Christmas Party

Katie and Ben threw a Christmas party for our group. It was so fun! We had delicious food and played fun games. 

The kids loved this saran wrap game that Katie made for them.

The adults did a white elephant gift exchange, and laughed our heads off. We all loved the coasters that Audrey made with pictures of Peggy and Gary on every one. :)

It was a really fun party. Thanks Katie and Ben!!

Around Our House

Damon has quite the potty mouth right now. He just loves saying potty words. And whenever he says them, he covers his mouth and gets all wide-eyed, like he can't believe he just said that.

My favorite thing he says right now is 'I can't believe...' He says it like, "I can't-a buwieve..." It's adorable.

Tessa is doing awesome in school. She is sailing through her Sam Books and rainbow words. She has lots of friends now, and is happy to go to school every day.

Mrs. Farr emailed me this picture the other day. She said she just couldn't resist because they are so cute. A mom was reading the class a Christmas book, and Tessa and Brian cuddled while they listened. When I asked Tess why they were sitting like that, she said, "Because we love each other." I really don't know what we're going to do with her!

Rockwell is such a thoughtful kid. He absolutely always thanks us for dinner. He asks Paul and me how our days were most evenings. He'll ask about what we did while he was at school. He asks us questions about ourselves a lot, like what our favorite game was when we were kids. Or what our favorite things are to do now. It's very sweet.

President Nelson invited all the women to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year in the last General Conference. Rockwell would ask me how that was going all the time. He'd say encouraging things whenever we'd talk about it. He'd tell me that he knew I could do it and I was doing a good job. It was adorable.

I finished a couple weeks ago. I loved devoting that much time and energy into reading the Book of Mormon. That's the quickest I've ever read it, and I loved the deeper understanding of the timeline and the common themes throughout it.

I went to Ataiya's play earlier this month. She was the grandma in The Addam's Family, and she was amazing!



Damon and I went to story time again at Barnes and Noble. He got to make a pirate eye patch. He really likes going to that.


The kids made up a game where one of them runs around with a net and the other two try to get a ball inside the net. They have so much fun with it, and it's hilarious to watch.



Rockwell got a book about weather, and it came with a little thing to make a tornado with 2-liter bottles. It was fun to try, but it leaks a lot so we'll save that for summer when we can do it outside.


Matt and Lori came to Utah for Thanksgiving this year. We all got together that Friday and hung out at Al's house for a while.



Jonah had a soccer game that day, so we all got to go watch. He had quite the cheering section!

Keith's mom got sick that day and passed away a few days later. Hallee and Wyatt came over to play one day while Al and Keith went to spend some time with her and the family. The kids had a great time.





Al and I are coaching Wyatt and Rockwell's indoor soccer team in Lindon right now. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It's actually pretty fun. The team has improved a lot already and are playing great.

Everyday Adventures

The kids and I enjoyed some time in the hot tub over Thanksgiving break. 

Damon and I went to story time at Barnes and Noble. They read a book about Christmas trees, colored a picture of a Christmas tree, and got a cookie from the cafe. When Tessa got home from school that day Damon showed her his picture and said he had done it in centers. Tess talks about the centers she does at school a lot, so Damon wanted to do some centers too. :)

He was so funny the other day when he burst into my room with a nerf gun saying, "Stop in the name of the law!" But the adorable way he says it sounds like, "Top in da name of da waw!"

We got the first snow of the season last Sunday. The kids had a blast playing in it for days.

They love warming up with hot chocolate when they come inside.

Paul and I went to Jim Gaffigan's show with Katie and Ben. He is hilarious! It was all new material, and we laughed the whole time. It was so fun.

We decorated the house for Christmas. Tessa got to put the star on the tree this year.

Tessa and I went and watched Amarie in the Nutcracker. She did a great job! She is a beautiful dancer.

Paul brought home a math mystery activity that he helped with at the junior high. He thought Rockwell would enjoy it. They had fun solving all the problems and figuring out who the Super Bad Superhero was.

I can't resist a picture when we're all ready for church. 

How old and adorable does Damon look?!

McKay had a hockey game in Provo last weekend, so the kids and I went and watched. It was fun to see him play, and to learn more about hockey.

Rockwell went to the bathroom during dinner the other day, and we heard him start laughing his head off. He came out wearing Tessa's shirt that she had left in there. We all had a good laugh at that one!

My mom took anyone who wanted to go, to the David Archuleta Christmas concert at UVU last night. It was awesome! He has such a good voice, and I love a good Christmas concert. A few of us even got up and danced for the last song, which was so much fun. I loved seeing my mom dancing and really enjoying the night.