Christmas Letter 2024

 December 2024

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

Our 2024 was much better than some years. Let’s play the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Remember that movie? One of the few times my parents took us to the drive-in in Ephraim; I only remember the opening music. Most of us kids climbed into the back of the station wagon and fell asleep. Now for my letter…

Good: After Christmas, still technically 2023, we took half of our children to Georgia as a Christmas gift. We flew in to Atlanta and then we drove almost to Tennessee and stayed in a little condo we rented. Attendees were Dog Walker, Crafty, Sport, Scout, Curly, and Baby Doll. We hiked and visited Chattanooga and rode on the train. We laughed and played games, including an interactive game of Mission Impossible that required the kids to complete missions before we could watch the next movie. So much fun!! Dog Walker published his 3rd book.

Bad: Right before that, we moved Grandpa into Carrington Court. 

Ugly: I had a raging infection in my leg that required 3 rounds of antibiotics and two kinds for the last round.

Good: February was amazing! My sweetie and I went to California for a cruise to Mexico on Valentine’s Day where Princess and The Frog joined us. We were so surprised! Curly had his Eagle Court and Baby Doll played some amazing volleyball.

Bad: Actually, nothing bad or ugly happened… maybe this letter plan won’t work.

Good: Easter was amazing with lots of new traditions including Cousin Camp. Baby Doll played tons of volleyball including a tournament in Reno. My sweetie, Scout, and I stayed in Lake Tahoe at a beautiful cabin right near the water while Baby Doll stayed in Reno with her team. Curly went to Prom, and Scout graduated from Bingham!

Bad: I had cataract surgery on both eyes and our Elder Taco had his first seizure in Ghana.

Ugly: My sweetie’s ugly infection returned, attacking his wrist this time. Thankfully, he was in the hospital for about a week with only one surgery.

Good: June was much better! Baby Doll played her final volleyball tournament in Phoenix. My sweetie, Scout and I flew out for the week and then flew back to get ready to leave with Curly and Sport for our trip to see all of his mission places in the Dakotas. We got in late and left early the next morning. Other things included the Dance Recital (Skittles’ first one!), the Family Campout and trying to help caterpillars become butterflies. Drama Queen finished her program to become an official Software Designer.

Bad: We still dealt with my sweetie’s infusions (with only a midline this time, so different), they lost our luggage coming home from Phoenix, and some confusion led to many of the caterpillars never making it to butterflies.

Ugly: Elder Taco had his 2nd seizure and he was immediately sent home for treatment. We made room for him to go with us to the Dakotas while his future was up in the air. He had a 3rd seizure in South Dakota when the fire alarms went off in our hotel, so he took a little ride in an ambulance…

Good: The trip to the Dakotas was amazing and exhausting all at the same time. We are no longer meant to drive such long distances. Maybe it was because my sweetie was still recovering or because it followed the Phoenix trip so closely, but we will be more careful in the future. The rest of the summer was full of camps for Baby Doll - Girl Scout Camp at Trefoil, Oakcrest, and then YW camp. Thankfully, they were one week after the other. 

Bad: (Not really bad.) Curly spent the entire summer after our trip with the football team. It made planning anything very difficult, but we still managed to throw in a few last minute summer activities like seeing the Big Boy train in Ogden, a trip to Tuacahn with my Girl Scouts, and the Bees last game in the stadium downtown.

Ugly: (Not really ugly.) Elder Taco was reassigned to be a Church Service Missionary. He is serving at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and at the Church Office Building. He seems happy to be able to still serve.

Good: Fall brought on tons of football. Scout bought out Crafty’s roommate’s contract when she got married and Scout moved to Provo to live with Crafty. I should mention that Crafty also has a boyfriend. He is a great guy and we hope he hangs around. Scout got a full time job at Regions Bank, where The Beast, Bossy, Crafty, and Sport work. She also passed all of the tests to become our first licensed Nail Technician. We threw a shower for my niece, prepped and held Burrito’s Eagle project, and Scout finished her Gold Award (phew!)  Baby Doll made the jr. high volleyball team for Bingham and my sweetie and I took a trip back east to see Drama Queen and Teach and her family. The grandkids have grown SO much!! Teach is back at teaching in an elementary school. Beauty opened an Etsy shop to sell her amazingly crafted items and The Beast received a super cool promotion to AVP Assistant Division Manager at Regions Bank.

Bad: I did lots of gardening and lots of canning. The Dog Walker and I put in the garden back in May when my sweetie was so sick. It was an adventure! I don’t love yard work… but to be fair, this isn’t really bad, is it? We did get rear-ended in Maryland in our rental car. Thankfully, they haven’t tried to charge us anything since it was clearly not us, but we stressed about that for months before finally believing it wouldn’t affect our insurance.

Ugly: Curly dropped a weight bar on his big toe and broke it right during football season. Thankfully, he was able to play with a carbon insole inside his shoe. It was still painful, but thankfully not life-changing. Queso was officially diagnosed with Autism (definitely not an ugly thing, but hard at first.)

