December

 Last month of the year. 

Gearing up for the end of the year was a little hectic and full of activities. Here goes our little update.. 

One of the biggest orders we have had at the bookstore. This was after our Black Friday sale. 

During the volleyball season Addi was chosen as player of the week. They were just a little late getting the awards to the kids. 

Emmy chose to do the school choir this year. This was her Christmas program. It was short and sweet and absolutely the cutest! 

This is Emmy's teacher this year as well as her choir teacher. We love Ms. Hutchings. 

That first weekend of December we traveled down to Mesquite to play softball. Our expectations weren't super high for our cute little team because they had not played since August and had zero practices. Sadly, Addi struggled with her batting. She didn't get on base, but was subbed in as a base runner. The up side was that the weather was wonderful!!!

We stayed in St. George at Nana and Grandpa's house. We had a sad family event happen. Cute Sparky who has been in the family for like 15 years sadly passed away while we were there. His health has not been well the last few months. We got back to the house and he was crying. He had gotten stuck in the TV consul. We aren't sure why he went in there, but then he couldn't get out. We aren't sure how long he was there and his poor legs were not working well. They took him to a late night vet to get medicine. He just cried all night long. They went back and got more medicine to help the pain. When we started moving around at about 8:00 am Nana was in the living room holding him. Ty was with her petting Sparky. I hear her say, I think he has stopped breathing and Ty said yeah I think he has too. We all cried. It was a sad sad morning. We got back from softball games and said our goodbyes to Sparky before we headed back home. It was actually a really tender moment. Parker was not with us this trip because he didn't want to miss his first Jr. Jazz basketball game so he stayed with Grandma Shelly. 

We also got to see McKenna Tesar before we left town. It is so crazy that she is in college already. I have watched her grow up. She is the cutest! 

Lyn gashed her head open at the ward Christmas party. Of course dad was out of town and Lyn didn't realize she had hurt herself. We sat down to eat dinner and she said mom my head hurts. She reaches up and touches it and comes back with blood on her hand. We walked out and I took at look at it. I was shocked because she had no tears. She couldn't even remember what she did to get it. She had hit the corner of the piano while playing with her friends. I had lots of mom/nurses in our ward look at it and ask what I should do. We knew that a stitch could probably be used, but would it really be worth it as in would it be more traumatizing to her. So we decided to just do super glue. It did its job. 

Cute girl had her Christmas singing program. She doesn't think she wants to do singing anymore, but I really hope she continues to do it because she is so good at it! 

Parker took Drama 2 this year and they did a class play. They preformed it during class time. Oh my goodness we laughed our head off. He was the dad and he said a phrase that had us busting up. They had pizza being delivered and he said "don't forget the breadsticks". This is a phrase he actually says to us when we get pizza. In the play he said it again.. and we busted up laughing. Come to find out he didn't add that in, it was part of the script and we really thought he added it in. It as a perfect part for him! He is loving drama and has a lot of fun in it. He is taking tech theatre next term and he is excited for that. 

We went to our first NHL game. Utah Hockey Club is now here in Utah. We went with the Ashby's because Ben had the good seats from the bank. We were seated right behind the goal. Hockey is SO fun to watch! 

We went out to Vernal to watch Avery's dance recital. We then went to a little craft fair. We saw the Grinch. We also got to go see Santa. We haven't seen Santa before Christmas in a few Christmas'.

Avery's recital was the best. She got up on stage saw her fan group and yelled "my kids!!!" it goes to show that showing up really does matter. She loves her cousins and her cousins love her. 

The middle of the month was all about getting ready for Disneyland and Christmas. 

We got wind that they were having an alumni swim meet back in Vernal at the end of the month. Ty hasn't swam in years, but really wanted to go out to swim. We left on a Friday and we hit one of the worst snow storms we have ever had to drive in. It took us 90 minutes to get to Indian Canyon when it only should take us 60. Then Indian was closed. So we turned around came all the way back to Spanish Fork, got dinner and went through Provo Canyon. Took us about 6 hours to get to Vernal for this swim meet the next morning. It was a long long day, but we arrived safely. It was fun to cheer dad on. He did great for being a 41 year old. Debbie was funny and you could tell how she acted that day is how she acted when he was in high school swimming. He had quite the little cheer section. 

Everyone loves Ty's dive off the block. It is very unique. 

We then were back home to celebrate the new year. We went to Macey's for lunch on the 31st and then dad, myself, Addi and her friends went to the stake dance. Dad and I were chaperones and Addi was going with friends. It was pretty uneventful until I found a real live chicken in the dance. It was a little crazy and we got the cute chicken out and then we as the chaperones were done with our shift. Addi and her friends were ready to leave too so they came back to the house to watch movies. We are grateful for the safe new year. 

Misti sent us these pictures of my dad. She sent a cute text that they are grateful for him and all the help he is to the home. Made me tear up. He is declining pretty fast mentally, but he is healthy as a horse. He isn't remembering anyones names. He knows he knows you but he isn't sure how. It is getting hard to have conversations with him. I don't talk on the phone with him very often. It is very hard to be grieving in real time. He is alive, but we are slowly loosing him. One of the hardest things I have had to go through. I love him but he isn't the dad I know. He still does him things, but it isn't the same. What will stay the same is the love and gratitude I have for my dad. I do have a chance of having Alzheimer's. I hope my kids know that I will be ok with whatever they decide to do when it comes to my care. If that means that I need assisted living, I will not be mad. I would hope they find a home like we found for my dad. It really has been a good place for him. Has everything been perfect, no. But overall we know he is safe and healthy. Which is what matters the most.