OCTOBER PHOTOS

 

JANUARY 2023

 SUNDAY SCHOOL- NEW CLASSES
We had a nice first day/Sunday of the year.  I was teaching, so I was happy we were starting at 10:30 instead of 9:00 after everyone stayed up late the night before.  They were actually a really lively bunch!  We did the ball throwing thing to talk about being responsible for our own Gospel Learning which seemed to go okay.  Greg was hilarious telling us which languages he could read the BOM in.  Kinda funny.  We were missing Luke because he had been feeling kinda crappy that morning, but overall it went pretty well.  I was glad.  It's a bigger class now!  We combined Brad and Luke's groups.  We'll see how it goes.  The kids all got new teachers too!  Well, not Jack.  He keeps Bro. Jacox and Bro. Harrison, so that is fun for him- he likes them.  Molly has new teachers- Sis. Boyd (who she sees everyday at lunch) and someone else, I'm drawing a blank.  She was pretty worried about getting new teachers before church, but was very relieved after.  Sadie who we found out the hard way and after promising she could sit with Molly is not in the same primary as Molly afterall.  Kind of a bummer.  Luckily Nate took her.  I'm not sure how that went.  She has Kelly Thaxton and Heather Harward.  She seemed to do fine.  Jaxx said that she got her fingers stuck in the soap dispenser in the bathroom which is sad, but I guess she recovered.  Didn't even tell me about it.  Erika had the Haupts- sounds like she's happy with them.  Noah has Bro. Booth and Prince- he was really happy with them.  Bro. Booth is way more fun now I guess :).  Luke and Brad have me!  I think it will be a good year for all of us :).  1-1-23

ICE CASTLES WITH GRANDMA AND STEVE
This was a fun little addition to our Christmas Break.  We planned it kind of last minute and were so relieved they let us go without having purchased tickets ahead of time, but after picking up grandma, steve, and Nate at work, we headed up there and they let us go in!  This was really cool!  I liked it!  It was super cold, wet, and very slippery- I of course fell a few minutes into it- but super cool!  Kelly came with us along with everyone else.  They had a few fun slides, we all waited in line together for the long racing ones- that was fun.  We laughed at Steve, shivered, oohed and ahhhed at the fun lights, shivered, and took lots of pictures!  It was a really fun night!  We were glad that we were protected on the way home and enjoyed our hot chocolate after dropping off Nate, Steve and Grandma and Kelly.  It was a good time though!!  1-2-23

TUESDAY- LAST DAY OF CHRISTMAS BREAK
I had all these grand plans for this last day and then they were thwarted with the dryer's incompliance.  My dumb pants took so long to dry that the morning was spent mostly bumming around.  We did manage to get out finally, around 2:00 though, and were able to go get shoes for all the shoeless people.  Not really shoeless, just needing better ones.  After a few stores we found some everyday shoes for Erika, some running shoes for Noah and finally some basketball ones for Bradley.  It was good.  Then we came home to play some games, get kids and Nate off to basketball practices, and get ready for school the next day!  Kinda crazy to think about going back already.  It's been a really nice break though!  Couldn't really ask for better.  1-3-23

BACK TO SCHOOL
Everyone did so much better than I thought they all would do today!  Tells me they don't hate school as much as... well, I do- HA! I'm kidding.  They must like it a little though.  They all got up and got ready and nobody was late!  Pretty cool!  I think they all had a pretty good first few days back.  It was a struggle for Sadie and I to get back into our routine and we spent too much time watching tv so that I could take down Christmas and get the house back in order, but we survived.  And surprisingly Sadie was not all over Cheeto the entire day like she had been planning to do.  I think he was really good at steering clear of her.  Pretty impressive for a kitten his age :).  She was very excited to not have any kids around and have Cheeto all to herself and didn't really do much with that.  But everyone is back into our routine, went to youth activities (Noah got to go to Flow Rider! Erika planned and carried out her getting to know the new girls activity and games and Brad and Luke trained the new guys)  and all is well.  1-4-23

ERIKA'S WEEK
Erika has had a very packed week (not even a whole week, just like three days) with planning her activity, basketball practices starting back up along with Musical rehearsals!  She is also planning her lesson for YW on Sunday! She's been a verrry busy little girl.  She's handling it all really well.  I hope it all eases out once her play is over.  1-5-23

BRAD'S REC TEAM
Brad and Luke had their first game of the season.  They were missing a few players, had a kid with a broken finger, a kid with no glasses because he lost his and then the other kid was 10 minutes late!  Brad and Luke were the only ones who scored but they carried the team pretty well until the very end.  You can only carry it so far.  They did great, I was really proud of them and so were all of Brad's friends who showed up to cheer them on!  Fun stuff!  1-5-23

KJH GIRLS BASKETBALL BREAKFAST
We got to provide the girls with pancakes and fruit this Friday morning!  This was a lot of fun.  They do a little breakfast on Friday mornings.  Erika requested pancakes and it was great!  I made way too many because I was thinking about the boys XC team eating like 120 of them, but the leftovers all got eaten so we're good.  It was fun to see Erika in her element.  1-6-23

DATE NIGHT
We squeezed in a date this week even though there weren't any good movies and just went to Blue Fin for dinner.  We got home early and watched a movie with the kids, I played some cards with them and it was a fun evening.  1-6-23

FIRST GAMES OF THE SEASON
We had a lot of fun bouncing around to everyone's games this week!  It was a little hectic, trying to get Nate to back to back games for Erika and Jack as well as Jack going to Bea's baptism.  That was actually made possible by Bradley!  Such an awesome helper!  He took Jack to the baptism, then to his game and even called to make sure we could bring Jack's correct jersey.  Such a good boy.  Even dressed up!  Noah was also really helpful, standing out in front of the school to give Erika her bag and then take her lunch up to her!  Good kids!  Fun stuff!  We all got to go to Noah's game later in the day as well.  We had three losses that day.  Hopefully that's not a sign of how this weason is going to go, but our kids did their best and we're proud of them!  1-7-23

CHURCH
I had a cool little aha moment that I have to document.   I can't express how much the "ask, knock, just pray for it" concept has stood out to me over the years.  It's like probably the most repeated phrase in my scripture studying past, but for some reason on Sunday it stood out to me more than usual and made a huge impact.  It hit me that I don't do this.  I don't ask.  I think it goes back to my lack of understanding of why we would ask for things if we're sure Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will provide them for us.  But I have learned that our receiving those things that we need are sometimes conditioned on our asking.  So anyway.  At church on Sunday I realized that even on the little things, we can ask.  We can ask for help with anything.  I have been struggling with a bunch of little things lately and wishing I could have a little more help with a lot of things and this just hit me like a ton of bricks as something I need to be doing.  So starting now :).  I tried it that day.  On the way to the church to take Noah for an interview with the bishop, I was dreading making dinner, not sure what to make, etc, and so I did it!  I asked!  I asked Heavenly Father, "What should I make for dinner?"  Immediately, I was relieved with the thoughts of some of the ingredients we have and that we'd be fine if I just look at Pinterest and search those.  So I quit worrying about it.  Then as we were driving back home from the church, Noah goes, "Can I make a request for dinner tonight?"  HA!!  Can you make a request?!!!  That would be an answer to my prayers assuming we have all the ingredients :).  So he did!  Breakfast burritos!!  And since I'd bought tater tots a while ago to use for breakfast burritos but never used them, we had all the ingredients!!  Super awesome!  Such a cool answer to prayer and so quickly and perfectly!  I've tried it a few more times and every time there has been help.  It's been really cool.  I wish I was better at having that be my initial reaction, but then maybe I wouldn't notice how much help He is giving me.  It's been a cool realization.  Hopefully He can help me with my freeze dryer soon :).  1-8-23

