Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays to everyone! We've had a great could of days; a great week, in fact. The kids have been out of school and Joel hasn't had to work, so we've done a whole lot of nothing! Isn't that great! Actually, we've had to be productive here and there, but we've had our fair share of just hanging around and enjoying each other's company. It's been absolutely great.

A few weeks ago Jenna asked me if we could make a sponge cake (where that came from, I have no idea), so I told her we would make one for Christmas. She and Will were great helpers. They both read the recipe for me and helped me dump in ingredients. I realized that this was the first time I've ever made a sponge cake from scratch (I've done angel food, but not sponge), so I was pleased that everything turned out just fine.
Here we are with the before, and if I'd been thinking we would have done an after shot, as well. Oh well!

For Christmas Eve we drove around to look at Christmas lights. After we got home we read from Luke 2, then had root beer floats while watching Joy to the World. Here are the kids after getting home from looking at lights...

Jenna woke us up around 6:15 this morning. She very obviously couldn't wait to open presents, so we sent her upstairs to get the boys up! Boy was she excited! Her enthusiasm for any and all holidays always amazes me, and Christmas surpasses them all, by far!

We all had a great time going through our stockings and opening presents. The kids got a lot of books this year, which we think is great! Here they are with the books from Aunt Adrienne... (Jenna is wearing her hat that she got in her stocking, she wore it the entire time we opened presents :)

Will and Adam got matching "Cars" blankets from Grandma R. for their beds. They even have their names stitched on them! Could there be a better blanket for a little boy's bed? I think not.

And here are Adam and Will, eating some popcorn that Santa brought and watching Monsters vs. Aliens.

After we opened presents I was doing a puzzle that I got as a gift. (in fact I basically begged for a puzzle. I really enjoy doing them, but Joel doesn't. This year I made it very clear that I wanted a puzzle!) Anyway, Joel also got me a mat to do the puzzle on. You know, the kind you can roll up so you can put the puzzle away, then get it back out later. Well, the mat was a little bumpy from being folded up in a box. Joel suggested I iron it, which I did. The felt did flatten out a bit, which was nice. I then turned the iron off and went about other activities.

A bit later Joel noticed that the iron was still plugged in, so he wisely unplugged it, thinking it could be dangerous to leave it plugged in. As it turns out, it was dangerous to have it out at all. While Joel was in the shower, and I was upstairs with Jenna, Adam plugged the iron back in, pushed the button to turn it on, and apparently proceeded to iron the kitchen table.

I was very dismayed to find my table looking like this...

However, after further inspection Joel figured out there was about 4-5 spots on the table that had had some serious iron time. Meaning Adam didn't just turn it on and walk away, he was playing with the hot iron. I cared a little less about my melted table top then, and was just extremely grateful that Adam hadn't burned himself at all! (I'm still a little bugged about my table though. What was I thinking, not putting the iron away? Lesson learned.)

We had a great Christmas today, truly. We all got things we wanted/needed, and the best part of all was being together with a spirit of giving. I know that we all think about how blessed we are at this time of year, and I just want to add my little bit to the pot. I am so thankful for my family. I am grateful to know that I can be with my family forever; there isn't one single thing more comforting than that in the world. And that is truly the greatest gift we've ever been given.

So Much!

I feel like there is so much to cover, and I can't decide how much detail to go into.

Joel and I were lucky enough to go to Mesa, AZ this weekend so Joel could interview at A.T. Still University. Our friends watched our kids for us here in Laramie, and we pretty much owe them our souls for it! We couldn't have done it without you, Bades! Thank you so much! My kids were so excited to go have a sleep-over at their house, they weren't even sad to see us go.

We were lucky to go at all, because all of the roads out of Laramie were closed on Wednesday! We were supposed to fly out of Denver Thursday morning, but we were wondering if we were going to get there. Thankfully the roads opened up at just the right time, and Joel and I made a break for it!

We were able to get to Denver safely and stay the night at a hotel that night. We made it to Phoenix with no problems, except for Joel losing his drivers licence in Denver after we went through security. That was no good!

We had a great time in Mesa! We went to a Madrigal Feast that my niece was in on Thursday night. While Joel interviewed Friday I did some shopping and hung out with my sisters. Friday night Joel and I went to a movie together, maximizing our childlessness.

On Saturday my sisters and I did a cinnamon roll bake-off. We wanted to figure out which great cinnamon roll recipe/frosting recipe was the best. It was extremely scientific and delicious! You would think I'd be sick of cinnamon rolls after eating so many yesterday, but I could honestly go for a few more!

I had grand plans to take a lot of pictures while I was there, but I was lame and only got one picture, and it wasn't even in Mesa! This is Joel and I in the airport in Denver, waiting for our flight...
Joel felt like the interview went really well. They said they would let us know in four to six weeks. That's a long time! Well, it turns out that we didn't have to wait that long because they called Joel tonight and offered him a spot in the PA program! Yay! We couldn't believe they called so soon. The guy said they were very impressed with his application and interview. We are so happy and relieved to hear that confirmation. Because Utah turned Joel down, we will be deciding between Billings and Mesa. There is a lot to consider!

We were really happy to pick up our kids today, but they were definitely not eager to come home. The boys were the happiest to see us, but Jenna wanted to stay and play. I was happy that they had a fun time. She cheered up a bit after we got home, I'm happy to say. Now it's back to reality, school, work, etc.