December Joyness

What a month. What a year. 

Ava's 9th birthday:

She had a couple of friends over for a movie night. She was so excited about it. I love how cute she is and excited about simple things. I can't believe this is my last kid's last year in single digits!

Our ward Christmas party was the night of her birthday, and the bishop had everyone sing to her. She seriously loved it. She's the type of kid that doesn't get embarrassed over stuff like that. I think it's amazing.

We went to dinner with Grandma for Ava's birthday, and Addie read a book. Just had to document for my photo collection of Addie Reading in Restaurants, which will be a treasured volume of photos someday.

We went out for ice cream and my mom requested that Addie leave her book in the car, so I also had to document that special occasion.

All the concerts and perfomances we ever thought possible happened this month. 

We went to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. It's pretty neat, but I sure wish it wasn't $94 for our family to go. Cray cray.

The Light of the World portion of the gardens is really good, but was extra good with all the lanterns. I did love it.

Early Christmas dinner with Nils' parents, since they spent Christmas in Mexico. We're thrilled to spend time with them whenever we can. Par's cancer is currently considered stable, and he's been given a break from chemo since July, with monthly blood tests and scans every few months. What a blessing! 

Anders is as tall as Nils now. His life's goal is to be taller than his dad.

Addie got contacts! It was a bit of an ordeal for her to get them in initially...in fact, Nils had to do it for her. That's all it took, though, and she's been a pro at it ever since. We were surprised she wanted contacts, because she seemed so happy to have glasses. She learned pretty quick that glasses are a bit of a pain.

 Tumbling show off day. Their teacher, Cassie is also my co-worker at the PT clinic. She's fun to work with. We get to commiserate about our teenagers. It's nice to know you're not alone sometimes. :)

My mom got a new gas fireplace, so the girls were enjoying reading by the fire.

Ava was Mary this year for the Christmas Eve nativity. Baby River wasn't super happy about being confined, hahaha.

Christmas Haul

Visited Temple Square on Christmas night. It was quite rainy/sleety, but still pretty.

Downtown SLC on Christmas, coming down from the Capitol. Not too shabby!

My best Christmas present! I was a little stressed about neighbor gifts this year, since I usually make gingersnaps. I didn't want to make a million gingersnaps with regular flour and then be sad that I couldn't eat any, so I was confounded as to what to do instead. Nils' work had a Christmas luncheon, and as it ended they were gathering all the poinsettias from the tables. One of the ladies asked us if we wanted to take a whole bunch of them, since they would have just been thrown out. I immediately thought they would make perfect neighbor gifts! I said we absolutely wanted them, so we looked a little freakish carting all of these out to the car. We made a little tag to put on them and delivered them that night. YESSSSSSSSSS. What a score! Aren't they pretty?

Welp, 2018 has been a year full of challenges for sure. We've experienced some pretty big changes in many areas of life, and had some very sad times. I think this year has been a great reminder for us of the blessings of the Atonement. We sure have needed the comfort of the Holy Ghost and felt the love of our Savior throughout the year. We're so thankful to know that families are eternal.

Through the rough stuff, we've had many a good thing happen. We try to be aware of our blessings, as they are plentiful (such as getting 25 free poinsettias!!!), and we are most thankful for them. We're thankful for our children, even though they test us to our limits at times, and I'm grateful for my best husband to go through the storms of life with. :)

Life is a ride, eh? Happy New Year to all!

Craaaaaaazy November

Hey there. We're still alive and kicking. We're all together once again after 15 days of being 8,400 miles away from NilsyNils, and we're pretty happy about that. Here's what's been happening:

Halloween: 

The Halloween parade was just as thrilling as usual. Nils 3D printed Ava's stormtrooper mask, which she was super excited about. It probably weighs about 3 pounds, so she didn't last too long trick or treating with it. 

 Aani was Phasma from Star Wars. I don't remember who that is, but it was an easy purchase from the Amazons, so yay for Phasma!

Ava: Stormtrooper, Aani: Phasma, Addie: No Face from a movie I can't remember, Anders: God's Gift to Women (Yeah)

Nils went to India:

India was a long 15 days. Nils was afflicted with the Dehli Belly and sick in bed for 3 days. There were good times as well; he was there for Diwali celebrations, and the people are all really nice. He was able to build a good relationship with his team members there. 2 weeks was too long for him and us, though. He doesn't like Indian food anymore and tried to eat as much American food as possible while there. He still has PTSD from getting sick and thinking about the food that made him so. We did fine back here at home, we just missed him. Also, he was so jet lagged when he got back that he went to bed at like 5 pm every night for a week. So it was kind of like he was gone for 3 weeks. Rough.

