Gingerbread Village...

We finally finished the gingerbread houses. Jack wanted to make sure there were enough pieces for a garage. We held some structural pieces together with hot glue. 

Mikayla and Mark made sure to put on Mark's smoke detector. It has 2 chimneys that look like reindeer antlers.

Maxine's been so busy. She finished her's last. I like her tree. She was patient and only used frosting, not hot glue to hold it together. 

The gingerbread village is complete!!

Search and Rescue Christmas Party...

The Search and Rescue Christmas Party is a good time. I get free dinner and see the people that Merril hangs out with. Merril has served as the Assistant High Angle Leader for the past two years and they thanked him. 

He received this cool plaque.

He must have done a good job, they asked him to be the Assistant Commander of SAR. 

Gingerbread man...

We aren't having a lot of Christmas presents this year because we are going Japan in March! We are taking all the kids! I didn't want Christmas to feel like a bust so I wanted to do some fun Christmas things that we don't normally do.  So we are making the gingerbread for gingerbread houses!

This is my first year making my own gingerbread for the houses. We don't even normally decorate houses but we are going to this year.  Mark made a ball of dough and said it was a smoke detector.  He's pretty proud of it!

Recitals...

We had 5 recitals in 5 days. I only have pictures of two. I took video instead of the others. Jack had a guitar recital. He played the family heirloom guitar.

Mikayla had 2 recitals. Same program, just a different day. She was the cutest and best in her group, if I do say so myself. At the beginning of the season, Mikayla's dance teacher seemed concerned that Mik didn't have any previous dance experience. She bloomed. She asked Mikayla to be a part of her more advanced class next season. Ha ha! Go kiddo!

Mikayla really wanted flowers after her performance and reminded me to pick them up on the way to the recital. We stopped at Lin's and she picked them out.

Juliet had a piano recital and Maxine had a choir concert. Awesome! Glad those are done! It made for a really busy week!

The sickness...

Juliet brought home the weirdest virus. There was no fever, just a day of throwing up, feeling okay, throwing up a few days later, feeling okay, and then getting better. Mikayla and Mark got it the next week. I could not figure out if they were better because I'd keep them home for 24 hours after throwing up, they'd feel okay, I'd send them to school the next day, they'd start to feel sick again, I'd pick them up from school. So weird. 

Mark and Mikayla had a night where they slept in our room on the floor. Between the two of them, someone was throwing up every 30 minutes all night long. They did a lot better the next day. Then Merril got sick. He didn't throw up, just felt yucky. 

I'm so horrible to people when they are sick. I'm trying to keep everyone else, myself included, from getting sick. I sanitize like a crazy person and when the next person gets sick, I'm so annoyed that someone else got it. Maxine, Jack and I never got sick. I apologize to everyone who did because I was a brat. Sorry.

Mikayla recovered in time to play with a free train we got from Jeannie.

Second counselor no more...

After 4 years, I was released as Primary 2nd Counselor today. I served with the very best sisters, my testimony grew, and wonderful friendships we're made!!! I'm filled with gratitude for my calling and this gospel. 

It was so nice to be in a calling where we all got along! These gals were my friends and I enjoyed working and serving with them! Mandy, Libbi and Valerie are the best!

Reading the Book of Mormon...

If I had to choose one section out of the Book of Mormon to read for the rest of my life, it would have to be the book of Alma. Dang! It's good stuff, my favorite!

Gringos con Motos!

Merril, Wade, Ryan, and Darryl went down to Mexico. 13 people said they were going but a ton dropped out because of a funeral. I love how Merril has wood strapped to the back of his motorcycle. Merril said it didn't want to burn.

Ocean! 

They went and watched the Baja 1000. It seems like there were more pictures but I can't find them anymore. 

Crinkly smiles...

This boy is a crack up.  I love when he smiles with really squinty eyes. He's been doing so well at preschool.  He's really growing up.  I can't believe he's 5.

Nativity at Tuacahn...

This was the 2nd year we've done the nativity out at Tuacahn with the Laubs. I feel like we were better prepared because we knew what to expect. It wasn't as cold either, which was nice.  It was the first performance of the season so it had some niggles. Most of us were angles and there was so much stage smoke when we appeared that we couldn't breathe very well. Still fun. 

Crushing on my man...

There he is. Out there getting it done! Fixing stuff and bringing home the bacon! He's looking good while he's doing it too!

