My Birthday & Happy New Year!

We had a fun time celebrating my birthday!  In the morning we met up with the Peterson's to walk through the Blue Ridge Tunnel.  Sam and Shawna and kids met us there too, and Sheldon and Ciera tagged a long. 

Joseph, Eric, Kylie and Katie surprised us as well with a visit--so fun!

I took some of the kids to the park to drive the golf cart. That wasn't such a good idea.  I am not sure if you can flip a golf cart on its side, but it almost happened 2-3 times.  Not very fun! I think they kids are used to bumper cars where you jerk the wheel and do a super fast turn. Not a good mix....

Game time! 

Katherine was so sweet and worked with Brittany Weiler and Connie Mabunda and planned a surprise birthday party for me!  I wasn't sure what was happening until Lee kept asking me questions.  I thought we were going to the Peterson's, but then realized we were going to the church. I think if he would have convinced me we were going out to eat I would have been more surprised, haha. 

This was so sweet of them!!! We celebrated Jack Peterson's birthday too. So fun!

I felt very loved!!! My friends were great about feeding all the family that was in town as well!

Some games in the gym!

Something wrapped up...

Katherine put this together for me...so kind of her!

Me and Connie!

Lee worked New Year's Eve. We headed up to Darrell's that night. 

Gave Darrell his present haha. 

Before we went up to Darrell's Shanna and I cleaned the basement apartment and got it ready for guests.  We had to leave right away in the morning because Lee's nephew met us at home. Short trip to PA but it was fun ringing in the New Year!

Christmas Eve & Christmas!

Some of the best days of the year!!!  Christmas Eve we went on a hike at Humpback Rocks.  Very fun and we weren't the only ones out there! We did the shorter hike because we were low on time and the kids didn't want to hike very long. 

Very windy! Such a pretty hike. 

Elden, Lee and Clark went a back way.

For lunch we enjoyed yummy pretzels at Hand of Home. 

Sheldon made a non-coffee Oreo tiramisu and Elden helped! 

Hot cocoa for the win!

All ready for dinner!

That night we read the story about Christ's birth. Each person read a section and then lit another person's candle. By the end all of our candles were lit. 

Haley did some last minute cookies.

The yummy Oreo treat!

Time for the present magic!  We put up the traditional sheet. 

I really should wrap stuff as it comes in....

I have a stocking for Sheldon too, haha. 

Everything is all ready for Christmas day!

They're so cute!

Fun talking to Elder Robertson! Too bad his picture was blurry. His Christmas package arrived. Too bad I can't wrap stuff....oh well. 

Elder Robertson got us a pj photo!

We had a fun time opening gifts. 

Elden bought Haley a lot of Liquid Death haha. 

Sheldon and Ciera got us a few games.  We had a lot of fun playing Skyjo and Scout. 

Snack time....

We went on a little walk to the office. 

Remember the game I showed you? One of the prizes was $50. Shanna got it!!!

Haley got some fun glasses!

Leftovers...

T-shirt decorating time.

Clark snagged a few hours to work on his car.

Getting rid of stuff from the gift wrap bin. 

Taco time!

More yummy food...

This shirt is probably fake....but that would be fun if there was a rail system on Antarctica!

We made it to Busch Gardens!  We didn't realize, but some of the rides we want to go on are only open in the summer. That was sad. It took forever to get in the park as well. Not sure why.  A lot of rides were closed, but by the end of the evening more had opened. It turned out to be a pretty fun trip. Beforehand we stopped at Little Caesars for pizza for a late lunch/early dinner. 

Off to Mr. J's Bagels for breakfast!

Clark made more yummy Japanese food--okonomiyaki.

Youth dance!

Shanna had fun talking to a guy in the other ward--Joey. 

Always great talking to Elder Robertson!

Haha this license plate was funny.