Holiday Mad Gab Game

My son asked me to come to school to lead an activity in his class for their "freedom Friday" this month.  I do like to spend time in school with my kiddos, but sometimes I have a hard time finding something good to do that will entertain 30ish 5th graders.

Last time I went in we played several short minute-to-win-it type games so I wanted to do something different, but since it is December, I also wanted to do something fun.

I asked Google for some ideas and eventually landed on the idea of a Mad Gab style holiday game.  Sounds like a plan.

So I searched for something I could quickly print that was pre-prepped and ready to go.  But no such luck, I really struggled to find anything free that had more than a few ideas -- not nearly enough to keep the attention of a gaggle of eleven-year-olds for half an hour.

But thankfully, I have a willing team around my house so my husband, my teenagers and I sat down one afternoon and brainstormed Christmas related phrases and composed strange word combinations to try to hint at those ideas.  It did take some work.

But we did it, and now we are the proud (??) owners of a bunch of Christmas Mad Gab phrases which we can use for 5th-grade classrooms, extended family gatherings, friends who come to the house, church activities and who knows what else.  We'll tuck this file away and who knows when it will come in handy.

Now, in case you are looking for a Christmas Mad Gab, feel free to use this one.  It was a good fit for our need and maybe it will help you too.  It's not exactly fancy, but we think it's pretty fun -- and it's free so you can't complain too much.  Add your own ideas to make it just right for your group and hope you have as much fun with it as my son's adorably rowdy classmates did.

Free Christmas Mad Gab Game

A beautiful, and incomplete, family photo

A couple of weeks ago we had the chance to have family pictures taken with my side of the family.  It is always an adventure (read that: struggle) to get everyone ready and headed in the same direction.  In this case, my mom had chosen some coordinating colors for everyone to wear, so I'd rummaged through my kiddos closets to find appropriate outfits.

I'd set the chosen clothes out for everyone to see the night before and warned them we'd be wearing these clothes the next day and no one seemed to care much about them....until it came time to put them on the next morning.  Then -- no kidding -- EVERY SINGLE CHILD let me know that he or she did not want to wear the chosen threads and tried to offer me other options -- many of which were not in the appropriate colors or were styles that didn't match the family.

Eventually, we just packed every grumpy person into the car wearing varying levels of the pre-selected outfits, with one daughter who was so upset at the imposed clothing choice that she wouldn't even allow her hair to be styled so she looked a bit bedraggled (some things we force, and some things we let people choose).  Fine!!!!

In all the hullabaloo, we also forgot to bring the "Don't Mess With Texas" stuffed bull we had chosen to represent Bryce who was not with us for this picture (because he is in Orlando trying to teach people about Jesus). 

This was our first official, incomplete family picture.  I know that as the years go by we will have many more family photos which will be missing a member as schedules conflict, more missions are served, families move, and other concerns come up -- but this was our first.

It has been hard for me to really fall in love with these images because they are missing a person who means so much to me.  However, I sincerely think it is important for me to live in these moments and to see the beauty of this chapter of our life (I'm pretty big about owning our circumstances and honestly feeling our feelings, just ask my kidlets).  It isn't fun to be reminded that a person you love is far away, but that is the truth of it and there is beauty in that truth as well as sadness.

I am proud of Bryce for choosing to serve God.   And that means that right now he isn't here with us for these family moments.  It makes my heart squeeze a little bit, but it also makes me smile as I think of the ways he is growing and learning, the people he is meeting, the testimony he is building -- the things he is experiencing that I could not give to him.  I know this is the right place for him to be.

Anyway, back to our story.  We all tumbled into the car with sour faces but after an hour-long drive, angry feelings had tempered some and we arrived in the canyon for the family photo shoot.  People were mostly cooperative (although, still no approval was given for hair styling).  All in all, it was a good opportunity and I'm grateful for the physical reminders of where our family is that we can look back on with fondness, even if they are one person shy of our complete crew.

Orlando Florida Mission, Here He Comes (guess he has grown a foot or two)

Last night our oldest son, Bryce, was wrestling with his youngest siblings. They were laughing and squealing and it was hilarious.

Watching them made my eyes leak (I am very prone to leaky eyes). Bryce leaves for the MTC on Wednesday. Like tomorrow.

Ellie (age 8) saw my streaky tears and she suddenly burst out sobbing which got her older sister, Aubrey (who had joined the fray) crying because they both felt the weight of the fact that their brother was leaving.

Josh threw up his hands and complained about the amount of estrogen in the room....then hugged us all.

