Eat Fresh Party Style

John got Rich to "smile" in this picture. Thank you John!

On the drive up Ethan and I were talking about Subway and came to the conclusion that he and Jed were the only two members of the family who have not yet worked at Subway in some way. *People have either worked as an employee, helped with books, helped with food orders, cleaned, restocked, or something else inside the store. Because of this Christmas Ethan can finally say that he has helped Subway stay in business! 

On Monday December 23rd, someone called in a 9 party sub order, which is 108 ft of sandwich! A giant order for just the employees who also had to continue running the store. Luckily for my dad and the other workers, he had extra hands in town ready and able to help. A lot o prep work was done during the day so we just had to add veggies and assemble, but it was still a giant task. And it gave Ethan a small taste of the Subway life! 

(Rich was sincerely this upset to go back to Subway. He really hates this place and wanted no proof that he had been there at all, but his little sister was very annoying and kept insisting. Finally he agreed to be in the pictures if he didn't have to smile! DEAL!)

A giant party sub takes a lot of work to make. You have to make the bread (which is 5 original loaves braided together), cut the veggies, set up the meat and cheeses, set aside the mustard and mayo and napkins, cut and fold the boxes, assemble the whole thing, and then pray that you folded the boxes right or don't drop the sandwich as you put it into the box! Im just glad so much was done during the day and that we had so many helping hands.

And while all that is happening, the store has to keep running. Dad worked on the normal daily tasks to help the other employees keep the store functioning! It is a crazy and fun mess (when it is not your normal routine)

To get the top of the sandwich onto the bottom, it took 4 hands to flip it without messing up the cheeses and bread. Just the perfect activity for two young couples! 

We got done within an hour and after wards went shopping in preparation for Christmas. Shopping was especially fun though because we left the girls with Grandma at home and we knew that they were sound asleep by this point. Date night to Walmart!

This is the last thing we saw before we walked out the door. The girls were in great hands! 

*I stand corrected! Christine and Carolyn haven't helped in anyway either. So apparently the club was much bigger than we realized. Even so, now Ethan can say that he has worked at Subway.

Pre Christmas

We got to Spokane December 20th  which gave us tons of time to party before Christmas. The best part of the pre Christmas celebrations, was that Kelsey not only had a friend to play with everyday, but had space to play with her in! It was so much fun to watch Norah and Kelsey play together. They are only 2 weeks apart,so obviously Shara and I are doing everything in our power to make them best friends. So far our plans are going well, but occasionally Norah and Kelsey protest in the form of hitting each other and not wanting to share. Shara and I are hoping it is an age thing and not a life thing :)

The favorite toy quickly became the piano. It took them a while to realize that they could both play at the same time, but once they figured it out, one never played without the other. The playing started very clam, but as the days went on, the playing got more and more animated. Of course Kelsey rarely stayed on her feet and always wanted to switch places with Norah, but no one ever fell off the piano so alls well.

There was a lot of coloring,

a lot of great sharing,

 (Norah taught Kelsey how to walk around with a bucket on her head and Kelsey found it hilarious!)

and some sharing that didn't go quiet as planned. 

 (The faces of these girls just says it all. 1)Kelsey was happy to have Norah playing with the little chairs and table with her, 2)she stood up to smile and Norah "shared", 3)Kelsey did not like this idea. Just keep looking down Norah. Maybe she won't notice)

 Kelsey and Norah are called the twins because they are so close in age which is a family joke because they are really so different in every way possible. However despite their differences, Kelsey and Norah are at the exact same spot developmentally and so when they play together it is so cute to watch. My favorite thing about watching them probably is that they both love to read books and want to read books all the time. It is adorable to watch them read together.

Okay, enough with Kelsey and Norah already!!! We had a lot of fun before Christmas too. I went shopping with my mom and Shara while Ethan stayed with Kelsey. We went to Subway a few times, had a few trips to Costco, we went hot tubing a few times, made too many Christmas treats, watched Christmas movies, Ethan and Rich played a LOT of Nintendo, and my personal favorite... played more games than I can count! 

Surprisingly we played Aggravation the most and Ethan won every time! I haven't played Aggravation since I was a kid, but let me tell you! That game is so aggravating!!! As Rich would say though... THAT'S DALLAS!

Game nights growing up always consisted of popcorn and Koolaid... now they consist of popcorn and cold ones. (Bottled root beer folks!)

 

Mom was not ready for this picture but it was the only picture I could find of the game. Sorry mom!

 

We typically would only pull out the treats after Kelsey and Norah went to bed, but one day the treats came out a little bit earlier. Kelsey caught on to what she was missing, climbed up on to the table, and literally begged for ice cream from Shara! The pictures were super blurry, but it was hilarious. 

  

Shara is like one of the craftiest people I know and over break she tried to help me practice my crafting skills. She taught me how to crochet this awesome scarf with only my arms. It was so much fun, and while we were making them we watched White Christmas. I only messed up twice but luckily Shara was able to help me unmess up my problems. My scarf turned out fantastic! Thank you Shara.