FAMILY MEETING
We made it to the family meeting this week!  It was super fun.  Grandma made it very short and simple this week, that was nice.  She also had the whole counter filled with stuff- stuff she was giving away.  Everyone had a sticker to designate when you got to go up and pick something.  Then when you did, you were to explain how it fits in one of the three caategories: Health, Wealth, Wise.  It was pretty fun.  Bradley got some Doritos.  Luke got some lemon juice :) (he was in the last gorup with me, not much left).  Noah got a cool pen.  Erika picked a face sticker book.  Jack got some gatorade.  Molly got a bear bank.  And Sadie got a "chest" board.  This cute little porcelin chess board with pieces that opens up into a little box.  Super cute, apparently very sentimental for grandma.  I'm not sure why she let Sadie have it, I hope she doesn't break it, but Sadie was IN LOVE with this little thing!!  She kept telling me how much she loved her "chest" board and she was professing her love to it all evening.  "Oh I love it love it love it!" kissing it and snuggling it.  Super funny!  I was glad she got something she wanted, but it was super strange considering how many little kid things there were up there.  She has been keeping it close ever since.  I got some hand soap.  It was a nice time.  1-8-23

KELLY FUNCITONAL NEUROLOGIST
Kelly had an appointment on Monday.  That was nice to be back in the office with her- it's been a while.  She was sure to ask about her nose.  He gave her some little vents to help her sleep.  Not sure how they're helping, but we'll see.  She seems to be doing really well with all of that.  We still need to go see a gynecologist for her period problems.  Sadie came with us and was such a good girl the whole time.  She loved the little table and chairs and coloring.  Didn't want to leave.  1-9-23

JUNIE B JONES
This was Erika's big performance week!  Super fun!  She did a great job!  I was able to go see it on Tuesday and Wednesday nights- I wanted to see it more, but being able to see both casts was fun.  We brought the whole family and Grandpa, Jo, Heidi and her kids on Wednesday night.  So fun.  Erika had a lot going on this week, but managed to pull it all off without too much trouble.  I was really proud of her.  I don't think she loves acting, she kept talking about how dumb she felt, but she did great! 1-9-23--1-12-23

FHE
We talked a little about love languages, played Nate's made up game where everyone says one word to build a phrase that fit with the Gospel.  Pretty fun.  Brad and I ditched everyone for his basketball game up in Roy.  The family all went and got dairy queen!  Fun stuff.  1-9-23

JACK SHREK JR
Jack started rehearsals for his play this week!  He is Young Shrek and Jack and the beanstalk.  He seems to love the rehearsals.  I heard from Kayslie in the ward that he goofs off the whole time :).  So I think he's going to have a lot of fun with this one :).  I hope he enjoys it.  He's been amazing at getting up and getting ready for the 7:30 start time.  Very unusual for him, but super awesome!  1-10-23

DRYER VENT CLEANING
I bit the bullet and hired someone to come clean our dryer vents.  It's been a long time that our dryer hasn't been doing so good.  I knew it needed it pretty bad, but I wasn't sure how to do it myself.  My dad had mentioned that he bought some tools to clean his out and bragged about how well his dryer was working now, so I had to to see for myself.  I can't believe the difference!!  The dryer is done about the same time as the washer and these are pretty big loads!  Loads that would have taken hours before are getting done in 45 minutes!!  It's been heavenly getting so much laundry done so fast!  I'm loving it.  Kinda like Christmas all over again.  1-10-23

ERIKA HOME GAME
Erika had a game at home this week.  We have loved watching her games- she's been getting better and better each time.  This week was extra fun because all her brothers were there to cheer her on.  I loved their reaction to her amazing three point shot!!  She was so brave and went up and totally scored!!  It wasn't their best game, but I would say it was Erika's.  She scored four other points.  She loves the home games.  All week she had to keep rushing home from practice or games, quickly showering and then hurrying back over to the school for her musical.  It was a hectic week for her.  She did so well though!  I was proud of her.  1-10-23

NOAH'S 15TH BIRTHDAY
I think Noah had a nice birthday this year!  I was glad.  I spent an undisclosed amount of time on his sign, since I started it during the day the day before, turned out pretty cute.  Sadie helped.  He liked it.  We had crepes for breakfast.  He got to have Panda Express delivered to the school for lunch!  Then when he got home he rested a little, then we had his family party.  Grandpa, Jo and Heidi and her kids were our guests, we ate ribs for dinner- thank you Nate! and then quickly rushed through presents, cupcakes, and then out the door for Junie B Jones!  It was a mad dash, but we made it!  Noah seemed to enjoy his day.  1-11-23

KJH @ FARMINGTON
ERika didn't love this game.  She actually almost made the last buzzer beater at the end, a half court lob, but didn't get much of a chance to shoot otherwise.  I guess a girl on the varsity team was running the subs and so Erika hardly played.  It was rough game.  She did great though and was way too hard on herself after.  This is a building year.  1-12-23

BRAD AND LUKE GAME
Awesome game this week on their rec team!  I loved their energy and sticking with it!  Brad said he "kept getting hit in the balls", so he was pretty sore this morning.  Poor guy!  I got to talk with Krista Johnson the whole time though so that was great too :).  Fun night.  1-12-23

FREEZE DRYER REPAIR
Well, I finally caved and called customer support for my freeze dryer and boy was I glad I did.  I had read horror stories about people being on hold forever, or it taking months to hear back from them, and I totally hate calling tech support on anything, so I was dragging my feet.  But I caved, called, and they immediately answered, scheduled a phone call with a tech support, and we were able to get it up and running in a matter of minutes!  Just a quick software update and recalibrating my vacuum was all it took!  Kinda nice.  We're back in business!  1-13-23

NOAH'S FRIEND PARTY- FLOW RIDER
For Noah's friend party he wanted to go to Flowrider.  We learned too late that it wasn't the best choice of day since it was the last day of the term and everyone was finishing up on work, so a bunch of his friends were not able to come to the surfing part.  That was a bummer, but we ended up having a great time with the few who came!  I loved watching them!  And the great thing about there being fewer people was that they got more turns to surf!  I think Noah had fun.  He was doing so good!  I was really impressed!  We came home they had pulled pork sanndwiches, talked, and watched Uncharted.  Seemed like everyone had a good time!  I love the friends he's chosen- they all seem like really good kids.  1-13-23

DATE NIGHT
Nate and I moved our date to Saturday.  We went to Blue Fin, it was delicious as usual :).  Had a great time!  1-14-23

SUNDAY SCHOOL
My lessons are getting easier and easier.  I feel like it's nice to have some new people in the class as well.  Luke was there this time, I loved having him in our class!  1-15-23

FSY KICKOFF
This was a great meeting.  I was really happy with the information and kind of the pep rally that this was to get my kids excited for FSY.  It sounds exactly like EFY :).  1-15-23

TWO DAYS OFF!
We got a long weekend with Martin Luther King Jr. day and the end of the term, so we decided to do some fun stuff.  We were happy the girls were able to come down too.  So Monday we decided to take the whole family to FlowRider!  This was SO MUCH FUN!!!  Sadie was the only one who didn't try it.  Everyone else did really well!  I think Noah was the only one who braved standing up, but it was fun to see the improvements everyone made.  Molly got to try it on her own and with the helper.  That was fun to watch.  We got lots of fun video and pictures, luckily none of my embarrassing moment!  So funny!  Sadie had fun splashing in the water and sitting by us all.  We went to Costa Vida next door for dinner.  That was nice, but also rushed because we were in a hurry to get to Brad's basketball game at Roy High.  He had forgotten underwear so we had to make a quick stop at Walgreens, to buy the most expensive underwear Brad will ever own while I'm buying his underwear- holy moly!  Then we all went and cheered him on at the game!  Kelly's friend Logan who lives in Tremonton met up with us there so that we could meet him- that was fun.  We all looked pretty ragged after FlowRider, so that was sa bummer, but it's always fun to meet Kelly's friends.  We had to go to Cold Stone after :).  Brad did great!  Fun to have everyone there to cheer him on!  1-16-23

