Kade's Birthday and New Year's Eve

Britta and Kade were planning to drive back to Utah on December 30. Kade's birthday is on December 31 and his family always spends his birthday and New Year's Eve at his uncle's cabin in Park City. He doesn't remember any birthdays not spent at the cabin. They drove to Laramie and the roads were closed, mostly for wind. It wasn't snowing, but it had snowed yesterday and was blowing the snow across the road like Wyoming is famous for. They waited for a couple of hours, hoping that it would reopen. It didn't, and by then the road back to Castle Rock was closed too and it was snowing. They got a hotel and spent the day walking around the University of Laramie campus and they also went to an antique store. What a place to be stuck, but they were good sports about it.

The next day the roads to Utah were still closed, but the road back to Castle Rock was open. After many phone calls to us and Kade's parents, they decided to just come back here. Britta was very disappointed and cried. She was sad that Kade wouldn't have the birthday he always does, his first birthday being married was going to be lame, and she hated to miss the New Year's Eve party. Kade was upbeat about it all. The cabin sounds amazing, it's a really remote spot, you park and then drive a snowmobile with a toboggan behind it with your luggage. They were back here by early afternoon and watched some football.

We got some pretzel bites from Auntie Anne's since that is one of Kade's favorite things,

and I made a lemonade cake (he is not a fan of chocolate anything). We put all 23 candles on it and so we had Britta and Ryan both lighting the candles so they wouldn't be completely melted by the time we got them all lit.

Thinking of a wish...

and he blew them all out in one breath!

Britta has a snow cone maker in Utah that she is giving him for his birthday and I am giving him 6 bottles of flavoring. I couldn't give him my present or it would give away what Britta was giving him. We couldn't think of anything we could buy at Wal-Mart or the outlets since we just had Christmas, but we really wanted to give him something since he was getting gypped out of his birthday.

Delwyn had this pistol that he has never shot. He debated giving it to Kade for Christmas, Britta had mentioned it as a possible gift, but we didn't know how he felt about guns or if he had any experience with them. We decided to just give it to him, and he was super excited and

super happy! His reaction was priceless. He just kept saying, "This is so cool!"

 Happy Birthday Kade! We love you and we are so glad you are part of our family. Hope your birthday was happy despite the snowy weather and change of plans.

It's also New Year's Eve! Ryan was planning to go the Gentry's for a party (when Justin found out Britta and Kade were here, he said they could come too) and Delwyn and I were just going to have a quiet night, maybe watch a movie and do a puzzle. Yes, I was planning to stay up and welcome in the new year, in case you were wondering. It started snowing around 4 pm, and by 8:30 when the Gentry's party was going to start, there was several inches of snow and it was still coming down, so the kids decided to just stay home. We haven't had any snow to speak of all winter and now it's ruining all our plans. I didn't have much around for party food since I thought it was just going to be Delwyn and I.

Ryan made his famous hot chocolate for us.

We played Walk the Dogs and some other old games we haven't played for a long time. Taboo was my favorite game of the evening. You try to get your team to guess a word and there are 4 words you can't use to describe it. We laughed a lot. One of my favorites was when Ryan said minty water and the word was mouthwash.

I didn't have any noise makers, confetti, or party hats since I wasn't having a party. These goofballs decided to shake up cans of root beer and let them explode at midnight.

 

Happy New Year! Bring on 2022! As the root beer gushes out!

Christmas Week

Quite often on Sundays we go to the cemetery to visit Blake and to check on things. We took   a Christmas tree and a snowman that glows in the dark down there the first of December. Delwyn took this selfie of us. Taking selfies is hard!! For me at least. I thought this was a cute picture of us even though it is a little sunny.

We only do Christmas cards about every three years. Mostly because I forget about them or we don't have a good picture. The middle of December Delwyn really wanted to send some out this year, so we used Britta's wedding picture and Denya wrote a letter about our year. We didn't get many cards this year and I think Christmas cards might be fading out, which is kind of sad.

Denya, Britta and Kade, and Ryan got here on December 22 and stayed until December 30, except Ryan, who stayed for 2 weeks.  I felt like Christmas lasted a whole week and I loved every minute of it. Here are some random pictures of things we did while they were here.

Dagny and Lincoln saw the Santa hats down the basement and wanted to play elves making toys. They were so cute and have such good imaginations.

Lincoln is combing the dog's hair so he will be extra fluffy when it's time to get in Santa's sleigh.

The grandkids LOVE to play cards with their aunts and uncles. I bought a Christmas version of Go Fish/Old Fish and they played several rounds this week.

Denya bought books for all the kids this year. She loves to read and wants her neices and nephew to love books too. They were pretty excited about a present from Denya.

Dagny got "The Nutcracker," by Jan Brett. Her books have such beautiful illustrations. Dagny was so happy since she performed in The Nutcracker this year. And Lincoln loves dragons, so this book is perfect for him.

