Festive Events
I don't know if we could've fit any more festive events into this past month if we tried! There was A LOT going on and all of it very very festive and fun. To start, we enjoyed a special Disney day with Grandma. Disneyland during Christmas time is the best. We enjoyed the awesome Christmas parade and all of our favorite rides and treats. It was crowded but manageable.... fun fun times. Grandma spoiled Anna and I with tickets to the Millenial Choir's Christmas concert up in Orange County and it was so special in every way. One of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions. Anna loved it too!
Christmas in Poway Park was such a cool night. Santa came to visit, our Tierra Bonita choir sang their entire concert worth of songs in front of the whole town and the community loved it. Blake was so sweet to kneel next to me at the piano for 35 minutes in order to turn my pages. Grant is my normal page-turner for these events, but he had a school dance to be at so Blake stepped in and I was so grateful. I had many many people text or call afterwards and tell me how cute it was to see Blake up there turning the pages! It's over 100 pages of music so no small feat! But really sweet and special night filled with music and Christmas joy. And speaking of music, Anna performed in both the school choir and our Stake Primary Choir for various Christmas concerts and firesides. Another favorite tradition and so grateful that Anna can be a part of both her school and church choirs! I love accompanying on the piano-- though it's a lot of work, its incredibly fulfilling and enjoyable especially this time of year to be a part of these musical events.
Though we weren't a part of this, loved seeing pictures of cousin Molly performing at the Pantages in the Nutcracker! We loved watching Nora and Millie in their own rendition of the Nutcracker downtown as well. Nora had a supporting role this year and it was awesome to watch!
Another special Christmas evening was A Walk Through Bethlehem that our church put on this year. It was incredible in every way and we were so glad to be able to go and be a part of this special event. Really helped each of us to feel the spirit as we walked through nativity scenes and mingled with old friends. Anna sang Silent Night during the last scene with a group of kids from primary....very special.
Maybe not particularly festive but very fun was celebrating Blake and I's 24th wedding anniversary! The kids were such good sports to hike Torrey Pines with us.... typically the word "hike" brings certain family members to tears, but our crew really held it together well, knowing this was the desire of Blake and I's heart. Probably helped that the week prior, I had a melt down when no children wanted to go on an outing I had planned. Poor little Anna was the only one who came with me to deliver goods to the homeless shelter and walk around the lake. This time around, the kids were much better sports. We had such a fun time hiking and going to lunch together. Later that day, Anna and Dane made dinner- Anna making the sides of fruit and salad and leftover cinnamon rolls and Dane making a special chicken parmesan with pesto shells! It was seriously as good as eating out at a restaurant and Blake and I were thrilled. Very thoughtful of the kids. I should mention that Grant helped clean up and set the table. Loved celebrating so many years together.... and still in love! Feel very very blessed.
The week between Christmas and New Year's can be a little anticlimactic at times, but we filled it well with all sorts of relaxing and fun activities. Best day was down at Belmont/Mission Beach where we enjoyed the ocean views and boardwalk, ate BBQ dinner at the Coaster Salon, did the sky ropes course and rode the Big Dipper and just walked around and enjoyed the scene! Loved all the Christmas decor and music still reminding us that the holiday was not quite over. Lots of events! Lots of memories!
Parties
We threw our fair share of parties this month and loved each and every one. Of course, being invited to a Christmas party in many ways is even more fun! We loved attending a special Christmas dinner/gingerbread house contest at the Weddle home a few days before Christmas. Eric grilled yummy carne asada and chicken for a Mexican feast; Elizabeth made the yummiest sugar cookies and candy cane pastries! The four adult couples sat down for dinner and pretended we were on a date and didn't have thousands of children running around in every which direction. We enjoyed many laughs and good times. And then of course the contest was hilarious with young children verses teens verses young adults verses adults. The young adults won! Loved the "cool moms club" sweatshirt Chanel got each of us for our Christmas gift this year. I truly am so grateful for my friends and love them so much.