My dad is currently serving in the singles ward in our stake and so for church we went to the singles ward. Kelsey has never been better at church EVER!! It was amazing. I was especially nervous because singles wards are typically dead quiet, but she did great. One time she saw dad sleeping up on the stand, tapped my shoulder and goes "Poppa shhhhh!!" and then went "HELLOOOO!" in his direction. It was hilarious. She also got confused by the song director. He was standing right in front of us and while he was leading the songs, Kelsey would wave back and go HELLOOOOO. Well he kept "waving" so she kept waving and after a few minutes she either got tired or confused but looked at me, scrunched up her face, and then stopped. It was awesome. Needless to say, church in the singles ward was awesome and an adventure in itself. 

 Before I close, I can't end without giving a shout out to the Nellys. Every single night they would put Norah to bed in a pack and play, would wake her up at about 10:30/11, put her in the car, drive her home, and then put her back to bed in her crib just to wake up to another early start back to Grandmas house. She missed out on so many naps because of us. They did this the whole time we were there and Norah was a champ. I know what its like to have a cranky baby but I am so grateful that they did this so that we could see them as much as possible. Thank you Rich, Shara, Nors.

Christmas Mayhem

I am really beating myself up over this post because I didn't take any pictures, but I guess in the midst of unplanned crazy, what normal person stops to take pictures?! I guess I can pat myself on the back and say that I showed a little bit of normalcy for once.
Now that I have built this story up WAY TOO MUCH, let me share our efforts to get Ethan to Chicago and us to Spokane.
Ethan had a final on December 20th in the evening, but then we were blessed to get an interview with Gallup for the 19th in the evening. Due to awesome teachers and quick planning, Ethan was able to reschedule his final and book his flight for Chicago. Took his final, I was at home packing like crazy and by 12 we left a sunny 45 degrees Provo to head to the air port, then Bountiful, and ultimately Spokane the Saturday to follow. Driving was no problem because like a said the weather was more than ideal, and then we got to the point of the mountain where there was an ominous cloud just waiting for our approach with no escape. We had no choice but to keep driving and pray that things would work out safely. We got up the hill and headed down into Salt Lake valley and that is where the snow finally hit us fast and furious. The roads were terrible and so we thought that it might be safer to get off the freeway and get on Bangater to head to the airport. Unfortunately Bangater was just as bad or worse, but luckily Ethan is a very good, safe, and cautious driver so we were all able to stay relatively calm. Cars were swerving like crazy and most people were driving winter smart, but of course there were those idiots "who know how to drive in the snow" who just had to mess it up for the rest of us. After a few miles of very slow travel (and a few accidents) a car in front of us, who was going WAY too fast for the conditions, lost control and slide across all three lanes. Everyone did a fantastic job avoiding this car, including Ethan, but because of this idiotic car, Ethan had to slow down even more. Ethan was watching the cars in front and so he didn't notice the 18 year old "awesome snow" driver behind us who was already following too closely, and so when Ethan slowed down there was no choice for this kid but to hit us. Everything happened in slow motion so it was really surreal. Ethan was watching the front trying to avoid that stupid car, and I looked in our mirrors watching this kid approach us at "ramming" speed. (not really but it totally feels that way when you know that nothing can be avoided right?!
Well we got hit which I can't say was a blessing but I still feel like we were super blessed. Not even a 1/2 mile ahead there was a police car just sitting on the side of the road waiting for the next accident. He told us he was just waiting since the roads were that bad. We were able to pull over immediately and get all the help we needed. The hit scared Kelsey, but other than being scared we were all perfectly fine. In less than 30 minutes, the cop had our statements and we had exchanged all information and we were able to be on our way. Now another blessing was that the cop was from Bountiful and since the accident happened in Draper he technically wasn't allowed to help us, but because there were about 7 other accidents that happened before us on Bangater, he was given authorization to help us which made our wait time much less than it normally would have been. Because we were close to Scotts, we were also able to drive to his house and call the insurance company from inside a house and got everything worked out in less than 45 min.
No accident is fun and our car still had to be repaired (which took 6 days!!!! Thank you Wings for letting us borrow the van), but all in all we were blessed in so many ways. We took the car to the auto shop and were told that it was completely safe and drivable and so we were still able to drive it to Spokane with no problems at all. Again: a major blessing.

Now in all of this Ethan was still trying to catch a plane. The weather was horrible, but Southwest wouldn't up date their flight information and so we had no idea of knowing if his flight was on time or delayed. We decided that we would play it safe and so slowly made our way to the airport in hopes that he would be able to fly out or at least find the information that he needed. No surprise, I got a call about an hour later saying that his flight had been totally cancelled, but while I was taking the car to the shop, Diana was able to watch Kelsey, and Robert was able to go pick up Ethan. Ethan was also able to reschedule his flight with Gallup too so even that had no major consequences.