SADIE'S BROKEN LEG
On Tuesday, we decided a trampoline park would be lots of fun, but wanted to try out a new one.  We went all the way to West Jordan for Altitude Trampoline Park.  This ended up being the end to all our fun for this break.  Everyone was fine until about the last 15 minutes when Sadie was playing in the area with all the small trampolines that you can just walk around.  She stepped on a trampoline that a mom and her kid were jumping on, with the mom's back to her and of course the mom jumped right as Sadie stepped on and sure enough, her knee buckled.  She let out the most ear piercing scream!!  She wouldn't let any moms help her as I was making my way over to her.  I had been watching her so closely, just from a distance.  She screamed bloody murder for the next probably two hours, as we got shoes on, drove home, and deliberated over when to take her in.  I was able to get an appointment to take her to Dr. Tew right away which was kind of a blessing.  He sent us to the Bountiful clinic for the x-rays and the wait there was pretty bad, but we did get to have my old coworker and friend Kristy Muir as our Radiology Tech!  So that was another little tender mercy.  We went back up to Dr. Tew for the results, found out she had a buckle fracture in her prosimal tibia and splinted the thing up.  That splint was so annoying.  I hate ace bandages on kids.  She wasn't a huge fan.  She has handled things so well.  After a couple weeks of the splint and not being able to walk, we were able to get a cast.  The cast goes from very high on her thigh to her ankle.  She can walk, but with a limp.  She has been so tough!!  It took her a few days to get back on her feet even though she was very excited to be able to walk.  But she's pretty mobile now- she needs to keep the cast on for five weeks total, we have three more weeks!  1-17-23

ERIKA DR. WOODS
We thought Erika had a bladder infection and after testing found out she didn't!  So weird.  She was in so much pain!  Luckily, they gave her something to numb her bladder and then she was fine a day later.  Faster than the med was supposed to work, so not sure what that was all about.  Wouldn't surprise me if she was having some pre-PMS cramping.  Not sure.  1-18-23

BRAD'S SKIN DR. WOODS
Kelly got some good stuff for her rash, so we took Brad in hoping to get the same stuff.  He did and thankfully his rash is gone.  So many doctor appointments lately!  1-18-23

MARCO'S FAREWELL
We were all really excited to go to Marco's farewell.  We took everyone except Jack and Molly who wanted to go to their classes :).  Thanks to Rachel Hunsaker for taking them home for me.  So we got to his church a little early and started noticing that everyone looked hispanic.  I started to question whether this area could be that heavily populated with hispanics, or if this was a Spanish ward!  We had no idea- HA!  Sure enough, when the bishopric member got up, we learned that it was in fact a Spanish ward!  HA!! We sang the songs in Spanish, and listened to several talks and prayers in Spanish, it was actually kind of fun.  Thankfully Marco had his Aunt translate for him.  It was great!  He really gave a great talk about how he made his decision to go back to church and now to go on a mission!  Cool story!  Kelly played a big role in that.  So proud of her for sharing her light and being such a beacon for Christ.  We're all excited for Marco- hope things go well for him!!  1-22-23

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Molly and Jack both had great conferences this time around.  So proud of them!!  Molly is doing great in so many areas and is above her class in reading.  She is going to switch to Boddle and Razkids homework since we suck and doing homework in our house.  Jack is doing awesome as well.  It was fun to hear so much praise from Mrs. Moncur.  So proud of our kids!!  They really are just awesome!  They got to pick books in the book fair.  1-25-23

MOLLY ACTIVITY DAYS!!
Molly got to have her very first activity days!  This was a lot of fun for her and she is just counting down the days til the next one :).  They went to Lindsey Cutler's house and introduced the new girls (Molly!) and played games.  So fun!  1-25-23

FSY SCHEDULING
This was the hugest nightmare ever!!!  I had three devices open and logged on for each kid and between getting kicked off and things malfunctioning, all the conversations with the moms in the ward and the kids' roommates moms, it ended up taking about ALL DAY to get it done!!  SO CRAZY!!!  I hope they get the kinks worked out on that some day.  soon.  1-26-23

INDOOR TRACK MEET AT THE OVAL
I wanted to see Brad and Luke run the hurdles at their meet, so I raced out to the Olympic Oval, missing Erika's game.  Kelly was with me, we were making good time we thought, but of course missed their run because we were standing in line to pay!!  UGH!!!  So annoying.  We did stay to watch Brad's 50 M.  We were able to catch the very end of Erika's awesome game and then head back up for Brad's relay at the end of the meet.  Crazy day.  1-28-23

SADIE'S CAST
This was the big day to get her cast on.  She was so excited to be able to walk (we knew it was probably going to be down to her ankle, not past that).  They did the x-ray, she did great!  They showed us the x-ray and there's just the slightest little bump on the side of her tibia, one I wouldn't have ever noticed, and I just think- how can THAT cause so much pain!!  So crazy!!  But they talked to her and sent us to the casting room.  She had planned on getting a rainbow cast- HA!  They didn't even consider her request, but rephrased that she could pick one of the colors on the swatches they had- HA!  She wasn't amused, but picked pink!  She did so well having four people yang and squeeze and wrap up her leg.  I was really proud of her.  She didn't want to walk on it right away.  It was too tight she said.  Luckily, by the next day she had decided she could walk in it and has since been getting around really well.  I have been so proud of her!!  1-30-23

SOPHOMORE ORIENTATION
Noah and I got to go up to the school to learn about high school!!  I can't believe my squishy Noah pillow is going to be in High School next year!!  This is a shocker!!  He did great, didn't seem to interested in any particular thing, so we filled out some fun/easy classes, and quickly headed out so that he could get to basketball practice.  High school here we come!  It all starts.  1-30-23

FHE
With basketball practices for two hours every Monday and Tuesday night for Nate, we have had to shorten and kind of crowd out Family nights.  That has been a major bummer, but we know it's not forever.  We've still had some great lessons, Sadie gets to sing her Sunbeam song, and we eat treats and play games :). I just don't think I could ever remember them since I am catching up so late!!  But we have been having them!  I've been really proud of us!  1-30-23

DECEMBER 2022

 TWO HOUR LATE START
We got another two hour late start!  I was so proud of Brad this time, getting over to Christie's to shovel before school.  Good boy!!  Noah had done it the last time.  These late starts are so nice!  I could really get used to this.  12-1-22

PICKING OUT THE TREEI
 loved our tree shopping experience this year!  We wandered around quite a bit, trying to find the perfect tree with enough character.  We were anxious to let Brad pick one since it's his last time for a while.  He picked out one and we took a picture with it and then we noticed a lot of the branches were dead inside, so we picked a different one completely and took a picture with it :).  Kind of funny.  Brad did approve of this one, so that was okay too :).  It's a good one.  Has a funny little extra clump of branches near the top that I keep trying to describe what it looks like, but can't.  Funny stuff.  That's it's character.  Can't wait to decorate it tomorrow!  12-1-22

  

ERIKA BASKETBALL
It's been fun to hear about all of Erika's practices and see her pushing herself to go to practices after school and before school on Friday.  I think she likes it and she hasn't complained one bit, but does seem like it's wearing her out a little.  I think she'll get the hang of it soon enough.  So proud of her and all of her effort!  12-2-22

PUTTING UP CHRISTMAS
This was a big deal this year!  Big enough for the girls to come home!  Everything we do this year is "our last time" before things change soon.  It's been sobering.  I hope we have done enough for these kids that they want to come back and do them after they leave.  I was happy that Charity and Kelly wanted to come back for putting up the tree.  They sacrifice a lot of their time for our family still and that means a lot to me.  I got most of the nativities out and displayed, Nate helped with all the box moving.  The girls came home, we waited for Brad to get home from indoor track, and then rushed through our ceremonial process :).  Brad helped me with the lights.  Probably our last time- almost made me tear up, but I decided not to show it.  Pictures of the first ornaments, putting up the ornaments one at a time savoring all the sentimental ones :).  It's really a special thing.  I don't think anyone else would understand how much we love it without being there.  We said goodbye to Brad and Noah before we were done- both had parties to go to.  It was Sadie's turn and first time putting the angel on the top.  Brad had left before we could have him hold her up there- that had been the plan since this was his last Christmas in a while.  The cool thing is he will get back the year that it is his turn again!  Hopefully he will be here for that!  Then we got pictures with the holiday specs and then sat in the glow of the tree!  Then Nate and I took off for our date!  12-2-22

DATE NIGHT
We went to Chili's this week, complained about Rachel and the paint job for a while.  Then enjoyed the rest of the date.  We had to stop at the store for the food for Charity's work party Nate was catering the next day.  We always have a nice time together.  12-2-22

