Pirate Porch

After last years awesome pirate-themed porch, I couldn't let the idea rest, and I certainly couldn't copy myself. So I spent the entire year thinking of ways we could pull off an even better porch, and because Teag is the sort of person who is incredibly patient (and he also secretly loves it), he helped me to pull it off. I ordered a ships wheel, and he created a mount, cutting the wood and staining it to match. He tied some rigging, and figured out how to secure. And most of all, he looked the other way when I spent more money than I should have on the whole thing. But the end result... magnificent.

It was so much fun to see it all come together, and even more so to surprise the kids with it. Every time I looked outside, I was happy to see the porch. And then... very early one morning, so stupid jerk came and stole the booty chest right off of our pirate's lap!

We'd talked about finding a way to secure it, but hadn't found a good solution. Everything in it was super cheap costume jewelry, but it was more the principle than anything. Especially because I'm sure they just chucked it in a gutter somewhere. I couldn't appreciate the irony of having my pirate porch robbed. I'll admit, it did take the shine off the whole thing a bit, but no one else messed with it, and we made sure everything else was secured really well.

Despite the thievery, I'm sure I'll come up with a new idea for next year. I'm thinking something with a gallows...

Christmas Day 2017

Christmas Day started bright and early for the Baylys. And we were all pretty surprised to see that several inches of snow had fallen over the course of the night, the first real snow we'd had! It was a Christmas miracle, as far as I was concerned.

Once our kids woke us up, we went quietly into the living room, where Rory found her a reply to her Santa letter, and Danyn read it aloud.

Then we divvied up the presents, holding Finn's back until he woke up. We took turns opening them, with Rory starting. Rory received several Beanie Boo's, little stuffed animals that she's become very attached to, as well as just about every Littlest Pet Shop set there is.

Danyn got a lot of coloring supplies, some books, and a crystal growing kit, as well as some jewelry.

Maisie got a skateboard, a basketball, several books, and some jewelry. She loved all her presents, but mentioned how it was a little different than years past, as she didn't have anything to really play with or build. One of the hard parts of getting older, I guess.

And me, you could definitely tell where my interests lie based on my presents. I got a lot of sweaters, and a lot of books. Two of my favorite things.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself because I managed to surprise Teag this year, something that is never easily done. My brother had designed a logo for our business awhile ago, and Teag had talked about getting some shirts and things embroidered with it, but he'd never gotten the necessary file from Kevin. So I went ahead and got it, swore Kevin to secrecy, than went to a custom embroidery shop and had them put the logo on a hat, a polo, a new backpack, and a jacket that Teag had already bought for that purpose. He had no idea, and was very surprised when he opened the box.

It looks good on him! He also got some great presents from the kids, like a new tape measure, and a fun pilot shirt, as well as a sweater from me. Because, you know, sweaters.

Finn woke up shortly after the rest of us were finished, and made quick work of his own presents. He got several Rescue Bot sets, a Bumblebee Rescue Bot, some Magformers (magnetic shape building), and a Chewbacca mask that makes Wookiee noises.

His face says it all

And now for your viewing pleasure.

Teag and I both felt like we hit a home run with presents. Everyone seemed happy, everyone was grateful, and we heard thank you's given over and over again. It was a very pleasant, contented morning, made more so by the opportunity we had to go to church that day and partake of the sacrament, sing a few Christmas hymns, and spend time with family. We finished off the day by reading aloud our new book, Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library, and watching White Christmas as a family. It was a peaceful, magical Christmas, one that made me very grateful for the things that I've been blessed with.

Christmas Eve Will Find Me...

We got together with the Rogers on the 23rd again, where the kids entertained us with Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer, and The Reindeer Twist. Maisie got to wear the bright red nose. We also ate our customary cinnamon rolls, and delivered our special surprise packages to people in need. It was a noisy but fun evening.

