MAY 2026

TANGLED DINNER
It's been a minute since we did a movie themed dinner and this one turned out so perfect!  We loved it!  It was fun to have Kelly here for it.  5-1-2026

NOAH SENIOR BREAKFAST
This turned out pretty good!  I was grateful for all the help my cute family gave to set up and that went pretty smoothly.  In the morning, not so much!  I went a little early to do some last minute stuff and of course, I picked up the giant paper cup full of syrup from Kneaders by the lid and it of course slipped off, causing the entire HUGE cup of syrup to fall and splatter all over me, the table, the floor, everywhere!!  It was SO embarrassing, so sticky, and SO embarrassing!!  I had time, so I ran home and changed my clothes, but I really was pretty sticky all morning.  It was annoying.  But after that whole mess- luckily everyone else cleaned it all up while I was changing- HUGE EYEROLL!!!  I hate that everyone had to clean up my mess!!  Bro. Sagers got the mop out!!  It was crazy!!  But anyway- after that, I had to serve the seniors, but then it was time to sit with Noah and enjoy his company.  I loved seeing his cute baby picture and recent photo in the video.  It's so hard to believe we are here already with Noah!  It feels so unreal for some reason.  The clean up wasn't too bad, we got out of there pretty quickly.  Onto Saturday!  5-2-2026

GOODBYE KELLY AND DEVAN
We wanted to devote the whole day to Kelly and Devan and their last time with us for a while.  We ended up going to Slackwater Pizza in Salt Lake and doing a big kickball game!  Slackwater was amazing!!  I could eat there everyday!  I got the Gyro pizza.  It was delicious.  We all traded around and everyone had so much fun talking pizza all night.  I loved this time together.  I think Brad was missing, but we had everyone else, which was nice.  It's not very often we get everyone so I try to enjoy things regardless.  It was a lot of fun.  It's really hard to think about them being gone for possibly three years.  I am very excited for them though.  I know how good it can be to get out on your own, so I guess I'm also excited for them.  Also, having this opportunity so early on in their lives is so great!  We will of course miss them SO MUCH!  They drove off in their little car packed with everything they need for the next few months on Monday the 4th.  5-2-2026

BARBECUE AND GAMES WITH WOOLSEYS
This was a good distraction from having to say goodbye to Kelly and Devan.  We went to their house for some yummy food and then over to Gailey Park for some Badmitton.  This was a new one for us, but it was really fun!  I think everyone liked it!  It was fun to have Brad with us for part of it as well!  Good times.  5-4-2026

LUNCH WITH JULIE CLEMENS
It's always such a good recharge spending time with Julie.  She is one of those keeps ya grounded friends.  I loved hearing how she is doing and her awesome example of just trucking on in life even through so many trials.  She's amazing!!  I just love that she will still make time for me and that she is my friend!  Love ya, Julz!!  5-5-2026

MOUNTAIN MAN RENDEZVOUS MEETING
This meeting was a bit of a bummer.  We basically decided not to bother with the fish pond.  Things just weren't working out at all.  The fish were a fortune, the timing was off when they could drop it off.  I couldn't get the big trough, the new location of everything was lame.  All of it.  I don't think very many moms really wanted it anyway.  But I was bummed.  5-5-2026

LUNCH WITH MEGAN WALTER
This was kind of random.  We had texted for a few minutes and ended up planning lunch and then rescheduling a few times before finally making it to Kneaders for lunch.  She is really fun to talk to, though!  I was very glad we made the time.  I really enjoy her friendship and I'm glad I was able to meet her at Girls camp last year.  We need to do this again soon.  5-6-2026

THE PARK WITH BRIGGS
This was a lot of fun.  We even had quite a few big kids with us!  Which is always more fun.  Courtney and Briggs met up with us at the new Farmington park- should we call it North Cottonwood park?  I think that's what it's called- so strange.  We had a lot of fun talking though!  It was great!  Briggs is adorable.  I'm so happy he likes my kids and that we get to spend time with them.  5-9-2026

SOCCER
Soccer season has been going good so far!  Molly had to do the treat this week and she just HAD to make something homemade, so she did Muddy Buddies in little bags for everyone.  So cute!!  Turned out great!  5-9-2026

GRANDPA HATCH'S 71st BIRTHDAY
We met up at Mueller Park for some hamburgers and cake :).  I made a chess board cake- it turned out okay.  Not quite how I'd imagined.  And it melted pretty quickly in the heat.  We had fun though!  It's always good to spend time with Grandpa and Steve.  5-9-2026

MOTHER'S DAY!!
I loved my Mother's Day this year!!  As always it was perfect!  Breakfast in bed, showered with gifts, church with my new bag that Molly made me, in tow.  Games and fun all evening.  Nate took the day off even so that he could help spoil me- it was great!!  I just love my family and I love being a mom!  5-10-2026

MOLLY'S DECATHLON, SADIE'S ZOO FIELD TRIP, NOAH'S AP TEST
This was a crazy Monday!  Nate and I had to divide and conquer with the decathlon and the field trip- I went with Molly, Nate with Sadie.  Molly did amazing!  Her team got 4th place which is pretty awesome!!  I loved watching her compete- she seemed to enjoy it along with some nervousness.  I heard the zoo field trip was also great!  Noah did his AP test without any extra help from his doctor note- took it just like anybody else even though he could have had more time, spread out, etc. because of his stroke.  He's pretty cool.  And since I'm typing this up since he got his results, he got a 5!!  Pretty proud of him!!  Go Noah!!  5-11-2026

ERIKA PT
We finally have some answers about Erika's knees- tendonitis in both knees.  Brian Pennock says shock therapy will be the best thing for it, so we will be starting that soon.  5-13-2026

MOUNTAIN MAN RENDEZVOUS
It came!!  I didn't die not having the fish pond.  I was glad :).  Instead, I worked with Stefani's father-in-law on the leather stamping station.  The kids liked it, it was easy, fun, and very mountain man-ly.  Molly was happy to have me there.  It was great!  And so easy :).  I came back to help with the trading post as well, and this was pretty fun too.  I didn't do much, just set up and then sat and played with the puzzle/games with some of the kids.  Molly was so nice to make me feel welcome and sit by me a few times.  She got to buy lots of fun things with her beaver pelts.  It was really fun!  I will admit it went better than I thought it would.  5-13-2026

DR. SWINYARD ONE LAST TIME
We had our two minute zoom appointment with Dr. Swinyard.  This was lame.  I'm not gonna lie- I am so at my wits end with the endocrinologist search!  This is killing me.  I am hoping we can find someone aweosme, but it's getting so frustrating.  Poor Jack.  He really liked Dr. Swinyard.  5-14-2026

MAYCEMBER CONTINUES- PICNIC ON THE PLAYGROUND
This was a fun picnic.  We got all kinds of food for everyone.  I don't even remember now, but I think we actually went with a dessert pizza again.  We sat off to the side of everyone else, since there was a little shade, but we missed out on the neighbor group.  Erika and Jack stopped by.  We were happy and all was well.  It's fun to think about summer almost being here.  5-15-2026

HAPPY 25th ANNIVERSARY TO US!!  
I hope I have some sort of documentation somewhere of what we did to celebrate- my mind is blank (it has been almost five months!).  We managed to squeeze in something though- I know we did.  And I think I got Nate a gift.  But it's all a blur right now.  I love Nate!  I am so happy I chose him.  5-15-2026

LACROSSE TEAM BANQUET
This was great!  Nate made the meat and buns at Karen Wright's request.  It was fun to celebrate Erika.  Kelly got to be here for it as well and that was awesome.  I am trying to remember what she had come back for- I think it was Paige's wedding.  But she was here for the banquet and that was awesome.  Erika got a cool award, can't remember what it was.  The weird guy did the weird raps for all the seniors.  We had fun sitting with Krista and Emily.  It was great :).  5-16-2026

NOAH SEMINARY GRADUATION
He did it!!  He graduated Seminary!  And I survived making a balloon arch with my presidency even though we didn't need to- it was completely my fault that we had one.  My brain has been so strange lately.  Doing some weird things.  I loved watching Noah walk across the stage- he looks all grown up!!  It's so crazy how real things are getting.  We had yummy refreshements that I picked up :).  It was great!  Congrats Noah!  5-17-2026

FIELD DAY
This field day was pretty fun- I had Erika there with me for most of it and Kelly came too.  We had fun running the Obstacle course for the first group and then 9 square for the second half even though my two kids were in the first group.  We had fun though.  I only got mad at a few kids that day :).  Improvement.  5-19-2026

NOAH'S MISSION PHOTOSHOOT
This was so much fun!  Noah and I at the Salt Lake Temple in the wind :).  I don't feel like the pictures turned out perfectly, but it was a lot of fun.  We talked a lot and had fun together.  I am really goign to miss him.  I feel like we are good friends.  It's going to be so hard to let him go.  5-19-2026

ELEMENTARY WALK- NOAH
This is a fun tradition now- Noah got to get all dressed up in his cap and gown and go parade around the Elementary school and in their assembly.  It was a lot of fun to see him with all his Elementary friends again.  They loved wandering the halls and visiting old teachers.  They were hilarious high fiving all the kids as they went back to their classes.  All the jokes about how many germs they would have on their hands after that.  So funny.  I loved it.  Some of the pictures turned out.  My phone still has a massive crack on it!  5-20-2026

KELLY TO THE AIRPORT
Another sad goodbye.  I have loved having her here.  I hope Oklahoma City appreciates us sharing her with them.  5-20-2026

JACK BROKEN ANKLE
Jack was playing capture the flag over at the Maughan's and jumped off the deck, just a few steps high, and landed wrong on his ankle.  Nate had to help him walk home.  He was hurt pretty bad and I was pretty sure it was broken, but we waited til the next day to take him in.  Just in case we didn't have enough going on that day!!  We went to the doctor and sure enough, it was a distal tibial fracture.  Right by the growth plate.  Luckily it wasn't displaced at all.  They told him to use a boot and stay off it completely.  5-21-2026

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!
Sadie got a field trip to Ponds Park.  Molly got a field trip to Gailey Park.  I got to go do a mini photoshoot with Noah in his cap and gown in the backyard.  Tradition.  And then we raced off to Graduation!  5-22-2026

NOAH'S GRADUATION!!!
Noah's Graduation went really smoothly.  It was strange that it was later in the day, but it worked.  He left a little early with friends.  Brad drove me up to Dee Events Center and we found seats for everyone.  We sat there, saving seats, much to EVERYONE's dismay, up by the handicapped section so that we could have Ruth's scooter there next to us.  It was a great spot- I think it's the same spot we've had at all of them.  Noah looked all grown up in his walk and so handsome in his picture.  It was fun to find him through the zoom lens and see him wave at us when he found us.  Pretty cool.  We went to Buffalo Wild Wings after for dinner.  He had lots of support from Nate, me, Charity, Hunter, Bradley, Grandpa Hatch, Grandma Hatch and Simon, and Grandma Ruthie.  So fun!  Congratulations Noah!!  Class of 2026!!!  5-22-2026

PROJECTOR MOVIE NIGHT
We did our usual projector movie night on the last day of school tradition again this year.  It was a little tricky with graduation being so late, so we had to rush home from dinner to get things set up.  The girls had taken invites to school so we had a GOOD turnout!  So many kids!  I really can't believe how many 1st graders showed up at our house and stayed til the late late hours of the night!  We watched Super Mario Bros 2.  There were a few dramatic moments with Liberty and Lincoln.  But overall it went well.  I'm still shocked at how many showed up.  Good thing we got plenty of popcorn!!  Good times.  5-22-2026