WARD BREAKFAST
We had a great time at the ward breakfast this year.  It was nice it was on Saturday morning, so Nate could be there.  We had Charity and Kelly here as well!  So much fun!  It was super simple, good food, the primary sang songs for us.  We sat by Barbara Farnes and talked all about Christmas together.  I loved it!  12-3-22

UTAH STATE FAIRPARK LIGHTS FROM ANDREA
Andrea texted me around 4:00 asking if we'd like to go see the lights at the fairgrounds at 6:00 because they had an extra ticket!  We had been sitting around recovering from all our germs all day, some of us didn't make it to all of church even.  So we were happy to have an excuse to get out and go see some lights!  It was a pretty fun little drive thru show- like our Christmas in color one we do every year.  Maybe not quite as good, but very cool.  We loved it.  Wished Nate could have been there, but he was working his butt off to make some money for Christmas!  12-4-22

BASKETBALL SEASON 

We have officially started basketball season!  Pretty exciting!  Not just rec ball, but our boys church ball as well.  12-5-22

MARSHALL'S HOMECOMING
We were all looking forward to Marshall coming home and being able to hear him speak.  I was bummed when I realized I wasn't going to be going because I had a sick Sadie home with me.  Everyone else was able to leave from Sacrament meeting and head up there.  Unfortunately, they got off to a late start and were not able to get there in time for his talk.  Such a bummer.  But they did get to hang out at the house and have food.  Good times.  It's fun to Marshall home!  12-11-22

ERIKA'S FIRST KJH GAME

We've been very excited for this game!!  Couldn't have been more excited to watch Erika play!  We drove through the blizzard (two separate cars even) so that I could get there early and Nate could come with Jack, Molly and a still pretty sick, Sadie- right before hers started.  It was at Millcreek Jr.  I loved watching the varsity girls play- getting excited for Erika to be on the team next year and then LOVED watching her play!  She did so awesome!  You could feel the nervousness and she was a little off just getting used to her new team, but she did AWeSOME!!  SO great!!  I loved it!  12-13-22

ORCHESTRA CONCERT
We had some added chaos Tuesday leading up to the concert, with Noah forgetting to get his bass before track and me calling Mr. K and trying to figure out how to get the one from the junior high or whether or not he could get one from the high school.  It was this big awkward mess since I was in Bountiful at Erika's game, but when we showed up to the Junior high to pick up Erika from the bus ride back, Pola was there and was needing to get her bass as well!  So thankfully she came over and asked which one Noah had gotten and I was able to send Erika in the school with her to get one!!  It was awesome.  A little Tuesday night miracle.  We made it to the concert without too much trouble.  In the black shirt Erika had picked out the night before :).  They both played so well!  I was so proud of them! I got to sit with Becky Widdison and chat with her for a while before.  That was nice.  I took off with Erika when they were both done and then we went back and got Noah when the whole thing was over.  Erika hadn't been able to go home and eat before so she was starving.  Fun crazy night!!  I was ready for school to be over at this point.  12-13-22

SHREK JUNIOR

Jack was very anxious to do the school musical again this year!  He was gearing himself up for the auditions and was totally pumped after the parent meeting on the 14th.  He went and tried out on Friday with the song, "A Whole New World" did amazing!!  Was totally nervous, but did amazing!  He even said it went really well.  He was suprised to learn that he didn't get any of the parts he wanted, but got the two parts, "Young Shrek/Jack in the Beanstalk"!  Pretty exciting!!  I am really proud of him and that he is sticking his neck out there to do this!! Cool kid!  Practices start on the 10th!  12-14-22

KELLY HELPING

We decided we want to get Jack a kitten for Christmas and I found a really cute orange one up in Logan.  Kelly had offered to get him for so she went and picked him up on the 15th and is going to take care of him until they come down for Christmas.  So far she has sent me a bunch of pictures of her, Charity and their friends all passing him around and loving on him.  Seems like a cutie.  I hope Jack is excited!  12-15-22

CELLO DUET

Janeel Juncker asked Erika to play a cello duet with Kate Cutler for the ward Christmas program on Christmas day!  She was willing and hopefully able to do that.  We started practicing with Kate tonight and it went really well.  Much better than Erika's run through before Lindsey had fixed the mess ups on the music.  It mmight actually happen!  Pretty proud of Erika and her willingness to try something like this, so last minute!  12-16-22

DATE NIGHT
We had to go a little later because of Erika's practice, but it was a great night!  We went to Texas Roadhouse and did a little Christmas shopping too.  12-16-22

LUKE WITH STEVE
Luke decided to try making a cutting board for Nate for Christmas and so he and I went up to Salt Lake to get the wood at the place Steve recommended and then to his house to work on it.  Luke got a lot done while we were there, but the glue needed to dry so we paused work on it and will go finish it next week sometime.  Looked pretty good!  12-17-22

NEIGHBOR GIFTS

They went much more smoothly this time, then last year, but still took a while.  Nate cooked up some pulled pork and the kids and I packaged it up and delivered it all! We couldn't find any rolls that were reasonably priced so we just did the pork.  That was fine.  Hope they all liked it!  12-17-22

WEST POINT VS. KJH

Erika had another away game, this one was a little more comfortable, but she was still pretty nervous.  We got to go watch her and she did awesome!  I was so proud of her!  She's really doing so well!  12-19-22

HOBBY LOBBY SHOPPING

Everyone needed to get supplies for their homemade gifts, so this was the perfect day to do it!  Got lots done!  Super happy about that!  12-19-22

LUKE'S CUTTING BOARD

Things went really well with the cutting board!  Luke was able to sand it and cut it with a lot of help from Steve.  It turned out so cool though!  I was really glad we thought of that!  Bradley had come with us this time so we got to chat with Steve a lot.  He was pretty bummed from getting let go from work the day before, but it was good to see him again.  12-21-22

CHRISTMAS IN COLOR

We were really happy to have Charity and Kelly with us for this!  Turned out to be a lot of fun again!  Sadie really loved it and really wanted to see the talking snowman from the first one we saw this year, but didn't get to.  She seemed to like the other one better, but this one is a lot more synced with the lights.  I like that better :).  We had fun everyone together.  Got some hot chocolate at the end.  12-22-22

CHRISTMAS EVE

We had a really packed Christmas eve this year!  We finished up on delivering friend gifts in the morning, I got some more of the wrapping done while the kids all went to the church to work on Charity's gift to me.  We crammed as much as we could into that morning and then headed up to Grandma Ruthie's for some fun- we taught her the paper bag game and played her candy cane and gift card games.  It was fun to spend some time with her and Jen.  We brought our gifts for the family.  Nate had Sierra (car detailing kit), I had Meg (the cool succulent planter I made), Charity had Bailey (disney hoodie), Kelly had Caden (speaker), Bradley had Grandma Ruthie (a coupon for some service), Luke had Hunter Maynes (candy), Noah had Jen (comforter), Erika had Samantha (beads), Jack had Ashlyn (candle), Molly had Becky (she made some hanging planters for succulents), Sadie had Ainsley (book and toy).  It was a good time with them there, laughed a lot.  Said our goodbyes and headed to Nate's work to talk to Santa!  This was a fun year, just having everyone there one last time probably.  We loved going.  Santa seemed slightly distracted or busy this year.  Not as much time with each kid.  But we loved it!  Then we drove to Grandma Hatch's house and gave her and Simon their gifts and got some from them.  That was fun for a minute.  We felt a little rushed, but it was a good time.  We made our way up to Grandpa's house for some more gifts, food and fun!!  Heidi and Porter were there, we had a great time!  It's always fun.  The kids had gone shopping with Grandpa so they all knew what they were getting but still very anxious to open their gifts and it was hard to wait til we could :).  So that was fun.  Lots of fun!  Then we came home, opened our pjs, took our pictures and the kids all headed downstairs for their favorite tradition, sleeping together in the basement!  So fun!!  Nate and I had more fun ahead, picking up the kitten from Allan's house and meeting him a little before going to bed at an actually kind of reasonable time.  12-24-22

