November-December

 It's really all a blur--the whole end of the year.  From Halloween until New Year's Eve, no one knows exactly what goes on, but there sure seems to be a lot of hustle and bustle (what is bustle?).  Highlights for us include the start of the college basketball season, particularly the Utah State Aggies (Beeeeaaaaannnn!).  Nothing like the late, intense nights at the games, the long drive home and the alarm going off waking everyone for school just a few hours after the head hits the pillow.  We wouldn't have it any other way.

Lights go up, and the details aren't to go unnoticed.

I envisioned this really cute stocking project.  You know, the kids go pick out things they want to put on their stocking to represent them.  It would be really cute and structured and nice straight lines and organized creativity.   Not quite organized, but creative nonetheless.

With Gimme going to school in a different district, it's fun for her to come and visit me at work.  I love that she gets to spend that time with Slice too.  They are so cute together.  They are lucky to have each other.

Did I mention that not only did Covid-19 bring home school, but home church as well!  That's right.  We just Zoom in for sacrament meeting.  Our testimony meeting was interesting, but the spirit was still felt.  It has been a blessing being able to partake of the sacrament in our home.  I'm grateful that Ace and Mulligan hold the priesthood and can help with that ordinance in our home.  

Ace busted out his birthday present and plowed the sidewalks and then pulled the sleds for fun.  Those are memories our kids will hold forever.  I'm glad they have that.  They are beginning to believe that winter is not terrible and that being outside is not cold, but enjoyable!  I'm not going to change their minds.  They can think that and live here close to me forever.  

Another Christmas is in the books.  It's always nice to have that time to be together and form strong traditions.  So many memories made, bonds solidified, and that feeling of magic and peace in the air.  I love the Christmas season and all that it represents.  People think that because I take my Christmas tree down on Christmas morning, that I don't like Christmas.  That is not true.  I love Christmas, but not because of the tree and the decorations and the gifts.  I love Christmas because I love Christ.  I love that He was born to atone for me.  I know HE lives. 

It is going to take a Christmas miracle to get this girl away from her binkie.  I have been keeping them in the cupboard and giving them to her at night to sleep.  Well, she found out where they were hiding and got one by herself.  

The haircut situation was a bit out of hand.  Thankfully my sister Renae stepped in to save us.  When she asked my boys how they wanted their hair cut, they said they wanted it cut like their cousins Landon and Brayden.  My heart was so happy.  I am so thankful that my kids notice and love their cousins.  I'm so thankful that their cousins set such a good example to them and are so good to them.  

September

 I'm just going to be honest.  When school starts, I am terrible at the picture taking, event documenting.  I'm sure we are alive when school starts, but our time goes somewhere.  I don't really know.  Some of it goes to Cross Country.  In my mind I feel like I should have done XC in high school, but then I go to the meets to watch my kids run, and I have to go from spot to spot to spectate, and then its like, "Nah.  I wouldn't have survived it."  I'm really grateful that Mulligan and Birdie do it with their cousins and their superstar coach/aunt.

There are so many lessons my kids can learn from running.  It is such a great sport to learn dedication and hard work.

Speaking of hard.  I think I've mentioned several times before that my siblings are hilarious.  So, when they started talking about hiking Table Rock on Labor Day, I went along with it, thinking we were all kidding. No laughing matter here folks.  Well, no laughing until we were on our way down the mountain and couldn't keep our footing and we were falling and sliding and creating enough noise to keep the bears away.

When we got to the bottom got home, someone made the joke about going again next year.  We all laughed...

September can't go by without a birthday for Ace.  This year, that lucky duck had his birthday fall on a very special day we call DAVID ARCHULETA comes to Idaho Falls!  So, we celebrated both days by going to the concert at the drive-in with the family.  Ace knows how to mostly put up with me.  

She was into the fun and games until the sun went down...

Happy birthday Ace!  

This was his real present (as if the David serenade wasn't enough...)

There are some serious perks when working at the same school your children go to.  Oh my word I LOVE these boys!

In other news, this boy is a baller!  He is playing rec ball with his friends and he is doing so well.  I love that he is so much more aggressive...

Except that one time when he was running after a ball and collided with another player at practice and broke is nose.  The other player had to get stitches in his head.  

August

 

It's August.  Day 51,487 of Corona shut down.  If times were normal, and we could travel, perhaps we'd be walking around on a beach somewhere.  Since it's not, and I hate to travel, we're taking walks around the blocks in the neighborhood.  I cherish these times with my children.  I hate to think that as they get older, we won't have these opportunities to just bond.

Because no hair cutting places are open for customers, we have to take matters into our own hands.  

Heaven help us.

We're having to find other ways to be entertained.  Thankfully, I come from a large family with many, many older cousins to my children.  Those cousins are so good to spend time with their little cousins and share some of their interests.  Driving to the Teton Valley did not disappoint.  I was able to help do some painting, and my boys were able to do some shooting....YIKES! (REAL guns, friends.  REAL).

They also got some hoop dreams in.  I'm just hoping my twins took note of Nike shirt and shorts and not those boots.  Those have NOTHING to do with hoops.

It's nice to have a dog, but not really have a dog.  Double Bogey spent much of the afternoon running around with this fella.  It's hard not to give into the begging for a dog!

Also in August, we met my siblings at the cemetery to celebrate our heavenly August birthdays.  Kimball and dad probably had a party of their own, but we had cupcakes.  We love and miss those men!  How grateful I will always be for the Plan of Happiness that allows us to be with our loved ones FOREVER, even after death.  

Okay, I mentioned beaches, and travel and how they're just off limits.  It's fine.  We don't need them.  We have the creek that runs through Freeman Park.  Probably the same thing as those beaches in Oregon...you know, not like sunny and sandy, but more rocky and stuff?  Pshh.  Who needs a coast?

Too much play can lead to hospital visits.  Nah, not really.  Bogey just had to have some more dental work done.  He's a trooper.  I'm looking forward to the day when all of his cleft stuff is taken care of.  

Honestly though, a day in bed isn't that bad.

It seems that if you just run away, all of your problems go away too.  Like the beginning of the school year.  If you just go to St. George and sit by the pool, school will never start!  Right?

Apparently not.  We got home and school still started.  We all have to wear masks all day every day.

11th

3rd

3rd

7th

8th