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. 

Christmas Break Part 1

It was a wonderful, busy holiday season!  Dad arrived on Thursday, December 15.  His flight was an hour late so I had to change my plans a bit, but we still had time to go to lunch and run errands.  We stopped at JCPenney so I could return some things and then we went to AutoNation Honda so I could drop off my car for service. Andrew and Daniel picked us up and we went to lunch at Olive Garden. We did some shopping and I did some returns and then we picked up the car and came back home. When we read scriptures, Dad used Grandma Kathy's Bible, the King Joseph version. We were reading Malachi chapters 3 and 4 and the words were pretty similar. We talked about our day tomorrow and had prayer. We watched Young Sheldon. I had the boys help me bring the gifts down so we don't have to do that in the morning. Then Michael and I went to the gym.

 

December 16, Friday

We spent the morning wrapping presents.  Dad did most of the wrapping while I got everything organized.   We got everything done that we could and there are still a few more gifts that will arrive over the weekend. 

We had Panda Express for dinner, then we got ready for The Nutcracker. We were in our seats by 7:15 PM. 

It was a little slow in the beginning, but it got really good and I loved the music so much! I loved the second half even more than the first half. It's my favorite music and I loved the dancing. I asked the boys what their favorite part is and Jonathan said it was intermission. Daniel liked the rats and Andrew liked the dancing grandpa. Dad loved the music and the Russian dancers. Michael said he really liked it, too. He used to go every year when he was a kid. I especially liked the snowflake dance right before intermission. I also liked the part right after intermission where there were little angels and they seemed to be gliding but they were just walking. I also really liked the costumes, especially the three dancers who were dressed like a spinning top. And the two principal dancers that played the king and queen were amazing!  

December 17, Saturday

Nathaniel, Audrey, and Emily all made it here safely today. It was nice to be able to sleep in. Dad and Andrew went to go get Bosa donuts. We read the Come Follow Me lesson. The boys did their laundry and I washed all the bedding. Dad and Daniel went to pick up the cookie icing and then they went to the Casteel parking lot to practice driving for half an hour. Dad said Daniel did really well. I finally got the cookie dough made and then I did a bunch of chores on the computer. I ordered Barro's pizza for dinner. The kids arrived at 6 PM. We all had pizza together and then everyone watched the BYU bowl game. Well, Emily and Jonathan watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. Daniel went to his friend Luke's party. When the bowl game was over, the kids played Mario Kart.

 

December 18, Sunday

We had a good day at church. We were able to get a row for the whole family. We almost didn't fit. After church, Michael stayed for a little bit to do tithing and the rest of us went home. We got out some food for lunch and waited for Michael to get home and then we took some pictures outside and inside. I'm so excited about my new tripod! It's got a remote on it and I can use it with my cell phone and it works great. 

After lunch we cleaned up and then I started making the sugar cookies. Dad helped a lot with putting them in and out of the oven and Emily helped as well. She rolled them out a couple of times. Once the cookies were baked, we set everything up to decorate cookies. I think the kids had fun. Everyone was taking it pretty seriously. We had one outline bag and three fill bags for each color, plus one outline and one fill of black. Everyone was pretty creative and had a fun time. 

Dad took Daniel driving again. They drove around Sossaman Middle School and through the neighborhood a little bit. Apparently, somebody honked at him for driving too slowly but Dad said he did a good job. I made the noodles and rolls and salad to go with the chicken noodle soup. After dinner, we had family home evening and Michael gave a lesson. We did all of our normal stuff and had a family prayer. Then the kids wanted to play Jackbox so we did that for a little bit. Then we took a break to do the dishes and the kids wanted to play more games but I suggested we play an actual board game. They brought some options down but then they asked about that Herd Mentality game that Toni had sent so we played that. It was pretty fun. You had to choose things in a category that you thought would match what other people would say. Michael won and then Emily won and then Daniel won. It was a great day!

 

December 19, Monday

I've been planning this day for over a month. I'm glad it went well. I spent the morning getting as many chores done as I could. I was busy all the way up until we left at 12:20 PM. We got to Game Show Battle Rooms right on time. We got checked in and he explained the game and everything. Then we went in and started the games. It was a really cool set that they had. I tried to take lots of pictures and videos. The teams were chosen at random and it was Nathaniel, Jonathan, Michael, and Emily and their team was called The Winners. The rest of us were called The Fantastic five. The first game we played was like Family Feud. We were up four to zero and then they started coming back. 

Next, we did the Wheel of Fortune game. There were a few puzzles that I knew the answer to but I never got the chance to solve it before Emily did. She did an awesome job and the host and producer were pretty impressed with how quickly we were getting the puzzles. At the end, Emily and I did a lightning round. The first one was the Las Vegas strip and I got that with only the L_S in Las. Then Emily got the next one which was A Charlie Brown Christmas Thanksgiving. And then the last one it was "keep the change ya filthy animal" and I got that one. 

Next, we played a game where you had to put the right price on the products. We only got three right the first time and the other team got three right the first time. Then we got a chance to switch them and the second time they got only two right and we still only got three right. There was another game where you had to roll the dice and then choose what place value you wanted that number in. That one was kind of tricky and we lost. 

The last thing was a Plinko game. Michael got 1000 points and so it was hard to catch up because we never got that and they ended up winning the game. It was pretty close. I think everybody had a really good time. 