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

We had kind of a different Christmas this year.  Christmas was on Sunday so we had church and Nate needed to leave for work at 1:30 so we decided that in order to get through all of our traditions and presents we needed to get up at 6:00 am.  So Nate and I dragged the kids out of bed, bright and early, at 6:00!  I couldn't believe we were waking them up on Christmas!!  Never happens!  But we did it!  We got everyone up.  We groggily went through our stockings.  Everyone seemed so tired.  We got our Creamed Eggs on Toast all ready, ate breakfast and Nate and the kids presented me with my Freeze Dryer!!  Holy moly!!  Then we went downstairs to open our Santa gifts before getting ready for church.  Everyone seemed really happy with this part.  I loved watching them open them this year!  Sadie got her Gabby's Dollhouse!  Molly got Calico Critters and furniture.  Kelly may have been just as excited about this gift as she was.  Jack got his Allosaurus and Ankylosaurus.  Erika got a basketball bag and shirt with some hair things and necklace inside.  Noah got a synthesizer.  Luke got a huge HUGE box of Ramen- it was too heavy for him to carry it!  Bradley got a dart board.  Kelly got a fitbit.  Charity got some shark slides!  So fun!  Then we realized that we still had quite a bit of time so we decided to do our family gifts too!  These were extra exciting this year as well.  Everyone got really creative.  I still can't believe we are able to do homemade gifts still and haven't run out of ideas yet.  Sadie had Jack, she gave him a hand painted box with the Stack the States game inside :).  Molly gave Brad his hoodie she designed!  This was a pretty epic moment when Brad saw this hoodie!  I loved it.  She did a great job on it.  Jack gave Luke a perler bead Switch remote key chain.  Erika gave Sadie the backpack she had painted little animals on and filled with lots of fun surprises.  Sadie loved it.  Noah had Kelly and he gave her the rest of the year's worth of gnomes!  So fun!  Luke had Nate and gave him his cutting board- this was anothe really special one this year.  Nate was almost in tears.  We had to record his reaction so Steve could see it :).  Bradley had Erika and he gave her some hand crafted basketball shelves.  Like literal basketball quarters made into shelves.  So cool!  He had worked really hard on these.  Kelly had Molly and gave her some hand painted shoes with all of her favorite characters on them.  So fun!  Charity had me and she presented me with my video of the kids all dancing to the Mom song by Meghan Trainor.  I loved it!!  Cried the first like 20 times I watched it.  Then I had Charity and gave her the clock I made with all her pictures modpodged on a canvas with a clock mounted through it.  Hopefully it made it home okay.  And last but not least, Nate had Noah and he gave him a wolf drawing!  So fun!!  So by then it was time to open our church gifts- a little something to take to church, ties, socks, drawing pads, necklaces... pretty fun.  Then got ready for church!  Grandpa and Grandma both came to our ward to watch Erika perform!  That was fun.  Erika did awesome!  The youth did awesome!  The primary did awesome!  And the choir did awesome!  We had a great program!  I loved it really!  Then we hurried home and changed back into our jammies to finish our Christmas morning :).  Lots of gifts to open, lots of happiness and love.  I love Christmas!!  Everyone seemed happy with what they got!  It was a success.  Then Nate had to go to work.  That was a bummer.  Everyone took naps, we played with EVERYTHING we got.  Easy bake oven, all the little figures for dollhouses, games galore, we could hear Noah's synthesizer going all morning, Compared Jazz tickets, even got the freeze dryer up and running with some berries and skittles and a few other things.  It was a busy day!!  Lots of fun!!  I think it was a success.  The kids all sang to me and made it a wonderful birthday as well!!  Pretty memorable and possibly one of our best Christmasses. 12-25-22

DOWNTOWN LIGHTS

This year was kind of a fail on the downtown lights.  We didn't realize that the train wasn't running that day until we were on our way to Station Park.  So we just drove downtown, parked by the conference center and went on over ot see all the lights, city creek, temple square was still under construction, but we saw what we could.  We got some hot chocolate at the food court.  It was a fun time, just not our usual.  We got to walk through the toy store too :).  Good times.  Charity and Kelly were with us which was extra fun and Charity brought a friend even.  So that was cool too.  12-26-22

FRIDGE AND PANTRY

I got this inkling to clean out the pantry and fridge on Tuesday.  Kind of strange, but ended up throwing away about 6 bags of expired or gross food!  So crazy!  Felt good though.  12-27-22

DRIVING KELLY HOME

Kelly and Charity had come down together in Charity's car and she had to work in Ogden, so I drove Kelly home Tuesday.  It was like the good ol' days when we used to hang out more.  So nice.  We talked the entire way.  12-27-22

DR. WOODS- KELLY

Kelly got to go to see Dr. Woods Wednesday.  He ran her blood again, so we'll see how that goes.  Gave her some stuff for her rash, we'll see how that goes too.  Just pretty routine, but for somem reason I felt like it went really well.  12-28-22

PARTIES

Thursday was Erika's fun team party- Candy Cane Olympics and our fun day at the church with the Maughans!  So fun!  Erika had a great time and with the Maughans we were able to play chair soccer for a really long time, then some Throw Throw Burrito, Telelstrastions, Skull King, and Nertz (not everyone played all of them together).  We had some snacks and had a great time!  This was in place of our New Year's Eve party that we didn't get to have because Nate was working Saturday night.  Good stuff.  Minus Sadie peeing her pants.  12-29-22

CHRISTMAS BREAK

We had a great Christmas break.  Most of it is a blur now, but we spent a lot of time sleeping in, playing games, new and old, cleaning up, eating treats and freeze dried foods, trips to the store for extra fun, puzzles!  Nate gave me a huge box of Dowdle puzzles of a lot of the places we've been as well as the coast guard and air force.  So fun!!  I have done a bunch of them, they're a lot of fun and not too hard!  He knows me so well.  Just a lot of relaxing and having fun. 12-29-22

LUMINARIA

We went down to Thanksgiving Point with the Maynes Family for the Luminaria.  This was great especially since we had missed out on the party on Christmas (they planned the party on Christmas day knowing we couldn't be there- I'm trying not to take it personally).  It was a rainy night.  Pretty cold and wet!  But we all had a great time!  It was fun to see so many people there.  Grandma was in a wheelchair and Luke took a turn pushing her which was cool.  I liked seeing the boys hanging out with Sam and Hunter.  Kelly was with Sierra most of the night.  Jack brought Will for his entertainment.  It was great!  I wish Charity had been able to come, but it was a really nice time overall.  12-30-22

SLEEPOVER IN LOGAN

The kids all planned a sleepover for all of them (minus Sadie) up in Logan at Kelly's house.  They drove home really late and through a blizzard after the Luminaria.  It was funny when we were getting them out the door, Sadie goes, "Now we don't have to have any kids!" With her arms flying up.  Then, "It's just me, you and Daddy!" With one more pose!  I loved it!!  She was hilarious all night- taking full advantage of her undivided attention that she always has but pretended was different.  I had no idea she would react like that.  There was a moment in the evening when she asked if she could please have a sleepover someday.  So sweet.  I don't think she liked our movie Chaos Walking as much as she thought she would either.  She slowly started to hate it :).  But the kids had a safe drive up thankfully.  They stopped at Winco for some treats and then watched movies all night.  They went over to Charity's for puffy pancakes and then went bowling, shopping, toy storing, Creamery-ing, you name it- all the fun Logan stuff.  I was able to go pick them up Saturday night to bring them home for our New Year's Eve fun though!  So that was nice.  12-30-22--1-31-22

NEW YEAR'S EVE

I wasn't sure who was going to be partying with us on New Year's eve, but I filled some balloons with some fun ideas.  Turned out that the girls were of course staying up in Logan and the older boys were all going to friends' parties.  So it was Erika, Jack, Molly, Sadie and me for most of the night.  We did rope the boys into eating dinner and playing the paper plate roulette with us, so that was fun.  Everyone got their prizes and it was over and they all dispersed :).  Us at home decided to meet up with Heidi at McD's for some ice cream and hot chocolate and playing in the play place- that was fun!  It's always fun to see Porter and Alyssa especially when Porter is dancing to the music :).  We came home and blew through all the balloons we'd missed, played Pictopia, some minute to win it games and the Oculus and ate apples and dip, chips and dip and chex mix.  I gave them prizes for the games and we had a really fun time!  We had fun ringing in the new year with pots and pans and blowers and poppers.  It was so much fun!!  Nate came home shortly after and we were able to get to bed at a reasonable time.  It was a good night!  The boys all seemed to have fun except Noah.  Poor guy didn't have that much fun.  We had such a great year- I am anxious to see what 2023 holds for us!!  

