Here we are, two days before Christmas, and I have to say that I am more excited about it this year than I have been in the past. I think this is because our kids are getting older. I know, some people say that having super young kids around "keeps the magic" and all that, and I completely understand what they are saying. It just hasn't been my experience. What I have actually seen is that young children and grown adults have different priorities, and that instead of being "magical," having both in one place just means that we have to negotiate a lose-lose compromise to keep these priorities in balance. Call me a grinch if you want, but I completely empathize with the antihero in the famous Dr. Seuess poem:

      For, tomorrow, I know all the Who girls and boys
      Will wake bright and early. They'll rush for their toys!
      And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!      There's one thing I hate! All the NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!


Don't get me wrong. There are other parts about the holidays I love. The quiet, cozy moments with a warm drink in a clean room smelling of cinnamon and fir. The twinkling of a dimly lit tree. "Silver Bells" playing in the background while we watch the gently-falling snow out of our large picture-frame windows. Parties with friends, and parties with friends who have become family. Walking down Sherman at nighttime, admiring the lights and sounds and smells coming from the various shops. Sitting around a fireplace playing games. Wearing turtleneck sweaters. The carving of the "roast beast." These things are Christmas to me. Presents have very little to do with it, and when they do come into the picture the anticipation is more for the joy that can be brought to others than for the desires to add to one's already overflowing collection of "stuff."

And as our family gets older, and I think, as our kids realize more and more how well-off they already are, this second version of Christmas has definitely become more of our "jam" than the auditory and visual noise that has typified the season in the past. It is lovely.

(Far left)

Lindsey had her Christmas dance recital. She did great!

Three angels, right in the front.

Jackson is the sad cow with chopped-off horns.

The four youngers were in a Christmas pageant.

Jackson is circled way near the bottom of the run. He is systematically trying to tick off all of the black diamond runs without falling so that I can take him on the double-black he has been eyeing.

These two girls (Ev and Addy) decided to go out of bounds to jump off a cliff. Addy ended up getting stuck and Rach had to climb down and rescue her. It was an hour-long ordeal, and they both collapsed on the ground in tears when they finally made it back. You can see Rach in the background, still hiking out.

 Skiing this week

Here's a Christmas party we went to with our work-family. Really, I couldn't ask for a better team. I love us.

Have a good week!

Evelyn had her first band concert this week. She was pretty nervous leading up to it, because I guess there was one drummer that kept starting a certain part too early, leading half of the band to be playing one measure ahead of the other half. According to Ev, this sounded like a train wreck, and it happened pretty regularly in practice right up until the day of the concert. Knowing this made me laugh a little bit inside when, right in the middle of the song they were performing, I saw Evelyn reach out with one hand and physically restrain the drumsticks of the person standing next to her as they tried to come in (too early). The song continued on without a hitch, and nobody realized the near disaster. Honestly, I was mostly impressed with the kids- most of whom had only started to learn their instruments two months ago. I was also impressed with Tyler, the band teacher, and his patience with these kids. I get to perform with him pretty regularly in the band at church, and he is a great musician as well as a great teacher.

*****

This weekend was also opening day at the ski resort, and we all had a good time getting back into the groove of winter. I was even able to get out a little bit on my stupid broken toe, but it will be a few more weeks before I am able to really do anything. Just as well. I have new park skis that I am excited to use this season, and since there was just barely even enough snow to open, the park is still in the process of being built. It was enough to watch Maren hit a jump unawares and go for a surprise flight to give us all enough entertainment for the day. She was a champ about it and laughed with the rest of us as I helped her put her skis back on.

Lindsey spent most of the day digging in the snow for dinosaur bones. She has got to learn how to ski better so Rachel and I aren't stuck taking turns with her. 

Have a good week!

This was our week to get ready for Christmas. Lights. Tree. Presents. More presents.

...And more presents.

Seriously, we get like 10 packages per day on our doorstep. I feel like we should leave cookies or something out for our delivery guy. That's what happens, I guess, when you do virtually all of your Christmas shopping, as well as your kids' Christmas shopping, on the internet, on the same day. The upside of all of this is that it has been one week of complete wrapping paper chaos, and then we cleaned up and were done. Boom!

