This year Derek was pretty sick on New Year's Eve so in lieu of having our own get together for New Years' we let Liv invite a bunch of her friends over to party. She had quite the group (even even let her brothers join in) She planned a bunch of games for them all to play and had snacks/sparking cider. Derek made if fun by getting a few aerial fireworks to set off for the kids.
While there Babi took both boys on lunch
dates for their birthday. 
This year for the first time in a long while we had none of
my family coming for Christmas. We
debated about going to Orlando for the BYU pop tart bowl game. Derek actually bought tickets and everything,
but when Notre Dame dropped out he got mad and cancelled the trip. Which would have been very expensive. Then we toyed with the idea of spending it in
San Diego as canceling the trip was a bit of let down for the kids. But ultimately, we decided to drive out to
Reno and spend Christmas with Kylie and Jordan.
In honor of visiting Jordan (and mostly because I didn’t
want to pack all the kids presents out to Reno and back), we decided to
celebrate Hanukkah this year. We bought
a menorah and candles. Each night we
would light an additional candle and let the kids open one gift. They loved it. The first night learned about why Hanukkah is
celebrated and the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days in the temple. The next night we learned about dreidels and
sang a dreidel song and played a dreidel game.
The next night, we made potato latkes.
The next night we learned some family history about the Roshen family
from my line who were orthodox Jews from Odessa Russia (Ukraine) who left due
to persecution after some horrible pogroms and came to New York City- they
changed their name from Roshen to Rowe. The
next night, we called Jordan on the phone and he recited the Hanukkah prayers
in Hebrew for us. He would say a line
and the kids would repeat it back. One
night we actually did a Christ spin off and talked about how our Savior is the
light of the world and how the light the Jews were trying to keep burning in
the temple was to help them look forward to the coming of The Messiah (The Light
of the world). And the last night, we
made fried donut holes! It was really a
lot of fun and the perfect year to do it so most all the presents had been
opened when we left on Christmas Eve for Kylie and Jordans.
I only packed out stockings for each person and Christmas jammies that matched their cousins.
The
8 hour drive to Reno was pretty painless.
Our kids are becoming great car travelers and our new expedition is so
nice to travel in. I loved getting to
spend time with Ky. All the kids loved beating up on Derek- even Ava got in on it.
We had great food. A charcuterie snack, cheese and chocolate fondue, halibut that stunk up the whole house the rest of the time we were there. The last night there we had prime rib and Ky made a homemade Ceasar Salad.
Despite the picture, JoJo absolutely abhorred the boys and would bark and growl at them every time they walked past her.
One day everyone went to see David in the movie theater, but Ky and I stayed back at the house with Ava.
Then next day, we all went to Wild Island- rode go karts, played arcade games, bowled.
Liv and Derek mini golfed while the younger kids played in a big indoor playground. The last day there, we sent Kylie and Jordan for a spa day and we watched the kids- took them to the park and watched the BYU bowl game with Dad at the house. It was a close game with Georgia Tech, but BYU won! It was so fun (and exhausting) to spend time with our young cousins. The baby cousins woke up early (about 6:30 every morning and would wake up their older cousins too). We played some games- LIFE and we taught Jordan and Kylie Idiot. Dean is so funny right now- will only wear black tshirts and khaki shorts or jeans. I think Kylie and Jordan really loved having us in their home and it was nice for my kids to spent time with their grandpa, uncle, aunt and cousins.
Ander invited the boys to his EMT class on pediatric day so all the students could practice these skills on pediatric patients. Carter got strapped into a body board.
The boys are officially teenagers and all they wanted to do
for their birthday party was play tackle football in the backyard with their
friends and then they watched the BYU basketball game.
They got Nike slippers from Babi and Papou for their
birthday. They were pretty excited about it.
Camden is playing the French Horn in the junior high
band. Not sure he loves it or carrying
that awkward instrument around, but it has been a good experience learning a
new instrument. Carter has learning
percussion instruments and seems to really enjoy it. They both did great in their Christmas band
concert.
Carter is now in round two of braces. Camden has to get 4 teeth pulled in the
coming weeks and will get his second round on soon too.
The boys got into a free basketball camp put on by the BYU player Rob Wright. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. They had free breakfast and lunch and free haircuts (but the boys didn't have time to get one) and ran some basketball drills.
Liv is still participating with her acapella group Amplify. They had a fun photo shoot of the kids.
One day at school they had the option to pet alpacas for
flight time. Liv decided she loves
alpacas and wants one.
Liv is getting better and better at driving. She was so proud of herself the first time
she parked between the lines in a parking lot that she took a picture to send
her Dad.
Liv and her friends love Taco Bell- mostly for the baja
blasts during happy hour. Almost every
Friday she convinces me to take a car full of kids to Taco Bell after
school.
Liv and her friends love a local artist, Paige Fish, she was
playing at the Depot in SLC so they all got tickets and went to the concert
together.
I got invited to go with Liv to see the second half of
Wicked with Emma and her Family. Our
musical loving selves loved it of course.
Liv was invited to participate in a BYU film student’s final
project. It was a great opportunity to
get some film experience. It was a cute
story called "To Love Somebody" by Ella Revill about a grandma getting her granddaughter ready for her first date dance
and reminiscing about her first date dance with her husband who had since
passed.