We had lunch at Mimi's Café and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Then we went to Feed My Starving Children. Michael, Andrew, Nathaniel, and Audrey all wanted to do warehouse. The rest of us packed the food.  

After the session, I convinced everyone that it was a good night to go to the Mesa Temple since it was on the way home. I promised we would only take half an hour. We parked in the parking lot by the visitor's center and walked around for a little bit. Then we got a picture by the reflecting pool and walked around a little more and left. Jonathan said I didn't do half an hour because it was only 29 minutes, ha ha. 

On the way home, we all met up at Cold Stone Creamery. We had taken two cars. The kids played some video games for a little while.

 

December 20, Tuesday

Today was a long but wonderful day. I hurried and got ready so I could go to the gym. I had so much to do that I didn't leave until 10:30 AM but I was home by 11 AM. Emily wasn't quite ready so I had time to get changed and ready to go shopping with Dad and Audrey and Emily. We went to Ross first. We spent quite a while there and found some great stuff. Emily got a couple of dresses and sweaters. Audrey got two blazers and a sweater. I got two tops and a jacket. Dad insisted on paying for everything. We ran a few more errands and then went home. I didn't have a lot of time to do what I needed to do but somehow, I got it all done. Dad took Jonathan for a haircut and I tried to fix the digital frame but it still didn't work. Then we all started getting dressed and ready to go to dinner. We left a little after 4:15 PM and made it right on time for our reservation at Ruth’s Chris at 5 PM. They seated us in our own little room with a large table with nine chairs so that was perfect. I really liked that configuration so we could talk together. Once we made our order, I excused myself to use the bathroom and I stopped the server and asked him if the cakes were there and he said they were. His name was Chris and he and his partner server Lindsee seemed even more excited about the cakes than I was. They said they looked really good and couldn't wait to show me. They looked amazing! I was so glad I went through AJ's Fine Foods to get them. I told him the plan for the surprise. We all enjoyed our food so much! We had two orders of lobster mac & cheese brought to us as an appetizer. Dad and Daniel got a salad and Andrew wanted his potato with the appetizers. We also got an appetizer of calamari. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their steak. Dad got the cowboy ribeye, Jonathan and Emily got the filet and shrimp, Andrew got the T-bone, and Audrey got the filet. Michael, Nathaniel, Daniel, and I all got the ribeye. It was amazing, as usual! We had fun talking together. We talked a little bit about Europe. When he came and asked if anybody wanted dessert, nobody said anything. I paused for a bit and then I said, yes, we should get dessert because we're celebrating a couple of things. I told him that Audrey just graduated from college and that my dad is about to retire. I said to please bring us some dessert. It took them a little time but they brought the cakes out. They were amazing! Audrey and Dad were pretty shocked. None of the kids knew what I was doing either and they were all surprised. Audrey's cake was Harry Potter themed. 

Dad's cake had a little guy in a boat and it said Gone Fishing and Happy Retirement. 

They both looked awesome! I got lots of pictures and video. We got some great pictures of everyone. I also took plenty of pictures of the actual cakes. We decided we should cut up Dad's cake since he is leaving tomorrow and everybody got a piece of the vanilla cake with the cake batter the birthday cake filling. Everybody was pretty full already but they all ate it except for Andrew. Audrey and Dad liked their gifts, as well.  They were both very grateful for me doing that for them. I've been spending weeks planning this so I'm glad it worked out and everybody was happy. 

When we were done eating, we walked across the street to McCormick Stillman park to see the model train building and everyone really liked it. 

After that, we drove over to the Giving Machines. We all chose something to donate. 

When we got home, we put things away and then we exchanged gifts with dad. He was pretty happy with his Remember Everyone Deployed red T-shirt and his little sign that I had ordered from Etsy. It said: as great of a dad you as you are, it's even better that my kids get to call you Papa. I also got him a green sweater and a little coaster that said, "my gun identifies as a cordless hole punch." The kids got Band of Brothers for him. I sent him home with a calendar and some gifts for Debbie. Dad said good night to everyone and went upstairs to pack and go to bed. The kids roped me into playing Mario Kart with them.  I actually held my own pretty well this time. I even came in fourth place on the first race. It was a long, wonderful day.

December 21, Wednesday

I got up this morning at about 6:30 AM so that I could get ready for the day and get the beef stroganoff in the crockpot. At 7:30 AM, we had a family prayer and everybody said their goodbyes to Dad and I took him to the airport. I had a hair appointment at 9:30 AM but I was able to drop Dad off pretty quickly so I arrived at her neighborhood at 9 AM and it worked out perfectly for her that I came over a little early. I came back home and got a bunch of chores done. I did a load of laundry and all kinds of things I needed to do. The kids all helped get everything ready and set the table and everything for our dinner with the missionaries. Everyone enjoyed the dinner. I gave them their gift of a little temple picture on the wooden photo board. They seemed to like it. We took a picture and then they showed us the Christmas video from President Nelson. I've been wanting to show that to everybody for a while and I just keep thinking of it at the wrong time. We had a family prayer and cleaned up. Nathaniel wanted to watch the movie My Girl Friday with Cary Grant. We started it at about 9:30 PM but luckily it was only an hour and a half movie. I didn't love the movie but it was kind of fun to see it anyway. Then we all got ready for bed.