December

 With it being a really mild weather December it really didn't really feel like the Christmas season. We kept plenty busy though. 

December 1st was Poppy Books' first birthday. It is crazy to think it has been an entire year. These are some picture Karin had from when we were getting the ready to open. The last one is of a co worker and I doing inventory. When new books come in we have to mark them off. 

Jr. Jazz has started! Parker loves playing basketball! 

Lyn had her singer's company dress rehearsal. She did wonderful! 

On the 4th Addi had her volleyball team banquet for the high school team. The said she is a team player and was always one to work hard. She also lettered as a freshman because she had varsity playing time! Whoop whoop! We did find out some sad news that her head coach is not coming back next year to coach. As of now they are still looking for a coach. 

On the 6th, Lyn had her big singing concert. She had her solo part at this performance and she sang so clear. She also received her charm for being in singers company for 5 sessions. She wore her necklace for at least a month. Then the little charm came off. I need to get her a new necklace piece. 

This is our little neighbor Sophie. Lyn loves being the mama hen of the younger group. 

On the 8th and 9th we went down to Mesquite to play softball. We hadn't played softball in quite a while. However, the team played decently well. We had a big break between games and so we drove to St. George and played at Top Golf. Parker decided to stay back with Grandma Shelly and had a weekend with her. On Saturday, between games we played at the arcade at our casino. It was actually a really fun arcade. We played with Jess, Nana, and Grandpa. 

This girl loves to be involved and is 100% with whatever she is doing. She played center this tournament and was running all over the field. She had some solid hits as well. You would have never known she hadn't played in 4 months. 

This year Rosie, our elf had some fun adventures! Lots of playing with the other toys in the house. 

We celebrated Taylor Swift's birthday, by renting her movie/concert and jamming out. The girls loved it! 

On the 15th we went to Thanksgiving Point to play at the kids museum. Parker had a birthday party to go to, so he stayed behind. Sawyer came and the girls had so much fun taking her around the place to play. 

After we picked Emmy up from dance on day, we decided to take the back roads home. It was just dad, myself, Emmy, and Lynne in the car. In the river bottoms we came across a car that had gone up the hill a little bit. It was really odd, and so we drove down the street and then flipped around to see if we could help. By the time we got back the car was on fire. We pulled into a farmer's drive way and the driver of the car was asking if we had a fire extinguisher. Sadly, we didn't. Within a few more minutes the fire department was pulling up. We had a front row seat to them in action. It was actually really neat to see. No one was hurt and so it was them just putting out the fire. I am grateful for first responders. They do and see a lot of things. 

There are always little tender mercies if you look for them. Since Kelden has been gone, I have been noticing them more. There was this little paper heart on the ground as I was walking our work sign out to the corner of the road. It was all by itself and Kelden was always folding paper. I snapped a picture, sent it to my mom and sister and said Kelden is sending his love. He is definitely showing us little ways that he is still near. 

We had church on Christmas Eve this year. It was a wonderful sacrament meeting that put us in the right mindset of why we have Christmas and it is because of our Savior and his birth. 

The little girls took Melatonin gummies without our knowing at 5:30 Christmas Eve night. We hadn't even had dinner yet and they were falling asleep. We knew it was going to be an early early morning. They were just too excited and they knew that if they went to bed early then it would be Christmas faster. So sadly, this was all the was awake for our Christmas Eve photo. 

One of dad's presents to the family was booking a staycation at Little America. We went up Christmas night and stayed for a couple nights. A lot of things were closed on the 26th, but we still made the best of it. It was nice to just hang out and not be in a hurry to go anywhere. We went to the planetarium, listened to a organ performance and the old tabernacle, bought hot chocolate for a couple homeless men, went swimming, did a bit of shopping, bought things at the giving machine, went and saw the big gingerbread house and the grand America, had yummy food, and then just walked around SLC. 

On the 30th we went out to Vernal to go to Raegan's reception. The following day was Max's farewell. It was a lot of time spent with family. We made a long weekend of it since the kids didn't need to go back to school until the 8th. It was nice to not be in a hurry while in Vernal. It was a great way to end the holiday season and the end of the year.