Wrapping up 2021

What a great year!  We are so thankful for all of the blessings that came our way.  Here is a little update on everyone...

Luke- This year Luke started his senior year of high school.  He also started a new job at the new junior high school.  He works from 3-7pm M-F, comes home to eat dinner, and then runs to the gym to work out for a couple of hours.  So proud of him.  He takes care of his responsibilities and he has put his health as a priority.  Luke has two different groups of friends that he hangs out with:  His OG friends: Tyson, PJ, and Calab and his second group Trace, Kaden, and Max.  I love that he has good friends and he is enjoying his last year of high school.  He is the second counselor in the Priest Quorum.

Harlee- Harlee started her last year of junior high school this year.  She is going to the new middle school called Viewpoint and she is in the 9th grade.  She has many friends and often hangs out with boys and girls which has taken a minute to get used to.  Her closest friends are Nicci and Audrey and they hang out all of the time.  Har is still doing dance at Showcase and is a beautiful dancer.  Harlee is such a good girl and is always willing to help.  I feel so blessed to not only be her mom but also her friend.  

Nash- Nash started junior high school this year and goes to Viewpoint Middle School.  It is so fun that him and Har get to go to school together.  Nash is an amazing student and got straight A's the first two terms.  Not only does he gets A's but he really tries to get 100% in each of his classes.  He served this year as the Deacon Quorum president and worked super hard to do his best at his calling.  He has really good friends that he loves to hang out with: Tanner, Tracen, Dillan, and Gabriel.  He also loves hanging out with Gray and Tag.  Nash is still doing swim and is beating all of his prior times.  Hard work pays off.

Gray- Gray is in the 6th grade and is doing amazing in the 6th grade.  He is so bright and scores way higher than the norm on all of his testing.  He continues to look after Tag and walks to and home from school with him each day.  He is such a good brother to Tag.  Gray also finished primary and will move to Deacons next year.  He is still swimming and is super fast.  He goes daily with minimal complaint.  He is often hanging out with friends.  He two closest friends are Sam and Easton.  They are usually together as often as they can be.  Gray loves to tease and has such a fun personality.

Tag- Tag is in the 4th grade this year and is doing well.  We have a good schedule going and he is getting his work done with minimal complaining.  He loves to watch YouTube and can tell you everything that he learns on there.  He is so bright!  He loves riding on the electric scooter and loves the freedom of going on a ride by himself.  I am trying to get used to letting him have a little freedom.  He is still going to ABI and learning many amazing skills.  Tag is a tell it like it is kind of kid and I love the honesty.  He has no filter.  Tag is such a blessing in our family.

Joey and Jamie- This was a great year for both of us.  Joey and I were called to be the building coordinators and we are in charge of cleaning the building every three months.  Joey's job is still crazy and he is working so many hours.  He sometimes goes into work around 2am to make sure he can get things done.  My work was a lot less stressful this year but still had it's moments.  I am still so grateful for the blessings that come from my work.  We have continued our Saturday lunch dates and rarely miss a Saturday.  I cherish this time to focus on each other.  We have started Friday salad nights at Village Baker and then we come home to watch music on YouTube.  Such a perfect way to end a crazy work week.  We will celebrate 20 years of marriage in a few weeks and I still fall more in love with him every day.  We are so blessed to have each other and our beautiful family.

New Year's Eve Childs Style

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun at our house!  We finally did the Pizza Challenge that we had been talking about.  We bought pizza from the Pie, Marco's, and Summit Inn.  We were blindfolded and then had to choose our favorite.  The Pie was the favorite except Luke chose Summit Inn.  He changed his mind without the blindfold.  We then watched Jim Gaffigan with everyone that was here.  Harlee went to a party with her friends but after being there for about an hour, her friends came back over here.  Luke went out his friends to celebrate. Gray was also gone hanging out with his friends Sam and Easton.  We all made it to midnight and watched the ball drop!  Excited for all the possibilities of a new year.  Bring on 2022! 

Christmas break in St. George

 

After Christmas we were able to stay a few days in our favorite place.  On Sunday we decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather and went hiking in Leeds.  We had done these hikes before but this time we hiked in quite a bit further.  The weather was perfect and we all had such a great time.  The rest of the days that we had there we just relaxed, shopped a little, watched movies, and spent time together.  Harlee and I even had a little visit with Tami. Love her!  It was such a great time.  I cannot wait until we get to go again for President's Day.  The kids have an extra day off school so we will not need to head home until Tuesday.  Seriously my favorite place.

