New Year's Eve

We tried a new place for New Year's Eve dinner, but it didn't work out. It's actually the same location where we used to go to Jogoya, which was changed to Oasis Bay, and is now all-you-can-eat sushi. We assumed it was another buffet, but instead it's unlimited sushi brought to your table. The boys and I don't eat sushi, so we went to Lin's Grand Buffet again, instead. But not before getting a picture in the cool entry at the sushi place.

Happy New Year!

Temple Day with the Boys

The boys and I went to the Gilbert Temple to do baptisms while Michael was working his shift. It's always fun to see him there! It was a wonderful morning!

Our Anniversary Dinner, 30 Years!!!

We already have a cruise planned to celebrate our 30th Anniversary but, of course, we wanted to go out for a nice dinner tonight at Fleming's in Chandler. They had a table set up with a little "happy anniversary" card and rose petals so that was sweet. The food was delicious. I got the fillet and Michael got the ribeye. My side was sweet corn brûlée and he got brussels sprouts. I'm glad we went and tried a new place. It's hard to explain but the meat was very fresh and tasted "gamey." It was kind of strange but still good. Their desserts were crazy expensive and none of them looked good to us and we thought we could do better. They did bring us some chocolate truffles for our anniversary so that was nice. Michael asked where I wanted to go and I had seen a BJ's as we pulled in and I really wanted some pizookies so that's what we did. I told him that's where I wanted to go and he was like, seriously? I said yes! He was sweet to me at dinner and said, "I chose you, you get to choose everything from now on." Which was kind of funny but also kind of true. While we were sitting there, I had put our name on the waitlist. I told him that as we were walking into BJ's and he thought that was funny. We didn't wait very long and we told them all we wanted was a pizookie so they got us in pretty quickly. Their sugar cookie pizookie is so amazing! So is the salted caramel. The third one we got was chocolate chunk and it's just OK.

It was a wonderful night and we had a great time!

Christmas Break Part 3

December 26, Friday

Even though it was so hard to say goodbye to them today, I'm so grateful that Nathaniel and Audrey were here for a whole week. It was so wonderful to have them here and to have Charlie here. This morning, I heard Charlie squawking downstairs so I got up. I could've slept a little longer but my goal today was to spend as much time with him as I could. I helped feed him and played with him until it was time for his nap. 

He had fun going up and down the stairs. 

Then the kids all watched the last episode of Stranger Things. I guess they watched two episodes last night. I rode my bike and got ready for the day and by the time I was done with that Charlie was up again. Once again, I helped him eat his lunch and played with him for quite a while. I didn't do too many chores today because everything that was necessary to get done, I was able to do later tonight after they left. 

When it was time for his afternoon nap, I offered to put him to bed. It was harder than I thought it would be but we did OK. He finally fell asleep sitting sideways on my lap with his head against my chest and it was so sweet. I was nervous I would wake him up if I laid him down in his bed but he stayed asleep. 

The rest of it day I just played with him and helped as much as I could. Nathaniel and Audrey started doing all their packing and we played with Charlie downstairs. 

By 6 PM, we had a prayer together and everybody had some leftovers. We left at 7:30 PM to take them to the airport. It was just me and Michael and we took them in the Pilot because the car seat had been in there the whole time. They had so much luggage that I offered to go with them to check everything in. They had a checked bag, two carry-ons, two backpacks, and the car seat. At first, they said they didn't need help and then I think they realized it would actually be pretty helpful so I went to the check-in counter with them and thankfully there was no line. We got them all checked in and settled and I said goodbye to them again outside of security. Michael drove me home and then he went to the gym. I got the mail. I did a bunch of cleanup. I cleaned up all his all of his toys and stacked up the totes. Then I did some work on the computer. Daniel is out with his friends tonight and he had left at about 7 PM. 

Here they are at Eldredges on the 27th watching the Pop Tarts Bowl.

I am so glad they were able to come visit us and stay for such a long time! It was the best visit!!!!

Christmas Day

Our tree at midnight

We've had a wonderful Christmas day! It was actually really nice to have a Christmas day where I didn't have to plan for a trip in a couple days. I didn't even have to rush to take down decorations. I came down a little after 8 AM. I think it was about 8:30 AM by the time we started opening presents and we spent about an hour and a half. Everyone enjoyed their presents. Jonny got a kick out of the K-pop Demon Hunters vinyl that I got him, as well as the Monopoly game that was K-pop Demon Hunters themed. Daniel liked his aebleskivers pan. Nathaniel was happy about all his movies and books. Audrey had plenty to open but I didn't get her anything fancy today because we already got her that nice Le Crueset pot that she loves. I was happy that she liked the little Carter's outfit that I got for Charlie that said Small Fry because she calls him that all the time. In fact, that's what she said, "I call him that all the time." I got so many nice things. Michael bought me like three different dresses and the scarf and nail polish I requested so that was nice. I got him a new wedding ring because his is too big and keeps falling off. Daniel and Nathaniel and Audrey he got me a book. Nathaniel wrote a nice card for me. Jonny got me a candle from Yankee candle and I love it. It smells really good! I swear it's the same candle that my mom used to light. It reminds me of her. 

I got Daniel an aebleskiver pan and the little wooden turning sticks so he suggested we have two going at the same time and that was a brilliant idea because we were able to make a ton of aebleskivers. I think we ended up making 77 of them. That was with a triple batch. We also heated up some leftover ham to go with it and everyone enjoyed it. Charlie even liked them. Audrey made some punch for us. She uses pineapple juice, Sprite, rainbow sherbet, and vanilla ice cream. It’s more like a smoothie but very good! She made it in one of our big, red bowls and she mixed it with the hand mixer.  After we cleaned up, we played one of the new games called Tapple. Daniel had bought it for Nathaniel and Audrey. You get a category and then you have to name words starting with different letters in that category and the last one standing gets to keep the card and the first one to three cards wins. Michael won pretty quickly and nobody wanted to play again. Everyone had done a great job cleaning up while Daniel and I were cooking. While we were cooking we called Emily and put her on the big screen. She told us about how busy it was yesterday but they made some fake reservations so the kitchen didn't get so backed up. We had her add Papa to the call so we could say hi to him, too. After we played the game, everyone did their own thing for a little while. The boys played Smash Bros a few times throughout the day. I did some things on the computer. Audrey put Charlie down for a nap. I got caught up on social media and rested for a while. A little before 5 PM, I came down and Michael was already starting on dinner. I made two chocolate pies. I showed Audrey how to do it and she asked for the recipe so of course I let her have it. She took a picture of it in the binder. Then I made some sides like shrimp and mashed potatoes and spinach artichoke dip. I didn't end up making crab dip. We already had so much food. Everyone enjoyed the dinner. We got cleaned up and played some Jackbox. Then it was time for Charlie to go to bed so I asked if we could have a prayer together. Then the boys played more Smash Bros. We talked about watching a movie but everybody really wanted to watch Stranger Things so I got some of my own tasks done while they did that and I listened to Spotify on my AirPods so I didn't hear the show and get spoilers.

I feel so blessed that we had such a fantastic Christmas!