To celebrate Evelyn being home and Christmas around the corner, we hosted a big family/friends Christmas dinner! So much fun to have all of our old friends over to enjoy Blake's yummy try-tip along with roasted veggies, rolls, potatoes and Julian pies! The kids made Santa beards, gingerbread houses and ran around the yard for hours. The boys played soccer and basketball. We finished the night with a big white elephant gift exchange and laughed our heads off. The funniest item was a humungous stuffed dragon! Zara won this and it made her entire life. Too funny. The evening was so wonderful and we felt very blessed to have such amazing friends.
Loved hosting a gingerbread man/white elephant party for Grant and his friend group. The whole gang piled over after school and had a blast designing the perfect gingerbread man. With prizes at stake, everyone took it very seriously! We all had a good laugh playing reverse charades and Christmas Pictionary along with the white elephant gift exchange. I was so proud of Grant for bringing together this awesome group of friends. He has so much fun with them and really enjoys their company. Hope they can remain friends in highschool!
Also enjoyed celebrating Sameen's birthday with a hike around Lake Poway and then a yummy breakfast at Original Pancake House. Nothing better than hiking, eating and celebrating a friend who means the world to you! I love Sameen and love any chance to make her feel special since she constantly does that for everyone around her.
Kristen came to visit! Had SO much fun hiking, eating lunch out, relaxing in the sun and catching up with my old bestie! Love her so much.
Christmas Eve/Christmas
Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house was so much fun. First of all, the prime rib dinner was incredible-- we love our traditional prime rib dinner along with cheesy potatoes and yummy salad and veggies! Loved putting together new year's trinkets for the food bank to pass out. Loved playing the "word" game, and pass the present. Loved hearing Anna sing a song from her Christmas concert- "When we seek him" and discussing the importance of serving others as a way to connect to our Savior all throughout the year. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us with so many fun Christmas gifts!!!! Special ornaments, events, chocolate covered gummy bears and then best of all..... an amazing trip to Mexico this summer!!!!! We are beyond thrilled for this special vacation and wish it were happening tomorrow! But it certainly gives us something fun to look forward to! It was such a fun night and we were so grateful to have our family gathered together the night before Christmas. Then on Christmas morning we had such a special start to our day by waking up and going straight to church! There we enjoyed a musical program and inspiring talks about our Savior. I played the organ/piano for a few of the numbers and Ev and I sang in the choir; felt so happy to be able to participate in this way. We loved seeing friends and wishing everyone a merry Christmas before coming home to open gifts and enjoy the delicious breakfast Grandma and Grandpa had prepared ahead of time for us- Swiss pie and chocolate croissants. The kids were all very excited by their Christmas gifts. Evelyn had asked for some clothing, concert tickets to Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter up in Salt Lake City and money! Dane asked for Bose headphones, a clothing rack, shoes and clothes! Grant didn't ask for much- but he received mostly clothes and a big outdoor surfing swing. Anna asked for a big minky blanket, clothes, a jewelry making kit and new shoes. Sweet little Anna remembered Christmases past when I didn't have anything under the tree. She knew that that I would love a minky robe (because I'm obsessed with Minky and with robes) so she helped Blake order that for me. I loved it and it was so sweet of everyone- they were all thrilled to have me open that gift. We had such a fun day organizing the rooms, relaxing, going on a walk, visiting with a few neighbors, hot tubbing and watching Zoolander- per the kids request (it's been trending on TikTok). Loved the delicious brown sugar salmon Dane grilled up for us for dinner- it was such a treat. Basically, a very sweet and wonderful Christmas Day.
Grammy bags! Christmas Eve tradition!
New Year's Eve ski trip
Had the best trip to Brianhead over New Years. We invited the Douds to come and it was heaven for Anna to have her little best buddies there learning to ski. The girls had never skied before so they attended ski school the first day and caught on real quick! Fun for all of us to have our friends along. We met up with the Kuleto as well who were on their way home from Provo-- they joined us for a day of skiing and hibachi one night. The kids thought that was incredible! We spent New Year's Eve at Culvers and then seeing the movie: Puss in Boots. Haha.... there were truly NO movies to see and so this was our only option. I don't think any of us were super thrilled, but it was fun. Then we rang in the NY New Year at 10pm with toasts and fireworks outside our house! So happy we had Ev with us even though she's not the biggest fan of skiing. We'll take any time with her we can get! Happy 2023!!