MOTHER'S DAY LUNCH WITH MOM
I took my mom to lunch for Mother's day.  She wanted somewhere with salads, so we went to Zupas.  It was delicious.  I made her try the Dubai Chocolate strawberries.  I think we had a good time.  5-23-2026

MEMORIAL DAY BREAKFAST
This was nice.  I don't think Nate was able to come even though his schedule has been so different these past few months with his new position.  But the kids and I had fun.  Yummy food too.  5-25-2026

BARBECUE
I think we went up to Lynn's for Memorial day barbecue in the evening.  We had a good time.  I think I spent most of the time talking with Charity.  It was nice.  I got to see Maryn's baby also.  So cute.  5-25-2026

NOAH SENIOR TRIP
Noah and his friends planned a pretty fun senior trip to San Diego the week after graduation.  We were sad to see him go, but I think he had a really good time!  They had some funny moments planning talking about food and where to get food.  I was happy to hear that Noah knows how to conserve and be frugal.  I was really proud of how awesome they did and that they came home all in one piece.  5-25-2026--5-29-2026

ANIMAL FARM
We went and saw Animal Farm with Janeel.  Pretty cool movie- once I remembered the book.  I actually want to read it again now.  Janeel is awesome.  I am glad she lets me be her friend.  5-26-2026

TAKE THE VAN IN, FIX THE DRYER, ERIKA PT, LUNCH WITH STEFANI
Just another crazy day!  Lunch with Stefani was therapeutic.  5-27-2026

JACK ORTHOPEDICS
We had Jack's appointment with Primary Childrens Orthopedics.  This was a long drive to Salt Lake, a LONG walk through the hospital- pretty much as far as you can walk in that hospital- that ended in a cast!  Poor guy.  5-28-2026

STAKE CONFERENCE
We survived another Stake Conference.  I don't know why I said that.  Stake Conference is great!  I love it!  We had a really good evening session that I barely made it to and sat by myself basically.  Getting used to that.  We had Elder Larreal there and he was awesome!  I actually really loved his talks.  The morning training meeting was also awesome.  I got to sit by Martha there.  And then back in the back with the family in the dark for the Sunday session.  Noah was sustained as an Elder.  Went well.  I enjoyed it.  Everyone did so well.  5-30-2026--5-31-2026

NOAH'S ORDINATION TO ELDER
This went really well.  Noah was all business and so grown up through the whole thing. I know I keep saying that, but he really is just so old all of a sudden.  I'm really proud of him and the choices he's making and steps he's taking to better his life.  He will do some pretty great things, no doubt.  I loved hearing what the Lord wanted to bless him with that day.  It was just our family, I think Brad got to ordain him which was also a really cool mom paycheck.  I loved that.  Cool stuff.  5-31-2026

April 2026

 SPRING BREAK CONT.
I made "spaghetti and meatballs" pancakes for April Fools breakfast.  Everyone had fun pulling pranks all day.  Mostly just putting toilet paper all over the house.  We also went to Chick-fil-a and the Planetarium with Grandpa Hatch.  That was a lot of fun!  Good times.  Thursday, we had lunch with Grandma Ruthie (and Aunt Jen and Nancy), before dropping Nate off at work and then stopping at the Church Art and History Museum on our way home.  That was pretty fun too.  On Friday we WEnt and got Steve and went and saw the new Super Mario Bros movie.  This was a major highlight!  We really should have done lunch or something too, but we had fun.  It was a good movie, just a LOT.  Maybe a little over stimulating.  That night we did Buddy Dates!!  Everyone was so happy about this- it ended up being pretty fun.  Nate and I had each other.  Brad and Kelly went thrift shopping and dinner.  Erika and Sadie went to mini golf and Chick-fil-a.  Jack and Hunter stayed home and got Chick-fil-a delivered and played video games.  Charity and Noah went to get food.  Molly and Devan went to Dylans and mini golf.  I think everyone had a good time!!  We magically had enough cars and drivers for this.  Good times.  4-1-26--4-3-26

EASTER SATURDAY
This was a packed day.  Conference in the morning.  Then we had Courtney, Brett and Briggs come for a morning egg hunt in the front yard and some yummy egg salad sandwich lunch.  This was a lot of fun!  I was so glad we made it happen.  It was cool that Courtney kind of invited herself to hang out for Easter.  Good stuff.  After that we had the next session of conference.  We did our Easter baskets and Egg hunt in the backyard- this was fun because we changed it up a bit with a fun game and spelling out the words of prizes with letters in the eggs.  Pretty fun.  And then we finally colored the eggs!  That was pretty fun too.  Everyone but Noah I think.  And Luke- we miss him so much this time of year!!  4-4-26

EASTER SUNDAY
We really tried to make this Easter a Christ focused one.  I got a cute book at Deseret Book with a lot of the symbols of Easter and we read a page each night.  Then we had the new creche that Nate bought and tried to really make an effort.  We did all the commercial stuff on Saturday so that we could really do Resurrection Easter on Sunday.  I think we did pretty good.  I think we want to add and do it even better next year.  We're getting there though.  We did get to watch the second day of Conference though which was awesome!  Such a good conference this time!!  4-5-26

MINISTERING
I finally got to meet Elizabeth Walker.  She is interesting and very nice.  Kris and I visited her.  It was nice to get to know her a little.  4-8-26

SOCCER SEASON!
First games of the season!  Everyone won!  Good stuff!  4-11-26

PROM- ERIKA AND NOAH IN THE SAME GROUP!
This was a fun one for me.  Noah and Erika were in the same group!  Noah took Laurie and Erika was asked by Zack Geckler's brother Josh.  I think they both had enough fun.  It wasn't Erika's favorite, but she survived.  They went to the salt flats for their day date.  Then the night of, I got to take their group pictures!  We went up to the Tunnel Springs Park.  We were there at just the wrong time.  The lighting was difficult.  But we made it work and caught some golden hour at the end.  I loved it.  4-11-26

THE SKIT
I said no to doing a skit and now I am down a friend.  Kinda weird, but I guess I should learn to "do my part".  Not sure how I feel about this all right now.  Oh well.  4-12-26

NOAH NEUROLOGIST FOLLOW-UP
We did Noah's follow-up.  Things are looking good.  They want him to get an MRI.  Hopefully everything is fine.  4-13-26

LUKE'S FUNNY STORIES
Luke's had some pretty fun stories to share with us when he calls.  One was about a pregnant cat who showed up on a porch the same time as him and his companion.  They were knocking and the people had peeked out the blinds to tell them they didn't want to talk to them, but Luke asked if that was their cat instead.  It was looking pretty sickly.  So they opened the door afterall, and right then, this mom cat, gave birth!  The woman at the door was shocked!  Luke was shocked!  Then all the chaos of the family's dog coming to the door and then the cat started to walk in their house.  It was so crazy!!  Luke felt horrible.  The people assured him that they had it from there.  So crazy!
Then there was this Nigerian lady who was slurping on chicken wings (her snack, not food), and then chomped on a bone in the middle of Luke's companion's testimony!  So funny!!  Throwing the bones behind her back- HA!  Fun stuff.  4-13-26

PORTER'S BAPTISM
Sadie and I drove up to Idaho Falls, Saturday, for Porter's baptism.  We had so much fun talking on the way there, and listening to all of Sadie's favorite music- mostly Greatest Showman.  The baptism went really well.  It was cute to see Porter in his white clothes.  He took it all very seriously.  Cute Alyssa didn't want to just sit quietly, so we got a fun show during the second half of things, but she was being so cute with Sadie.  After the baptism, we went to their church for some yummy food.  It was fun to talk with Heidi a little and get to know Joe a little better too.  Sadie had fun running around the gym and stage with all the kids.  Good times.  We had to hurry home for Ruth's FUNeral planning meeting.  4-18-2026

FAMILY HISTORY- MOLLY
Molly has been anticipating getting called into the Family History Consultant group for a while now, but this week we got to have her "experience" with them coming and teaching our family.  It was a lot of fun.  It's cool to have all these great kids for her to look up to and anticipate working with eventually.  4-19-26

LUNCH WITH ELDER ALLRED'S MOM, GINNY
This ended up being a really cool experience.  Luke's companion just really loved Luke and had begged his mom to get together with Luke's mom sometime.  She finally called me Saturday, wanting to "get together sometime", so I said, "Sure."  I really liked talking to her- we had a bunch of stuff in common- they live just over the freeway- so I figured it could be okay.  We met up at Zupas and it was really awesome!  I liked it.  She was so nice and so complimentary of Luke.  I wish Luke had talked about Elder Allred a little more so I could have returned the compliments, but it was to hear.  I wonder if we will ever get together again.  4-23-2026

ERIKA SPEAKING IN CHURCH
Erika did an amazing job on her talk today!  So proud of her and who she is.  She is going to do big things.  4-26-2026

TULIP FESTIVAL
This was a pretty fun evening.  It had been raining all day so there was hardly anyone there.  It was still a little cold, but not too bad.  I actually really loved the weather.  The tulips looked pretty ragged and weren't really worth seeing, but I loved the time with our family.  We went to a yummy restaurant after, but I can't remember what it was called.  So delicious.  4-27-2026

NOAH'S SENIOR PHOTO SHOOT
We finally took Noah's Senior Pictures!  We went up to Tunnel Springs Park.  They turned out SO GOOD!!  I was really pleased with most of them.  He was really helpful with settings while we took them and then helped with the editing and chose the background and everything for his announcements.  I was so happy to do that with him and have his input!!  Good boy!  4-29-2026

March 2026

 CHINESE NEW YEAR

We were invited to Simon and my mom's for Chinese New Year celebrations.  We had fun.  Everyone got their lucky money- except Charity and Kelly- we were not sure why, but maybe because we are supposed to give them money?  Not sure.  Hunter read all the horoscopes or something for all the different year animals (what is this called?  I forgot?).  That was pretty fun.  We have several of the same animal- kinda cool.  3-1-26

DR. SWINYARD FOR JACK
This was a pretty anticipated visit.  We LOVED Dr. Brett, so we were lowering our expectations all the way to this South Jordan office.  It was quite the drive.  I was not sure how I felt about it during the first little bit, the office ladies were so strange.  The aid was having me do Jack's finger poke.  The place looked like it had come right out of the 90's- lots of mauve and flowers.  I wasn't impressed AT ALL with the office set up.  But all it took was a few minutes with this guy and we were hooked!  He came in talking all about how awesome Jack is and how good his A1C is and how hard he's worked.  It was so awesome.  He gave me a minute and praised me for all that I have done for Jack.  That was nice.  Brought me to tears.  He used some archery analogies with blood sugar and target range.  That was cool.  Then sat and talked to Jack like a friend, about his mission in Germany and how he was diagnosed while he was there.  He was SO NICE!  SO fun.  So awesome.  We were so relieved on the way home.  Felt like we'd been led there.  Jack was still smiling when we left.  3-2-26

SEASON CHAMPS!!  
Noah's Farmington rec basketball team won their game tonight!!  Making them the Champions!!  Pretty cool.  They got shirts and water bottles :).  This was actually such a highlight for Noah's last basketball season probably ever.  I loved watching him play, hated thinking about how I probably won't get to watch him play ever again, but cheered hard!  It was a pretty controversial game!  So fun though!!  Congrats Noah!!  3-4-26

KYLE'S CAKE
I volunteered to make a cake for Kyle Desmond this week for his birthday.  That ended up being a little bit more trouble than I had first anticipated.  The colors he chose didn't fit the toppers they gave me.  It was tricky.  But I think he liked it!  I am happy to help with cakes!  3-5-26

LUNCH WITH KRISTA JOHNSON
We finally found time to hang out!  It was so nice.  We went to Plates and Palates.  It was really good to talk to her and get some insight into my calling.  She is a good friend, can't wait for her wedding!  Erika's Olympus game was canceled because of the weather- pretty weak.  3-6-26

TOOELE COUNTY REPORT- MOLLY
We decided to make a day of researching Molly's county.  We headed out to Tooele, drove all the way to the Salt Flats.  Molly got to lick the salt.  We drove back toward Tooele city and saw the temple and crashed Kregg Clemens' birthday party for a minute to hug Julie and talk to Lacie.  We got some Costa Vida and tried to see the firefighter museum but it was not open.  Then we just came back home.  I think we got enough to write a report :).  Molly loved it!  I think most of the kids felt like it was too long of a drive, but we all survived, so we're good!  We had Brad, Erika, Jack, Molly and Sadie with us.  Good stuff.  3-7-26

CRAZY SUNDAY
Once a year Martha has to be gone for Stake High Council meeting.  So I got to go Sunday.  It was at 6:30 in the morning!  So early!  Pretty boring.  This one was even stranger than the last one.  We mostly just talked about whether we thought someone could be called to the high council or not.  I don't evne know the guy.  

