Christmas Fun, Teenager Style.

We had such a fun Christmas celebration this year.  Rebecca joined us on Christmas Eve for an amazing dinner and a fun game of Bingo.  I had some amazing pictures, but they are in cyber land somewhere.  Thankfully, Kendall came through with some great pictures and lots of 'flicks' (that is what I think they are called?).

It was an amazing year, with lots of blessings and love.  I will call it a wrap for the year.  We will see you in 2023!

Tidbits.

 It has been a fun December.  We started off the month with a musical.  My mom went with the girls and I to watch The Secret Garden.  Every time I go to one of these musicals, I am grateful for our season tickets.  They really are magical.

This is actually kind of gross and also very cool.  Sidney and I were pulling into the garage when she exclaimed, "Look at that huge bird."  It turns out it was a hawk feasting on a smaller bird.  It was pretty phenomenal to sit and watch it all take place.

We pulled out the Christmas puzzle and completed it.  However, Sidney tried to do the puzzle trick, with the dogs in the room.  She lost a few pieces on the ground, which we had to quickly pull out of their mouths!  We dried them off and flattened them out.  Yep, gross, but my parents bought me this puzzle.  Then we counted the pieces.  Yep, we were two short.  Thankfully, we eventually found them underneath the puzzle board.  It was a very close call, but we managed to keep it all in tact!

Kendall has been up to visit Kevin's gravesite.  Sidney and I had not been up there for awhile.  So we drove up there on one of the snowy Boise mornings.  It was a beautiful site.  The Christmas wreaths had been placed at each headstone.  I know he would be so proud to be buried here.

One of Kendall's dance friends from last year, Elerie, surprised them all at practice last week.  She is home from college for Christmas.  They were all super excited to see her.

Sidney bought a kit to do acrylic nails.  I must say, she is very good.  I visited her nail studio for a full set of french tips.

Very professional.  I would give her the highest Yelp rating, give the opportunity.

Steelheads for the Win.

To continue my dad's birthday celebration, we went to watch the Steelheads during their sold out 'Christmas Eve Eve' game.  My friend, Ross, gifted us four tickets to the game.   As I mentioned, my pictures were lost in transit, so here is Kendall's version of the game from the parking lot to the stadium.

This next picture is the one that I am really glad I was able to recover.  A nice family took a bunch of pictures of us in front of the tree on the Grove.  Thankfully, I had sent this one to my mom before the dump.

Here we are in our seats.  They were pretty high up, but we had a super great view of the game.  We were right next to the club level, so of course I joked that we might as well be in a club room.

This was the clean up of the pucks after the toss.  Kendall dubbed this picture, very 'satisfying'.

I may or may not have made my teenagers Instagram story with this picture.  Look at me go!

...and here are the teens.

...and here is my goofy father with a beer the size of his head.

It was such a fun night!  The Steelheads won 6-0, so it was Jumbo Jacks for all of us.  Bonus!

Oh, that Cake!

My dad had his 73 birthday this week.  I had taken some great pictures this past week.  However, I accidentally (human error) lost all of them during the transfer to my computer.  I was so bummed and spent an hour looking for them to no avail.  I know exactly what I did, but at least I learned a lesson in patience.  All that being said, these last few posts include borrowed pictures. 

Here is one of my always goofy father.  We all went in and got him a top golf gift card for his birthday.  He is getting a hip replacement in January, so hopefully he is able to get a game in before the big surgery!

I was in charge of procuring the cake.  I sure did pick a lovely one, if I do say so myself.  It was equal parts beautiful and delicious with its layer of white chocolate melted over the top.

Reindeer Games.

Sidney has been doing some Tuesday night clinics this winter.  They have been super fun and helpful.  Most of the nights, her friend Lydia attends as well.  This week they had 'reindeer' games in lieu of training.  I guess I should not say in lieu of training, because these games were very tricky and good training for both the horse and the rider.

Lydia and Andy.

Sidney and Pigeon.  Love the hat!

Each team had to trot a lap with the crepe paper between them.  This took a few tries and lots of laughs to finish.

There was a giant ball for the horses to push from one end of the arena to the other and back.  Pigeon was definitely not sure about this one at first.

Here is me, freezing my butt off!  In all seriousness, my heated vest rocks!

A Hidden Valley Ranch Christmas.

 Yep, here she is in her super cute outfit, with a super cute girl to top it off!

Just look at those cute little pointy boots on her feet.  How did I manage not to get a full picture?  This selfie she took will have to do.

Sabrina threw an amazing party for all of the ranch families.  This lady certainly knows how to do it right!

I sat next to Bob and Bonnie.  They are such an awesome couple.  They are the owners of  Blue, the Boise State mascot horse.  

There was no shortage of games, as the girls participated in Santa Says.

My friend, Tina, happened to choose the gift I brought for the exchange.  Yep, I made her work for it:).

 It was a fun filled evening to remember.

Eh Capa Family Christmas.

As it turns out, the Eh Capa Christmas party was the same day as Kendall's winter recital.  Their annual party is a family affair.  My parents were quick to jump in and go to the banquet with Sidney.  Sid had to be there several hours early to help set up.  What better way to pass the time than bathroom selfies with friends?

Sidney was on the youth board last year and will be on the board again this year.  This is such a great experience for her!

My mom caught a picture of Elliott biting into one of her yummy sugar cookies.  

Really, I think she was trying to snap a picture of Sidney coming back after receiving her award.  Sidney received the most improved horse award.  Pigeon is like night and day from when we first got him.  They have both worked so hard.  It was a well deserved award.

It was kind of funny, as this party is typically a dress up function.  This year the youth board decided to do a pajama party.  This was decided literally the day after Sidney went shopping for a super cute outfit.  No worries, there is never a shortage of Christmas party's to go around.  In fact, she had another one the following day.
 

Winter Recital - The Talent.

Kendall has worked her butt off this year, and it showed.  Here are a few pictures from her dance recital.   

Revive Team Hip Hop.

This is kind of a funny story.  Kendall was supposed to do a crazy acro trick here, but she hurt herself right before going on.  She improvised this move at the very last second.  The crowd went nuts.  Afterwards, the choreographer (and instructor) applauded her and told her that if she had not choreographed the dance herself, she never would have known.

Revive Team - Contemporary.  This is one of the dances they will be competing with this year.  It is a beautiful and emotional dance.

The girls transfer a backpack to one another throughout the dance, and they did it flawlessly.  I love the faces that Kendall is starting to use in her dances to really show the emotion of the dance.

Jazz Technique

Hip Hop class

Lyrical / Contemporary.  This dance was also quite beautiful.  They danced to "I'll be Home for Christmas."  It was overlayed with phone calls from military to their families.  They used a phone as a prop.  

Ballet.  It always strikes me as ironic that Kendall DID NOT want to take a ballet class when she first started at the studio.  Wow, has she come far! She is the most beautiful ballerina.

Acro.  Enough said.