December Happenings Part 2

Christmas day was good and low key. Kind of loved going to church on Christmas. Then sat around like slugs the rest of the day. For the break we went to St George, which was a good choice. Getting out of the winter tundra of Midway is necessary sometimes. We did a few bike rides, which felt so good. And more relaxing. We took a spontaneous trip to Las Vegas. Some of the Higley's were going, and none of our kids had been, so we thought why not? We walked around on the strip for a few hours. It was crazy busy and gross, but cool to see once in your life. Now we never have to take our kids again. They did not seem super impressed. But they're teenagers, so it's hard to tell. That night we all went to an America's Got Talent show. It was pretty good. Fun to go to something like that, because we never do. And the next morning we were on the road bright and early. New Years was uneventful. I don't even have any pictures. Obviously not my favorite holiday. We were back home and Zack and Sage hung out with friends. That's about it. The only thing of note is that church was cancelled New Years Day because there was so much snow. That's only happened one other time in all the years we've lived here. Little did we know that this was the beginning of a couple of weeks of non-stop snow...

Pre-church picture

Modeling new Christmas outfits

More modeling

Sage made fancy snacks

Beautiful desert without snow

Loving my new bike and bike clothes.  And love riding with my boys even though I just chase them most of the time.

It's a good thing Kate smiles.  

Sage tolerates us

December Happenings Part 1

 December had a lot of things.  As usual.  Mostly fun things.  We started off with our annual neighborhood food drive.  The usual neighbors showed up, and we collected a lot of food for the food pantry.  We participated in a couple of family Christmas parties.  One with the Wright family up in Kaysville.  Always good times and fun to catch up with everyone.  And one at our house with the Spjutes.  Also fun and this year Dad and Kathy made it possible for all of us to go to the ice castles.  That was super fun with all of the littles.  I mean, everything's fun with littles.  They actually get excited about things and don't roll their eyes at you.  We are deep into teenagers here.

Kate had a piano recital where I got to play the 'Sleigh Ride' duet with her that I used to play with Mel.  She made me learn the other part, which kept things interesting.  But it's fun to keep the legacy alive.  Sage broke her hand at a YW activity.  Basically she was chasing a boy and her hand slammed into a door.  Can you tell we're in the teenage phase?  Luckily it wasn't a bad break.  She was able to just wear a splint for a few weeks.  No surgery needed.  But she also got a new bike that she was so excited to ride in St George.  Unfortunately, no biking with a broken hand.  She was so sad.  It was a major bummer.

I think I'll include Christmas Eve in part one, move Christmas day to part two.  Keeps things exciting.  This year Christmas day was on Sunday.  I remember hating that as a kid, but kind of loved it this year.  So we went skiing on Christmas Eve instead.  The skiing was excellent, not even crowded.  Sage talked Jake into lunch at 5 Guys after skiing.  The second we got home I started cooking.  Mostly I was working on dinner rolls and sweet rolls.  Both of which turned out wonderfully.  The sweet rolls were my talent for the year.  I've never made them before, so I wasn't sure how they'd turn out.  My family told me I could sell them if I wanted.  So I guess that means they were good.  Hooray!  Everyone else did a talent (kind of).  I think we need to up our talent game next year.  We talked about Jesus and opened our Christmas pj's.  All-in-all, a great Christmas Eve.

Sage got to go to a tea party at the Grand America Hotel with Chloe and Sierra.  Good thing we have cousins for fun things like that!

Christmas Eve skiing

The ice castles

Our neighborhood food drive

Wright Christmas party

Sage getting an xray

Broken hand (really thumb but she won't let us say that)

Zack came home and earned good money installing closets for Jake

Sleigh Ride!

We got to see Charlie Jenkins.  An annual tradition

Sage's new bike

Spjute party with lots of good food

Ice castles minus Sage

5 Guys Christmas Eve

Sweet rolls!

Christmas Eve pajamas

 

November Happenings

 Maybe next year I'll find it in me to post more than just a monthly recap.  We shall see.  I keep persisting with this blog because it's pretty much the only documentation we have of our lives.  Apparently not my strength.

November was fairly low-key.  We're putting our heads down and doing everything we can to get the office done.  It's hard to imagine what life will be like without the office to work on.  Even though it's getting close, it feels like we may never finish.  Jake and I did all of the wood siding on the warehouse.  I'm not a horrible siding guy.  But as soon as it got cold I got a lot worse.  Working in the cold is brutal.  I have high respect for people who do it day after day.

My sisters and I finally got together for a weekend!  It's been a bit, and it was so nice to be able to relax and talk for more than an hour.  And without kids.  We stayed in SLC and went to a Time Out For Women thing.  Learned lots of good things, but mostly enjoyed being with my sisters.

I rushed home to help Kate get ready for her first dance!  It was a girl's choice and she went with a small group of friends.  They decorated cakes, ate some pizza, went to the dance, and came home exhausted.  All-in-all I think it was a good experience.  So happy she was able to go!

Thanksgiving was at Greg and Tracy's this year.  Lots of delicious food, and it was so good to catch up with family we haven't seen for a while.  

Kate's preference date.  The way they sent the pics was weird, so you'll have to enjoy the blurry.

Sisters!

I got a new bike!  Merry Christmas to me.  I got to ride it once before it snowed.

Not a great pic, but you can see some of the siding we installed.

Sage is our makeup master

Turkey Trot!  It's hard to describe the joy this gives my kids.  Just know that they love it so much.

A random picture Sage took is the only pic we have of Thanksgiving.

Sage gave me holiday nails.  Good thing since I look like I'm 100 years old in this picture.

October Happenings

 I really thought I wrote about October.  I thought I was getting on here to write about November and was all proud of myself because I wasn't too far behind.  Oh well.

October started out busy as we were finishing up our mountain bike season.  Kate finished things up at in Richfield.  It was our first time racing there and it was pretty fun.  We took the trusty trailer and camped right at the race course.  Very convenient.  

As per usual this year, we didn't go anywhere for fall break.  This is the year that we put our heads down and embrace the suck.  In other words, building the office is killing us.  The good news though, is that we already have some trips planned for next year.  Hopefully we can make up for lost time.  At least a little bit.  We did manage to do some great fall bike rides.  Fall mountain biking is the best.  Perfect temperatures and so, so beautiful.  

Sage has found a fun group of friends and is living her best life.  She's trying hard to figure out how to navigate this new world.  Right now her life revolves around her friends.  We're trying to remind that other things still exist.  That said, she decided to have a Halloween party and invited a bunch of girls and boys over.  This was her first time including boys, and it was a bit of a learning experience for us all.  8th grade boys are mostly crazy.  Nice kids, but you know, crazy.  They wore Sage out and she was not happy with the mess they left her to clean up.  No, it wasn't just Jake and I who were upset about the mess.  Sage is very particular with this kind of thing.   She was not happy and has since made it clear to her friends that they're not allowed to come over if they make such messes.  This makes my heart happy.

Anyway, here are the pics to tell a better story of October.

Conference watching fun

Fall mountain biking

Kate always gets a bit nervous right before she races.  

She was on my bike for this race because hers decided to fall apart a couple of days before.

Sage begged me to ride with her in PC.  I enjoyed it because soon I won't be able to keep up with her.

The office that is killing us.  

Jake got his stomach scoped.  Everything looked good.

Zack came home and we went for the funnest ride ever in PC

Every once in a while it's not too horrible to be the only one home with mom and dad because we take you to dinner.