Christmas 2013 - Part 6 (Final)

On the 30th, the girls and I woke up and started goofing off with the LEGO's they found in the basement (they brought up from the night before). We started making a building and I got side tracked with the shark LEGO.

They were big helpers when they wanted to make their own lunch.

Around 2, they started playing with the makeup kit they got for Christmas. Ady was putting on makeup like a princess, Chloe wanted to be a tiger (using the eyeliner).

Then Ady decided she wanted to be a tiger too...

I don't wear makeup, I didn't know eyeliner didn't come off so easily. So they were in the bathroom scrubbing with warm water and a washcloth. I got a tip from my friends said that Baby Oil helps, and that worked a lot better than warm water. Got cleaned up, the girls helped make spaghetti dinner and then we headed out around 5:30 to get to the ball game. Because of traffic and road closures (thanks to EVE) on the way I wanted to go, we had to go another way and park in a different spot. But we made it and parked under City Creek and as promised, we rode TRAX to Energy Solutions Arena.

We got off at our stop right in front and walked to the doors. I gave the each of the girls their tickets to get in.

I posted this video of pictures and videos combined of the Jazz game...

We had fun. We hopped on TRAX back to the car, but had to look at the fish at City Creek before we left. Made it home and went to bed because we had to be up the next day to have me drive the girls home.

Woke up and got ready and packed. I was hoping to leave by 10AM. Nope, around 11:30AM, we were finally on the road.

Made it down to St. George around 4. I was there for an hour before I was back on the road.

Made it home safely around 9:30PM.

Girls, I love you so much and I hope you had a great time. I miss you so much, everyday! I can not wait to see you again in a few weeks.

Here are all the pictures I took...

Christmas 2013 - Part 5

I took care of the girls until I had to go to work. But before I left, I found a picture on Facebook that allowed kids to write to their favorite Disney character, asking for their autograph.

I read, not only do they send an autograph, they sign a picture.

So I helped the girls write the letter. I prepared the envelopes.

So when I arrived at work, I bought 2 stamps and mailed them (only to realize they wouldn't mail until Monday-- D'oh!).

[[Lunch]] ;)

But I had to close again and by 11PM, I have to lock the north doors, I saw how foggy it was.

Came home and fell asleep.

I took a shift on Sunday evening for 4 hours (even though I was scheduled to be off). But way before I went into work, I let the girls make a rubber band bracelet from the kit that TJ got them for Christmas.

I made a promise to the girls. If I was feeling okay on Sunday, I would take them skating. I checked the time and saw they had open skating from 12-2. Perfect! I didn't have to to be to work until 4, so we went up.

Remind you, I had not skated in 16-17 years (since middle school), but after a few minutes, it all came back to me.

I went to work and worked my cashier shift. Came home and played with the girls before we went to bed. The next day was a big and fun day!

Christmas 2013 - Part 4

The girls woke up on the 26th, along with Grandma, and they did their Shrinky-Dinks.

I was going to take the girls to get their Furby with their money... But I decided against that since the day after Christmas is a nightmare for anything at the stores. So instead, they played with their new toys and ate some of their (and my) Christmas candy.

Later in the day, I had to go close the store. Came home and found the girls asleep on my bed, again :)

Also while at work, my dad called and said someone rang the door bell, but when they answered, they found only a Furby sitting on the doorstep. (We found out who dropped it off on New Years Eve)

I woke up a found out they convinced grandma to let them watch RiffTrax, lol. I had the day off, so I let them play with their new Furby. There is an app for iOS and Android, but the Furby would not communicate/sync with their tablets (Android-- I think because of location of microphone and speakers), so we synced it with my iPhone. Now came the issue: Who claimed this Furby and who would get to pick out the new one? So we flipped a coin for it (as we always do in situations like this) and Chloe won. So after getting ready, we stopped at Dan's and cashed in all their loose change into CoinStar. Then headed over to Toys R Us to let Ady pick out hers. Stopped at my bank to make a deposit of Christmas money, then headed home to let the girls play with their Furby.

While they were playing with their Furbies, I hopped online and ordered 3 tickets to the December 30th Utah Jazz game. The girls first basketball game.

But Aunt Annie wanted to take the girls skating on Friday. After she got off work, she came over and we (my mom, Annie, girls and I) drove over to the Rec Center. I helped get their skates on. I originally wanted to skate with, but I woke up and felt something in my lungs, so I passed and took video.

We came home and we got ready for bed because they were exhausted.

Christmas 2013 - Part 3

I woke up early on Christmas morning.

We woke the girls and waited a while before Annie and Ben arrived, before we really started opening presents.

Once the girls opened their new rollerskates, they had to try them on.

After opening presents, my parents took my grandma up to Bountiful. The girls watched Uncle TJ play the drums.

We finally got ready to head over to my grandparents for brunch. The girls ate and then went out and played in the backyard in the snow.

We sat around for a short while before we sat together as an entire family and played LCR [Wikipedia].

Things were getting intense towards to end, so I started filming.

We played another round (minus 4-6 people) and my mom won.

After chit chatting for a bit, we called it a day. So we said goodbye to everyone and headed back home. Since I woke up early, I crashed when I got home.

After waking, I watched the girls play with their toys. By bedtime, we got ready for bed and they wanted to watch one more Christmas movie this season. They fell asleep. I was up for a while, but fell asleep later on.

Christmas 2013 - Part 2

I had to be to work at 10AM, but the second I got there, I had to immediately hop in a checkstand because we were busy! I left 45 minutes earlier than my scheduled shift (thanks Jacque!) and headed home to get ready for the party.

