December 2021

 I helped with Jaron's activity days activity for December and they made gingerbread houses.  They had fun doing it, the only problem was when they were running around the church while we were setting up, someone opened the cultural hall door right into Jaron's head.  Exact same thing that happened when Aria was little and she had to get stitches.  Luckily Jaron didn't need stitches but he had the hugest goose egg on his forehead from it.

The kids decorated our annual gingerbread house.  I always make them work together and share one house.  It starts off a little tense but always turns into a fun time for them.

Aria played in her school orchestra concert.  She did great and it's fun hearing the songs from the whole orchestra after listening to her practice the songs for a few months at home.

Jaron has been playing indoor soccer since November.  This day he played goalie and really missed Graham being our normal goalie but Jaron has loved indoor soccer and looks forward to every game, even if he has lost every single game.

I took the girls to see Nutcracker that Holland was in one night.  She looked so cute and we loved seeing her in it and my girls loved the dancing and especially the Nutcracker music.

I got to have a girls night out with some girls from our ward to go see West Side Story the movie.  It was a fun night and nice to get out and socialize with some girls from the ward.

It finally started to snow around here.  The kids love playing outside in the snow and this day they built a snow fort.

The kids got to have their Christmas singing program and it's always a fun morning to go see them sing.

I got to help with all 3 kids class parties for Christmas.  For the girl's we played Christmas song pictionary which I think they really liked.  For Jaron's I helped with a breakfast and then helped with a craft.  I forgot to take a picture during Pictionary but here is a picture of all the boys in Jaron's class.

Our annual train set up happened a little earlier this year which was fun because we kept it up for a whole week for the kids to play with.  This is the train from Shane's grandpa and it so fun to see and all the details and how it works.

We also made our traditional gingerbread men and decorated them.  I always like that because then I get to make the gingersnaps out of the rest of the cookie dough.

Our whole family (meaning my side of the family) all met downtown to see the Christmas lights while Christy was in town.  We stopped by Grand America for the huge gingerbread house they make, saw the Macy's candy windows, ate dinner at the food court and saw the lights.  There weren't a lot of them due to the Temple being under construction but they did a cool new nativity cartoon video on the ceiling of the tabernacle which was fun and different to do.

With Christy in town the kids got to have a cousin sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They always stay up so late but they love being able to have these sleepovers.

The Pace's came over a couple days before Christmas and watched Polar Express, ate dinner and decorated sugar cookies.  It's always fun having them over cuz all the kids play together.

Christmas Eve was just us and my parents.  We had a pulled pork dinner, decorated sugar cookies and of course acted out the nativity and opened up Christmas Eve presents.  Siena played 2 roles of Angel and sheep.  She was so cute about acting both parts.  The kids got these come back bouncy balls that they love and might be the most played with presents.  It was a fun night at my parents.

Christmas day is always fun.  The kids get up at our agreed upon time of 7:20...which honestly I can't believe they are really good about that and don't come in one minute early.  Jaron got some laser tag guns, the girls got new scooters, we gave them a trip to California in a few weeks.  Aria got some cowboy boots after asking for a horse daily for the last 2 months.  They also each got their own soft big blankets so they won't steal mine anymore.  They love them sleep with them every night!  It was a fun morning.  That afternoon we went to my parents for turkey dinner and everyone got to come this time so it was a great day.

Between Christmas and New Years we took the kids up to Seaquest aquarium.  The kids had fun but Shane and I were stressed because it was sooo crowded and no one was wearing masks and I thought for sure we would get covid but luckily we didn't.  The kids favorite part was feeding the parakeets but it was a fun afternoon and was good to get out of the house and do something.

We often get deer in our yard, especially in the winter but a couple times we've had a deer just camp out in our backyard.  The kids never get sick of seeing deer in our yard and they're fun to watch from the window and often just stare back at us.

We went down to the Pace's for New Years Even.  We ate dinner, played some games and then celebrated New Years around 9:30.  Brigitte even planned a fun balloon drop.  When we got home we had just enough time to get ready for bed, eat some more treats and then stay up until midnight, so we got to celebrate twice.  

