New Years Eve 2021

 We woke up to about 7 inches of snow on New Years Eve.

After the kids played in the snow and Todd and I ran to Costco, we went to see American Underdog. It was a great movie! Originally we had tickets to see Chitty-chitty bang bang at Hale Center Theatre but the show was canceled the day before our showing because cast members had COVID.

We had chicken sliders and shrimp for New Years Eve dinner and then we went to our friends the Powell's house to play games. At 10:00pm we came home to watch the recorded Jazz game and half of us fell asleep before midnight. Too bad we missed out on banging pots and pans and drinking Martinelli's! Maybe next year!

Happy New Year!!!

2022 is going to be epic!

Michael will return home from his mission.

Ben will graduate from high school and leave on his mission.

Mary will get her drivers license.

Luke will turn 14 and start high school.

Sara will be 11 and start 6th grade.

How is it possible that our kids are growing up so fast?!

I am grateful for every minute we have together.

Passports, returns, reading, etc...

 The week between Christmas and New Years went too fast. We had an appointment to update the kids passports...

We returned some items at Scheels...

We did some reading...

We took a little time each day to take down our Christmas decorations...

The tree was packed up and the bins were put away on New Years Day... I was sad to take it all down but relieved when it was away so we could get started with 2022!

Boxing Day 2021

We went to sacrament meeting on Boxing Day. Before church, we set up the tripod to take some pictures in our Christmas church clothes. Nana had a bath and haircut on Christmas Eve and her bandana matched perfectly :)

Christmas Day 2021

 Santa leaves stockings at the end of our kids beds. The kids love gathering the in the family room and going through their stockings before they see the presents upstairs.

Luke found the pickle in the tree! He got a personal size bottle of Martinelli's for a prize.

I love watching the kids open presents from each other.

Mary's new pointe shoes didn't come in on time so she got a picture of them for Christmas.

Opening my Nordstrom box.

An apple watch! I'm still figuring out how to use it but so far I like it a lot.

Dad loves his new tools.

Tree gifts (jewelry) from Dad.

  

Christmas brunch

Michael playing his Christmas gift that he got at the market in Otavalo.

A new sweater from his companion.

New Utah gear and vests from grandpa and grandma Orton.

A digital frame for grandpa and grandma.

Christmas lunch.

Our new game for Christmas is called Beat That. I laughed harder than I have in a long time.

A trip to the church on Christmas to shoot hoops with the new basketballs and rollerblade.

Luke put Iron man together by the end of the day.

Cuddles with Sara on Christmas night. We were all sad for the day to come to an end.

Merry Christmas 2021!!!

Christmas Eve 2021

We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve dinner together. 

After dinner we played Christmas songs together. That's when we were surprised by a call from Michael! We didn't know we would be able to talk to him on Christmas Eve.

Michael was able to be on the phone with us while we acted out the nativity from the Bible.

We had Todd's parents on another phone. It was nice to 'be together' on this special evening.

After the nativity, we enjoyed Krumkake (Norwegian dessert waffles- a tradition from my Grandma Child).

Before we went to bed, Sara left a note for Santa and we left him a plate of goodies and a glass of milk.

Such a sweet moment for me. Todd and I had discussed previously that Sara would be let in on a secret about Santa on December 26th, so I treasured this Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas 2021!!!