The weather was only going to get worse and so we decided that the next morning we would head to Spokane. Kelsey was being extremely good and so we didn't stop. We knew that there were storms in Idaho and Washington and so we drove until we needed gas. Kelsey let us drive from 7:30-3:30 with not a single whine or complaint! Can you believe that ?!?! Me neither!
We drove like crazy and as promised we hit a terrible storm in Missoula. We still felt very blessed though because we made great time the first 3/4, never needed chains, AND the car was holding up just fine over Look Out pass which is the worst part of the trip. Very winding, very snowy, and a very steep down grade. Missoula is only three house from Spokane, but the storm slowed us down to about 5 hours. We all lost it around Couer d'Alene (some held it together better than others, thank you Ethan) and had to stop and just walk around because Kelsey and mom were done! With much coaxing, Ethan got us back in the car and we finally made it around 8:45.The Nelly's were there to greet us and that reminded us that the journey was totally worth it. It was now time to party!!

The only pictures I thought to take were in Northern Utah. It looked like this pretty much the whole way until we hit the snow in Missoula. Cold, gray, but very clear roads.

Shoes and Headbands

Kelsey is such a girl and I'm so pleased. She loves babies, purses, princess, dresses, and especially shoes. She loves to say shoes and loves to put on shoes. Lets be honest, it may not be the shoes themselves but the Velcro that she loves so much but does that really matter? All of Kelsey's shoes are in a bin in her room and when we are leaving to go out, we always say, go get your shoes, and without fail no matter where we are going, she ALWAYS brings back her church shoes. Always. I don't know what it is about these shoes that she loves so much but she loves them. I mean LOVES them. Sometimes she will just bring them to me and say, "shoes?" even if we haven't asked her to bring them. The Sundays these shoes match her outfit, she gets so excited. She LOVES these shoes.
One night before a stake Christmas performance that I was in for church, she saw me getting ready and brought me her shoes even though she was staying home with dad to go to bed. It was adorable and finally gave us a chance to capture this moment forever.

 

Kelsey also LOVES to wear headbands. I wear headbands a lot around the house when my hair is short and I guess she thought that they looked way fun. One day she grabbed my headband and put it on. Now I don't wear my headband exactly like Kelsey sports it, but lets be honest... her way is probably more in style and way cuter!

In other news, I cut Kelsey's mullet again in hopes that her hair would be a little less crazy. I get so many comments about her hair and I just have to tell people that it does in fact drive me crazy too. We are just in that awkward hair phase. To fine to keep stuff in, too short to braid or pony, to long to leave down, etc. She also loves to rip out anything that I put in her hair. She did this so often that her hair started to break making our problem worse. For a few weeks I had to put nothing in her hair in hopes that it would grow and re-strengthen. It worked but she looked ridiculous! Luckily our efforts are working and she has stopped thinking its funny to yank out her hair. Long story longer, she had a nasty mullet, and I cut it to give her a little more of a bob so that at least when there is nothing in her hair, she has some shape. I didn't want to save her hair, so I took a picture to capture the color and the cuteness.

Cookie Day

Going on 4 years now, the Wing family cookie day fell on my birthday this year. I am so glad it did too because it broke up the monotony of finals week. Cookie day is typically a girls only event (and Holden of course) but this year we were a little more lenient and allowed Ethan and Andy to come. Nothing exciting this year like being chased by ducks or anything, but it was still a great cookie day. I ate WAY too much of Juliana's Christmas Crack which is now my new favorite Christmas treat, but it was my birthday so calories don't count right?!

 

  

Grandma bought ginormous gingerbread which were a huge hit with all the kiddos... and Ethan.

 

Kelsey didn't really want to decorate, but ate the candy as fast as she could

My 26th Birthday

Birthday's have always fallen around finals for me but it has never been a big deal because typically Ethan and I both have finals so we are both super busy. Either we are both super busy or we are both not busy. When we are on the same page, my birthday rocks. This year, we were not on the same page. Ethan was so busy and just didn't have time to party, and I have so much time to party that I get bored sometimes. It is just hard to have a fun birthday when half the group is in school. I was remembered by many, got a delicious breakfast burrito,  went to Cookie day, got many texts and obviously Facebook messages, went to the ward Christmas party, but it just wasn't the same. Life in school just makes things crazy and we have been forgetting things or giving half effort so much. We just need a vacation (or graduation) to come!

Saturday the 14th was awesome though. I got my Tucano's birthday card in the mail so we were able to go on a lunch date and get a buy one get one at Tucanos! We ate so much that neither of us ate the rest of the day. Thanks to the Harrison's we were able to leave Kelsey and go on a true date and it was the best birthday present of the year. Spending time with just Ethan is my favorite thing to do. Don't get me wrong. I love Kelsey so much, but to go on a date with just Ethan is so wonderful!

 Before and after! We dominated!

 I finally tried the chicken heart! It actually wasn't terrible. Very chewy, but not nasty. I mean I wouldn't pop 'em like candy, but still not terrible