NOVEMBER 2022

 WARD PIE NIGHT
We had another fun Pie Night with the ward.  This one was actually a LOT of fun!  I decided to go crash a conversation at Emily's table and then the table slowly filled up with women and by the end of the night we were all sitting there chatting well past the time that all the tables and chairs were set up! I mean, I think they had even swept!  It was crazy!  Super fun!  And the kids did great!  It was nice that Nate was able to be there.  11-2-22

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
I was kind of looking forward to this, but mostly nervous.  I had a great time though!  I got all suited up and left for the church and then shortly after I got there, while we were warming up, Nate, Brad, Erika and Molly showed up!  So fun!!  I felt so supported!!  And even more nervous, cuz I didn't want them to see me fail- HAHA!  But I actually did pretty good!  We didn't lose because of me anyway- that's all that mattered to me :).  I actually got us a ton of points in the second game.  It was really just so much fun to be doing something like that.  We did lose, which was a bummer, but it was double elimination, so we had another game but it was at the same time as our Young Women Tournament games.  So fun though!  Excited for next year!  11-3-22

HEY BABY

When we got home from Volleyball, we found a cute message on the porch asking Brad to Harvest dance.  Super cute.  11-3-22

BATHROOMS
Nate and I spent the day cleaning the bathrooms!  The perfect precursor to our date night :).  It was actually kind of fun and sweet to have that time together.  11-4-22

SYD'S BABY SHOWER
Charity, Erika and I rode down to the shower together in Charity's car so that she could finish the decorations she was making.  She really did a great job on the decor.  It was fun to have that time with she and Erika.  We had fun at the shower too, but most of the fun was driving and getting dinner at the Habit together :).  Love these girls!  11-5-22

SUNDAY SCHOOL
I taught another lesson finally :).  I think this one went well.  We were studying Daniel!  I kind of loved the subject, but wish I'd had some more interesting engaging ways to teach it.  But it went well.  And everyone participated which was nice.  11-6-22

JACK DENTIST
Not Jack's favorite visit.  He did pretty well though!  And kept me rolling on the floor laughing after he'd been overdosed on laughing gas.  Not really, just wanted to make sure he was good and relaxed this time.  We've got to get better at brushing and flossing. It was fun talking about our trip with everyone though. 11-7-22

MOLLY BLUE SLIP
I just loved that Molly got some recognition this week!  She really does try so hard and is such a good student.  And Ms. Smith really has made it obvious that she's her go to girl, but it was fun to see that she got some praise for it :).  Her slip says I knwo I can count on Molly to follow the rules and can trust her with any task.  So cool!  Good job Molls!!  11-8-22

OPEN GYM FOR ERIKA

Erika is finally on the road to basketball tryouts!  She's been so excited for this!!  It's going to be great!  Whether she makes it or not, she's the best girls basketball player I know :).  She's been really devoted to the open gym and went to the parent meeting so we're really doing this!!  Can't wait to see how it goes.  11-9-22

PAINTING THE FAMILY ROOM
Nate had a few days off this week so we thought we'd make good use of his time off (this is his idea, not mine- I would have let him relax!), so he painted the family room!!  We both picked out the paint and I was so worried it was going to be too light looking at the little dot on the can, and then as soon as he got a couple of strokes up on the wall I was actually really worried about how bright it was!!  I mean, it's weird because I actually really love bright colors and always want to be brave enough to do bright colors in my house, but it almost seemed like too much.  It was a day or so of me panicking and stressing and then I prayed for a miracle.  It's now my favorite room to be in.  Miracles do happen people!!  I love how it looks now!!  11-8-22

CROSS COUNTRY BANQUET

Jami asked Nate to do the food for the banquet and he did great! I was able to go help set up before.  It was a lot of fun to see this group together.  I love how inspiring the coaches are and how good this group is to each other.  Lots of fun.  Brad got special recognition as a senior, that was fun.  And Luke and Noah lettered!  Brad would have too if he hadn't been taking care of his ankle for track :).  Very cool.  11-8-22

UNCLE RICHARD'S FUNERAL
Sadie, my mom and I all drove up to Brigham City for Uncle Richard's Funeral.  He had a heart attack last week and just couldn't recover.  It was so sad thinking of how hard it is to lose a grandpa, but so nice to see all the Wright family and spend some time with them.  We sat by Forrest and Nancy at the family dinner and that was awesome.  I loved talking with them.  They are freshly returned from their mission to Finland.  It was nice to spend time with my mom too.  11-10-22

ERIKA'S 12th BIRTHDAY!!!
This was a big, exciting day!  We were all very anxious for Erika's big day!  Kelly and I slaved over her sign the night before :). Probably one of my favorite signs we've made yet!  Kelly let me do most of the work, she was just there to validate and enhance all my ideas :).  She drew the hedgehogs too!  Thankfully!  It was amazing :).  We had crepes for dinner, did our favorite memory drawing for study time and then sent my birthday girl off to school!  She was so forgiving of the fact that I couldn't bring her lunch, but Kelly took her out the next day :).  I did manage to grab her a Fiiz drink and delivered it to school just before her KIT class :).  That was fun.  Since we had our volleyball tournament that night we weren't able to have her party, but we tried to spoil her with her favorite dinner, Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes.  We were so excited for our Volleyball tournment, we had a good crowd of parents cheering for us, but I think the nerves just got to us.  We lost the first game, won the second and then barely lost the third.  It wasn't our best playing and we had some extras who were a little rusty because they hadn't been able to play the entire season.  Kind of a bummer, but we were happy we made it to Regions.  We got home from the tournament and opened presents.  I think Erika had a nice day.  I can't believe this girl is 12!!  WEEDS!!  They're all bunch of weeds!!!  And we all know how fast weeds grow!!  I'm pretty proud of her though!!  Such a cool girl!  11-10-22

DATE NIGHT
Nate and I got to see Wakanda Forever this week.  I really liked this one.  Not woke like the other new Marvel movies and actually very entertaining!  Kept it like the first one.  I really liked it.  11-11-22

ERIKA'S FAMILY PARTY
Erika chose to go to the Hands On Art place on Shepherd lane for her party.  This ended up being a lot of fun!  I was really happy with how it went.  Minus that they kind of kicked us out, but whatever.  We got to have Charity and Kelly there which always makes it a party.  Nate painted a mug (still needs to finish it), I painted a penguin, Charity painted an avocado, Kelly painted a gnome, Brad painted a shark, Luke painted a snack bank, Noah painted a cow, Erika painted a narwal, Jack painted a shark, Molly painted a dolphin, Sadie painted a tiny cat and dog. Grandma Hatch came and painted a gnome also and the Taylors came too!  They painted a sea turtle, alien, and pumpkin!  We came back for some Sunset cake (I loved this idea,but had kind of a hard time making it look right because I rushed it.  I wish I'd given myself more time.  It was cool though.  Erika liked it :).  11-12-22

COSTA VIDA COLUMBIA SPIRIT NIGHT
We had a lot of fun at Spirit night this year!  Much to our surprise Mr. Flynn was there!  I had seen him earlier in the week at the STEM thing at recess and found out he was here subbing for someone which was so funny, but then to see him at Spirit night- that was fun too.  He's just taking a little break from New York.  We got our food and then he sat down and talked our ears off for the rest of the night :).  We got to visit with Mrs. Beckstead too which was awesome.  He's pretty much convinced us that we need to go to New York for our vacation this year.  So funny.  We had to hurry home so that Nate and the kids could go to their Stake training meetings.  11-17-22

JAZZ GAME
Nate and I got to go to a Jazz game for our date night this week!  Some sushi and Jazz.  Can't go wrong there.  The game was awesome!  We were ahead the entire game almost, but the Suns crept up near the end and got ahead by one point for just a second.  It was a crazy last few minutes of us screaminng and trying to rationalize a loss being okay since the kid behind us was cheering for the Suns, but so fun that we were ahead by three, then they only scored a two pointer at the last second.  We won by one!!  SO awesome.  And I loved being with Nate!!  11-18-22