After that, we had ward conference at Hidden Valley- I didn't have to say anything, but mingling witht he girls is almost as nerve-racking.  Our ward conferences have been going really well this year!  I like what we did and that we did it with the YM.  

I slipped in to a little bit of our ward for Sacrament meeting and some of YW, and then slipped back out to go do a ward conference in Nichols Hollow ward.  

After that, Erika and I raced over to Teresa Nye's for a ministering visit, then off to church for Prep for Life!  Where we did cereal for the treat.  That was pretty fun actually.  So crazy!

After that we went up to Ruth's for the family meeting.

It was a busy day!  3-8-26

CHARITY'S BIRTHDAY- NO SCHOOL!
We had a great day, laid around a lot.  I made her the prettiest cake I think I've made.  It was so fun!  I really like to do the stripes!  Then that evening we headed down to Orem for some Costa Vida and then hanging out at Charity and Hunter's house for some cake and ice cream.  So much fun!  Grandpa even came!  Kelly and Erika had Lacrosse stuff so the three of them met up later for some celebrating.  I think everyone else was there.  3-9-26 

LACROSSE

We're having such a fun Lacrosse season this year!!  Watching Erika play two games every few days and getting to see Kelly coach again.  It's been so much fun!  Minus Erika's injuries.  We really need to get her stuff figured out.  3-10-26

PASSPORT FOR NOAH
We finally went and got Noah's passport started!  Big deal!!

3-11-26

MOLLY'S 4TH GRADE PROGRAM
This ended up being so much fun!!  Molly had worked so hard learning these songs!  She knew all the words!  It was very impressive.  Molly got to hold up the Tooele sign cuz that was her county, but there was a lady sitting next to Kelly and Erika who did not like that we were getting all excited about Tooele.  Kinda funny.  We went to Dairy Queen after to celebrate!  3-12-26

SICK DAY ZOOM CLASS
Jack and I got to experience ANOTHER sick day class.  This was a repeat.  I don't know if it's because we're new there, or if they just don't trust that we've been taught properly.  But it was super boring.  We thought we had the camera turned off the whole time and who knows what faces we made the whole time, but then at the end, she mentioned that "Jack looks tired" and we were both shocked!  I hope she was just pranking us, but she may have been watching us the whole time.  Kinda funny.  3-16-26

BASKETBALL BANQUET
They catered this with Cafe Rio and we sat and talked to the Maughans waiting for the line to die down, so we missed most of the food.  There was very little left.  Lots of lettuce of course.  Nothing else.  Kind of a bummer.  But it was fun to celebrate Erika- she got her award- I'll have to remember what she got.  It was fun to hear from all the captains.  Cute girls.  Here's to another good basketball season!  3-16-26

KELLY HISTEROSCOPY
I got to take Kelly to her procedure and be there for the funnies when she woke up.  It was a fun flash back to the good ol' days when we'd hang out more often.  Everything looked good- they raked and got things all ready for planting.  3-19-26

PLEASANT GROVE AWAY GAME
Things were crazy trying to make this game happen- our attending and cheering anyway.  One of the things we had to coordinate was getting Molly to and from Kenzie's Get Air birthday party.  Thankfully, Grandma was all over that.  Such a relief.  We loved this game, minus the annoying whistling guy behind us.  I wanted to murder him.  We had fun together though.  Devan is always fun to talk to at the games and Brad showed up near the end of this one.  Jack and Molly and I did lots of AI trivia.  Pretty fun.  And we remembered snacks!  3-20-26

CHAIR SOCCER WITH THE HATCHES
The Hatches shared their first day here with us- we all went and played Chair Soccer at the church.  It was difficult getting into the building with the new key situation, and with Nate being released, we weren't able to get in with the app because we didn't reserve it soon enough.  But Bro.  Schiess kindly opeened the building for us.  Grandpa thought that was pretty rude of me to make him do that.  But we had fun!  Good times with the Hatches!  Too bad they don't live closer.  3-21-26

LAST WARD CONFERENCE

We had Creekview ward conference today.  I had to do the closing section.  I think it went pretty well.  I was happy I thought to read the part from Luke's letter that I loved.  He was talking about how he only knows a little bit of Spanish, but what he does know he was able to say to someone and felt the spirit so strongly.  I got to have a kid who was just recently called to a spanish speaking mission and is learning Spanish.  So that was fun.  Joe didn't take near as long as I thought he was going to, but we ended on time.  And we're DONE!  3-22-26

LUNCH WITH ANNIE
I love going to lunch with Annie- She is the best!!  We just see things so much the same, it's nice.  I love her!!  3-23-26

TEMPLE
Nate and I got to go to the temple with Brent and Sarah and the Ritchies and Kelly and Devan also came.  So awesome!  Sister Ritchie is my favorite.  It was so nice.  

3-26-26

LUNCH WITH AMBER
We finally made this happen.  Went to Zupas and had a great time talking!!  I could totally hang out with her more!!  SO fun.  3-26-26

FIRST GRADE ASSEMBLY- SADIE
Sadie was REALLY looking forward to this and picked her favorite outfit.  She looked so cute and sang so well!  It was fun to see her get into some of the songs a lot.  This is our last 1st grade program!  Hard to believe.  We are so proud of Sadie, though and glad we go to celebrate her.  We went to Dairy Queen after :).  3-26-26

MINISTERING LUNCH
I got all new people and partner and so we had a little lunch with a bunch of them, Melissa Giatras, Rhonda Naylor at Kris Pederson's house.  It was good, but also not.  But it went just fine.  I need to get to know Rhonda.  3-27-26

DECATHLONG TRYOUTS
I brought Erika and Brad with me and we went to the school and ran some of the events for the Decathlon tryouts.  It was so much fun!  Molly will definitely make it.  3-27-26

IZZY'S BAPTISM

This was a really fun event for everyone.  Most of us got to go.  It was just Izzy, so everything was done by the family.  Brent gave a nice talk and we go to see Alyssa, Porter and Heidi and met Heidi's new husband, Joe.  Izzy seemed to like the 8 cake I made her.  It was a LOT of fun and SOOOOO EASY!!  We had to say goodbye to the Hatches after, which was pretty sad.  We really need to plan a trip to Oregon soon.  3-28-26

SPRING BREAK!!
We had a fun break this year.  The perfect mix of fun and relaxing.  Monday we went to the D.I. and got Book of Mormons to paint for FHE.  This was a REALLY fun activity!!  Everyone's looked so cool!  I have Sand Volleyball on my calendar, but I really don't remember doing that.  Nobody can confirm it for me.  3-30-26

LINDON TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE
We got most of us out and down to Lindon for the temple open house!  This was kind of last minute, but I was so happy we made it work.  We stopped at Smoked Taco for lunch.  SO yummy.  3-31-26

February 2026

BRAD AND LUKE TOGETHER AGAIN- FOR A MINUTE
This was actually such a cool experience.  While Brad was still out, he emailed Luke's mission president asking if he could go and spend some time with Luke, teaching and showing each other what they'd learned and for some reason, Pres. Garn said yes!  He was pretty anxious for him to come- he would ask Luke when his brother was coming.  It was cool.  So Brad finally made all the arrangements- wasn't easy- and was able to go down there to see him.  He flew out Saturday, got there pretty late, got his rental car, drove to his hotel, and set his alarm clock to go to the YSA in the morning.  His plan was to go to the YSA and find his wife and then go to Luke's ward after.  I don't think he made it to the YSA, but we all LOVED the video of him standing next to Luke, wide-eyed.  So cool!  I think it was a little surreal for both of them.  He spent part of Sunday with him and then went back to his hotel.  Then Monday which was actually Luke's 20th birthday- they were able to hang out and talk missionary work for a couple hours (Luke never broke the mission rules and never let Brad in his apartment :)).  They played basketball together- this just makes me tear up just thinking about it, those two back together again, shooting hoops- for a couple hours!  They got some Panda for lunch- love that.  I was happy Luke got his birthday gifts from us the day of :).  And so happy to hear that they were both enjoying their time together.  And learning lots!  Tuesday, Brad says he was Luke's Uber :).  Drove him and his comp around to their appointments and sat in.  Very cool.  I just love that they got this opportunity.  Oh!  President Garn also invited Brad to their MLC and had him bear his testimony.  I got a video from Sis. Garn of them all singing happy birthday to Luke and another sister missionary, both in funny slippers and a few pictures of Luke and Brad standing up in front together.  SO COOL!!  I love that Sis. Garn brought her daughter's phone number out to Brad as he was leaving- telling him to take her out.  HA!  What a neat experience for Luke and Brad!  Brad flew back home Wednesday.  Sadie and I picked him up from the airport after Noah's game.  I think they both loved this experience.  1-31-26--2-3-26

TRAINING PONDS PARK YW
This was so weird.  I don't know why I was having such a hard time at this meeting.  I could barely talk and read.  I'm so sad that they are not having the girls teach and wish I could control the situation, but I know that's not how Christ's Church works.  I am not in charge.  So hard though.  2-1-26

MOLLY EARS

Poor Molly was suffering with double ear infections.  I wish she had said more.  But I also know she is just a tough, distracted little girl :).  Hopefully the antibiotics will help.  2-2-26

SPRAINED ANKLE
Poor Erika, jumped up and came down wrong on her ankle and totally sprained it.  It was such a sad moment!!  She was in a lot of pain, but sat through two more games that night and then the next day took some crutches to school before we finally got her to the doctor to assess the damages.  Luckily it was just sprained.  And pretty good timing too, since she doesn't have another game til Tuesday- a whole week to rest up.  She tried to take good care of it the whole time.  Did pretty good and was able to play in the Tuesday game.  She's had such a good season!  We're so proud of her.  2-3-26

DATE WITH CHARITY
We usually pick breakfast since our schedules don't match up very well.  Nate luckily had the morning off so he was able to get the little girls off to school so I could go.  I picked up Charity and we went over to Waffle Love for some very delicious waffles and some fun conversation.  It's always fun to talk with Charity.  She's such a good friend.  I'm grateful I get to have this time with her still.  That she will make time for me.  We had a blast.  When we got back to her apartment I got to go in and hand out for a few mintues before she ahd to go to work.  2-5-26

WARD CONFERENCES IN THE GARDENS CHAPEL
We had two wards this week in the Gardens Chapel.  It was a little crazy.  I went to the one ward, caught the last half of our Sacrament mtg.  Then I went into Primary to help Sadie give her article of faith and then I had to miss part of the other ward conference so that I could see Noah and Jack get set apart to 1st assistant in the Priests and 1st Counselor in Teachers.  Then finished off the second ward conference.  I didn't have to give the lesson, thankfully.  But it went really well!  I was glad it all fit in.  2-8-26

NOAH'S MISSION PORTAL!
After Prep for Life, Noah met with President Larsen to submit his papers!!  This was very exciting!  He was gone a long time!  Pretty awesome though!!  We are all so excited to hear where he's going now!  2-8-26

SOUP-ER BOWL PARTY AT GRANDMA RUTHIE'S
Grandma had all the non-superbowlers over for soup on Sunday.  So when Noah was done with his interview with the stake president, we headed up there.  We took one small drive up our street, but by the Stolpps, it was already sloshing around in the crock pot.  Not good!  Grandma had mentioned all that she had for us to eat there and I decided the rolls I made were plenty and we'd be fine leavning our soup at home.  So we turned around and took it home.  Good decision.  We had it for dinner later in the week.  Not nearly as good as day of- have to remember that.  But it was a lot of fun to be with Grandma Ruthie and Jen.  We had a nice time.  The Hollists made it too!  Good stuff.  2-8-26  (HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!)

