Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with the Ham Fam. We all love this day! Dinner was delicious as usual.

After dinner, we headed downstairs for the nativity. With the family getting so much older, we decided not to act it out this year. We watched the movie instead.

Grandma shared some great thoughts about the Savior and played a couple of her favorite songs.

My aunt Sandi had this ornament made for my parents. She and Shelley have been so sweet to have an ornament made for Jen, Chris, and Jason. Very thoughtful.

Next up was Christmas Bingo. The kids play in the kitchen with Grandma and the adults play in the dining room with Grandpa. Paul had a rough time this year, and ended up taking way longer than the rest of us to get a bingo. It's all in the luck of the card. :)

It was so fun to have EJ and Ofa home for Christmas!

We all love the gift cards and books we get in the Grab Box! There was a moment where we all thought that Paul was forgotten or left out of the grab box, but then Mel started laughing and pulled his gift out from behind her back. She said that if you take that long to get a Bingo, you forfeit your Grab Box present. Haha! :)

We had our traditional treats and then our family headed out to pick Chad up from the airport. It was a great Christmas Eve!!

Ataiya was supposed to be taking a picture of all the adults and took a few selfies on Al's phone instead. :) I had to include at least one. She's such a gorgeous girl!

Christmas Break Fun

 Damon can make his ears look like elf ears, so I wanted a picture with our elf hat prop. :)

Paul, Theron, and Josh put on a Client Appreciation Night at the Megaplex. Everyone got to see the new Spiderman, free popcorn, drinks, and they did a ton of cash giveaways. It was a fun night!!

We enjoyed some time in the hot tub in this cold weather.

We also did a few bike rides to get out of the house and get active.

Each of the kids got to play with friends at least once.

We saw a couple movies: Sing 2 and American Underdog.

And we spent a lot of time at home playing games, watching Christmas movies, and hanging out.

50th Wedding Anniversary

My parents had their 50th wedding anniversary on December 18th, 2021. We had a dinner party to celebrate them.

We hosted the dinner and Paul made some of their favorite foods: salmon, steak, and potato salad. :)

The Ham family that started as just the two of them fifty years ago is now a family of 37! They have always made it clear through their words and their actions that the 37 of us are what they love most in this world. Those feelings are certainly reciprocated. We all love Grandma & Grandpa, Mom & Dad, Peggy & Gary!!

All the kids chipped in for this gift. We had a really nice night of being together as a family, eating great food, and hearing stories and seeing pictures from when Mom & Dad were younger. 

Jonah made them a sign that said The Hams: Established 1971 in his welding class. It was so cool!

Paige and Rockwell had Matt & Lori and Gary & Julie on FaceTime so they could be part of the party and see the pictures from Mom & Dad's wedding album.

Being Gary and Peggy Ham's daughter is truly one of my very best blessings. They both worked so hard to teach us about Christ and to follow His example. They never took the "easy" road when it came to raising their kids. They were very intentional and consistent in doing the things that they believe were best for their children. Their words and their actions always aligned, which made them very easy to trust and to love. They worked very hard to provide opportunities for each of us to get an education and helped us all understand the importance and power that could give our lives. I loved that my mom helped in my classrooms in elementary school. I loved that she was home with a healthy snack when I got home from school. She's always been willing to listen to me talk, even when I'm sure not everything I said as a child was interesting! :) I loved that my dad (and my mom) would take me hiking. We have had some great conversations on the trails. I loved that my dad would involve me in his hobbies like bike riding, watching movies, and BYU football. I loved that my mom and dad took the time to get to know my friends and always made them feel welcome at our house. I loved that they came to my classroom just to see me teach. I appreciate how encouraging and complimentary they have been to Paul and me as we've started our own family. I love that they love Paul like their own son. I love how involved they are in my kids' lives and how special they make each of them feel. I'm very proud to be one of the Ham kids!

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!