Thanksgiving Week
Sunday, November 21st - Luke’s Birthday
Such a great day. It was so fun having a full pew at church today. Me and seven kids. Chris went to a High Council Meeting and then headed to work since he was on-call. After church we ate nachos with homemade salsa and guac and then went straight into a game of Istanbul: Ryan, Matt, Emily and I while Katie and Megan took a nap. When Chris got home we watched Luke open his presents… an Apple Watch and a grey North Face sweatshirt from Chris and I. A Perplexus maze ball from Ryan and Cassie. A BYU blanket from Katie and Emily. A Colorado Rockies soccer ball from Megan. A Gravitrax Expansion from Matthew (and Ian). A navy blue sweatshirt from G&G Walton and $60 from G Johnson. He was pretty excited about the apple watch. Megan thought he would cry but he didn’t… just so grateful and relieved. He definitely wanted one since Issac has been talking him into it for the past several months. It has it’s own phone number so he’ll be able to text and call without having to carry a phone around (and forget it, and crack the screen and not have it on him when I’m trying to get ahold of him) and won’t have the internet or games for other distracting reasons. I hope it works well.
We ate dinner in the dining room… Rice and Mongolian Beef with sautéd vegetables and roasted brussel sprouts. Fun to have a more formal meal and for some reason sitting in the dining room helps us to slow down and talk for awhile afterwards. We moved straight into our Come Follow Me discussion - this time around the kitchen table and then watched some new Taylor Swift videos from her latest RED album. Katie and Emily are still obsessed. We ended our T session by finding an old video of Katie and Megan lip syncing to ‘We are never getting back together’. Adorable.
We pulled out brownies, ice cream, crushed oreos and toppings for Luke’s birthday dessert and then headed downstairs to watch the first two episodes of THE WHEEL OF TIME. Chris and Ryan have listened to the full 14 books on audio during the last year and a half and have been SO excited to watch the series. They are pleased with the characters and we’re all enjoying it. So fun to share it together.
The Jacksons came by to deliver some special ice cream and say happy birthday to Luke. So nice of them! Luke was able to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Walton and tell him all about his presents and the air trax surprise from his friends. He also got several texts from Walton and Johnson aunts and uncles.
GRATEFUL FOR: Come Follow Me with my whole family, an apple watch for Luke, Good friends who make an effort to celebrate our lives.
Monday, November 22nd
I slept in until 8:30, which was so nice. When I walked downstairs I could hear Ryan and the boys playing video games. Soon the boys came upstairs and the girls wandered down for granola and berries and a game of Chameleon. The girls headed to the Cordera gym to work out, Isaac came over to hang out with Luke, Cassie worked on her photo book, and Ryan and Matthew played 7 Wonders DUEL while zooming into a Engineering class. After lunch the girls headed to Target. We wandered through all the isles, looked for Christmas morning jammies, Christmas decor, picked up ingredients for our meals this week, took our returns back, and in the process lost Emily’s airpod and then found it. Thank you Cassie! (Picture by the bras… haha)
Ryan and Cassie made dinner for us tonight - which was perfect since Chris and I and Luke needed to head down to Shops of Briargate for a new apple watchband and emergency trip to Banana Republic to use my rewards - yikes, what a hassle because of fraud on our card. 3 Chili Tacos was delicious! Then we put up the Christmas tree in the basement and then enjoyed another episode of WHEEL OF TIME. So good.
I had a miagraine under control off and on all day but by 9:30 I had to leave the party and head to bed while Chris and the kids played some Dominion and some MURDER in PLAIN SIGHT on the switch.
GRATEFUL FOR: A Found Airpod, Ryan and Cassie making dinner, Banana Republic rewards
Tuesday, November 23rd
Woke up at 7:30. Nice because I have so many things I want to get working on!
Megan had an indoor soccer game at 3:00 and we all went to cheer her on. From there we headed straight up to Torchy’s for dinner and then to the ICON Movie theater to go see DUNE as a family. Dinner was so good and the movie was great. It was a lot of fun!
GRATEFUL FOR: A Torchy’s in Colorado Springs, Family outings, Fall Decor
Wednesday, November 24th
We had waffles with cream and berries for brunch. Then we headed to the church with the Richins to play in the gym since it was cold and just starting to snow outside. The kids played some indoor soccer and then basketball and then volleyball. It was fun.
We watched Shang Chi downstairs in the family room. Emily helped me put tags on all the Primary kids M&M candy canes, which was helpful.
Made the strawberry pretzel jello and sweet potato casserole to get ready for tomorrow.
GRATEFUL FOR: Downstairs movie afternoons. Emily stepping in to help. Playing Boardgames
Thursday, November 25th - Thanksgiving Day
Played some Azul and Tiny Towns. Wrote our GRATEFUL lists. Prepared and ate our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner: Turkey, Potatoes and Gravy, Creamed Corn, Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole, Pretzel Jello, rolls, and sparkling apple cider.
GRATEFUL FOR: Delicious food, good friends, and kids who indulge my forced journaling activities
Thanksgiving night we had the Jacksons, Larsons, Neilsons and Hales come over for Pie. So fun!
Friday, November 26th
Mini Christmas Morning
We enjoyed a great early Christmas morning exchanging presents with Ryan and Cassie since they will be in Arkansas for Christmas this year. More pictures and text on a separate blog post.
GRATEFUL FOR: My new castles game! Ryan and Cassie’s festive Christmas pj’s and thoughtful gifts, an early Christmas!
Family Baptisms at the Denver Temple
This was one of my favorite events of the week. I had made an appointment ahead of time so that we could attend the temple together… this is the first time that the whole family had been in the temple at the same time. Ryan baptized Cassie and then Dad baptized Ryan and the rest of the kids. And I sat as a witness. It was so great to be in the temple together.
GRATEFUL FOR: Eternal families, Christmas nights in Denver, Memories of Germany
After the Temple we headed downtown for the German Christmas Market. We parked close to where it’s been located in previous years but this year it was moved and so we decided to walk through the city — which was fun. The temperature was great and it was fun to see lights everywhere.
The German Christmas market was fun. We all ordered foods from different booths — I picked out my favorite… fried potatoes with sour cream and applesauce — and we enjoyed wandering through the booths of nutcrackers and other German treasures. It’s definitely not as fantastic as actual German Christmas markets but we love it because our favorite Christmas market memories come flooding back. Hoping to get back to European Christmas Markets soon!
Saturday was our last day together. We ran in the Fun Run for Jorge Troncoso in the morning and enjoyed playing my new Castles game over and over. Loved having the kids home. They drove back to Provo on Sunday morning.