Tiny Coke

He shaved his face before he boarded his flight home, because I told him I knew he'd make the right choice about it. :) 

 We went to 5 Guys the night he got back- no beef in India.

Sickness:

I got a horrid cold while Nils was gone, and tried all of this crap to try to make it go away faster. I ended up with a sinus infection 10 days later that I thought was going to kill me. My head hurt for 5 days, and on day 5 it was so bad I couldn't take it. I went to the doctor and they flushed my ears out with pressurized water, which was really unpleasant. It was all very traumatizing, so I needed to document. Anyway, some antibiotics and a couple of prescription pain meds fixed me up. THANKS FOR NOTHING, BLACK ELDERBERRY.

Rando Life: 

Activity Days Recognition Night- the girls each brought a bag with three things that represented them and the good things they do. Aani brought her violin, a book because she reads to her sisters, and a New Era Magazine.

Ava brought her leotard and a Friend Magazine, and a Coke to represent when Nils asks her to "Coke him", which means she runs downstairs to the fridge and grabs a Coke for him.

The kids and I ventured up to OC Tanner to have lunch with Nils the day before Thanksgiving. They have a pretty good cafeteria, and the kiddos got to see Dad's work.

I just felt like taking a picture of our shoes at church. We still sit on the front row. I don't know why, and I don't know that it will ever end.

Anders is tuning my mom's piano 5 notes at a time. It's so out of tune and our ears bleed when it's played.

Thanksgiving:

The kids really wanted to decorate sugar cookies. I had to bow out after a few minutes because of the wheat flour flying all over the place, but they did a fine job and cleaned up pretty well.

French toast on Thanksgiving morning, thanks to Kneaders cinnamon bread. I made the buttermilk syrup and ate a couple spoons of it to make myself feel better, since I don't get to eat good things anymore. Sad life.

Thanksgiving dinner. The night ended pretty crazy, with 2 more families coming for dessert and some shopping. We spent all of our money. It was pretty fun.

It snowed enough for the girls to build a snowman. The poor snowman face planted about 3 minutes after this picture was taken.

Addie Reads in Restaurants:

Here's some proof.

Bring on Christmas, baby!

Life Update

It's time for a life update, because everyone is growing up, and there are things I don't want to forget. There are also some things I do want to forget, but I'm sure I'll be happy I documented some day; probably so I can use it as payback for all my pain and suffering. ;)

Nils: Nils' job at OC Tanner is going well. It's, as he puts it, a "big boy job", and comes with a fair amount of stress and pressure. The commute is a real butt-kicker. Aside from these less than ideal circumstances, it's a wonderful company. Their whole business is centered around recognizing excellence in the workplace, and they practice what they preach. We're willing to give it at least a year to gauge how we feel about everything. Nils is in India for the next two weeks for work, and I hope he has a good time and doesn't get too much diarrhea. I also hope we all survive back here at the ranch and don't get too much diarrhea. I'm so funny! The YouTubes have been put on hold a little bit- this new job is taking a lot more time and energy. Nils has been able to release a couple new videos in the last month or so, but just hasn't had the time to put in like he used to. It somehow continues to grow, though, and he's up to 200,000 subscribers. Crazy.

Katrina: Life is crazy for me, and I realize I've mostly done it to myself by deciding to get a job outside the house. When I think of the alternative, though, which is staying home by myself all day while the kids are at school and going slowly insane, I think it's worth it? I think? The jury's still out. I like the job, and when I'm there I feel good. I like contributing, I like associating with people, and I like stretching my brain in a new way. The people there are A++...they couldn't be nicer. However, there is a bit of mom guilt happening over here. I have 2 days off in the middle of the week, and I LOVE THEM. So, I don't know what I'm trying to say. I like the job, and it makes me appreciate being home when I am. I've asked the kids how they feel about me working, and I mostly think they don't care that much, except when I'm not available to be at their beck and call.
I continue to not eat gluten and plan on avoiding it for the rest of my life. I think people think this is a phase. Sometimes I eat fries from places that don't have dedicated GF fryers, and I ALWAYS suffer the consequences. I kind of always have some sort of a rash that varies in severity, but it has never been the full-body situation since I stopped eating gluten. Anyway, I'm not going to eat a sandwich or normal pizza ever, and it's a real pain in the butt. It's also put a major damper on the happiness I get from cooking.

