We kicked off the month with a beautiful snow storm and decided to head up the Nebo Loop for some family pictures. These mountain trails have brought so much peace and strength to me over the year, David was kind enough to humor me and drive us up for some photos.
We made our gingerbread houses--David and Pace made an impressive candy snowman and tree.
Parents were allowed at Pace's dance class, and Max got to join in on the parachute. Pace called Max over to sit right next to him, which warmed my mama heart.
Max always wants seasonal sprinkles on his cream of wheat, and I upped the ante by drawing snow flakes and snowmen with icing. Max approved.
The boys had their school performance, Pace was all the way in the back next to his friend, James, and Max was on the front row with cute little donkey ears. The songs they sung were all in Spanish...I think one song was about a donkey.
Annual Christmas cinnamon roll duty for peak! We brought the boys again to help, so they could participate in service and see all the trucks in the plant.
I always leave a basket of chips and goodies on the front porch for delivery people during the holidays, and a friend of mine dropped off these notes from her girls. They had snagged some bags of chips, and when she found out, she made them write apologies. I was rolling--the notes are hilarious! A few of my favorite lines: "I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry...I took a bag of chips and I just couldn't stop I love them" And the one signed "Mistray" (Mystery). We had a good laugh over the notes. And of course I brought the girls their very own bags of chips, haha.
We added a new kitty to our litter. A sweet little calico we named Foxy. It was a rough couple of days adjusting--This is the first time the cats all sat in a room together without hissing or growling. They are fine now, but it took a week or so to get everyone adjusted.
Christmas pies! I offered the sour cream apple cranberry (customer's favorite!), orange chocolate curd, caramel walnut, and chocolate peppermint ganache. I had 10 orders, which got me what I thought I'd be able to handle--about 20 9" pies, 4 dozen minis, and of course, a few extra dozen to try and sell leftovers. Thanksgiving was bigger than me...this was a much more manageable order, and I spread out pick ups over three days, which helped big time.
David had Pace help fix the dishwasher--I love his focus face.
We got the boys bunk bed/desk combos from Ikea for Christmas. David took one look at everything, got confused on step 2, and fell asleep on the floor. Good thing I'm good at Ikea puzzles. I spent Christmas Eve constructing the beds so they boys would have a place to sleep for their Jolly Book Flood. Max got influenza over Christmas break, so he was a little out of sorts, but still very willing to eat the chocolate chip cookies he picked out for his Jolly Book Flood treat. Pace was very excited to get TWO Minecraft series to read! I spent the next few days finishing up the desks under their beds, and cleaning out their room and toy room.
Rocket found his new favorite sleeping spot: in the middle fo all of Pace's stuffed animals under his desk.
On Christmas day, the boys were really excited about the treasure X toys David got them. They're really fun toy sets the kids had to excavate, and then find an extra little treasure in the treasure box.
The Sunday after Christmas Max still was a little goopy, so he and I stayed home so he wouldn't share anything. I also woke up feeling kind of under the weather, so it was nice to get some extra sleep, eat oranges, and cuddle on the couch.
Friends of ours had a neighborhood New Years party, so went for a couple hours. The kids played downstairs, and the adults played a couple board games. We went home around 10 to get everyone in bed--I was getting up early to meet some friends for a run, so we hit the hay early to welcome in 2019!
My last few adventures for the year:
I've been going to PT for the calf strain, but that resolved to quickly--just 2 or 3 weeks!--i thought I'd ask about my glut/piriformis issues that have been painful since I had the slipped disc when I was pregnant with Max. I still can't stand for more than 20 minutes before pain sets in, and days where I'm on me feet all day--cleaning the house, cooking, shopping, pies--all pretty painful. After just 3 or 4 appointments to works on those muscles, and I had a run completely pain free. It was a pretty exciting moment I had to document.
The next time I made it out, it was freeeeeeezing cold up Diamond Fork. The park service guys were up there closing the gates to the canyon JUST as I pulled up, so I parked below the gates and just ran along the road to the trailhead and back to the car. It was a quick run, but I'm glad it wasn't more--it was freezing cold--probably in the single digits up the canyon, and I wasn't wearing enough layers!
I went back up the next week with a friend, and we brought spikes, so we made it all the way too the hot pots. It was much warmer that day--probably close to 30, and there was a fully nude bather enjoying the hot pots.
On New Years Eve, Kat and Jen pulled me up Nebo Loop to hike up to the grotto. It was more a hike than a run, as the canyon had just gotten some fresh snow, so it wasn't a nicely groomed snowy road for running. We ended up snowshoeing the whole way up and down. But it was beautiful, and just what I needed to clear my head and review 2018.
Final stats include running a total of 836 miles with just over 100,000 ft of elevation! What a year!
