2022- Week 51(Dec 19- Dec 25)

This week was our Christmas DUP meeting. We played a left right present game that I wrote a pioneer version of. It was a fun day.

Jeff's work party was at Luminaria. We have never been before and it was amazing! We had VIP passes so we got tickets for food and a backpack that had hot cocoa mugs inside that we could fill up as many times as we wanted. Ashtyn was the only one that could come with us. We happened to arrive at the exact same time as Leif and Julie and they had brought Peyton who Ashtyn went to UVU with so it was perfect. It was a really nice night and even though it was cold we had the cocoa and hand warmers. 

 Malia's Christmas Eve Eve Party was a blast as usual and I actually got to go this year and wasn't sick. They served cordon bleu which I think is so good. We played the money game and Kellie won. She even won the same game a few days later at her family party. The kids are really feeling jipped because an adult has won all but one year. We also played white elephant and I got to go home with a super fun texting game that we brought. I told Jeff we were only going to bring gifts we would want this time. Scott brought a Jazz jacket that everyone wanted and I am pretty sure was way above the price range ha ha. Nana won it. 

Christmas Eve we went and visited Julia during the day to bring her our gift and visit. I have gotten her a blanket for years but now she has so many that we decided to just bring roses and chocolate. It was so nice to see her and this was the first time our whole family was there in a long time. Afterwards we came home and I made ribs for dinner. We went to Christmas in Color again this year because Ashtyn had never been. We also took Daisy and I think she really liked it. Then we came home and read the bible story and a little talk by Elder Renlund about Christ. We opened PJ's and then watched Christmas Vacation per our tradition. We made a gingerbread house while we watched. I had wrapped all the gifts earlier in the week so we were able to just go to bed after. I did matching PJ's this year which the kids hate ha ha but I love!

We bought cards from Hobby Lobby this year because we wanted something more focused on Christ for Jeff to give out as Bishop. We had a hard time deciding who to do things for because now that he is Bishop we didn't want to leave anyone out so in the end we just did a small gift for the ward council. It was a little lantern with a scripture about Christ being our light. Then Jeff also got socks for his Bishopric and clerks and the priest quorum advisors. 

I got the privilege of speaking on Christmas Day- I stewed over this talk for weeks, more than I ever have before. I really wanted to say something inspiring on Christmas. I really don't think I was able to convey what I wanted to very well. I only had five minutes to speak. I spoke about the gift of abundance- that we are more with Christ- that he is the only thing that fills us. I made a joke about being the mother of the ward and how a mother would want to give her kids a gift and my kids thought it was the cringiest thing ever! Ha Ha I guess that means it was a great talk. I was feeling pretty bad about how terrible I thought it went and then I read this quote from Brooke White. I just love her and relate to her so much. We are both chronic overthinkers. She was performing with the Victoria Orchestra in Canada and also thought she did a bad job but then said this.."And I did my best to rise up. I was never as polished as I wanted to be but I was all in, and there were moments, and we hold on to the moments and I'm learning to have grace for the rest." Just exactly what I needed to hear. 

I always love when Christmas is on Sunday. It was nice to be able to go to church. We had to wake the kids up at 8 for the first time in forever. We tried to do way less this time but it wasn't much less- I hate that about Christmas- I don't want to see an abundance of gifts and more so an abundance of peace and love and JESUS. This was the first year that Jeff finally made me a list of things he wanted so that was a huge stress release. In fact this year I tried so so hard to not stress or worry. I also told Kim that I wouldn't work any of CKM or Candlelight and while I felt super guilty about that I know it helped me to not get sick with the cold, germs and stress of it all. Really I tried to stay home often and that helped me so much. 

After church we went to Tom and Sharon's and had lunch and opened gifts with them. Scott gave me the BEST slippers ever! Ashtyn got the Brixtley bag she has been coveting, Whitney got some books so she was in heaven and Ethan got an anime shirt that he is obsessed with. Then we came home and had the Hughes clan- not Emily or Greg's kids but everyone else over. We just did appetizers and played the texting game. Bronson was so funny opening gifts. He would open it and then chuck it to the side and ask for the next one ha ha. I love to see all the kids go downstairs and hang out. I can never remember to take pictures when we are the host. It was a good day. I am grateful. 

2022- Week 50(Dec 12- Dec 18)

Mike Shepherd and I went to lunch. We haven't seen him for a while with everything going on so it was nice to catch up. We also went to the mall after and walked around. 

We held our Activity Day Christmas Party for the boys. We made cards for some lonely people in our ward and did a small dollar store gift exchange. We also made graham cracker nativity scenes. I preglued the stables and the mangers ahead of time so it wouldn't take so long to make them. The boy were so funny. Lots of them wanted to glue animals or things on the roof of their stables. 