Miscellaneous
A few fun moments from the month- Blake's office party was a hit this year. Loved that Blake dressed up in Christmas garb and really embraced that spirit of the holidays! The girls loved their gifts- quilted carryall and scarves from Free People along with their bonus. I spent an entire day -- full day--- putting together 16 office gifts and 25 neighbor gifts of hot cocoa drops with cute cocoa cups and homemade ornaments. I'm not complaining.... this is one of my favorite parts of Christmas! I love it, but it is certainly time consuming.
from one of Blake's assistants
Enjoyed a fun Christmas brunch with my friends. We do this every year and always deliver our Christmas goodies to one another. It's always a special afternoon.
At our family Christmas party- I cut out many Christmas hearts and each family spent time writing loving notes to Helen and her girls. We heart attacked her garage a few days later. It wouldn't be until the next day that we realized the random day we chose to heart attack Helen's garage was her and Ryan's 19th year anniversary. We were all stunned as none of us had any idea. It was divine intervention! Other friends from this side of the neighborhood and I put together gift baskets for a few of the moms doing Christmas without a husband. Just a few items to feel loved and taken care of since they do so much for others. Of course we did our Christmas Eve delivery to a family we adore who could use a little extra love in our neighborhood- Grandma and Grandpa help with that and it is one of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions to ding dong ditch on Christmas Eve.
Loved the Christmas baskets my dear friend Elizabeth put together for the dentists around our area from Marston Orthodontics! Isn't she talented? This is her new business to put together these beautiful baskets along with flowers and I think she is incredible!
Loved this "Names of Christ" artwork advent calendar that my dear friend Melanie created and gave me this year for Christmas. It was a highlight of the season to learn about a new name of Christ and place a beautiful piece of art work up each day of December. LOVED this new advent and will be using it for years to come.
Loved hosting the Mt. Carmel water polo banquet and senior night in our backyard this month . Blake sponsors the team and Jess (one of my best friends) is the team manager- so it was a fun to have the boys over. It turned out really awesome! And now I know exactly how to set up an event like this if ever we need to do it for soccer!
Spent a lot of time watching our good friends play basketball at Poway High. Since Blake works with the young men, we watch a lot of games and it's kind of a fun thing to do. Every season we enjoy watching our neighbors and friends play football, basketball, volleyball! You'd think we'd be sick of games with all the soccer we watch- but we love it and so convenient that we can just walk to the highschool.
A few thoughts on Evelyn this month. As previously mentioned, we struggled a bit upon her arrival to town. She is 18 and has been living on her own. She considers herself an adult and rules and curfews should not apply in her mind. Of course, Blake and I felt differently as technically she is financially dependent on us and also living in our home for the month. We wanted her home by 12:30 and to contribute and be a part of our family and not just out every moment with Eli- her boyfriend. I'm not going to sugar coat this, it's been rough. But we've managed to make it through with a lot of communication and prayer. She is a wonderful girl... but so different from me. I struggle to relate in most ways to what she's thinking and her direction in life. I want to help her, but also know that at this age and stage in life, a parent is not the director of their child's life- they are a supporting role at best. We had many a talks about this and she is taking the reigns and moving forward. I told her I believed in her and her ability to be in charge of her life. I pray she can handle it all and I can handle backing off! In lighter news- Ev had such a blast this month with Emma and Amaya and Eli. She went to a Billy Eilish concert, and participated in a modeling photo shoot! She shopped, hiked, spent time at the gym, and relaxed at home. She's excited for next semester taking guitar, vocal performance, human development, biology and religion!
Ev took this pic.... she's an awesome photographer!
