be special to us.  We lived in Idaho for 3 months. Ava found the first of many 4-leaf clovers. We moved across the country again to Louisville, KY where Jed started residency.  We were welcomed with a tornado warning! Kinsley got her first tooth.  We went to the KY state fair.  I started homeschooling Ava for kindergarten that fall. We went pumpkin picking in Indiana and saw Christmas lights underneath the city of Louisville in a giant mine.  Ava & Kasen played soccer. 
3 - 2012 we took a family trip to French Lick, IN and stayed at an indoor waterpark. We went on lots of homeschool fieldtrips.  I ran the Louisville Triple Crown race.  Ava graduated from homeschool kindergarten!  She went to public school that fall and met her best friend Swetha. We went to Idaho for a whole month during the summer and took a trip to Bear Lake and met Elder L. Tom Perry. We explored underground caves in KY and went to a Louisville football game.  Ava earned a car ride in a limo for her walk-a-thon.  Ava & Kasen played YMCA soccer.   We went to Indianapolis, IN for a family trip and went crazy in the biggest children's museum in the country. We had lots of visitors come to Louisville this year!
4 - 2013 we took a trip with Jed to Chicago as a family.  Kasen started preschool. It was so fun going back.  Ava & I rode the big Idaho potato truck in the derby parade in Louisville.  Jed worked at the KY derby.  We walked from KY to IN across the Ohio river on the new bridge.  We went to Thunder Under Louisville. Ava had her first dance recital.  We spent two weeks in Idaho and went to West Yellowstone. We wore out our zoo passes in Louisville and explored everywhere we could in the city.  We took a roadtrip to Cincinti and Santa Claus, IN.  Ava got baptized.  It was the most special moment of the year.  We celebrated 10 years of marriage!!!We spent Thanksgiving at a friend's horse farm in the country.  Jed sent lots of letters applying for jobs. We went to Idaho for Abby's and Josh's weddings.
5 - 2014 we spent our last six months in Louisville! Jed worked at the KY derby. We took a trip to Cincinnati to the aquarium and down to Florida gulf coast - best beach vacation ever. Jed finished residency!  Man that was a stressful first few months of the year wondering where we would be moving next and where Jed would get a job.  It was amazing to see how things worked out and Jed got a job in Boise.  We lived with Tresa & Jeff for a while right during the time they were getting ready to send Ryan on a mission.  I still feel bad about that timing!  We bought our first house in Meridian.  We felt like real grownups all of a sudden.  Ava started 3rd grade and qualified for the gifted and talented program GT!  Kasen started kidnergarten and did homeschool kindergarten with me during the morning. Jed & I took a trip to Vegas for the WSTR.
6 - 2015 we took the kids skiing for the first time.  We all went with Jed to his conference in Sun Valley.  We bought our first horse named Chex.  Ava played YMCA basketball/volleyball and Kasen played soccer, YMCA basketball, and flag football. We had big Foster & Manwaring reunions at the ranch. Kasen graduated from homeschool kindergarten!  We spent a week in St. George with the Erickson family.  I hiked Angel's Landing.  We explored all over Boise.  We got the surprise of our lives when we found out we would be having another baby!  It took me about 6 months to wrap my head around it for sure. Ava turned double digits. Jed qualified for the roping in Vegas so the whole family went down.
7 - 2016 we welcomed Dallin to our family in May.  It was so special to have Dallin blessed and Kasen baptized on the same day with all our family together.  I was called to be the YW's president when Dallin was only 3 months old.  That was overwhelming! I did a summer camp with the kids in Swan Valley.  Jed and I took a cooking class.  We went camping in Humphrey with a two month old?? Kinsley started gymnastics. Ava got braces. We had an amazing family trip to San Diego in October seeing the zoo, safari park, tide pools, SeaWorld, and so many other beaches. Kinsley started kindergarten and turned 6! Ava grew as tall as me!  We had snowmeggedon in Meridian.  Jed went to rope in Vegas.
8 - 2017 we took a trip with my siblings to San Francisco in January where my dad received a national potato award.  We took a trip to SLC for Women's Conference.  Ava competed in jump roping and club volleyball.  We got our first puppy Gigi.  We went to the IF temple open house and Meridian temple open house.  The kids and I ran in a bubble run.  Kinsley graduated from kindergarten.  We felt the need to settle down in a permanent location so we bought our dream property in Eagle.  We were so excited and felt like this would be our forever home for sure. Ava worked her first job at the cheese factory for Grandma.  We went to Park City and Heber City.  Jed and I went to NYC for Katie's wedding.  We saw the solar eclipse in Swan Valley.  Ava went to the temple for the first time and danced at the temple celebration.  Jed almost ripped off his fingers roping.  Kasen played his first season of club basketball.  Kinsley had her first dance recital.  Kasen qualified for GT! Jed ended up winning over $45,000 in Las Vegas right before Christmas! I bought my first camera.
9 - 2018 Ava won first place in the district NHD competition.  Kasen played his first year of club basketball. She also broke her foot playing volleyball.  I decided to go back to school and finish my degree before I turned 40 years old. Kasen turned double digits! Ava had her golden birthday 13 on the 13th.  Jed and I took an amazing trip to Mexico with all his siblings and parents. Ava made the 7th grade volleyball team. We took our family to Disneyland, Universal Studios, and through Yosemite and Sequoia National Park.  This was one of the funnest family adventures we've ever taken for sure.  We celebrated 15 years of marriage!!! Kinsley got baptized and my dad got released after 10 years as the Stake President.
10 - 2019 we knew for sure we needed to make a change with work and Jed took a job in Idaho Falls.  We never thought we'd move back to Eastern Idaho and it was both exciting and less than exciting as well.  Without a doubt though, we were again blessed with divine intervention as we sold our house and made a huge profit and paid off a huge part of our student loans.  I babysat the whole first half of the year to my red-headed neighbor boy Johnny. Kinsley qualified for GT. The girls and I started Hazel Blue Boutique. We said goodbye to my parents for 3 years as they left on their mission.  It was so special to be a part of all of the things leading up to them leaving. We lived in Swan Valley without tv for 2 months, bought 28 more cows, and took a trip to the Oregon coast with our Erickson family. Ava made the volleyball and basketball teams at Rigby.