Happy New Year! 2025 has brought all sorts of fun and a few hiccups thus far, ha! We started off with a bang staying up truly until past midnight with all the kids at the Miner's New Year's Eve party. This is something I very rarely do and it was fun. We enjoyed a beautiful dinner the next day and discussed tough lessons we'd learned in 2024, along with highlights and hopes for the future year. As it's been a month, I doubt I'll remember what was said but here's my best attempt: For Blake he said his biggest trial and triumph of 2024 was the office remodel. For me: biggest challenge- hiking the Grand Canyon in one day! Biggest joy was watching the kids excel and enjoy their lives. Dane's biggest challenge was applying for colleges and trying to make those big decisions (still not there!) Biggest success was being accepted into 5 colleges thus far! Grant: working so hard on the Rebels team, making the JV high school soccer team and HXP over the summer. Anna: getting her academics in order has been the biggest struggle and having a good friend group has been the best part of the year. Ev: overcoming an eating disorder and letting go of a toxic relationship was her biggest struggle! Nursing school has been her greatest joy. I hope I remembered all of these correctly. It was a fun discussion either way.
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Speaking of hard things... dropping Evelyn off in Provo in the dead of winter was pretty sad. New school, new apartment, new roommates, no friends. She is a TROOPER and it's been a long month but I'm so proud of her for being brave, working hard in school, and putting herself out there over and over again. She has grown leaps and bounds this past six months. She is loving nursing school, though she misses Reha and Amaya and her guy friends around here. Reha left yesterday for Brazil! She has been an amazing friend for Evelyn and I'm so glad for their friendship. Grateful to Reha for driving to Utah with us and helping Ev get settled. We enjoyed so much her farewell talk and hosting the farewell open house here at our house. It was a beautiful day and so excited for all the adventures that lay ahead for Reha. And though I miss Evelyn terribly, I am so grateful for all of the growth experiences she has ahead of her! She is going to make a fabulous nurse.
Let's see... what else..... Oh! We had the most beautiful Saturday welcoming Sammy into our ward family! She is an absolutely darling young woman who has been attending our ward for the past few months with our high school girls. She decided to get baptized and it was an incredible day. Sammy is the best and she has added so much to our group of girls. It is the biggest blessing to have her in the group.
Lots of upcoming decisions for Dane.... will he go away to Utah for college? Go up north to a Cal State? Stay and work here at the school and do junior college for a year? These are all unknown at the moment, but in the next few months, we'll be traveling a lot in hopes of figuring it all out! I want Dane to visit each campus before he makes his final choice. He is deciding between Utah State, UVU, BYU flex, Cal State Monterrey Bay, Cal State Fullerton, and is still waiting to hear back from SDSU. In the meantime, so grateful for all the yummy meals he makes our family: chicken parmesan, chicken Alfredo, teriyaki noodles, avocado toast! He is a gourmet chef and such a huge help around the house. Can't believe he is almost 18! Where did the time go?
Anna has had another busy month with tennis, tutoring, and her first dance recital with the new dance company! She did a darling job with only one month of practice. Love watching her dance again! When she isn't at school or extra curriculars, she is almost always begging to be with a friend. She is THE MOST social human I've ever known, She loves her friends and she's always up for anything and everything. I was sick this past month and loved how Anna took such good care of me with all my favorite foods and blankets and shows. She cleaned the pantry with her friends and did all the dishes. Anna has been keeping her room more organized and writing a to do list each night. She never skips homework or her ab workout. She is quite the disciplined 7th grader! She did an amazing job on her YW lesson with Silver a few weeks ago and LOVED being a part of the big stake handball tournament!
Grant is still super focused on soccer and surfing at all times. I'm beyond thrilled that now he has an older friend who can take he and Kai to the beach! Saves me a lot of driving. But they go whenever they can and always have the best time. They think of other fun things too: sliding down hills in the rain, fishing, beach camping, games at the park! He and his friends are rarely short on ideas for fun. And Grant is truly so great on the JV team as well. He works so hard and is a stand out player who starts every game and plays so focused each week. He reads his scriptures and journals each night, never skips seminary and goes to bed by 8:30 almost every night. He is even being a little more kind to his little sister.
As for me, it's been a little hectic because we had two leaks in our home and therefore, a lot of construction and chaos. In fact, we are moving out next month so they can re-do the flooring throughout the house. I'm sad because I love our flooring and I can't seem to find a match! But I'll keep looking. After so many leaks, we decided it would be best to re-pipe the entire house above ground. So grateful to have done this, but also it was a lot. ha! Lots of opened walls, and debris and dust and no water and loud sounds for 10 days. I think we have a few months to go of construction before life goes back to normal but with all the fires in LA, I don't think to complain. So many lost their homes and it's been really sad to see.
Life just plugs right along despite the open walls and cement flooring. Saturdays are full of games and baptisms, and helping friends move. Week days are a good mix of work and fun with friends. Loved celebrating Jen's birthday at pickleball and Ashley's birthday at Breathe where we learned how to do breath work and even a 3 minute cold plunge! That was exciting! Broke the long month of January up with a favorite things party where we had to arm wrestle or pick another physical challenge if we wanted someone's gift! That was a hilarious evening. Morning meetings with the girls are still happening and still a highlight of my week. Young women as well. Loved watching all the kids swing dance this past week with Elizabeth and Don as instructors. SUCH a fun evening! All in all, a quiet and sweet month with so much to be grateful for.