I'm sincerely so so excited for Bryce...soon to be Elder DeMoux...for the experiences he will have, the things he will learn, the people he will meet, and the person his mission will help him to become.

But I am also a selfish beast, and I'm really really gonna miss my little boy.

His bags are packed. His room is pretty much empty (and his younger brother is itching to move in). He can hardly wait to plunge into this new chapter of his life.

We're as ready as we're gonna get. A big piece of my heart is Florida bound.

This necklace was a gift from a super sweet friend whose son is serving in the same mission.  This lady is amazing!!!  I love keeping thoughts of my son close by while wearing this.

Four generations of priesthood holders together at the temple.

Found these awesome gator glasses to use at Bryce's barbecue send off.

Yard flamingos to complete the Florida feel of our party.

DeMoux Wild (episode 1)

This last week, our family went camping in the Uintahs.  It was lovely.  Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for sharing their property with us and thanks to Mother Nature for spending the last hundred million years or so preparing a lovely place where we could unwind for a few fabulous days.

(And stay tuned for a video tour of the "dangerous" inhabitants of this tiny piece of the mountains at the end of this post.)

We encountered different degrees of acceptance to the sentence of "camping" which was pronounced upon our children whether they liked it or not.  Some of them arranged their spot in the tent trailer with all the tidy comforts of home while others packed their favorite D&D game boards to entertain themselves despite being surrounded by the great outdoors.  Sigh.

We did do a bit of face painting (that's a camping activity, right?).

But we also started to add a second story to the lean-to which has now survived two full winters on this property (these are the kinds of shenanigans cousins get into when they get together...also, we put a stop to it until we can find it a way to make it less precarious).

One morning, the DeMoux crew hiked nearly two miles from the ranger station up to Lily Lake (boy was Aubrey upset when she realized we could have driven to the lake instead...but oh those views).

It was here that we broke a curse which has haunted us for more than a year and we caught a bunch of fish.  That doesn't normally happen for us, but it makes the trip a LOT more exciting when everyone has the chance to reel in an aquatic creature or two.

Silly kidlets.

Regular kidlets.

The next day we did a second fishing expedition to Whitney Reservoir which was a much bigger puddle of water, but the fishing was not quite as good (but we still managed to wrangle some finned fiends to shore).  

We played around in the river with our cousins, ate dirty food (yes, Parker did take a bite of that crusty cupcake), rode ATVs (some people yelling "FASTER!" and others yelling "SLOW DOWN!"), encountered many much moosen (that's moose plural for anyone not so familiar with Brian Reagan), and then tumbled eight people into the camper each night playing games like Encore and Truth or Truther (kind of like Truth or Dare for people who are too lazy to stand up).

And last, but not least, we filmed the first ever episode (and likely last ever episode) of DeMoux Wild.  It was the favorite project of several of our kiddos.  You can watch it for free below.

All in all, camping was a wonderful way to spend the week.  It was GREAT to get away from our regular life and be FORCED to spend ALL the time with each other.  We'll have to do it again sometime soon.

It's Mary Poppins, Ya'll!

Two of our children (Gavin & Aubrey) have been spending weeknights at rehearsals for the last few months preparing for a community production of Mary Poppins (and it has kind of been a pain because of all the end of school activities going on that conflict with rehearsals).

Aubrey is in the ensemble (much like she was in Carousel last summer), but Gavin is one of two boys playing Michael (one of the children Mary Poppins takes under her wing). 

The play debuted last week (while I was at girls camp), but Gavin did not start his role until Monday so that's the first time we went to the show.  And now, he is a STAR (at least if you ask me).  And I could not stop watching Aubs as she transitioned from a statue to a banker to a silly jabber girl to a chimney sweep and more.  I was totally enthralled.

Oh my goodness, suddenly all those long nights and inconvenient trips to and from West Valley City Cultural Celebration Center were all worth it.  It was sooooo much fun to see my babies up on stage doing something they love.

And the play is pretty good (even if you look past all the "I am the mother" bias).  It's really fun.

(Now for the cheesy bit.) 

I'm grateful for the people who make events like this possible.  It takes so much time and energy that these performances just wouldn't be worth it unless you sincerely love performing arts and the community and the kids involved -- and these people do.  I love that my kiddos can be part of this kind of thing.  It's an experience I simply cannot give them at home.

And here're some videos because I like to show my kids off...I mean because I want family who doesn't live nearby to be able to see bits of the show (either way, I guess).