Anders: Anders is a full-on angsty teenager, and just about every teenager cliche is true with this kid. Pray for us. We're making him drive more and more, because we really are looking forward to not being his chauffeurs much longer. He's excited about getting his license, dating, and getting a job. All of these things are scary to me, but I recognize they are things he needs for his happiness, and therefore, my sanity. As I've mentioned, marching band has dominated his life for the last three months, but it ends tonight. The amount of time and work marching band takes is astounding. Too bad no one cares about it except marching band parents. :)
I think I FINALLY found a piano teacher for him- I've had like 3 people tell me they'd teach him and then flake out. So annoying. Anyhoo, Anders is quite good at piano already, but he can tell he needs help with theory and technique, so we need someone who knows what they're talking about. He takes all the honors classes at school and is in concurrent enrollment chemistry. He's enjoying being a sophomore and was thrilled to death to leave the middle school behind him.

Addie: Addie is becoming very teenagerey as well. It's just delightful (sarcasm font). She's still a great kid and very easy going for the most part, but she has almost no enthusiasm for anything outside of reading. She takes a book with her wherever she goes, no joke. Birthday parties, restaurants, friends houses, grandma's house, etc. She also likes goats. She has a several close friends, but is honestly just totally content to be in her room reading 24/7. She gets straight A's without any prodding from us. Almost every day after school, she goes to her friend Lina's house (in our neighborhood) and helps her with math, and also hangs out. She really likes playing the viola, and "jams out" to classical music in her room or while doing her chores. She hates doing her hair, and I've been really, really, really trying to get her to part her hair on the side. I have to do it for her, and the last time I did, she called it "the dreaded side-part". I don't even know. Anyway, for the most part, we're just thankful for Addie and her natural goodness, even though there are a few things I have a hard time not controlling at the moment.

Aani: Aani is in 6th grade and is a pretty cool cat. She has a few friends in the neighborhood, but also likes being home a lot. I guess that's what happens when you're the middle sister. There's almost always someone to hang out with. She does a great job of looking out for Ava, and is a great sounding board for Addie. She plays violin in the Saratoga Strings orchestra for 5th and 6th graders. She says she likes reading, but I sure don't see her reading very much. :) She likes going places and almost always asks for dessert. She has a fairly adventurous palate and will try and like lots of different foods. It's so wonderful. She's itty bitty for her age and hates it. She prays and fasts for growth spurts. Last Sunday we went to my mom's house for dinner, and Aani asked me if I wanted to go on a walk with her. The two of us went on a walk for about 45 minutes and had a great chat about all kinds of things, and my heart was full of love for her. When we finished, she said, "Well Mom, thanks for going on a walk with me!" Please stay nice forever, Aani.

Ava: Ava is in 3rd grade, and is in a traditional class as opposed to ALL. Thank heavens. She tested for ALL and was 2nd alternate, but I mentioned to her 2nd grade teacher last year that I kind of didn't want her in ALL. I'm a bit over it, and Ava is the type of kid that will do great wherever she is. She also hates reading, so there's that. The teacher she has this year is over the top amazing. I feel like I say that every year, but it's true. He's OVER THE TOP AMAZING. He went to Harvard to get a master's degree in education, and came back to the same school after graduating to continue teaching 3rd graders, which is what he did BEFORE he went to Harvard. He just loves teaching 3rd graders, I guess. Anyway, I'm enjoying this experience. Ava is almost always happy. She gets along with everyone. She has an unmatched enthusiasm for life. She joined the school choir and tumbles. She loves going to Activity Days. I can't believe she's going to be 9 soon. Her room is almost always hazard-level messy.

Pip: Pip continues to be a bad dog. If left to her own devices, she digs through the trash, poops on the carpet, destroys retainers, licks Anders' pillow obsessively, and barks too much. She's banned from PetSmart, and even the vet has written in her chart that she's a bad dog. We keep her because the kids love her for some reason. She loves me so much and is mostly good when I'm around. She pees whenever Nils comes home and acknowledges her existence.

So. Life is crazy right now, and I really don't see it letting up anytime soon. We're blessed and stressed and trying to enjoy the ride. Most nights we collapse in bed and marvel at how wonderful it feels to lie down. I love these people to the point of utter exhaustion.