*****

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves though, I need to address the ever pressing issue of the gingerbread contest. I know that most of the readers of this blog have probably not been able to sleep out of anticipation for the outcome. Well, wait no longer my friends! This year, I proudly present the undisputed winners! The treehouse!

I don't even know how many years we have done this. A lot. And this, I am a little embarrassed to say, is the first year that me or my team has actually won. You better believe I am going to gloat a little bit. It might be a while before I get another chance!

And in second place, we have the theme park.

Everyone did a great job. So much fun.

I had to include Lindsey with her volcano. I have never seen a little girl so pleased with herself.

*****

So, here are a few more pictures:

Getting our Christmas Tree

Meeting Elsa at a "Frozen" party

Ev and some of her friends at the school Christmas Carnival. I'm not sure what's painted on their foreheads. Kids these days! haha ROTFLOL YEET! /s

Not a Christmas thing, but Evelyn and Rachel made this booth for the "Fair Trade Festival." Ninos com Valor is the orphanage they are going to in Bolivia. Ev did most of the work, answered most of the questions people had, and did most of the fundraising. I'm proud of these ladies.

Also, I broke my baby toe. So there is that. But it's all good.

Have a good week!

It's that time of year again- GINGERBREAD CONTESTS! If you want, you can read about our Thanksgiving in Rexburg. If not, that's okay. Either way, you should scroll down, look at the two houses, and then vote by leaving a comment here, or on Facebook, or on Instagram, or by texting us, or whatever. The more people vote, the better. 

Thank you!

*****

As for Thanksgiving, it was great. I drove down to Rexburg after work on Wednesday and Rachel drove up from Utah. It was slow going for both of us on snowy roads, but by Thursday morning we were all in one place at my parent's house. Haley and Allison (my sisters) were there too with their families, and it was a full house.As any good Thanksgiving should have, there was lots of talking, laughing, football watching, game playing, and eating.

Large Thanksgiving dinner with all the people. Good times.

We went to a place called Kidsburg. It was a nice way to get out of the cold.

More Kidsburg things. I think I got hit about 50 times trying to get this picture. I'm not sure what Bennett is aiming at.

*****

GINGERBREAD

We have two entries this year.

TEAM A

Team A made a lovely treehouse on the banks of the candy river. Details include a landscaped yard, tire swing, and a lazyboy chair inside the house (as any good treehouse should have).

Also, a volcano. For scale (it's a very large tree). I can't even begin to tell you how proud the designer of this volcano is of their creation.

Alright, on to TEAM B

Team B did a theme park. While not technically a gingerbread "house," we let it slide. There is a lot going on here, so see the detail photos below.

Entrance

Ferris Wheel

This is the panic plunge ride. Also, a concessions stand in the background.

Rollercoaster

Gazebo and lazy river

So, there you have it. Team A or B. Which will it be?

Well, there aren't many pictures this week. The kids are all out of school for Thanksgiving, and Rachel took them down to Utah to see family. I will drive down a little later this week to meet them for the weekend. In the meantime, I have been keeping myself busy with books, live theater, work, and rock climbing. To be honest, I enjoy these times of pure self-indulgence, although they also help me to appreciate how much I actually enjoy the family lifestyle that we usually have.

Three different shows. "This is Our Youth" is a delightfully depressing cross section of young adulthood in well-to-do Manhattan, and was performed in the round. "Jesus Christ Superstar" is...well...it is what it is. It's been around forever and was worth the time spent re-watching it. "Venus in Furs" is one I hadn't heard of before, and was a jaunting intellectual excursion as fiction and reality are played with in fun, if sometimes disturbing ways. All good shows. The only thing that could have made them better is if Rachel was with me to see them.

Earlier this week we hosted a couple of families at our home for a meet-up. We had a bunch of kids running around, made some new friends, and reconnected with some old ones. I'd say it was a successful evening. Rachel and I also went out to a fun show at the Lake City Theater called "Open Relationships," which had us laughing most of the night. Finally, we went out Ax throwing with Jessica (who I work with) and her husband, Jeff. It had been a while since I had honed the important skill of hucking sharp instruments through the air, but I now feel sufficiently practiced in the case that I am called upon to defend my life in a dark alley using axes. After all, you can never be too prepared for these things.

