2022 Predictions

 1. Vic Fangio will be fired from the Broncos. Aaron Rodgers will be our quarterback and we will have a winning season. 1/3 right. Vic was fired, but we got Russell Wilson which is great, but we are having a terrible season. Their new coach has already been fired, Wilson has by far his worst year, and we have to hope it was because of the coach because we can't replace Wilson- our entire future as a Broncos team is invested in him.

2. Audra will be driving and will not have gotten in an accident. Yes! She is really doing great. She already has her required 50 hours (she's at 55 and counting). Most of her friends who got their permits at the same time are around 12 hours. She is also learning to drive a stick shift. She doesn't love it, but she is doing incredibly well. She should get her license in June and she will be ready.

3. We will be planning a trip to Hawaii (I'm hoping! I'm already working on Ben for a March 2023 Hawaii trip) No. Sigh. I wanted Hawaii, but everyone else wanted a cruise, so a cruise it is. And, we are all excited, but I do hope we make it to HI someday.

4. Covid will no longer be a major factor in our lives- as in, we won't have to plan around Covid anymore. Yes! Life is pretty much back to "normal" (whether that is good or not is up for debate). The only place masks are required is the doctor office.

5. Claire and Camille will start at Cherry Creek Options and longer at Cloverleaf Oh, wow, this is wrong! It's weird to think that a year ago we really had no clue what this school year would bring. But, here we are- fully immersed in the public school life, with home school long in the rearview mirror.

6. I will be doing more volunteer work, specifically with refugees Yes, I did do a bit of work for the refugees. The opportunity to work in the warehouse was a really special, and prayed for, blessing. As soon as the e-mail came out asking for volunteers for the warehouse, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. Now I am content with my job at the school and I feel like I am blessing the students so I am fulfilled there, but hopefully I can get back to doing more work with refugees and others in tough situations soon.

7. The girls will all go to state for 4H. Though for what I don't know...they still haven't decided what they want to do. I'll predict Audra for sewing, Claire for baking, Camille for sewing. Claire and Audra went to state for sewing. Sadly, Camille did not which was a bummer. She was pretty upset about not making state.

8. We will all get Omicron. But it won't be bad. Yes- I'm not sure if it was Omicron, but we did get Covid. It hit us all differently. For me, I felt like my head was outside my body. I could hardly stand up at times. But I didn't "feel" sick. It was the weirdest thing. For Ben, it was more like a flu with a lot of fatigue. 

9. We will have taken a trip to Vegas/Grand Canyon and a Church history tour. That's what we are hoping for- fingers crossed Covid doesn't ruin it. Yes and no- We did Vegas/Grand Canyon, but Ben nixed the Church history tour. I ended up taking the girls to North Dakota instead. It was a lot cheaper, shorter, and Audra got a lot of driving practice in which was awesome. I need to plan a trip to nowhereville each time we have a driver with a new permit.

10. Audra, Claire, and I will go to girls' camp (I have been called as the camp cook) and have a blast! Yes, we all went, and yes, it was mostly a blast- until the huge storm the last night we were there. That part was not fun at all.

Ice Skating With Cousins

 We only ice skate once a year, but the kids all have a good time when we go. We went down to Parker where they have a nice outdoor rink. We lasted over an hour before our ankles started to hurt and we called it quits. Camille fell twice, Ben once, and the cousins quite a bit, but there were no injuries and lots of smiles, so I call that a win.

Afterwards, we went to the library super fast. They have trees decorated as different books, so we very quickly walked around to get a peek at the creations. They are absolutely brilliant, and I love that our library does so many neat things like this.

P. F. Chang's

 I have awesome friends, and we were able to go and have a wonderful dinner at P. F. Chang's. We laughed so hard we cried! They are the best- I am so blessed!

Hair Cuts!

 Claire got her very first professional cut, and she went big! She had enough hair to donate to Locks of Love, so she decided to do it. It is quite a change, but I think she likes it so far. She definitely loves showing it off to others.

Audra only cut off about 3 inches, but she loves having her hair straightened.

They are both so gorgeous!

Christmas Day!

 What a WONDERFUL day!