STEVE'S BIRTHDAY
Tai had texted me and let me know that Steve told her I plan his parties, and that she had made reservations the night of his birthday, so if I needed her to move it just to let her know.  SO funny.  So we just did our party the day before.  I slaved over his Reese's cake all day.  It looked pretty good!  If I do say so.  We all headed up to Grandpa's with some extra pizza in tow.  WE all had a good time!  The Hollists and Brenchleys even made it!  Good times!  I especially loved spoiling him with all the things we love about him.  2-9-26

DATE WITH KELLY
Kelly and I got to go to the temple for our date.  Then some Olive Garden after.  Such a great time.  I am grateful for Kelly and the friendship we share.  It's fun to talk even if it is mostly about menopause symptoms and the frustrations we're both drowining in right now.  Nice to have someone to talk to, really.  Good stuff.  2-11-26

VALENTINE'S DATE
Nate and I got to go out on Thursday for Valentines, since Nate had to work Friday.  He surprised me with dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then a Jazz game!  So fun!  We had a great time.  2-12-26

MOLLY'S CLASS PARTY
Nate and I got to run the heart bean bag toss for Molly's class party.  We were out in the hall again.  It was a lot of fun.  Mrs. Willard always combines our games with something else- starting to get suspicious- but they were supposed to pass out their valentines and then play bean bag toss for our station.  It ended up being pretty fun.  I was a softy and let basically everyone count as going in.  It was a little tricky cuz the baskets would move too easily.  But I think the kids had fun- most importantly, Molly had fun :).  2-13-26

VALENTINE'S DAY
We didn't have any amazing ideas for fun that day, but we did manage to get over to the new Farmington Park with Nate to show him all the cool things there.  So much fun!  While Nate was at work, I delivered a bouquet of beef jerky, smartfood and Chomps to his work- left it at the guard shack, but hopefully it was a fun surprise.  2-14-26

NATE RELEASED FROM THE BISHOPRIC
This was kind of a bittersweet day.  We knew it was coming and had a lot of time to prepare.  But still kinda stung a little.  I hope it feels good soon.  Nate was released from the Bishopric in Sacrament Mtg.  They announced the new Bishopric- Alan Last, Travis Clemens, Layne Caldwell.  Nate got to come sit with us for the first time in about six years!  Sadie was a baby when he was called, so this was huge for her.  I'm grateful for willing men to serve our ward and I feel like they will do a great job.  2-15-26

CLAIRE AND SKYLAR
We got to have Claire and Skylar over Sunday evening!  They came for dinner and some website design classes :).  She was so fun to have here- I only wish I hadn't just been experiencing my burst cysts!  But she's always fun to talk to and hang out with.  I loved hearing her mission stories.  She seemed to really appreciate Braed teaching her about his web design stuff.  She wanted his number later to have him do one for her.  She brought her cute dog Skylar who we all love now and she just basically ran around the house exploring for the first half and then let us play with her and do her cool tricks for the rest of the night.  She's very well-behaved and didn't have any incidences in our house which was good, but Erika and I are unfortunately allergic to her and didn't do so well all night.  Too bad.  2-15-26

PRESIDENT'S DAY
We had a very chill President's day.  I can't even remember what we did.  Erika got a haircut over at Marianne's- she's licensed!!  2-16-26

NOAH'S MISSION CALL
We're still waiting on Noah's call!  He had missed a few boxes by Thursday, after President Larsen got them, so he had to go back and check those, but now we're just hanging on this cliffhanger waiting!  It's torture!  2-17-26

LUNCH WITH THE BARBARAS
I got to go to Zupas with the Barbs.  This was fun.  They are so sweet to me.  I'm grateful for their friendship.  I think they wanted to be able to feel out where I was with the new changes in the ward.  But they were so nice to listen to me and all my worries.  I love them.  2-17-26

ESTRADIOL
Had my follow-up appointment with Karen Bradley.  She is really nice.  This was a quick one- just told her things were going well but that I was able to tell when I needed to change my patch so she upped my dose.  This was a huge mistake!  For about a week, I suffered with high estrogen symptoms before finally messaging the doctor and getting the lower dose back.  Kinda nuts.  I don't want the higher dose.  2-18-26

NOAH'S REC GAME
I don't think I've mentioned much about NOah's basketball season.  He's been doing so well and having so much fun!  He's got all his friends on his team.  Kelly and Devan and even Charity and Hunter have been to a LOT of his games, along with the rest of us shmoes.  It's been a lot of fun to watch!!  This week he was playing the other half of their friend group so it was going to be way more intense and the other team had rounded up a lot of the girls to cheer for them.  So Noah was nervous.  But even just a few minutes into the game, we knew we were going to be fine.  We totally killed them!!  So fun!!  Noah was on fire!  Doing great!!  They were all getting some lucky threes and having so much fun!  I loved watching them have fun.  They did some fun little stunts at the end.  This has been a really fun team/season.  Sad that it's probably his last, but still so fun!  2-18-26

LUNCH WITH PAPPY
We had a great time.  Good food.  I love our tradition.  2-19-26

NOAH'S CALL
This was the day Pres. Larsen texted and said it had been assigned!!  Now we were really dying to get it!!  2-19-26

YW LEADER TRAINING AND TREATS
We got some breads and butters and set up a cute little buffet of it all for the YW leaders in the stake.  They came, ate while they listened to Martha speak and then we broke up into callings- I took all the 1st counselors into the Primary room and got to discuss some of their concerns, the things they are enjoying, youth lead, and something else... I can't remember.  But it went really well!  I was so glad!  I really loved being able to meet with the ladies I am supposed to be ministering to.  I need to do better at that for sure, but I did love getting to know them a little better.  AFter the meeting we had our meeting with the YM leaders and Pres. Perry.  Good stuff.  Getting all ready for Youth Conference Kickoff!  Here we come!  2-19-26

DEACONS/TEACHERS OVERNIGHTER
Nate and Jack got to go up to Randolph for an overnighter with the young men.   Travis Clemens was so nice to ask specifics on what Jack can eat and really tried to make it enjoyable for him food-wise.  I was grateful.  I made a little google doc to share with his leaders.  Nate went so he could help with Jack's diabetes.  I think it went well.  They all seemed to have a good time!  2-20-26--2-21-26

SPRING FLING

Erika and I spent a lot of the day shopping for last minute things- yellow shirt for her costume- and got to hang out a bunch, which was super nice.  Then, because her date Emmett Wright couldn't ride with anyone who didn't have their six months, I got to be her group's chaufer for the evening!  They went to pictures at Barnes Park- they dressed up as the Mario Cart characters for the Dynamic Duos theme.  Then they went to In and Out for dinner, then to the dance, and then to Agnello's house and home.  It was a lot of driving, but I know this is probably my last time doing this with Erika, so I just cherished it.  I was in and out at home, with everyone watching movies and stuff too, which was fun.  I think Erika had a good time.  Noah spent the night making posters to ask to Prom.  Unfortunately, the girl he asked had already been asked.  So sad.  Hopefully he will try again.  2-21-26

WARD CONFERENCE
This week was our ward conference.  Kind of fun since we have our new Bishopric.  I really liked the Ponds Park version of Pres. Larsen's talk.  It was a little different.  It was a good Sacrament meeting, but I was pretty nervous about my part in the YM/YW portion.  I was in charge of opening our lesson.  Which ended up being about a half hour of talking.  I was really prepared and was dealing with my stress better than usual, so it was okay.  I was still really shaky and super nervous, but it went really well.  I was really relieved.  The kids were participating and paying attention- so that was nice.  We did the stand up and say one sentence of your testimony about Jesus Christ and/or His Gospel.  It was really cool!  They did so good.  The Spirit was so strong.  Then I turned the time over to Bro. Sweeten.  His portion went really well also.  So all was well.  I think it was a success.  I was grateful to have that part of the day over... there was still lots to go though.  2-22-26

YOUTH CONFERENCE KICKOFF
This day FINALLY CAME!!!  I was so relieved to have it here.  So much went into that thing.  I didn't realize it until the day of, but I was basically doing everything!  Emme had volunteered to order the brownies and Erika volunteered to pick them up with my help, but since I am over the youth, when Emme learned that they are not open outside of school hours, I ended up ordering them.  And picking them up.  Then because Erika was busy, I ended up getting the ice cream and bowls as well.  It was funny.  THEN at the last minute- I realized I was also in charge of printing the programs that Simeon had created and so I did that at the last minute- thanks to Martha for bailing me out of that.  The youth actually delivered on this kickoff- they all did so well!  I was so glad it went well and that everything happened the way it did.  I think the question portion of the meeting was interesting.  To put it nicely.  But other than that- it was so good!  We had enough help in the kitchen with the brownies and ice cream- it was so great! 2-22-26

NOAH'S MISSION CALL OPENING!!!
IT CAME!!!  We were all SO RELIEVED that it actually came!!  It was later than we thought, Noah had taken a little nap- probably to sleep off some of the impatience, but he woke up, checked his email and then ruffled his hair and stretched out the sleep lines in his face and hopped in the car to go read his call with his Heavenly Father.  This was so exciting!!  I was so happy for him.  We planned to have him open it with the family at 7:30- when Kelly and Erika were done with LAX and then have all the friends come at 8:00.  I got the brownies made and ordered some pizza cuz who can make dinner when they're anxious for a mission call opening?!  Noah made lots of funny jokes about where he was called to- of course Idaho.  It was fun to just sit in the suspense.  Finally 7:30 came.  As well as Charity and Hunter, then Kelly, Erika and finally Devan.  We were all SO EXCITED!!  Tears, smiles, antsy-ness.  We decided to squish in the living room and Noah stood up to read it and we decided to have a prayer.  Right as we finished the prayer, my mom and Simon showed up.  She thought she was about to miss the thing I invited her to at 8:00, when really she was a half hour early.  They sat down and then Noah read his mission call!!  It was so sweet!!  He was tearing up and could barely read at some points.  And then the climactic moment when he read, "Argentina Buenos Aires North"!!!  It's SO EXCITING!!  The only thing that I can compare this feeling to is when you watch someone get baptized and that feeling when they come out of the water!!  It's precious.  I love it!  I think I might be addicted to it.  We all quietly cheered.  I loved that Brad had put his arm around me and was all ready to shake my leg at the perfect moment- adding to the excitement :).  He was so excited for Noah.  It was just so beautiful!!  Noah had the biggest smile on his face!  He was just glowing!  This was his mission.  There was no doubt.  SO FUN!!  A few minutes later, my dad showed up.  We didn't tell him where he was going.  I think I wanted him to be able to hear it from Noah- in the mission call- but he was not happy about that.  Looking back, I should have just told him, but I also think he's a big boy and he can wait 10 minutes while the friends pile in.  Which they did!! They all filed in and wrote their names on little sticky note arrows to point to their guesses.  He had like fifty people here by the time Blake said the prayer.  We had to pause for a minute while grandma Ruthie got on to the live stream, but shortly after, Noah was reading his call for all of his favorite people.  This is such a neat moment for these kids.  I love that they all want to be part of it with each other.  So neat.  I love the big cheer when you get to the location and this was cute because Noah was almost getting emotional about it, but his friends were so excited that he just took some big breaths and smiled so big!!  It was so sweet!!  Turns out Laurie had guessed Argentina Buenos Aires East, because her Aunt and Uncle are Mission Presidents there, so that was funny- I loved hearing about that interaction before starting the call- Noah was shocked she was saying the exact mission almost.  But then, "Nope, not going there"- HA!  So she won.  It was fun to listen to Noah and all his friends and be part of that moment with him.  So cool!!  I think he's excited!  We just need to get on the passport!!  2-23-26

