Wrapping up 2017

What a year!  I know I mention this every year but I seriously feel like time is speeding up!  I cannot believe that it is over.  What a blessed year full of more memories and many blessings.  Here is a little wrap of each of the kids.
Luke is officially a teenager and he is such a good kid.  He is doing great in school and in swim.  He is in the presidency for deacons and has such a strong testimony.  He loves to jump on thne trampoline and perfect his tricks.  He has a great group of friends: Kaleb, Mac, Tyson, Garrett, Drew, Justin, and Aiden.  They spend a lot of time together and I am grateful he is surrounded by such good examples.

Harlee is 10 going on 18.  She has always seemed older to me.  She is truly a blessing.  She is always cooking breakfast for everyone or organizing games for her younger brothers. She is a second mom.  Harlee has started tutoring for her spelling and reading where she is making a lot of progress.  She is still dancing and loves it!  She has a great group of friends and loves have Friday night late nights. 

Nash is such a great kid.  He is excelling in swim and I keep telling him to stick with it as I see him making state in the near future.  He is very smart and was chosen to be in the highest spelling group where they are learning Greek and Latin.  Nash loves parkor and is always practicing his spins and jumps.  He can never sit still.  He loves hanging out with his friends especially Kai and Ashton.  Nash is my go to helper and I am so grateful for him. 

Gray is our funny kid!  He is always doing something to make us laugh.  What is ironic though is that he is so funny at home and tends to be super shy in big group situations.  He is doing amazing in school and also in swim.  He is a fast little swimmer and has such great potential.  He always puts his goggles on while we drive to swim.  I love it!!  Not a care what others think about him and I envy that confidence.  Gray is the best friend to Tag and such a blessing!

Tag is our pure joy!  He has come so far this year.  He is attending a special education kindergarten when they integrate him into a mainstream classroom.  He is doing so well.  He is also attending ABA therapy at ABI and making great strides.  He is our no filter, show memorizing, picky eating,blessing.  He loves to play video games and also loves to play anything with his siblings.  They are such blessings to him.

Joey is still enduring the Bishopric and does an amazing job.  He is still working at TEVA and this year they accumulated another company.  Joey is the Supply Chain Director over both sites.  He is under a lot of stress but never brings it home.  He is a great Dad and example to the kids.  He always makes them laugh with his funny songs he makes up.  He is the organizer in the family and is constantly selling things to get rid of the stuff we accumulate. He is my best friend and I truly feel like our marriage just keeps getting better.  I am so blessed to have him as my eternity. 

I am serving as the Activity Day leader and a VT supervisor.  I get to serve over Harlee's group and it is so fun to experience that with her.  I am working at Primary Residential Mortgage and feel so blessed to be able to make great money working at home.  I accomplished my goal of 10 loans this year and have upped the goal to 12 next year.  I love being a mom and love watching my kids grow up.  I only wish the growing up process would slow down.  I am so grateful to be completing another book.  It is such a blessing to have all of these memories written down.  What a blessed year this has been and I look forward to another year full of amazing memories and adventures.

New Year's Eve

We spent the afternoon at church and then came home to celebrate the last night of 2017!  We had bought pizza on Saturday night to bake and we started the festivities by eating pizza while watching In an Instant!  Then we did Joey's root beer taste test.  He had bought 12 different types of root beer and we tasted them all.  Some of the options were awful!  It was so fun to score each of them and determine which ones were are favorite.  We spent the rest of the night playing games and watching tv together.  We tried so hard to stay up until the New Year but we were all exhausted.  We made it until about 11:20pm before we all went up to bed.  So excited for a new year and a chances to make more memories surrounded by those that I love the most.

Christmas Break in the SG

We arrived in SG around 10pm.  The drive down was a little eventful with Gray throwing up and then trying to find an open restaurant for dinner on Christmas Day!  We were blessed to find a Mcdonalds and everyone was happy.  When we drove into St. George we realized it was super dark.  The power was out!  We sat bundled up in the front room with blankets for almost an hour before the power came back on.  We were so excited to have light and heat!  We quickly unpacked and went to bed.  The rest of the week was spent going to the park, hiking, eating, going to a new indoor pool, discovering pickle ball, playing the new fun board games they got for Christmas, watching movies, and relaxing.  The weather was perfect and we had an amazing time!  We kept our goal of trying a new restuarant and we tried "One Hot Grill".  So good!  We had such an amazing time and I seriously did not want to come back.  We came back Saturday morning in time to celebrate New Year's in Lehi.  Cannot wait until President's Day when we can go back down to my favorite place.

Christmas Day!

Well Santa did not disappoint!  The kids waited until 6:45am and then came in to beg to go downstairs.  They were all super excited about all the gifts they were blessed with.  Luke was blessed with a snowbird lesson with his friends and $100 cash.  Harlee got her reborn doll and a snow cone machine.  Nash, Gray, and Tag got a nintendo switch and a lot of games for the new system.  They are all so lucky!  After we opened a few more presents, we traded the traditional breakfast for waffles and all the toppings.  Then we cleaned up a bit and waited for Grandma and Grandpa to come over.  They came with KC and Mike and spoiled us!  It was so nice to visit with them.  They left around 2pm and Joey got this crazy idea to get the Christmas put away and leave that night for St. George.  We worked super hard and we were in the car at 5pm on our way to St. George.  Poor Gray is not feeling well now so hopefully the ride down goes ok.  Cannot wait to wake up in my favorite place to enjoy a week of relaxation and time with my favorite people!