We haven't played Head of the Herd for a really long time. I forgot how much laughing happens during this game. You have to do silly things while playing, such as keep one hand on the table, or you can't call people by their first name.

Britta and Kade were the last two left and you have have to make a duck bill on your face with your hands.

Kade won and so his moose got to wear the crown.

Landon bought a couple of new games for his kids and he brought them over to give them a try. It's fun that they are getting old enough to play games besides Go Fish and Old Maid. I especially like Sleeping Queens. It's fun to get some new kid games. I get so tired of Candyland and I don't like Hi Ho Cherry O or Sorry at all.

Claire got a skateboard for Christmas and she was so excited to show us.

I swear this girl was born with wheels on her feet. She goes so fast on everything! Bikes, roller blades, and now a skateboard.

Calista's doll tries out Kade's roller skates.

The doll had so much fun, Calista wanted to try them out too. I'm sure her Dad will have her skating before too much longer.

Britta loves on the babies. Everlee is 6 months older than Emma, but they are close to the same size. So cute!

Britta and Kade love pickleball. Landon wanted to learn how, so they one afternoon when the weather was nice. Denya went as well, since it's more fun to play in teams. It sounds fun, a combination of tennis, ping pong, and badminton. I want to give it a try some time.

We went to the movie West Side Story.

It was a little slow getting started, but after that I really liked it. It was sad though!

Ryan and Gavin love this Japanese ramen restaurant on Araphoe Road. Ryan has talked about it a lot and Denya really wanted to try it out.

They went for lunch on Tuesday before we went roller skating. Denya was not disappointed, it lived up to all Ryan's compliments.

Look at those chop sticks! These kids are official! I love that they enjoy spending time together.

Austin's girls were pretty excited to get a present from Aunt Denya. Just look at their cute smiles! It was actually because Denya wanted to give Claire a graphic novel that she decided to give all the nieces and nephew a book.

Emma's book was a baby board book based on Jane Austen's "Emma," teaching about emotions. How fun to have a book with a title that is your name!

 Austin and Melissa got a new game, Willy Wonka and the Golden Ticket. They brought it over to give it a try and it was pretty fun.

Roller Skating

It all started when Britta and Kade wanted to take Claire and Millie to Skate City. Kade loves to roller skate, and when he found out that Claire and Millie know how, he wanted to skate with them. When I told Austin about it he said, "Well, I want to come too!" and so it morphed into a family skating party.

Lincoln fell down first thing and did not like it at all, so Britta and Kade helped him go around a few times to get the hang of it. We decided we needed to rent some trainers so the kids would have something to hold onto. They also have some skates that don't roll as fast, so we got some of those for Lincoln.

It made a big difference in his confidence,

and by the end he was liking it a lot.

Maddie loved it from the beginning. I think she was excited to be able to skate like her sisters.

Landon and Denya skating and talking.

Denya gets fancy.

Kade showing the kids how to go backwards.

I was so happy Wade could come. He probably enjoyed skating the most when the kids were growing up. He has had to work so much he misses a lot of family events. I'm so thankful for his new job that has more normal hours and is easier to get time off. He said he hasn't been skating for probably almost 10 years and he loved having the opportunity to skate.

Dagny caught on pretty quick with Britta's help. It was nice to have so many adults to help the kids.

Millie inherited Claire's roller blades when she needed a bigger size. She has practiced a lot at home in their cul de sac and she is pretty good! She had fun skating with her Mom.

Claire's new roller blades light up. Fancy! It was easy to spot her with the lights. She can go really fast.

Maddie has the cutest smile. The skating sessions last for 2 hours and Maddie only took a couple of breaks.

This is the only picture I got of Austin. He was skating with Millie. It was fun to watch the parents skate with their kids. I held Emma for about the first hour and then she got tired and it was too noisy, so Austin took her to the car for a nap. What a nice thing for him to do so that Melissa could stay and skate.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to skate or not, I wasn't sure I could still do it. I finally decided to give it a try. Ha! I don't have the best balance anymore and my back is so stiff with arthritis, I had to hang on with Britta on one side and Kade on the other. I also did a couple of rounds with Maddie and her trainer. I don't think I'll be skating again, but it was sure fun to watch my family.

Wade and Denya.

The skating rink had a couple of games while we were there. This game people skated around while the music played and when it stopped, you went under a light. If they called the color you were under, you were out. Britta and Kade were still in when there were only a couple of people left. They dropped out because they wanted a kid to win. How thoughtful of them!

Family skating picture. Austin had already gone to the car with Emma, Kimberlea had to work, Calista and Everlee stayed home with Grandpa because they are too young. It was definitely a fun afternoon and we might have to make this a tradition every time Britta and Kade come to visit. I was so glad it turned into the whole family! I guess I have Austin to thank for that!