LUNCH WITH BECKY WIDDISON
I got to hang out with Becky for a minute at La Puenta for lunch :).  It's been a while!!  I was so glad we made it happen.  I needed to talk with her.  I love my cuz.  2-24-26

LACROSSE TRYOUTS
Erika just finished basketball season last week and Tuesday she had Lacrosse Tryouts!  So crazy!  Her ankle is still bothering her and sometimes her knee.  Hopefully she can play.  We all know she is going to make Varsity and I think she even knows because she really wasn't as nervous for this.  I like that Lacrosse is a little more chill for Eriika. 2-24-26--2-25-26

2025 BOOK
I finished (mostly) my 2025 book yesterday.  I need to wait to order it, but I'm just really impressed with myself for getting it done so fast.  It's really easy now with the new software.   And my new way of doing it.  2-25-26

LITERACY NIGHT
Nate, Molly, Sadie and I got to go to Literacy night at the school.  It was a lot of fun.  They had a little comedy show in the gym and concessions- donuts, nachos, popcorn, which we took advantage of.  We got to go see Sadie's animal report projects.  She did a great job on her otter and her other cute drawing.  I love the m birds.  We had a lot of fun.  2-25-26

LUNCH WITH TAMMY PICKERING
I got to go to lunch with Tammy today.  We went to Mo Bettahs.  It's always soo good to hang out with Tammy.  She's a good influence.  I'm grateful for her example.  2-26-26

HELPING TALIA MOVE
Charity, Hunter, Brad and I all met up at Talia's house (Hunter's sister) to help her load the moving truck.  Hunter's dad was there as well.  It was actually kind of fun.  We would talk to or trip over L (forgot his name) or his little sister every trip we took in our out.  They were being adorable.  We got to see the new baby- so sweet!!  They were the most packed I think I have ever seen ANYONE and I've helped a LOT of people move.  They had EVERYTHING in boxes and ready to go.  It was pretty painless.  I was sweating though.  It was a lot of fun to talk and joke with Charity and Hunter at the end.  We loved laughing about Talia's husband watching us load the scrap wood he is hoarding.  Funny guy.  We got some lunch on our way home.  2-27-26

TERESA'S WEDDING
I volunteered to make a cake for Nate's cousin Teresa's wedding.  It was a fun and easy one to make.  I really haven't ever thought of doing a wedding cake but for free- I figured I'd give it a shot.  I think it turned out pretty good.  We went to the church early to help Ali set up all of her awesome decorations and then stayed during and visited with some of Nate's cousins and Lynn and Ali.  Melanie was there with her cute little girls and Molly and Sadie LOVED playing with them.  That was actually a major highlight.  I realized I had no idea who Teresa was :).  But it was nice to meet her!!  She was very sweet and complimented the cake.  That made me happy.  2-27-26

HUNTER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
We got to go try out the bowling at Boondocks in Draper for Hunter's birthday party.  This was a lot of fun.  Charity had invited some of his family and their friends- it was a lot of fun!  We went to Panda afterwards.  It was fun to be with everyone, but I wish we had mingled just a little more.  I got to talk to Hunter's sisters a little.  That was fun.  2-28-26

DREAMS
I had the craziest dream.  It was so vivid and I really felt like it meant something for some reason.  I can't remember all the details anymore, but basically Nate was called to be a mission president!  We were so excited and got the kids all excited and just went and did it, no hesitation.  Kind of how I feel it would go if that really happened.  Nate would be an awesome mission president for sure.  2-28-26

JANUARY 2026

 NEW YEAR'S DAY WITH THE MAUGHANS
We met up with the Maughans at the church to wear out chair soccer and lightning.  We didn't end up playing any board games for some reason.  Some of us sat and chatted a little and there were lots of snacks the whole time.  It was fun.  It was definitely a different hang out without most of the old kids!  No Charity, Kelly, Rachel or Josh.  But we managed to have some fun I think.  1-1-2026

JACK WAS ORDAINED A TEACHER!
This was really neat!  I think Jack was really looking forward to it and the thought of moving up in the Priesthood.  He likes passing the Sacrament and still does it sometimes, but I think he was looking forward to preparing it.  He likes that he now has control over the Chex and getting them on the tray without cross contamination.  So we all met in the Deacon's room and Noah got to ordain Jack to the office of Teacher.  Pretty sweet.  I loved hearing what Noah blessed him with and knowing that Noah was just there, he would know the concerns and be in tune to what Jack will need for this position.  It's just so cool to see my boys bless each other's lives.  So cool!!  1-4-26

DAVID
We took everyone to see David on Monday- we were off for school, which was awesome.  It was a really cute movie!  We loved it!  I kept wondering where the movie would end- like in the life of David- if they would do it all, but they stopped before Bathsheba, or just didn't tell that part.  Kinda cool still.  I think it's important to recognize that even good people sin.  But it was a fun time with everyone.  1-5-26

JACK GOT BRACES
The day came!  He was excited, not excited.  Kinda wild.  It's so crazy that Jack is now, officially a teenager with his cute brace-face :).   He did so well- unfortunately, I wasn't able to be at the orthodontist with him, Nate went- but he did so well and hardly complained about pain at all.  We did stock up on yogurt, pudding, soft foods, etc.  Here we go!  1-6-26

PLAYING WITH KELLY
I got to go down to Salt Lake to spend some time with Kelly while she nannied.  I met Ollie- super cute little guy!  He loved it when I pushed him on the swing :).  It was a really nice time with Kelly.  I wish I had the energy I need to be more fun and wish I could be more helpful and fun.  But I loved being with her and feeling her energy and brightness.  We need to hang out more often.  1-7-26

NEW BUNK BEDS FOR SADIE AND MOLLY!
We did it!  We finally bought a new bed for the little girls.  Sadie's bed broke and has been at a 45 degree angle for the past... really long time.  We chose a triple bunk bed so that they could use the bottom area for toys and fun.  We still need to work on that.  But I spent the entire day Thursday putting the bed together.  It took forever!  It was really hard!!  But I did feel pretty awesome when miraculously I got the top bunk placed on top of the bottom two!  ALL BY MYSELF!!  I'm still not sure how I did it.  Must have had some unseen help.  But I am also really proud of myself.  It was a lot like my recent Lego sets where I just felt good accomplishing something.  I like those things.  The girls loved it!  They have little stairs that go up to the top- they can both use those.  No slide unfortunately, we decided a slide would be too short to be fun and also take up too much room.  They filled the bottom with their stuffies and "reading nook" supplies.  The shelves are all covered.  I think it was a good change.  I hope they actually like it.  No more watching movies in bed for Sadie and dad, which was a total bummer for Sadie, but she handled it well.  1-8-26

BIRTHDAY TABLES WITH SADIE
It was July birthday tables on Friday!  So much fun!!  Sadie had her two friends Caroline and Austin come up with her and that was awesome.  We loved being with her.  She got Chick-fil-a and Pretzel Bites.  We got to share some of the pretzel bites with Molly and that was fun.  She was very quick to pack up and leave- which was funny, but she did hug us and love us goodbye.  1-9-26

GREENLAND DATE NIGHT
Nate and I decided that we needed to watch Greenland for our date (there are NO good movies out right now) so we went to dinner and then came home to watch Greenland.  It was funny how many of the kids wanted to join in- even Kelly and Devan joined us.  A bunch of Brad's friends came.  It was so fun!  We let Sadie and Molly watch a movie on the laptop.  Fun time though!  We need to do this more often.  1-9-26

GREENLAND 2 WITH ALL THE BIG KIDS
I mostly thought of this idea as like a celebrating Noah kind of activity- for his birthday- but we never sang to him or did anything birthday related, so I don't know if it still counts as such.  But anyway.  We planned it all out, had grandma come watch the girls.  We had to go  before Nate has work, so it was an 11:50 show.  We were all pretty excited for this!  I think the movie was pretty good- we all thought it was more of what the first one was about.  Pretty crazy to think about though and very entertaining.  We loved the first one, so we were pretty easy to please.  It was super fun to have the Hollists and Brenchleys with us too of course.  Good times!  1-10-26

NOAH'S 18TH BIRTHDAY!
He did it!! He turned into an adult!  I watched it happen.  I think Noah had a pretty good day.  He loved the sign we all slaved over.  He got to go to church and do all the Sunday things all day.  I mean, it was  a pretty great day overall :).  We had grandparents over the next day, for brownies and ice cream and spoiling Noah with cards full of money.  So that was pretty fun too.  It was fun to see Noah spoiled and happy.  I mean, he's usually happy, but I do think he deserves a little extra spoiling once in a while.  He was very gracious.  I tried to talk him into doing something with his friends like dinner or sushi or something, but nope.  We also got to take him to Tucanos a couple of nights later for some yummy tummy-filling food- he loves Tucanos, so that was fun.  It's crazy he's already 18.  I have very fond memories of just holding him in the rocking chair when he was a newborn.  Great idea being born in January where the world slows down.  I literally would just lay there with him next to me for pretty long periods of time.  He was super snuggly.   I loved the peace that came with Noah.  It was a huge blessing at that time.  Cool that his name means rest or peace.  Fit him so well.  But here we are- filling out mission papers, thinking about college and doing an internship with Mountain Land PT.  He's really doing it all.  All grown up.  I'm really proud of him and all that he has ahead and the life that I am certain he will live.  He's a pretty amazing kid.  He's gonna do some amazing things.  1-11-26

NOAH PHYSICAL- TB TEST
Noah's just got a few more things to do before he can submit his papers, so we went and got another physical- the sport one wasn't enough- and they inserted the TB test stuff.  Kinda fun.  Just one of the milestones.  11-13-26

LUNCH WITH BARBARA FARNES
Barbara and I headed up to Applebees this week.  She was worried about me after I said this past year was hard.  I reminded her that I am just a big baby so she need not worry.  She had just had some dental issues so she was missing a tooth while we ate, kind of distracting, but also fine.  1-13-26

FROZEN PLAY WITH MOLLY AND SADIE
This was one of the gifts we gave the girls this year- tickets to see Frozen at the Hale Center Theater.  This ended up being SO COOL!!!  I was actually extremely entertained the entire time!  And so were the girls!  We loved all the special effects!  We got to learn about how they do a lot of it when they had "question time" aka: the stuff wasn't working.  The girls loved the quick dress change during Let it Go- we still don't know how they did that!!  So cool!!  The characters were so fun and the props.  It was a lot of fun.  We need to do something like that again.  1-14-26