A few relatives were already at the house when I arrived home. The girls had been busy all day helping Grandma Sheila, but they were ready in their casual wear. Around 6PM we all started to eat dinner. Then it was time for games. First game, pin the bow on Santa. Ady won that game.

After that game, we played Christmas Bingo. Luckily, Chloe won it on the second game of bingo.

Then, it was time to play White Elephant. Ady won a money jar that counts your coins. Chloe won a couple bags of licorice. I won a little Santa jar with a few dollars in it.

Before everyone went home, they watched the girls open a few presents they brought for the girls.

Olive was tired!

A tradition in my house is to get a new ornament. The girls opened theirs and then I opened mine.

After, the girls, with the help of Aunt Annie and Uncle Ben, frosted Christmas tree shape cookies for Santa.

We got the girls ready for bed in their new PJ's, and fell asleep...

Christmas 2013 - Part 1

On Friday, December 19th, my mom and I drove down to St. George and picked up the girls from school. We drove them over to their house to pick up their stuff and to change clothes since they wore pajamas to school that day (because it was the last day of school before Winter Break). So we grabbed their stuff and took off for Nephi to pick up my grandma since she would be staying with us for a few days. We made it back to SLC around 8PM.

The next morning, I woke up to head to work at 10AM. I found the girls helping Grandma Sheila dust the snow off the pine tree branches in the front yard. Such big helpers!

I got off work around 6PM and goofed around with the girls. After dinner, I took the girls to get birthday cards for my mom and then stopped at Dan's to show all the changes in the remodel. We grabbed a couple hot cups of cocoa and headed back home. We had sliced apples with caramel dip and watched movies until we fell asleep.

I had to be up at 7AM the next two mornings to be to work at 8. I had to "man" the self-checkout lines on Sunday. After getting off work, Annie and Ben, TJ, the girls and I did gingerbread houses later in the evening.

As mentioned, I had to be to work at 8AM on Monday as well, but I got off at 2PM and came home. I was exhausted! So I laid down with the girls to take a nap. We woke up an hour later, had dinner and then got ready (along with my mom) to drive downtown to see the lights in Temple Square.

Even though we had dinner earlier, the girls were starting to get a little hungry. So we grabbed a $1 cheeseburger from McDonald's. We were going to see Santa after eating, but we walked out and saw that he was gone. Boo! So we headed to the car and drove to my work to grab a few items for the Christmas Eve party we were having at my parents house this year (and for the first time ever, might I add). Got home and got ready for bed since I knew it was going to be a busy day at work the following day.

Jarrett Christmas Party 2013

My original plan was to drive down on Friday and to then drive to Nephi on Saturday... But since I had Thursday off too, I wanted to see my girls so much. So I drove down early on Thursday and made it into town early to pick up the girls from school.

I drove the girls back to the girls house and helped them finish their homework so they could turn it in on Friday. We had to take a break to go get dinner, but came back and finished their homework.

When they were all done, I told them I had their Christmas gifts for them and they could open them now.

They watched movies (that I put on them the night before) the rest of the night until we had to go to bed so I could take them to school.

Woke up and took them to school. I filled up with gas and then headed over to my old work (Lin's) and said Hi to my friends and old co-workers. Grabbed stuff to make dinner and then rested for a bit at the house before I had to head out at 1 to go pick up the girls at 1:15. I picked them up and then we went and picked up Chloe's meds. Headed home and played. We had dinner and then watched A Christmas Story on the AppleTV. They fell asleep right before it was over.

We woke up and had to get them packed to drive up to Nephi with me for the Jarrett Christmas party. They just played on their tablets the whole way and we finally made it to Nephi right before 1PM, when the party started. The girls immediately started playing with the other kids and doing crafts.

We ate lunch together and then Santa came to visit. The girls were the last to get their gifts from him.

Then it was the adults turn to play White Elephant. I picked out a slot machine piggy bank. When it was over, we said our goodbyes and then had to go gets some meds at the dollar store and fill up on gas. Finished with that and headed back to my grandma's house to spend the night.

When we got there, there was about a couple inches of snow on the ground. I told the girls to come help shovel off the snow. Luckily, there were three snow shovels and we started shoveling. By the time we were done, our hands were cold and so we went inside and had left-over turkey sandwiches for dinner. The girls played games and watched movies on their tablets. I watched the Jazz game with my parents and grandma. We got ready for bed and went to bed shortly after.

Woke up and before I started eating breakfast, my dad asked where the car key to his car was. I went to my pants, not there. Jacket, not there... I looked everywhere. So did my parents. We looked outside where I had shoveled and could not find the keys. So after looking EVERYWHERE, my mom left with my grandma and the girls to head south. She took the girls home and then her and my grandma went and had fun in Mesquite for a few days.

Since I had technically lost the only set of keys, my dad and I had to drive home in my grandma's car. I drove, but we made it home safely. It wasn't a long trip, and except for feeling bad that I lost the keys, it was so good to see my girls. I love them so much!

To see the set of pictures I took of this trip, CLICK HERE!

It's Snowing

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MY GIRLS BLOG...

I hope mom showed you the picture of the snow from this morning...

Then when I woke up, grandma and grandpa asked me to go shovel the driveway and sidewalks. So I got ready... Do I look warm enough?

No... Silly daddy. So I put on pants, a beanie and gloves and shoveled the driveway like they asked with the snowblower.

But I posted that silly picture on Facebook, and my friends commented on it...

Remember me singing the pants song when you two were little?

If you want to play in the snow, don't worry, it has snowed a lot in the past few hours. So I think there will be plenty left when you come up this weekend... Can't wait to see you on Friday.

Love,

Dad