Andrew's District DECA Competition

Andrew was at his District DECA competition all day today.  He and his friend won third place in the graphic design competition!

Great job, Andrew!

Jonny's Band Concert

Jonathan had a band concert with the sixth graders and the high schoolers.  They performed separately and then everyone crammed onto the stage to play a song together.  

"Afterburn" with his 8th grade band

"Shorewood Overture" with all the bands

Great job, Jonny!

Nathaniel and Audrey's First Anniversary!

I can't believe they've been married for a year already!  I'm so glad they got to enjoy the gift we got them for Christmas.  It was a reservation for an Alpenglobe at Cafe Galleria in Midway, Utah.  It's a cool little private igloo-shaped globe that's heated and they had a nice dinner there.  They went to dinner on Friday and their anniversary was on Sunday, January 15.

Happy Anniversary, you two!

Christmas Break Part 2

December 22, Thursday

This morning I took Jonathan to the orthodontist. Emily, Audrey, and I all got pedicures today. That was fun! 

I offered to take the boys to get Thai food at the Thai Bistro on Queen Creek and Higley Road but only Nathaniel was interested so he met us there. Audrey loves Thai food. I came home and did some chores and then I went to work out. I got the car washed and came home. I asked everyone to eat leftovers for dinner and we got some eaten but there's still a lot left. Daniel had plans to go to Seth's house tonight and Michael, Nathaniel, and Andrew all went to see Devotion at Superstition Springs Harkins. We stayed up talking with the kids, had family prayer, and had a short staff meeting about tomorrow.

 

December 23, Friday

It's been another very long day of chores. Not only did I have to prepare for dinner with the Akers tonight, but I also baked two batches of poppyseed bread and delivered them with the boys. Nathaniel and Audrey drove Daniel around and he delivered six loaves and I drove Jonny around and we delivered five. I had a Walmart order scheduled to come between 11 AM and noon today and it never came and it was a huge pain because I needed all that stuff, especially butter flavoring for the poppyseed bread. I ended up just leaving it out. It caused me stress all day because I was wondering when it was going to come and then it never did. The kids were really good about helping me prepare for the Akers to come over. Dinner was great. Everyone really liked the ham. We cleaned up a little and took a picture and opened gifts. 

After presents, we did a little more cleanup and then Daniel wanted to play Jackbox with everyone because he just bought it today. The Akers left soon after that. We had a family prayer together and then Michael and I went to Walmart to try and get my order. They couldn't find it and suggested we would just have to shop for it and cancel the order so that's what we did. It took forever and the lines were very long but we got it done. Audrey and Nathaniel and Emily watched A Christmas Story tonight. 

December 24, Saturday

It was a great day but I still had a ton to do. I slept in until almost 9 AM. I got showered and then we read the Come Follow Me lesson around 10:30 AM. Then I had to make two more batches of poppyseed bread. I got it baked and glazed and wrapped up and by about 12:45 PM, Michael and the boys and I left to get them delivered. We delivered nine of them today. As soon as we got back, we had to hurry to get ready to meet Erin for a late lunch at Oasis Bay. 

We got home by about 3:45 PM. We got out all of the winter clothes and got it all organized so we can go sledding next week. Then everybody did their own thing for a while. I think it was about 8:30 PM or so when we started our tradition. We read Luke 2 and also some scriptures from the Book of Mormon. Everybody took a turn playing a Christmas song except for Michael. I even played Joy to the World from the 2B lesson book. Then the kids opened their pajamas. Then we talked about our Sedona plans. Then the kids play Jackbox games. I played one round of Quiplash with them. The kids played games until almost midnight till we told them all it was time for bed. It didn't take me very long to do the few things I still needed to do, like filling the stockings and putting a couple more gifts under the tree.

 

December 25, Sunday

We had a wonderful Christmas! I took the boys to the church early at 8:30 AM. They wanted the sacrament prepared early. I printed off the programs. The meeting was wonderful. We specially loved hearing the Primary children sing. Chanda and Brooklyn Evans did a musical number and the Wheeler children sang and they were so cute. Sarah Haslip and Bishop spoke and President and McClure said a few words about how cool it was to see the rising generation of all the kids coming home to visit, and how even some of them already had children. I was thinking the same thing. Anyway, the kids wanted to leave right after church so we did. We all got on our new Christmas pajamas and opened presents. I think we spent almost 2 hours opening presents today so we had a great time.  

