A Visit to my Utah Siblings

Dec 3-4, 2016

Provo, UT

My brother, Jacob is singing in BYU Men's Choir this year, and asked if I wanted tickets to any of his concerts.  Well of course I did!!  Arthur flew me out to attend his Celebration of Christmas concert and spend a quick weekend with my Utah siblings.  Melanie picked me up from the airport, and we went back to her place while we waited for Emma to come join us for a delightful winter hike.  

Then we picked up Jacob between performances and went to dinner with Jake and Eli (Melanie & Emma's boyfriends) at Guru's, which was delicious.

After that it was the concert, which was thrilling!  I loved when the audience got to sing the Hallelujah chorus with all the BYU choirs and orchestra.  And I really loved after the concert when Men's choir lined the 4th floor balcony and sang two songs that they had recently recorded for their Set Apart album, and were downloadable for free.  It was heavenly, and made me miss all the goodness of BYU!  

Jacob had to get back home after the concert, but Emma and Eli came back to Mel and Jake's place for some card games and pie before heading back. Sunday, I went to church with Emma and Jacob.  We left after Jacob's Sunday School lesson to get back to Mel and Jake's for a yummy brunch, and then I had to head back to the airport to get back home.  

It was a speedy quick, super fun trip, and I LOVED spending time with those siblings of mine.

Decking the Halls

There's so much to love about Christmas, but for sure, one of my favorite parts of Christmas is decking the halls and trimming the tree.  We turn on Christmas music and enjoy the glitter and lights as the various ornaments bring back fun memories of different times of life and adventures and vacations we've taken as a family.  I especially love watching my younger ones enjoy the Christmas season.  I love how the excitement builds for them as through the month, we add presents under the tree.  I love how Bennett hung all of the ornaments at the bottom of the tree in the front room.  And I love catching them lying underneath the tree looking a the lights.  I remember doing that when I was a kid, too!  Such a magical time of year, made more magical through the eyes of children.

 

November Nuggets

1.  Hayden earned his Wolf Badge and advanced to Bears.

2.  We had a SUPER fun night out with friends celebrating some November birthdays.  We ate delicious food at Ruth Chris's Steak House, and then conquered the Escape Rooms.  The men did one and the ladies did the other.  The guys beat us by a couple of minutes, but ours was a more difficult room, (smaller percentage of completion) so I think we basically won.  It was a fantastic night out!

3.  A few of Sydney's school projects:

4. Crazy hair/hat day

5.  Bennett curled up with Arthur on the couch and fell asleep.

6.  Nathan is 5 months old, and is the cutest baby alive.  We all are enjoying him so much!  

6.  Arthur's Ford Focus bit the dust.  In this picture, he is hooking it up to the suburban so I can tow him home.  As I write this (March 2, 2017) it is still sitting in our driveway and we are trying to decide if we want to fix it and keep it for the teen car, or if we should ditch it and just get a different teen car.

7.  We didn't cut a tree down this year, but went to one of the tree lots here in town to pick one out for family night.  

November Birthdays

We celebrate Dallin and Hayden's birthdays 10 days apart from each other at the end of November.  Dallin turned 15, and requested a pull-up bar.  He's been using that thing and can now do 25 pull-ups no sweat.  We are so lucky to have this guy in our family.  He is responsible, self-motivated, kind and helpful.  Happy 15th Birthday Dallin!

Hayden's birthday fell on a dress rehearsal for our Stake's Child is Born concert.  So we celebrated as best as we could in the space between school and the dress rehearsal.  He shares a birthday with several awesome people, one of whom is Sister Steel who shared her birthday balloons with Hayden since she knew he would appreciate them.  Hayden is spunky, funny, competitive and interested in all kinds of things.  We love this 9 year old! Happy Birthday, Hayden!