Christmas Eve was lovely this year. We had a ton of great food at the Baylys get together in the morning, and it was so laid back and relaxed. The best kind of party. Then we headed home and hung out for a short while before dinner, and which point we had a special visitor!

The kids were very excited to see that Santa made a special stop to bring them a little extra present and some treats, and to remind them to be good. Shortly after Santa left, so did we, to patrol the neighborhood. Our stake had handed out luminaries, ten per family, to decorate your porch with, in an effort to further Light the World. Unfortunately, we had quite a lot of rain that night. Yes, rain. In December. In Utah. You could see that a lot of people had made an effort to light theirs, only to have the rain disintegrate the bags. But our kids still had fun pointing out houses where they could see them, and it was a nice thought to unify the neighborhood.

Neither Teag or I felt like cooking, so we drove to Cafe Rio, which was thankfully open. I think that may become a new Christmas Eve tradition! We got our food to go, then went home and watched The Santa Clause with our kids, a movie they'd never seen before. We also opened up the last few envelopes from Grandma and Grandpa's reindeer advent, one of which gave the kids some reindeer food to spread on the lawn for Santa's reindeer to eat, and another one that completed the reindeer we'd been making for more than a week. Rudolph finally had his glowing nose.

After that we listened to the Polar Express, and finished the evening off with the Luke 2 bible video. Teag and I continued our personal Christmas Eve tradition of watching The Christmas Carol Doctor Who special. Yeah, cuz we're nerds like that. And here's a picture of our tree, in all it's tree glory. A fitting way to honor such a lovely specimen that graced our home for a short while.

Halloween 2016

We had a great Halloween this year, with lots of candy, and perfect weather. We started the morning off at the kiddie parade at school. For some weird reason they wouldn't let the Pre-K kids dress up, so I only have pictures of Danyn and Rory.

After school it was pumpkin carving time! We had lots of pumpkins this year, but we made the mistake of forgetting that with Maisie getting home so late, she wouldn't have time to carve her pumpkin. So I did hers for her with a magical theme. Finn was interested in his for about ten minutes, and then he was done. All he really wanted was a ghost.

Danyn wanted to carve a bat with a tree nearby, but learned that intricate carving can be tricky.

Rory wanted to do a witch, but she kept drawing things that were too tiny. So I suggested Teag copy the design from my Halloween shirt, and he ended up with a pretty impressive display.

I figured out that by using a dremel, I could carve through a pumpkin and get some pretty fine details, which was also how Teag did the witch so finely.

It allowed for a much more elaborate carving ability than what we've had before. And given the fact that we had pirates on our porch, I felt it was only right to carve my pumpkin into a Jolly Roger.

Once they all had lights, we had quite the pumpkin collection.

After carving, we hurried to get some pictures of the kids in their costumes. Finn was Chase, a Rescue Bot (Transformer).

Rory was a Winter Princess, whatever that may be.

And Danyn was Wednesday Addams, a role which she took very seriously, as you can see by the picture.

Maisie was a social butterfly for her party at school, but by the time we got her pictures, she didn't have the Facebook/Instagram/Twitter etc. badges on anymore.

After that, it was time to go to Grandma Rogers for the annual Spooky Dinner. It did not disappoint!

As gross as the meatballs looked, they were tasty! I also stole a skeleton cupcake for myself, to tide me over while handing out ten pounds of candy to neighbor kids. We got to see all the cousins in costume, which ran the gamut.

Teag took the youngest three Trick or Treating, while Maisie, who's aged out, went to a party with friends.

It ended up being a pretty good night, but ended rather poorly when Finn peed through his costume with no warning. Oh well. That night, we felt it best to bring our porch skeletons into the house in case any hoodlums decided to make off with them. And that gave us a great idea to surprise our kids in the morning.

But apparently our kids have no sense of humor, and didn't appreciate waking up to a skeleton sitting at the kitchen table in the dark. Can't understand why.

All in all, a great Halloween, and another one for the books!