The kids loved all their gifts. Audrey was happy with all her gifts and Nathaniel was grateful to get all of his movies. Emily loved her gifts and I was glad she liked her cute French fry holder gift I had found her. The boys were pretty excited about the PS5 and quite shocked that I even was able to procure one. When we were done opening gifts, Michael helped the kids clean up and I worked on making the aebleskivers. 

Emily did most of the work cleaning up the family room. I asked everyone to help and we had a nice meal together. 

I really wanted to make a sweet potato casserole it was supposed to be a Ruth's Chris copycat recipe. It was amazing! Michael, Erin, and Audrey all liked it and I loved it too. We had a nice meal together and then we cleaned up. Then Erin gave us a family home evening lesson and we watched The Christ Child. We had a prayer and then gave Erin her gifts. She gave an Arizona temple calendar to Michael and me. Then we played Herd Mentality. I think Emily won the first time and then Erin but I can't remember the order. After that, we played one of the new Jackbox games called Roomerang. We also played Trivia Murder Party and Role Models. Then Erin went home and we all started getting ready for bed.

 

December 26, Monday

We had a great day today and got a lot done. A little after 11 AM, we all worked on taking down the Christmas decorations. I think we were done in about 45 minutes and it was awesome. Everything is all boxed up and ready to go to the storage unit. After that, Michael dug a hole in the yard so we could bury Maggie's ashes. We went out there and Michael said a nice prayer. We all put in a scoop of dirt on the box. We had lunch and then everybody went off and did their own thing. In the evening, we read the Come Follow Me lesson and I gave the kids a money tips adulting lesson and we talked about manners for the week. Andrew and I went to work out. Michael went to bed early. Daniel, Audrey, Emily, Daniel, and I watched Rear Window and then we all went to bed.

 

December 27, Tuesday

We had a wonderful anniversary. I slept in and spent so much time getting ready and helping the kids with things that I hadn't even started on my to do list when Michael got home. The kids left around 1:40 PM to go see Puss in Boots at the Santan Harkins and then go to eat at Canes. I finished my chores. Michael and I went to dinner at a fancy place in Scottsdale called Ocean 44. It was nice to relax and talk. We talked a lot about the kids and our worries about them. It was a wonderful restaurant and the food was amazing. Michael got the lobster and he said it was the best he's ever had. I really loved the corn crème brûlée. The bread they brought us was kind of like a fancy crescent roll. It tasted like a crescent roll but it looked like a cinnamon roll without the frosting. 

On the way home we stopped at Batch Cookies and I got a dozen cookies in all kinds of varieties. We cut most of the cookies into pieces so the kids could try some. We asked the kids if they wanted to play a game and we decided to play a new game I got called Family Face-off. It was pretty fun. Nathaniel, Audrey, Andrew, and I won the game. After that, the kids finished their movie and Andrew and Jonathan played on their video games and then everybody went to bed.

 

December 28, Wednesday

We didn't do a whole lot today, but I got some chores done. Our goal was to go bowling as a family but it never worked out. Nathaniel and Audrey left a little before 10 AM to go to the Mesa temple for a 10:45 AM endowment session. They got back around 1 PM, I think. In the evening, Andrew and Jonathan played Fortnite and the other kids watched another Alfred Hitchcock movie called Rebecca. They paused it so we could have dinner and then they finished watching it. Andrew and I went to the gym.

 

December 29, Thursday

I got up at 5:30 AM because the goal was to be ready to load the car at 8 AM and I wanted to have plenty of time to get myself ready for the day and do all my packing. I think we pulled away from the house at 9 AM. We made it to the McDonald's in Sedona before 11:30 AM. Many of us were not thrilled about eating at McDonald's, but we had to get a picture. 

We found a cute little donut shop called Sedonuts and a couple doors down from that was a restaurant called Café Jose. We enjoyed our meal at Café Jose and then headed over to the snow park. The drive from Sedona to the snow park was gorgeous! We got to Flagstaff Snow Park a little after 2 PM. 

First, we went on the black run then the blue one. Then we headed over to the teal. That was closed the last time we went. It was pretty fun. 

Finally, we went on the red one. We decided that we should all go down together so we made a big circle and all eight of us went down and I videotaped it. That was really fun! 

After that, we went back to the black one. By then it was almost time for the sledding to be over so we headed out. 

I took a quick picture on the way out and the kids played in the snow for a little bit and then we went to the cars. It took us forever but we finally got everybody changed back and in the car and we headed over to the hotel. It was snowing pretty badly. We got checked in and brought up our luggage. We got ready and went to dinner at Galaxy Diner. It really was like we remembered at the one back in Provo, except for the French fries. There was a guy there playing music right next to our table. We all enjoyed our food; it was really good. Audrey found some questions on a poster near the bathroom that were movie quotes so we had fun playing those. 