Miss Whitney received her endowment on Saturday at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was the most amazing feeling to be in the temple with our whole family. She hates to be the center of attention so she didn't invite any guests and that was perfect for her. She didn't have to worry about being bombarded with questions about how it made her feel or worry that she was doing things right or that all eyes were on her and that made for the most special and calm session. Then rather than going to lunch she wanted to get Chick-Fil-A so she could get a peppermint milkshake and that is what we did.

We got tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Concert so Jeff and Ethan went. They said it was fabulous.

2022- Week 49(Dec 5- Dec 11)

I took Sharon to get her cataract surgery. We grabbed lunch afterwards.

Lindsey is in town. She had her last cancer surgery last week so she is staying at her parents house. I brought her lunch and a little get well gift. She looked great and this is hopefully the end of her cancer journey for now. She has been so positive and strong through this whole thing. She has advocated for colonoscopies and one of the people that just got one because of Lindsey found out that she has colon cancer in the beginning stages and it was caught early because of Lindsey. I have already had one and Jeff will be getting one the beginning of next year. Lindsey means the world to me and I am so glad she in cancer free now. 

We went to Walmart and Hobby Lobby to get our yearly ornaments. Ethan picked baby Yoda, Jeff a BYU ball, Me angel wings for all the people we have lost in our ward this year, Whitney a Grinch wreath- she loves the Grinch and Ashtyn got a Baby's first Christmas- In the mission field a new missionary is called a baby so I guess now that she is home she is a baby again and it's her first Christmas back with us in two years.

Jeff took the priests to Temple Square to see the lights.

Cameron, Cade, Easton, Hayden, Chris and Bishop

I taught Relief Society on Sunday. We did a spiritual vision exam based on Sister Brownings talk and Elder Anderson's talk about Christ. Sister Browning said we need to see our lives through Christ to see more of him in our lives. Sunday night was also our Stake Christmas Devotional. It was incredible. The best church program I have ever heard.

2022- Week 48(Nov 28- Dec 4)

Jeff, Ethan and I did Planksgiving again this year. It always astounds me how I can barely do a plank for 20 seconds on day one but by day 30 am planking for 3 minutes. Listening to music really helps us and the song that got us through this year was "Wolf" by Siames. Such a great song. Here are Jeff and Ethan on the last day.

Liz and Jeremy sent Ethan cookies from Crumble to tell him they were thinking of him.

Friday was our ward Christmas party. We had ham and baked potatoes and salads. Jamie Harris and her sister decorated it so beautifully. The youth did a nativity play and even used my backdrop that I had painted years ago for Primary. The Primary sang two songs and I helped sing because there weren't many kids there. It was a nice night. Kraig Johnson came with is nephew and we haven't seen him in a while. I love our ward.

We got some absolutely terrible news on Sunday morning. Our dear friends Bryan and Tara Hall lost their son Peyton when he fell off his 5th floor dorm room balcony early Sunday morning. Peyton you remember lived with us for a week back in 2018 when he was having some struggles at home. He was a bigger than life kid. They called him the life of the party because he lived every second to the fullest. Everyone considered themselves his best friend. We keep getting asked how we know him because he was so and so's best friend. Whitney and I and some of the other neighbors hung up blue ribbons on all the trees to honor him. The news even came out and interviewed Ashley Romrell in our ward who was a friend. Peyton was a crazy kid and was always getting himself into predicaments but he did it all in the name of making other people happy. My favorite story is when he once told a friend who was having a really hard time to go buy 400 hotdogs and then he loaded up his parents barbeque grill in a truck and took it to the school and they did a huge barbeque to make this girl happy. He knew instinctively what would make other people happy and that was a Christ like attribute that he exhibited. He was only 18 and had his whole life ahead of him. It was such shocking news. The second I heard I raced right over to their house so I could hug his parents and we all just cried. This was the fourth funeral in our ward. Jeff gave a very profound message at the end about finding joy. His little ten year old sister Aidia spoke at the funeral and was more poised and put together than most adults but then to see her face at the graveside just full of heartache was so hard. Bryan is one of Jeff's counselors in the bishopric so this has been especially hard for our ward. After the speakers they set aside 30 minutes for anyone who wanted to to come up and share their "Peyton Story" everyone has one and that was my favorite part. It was fun to hear all the ways he lived big. His death hit out kids hard. Ethan really took it hard because he was friends with Peyton when they were younger for a few years and I think him being Ethan's same age was extra hard to think about. When they announced the death at church that day the room was somber and everyone that bore their testimony talked about him. Even the little kids that often get up said something about him. A huge group of his friends came to our ward to support his family and after the meeting Jeff invited them all to meet together to talk about their memories. He will be very very missed.

They had everyone sign the casket.

We hosted Shaw dinner and with the news of Peyton's death we considered cancelling but I had already started cooking the food and we didn't want it all to go to waste and it was a good distraction to be together. After dinner we watched the First Presidency Devotional. It was 25 years ago that Jeff invited me to watch it with him and held my hand for the first time launching what would become our love story so I have a soft spot for this devotional.