Christmas Festivities

This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Calderwoods. We drove down and spent the afternoon playing games and ate dinner and opened our gifts since we wouldn't see them on the 25th. Car selfie with Aubrey trying to photobomb in the background. 

 Comefords showing some pda.

 Cole looks like he needs a few more minutes of sleep. I have a few traditional photos I like to take and the pre presents stairs photo is one. I got lucky and am in it this year.

 Where's my stocking?!!

 Aubrey's loot! Santa brought her a Secret Password Journal.

  Little man wanted Shark Mania, but he still won't let me call him shark bait.

 Tucker received a microscope. He really wanted to look at his boogers!

 Crazy Cole received Disney Infinity, but forgot to specify to Santa to buy it for the Wii and got it for XBox. Thankfully Santa left a receipt.

 After a fun morning of playing with presents we headed down to Great Grandpa Fosters for lunch and our white elephant trading game. Then off to Grandma and Grandpa Fosters house for more presents. Tucker and Parker received lego sets.

 All of the Foster kids pitched in and gave my Dad a big ladder to replace the scary ladder he's been using for years. Now we can feel safe when he climbs on the roof.

We had a nice small Christmas. Our big gift for our entire family is that we are headed to DisneyWorld in January for a week. Originally we were going to wait until Christmas to tell them, but decided to tell them early. We actually leave in 2 days!

Chop Chop

I have been wanting a change for awhile now and with the weight loss I've been finally having you would think that is enough, but nope I want more. I decided to chop my hair off. I have been letting it grow since I stopped radiation on April 2, 2012. I had two hair trims since then to help the hair grow out a little better. One of my friends I met through my Bunko group works at a salon and so we made an appointment and she cut off 10 inches for me. I love the final result! Of course I saved my ponytail. Who knows if I'll ever need it again. Habit. : )

 I didn't tell my family and showed up to our family party that next Sunday night with my new short locks. It's fun to swish my hair around my face. Much faster to get ready. Aubrey actually yelled at me when I picked her up from school that day. Poor girl has all the hair in the family again. My hair grows so fast that I'm sure it'll be back in a ponytail by the time the school year is over.

 And my husband can have a nice unicorn Mohawk look!

 I get a lot of folks asking me what Cody thinks of it. He doesn't really mind what I do with my hair. He used to joke, as long as I don't buzz it, but then we shared buzz haircuts for a few months, but that wasn't my choice! The Balderwoods were a cute couple!

Aubrey's 2nd grade program

Aubrey's 2nd grade program was on December 18th. Grandma and Grandpa Foster were both able to come and watch it. Aubrey did a great job singing. The classes sang songs, danced and talked about Christmas traditions from around the world.

 Here she is with two of her friends/twins, Ava and Alma.

 Tajia Landon and Aubrey. 

 Aubrey's teacher Mrs. Tibbetts, Beck and Tajia and Grandpa in the background. All the kids named in the pictures are in the dual immersion program. There are 5 2nd grade classes at Midway Elementary.

Braving the Blizzard

Tucker had a wrestling meet in the morning and then we decided to go cut down our Christmas trees with Mickey and Cerola. We took our permits and drove out west of Heber to find our perfect Griswald trees. Once we were out of private property area we stopped our vehicles and Cody, Mickey and Aubrey braved the storm and set off with chain saws and tape measure into the forest.  After what seemed like forever this is the scene I was able to capture with my phone camera. It was a blizzard and Aubrey was running along, freezing while the men carried two trees back to the truck.

 We have vaulted ceilings so we always pick big tall trees. Mickey picked a little one for their front room. We had icicles falling off for a day or so.

I let the kids completely decorate our tree this year. After Cody put the lights on, they happily put every decoration we own on. I tried to be sneaky and take their picture from upstairs, but they saw me.

Paragliding Bucket List Adventure

I've driven past the point of the mountain between Lehi and Draper for years and been intrigued by the paragliders. I get daily emails from Groupon and Living Social with deals and had seen some for paragliding. I had been contemplating buying one when one day the price dropped an additional $15, so I jumped on it and purchased. I was so excited. I had a few months to schedule my flight. I decided I had better do it before it got too cold. I picked a Friday morning that Cody  had off work and all the kids were in school. My parents were able to come watch me fly as well. We dropped the kids off at school and drove to our meeting spot to meet my tandem instructor Chris. 

Probably my most asked question was if it was scary. I didn't think so at all. It was fun and exhilarating. Much more fun than parasailing. I was even able to take control and steer for a little while. Although I admit that towards the end of the flight my stomach had had enough and I was ready to come down. Looking at the pictures brings back some of the feelings. It was a perfect windy day, which is exactly what you want. Morning flights are on the south side of the mountain and evening flights are on the north side due to the thermal heat patterns.  Cody took some awesome pictures and my Dad took videos, but they are all sideways and I can't figure out how to flip them.

Cody's Birthday

We were able to celebrate Cody's 36th Birthday with his family on Sunday November 30th. We invited them up to our house for dinner and dessert. We all pitched in since we arrived home from Washington the night before. Then the adults played Mexican train for awhile.

 We gave Cody a BYU flag to put on his truck for BYU games and a cover for his IPAD mini. He recently bought an early gift, a telescope, that we've been using to check out the planets and stars.