Good: My sweetie and I took our November trip to Nashville with time in Indiana and Kentucky. I loved our visit to Churchill Downs and the Louisville Slugger tour. Back in our condo, I watched the Secretariat movie twice in the same day! Ryman, the Grand Ole Opry, the Johnny Cash museum, the Hard Rock Cafe; it was all so fun! We also took a hike down into the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The Dog Walker published his 4th book.

Bad: Bingham didn’t do so well and Curly’s football dreams were cut short early. We got lost driving to the Mammoth Cave. It was beautiful, with millions of fallen leaves, but when you see a sign that says “Road Ends Under Water” you rapidly look for somewhere to turn around!!

Ugly: The transmission went out in Scout's Jeep. The traffic in Nashville is terrible!! Enough said.

As you can see, it has been an (almost) perfect year here at our house. It is December 5th and as of this moment, my sweetie is on a work trip in California, I am having a colonoscopy tomorrow (YUCK!), Scout is coming home for the weekend to take care of me. Bossy is getting ready to take her last final to earn her Masters degree. Sport and Crafty are at BYU getting ready for finals. Sport has a girlfriend, so does Curly, but he has a date next weekend with a different girl to Bingham Ball. Baby Doll made the 2nd Elect team at Club GSL and she is excited about getting in even better shape and playing her best.

I just want to make it through, a day at a time.

We all wish you good health and happiness in the coming new year.

Love,

Mom of Twelve

Wordless Wednesday - Going to the Temple

Dog Walker and I took Grandpa to the temple today to do sealings. It wasn't easy, but he was so happy to be serving again!!

My cute grandkids visited the Payson Temple today to see the Nativity. 

Sorry, that was lots of words.

Princess is better about taking pics than I am.

Crazy Friday!

I used to do crazy all the time, but it seems to keep getting harder as I get older. After school, we had our Girl Scout party. We painted ceramics, made a foam craft, made (and ate) muddy buddies, and did a gift exchange. It was so fun!

Then Scout and I took Bossy's kids to their Ward Party since Bossy and Gamer had a different party. 'Tis the season!

We had to leave a little early because Bossy was treating 11 of us to an early Christmas gift...wait for it... another chance to see Wicked!!

I truly loved a chance to finally share that story with my sweetie. If you remember, way back in the day, he kept our little Scout in the hotel room while I took the olders to see Wicked at the Pantages in Los Angeles. 

He still didn't like the flying monkeys...

Lots of Banquets

Thursday was pretty crazy. Curly and I went to the Holiday Party at Carrington Court at 5:00. I forgot to take pics, but we had a nice meal with Grandpa. 

At 6:00, we were at Bingham for dinner #2 for the Bingham Football Banquet. We are fancy chicken nachos and cheesecake bites. Curly received his certificate that says he lettered in football.

We stayed at the banquet so long that Curly missed his Youth City Council Christmas party. It started at 7:00.

Why does everything have to be on the same night??

Festival of Lights

Monday was a good day. I love it when we have plans that work out! We made cocoa and cider and packed them into thermos bottles. Curly and E ran to Krispie Kremes after school for 2 dozen donuts. We loaded the van and headed for Provo. 

Our goal was to pick up Scout, Kenna and her boyfriend and Sport and his girlfriend right at 8:15. 

We wanted to be in Spanish Fork by 8:45.

We had a van full of 11 people, snacks and treats, and the line to see the lights was very short.

The lights were fantastic as usual.

Make sure you buy your tickets online this year.

Gingerbread Houses & Christmas Devotional

I'm getting behind!

Last Sunday, we had most of the kids over to make gingerbread houses while we watched the Christmas Devotional. We had so much fun!!

The kids couldn't get enough of my sweetie's trains.

Loved the messages from the 1st Presidency!

Yum!!

Guest Blogger: Christmas Light Display 2024 by the Dog Walker

 Mom has asked me to guest blog for her. It seems like deja vu when it comes to putting up a yard display for the holidays. So here's the Christmas lights and blowups that I put up for this year. A few of them are new and a few of them are from the years before. 

I put up blows up out the in yard a lot of times, but Mom has been telling me that some of them were a little too dark to be seen from the street and asked me to fix the little light bulbs inside some of them. I managed to fix some of them, but I couldn't be able to fix the other ones that didn't have light bulb compartments inside. 

Some of those blowups had to be lightened up in a way that should've been thought of before. I ordered a couple of weatherproof spot lights to beam on the blowups that didn't glow. It worked out just fine for the passer-bys, but it just doesn't seem to work out with my younger siblings who try to go to sleep on a school night.

Besides the blowups trying to glow in the dark, I've also done other things in the past, like obviously putting light on the roof and the tic tac toe board. I even wrapped lights around our lamppost and mailbox. I never got a complain note from anybody this time, like last year.

One other new thing that I did this year was hang some dangling lights that were saved at my grandma's house before her passing. I thought of using them as a way to remember her by and to know that despite her pass-on we would always remember her in our memories, hopefully this holiday season.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this display and happy holidays!

Wordless Wednesday - Sporty Santa

 

Saturday Night

So I already told you about my crazy Saturday, but I wanted to show you some cute pics from my Ward Party. Curly and Baby Doll were shepherds in the Nativity. Bossy's three youngest joined the worshipers. I got lots of pics!

She looks like an angel!