He must be flexing his arm just for me. Okay, he's not, he's really working.

And my little man wanted to make Jell-O. There's an assortment of gummy bears and starburst in the Jell-O. He was proud of his creation and was excited to present it at dinner. 

Black Friday!

Black Friday with my girls! I can't stay up like I used to. I was dead by 10 p.m. It's fun to have little partners to do dumb things with!  :)

Maxine gobbled...

Maxine needed to complete a race for her online PE course. So she ran the Gobbler with the Campbells. Jody's family, Justin's family and Grandma and Grandpa ran/walked.

I came to support. It's expensive and we're saving money for Japan so Maxine is the only one who ran. Happy Thanksgiving.

Maxine finished first out of the fam! Swimming is such great exercise and she's in shape!

Cedar Swim Meet...

There she goes! She's so blurry. Oh well. The littles and I came up to watch Maxine swim in Cedar. The first event her goggles came off and she swam the whole thing with her eyes in the water. She was fighting but I could tell she was struggling. Darn. 

JoLyn's Farewell

JoLyn is going to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Tokyo, Japan! We might see her when we visit. Maxine and I sang with Jo Anna, JoLyn, Jeannie, and Jessica. There were 3-part harmonies in the song medley If You Could Hie to Kolob and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. We came up early for a Thanksgiving dinner. We saw lots of family and Maxine snagged this picture on Sunday. She'll be a great missionary!

Now Jack is 13! What?!?

Holy cow, all my Fall birthday children got really old all of a sudden! Jack is 13 and it's blowing my mind!

Opening presents! Legos like always.

Jack's birthday was a rock climbing birthday. We took a mix of girls and boys out to rappel. Jack wanted a donut tower instead of a cake. We couldn't get candles to light so Jack is just pretending to blow out candles.

All the kids did well! Happy birthday dude!

I'm pretty proud of Jack because he made the H.O.P.E. squad at school. The H.O.P.E. squad raises awareness for depression and preventing suicide. You can't just join, you have to be nominated by other students and faculty. Peers felt that Jack could be someone they could talk to. Wow! He's always had a sensitive streak. He wears his H.O.P.E. squad gear with pride and I love that about him.

Don't give me that look....

I was messing with a setting on my camera and got the faces of Julie. What a dork!

SHE'S SIXTEEN!!!!!!!!

She made it! She's finally 16! She had a birthday party in the basement that I didn't have to do anything for except for toss down some snacks. 

On her actual birthday she opened more presents!

Received balloons that we tied to her backpack so everyone would know it was her birthday!

Promptly went to the DMV to receive her driver's license.

And we went to Sakura for dinner and they brought her a singing cake.

This was the day after her birthday. Climbing into her blue car like a boss!

And away she went!

She went halvsies with us on the car. She's practiced for a full year and I feel like she's a pretty good driver. Maxine had more practice than I did before I got my license. She did all the things necessary to be ready for her license on her birthday! Awesome awesome awesome! 

She can sleep in later because the darn bus comes so early and now she doesn't have to make it anymore. She can drive herself to swim team instead of catching a ride and she can drive herself home too!!! Her best friend Ellen is moving from Zion to Hurricane so she'll be able to drive herself over any time she wants! 

It's possible I could be more excited about this than she is. Ok, probably not.

Frog Hollow 2018

The 25 Hours of Frog Hollow mountain bike relay is something that Merril looks forward to but to me just sounds like torture. It was cold and windy. The guys said it made it hard in some sections of the course.

We were there to see Merril take off.

And come back!

Merril was on a team with Logan P., Adam F., and Bob S. Merril did 5 laps total, Logan did 6, Bob did 5 and Adam did 3. Poor Adam. He fights with Crohn's disease and it makes it hard for him. 

Max and I came back out for midnight pie! I forgot something I was supposed to bring for Merril and so I decided to jet home and get it. Blazing down the dirt road, I got a flat tire. I pretty much changed it myself. A guy that was a little high stopped and helped me tighten the lug nuts and tried to ask questions about where the dirt road went. His companion in the car was like, "Dude! We gotta go! We gotta go like now man!!" It was pretty comical. They weren't scary, just wasted. I told them the road was completely closed off for the race and they'd have to turn around. After the midnight tire change, I just drove back to the race and watched Merril come in. We chatted for a bit and then Maxine and I came home. 

Merril stayed and slept and raced. Fun times.