PELVIC FLOOR PT
Had my second appointment.  It was not as bad as the first and she said I have improved significantly!  Which I was very proud of- I've been doing the breathing really well.  1-15-26

SHOPPING AND LUNCH WITH DAD
We went to our usual- Olive Garden- for lunch, and then shopping for my birthday gift!  I was thinking bed sheets, so I wanted to go to the Home store right there by Olive Garden, but when we pulled up we learned that it was closed for good!  So dumb.  So we went to Michaels and there was nothing there.  Then we decided to go up to Kohls.  I found some really pretty white striped white sheets.  I guess I should put them on my bed, but I am really excited about them.  It was a nice time with my dad too.  It's nice to hang out.  1-15-26

DATE NIGHT/TEAM DINNER FOR ERIKA
We got to do the team dinner with Emily on Friday.  Nate made pulled pork.  We took that and some coleslaw and buns.  Super easy.  I still can't believe they eat in the locker room.  I think it went okay though!  Erika has been playing really well lately and getting to dress for JV or Varsity a few times- so much fun!!  I'm happy they finally see it!  We brought the food, watched Erika play, went out on our date to a cool place where you cook your own food, found out Erika was going to dress for JV, went back, watched a lot of the JV game and then took all the leftovers home.  Big night.  1-16-26

COURTNEY!!
We finally got our families together- sort of- she came over with Briggs and we all talked and the kids played with Briggs.  It was a lot of fun!  We earned ourselves a babysitting job for Tuesday night!  1-17-26

NORTH COTTONWOOD PARK
We tried out the new Farmington park on Saturday!  This was a great idea that a LOT of people had at the same time.  It was super busy.  But the park is really awesome!  We totally loved it!  Super cool- super TALL slides, the cool 40 yard dash, the ninja course.  The kids had a blast.  The boys tried out the basketball courts and Molly and Jack tried out the little trail.  It's really nice!!  I'm excited for it!  Weird warm weather lately.  1-17-26

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY
This was kind of a bust.  I had plans that I thought were kind of fun, but with the timing and then people not really caring about it- Bring your own bucket day was a nope.  It was fine.  We still got to go out to Daybreak for some TIOs with Grandma Ruthie and Jen.  That was a lot of fun.  She was so nice to pay for it all.  We were happy to get the Brenchleys there.  Charity had to work.  But the rest of us were there as well.  On our way home we stopped at Claire's house!  It was her dog, Skylar's birthday the next day so we celebrated her birthday with her :).  That was pretty fun.  Claire is always fun to chat with.  We of course overstayed our welcome, but it was awesomse.  1-19-26

CAKES
I've been making a lot of cakes lately- well two I guess- for other people.  That's been kind of fun.  REally simple ones, so that's good.  I did a panda one for Lacie Desmond and Tuesday I did a KPOP one for Addie Barth.  I got to help set up for her party a little and hopefully took a little off Marianne's plate.  I like doing those kinds of things.  Brad helped me :).  1-20-26

ERIKA AGAINST LAYTON
Erika had her most amazing game on Tuesday!  She's had a lot of good ones lately that I kept calling her game, but this- THIS was her game!!  She did SO AWESOME!!  She was our energy, our momentum shifter, she was incredible on defense!  She stopped the other team for the three last quarters.  We out scored them all three.  Unfortunately, she didn't get to start the game, so it was over before she started, but I really loved it just because she did so amazing!!  I'm fine losing if Erika is playing that well!  She got to dress for JV and Varsity at the Friday game because she's been so impressive lately!!  So proud of her!!  1-20-26

JACK ENDO
Well.  This was a huge let down.  We went to Jack's second appointment with this amazing Endo- Brett- we got from the Sanchezes, and after our amazing appointment where he really did some good things with Jack's doses, we learned that he is no longer going to be seeing patients.  UGH.  So we are now in the market for a new Endo.  Again.  This is a hard thing for Jack and I.  We are going to be tough and not let it get us down.  1-21-26

BREAKFAST WITH KRISTA
We really need to hang out more.  I love spending time with Krista.  She's awesome.  We squeezed in a breakfast at Kneaders and it was awesome.  1-22-26

LUNCH WITH STEPHANI
We went to Applebees this time.  It was great.  She is such a sweet friend and I feel like we are able to talk and get things done when we hang out.  So grateful for her listening ear.  1-23-26

PLAY DATE WITH LAYLA
Hunter's sister, Talia let us come up to their house so that the girls could play with Layla- and Lamont of course.  It ended up being a really fun little playdate for all us adults (Charity and Hunter joined us there.  Jack even came.), I don't feel like the little girls had the time of their lives, but maybe they needed a few more hours :).  Just kidding.  They played pretty good once they got out the playdough.  I loved visiting with Charity and Talia- so much fun.  1-24-26

WARD CONFERENCES
We're back at it- can't believe it's been a year!- I went to two wards this Sunday, Columbia Heights and Sego Lily.  Things went well.  The way Martha invited the young men to join up, and then assigned everyone a spot to speak, we are only going to teach twice the entire time.  Kinda weird.  I can't help but wonder if Martha just doesn't want us to speak.  She keeps making plans that make it so we don't.  It's strange.  But whatever.  We also had our Youth committee meeting and then an adult youth conference committee meeting.  It was a very long Sunday for me. I'm struggling a lot with all the committees and hooplah for Youth Conference.  It's crazy.  I've gotta some how get over it all.  1-25-26

SOMETHING HAPPENED
So I'm not sure what it was yesterday, but something happened.  I was in a dark hole.  I was feeling really down and discouraged about everything.  It was really hard.  I don't know how my mind can go there so quickly.  I took like two naps, didn't shower, didn't do a lot of the things I needed to do- although, I did wash the dishes- took me about 45 minutes less than I had invisioned for some reason.  It was wild.  I did end up putting on a  new patch last night and maybe that's why the darkness faded, I feel much better today.  It was just so hard.  I hope I can figure out a way to snap out of those or just not get there again.  It's weird.  1-26-26

LUKE'S PHONE CALL
I feel a little bad, I'm so bad at updating my blog that I am not recording all of the phone calls with him.  This week was a really good one.  He told us about his freezing temps and being stuck in his apartment.  That's been a challenge I bet.  And he told us about Cody and how his mom was pretty rude to them on the phone after they called her "sister ___".  At least she's letting him get baptized.  I hope!!  And he and Brad got to plan Brad's visit.  I can't believe his president is letting him visit!!  So cool!!  1-26-26

CHILI'S
Brad, Erika and I got to go to Chili's today for lunch!  Lots of funny and fun conversation.  I love my kids.  They are the best!!  1-27-26

ERIKA
Basketball has been a lot of fun this past week!  Erika has cranked up her game so well!  Some serious defense and even scoring has gone up!  I think she scored about 15 points in her game.  And she was our main defender.  It was a pretty exciting game- she had the young women there watching, grandma Hatch came and Bishop was there to watch her play on the sophomore game- that was the good one and then on the JV game as well!  Pretty cool  Erika got to dress for Varsity and JV- she played for a few minutes in JV.  It was a little weird because they put her out htere with the girls she plays with on the sophomore team so kinda weird, but she did great!  It was a lot of fun!  I'm really proud of her!!  She's doing it all while putting up with her knees hurting a ton.  1-27-26

WEBER GAMES
Erika's been asked to play up so much lately, it's been so fun to see her play a few times.  It's been a lot of fun to just sit there with Nate and cheer on the Varsity and JV teams too.  Date night!  Sadie and Molly have been so patient and accommodating.  We drove up and back from Weber High an obscene amount this Friday going back and forth with different people and so that we could sneak in a dinner and driving kids around.  Fun stuff.  1-30-26

DECEMBER 2025

LUNCH WITH KATHY AND HOLLIE
I meat up with them at JOhnny ROckets and we got to have a fun lunch together.  It was fun to chat and joke with the waiter.  Just really chill and a good time.  It's nice that they want to get together and will text me when they're down here.  12-3-25

LAX PARENT MEETING
We had gotten so stressed and worked up about this meeting before it came.  Luckily, everything went really well.  Minus that Devin (Williams) was glazing Piper- but there was no riot, no ambush from Meredith- I would say it was uneventful.  Kind of a relief.  It's fun that Kelly is going to coach.  I just wish she was the Varsity coach- assuming Erika makes varsity.  But so fun- I'm looking forward to the spring season!.  12-3-25

SADIE
Sadie had such a rough morning.  She and Molly both were on one.  It was very frustrating and in an effort to get control of things I grounded them.  It wouldn't have even worked if it wasn't Jeffrey Radik's birthday party that day, but I did the unthinkable and made her miss it!  It was so sad!!  She was so distraught.  "That was going to be a really fun place!"  Lots of tears.  But honestly, I think it worked.  We haven't had a morning like it in months (yes, I am typing this about two months out!!)  12-4-25

ERIKA'S BASKETBALL SEASON
It's been a lot of fun watching Erika play on the High School team this season!!  She has done amazing!!  I wish they hadn't kept so many players- she might get more playing time, but we are happy with what she does when she's out there- SO proud actually!!  I think she's also having some fun with it.  They have won about as many as they've lost, I would have to blame the coaching for a few of their losses, but she has a really new coach and we are trying to be patient with the whole situation.  Erika is amazing though!!  Fun season.  12-4-25

BABY SHOWER, BALLOON ARCH, WINTER'S DANCE DINNER
Shoulda titled this- "sorry our kids destroyed your garland", but I'll get to that.  We helped Kelly with Maddie's baby shower in the morning- making a cool balloon arch.  Near the end, I realized it was the perfect colors for Erika's group's dinner that evening.  So I told Kelly to leave it up :).  I think the shower went well.  We then went over before the dinner to finish setting that up and the balloon arch was ruined!  We spent some time fixing it and set up the food.  This dinner went really well.  Nate catered and then a bunch of parents brought food later- kinda funny we didn't know there was going to be more food.  But Erika looked so beautiful in her green dress.  She took Keaton.  It was a great night.  We should mention that Noah also went to the dance.  He went with Natalie who he was no longer all that interested in.  It was almost funny that he had to go spend a whole evening with her.  But he survived.  Had a good time with the group.  12-6-25

ICE CREAM FOR LARSENS

This was kind of funny.  For one of the things we wanted to do to serve a family in our ward- we chose taking Nielson's to the Larsens.  It was really funny getting the ice cream- driving with it melting all over the place cuz we got concretes with no lids.  But we eventually made it home and cleaned everything up and then ran them over to their house on our way out of town.  They were fun to surprise.  I think they liked it.  we loved their bells on the porch.  Hopefully they felt the love.  12-8-25

CHRISTMAS IN COLOR
We did our drive thru lights again this year!  I keep saying we're done, but then everyone talks me back into it.  It's true that the little girls still love it, so we keep going.  We met up with Charity and Hunter at a church nearby and then drove all together through the lights.  It was a lot of fun but also felt really long this year for some reason.  But we loved it!  Then afterward we stopped at Swig for some hot chocolate.  That was a fun time too- just being with everyone is really lightening up my life.  It's been so crazy with all the construction.  12-8-25

PHYSICAL THERAPY
Well.  I did it.  I went to my therapy appointment.  This was interesting.  To say the least.  Who knew.  I hope it ends up helping.  Til next time.  12-9-25