JAKE SCOTT CONCERT
I just want to document that Kelly and Bradley went to a concert together and had such a fun time!  We loved the story about the swaying people next to Kelly.  So fun!  Cute sibs.  11-18-22

RAKING LEAVES
We finally got out and raked our front yard.  Kelly, Bradley, Noah, Erika and I.  Took a while, but we did it!!  And had some fun in the process.  I like these things.  11-19-22

NUTCRACKER GIRLS NIGHT- minus Sadie

Our girls night started out a little rocky with confusion about dress and such, but we finally made it out the door.  We were in such a hurry that we had to just get food at somewhere close to Weber.  We settled on Betos :).  Kinda funny, but super memorable.  We laughed and talked and laughed some more.  Loved that the girl just gave me the bottle of salsa for my burrito.  Laughed about the bucket of limes.  We thought the food was great, Kelly's tacos were too spicy and Charity almost brought her burrito into the Nutcracker- HA!  But we had so much fun!  The clapping was our favorite part- so. much. clapping.  But we could see Molly, Lexie and Erika saw lots of other friends as well.  Molly was very curious about the story.  I wasn't much help.  That story is strange.  She was shocked there wasn't going to be ANY talking.  Or words in the songs.  HA!  Super fun!  We loved it.  We got home to an asleep in bed Sadie which was super nice- thank you Danika!  11-19-22

HARVEST DANCE
We were all so happy that Luke and Brad got to be in the same group for this dance!  I think it was sponsored by the cheerleaders, so a little different- slightly more casual, no corsages... that's all I guess.  But Brad and Luke were in the same group and got to go to Texas Roadhouse and then Kenize's house afterwards.  That was fun to hear about.  Luke went with Katy something.  He said she was on her phone most of the date.  Couldn't really talk to her much.  But they had fun!!  11-19-22

LUNCH WITH MARIANNE
I just got assigned Marianne Barth for ministering and I wanted to get some one on one time with her, so we went to Chick-fil-a.  It was a really nice break for me!!  She sure has a lot going on and on her plate.  11-21-22

FAMILY NIGHT
Noah was our lesson, he taught us about Christ's mercy and we all drew pictures of the last time Christ showed us love.  Pretty cool lesson.  We played ping pong for the game- that ended abruptly when Brad jumped up and hit his head on the ceiling.  Such a bummer!!  But lots of fun.  We had popcorn for the treat while we watched the Jazz game.  11-21-22

SADIE'S HAIRCUT
Well, she did it.  She cut her hair!  I came around the corner to the kitchen (not even aware that she had been alone long enough to have done what she did) to a pile of hair.  Long hair.  On the floor next to some scissors and a shredded paper.  She had cut off a whole pig tail from the top of her hair.  Not good.  I was totally in tears pulling it out of the hair things and seeing how much shorter some of it was.  I texted Brooke and we got her over there to fix it.  Brooke did great trying to hang on to some of the length for me.  I had just been thinking, Sunday, how long her hair had gotten and that it was finally all even, bla bla bla, and then this!!  Such a bummer.  I actually had the thought that it may not be like that for long.  Kinda funny.  But we did shorten a lot of the rest and I'm trying to decide now if we should just go shorter on the whole thing.  It's pretty short on some spots and not in others, maybe just even it all out.  I don't know.  She looks cute still :).  Of course.  But such a bummer that she did that!  When we got home later in the afternoon I found several other little piles of hair.  I decided to keep some of it for her baby book.  11-22-22

RAILINGS
I wish I was posting that they're done since Rachel said she'd have them done for Thanksgiving, but of course.  Something else came up!!  Whatever.  I wouldn't be as annoyed (since I read that talk on mercy this week), but then she had the nerve to ask Nate to pay her the rest of the money he owes (which was for when she's done) when she's not even done yet!!!  Yeah right!  I'm so relieved he didn't pay her.  We had a funny night on Tuesday, she suddenly had tarped everything shut (while Nate, Noah, Erika, Sadie and I were out shopping) and we no longer had access to the stairs or anything upstairs, or the living room.  It was fine, annoying, but fine, until we realized Brad had been napping in his room before being blocked up there!  HAHA!!  Kinda funny really, but Nate propped the ladder up above the garage and the kids who needed things for the night (Noah needed to get ready for his hang out, Brad needed to come down, Erika needed pants...) went up and down and got stuff.  It was so funny.  We decided some Arby's was in order, to get out of our smelly house and the obstructions.  Would have been nice if we could have planned to have her paint while we were out of town or something... HUGE EYEROLL!!!  Funny thing was that at Arby's they'd had some kind of problem in the bathroom so it didn't smell great there either!  Weird that we picked probably the one smelly restaurant in the area to go get away from the fumes.  Oh well.  Just crazy!!  Nate had to go to work, so I took Luke, Jack, Molly and Sadie (everyone else was out with friends and stuff) to Arctic Circle for some ice cream, playing around, and avoiding our house.  Fun  night.  They were pretty worn out.  Kelly, Erika and I (and for a few seconds Luke) watched In The Heights before dozig off.  We need to finish it still.  The railings on the stairs are still needing a final coat and the kitchen ones still aren't done.  HOpefully she comes back.  We're holding her tote of crap hostage... in our living room, so she better.  I have to admit that it was super cute how much Sadie liked Rachel and was talking with her so much before we dragged her away.  Sadie is a sweetheart.  I need to follow her example.  11-22-22

BASKETBALL, JAZZ GAME, MOVIE NIGHT
The weird day where you don't quite know what to do with yourself and your day off.  Especially because we didn't have to get anything ready for the next day.  We bummed around a little after learning Rachel wasn't going to work on the railings.  I'm not sure why we just bagged all our other plans at that point, but whatever.  It was nice to bum around a little.  The older kids did make their way over to the church for some basketball.  Then we all hopped in the car and went to the JAZZ GAME!!!  This was very exciting!  Nate had gotten a skybox for us and Jared's family.  There were so many tickets we brought Jaxx, Nate Stephens, Kate and Liam with us.  So much fun!!  I loved sitting next to Brad and chatting with him through the game.  I think Sadie, Molly and I went to the bathroom six times.  That was slightly annoying.  Not sure what was up with Sadie.  But we had a great time despite the loss.  We got so close there at the end, but just couldn't bridge the gap!!!  So crazy!!  Fun stuff though.  To make it better we rented Maze Runner and Luke and Charity got treats to watch it with.  So that was fun!!  11-23-22

THANKSGIVING DAY!

We had a really great day this year!  I was happy with how it went.  Unfortunately, Nate had to work, so that was a bit of a downer, but we tried to make the most of it.  I spent the morning getting all caught up on my blog, which took me a couple hours since I was only on Halloween!  Took me so long to catch up on our trip that I was THAT behind!  Kinda crazy.  We took Noah to Gailey park for some football with his friends.  Then we were able to go over to the church for some basketball for the big kids and some nursery room playing for the rest of us.  It sounded like the older kids had a lot of fun in there.  Erika got a little on edge about her playing and was getting really discouraged with not making any shots, but we talked.  I really think she's getting in her head because of tryouts next week.  We were there for about two hours when Nate showed up and we stayed for another half hour or so!  Kinda nuts!  We didn't have a lot to get ready for dinner this year, so we took full advantage of the day off.  I made our scotcheroos and some sweet potatoes for Kelly (dairy free).  Kelly and Molly made her dairy-free, gluten-free pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  So we were baking a little :).  Then around 4:45 we headed over to my mom's for dinner.  She and Simon had bought food from Lee's.  The food was great!  I had challenged the kids to not use their phones the entire time we were at grandma's house!  I think we did pretty good, I only regret missing out on pictures!  I had said using the camera was okay, but I left my phone in the corner so I wouldn't be tempted, and then never got a single picture!  Sad.  But! We had fun playing with their little flying ball thing- pretty cool.  As well as the little stringed music instrument thingy.  Everyone was feeling really talkative.  Steve was there.  We had a lot of fun eating and talking.  I only felt bad my mom and Simon were in the kitchen the entire time adding to the buffet.  Such good food!  My mom went all out and made Stovetop Stuffing for me with Luke's help.  The rolls were amazing, just ask Bradley- he ate like seven :).  Sadie had a big plate full of crackers and cheese and then rethought her choices and ddropped half of them on the floor.  Kelly, Molly, Jack and Steve played Uno.  Brad and Luke worked on Simon's little mind puzzle toy things, along with Nate a little.  Noah fell asleep on the chair.  Charity told us all the work drama.  After a while I thought it might be fun to play fish bowl!  We got grandma and Simon to play with us for part of it.  Until my mom called Brent.  That was a lot of fun.  Taj Mahal.  European Chocolates. We had some funny ones.  I loved that.  Turned out really fun.  The pie was great, the scotcheroos gave us all stomach aches like they do, and then it was time to go.  When we got home we watched Maze Runner 2.  Super freaky show!  I don't recommend it.  Especially with little people.  Fun times though.  11-24-22

