Christmas Prep

This week we continued with some of the pre Christmas preparations and festivities.  I have been trying to sneak in wrapping gifts whenever I have a free moment.  C.C. has taken it upon herself to organize the presents under the tree each time a new batch is wrapped.  I think, at this point, I am about 95% wrapped and C.C. and Elsie worked together on one last organization yesterday.  They counted 38 presents that I had wrapped. No wonder I threw out my back this week. That is a lot of sitting on the floor.

The less exciting news of the week is that Merrick got a nose injury in his game on Tuesday.  Originally, we thought it was broken, but after a visit to his PCP and some texting with our friend who is an ENT, we now think maybe its just a bad bruise.  We do have a visit with a local ENT next week on the advice of our PCP, but Merrick is improving and we are increasingly confident that it isn't broken. He played in his game on Friday, but with a mask, which he absolutely hated. 

Also this week we had Jeremy's holiday work party.  We started at his office, where they did a Secret Santa gift exchange. The office team also gifted Jeremy a Festivus pole, complete with the airing of their grievances. Anyone who knows Jeremy, knows how much he loves Festivus, so it was perfect.  We then went to dinner.  It was a nice night and fun to get to meet all of Jeremy's coworkers.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love this time of year.  The Thanksgiving to Christmas season is quite literally the best and this week kicked it off with a bang.  We started the week with a visit to Santa.  It was COLD, almost like the North Pole, but maybe that just made it all the more fun.  And, as you can see, Jeremy has relinquished the "who's taller" fight and is no longer standing on his tippy toes for pictures.

The next few days, I was able to sneak away for my work holiday retreat.  It was a fun little getaway, despite the fact that the hotel we stayed at is apparently haunted.  On the plus side, they had an amazing soaking pool and I won a $25 gift card in our team scavenger hunt.

I made it back to the fam just in time for the official start of the basketball season.  Merrick has his kickoff jamboree and his first ever high school game this week.  They won their game 66-18.  It's going to be a fun season.

In addition to his first high school game, Merrick also started his new job adventure, reffing.  He reffed four games for 3rd and 4th graders.  He's learning as he goes along, but ultimately I think he will enjoy it.

While he was off making the big bucks, the girls attended a dance camp.  They broke into groups based on age and Elsie only had one other girl in her group.  She was very nervous about performing, but she did great. They both did.

Yesterday evening, we capped off the day with our ward Christmas party.  It was a "Night in Bethlehem" themed.  It was beyond spectacular, with the gym being transformed with market stalls, floor seating, and even live chickens.  The pictures don't do it justice.  It was a night to be remembered.

See? Best time of year. Ever!

Thanksgiving 2025

 What a week! It was a busy, fun, blast of a week that flew by faster than I can believe. The week started with trips to the park, bike rides, playdates with friends, multiple horseback riding lessons, and basketball practices

We were so busy having fun that Thanksgiving arrived before we knew what happened. On  turkey day, we had everyone over to our house to celebrate.  This year we had our family, my parents, Emily, Jason, and Kalani, 10 of us all together, but somehow we had food for 35. In addition to good food and good company, we had an extra treat of getting to see Uncle Jensen on Good Morning America that morning, doing his Grinching thing.

As packed as the week was leading up to Thanksgiving, it didn't slow down after.  Friday was Kalani's state championship football game.  We started the day with a bus send off. The girls and I had made posters earlier in the week to help with the send off.  We then headed to the game ourselves.  Between the hour long drive each way, the game itself, and the bananas parking lot, there went the day.  BUT the Lions came away with the "W" and are state champs once again.

Yesterday, we made the move and it was out with Thanksgiving and on to Christmas.  Jeremy and I spent the morning putting up the outside Christmas lights. Then in the afternoon, we made the trek out to get our Christmas tree.  She hasn't been decorated yet, but she's a beauty.  Maybe she'll get some lights and ornaments today.

Tomorrow it's back to school and work, but to say we had a great week would be a huge understatement. I am so excited for the season ahead.

Almost Thanksgiving

 Do you ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you just put your head down and push through? That's how this week felt for me.  The kids and I are all off next week and so this week I felt like we were all holding our breath, just counting down the days.

The week started strangely with snow on Monday.  It didn't stick, even for a moment, but it definitely fell as snow for a short time. It may be a sign of a white winter ahead. Counter that with ending the week at a swimming birthday (albeit at an indoor pool) and you have the making of a strange week.

The kids had a good week at school though. CC got to combine crafting into science and the result was this adorable brain hat.

Elsie had a school wide assembly and won an award for leadership.

Merrick had basketball tryouts. He was really hoping to make the JV team over the Freshman team.  Unfortunately, he was never allowed to play with the Sophomores and Juniors during tryouts to show what he could do, no Freshman were.  So, in the end, they put him on the Freshman team, but the coach told him he was a "moving piece" and may get moved up to the JV team sooner rather than later. He told him that he was the guy all the varsity guys are talking about and he's excited to win a lot of games with him over the next four years.  While the Freshman team certainly wasn't what he was hoping for, there was a lot to be celebrated in the feedback.

All in all, it was a good week.  Now bring on the break!

Jeremy's Birthday

 I feel like a broken record, but this was another busy week.  The kids had Monday off and that should have made for a light week, but Jeremy and I both worked and it didn't seem like a light week at all. Part of that because it felt like every spare moment I spent preparing for all the many things that happened this weekend.

What happened this weekend you ask? Well, Saturday was Jeremy's birthday, with shopping and baking to do prepare for that.  We also had lots of other events crowding up our Saturday.  It was our assigned week to clean the church, C.C. had dance, and I had a church activity to attend.

I will circle back to Jeremy's birthday celebration in a second, but it's also worth noting that our Sunday (today) was/is also unusually full.  I had to visit another ward (brand of our church) this morning.  They were having their primary program and for my calling (church assignment) I need to attend and take notes, I now need to write "thank you's" to all of the kids who participated.  Jeremy also had meetings this morning, as usual.  Soon it will be time to go to our church, were I am speaking.  Writing my talk has taken up a large chunk of any free time I had this week.  Also today we will have our month family dinner, Lundy Sunday Funday.  While my assignment isn't extraordinarily large, I decided to take on a big project for dessert, caramel cheesecake bombs.  Why do I do this to myself?

Back to Jeremy's birthday, I think he had a good day despite the business and having to clean the church.  We "watched a movie" during the afternoon and he was allowed to sleep through as much of it as he wanted.  We then went to the church gym.  The girls roller skated and Jeremy was in his happy place, shooting hoops with Merrick.  Afterwards, he got to choose dinner and I went to pick it up while he watched the ASU game.  They won too, which was a nice bonus.  After dinner, we had one of his favorite desserts, homemade Nutter Butter/Reese's ice cream sandwiches and he opened presents.  All in all, I would say it was a pretty good day.

I am thankful for a day to celebrate Jeremy.  We are so lucky to have him!  I am all thankful that in a few short hours all the extra stressors of this weekend will be behind us.