 LUNCH WITH MOM
My mom and I finally got to go to lunch.  Took a lot of rescheduling.  We went to a little cafe on 5th south.  I am drawing a blank what it was called now.  Super cute.  Yummy food.  We completely spaced going to Deseret Book- she had wanted me to pick out some gifts for myself.  We ended up meeting up the next day or something.  All was well.  12-9-25

RELIEF SOCIETY PARTY
This was pretty chill this year.  Just food.  I enjoyed it though.  I of course got to sit with RIchelle so that made it all worth it.  12-9-25

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
I was given free tickets to Hale Center Theater when I did the concessions at the Elementary school, so Nate and I got to go see A Christmas Carol.  This was a lot of fun.  I actually really enjoyed it.  I really loved the connection to Christ that they must have added on their own.  So good!  I was grateful for Brad babysitting.  He's awesome.  12-10-25

COPPER HILLS GAME
I've had a lot of fun hanging out with Brad at all the basketball games.  A lot of the time it's just him and me.  This one at Copper Hills was.  We had fun talking and joking about the refs.  It was almost as bad reffing as the Skyview refs.  He spent a lot of time visiting with Waddoups, that was fun for him.  She loves him.  We were bummed we didn't get to watch more of the JV game since ERika got to dress, but I needed to get back for my date with Jack.  12-11-25

DATE WITH JACK
This was a really fun date idea.  We grabbed some dominoes for Jack, some legos from Walmart for both of us, and then headed up to the Layton Hills Mall food court to put our legos together and to eat our dinner.  I got Chick-fil-a of course.  It was so much fun!!  I loved it! I love that Jack is not too cool to hang out with me.  I loved talking and loved that he will spend time with me.  12-11-25

POPCORN AND POSTERS
We went around to all the YW presidents this Saturday.  Took us about two hours to deliver them all.  Kinda nuts.  It was nice though.  I really wish we got more time with the leaders and the yw in the stake.  It would be so nice.  This was good though.  Martha is hilarious.  12-12-25

MOVIE DOME WITH THE FURNISSES
This was really cool!!  I wish we'd been able to hang out a little more, but we were a little rushed, but we got to go to the cool dome theater up at the U that Dolores's son was part of and watch the old Willy Wonka movie!!  This was incredible!  I really loved it.  I think I liked the screensavers almost as much as the movie, but really, I've seen the movie so many times and to still be interested in it all was pretty impressive.  12-13-25

MOLLY'S LAST GAME
This was kinda sad.  It was her last game.  Nate had to work so Brad coached- he did a fantastic job and they played really well.  It just kind of caught us all off guard that it was the end of the season.  Molly was bummed.  She played SO WELL the whole season though- she should be proud.  12-13-25

JACK AND BRAD'S ROOM
We were able to put Jack and Brad's bunk bed together this Sunday.  It was much harder than I thought it was going to be, but we did it!  Their room was really spacious until the next day when Brad brought in a couch.  Interesting choice, but whatever.  HOpefully they like it.  12-14-25

NOAH'S PATRIARCHAL BLESSING
This is always such a special moment!!  Huge mom paycheck day.  And Nate I'm sure :).   Noah's turn did not disappoint.  He was SO prepared.  Patriarch Morrell even kept saying that.  It was so cool.  I was really proud of Noah and really excited for the life he has ahead.  He is just the sweetest.  I hope he is able to turn to his blessing as much as possible and that he is able to receive the comfort and guidance he needs through it as well.  Such a neat experience and such a testimony of the power of the Priesthood.  Good stuff.  12-14-25

GRAMMY WONG'S CHRISTMAS PARTY
We had one of the best times we've ever had at her house this year :).  Direct quote from some of the kids.  We did have a lot of fun.  She had asked Erika to bring some game ideas so we played Psychiatrist.  It ended up being so much fun!!  So much laughter and so many smiles.  She had yummy food too.  It was just a really great night.  Everyone loved the white elephants and we all just enjoyed our time there so much.  12-15-25

LUNCH WITH PAPPY
We were really happy to be getting this in during the holiday season.  It was much needed.  We had a great time and ate lots of yummy breadsticks.  12-16-25

CONSTRUCTION
I haven't said much about all the construction going on in our house for the past month and a bit.  We discovered a leak from the bathroom to the family room on October 23rd.  The insurance guys came and then the demo guys the day before Halloween.  So from that point on we've had construction and workers in and out of our house nonstop.  It's been pretty stressful if I'm being completely honest.  The insurance company decided they would cover new floor in the family room, new paint for the whole family room, the repairs on the torn out wall, new glass in the doors, the wall in the kitchen to be repainted, new flooring in the bathroom, new toilet, and one coat of paint in the bathroom.  So since we were having so much done already- why not do some upgrades.  So we decided to throw in new doors, not just new glass, new vanity in the bathroom, different paint color in the bathroom and some cabinet/built-ins in the family room.  We really thought this was all very doable.  For some reason, it wasn't.  There were so many hang ups.  Wet dry wall in the drive way that they almost put in our house, the back door being cut out and THEN finding out the new door was too small, the nails in the sewer pipe, the mold everywhere, them putting on the old toilet and having it leak through their freshly mudded drywall.  UGH.  Like too much to really talk about.  And all the while they left huge messes and dust and everything everywhere.  It was so annoying.  The cabinet guy was awesome.  We loved him- Johnny.  I had a fun conversation with him about our map and planes one day.  He did a great job.  I just wish the guy he got to paint was more reliable.  So at this point in the whole thing- we were waiting on the one crew to finish up the last things- a couple of thresholds, some touch-ups with paint, getting the tape marks off the trim outside, etc.  And the doors on the cabinets need painting, but we decided it was good enough for the moment.  12-16-25

PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS
We were finally able to put up our tree!!  We'd gotten the family room back in order- the nativities looked amazing on the new shelves which I love, we just didn't have painted doors on the cabinets which is fine.  So anyway.  We finally got our tree, the night before at Home Depot- that was pretty fun- and then at 9:00 on Thursday night- we broke out the ornaments.  I feel like it went really well.  Everyone was happy :).  The Hollists were so fun to join us.  They've come up so much lately, and we love it!  It was fun to have the lights up and FINALLY be feeling like it is Christmas.  It hasn't felt like Christmas at all this season.  I've been so grumpy about the construction.  But this was nice.  Got me in the mood for sure.  12-18-25

NOAH'S WISDOM TEETH
He did it!  He got his teeth out!  This was pretty uneventful for about an hour- ever since then he's had nothing but trouble and lots of pain!!  He handled the surgery well though, got some ice cream after.  It was pretty good for the moment.  He was not as fun as we all wanted him to be after the anesthesia, but he was really talkative and I hope I never forget his "broken heart" spoken through rolled up gauze when I asked him why he doesn't seem like himself lately.  He was ready to tough this process out though.  I was proud of him.  12-19-25

THE GRINCH- Or I mean, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Molly's class did a reader's theater and invited the parents.  It was super cute and fun to be there for Molly.  Nate came with me.  We were sitting in the worst possible seats to see her- may have been her doing, but we heard her on her parts and she did fantastic!!  It's always fun to be part of these things!  We love our Molly!!  12-19-25

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
Nate and used our date night to do some much needed Christmas shopping.  I had bought a lot on Amazon, but we were getting so close it was time to get out and get real.  This was a very productive night!  We had some fun.  12-19-25

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY
This was a teensy bit stressful at the last minute thanks to my procrastination with printing.  I needed to print off some face paint ideas for Kelly and Devan and of course the printer was not going to comply.  But we got there, with the casserole I warmed up, and all was well.  The Hollists and Brenchleys came- Kelly and Devan did an amazing job on the face painting- they were painting the entire time.  So cool that they were willing to do that.  I was able to visit with our family for quite a while and then made the rounds to try to mingle a little.  Ended up sitting and talking to Emily.  Doesn't happen much anymore. But it was nice.  The kids had a blast!  There were so many fun games and prizes.  They were in heaven.  I loved that there was so much for them to do.  Fun party.  12-20-25

MAYNES FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY
This was kind of thrown together at the last minute and rubbed a few people the wrong way with the way they handled the dinner- catered from Olive Garden- but it ended up being a really good time.  Everyone was mingling with each other by the end, so that was fun.  It was interesting to hear Brad's take on the older kids finally treating them like they exist :).  I'm glad they get along now and have things to talk about.  Kinda fun.  We did some games and a while elephant game.  Molly was not too happy with the wrapping paper she got so Hunter Maynes offered her $10 for it.  PRetty cool cousin if you ask me.  Kelly and Devan had to leave early and that was a bummer.  CHarity and Hunter were not there.  BUt we did manage to have a great time.  We helped clean up and dragged ourselves out of there.  12-20-25

CHRISTMAS SUNDAY
We loved having Nate home all morning.  I was able to go early to run through the songs with the choir.  I was in the choir, Brad was the narrator, Molly said the opening prayer and Jack said the closing prayer.  Noah blessed the sacrament, Jack passed it, and ERika was a door greeter!!  IT was a full on Maynes SUnday!!  SO fun.  I actually really loved this program!  NOrma did a fantastic job.  I loved all the music and the narration was awesome.  The Spirit of Christmas is finally here!!  12-21-25

OUR FAMILY PARTY
This was a new one :).  I hope it becomes a tradition.  Maybe.  I think everyone had fun.  Brad invited Pierce, Aubrey and Victor and Jack had Will, Sadie had Owen and MOses for part of it.  The Hollists and Brenchley's made it.  It was a full, fun house!  We ate Meatballs and Mashed potatoes for dinner- they even stretched!! Then it was time for games.  I had asked everyone to come prepared to do a game.  We did Plinko first so the little kdis could play and then go home :).  That was fun- Nate had gotten some gift cards for everyone to win- worked out great!  I only wish everyone could win the cool prize- ya know.  Then Charity did a game where we had to guess all the Christmas scents.  Then a fun candy cane game where we passed candy canes down the line- she didn't love how that one went.  For Kelly and Devan's game we played Hungry Hungry Reindeer- with cups on our hands we had to grab marshmallows and put them on our plate- this was funny!!  I loved stealing Nate's plate and him unknowingly using Noah's- Noah was so surprised.  So funny!  We did Four on the Couch for Noah's game.  Then I got everyone to do a game where they each created a piece of the nativity with legos.  I feel like they did pretty good!  Super fun!!  It was a really fun night.  I think next year I want to do a theme.  We'll see.  12-22-25

CHRISTMAS EVE
We had a lovely Christmas Eve.  I was a little busy making Molly's gift still (took forever to get parts for it), but everyone cleaned up the house and things were running smoothly.  We headed out around 2:00 to pass out the rest of our neighbor gifts- this took an hour!  We need to remember how long it takes to pass out neighbor gifts.  It was so nice of Nate to take that on and do his Chex Mix!!  Then we rushed down to Grammy Wong's.  We were able to give them their gifts, they gave us theirs, and we quickly hugged and were on our way to Nate's work.  We enjoyed talking with santa a lot this year.  Kelly and Devan brought his little sister Avaya too.  Santa was lots of fun.  Talking with Noah about his mission and wisdom teeth, praising Erika on her basketball, reminding Jack to take care of Cheeto, complimenting Molly on Seussical, and reminding Sadie to take care of Misty and CHeeto.  SO cute!  I thought it went really well.  We hurried on up to Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve :).  We were so glad that Kelly and Devan could be there for a little of it- we had moved the time up for them.  Chcarity and Hunter were there.  It was great!  Grandpa spoiled us all with goodies and yummy food and then later with gifts.  SO much fun.  He really nailed it on the gifts this year!  Sadie's will come Monday, but she and Molly got to play with the little keyboard clicky fidget toys.  Jack got a cool lego car.  Erika got a really big, nice blanket.  Noah got a nice quarter zip sweater.  Brad got a nice sweater also.  Kelly got some throw pillows.  Devan got a nice plaid jacket.  Charity got some markers and Hunter got a nice jacket also.  I got a huge Yeti!!  I was very excited about that.  It was a lot of fun!!  Good times with Grandpa and Steve.  We were bummed Tai didn't come.  But it was a great time.  We were very happy to have Nate with us ALL day!!  I worked on Molly's gift while everyone watched a movie and then at about 11:30, Noah was still writhing in pain, so I finally texted the Dentist.  He actually agreed to meet us at the office at 11:30 on CHristmas Eve!!  So amazing.  He helped a lot!  I was glad Noah was able to sleep.  The kids all slept in the basement/Noah's room and seemed like they had some fun even though Kelly and Charity were sadly not there.  12-24-25

