Christmas Break Begins

 We started our Christmas break with going to the Giving Machine at the mall. It's such a cool way to donate to people who are in need. The kids each paid for a backpack full of school supplies. And the family donated a goat, some chickens, 100 meals, and 5 menstrual care kits. 

We definitely know how impactful education can be for children. I've read about the life-changing effects a goat or some chickens can have for a family. And I've also learned about how life-changing it can be for a girl to receive supplies & education for her menstrual cycle. I love that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is making it so easy for us to help people in this way.

We went to Leatherby's after that, and I quite enjoyed the Taste of Christmas sundae.

The matching sweatshirts that I bought years ago for $1 each is too small for Rockwell now. He never thought it was very cool to match his mom (I didn't buy them for that purpose. I just couldn't pass up $1 sweatshirts and although they were in the boy's section, I thought it was really cute), but Damon asked if he could have it and was so excited for us to wear them on the same day. I wear it all the time, so he had to wait a couple days until I did laundry. But today was the day, and I loved that he was so excited to match me. :)

At-Home Learning Day

Utah got a big snowstorm this week. We only got a couple of inches, but other areas got over a foot. Our district declared Wednesday an at-home learning day so nobody had to drive to their schools. After a while of doing schoolwork, Damon was bouncing off the walls, so we decided to go sledding for recess. We went over to Windsor Park and the kids got their energy out. They had a blast!

Penguin PJs

I was shopping at Walmart and walked past a display of penguin Christmas pajamas for the whole family. I backed right up, and knew I wanted to buy them for us. We had a family night and gave the kids the pajamas and watched a Christmas movie. They love love loved the pajamas!!

He's so cute!!

We watched The Last Straw, and as soon as it was over Damon said that we should draw names and do nice things for each other like they did in the movie. My mom had given us a little manger, straw, and a baby Jesus to use after watching the movie, so we were all set. :) It's been fun to spy everyone trying to be sneaky and do acts of service for each other.

Everyday Adventures

 The kids and I went to Wyatt's breakdancing battle. It was so much fun! Wyatt is amazing at breakdancing and it was awesome to see him in his element.

After the battles, we went straight over to the mall to watch Hallee's dance recital. She is also amazing at dance, and we loved watching her in her element. She's a beautiful dancer!

We got a good snowstorm and the kids were so excited to go out and play in it after school.

We were watching The Voice finale and Ed Sheeran was a guest performer. Tessa was so excited and went as close as she could to the screen to watch. Haha! I think she has a little crush. :) She knows all his songs and loves to hear his accent when he talks.

Wyatt and Hallee came and played last Saturday. They had so much fun playing all sorts of things. The boys loved the remote control car arena they set up. And Hallee and Tessa can pretend all day long. I love it!

That night we went to dinner and the Jim Gaffigan comedy show with the Loosli's and the Carr's. It was a lot of fun!

Tessa is literally doing gymnastics every moment she's home. :)

Cheney's Come to Visit

 Matt & Marissa came to Utah for Thanksgiving break. They brought dinner over to us one night and we got to hang out. Baby Liam has grown so much! And yes, we all still fought over holding him. :)

The kids have so much fun with Big Boy Asher. He has the best laugh!!

I love this picture of Liam! :)

We always love it when we get to hang out with the Cheney's!!

Vivian Park

 I took the kids to Vivian Park to see the frozen bubbles in the river.

They're just so cool to see. And every year is different, which is fun to look for something new each time. This year's awesome find was a butterfly-shaped one.

The kids also thought it was cool to see a frozen fish, but I won't include the picture of that because it was kinda gross. :) They had fun sliding around on the frozen river and checking everything out.

Christmas Concert

 We went to the Debra Bonner Unity Gospel Choir concert with the Carr's. Katie found free tickets, which was awesome! We went to dinner before the show and got some good time to visit.

The library has a concert hall with an art gallery outside of it. We found the next painting we need for our house! :)

The concert was really good. We all enjoyed the music and were very impressed with the talent.

We went for ice cream after the concert and got to hang out some more. It was a really fun night.

Life Lately

 Paul went to breakfast with his cohort from his Master's program. I think it's cool that they still get together every year.

Rockwell finished his NOVA program at school (previously known as DARE). On the last day, he was nominated by someone in his class for being kind to others, and was given a shirt about "feeding the good wolf." What a great award to win!! We're proud of you Rockwell!

Tessa has been missing some teeth for a very long time, and so I took her to the orthodontist. Poor thing will need a jaw expander, two phases of braces, and a retainer. Her mouth is very small and there's just not room for her teeth to grow in. She's not excited about it, but has handled her jaw expander really well so far.

Damon passed off his Gumball Math. He is learning and progressing a ton in 1st grade! I love seeing him working so hard at school when I help in his class every week. Nice job Damon!!

I took Tessa, Hallee, and Damon to see Clifford in the movie theatre to celebrate Tessa's birthday. Hallee's family had just gotten over Covid around the time of Tessa's birthday, and our family had colds and we didn't want to risk getting them sick with anything again since they were leaving on a trip the day after her party. Tessa was so excited to see Hallee when they got back in town and everyone was feeling better. Hallee came over and had dinner and played after the movie. They were so happy to be together again!

We decorated our house for Christmas and Tessa got to put the star on top of the tree.

We went to a Pickleville play in Salt Lake, Once Upon a North Pole Christmas. It was really funny and had a sweet message about the true meaning of Christmas.

We had the October/November birthday party with the Ham Fam. Tessa loved her new blanket and make-up!

We celebrated Tessa and Mel. Aren't they just cute?!

Paul gave me a gift of having an original painting made of Heavenly Mother to display in our home. I communicated with Jolynn, the art teacher at Paul's school, about what I was picturing and wanting the painting to be. It was important to me that both Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother were in it. I wanted them to be watching over us on Earth and chose to have them looking happy, because there are so many good people doing good things. I know that there are a lot of people not doing good things, but I am lucky enough to be surrounded by really good people who I believe make our Heavenly Parents very happy by the way we treat each other. The gospel that I believe in is one of love, hope, and true joy. I believe that our Heavenly Parents love us, and that by working hard to become like Them and Jesus Christ, we feel true joy. And I feel hope that our family will be together and love each other even more completely after this life. Somehow Jolynn made my ideas into a beautiful picture that is just what I wanted. I'm very happy with how it turned out, and love having it hanging in our home.

We hung it in our reading room, and changed out our family picture and our Jordan River temple picture. I love it!