The home of her future in-laws

We found out from Benson Boone's former principal that Benson's parents had purchased a home in St. George.  Benson Boone is one of Harlee's two big crushes: Vinnie Hacker and Benson Boone. We may or may not have searched online and found the address.  Harlee and I made a quick trip over to the home.  Since Harlee knew they were out hiking since Benson had posted on Tik Tok, we felt brave enough to take a picture of Harlee outside of the home.  I kind of think this drive by may become a part of each of our trips down to St. George. 

Christmas 2021

 Merry Christmas!  The kids were in our room at 6:30am and could not wait to see what Santa had brought for them.  They were all so spoiled.  The big gifts for each of them were Luke- airpods and money, Harlee- fixed phone and projector, Nash and Gray- PS5, and Tag- Marvel pinball machine.  So lucky!  After everyone spent some time with their gifts we had waffles for breakfast and then began the clean up.  We put all of the Christmas decorations away and cleaned up the house.  By noon we were on our way to our favorite place.  The weather had been crazy all week but we were lucky that the weather was great for our drive down.  We made it there around 4pm and relaxed for a bit before having mini pizzas for dinner.  After dinner we went to play pickle ball.  It was about 58 degrees and we were able to play without jackets.  Such a perfect ending to a wonderful Christmas.  So blessed.  

The rest of another perfect Christmas Eve

After we had exchanged gifts, we all got ready to go and have lunch.  Har and I got Costa Vida and walked over to meet everyone else at JCW.  We ate lunch and had a great time.  Then around 4pm we decided to let the kids open all of the presents under the tree.  All of the presents are new clothes and shoes.  Typically we open these presents on Christmas morning and it is a crazy frenzy.  The kids like to hurry through the presents and then get back to the presents that Santa brought.  I was hoping for a less chaotic present opening session, so I suggestion opening earlier.  It was perfect.  Everyone loved what they received and took the time to look at each gift.  The only one that was disappointed with the clothes was Tag and I am sure it is not surprising that he did not hold back on sharing his opinion.  At one point he held up a new shirt and said "I don't have anything to say about this!"  So funny!  I definitely think we all have thicker skin because of our sweet boy with no filter.  After the presents we had the yummiest dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and rolls.  We then opened the only presents left under the tree, the Christmas jammies, new blankets, and the dates for the year.  Then we all changed into our new comfy clothes and watched Elf together.  The kids then went up to bed around 9pm to quickly sleep so Santa could come.  What a perfect day!

Christmas Eve Gift Exchange

This was the day that I had been waiting for!  The whole day to hang out with my favorite people- no work or school distractions, just quality time.  Everyone slept in a little bit but Nash and I woke up and took Ike on a Christmas Eve walk.  When we got home we woke everyone up and we did the Christmas Eve gift exchange.  This is one of the things I look forward to each year.  I love that the kids do service to earn the money to buy the perfect present for the person who's name they drew.  We started out by Tag opening his gift from Joey.  He was so excited when he opened it and saw a Nintendo 64 system.  What a perfect game for him.  Gray was up next and Nash had his name.  Nash bought him a really cool pair of sunglasses that Gray had been asking for.  He also got him some frooties.  I think Gray looks pretty cool in the glasses.  The present to open was for Nash.  Luke had his name this year.  Nash was ecstatic when he opened up his Sal flag.  Nash really wanted the flag for his room.  He also got two big bags of frooties.  Harlee was up next.  Gray bought for her this year.  He was so cute when he figured out what he wanted to buy for her.  From the look on her face in the pictures, I think he found her perfect gift.  He bought her the Arctic Monkeys Live vinyl and a couple of symphony bars.  She couldn't have been happier.  I bought for Luke and I got him a Santa Cruz sweatshirt and a Champion sweatshirt.  He has been wanting some crewneck sweatshirts and he seemed to really like it.  Harlee bought for me this year.  She got me the cutest sweatshirt with the Beatles lyrics, Here Comes the Sun.  She said she has the second part of my present but it was delayed in the mail.  I love the sweatshirt and can't wait to see what comes next.  Tag bought for Joey and he was super bummed when Joey picked out his gift of an air compressor to take to St. George.  So Tag wanted to also give him something else.  He gave him a really cool Hurley sweatshirt in his favorite color green.  What a fun and successful gift exchange.  I absolutely love this tradition.  I completely appreciate the love and thought that each person puts into the gift they buy for their chosen name.  Such a perfect morning...

*I received the second gift from Harlee and it was honestly the most thoughtful gift she could have gotten me.  She went on the blog and found many pictures of us together.  She made a photo book and wrote the sweetest things on each page.  It made me cry.  So blessed to have the best daughter.  She makes me want to be the best mom.