It was slightly disjointed because we had church at 9am. We got up at 7, had aebelskivers, opened many of our presents until 8:30, then got ready for church. It was a lovely church service with lots of musical numbers, and then we headed back home and finished opening gifts, relaxed, cleaned up the messes, zoomed my family, and then went to Ben's parents for dinner.

It was so great! We are so incredibly blessed.

Audra was excited to get a new trumpet. Claire got a new back pack and violin case with some new sweatshirts, and Camille got a new laptop- a new one, not a hand me down. Turns out her cousin Freya also got a non hand me down laptop, so that is fun. Ben got me a gift card for a massage (YAY!), and the girls also got me lovely soaps and a book about Marilyn Monroe, and I got Ben clothes.

Christmas Eve

This morning we went to Mission Hills Church for the candlelight service, and then we had a really lovely evening tonight. We had our traditional tamale dinner, spent some time reading Christmas stories, watched some Christmas shows, and opened up one gift: Christmas pajamas. We love having these family traditions and being together on this special night.

The magic of Christmas is wonderful! My heart bursts with love for these three- they are our world, and they are the best human beings I know. It's pretty incredible to be their parents and watch them grow into their own. So if Santa wants to spoil them a little bit at Christmas time, I'm OK with that ;)

Christmas Vacation!!!

 It took awhile, but today we FINALLY started our Christmas break! It is a bummer that it is starting so incredibly late, but I am trying to stay positive. The good news is that they don't go back until January 10th, so it will help the slog of January and February feel shorter, and that truly will be nice.

Anyway, the weather today was a HIGH of negative 5. It was a nasty day! So we decided to stay home all day (except for Camille who went to a friend's house to make a video and cards for a friend who has been in the hospital for over a week because she got the flu which turned into septic shock- it's absolutely horrible, but so sweet of these girls to decide to do something nice for her). 

It was a relaxing, stay in pjs, watch Christmas movies, and make gingerbread houses kind of a day.

Camille insisted on building her own out of graham crackers, while the rest of us made on out of actual gingerbread.

Gingerbread houses

Christmas movies

Apparently While You Were Sleeping is our family traditional Chrustmas movie. I'm happy with that, except when I said I saw it in the theater Claire said, "wow, that's like a billion years old," so now I need to return all her presents and buy her some coal.

Last night we went and looked at Christmas lights, and between that and today, I think we are all feeling in the Christmas spirit- it was a great way to start our break!

Jerusalem Dinner

We had our annual Jerusalem dinner, and it was really lovely. The girls seem to really like this tradition, and it's a great change for us to talk about Christ and what life was like back in His time, so it's a great way for use to get into the spirit of Christmas.

 

Christmas Baking

 Our annual day of baking went very well! I decided to go to the effort of making both caramels and marshmallows (Audra helped with the marshmallows!) and the girls helped with Rick Krispy treats (I looked on line for tips on how to make them softer. Turns how I have been making them horribly wrong for years, but I used the tips on line and they turned out perfect), fudge (two kinds- one with nuts, one without), Magic Cookie Bars, chocolate covered pretzels, Christmas Crack, Peppermint Chex, Monster Cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, peppermints patties, peppermint bark, and likely more. It was a lot. 

Then we delivered about 40 plates to friends and the kids' church leaders. I felt like a Christmas Elf! It was a lot of fun. Well, the girls might not admit that, but it was nice.

I bought a cookie stamp that says, "We wish you a Merry Christmas. The Marriotts" but it didn't work very well. Of 50 attempts, only about a dozen were legible. The rest we covered with frosting. But, it was super cute for the ones it worked for.

Oh, the dishes....SO. MANY. DISHES. I think we used every dish in the kitchen. But it was worth it!

It was fitting that on the VERY LAST recipe that I needed the mixer, it died. It had been struggling for awhile, so I had a replacement KitchenAid in the basement (I can't live without a KitchenAid. I use it almost everyday, sometimes- like today- multiple times a day). It was on sale at Costco, so I decided to go ahead and buy a replacement for when it broke. And, while making frosting for the sugar cookies, it died and we busted the new one out.