Holidays 2018

 





I feel like the holidays came and went so quickly.  It's so fun to look forward to the older girls coming back home.  This Thanksgiving was a little different because Paige's friend Joel came to stay with us for a few days during Thanksgiving.  They had a lot of fun together.  He is really reserved and shy so I'm sure our family probably overwhelmed him a bit.  We had a nice meal with Grandma and Grandpa O and Licia and Matt.  After dinner we packed snack bags for homeless young adults and watched some football and then went to a movie.  Luckily Licia took some pics of all of us.  I'm forgetting to take pics the older I get.



 Sydney participated in the EVMCO choir here in Arizona.  They are so amazing and she is lucky to be a part of it all.  I've loved hearing her sing songs from the Messiah around the house.  How many teenagers even know what the Messiah by Handel even is?  She is getting quite an education and being with Grace makes it all the more enjoyable.






Jackson finished up his Aspire club season.  This wasn't his favorite team, but he learned about sticking with it even when it's not your cup of tea!


 We had such a fun Christmas having all the kids back home again!! We ate  at Lone Star Steakhouse the night we went to the Nutcracker in Phoenix.  We hadn't been to the Nutcracker since Paige was in it in Georgia.  Jackson even liked it saying it reminded him of being a kid.  Christmas Eve we went to eat at Olive Garden but the wait was 2 hours, so we went to Oreganos instead.  Chad, Christy, and Aerin were in town so we got to be with them that night as well.  It was fun sharing our favorite stories of Christ with them that evening. On Christmas we ate breakfast first (one of the perks to everyone being older) and then opened gifts.  That night we had a special opportunity to  feed the homeless and it was pretty special for us to remember there are many people who have no-one for the holidays and are very hungry.  I think we all appreciated our Christmas dinner a little more this year.




















 After Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Park came to visit.  (I happened to run into Lauren at the airport so we got to visit with her and Bridger as well) We always have fun when they come and usually have some good debates.  Although this time it was Aunt Janis that we had the most fun discussing ideas with.  She's an interesting person to talk to and kept the kids very entertained! A day later Paige took off to Philadelphia to be with Joel for 10 DAYS!!  Looking back on it she realized that was a little too long, but it definitely helped her get to know him and his family very well.  


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