December Never Disappoints





December proved to be a month filled with endless activity, family, and fun.  After getting home from Utah the first week of December we decided to do Christmas the Griswold way this year and bought a live tree for the first time in 20 years.  It was not an easy feat, but we amazingly kept it alive the whole season, unlike our first attempt 20 years ago.  

McKell asked Blake Fillmore, a boy in our ward, to go to Winter Formal.  Unfortunately he got the flu that day, but still was a good sport and went to Top Golf and dinner with her.  She was the driver and had to take him home early, so she chauffeured the other kids around and played games with them at Sean Sovereign's house. 


Grandpa made it home from the rehab center just in time for Christmas!  He is a walking miracle! 




We watched the BYU vs Utah Las Vegas Bowl with the Harris Family and Grace.  The first 10 minutes were some of the most painful football moments we've endured, but they sure fought back hard.  Jackson, McKell and I served at the Salvation Army delivering toys to needy children.  What a great tradition to help us focus on the true meaning of Christmas.




Christmas in Arizona is a different experience.  Definitely no white Christmas happening here. But it's so nice to be able to enjoy going for walks, and not having to shovel snow.  We went to Long Horn Steakhouse for Christmas Eve dinner, opened pajamas, watched the nativity video,  laid out the name signs on the couch and then Mike and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" while we got ready for Santa to come.  I think the kids were pretty excited with their gifts.  Jackson's favorite was a monitor, Sydney's a giant teddy bear, and McKell her new guitar.




 
 The highlight of Christmas day was talking to Paige through Skype.  It was so nice to see her face and hear her voice after 5 months.  She is so happy and positive and loves being on her mission.  


Christmas afternoon we took off for our 10 hour drive to Utah.  We were wanting to see some snow and Utah did not disappoint.  The kids went sledding twice and loved it.  We were happy to see the Jolleys and Redds and especially loved being entertained by Summer and Braxton.  We had an Ogden Christmas party where we reenacted old Ogden's Carpet commercials and the next day had a Fabrizio Christmas party where Heath and I reprised our Sweeney Sisters act.  We went to two great movies, Concussion and Star Wars, ate out with our parents and Nick and Katie, and spent one afternoon skiing (actually it was more like waiting in line than skiing.  Note to self never go skiing during the holidays).














































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye 2019

Image
In September we had our high school friend Bo Ross and his wife Jodi come and stay with us for a few days.  They're so down to earth and easy to talk to.  When Brandon and Mike get together they go back into their fun joking bantering mode.  I love seeing Mike let loose a little.  We laughed and talked and ate and to top it all off enjoyed an amazing night of John Mayer together. For Fall Break we rented a beach house in Newport.  The older girls flew in from Provo and we drove with Sydney & Jackson and his friend Devin.  We loved chilling at the beach, listened to some general conference and enjoyed the air show they were putting on right above us.  Jackson and Devin kind of had their own vacation with their friends who were staying down there too so I didn't catch a pic of them. Half of Gilbert comes to Newport for Fall Break so Sydney was in heaven too having her friends there. Jackson accomplished a goal h...
Read more

New Year's Eve 2021--Flagstaff

Image
We spent New Year's Eve in Flagstaff with all of the kids and Jonny and Jo. We had a great time playing games, laughing, eating amazing food thanks to Jonny and Paige, and skiing. Everyone got along great and we felt so blessed to have those precious moments all together. The snow was so beautiful and it felt like we were in a dream world. The cold was fun for a few days, but I'm always glad to be back in warmer weather. The only downside to the trip was Jackson got really sick with Covid, and so that was a coincidental repeat from our ski trip last year to Flagstaff when Jackson gave covid to all of us. Luckily Mike, Sydney and I didn't get sick, but the other kids all tested positive. Looking forward to 2022 I told the kids that my word of intention is BELONG! I don't ever want a member of our family to feel like they have to fit in in order to belong. Our family is very diverse and I want each of them to know they can be who they are and still belong to our...
Read more

July thru Dec. 2021--Berkeley to Christmas

Image
July thru Dec. 2021 We helped Paige move her stuff into her new little apartment in Oakland.  She is officially all grown up!!  We loved walking around the campus and seeing the historic architecture and grounds. Her studio apartment is small, but cozy.   Michael, Jackson and Hugh went on the fishing trip of a lifetime to the Sawtooth Mountains.  They went in on horseback and had guides that helped them cook, fish and camp.  I was so happy to see Michael fulfill this dream with his dad and son!   McKell spent the month of August at a beach house with her friend Kate.  They loved it! Mike and I celebrated our 30 year (actually 31 because of Covid) high school reunion in Utah. We had a good time catching up with some of our old friends and classmates.  Jackson went to work in Idaho at the end of the summer.  He found this stray dog (whom he named Nala) in AZ the day before he left.  She was running around in a thunderstorm.  He p...
Read more