We came back to the hotel. There were people sitting at the breakfast tables playing games so when I went to get more towels I asked if they had any games we could borrow and they had 5 Second Rule. I thought everybody would want to join us and play but they turned us down. So, Emily, Jonny, and I all relaxed and watched TV and played the game ourselves.

 

December 30, Friday

I'm so glad we got to do the trip to Sedona and Flagstaff. I had a really great time and I think the kids did, too. We all went down to breakfast and then said our goodbyes to Nathaniel and Audrey around 9 AM. They were driving back to Provo and then they were going to go to her grandparents' 50th anniversary party. They made it back safely. We got all packed up and checked out around 10:30 AM. The first place we went was to Montezuma Castle. That was pretty cool. We walked around the little path and took some pictures and learned a couple of things and then we headed out. 

We walked around the museum in their gift shop for a few minutes and then left. We got home and unloaded the car, got something to eat, and unpacked. We decided to go see Avatar tonight so I bought the tickets and did some chores and laundry. I even took a little nap. Jonathan didn't want to go to the movies and Andrew was hanging out with friends so it was just me and Michael and Emily and Daniel who went to the movie at 7:15 PM. We saw in 3-D at the Queen Creek Harkins. It was amazing! I really enjoyed it. It was a three-hour movie but I didn't feel that long and I really enjoyed the story.

 

December 31, Saturday

The Walmart order came at around 10 AM and then we had a staff meeting and then everybody worked hard to get as many chores done as they could until we had to leave for lunch with Erin at Gecko Grill. Emily and Daniel went to get haircuts. Daniel took some convincing but he looked great. The food at Gecko Grill was delicious, as always. I gave Erin her birthday gift and she liked it. It was some Bath and Body Works lotions and a fragrance mist and also some pretty Cate and Chloe earrings. We said our goodbyes to Erin and got in the car. Apparently, at the restaurant when I was going to the bathroom, Michael and the kids made a bet of whether or not I would want to go to Chunk Cookies afterwards. I didn't want to go because I would rather go somewhere else and I didn't want to make myself sick by eating a big cookie. Daniel was the only one who said I wouldn't want them so I guess he won the bet. We got the mail on the way home because Emily's new Taylor Swift book was in it and of course she had to play it right away. Her friends picked her up a little after 2 PM and they've been gone all day. I did some laundry and then I took Daniel and his friend to the movies. Then I ran some errands. We didn’t do much else tonight. I watched one episode of The Amazing Race. Then I called everybody down and we counted down the last 10 seconds of the new year together and then everybody started getting ready for bed.

 

January 1, Sunday

We had a good day at church. Elder Martinez and then Elder Platt spoke. For the second hour, I sat in on Jonathan's Sunday school class because one of his teachers couldn’t be there. Tonight, Michael showed us an awesome talk by Elder Bednar. Emily and Jonathan gave a short lesson about the importance of setting goals. Then we played two games of Clue. Andrew won and then Michael won. The kids wanted to play Aggravation but by then it was 10 PM but I gave in and we played until midnight. Emily won the game.

 

January 2, Monday

Today was the last day of the boys' Christmas break and it's been wonderful! They have to go back to school bright and early tomorrow and Michael has to be to the temple by 5:30 AM. Since we were up so late last night, I didn't get up this morning until 9 AM. I got ready for the day and we put away the Walmart order. I did a bunch of laundry. Emily, Andrew, and I were the only ones who wanted to go to Panera so we went a little before 1 PM to the one in Queen Creek. Dad had given me four $10 bonus cards so we used them all up. We came home and I did a few chores and Daniel played a few video games and then we watched the movie Ticket to Paradise. I really enjoyed it. I did some more laundry and chores. Andrew made dinner. I spent 20 minutes reading so that was awesome. Daniel got me a book for Christmas called Maybe in Another Life so I started reading that. We cleaned up dinner and read Matthew chapter 1. After scriptures, Andrew and I went to work out at the gym.

 

Well, that’s our Christmas break.  It was a lot of work, but it was worth it!  I loved having all the kids in the house together for so long and it went really well.  Now we’re back to our routine.  Emily flew back to Provo on Friday, January 6.  We miss our college kids but everyone is off to a great start for the new semester and Audrey seems to be enjoying her new job.