GINGERBREAD HOUSES
One of our favorite traditions!  Kelly took Jack and Molly to go get all the candy, I hot glued the grahams- except Bradley's, he went ALL OUT on his house this year- looked like a mansion added on to a cabin :). When Kelly got back, I made the frosting, too much really, but too much is better than too little. (The recipe I used this year was really great- better than my improv that I've done with the old recipe the last few years.  I'll include it).  Everyone had so much fun decorating their houses!!  We missed Charity and we had invited Heidi and her kids to come but they were still sick, but we still managed to have some fun.  It took everyone a couple hours this year!  I was so impressed with what we ended up with!  These kids are so creative!  

Icing:
2lb bag powdered sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar
3egg whites
1/4 cup of water

Combine sugar and cream of tartar in mixer.  Add eggs and 1/4 cup of water if needed, until a nice spreadable consistancy. 
*I only used 1/4 cup water and I made 3 batches.  Could have done just 2 even with sharing with Heidi. 11-25-22

MOVIE NIGHT
We were going to go to see Wakanda Forever but we couldn't make that work out with the littles and all, so we rented the fourth Hunger Games movie and watched that.  That was a freaky show.  I waas glad we let the littles go watch something on the iPad.  The rest of us are scarred for life.  Jack made the popcorn.  11-25-22

TURKEY WEEKEND TOOK A TURN
Saturday started out normal and then out of nowhere Sadie threw up!  So strange!  She was good to get it in the bowl and that was nice.  She threw up a few more times that morning and then slowly got feeling better.  I had set a timer for three hours from the last time she threw up to start her on popsicles.  She did good, got her "ice pop" (she had been watching one of her youtube shows where they were eating ice pops and it made her want one, so she insisted that we call popsicles ice pops all day- HA! "Oh I mean, Ice pop" "You mean ice pop" "Can I have a.... oh! ice pop!"  Funny girl!) and I set the alarm for another hour for another one.  Then again and once more.  So it had been about six hours by the time she was at sips of water which she thoroughly enjoyed and then all of a sudden, not really soon after the water even, she threw up again!  I was so annoyed!!  This was of course in the middle of one of Erika's episodes!  Poor Erika was feeling pretty yucky most of the day- couldn't even play with the boys at the church and had taken a nap on the couch- so we kind of knew it was coming.  I was worried about her being able to do her basketball tryouts Monday, so I was urging her to just let it out!  She was not happy with that, and held it in as long as she possibly could.  No exaggeration- this girl has some powerful will.  But she finally gave in and threw up twice over the evening.  Poor girl.  Both girls were sick at the same time and it was so sad!!  During all of this Luke started feeling sick and was trying to just get it over with several times, but never actually threw up.  I was the same way- pretty sick and nauseous all day and needing to be laying down or I had a horrible stomach ache, but never threw up.  Noah joined us Saturday as well.  It wasn't til Sunday that Nate and Brad seemed to showing symptoms also.  Brad stayed in bed until about 4:00 in the afternoon.  He doesn't like being sick in front of everyone.  Nobody else threw up.  That was good, but also weird.  Jack and Molly never even got sick at all according to them.  And oddly enough, Kelly, who left our house Friday night, was puking all day Sunday.  Poor thing!   I haven't even mentioned how sick Charity was too!  Not with a stomach bug but with a different one for some reason.  And she was even here through all the vomiting on Saturday- so strange!  But she had a fever, chills, body aches, sore throat and cough for a couple of days.  Had to cancel her Relief Society lesson, poor girl!  It was a rough few days!!  Thankfully Nate took Sunday off to help out.  Saturday was one of those miracle days where I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the day and really only did because of the miracle.  I was so glad I wasn't throwing up and was able to help everyone else.  I remembered to thank my Heavenly Father for that.  11-26-22--11-27-22

RAILINGS
Miracle of all miracles, Rachel actually came to paint Monday.  I honestly didn't think she was coming.  She came.  She worked on the kitchen railings all day.  She got to be part of dinner, family night, Sadie throwing up again, and even bedtime.  She started painting when everyone got back with their Dairy Queen and didn't stop until 12:00 midnight.  The fumes about killed us.  We were going to watch the Jazz game but we just couldn't handle the fumes.  It was so annoying.  Then to have her there all night long.  It was super annoying.  She had told me earlier that she was on a deadline because she has "Hope's appointment tomorrow and then she starts on her new job Wednesday".  I'm like wait a minute- you're starting on a new job before you finish this one?!!!  HELLO?!!!  So who knows when she's going to do all the touching up and finishing the three that done' have the finish coat.  There's paint on our walls, carpet, not paint where there should be in some places.  I decided this morning that the most annoying thing is that we have the same results we would have if we had done it- not all the way done, taking forever, amateurish- but we're also paying someone else money to have it like this and having to hear her whine about it the whole time too.  I feel so bad for Nate and that his plan to surprise me has gone completely wrong.  It's just railings, they do look better than they did.  I just can't believe what we've had to go through to get here.  Luckily, there was enough snow to warrant a two hour late start so everyone got to sleep in a little after being up all night!  Blessings!  11-28-22

ERIKA'S BASKETBALL TRYOUTS
We're all on pins and needles waiting to hear if Erika made the team.  She's had tryouts for two days now, the suspense is killing us!  We were all praying for her to get better so she could tryout (including Kate) and then praying some more for her to do well.  It's a team effort at this point :).  I hope she is able to handle things either way- making the team or not.  She's definitely good enough.  It's just going to come down to who the coaches want if you ask me.  A lot of times it depends on their comp teams... so we'll see.  But she's the best in my book :).  11-28-22--11-29-22

TWO HOUR LATE START
It snowed like crazy Monday so they called in a two hour late start this morning right when I got home from taking Erika to tryouts.  Kinda nice since we were up all night breathing in pain fumes.  11-29-22

RELIEF SOCIETY NIGHT
They put on a really beautiful (seemed overly expensive though) dinner for the relief society on Tuesday.  I really loved sitting by Dolores, Maryanne and Michelle.  I love talking to them.  Nate was there too as a member of the Bishopric.  That was fun to be able to hold his hand during the Bishop's remarks.  Lisa, Tarry and Brooke joined us at the table.  I enjoyed it.  We were anxious to hear how Erika did and Terrie said she would update us if she found out for the website.  While we were there I was getting texts from Charity about her four positive COVID tests she took.  Funny girl.  We came home to Charity, Kelly and Sierra just visiting!  Kind of fun.  11-29-22

SHE MADE IT!!  
Erika made the basketball team!!  I got a text from Emily saying to look at the website- sure enough, there was her cute name!  Near the top of the list!  I knew she was going to make it but this was a relief!  It was so fun to have Charity and Kelly here to celebrate with her!!  This is huge!  We're so excited for this new adventure.  11-29-22

KILLING TIME
Rachel was here painting some more (trying to fix the job she did) and so me and the littles escaped.  We drove up to Layton lights, went through those a few times, down to Bountiful for the temple (tried to visit grandpa but he wasn't home) then back up to the Layton temple, no lights yet, but then down to the Layton lights for two more drives through.  Then we went and picked up Erika, took her to Morgan's to see her new hedgehog, and then finally home!  Turns out Rachel hadn't even been here very long.  Oh well.  It was a nice adventure.  11-30-22