It's been a fun week and we are all looking forward to catching up with extended family for Thanksgiving.

Have a good week!

14 years ago, when we were first married and living in a dingy little four-plex in Provo across from the cemetery, Rachel saw an ad for a "Sherlock Holmes mystery dinner." One of those affairs where you get to play a part and dress up and solve mysteries and stuff. At the time, we had no money, and this dinner wasn't cheap. This was convenient, since I really wasn't too into the idea in the first place. We simply couldn't justify it to ourselves. But ever since then, the topic has come up from time-to-time, and is then "forgotten" until Rachel remembers to bring it up again.

Well, this time she didn't just bring it up. Instead she came to me and said "Logan, you need to get a costume. I booked us for a thing, and you, my love, are the esteemed 'Lord Winston Eversol.' It will be fun!"

Here I am as "Lord Eversol," a jaded politician. As for Rachel, she is "Priscilla Prescott," a wealthy horse breeder.

And actually, the night did end up being a lot of fun. We went to a large mansion where we were led to a parlor with the other guests, who were also in costume. There was a fantastic multi-course dinner, followed by a staged murder, and then a series of clues to discover the culprit. Rach and I ended up being the ones to finally solve it (not that we're competitive or anything), and then we capped off the night with pleasant conversation and dessert. It was a good time, and we might even do it again someday.

This was Rachel's favorite picture of the night. I think I took her a little by surprise ;)

Besides our evening out together, Rachel and I got to spend some time outdoors with the kids. The days are getting shorter and colder, but not yet cold enough for snow sports. It's kind of a tough time of year to find things to do, so when the weather is even just a little bit nice we take full advantage.

The girls found a log and made a "raft." It was all fun and games until they started inviting other kids to hop on as well. Let's just say that some people went home a little bit colder than expected.

I also have to include this lovely candid picture of Jackson playing in his room. I love the style!

Have a good week!

Halloween is better shared in pictures. Here you go:

Here we are getting ready for the big night.

So, Evelyn actually had 3 different Halloween "Outfits." This first one is not a costume, but the clothes she wore to her very first school dance. The theme was "Black-and-White." She had lots of fun and said afterwords that her feet would probably be sore from dancing so much. As it should be.

Here is her second costume that she wore for the downtown trick-or-treating booth that her youth group did (in conjunction with a bunch of other local businesses).

I really wish that I had a picture of the whole group and the set-up and everything. Ev has really made herself a part of this crew, and has fun doing things with them.

And then her third costume that she used for trick-or-treating into the wee hours of the night. Her and Addy had mapped their route out weeks ahead of time, including various pit-stops at our house to empty out their overflowing bags of candy. So, so much candy. Ugh.

Addy was the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland

Jack was a ninja

Maren is Alice

And Lindsey is Belle. I think.

All the kids had Halloween parties at school.

Trick-or-treating downtown is something we have always done (Ev wasn't there because she was doing the booth). We then go home, have a quick dinner, and then let the kids loose out into the neighborhood. Did I say how much candy we have now? Oh man.

Besides Halloween, our week itself was pretty good. After work on Friday I went out to a celebratory dinner with my team for my 5-year "workiversary" in Post Falls. I really couldn't ask for better people to work with, a more loyal patient base, or a better place to live. Things are great.

On Saturday, we went to the Silver Mountain resort. We'll be headed up there pretty much every weekend to ski here in a little bit, but for now we just went to the water park. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

As for Rach and I, we went to the Reel Rock film festival in Spokane. Drinks, tamales, a bunch of climbers, and some pretty awesome videos made for a fun scene. Rach won some items at a silent auction, helping to fund a memorial for a local climber who died earlier this year in an avalanche. I have started breaking more and more into 5.13 grades lately, and it is rewarding to be a part of this community. I'm pretty sure that climbing will be a part of my life for a good long while.

Well...Have a good week!