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!
We had such a good Christmas!  Everything was very smooth and comfortable and everyone seemed mostly happy the entire day.  We woke up a little later than usual. I think we were finally downstairs with the stockings at about 8:30. They loved stocking time.  We started on breakfast where we all worked together to make Creamed Eggs on Toast and then we ate while they all spoiled me with birthday gifts.  SO fun!!  I got a Lego Delorean from Back to the Future from Nate, a candle from Erika, some pretzels from Noah, a Chili's gift card from Brad, a really beautiful blanket from Molly, and some snickers from Sadie.  So fun.  We went down for Santa gifts.  Sadie got her beloved kitchen that she has played with nonstop ever since.  Even all morning, she just couldn't get enough of the ice dispenser.  She was anxious to make her friends jealous of the ice dispenser til we talked about that concept.  Molly got a long skinny box full of clothes, hair things, a giant pencil- just a weird random collection of stuff she loves :).  She does look so cute in all her new clothes.  Jack got Legos- a Bumblebee one and an Avengers one with a bunch of cool characters for his stop motion stuff.  Very cool.  Erika got her very own Lacrosse stick!  She seemed to love it- she was seen swinging it around and testing out the cradle about every five minutes all morning long- I was pretty happy she liked it as much as she did.  Noah got some tricep dip attachments for the weight rack.  They were the wrong size so that stinks.  We will be getting some replacements.  Poor Noah can't really do much anyway because his mouth is still hurting so bad with the dry sockets.  Brad got his beloved White board roll.  This was very exciting.  I don't know if I've ever seen him this excited for a gift :). So cute.  I'm glad he liked it.  We moved on to the rest of the gifts (usually we do the homemade ones then, but we wanted to wait for the Brenchleys and Hollists).  Everyone was good and spoiled!  I think they all liked what they got.  I think Sadie spent most of her time with her kitchen, but she did bring up the doll bed and took care of her baby while she cooked for us.  She took little breaks to play with the LPS too.  Molly's favorite gift was probably the pencil :).  She was funny about that.  Jack played with the engraver a lot after finishing all of his legos pretty quickly and trying to do some of his marble maze.  Erika relaxed a lot of the day.  I think she liked her scentsy and lights for her room too.  Noah worked on his legos.  It was fun to see him all into that again.  Brad was busy all day, but I am not sure with what.  He did like his smart pen- hopefully that's as useful as we want it to be.  Brad was super adorable giving all the gifts to everyone else.  I loved watching him spoil everyone.  He is a lot of fun.  Makes me smile.  Once the girls got here, we were able to do our homemade gifts.  Sadie had Brad.  She made him a sweatshirt with a llama on it and painted him a jewelry box :).  He loved them.  Molly had Nate.  She painted him a bird house.  I loved that the girls were able to mostly do things on their own this year.  Jack had Devan.  He gave him a hoodie with a picture of the two of them from the wedding on the back!  SO fun.  Erika had Charity.  She made some cute jewelry dishes from clay.  They were so cute!!  Charity loved them.  Noah had Kelly and his gift was a big hit this year.  He made Kelly a clock with photos from their formals on it.  It turned out REALLY well.  I was so happy for him and for Kelly.  He worked really hard on it all while feeling like garbage.  Luke had Hunter.  He got him a retro Spiderman hoodie.  Super cool.  Brad had Erika.  He presented her with the hoodie he had made for her.  That he contracted out to Dolores :).  I only wish he could have made the one he planned to make.  The one he gave is adorable of course tho.  Kelly had me!  She gave me the cutest little Lighthouse themed nativity!  It's so stinkin cute!!  I love it!!  Charity had Jack.  She got him a custom lego set of him standing in front of the big shark jaw at the Dinosaur place they took him to- it was such a fun and thoughtful gift.  Jack loved it.  I had Molly.  I gave her the miracle I made- a cute crossbody back that turned out WAY better than I would have imagined.  I was pretty happy with that thing.  She seemed to like it for a few days- she didn't take it off!  Nate had Luke.  He framed the picture he drew of the crown of thorns with the scripture intertwined.  So cool.  I am sure Luke loved it.  So that was that.  We all hung out, slept, played games, worked on stuff, and slept some more.  I seriously felt drugged that day!  It was a nice day though.  My mom and Simon showed up, I got a call from Brent and Sarah's family, Steve came, my dad came... it was a pretty exciting evening.  Nate cooked some delicious hamburgers for us all- so yummy- and surprised me with my all-time FAVORITE CAKE EVER1!  The ice cream cone cake!!  I was so happy tosee that thing :).  All my dreams have come true!  Good stuff.  12-25-25

WINGS AND THINGS WITH THE BARTONS
We had our fun little hangout with the Bartons.  This was a lot of fun.  I was surprised at how much fun we had.  We ended up getting BWs wings instead of Nate's because he had a last minute catering job, but they were tasty.  We ate, played lightning and then the kids insisted that we play chair soccer.  I had a lot of fun visiting with Katelyn.  It was hard that Nate had to leave before we were done, but all was well.  It was a fun time.  12-27-25

SPEAKING IN CHURCH and VICTOR'S HOMECOMING
Well.  I did it.  I didn't read my talk.  I just had some major ideas and then spoke from my heart.  I think it went okay.  I always have to second guess everything and feel unsure about it all, but overall I think it was fine.  I am really glad to have it over with but also glad that I am pointed in a direction of seeking the newness the Gospel and Christ can bring.  I needed that.  Nate did an amazing  job.  It was like Maynes Sunday take 2 I guess :).  But so good.  We got lots of nice compliments.  I hurried out of there and went to Victor's homecoming.  He was hilarious.  And I loved his pure testimony.  ERika and I dreaded our meeting but it went really well.  12-28-25

OUR BEST STAKE YOUTH COUNCIL MEETING YET
The Pohlmans couldn't make this one, and may I say, it was my pleasure.  Things went really well.  Everyone was talking and offering things.  It was nice.  Hopefully Annie can deliver on the invites.  She is awesome.  12-28-25

SALT LAKE LIGHTS 
We followed my directions from last year and went downtown after Christmas again.  This is way better.  It is way less crowded.  We were so happy that Charity and Hunter were meeting us there, and Kelly and Devan were able to come on the train with us!  Everything is more fun with everyone there.  We got down there, looked around for a while, to kill time waiting for Charity and Hunter.  The area around the temple is basically done and looks so good this year!  It's like having an old friend back kinda.  Things are a little different, but I really like all the changes for the most part!  Looks really nice!  We made our way over to the food court while still waiting for the Hollists cuz we were starving.  Not literally.  The lines were not too bad, but we got our food just as Charity and Hunter showed up.  So we were able to eat dinner with them and then we all went and looked at a lot of the same things we had already looked at :).  It was a lot of fun though.  We love the candy windows, temple square, the conference center felt like a new addition this year.  We don't always make it over there.  I propose that next year we try to hit the church history museum.  Or maybe we make that a separate trip on the train during a different time of the year.  I don't know.  We had fun though!  I love spending time together.  The laughing and reminiscing about years past was a lot of fun.  Traditions look a little different these days, we did not find any hot chocolate this year for example, and we saw that JB's our old hot chocolate place is out of business, but we still love the memories and making new ones too.  12-29-25

EL MATADOR WITH ANDREA
I saw on the schedule that we were playing Timpview and thought it would be the perfect excuse to get together with Andrea, and then after making plans I noticed it was a home game.  So that was funny.  We still ended up meeting at El Matador for lunch!  Brad and Victor had some stuff to do down there- I think they were getting couches cuz we had the trailer hooked up- so they dropped me off so they could have the van.  Super funny when I got their text a couple hours later because they had been hanging around in Bountiful the entire time thinking I would be done soon and get a ride.  I did not tell them to wait for me, so I felt bad, but also thought it was funny.  And now every time I see the video of Victor walking up to Cal Ranch (across the street from El Matador) with his empty pizza box, I just feel bad!  But anyway.  We ended up eating lunch at noonish and then stayed and talked for about five hours!  John's reaction to the amount of time we spent together was hilarious.  It was funny to watch the waiters and waitresses turn over and the lunch crowd leave, get slow and quiet, and then pick back up for dinner.  It was a fun time.  I love hanging out with Andrea.  We could really talk for days I think.  We still have so much in common.  It's nice.  I wish we could get together more often, but I'll take what I can get.  I've been running into her mom at the basketball games because she's dating Hadley Chamberlain's grandpa, so that's fun, and nice that she and her mom are talking now.  So anyway.  Nate picked me up a little while later and we stopped at Taco Bell with the kids for dinner.  Kinda fun.  12-30-25

NEW YEAR'S EVE!!
We had a really fun New Year's Eve this year!  Especially because the Hollists and Brenchleys joined in for so much of the fun!!  We did our hourly balloon popping.  We got a little off schedule at one point, but still managed to get everything in.  It was a lot of fun.  I think this is what I did in the balloons:
12:00- Lunch and walk around the ponds (this was nice.  I kind of wanted to do the boardwalk thing out west, but this was a close second.  It was cold!)
1:00- board games (draw straws to see who gets to pick the first game)
2:00- make the molten lava cake-- we made the cake and had it on warm instead of hot, and we didn't notice until dinner time so we started it then and it was ready around 10:00... kind of a bummer, but worked.
3:00- gingerbread house baseball and hot chocolate-- so fun!
4:00- scavenger hunt at station park
5:00- minute to win it games
6:00- wings for dinner- dessert lava cake
7:00- New Year's resolutions and 7:25 zoom with Luke-- this was pretty cool- we got to sit with Luke's mission and talk about miracles!  Kelly shared hers and we got to watch Luke the whole time- pretty special!!
8:00- Buddy time-- everyone loved this, but wished we'd had more time and earlier in the day.  Possibly during a meal.  So I'll have to remember that for next time.  Nate and I were magically buddies!  We drove up to the Bountiful temple and back.  Nothing was open so this was tricky.  Charity got Sadie and they went to the pet store and somewhere else... I'm drawing a blank.  Kelly got Molly.  They hung out with Devan and Erika who had each other.  I think they all went to the Layton temple.  Hunter and Jack played minecraft at home.  We missed Brad and Noah during this.  Good stuff. though.  
9:00- paper airplane race-- still fun for some reason :). 
10:00- board games (the winner of the paper plane races picks the first game)
11:00- studio c and get ready to ring in the new year!

It was so fun to have Nate with us for most of this as well. and he bought some really fun noise makers for midnight- that was a lot of fun.  He let off one of Jeff's loud fireworks and Sadie cried, but good stuff!!  I loved watching Devan and Hunter's video of them kicking pops- HA!  We missed Brad and Noah at the end of the night.