We sure hope 2022 is a great year for our family!

November 2021

The kids coaxed Jaron into smearing a cupcake all over his face.  I have about 30 pictures like this one but hearing the giggles coming from the bathroom made me smile this night.

We made the kids take a few of their older pictures down from their 'picture wall' so I had to document it before they did.  I still love this wall and the pictures have already started slowing down but I love seeing this wall and every single person that comes into our home comments about our wall.

After 3 1/2 years I was released as Primary President of our ward.  I knew it was coming.  It was a little sad but mostly relieved.  It was such a stressful calling and non stop at all times.  I am ready to just be a regular member of our ward.  Just so I can remember we had 136 primary kids and 30 nursery kids when I was released.  I have LOVED working with my presidency and we all got along so so well.  I loved seeing the kids each week and the cute things they say, how excited they are when they see me around the neighborhood or at school.  However, some parents and some teachers make things so difficult. I know they mean well but it's hard.  I'll be happy not stressing about who will and won't be at church to teach on Sunday and getting text messages each Sunday morning telling me who isn't going to be there.  Parents that have specific requests about classes, teachers, friends and the special baptism requests.  I won't miss it but it's been amazing at the same time.  I have been in primary in one calling or another since Siena and Aria were Sunbeams so I will miss seeing my kids in primary but they're probably ready to be rid of me.  haha.

Thanksgiving was great, we were all at my parents. It was a fun day.  We played Left Right Center which is now our new tradition.  We did a grandkids and then an adult game and had so much fun.

We went with the Pace's to see the lights turn on at The Riverwoods.  We played dodgeball with them and some of their friends right before and had such a fun time.  My kids loved it, I was exhausted and sore the next day.

The Covid vaccine was approved at the beginning of the month for kids 5-12 to get the shot.  I was going to wait a month or so but all of the sudden had the strongest feeling to get the kids their vaccine.  Put that with their first in class exposure they've had this whole time and numbers rising quickly, I knew I had to get them in.  We got appointments at Ashlee's Walgreens in Draper but she wasn't working that day.  It was drama, with Siena and Aria so scared.  The nice pharmacist told Aria 'Just tell me when you're ready' to which Aria flipped her head around and said 'I will NEVER be ready'  We had to hold her and Siena down.  I had to promise I would help Aria clean the guinea pig cage that day and we had to take them all to Pizza Pie Cafe that night for dinner.  

I think the dinner backfired because at 9pm that night Siena started throwing up and threw up every 20 minutes until midnight.  I felt so bad, she was so sick and miserable.  Luckily they were all pretty good after that, just some sore aches and sore arms.

The 2nd shot was harder than the 1st for Siena.  She absolutely flipped out, screaming, kicking, elbowing me when I tried to hold her down.  She tried to run out of the room.  Ugh, she is so freaked out by the shot, there is no reasoning with her at all.  Ashlee, after cleaning her arm 4 or 5 times finally we got ahold of her arm and put it in.  Ugh...but after that no one had that many issues.  I think they all had low grade fevers that night but I gave them ibuprofen for about 24 hours and they were good after that.  Just glad Siena didn't throw up again. I still am not sure if the throw up on the first round was from the shot, another illness or what.

I'm happy they're fully vaccinated now especially with this new Omicron variant that is pushing numbers up.  Shane and I also got our 3rd shot (booster) so I feel like we are protected as much as we can as a family.

We put up our Christmas tree the week of Thanksgiving.

On Black Friday Shane and I bought our Christmas gift to each other and we got a 70 inch tv for the basement.  I love having a tv down there so when the kids are watching something upstairs I can watch downstairs or if I want to watch something loud when the kids are asleep I can go down there and turn it up or yell and scream watching a game.

I took this picture from our bedroom window because this is my all time favorite time of the day here.  It's when the sun is going down in the west so it's all shaded where we are but the mountains in the east are still all lit up.  It is so pretty and I love when I look at the window and see this view.  I love Highland and living here, it's so pretty.