Eli got Ev boots for Christmas
Dane has been SO SO busy with the high school soccer season. The kid has 3 games a week! It's been a little exhausting for him as he's had to miss school to get to the away games. Then playing catch up with school work is tricky but he's managing well and really playing well this season. He is often the starting striker for the JV team. We enjoyed hosting all the team for the first pasta party last month. I was nervous about how much food to prepare, 10 pounds of pasta, 3 various sauces and enough salad to feed an army later- we were all set and the boys ate every last drop of food. Really fun night. So excited for Dane- he applied for humanitarian XP- a 3 week trip to build orphanages in various countries all over the world. He listed his top 10 choices and was assigned India! So in July he is off to India for the adventure of a lifetime. Truly so excited (and a little nervous) for him! The tagline is: have the best, hardest summer of your life! The phone detox alone would be enough to make it difficult for most kids- but the manual labor and new foods, culture too will add to the adventure. Dane dyed his hair this month- a light brown color. I was 100 percent against this, but he really felt strongly about it and begged me to do it for him. It actually looks pretty good in all honesty. Dane is one who cares quite a bit about his clothes, hair, skin care, shoes. He has style and spends time looking his best. Speaking of spending time.... Dane spent a lot of time this Christmas break finding and creating recipes for delicious dinners our family thoroughly enjoyed! Gourmet hamburgers, gourmet Mac n cheese, delicious chicken parmesan, and various salmon recipes. LOVE that Dane enjoys cooking! Really really really love it. He's such a great kid and always makes me laugh. He's officially a priest now!!!!! Can't believe it! And scheduled for his driving test on February 10th!~
Grant continues to be full of energy and ideas and is always scheming up some way to make life better. He is the definition of "cool" in my book- a leader and so funny and charismatic. He struggles right now with his relationship with Anna. She really gets under his skin and that's hard for our entire family, but he's working on that and I thought it was downright noble of him on our ski trip when Anna dropped her glove off the lift midway through the journey.... he told her not to worry, he'd retrieve it- he tracked the glove, and gave Anna his glove in the meantime. I mean..... so sweet, right? He still hugs me and still doesn't mind cuddling a little. I know this is short lived- he's in 7th grade but hasn't hit puberty yet. I dread that!!!!!! I just can hardly take the kids growing up so quickly. Grant is a friend to every little kid in town. He babysits for a little guy in our stake who has autism and he adores him. The two have a special friendship. Toddlers everywhere also adore Grant - maybe even have a crush on him! Haha.... Kate's little sister Sophie, blushes every time Grant is around. She loves to play with him. This month Grant attended a school dance with his big group of friends, then some of the kids came over afterwards for a movie night-- all Grant's idea. He organized movies and lunch out, get air and in-n-out, a gingerbread/gift exchange party. He is just non stop! He loves his friends and because of them, enjoys school. He is looking forward to going to the church dances this year! He's a teacher!!!! Can you believe that? No longer a deacon!
Anna partied it up big time this month with so many holiday invites and choir concerts and band concerts and dance performances and so on and so forth! This is precisely how she enjoys spending her time-- always with others- always on the go. Poor thing is rather overwhelmed this month as she started reading/writing tutoring 2-3 times a week. She also does math tutoring after school twice a week! And then of course two full days of dance. She works hard and so vacations and breaks from school are very important! Love that when Anna gets an idea- she really goes for it. Her Activity day leader mentioned tea with honey and lemon as a good idea for a sore throat. Anna came home and made tea and all sorts of other concoctions for days. Haha! Anna enjoys activity days whenever she can make it; she's mostly at dance but occasionally skips so she can be a part of it all. She loved making gingerbread houses with the girls. One more year until young women! Anna had a blast learning a dance for the Poway High's Dance team Christmas show. She and Kate joined the girls and performed in the opening number! So cute! She loved attending Scarlett's Christmas movie night and Maddie's Christmas gift exchange slumber party! She had friends over almost every day to make gingerbread men, popcorn Christmas trees, paint nails, and attend Dane's soccer games. It's always more fun with friends! Anna has been writing me notes every day in her lunch about her feelings on the lunch I packed. She's been watching YouTube moms pack lunches and she hopes for the same level of prep to go into her daily lunches. We've tried so many things but sadly they never stay warm and it ends up not tasting very good:(. But I love these little notes she writes me. She is such a positive and thoughtful and kind little girl. She makes me so happy just because she is a little ray of sunshine. Wish I could freeze her in time at 10 years old. There is no better age!
carrying so many things to school!
This was the "fancy" outfit Anna chose! I tried to talk her into a dress but she wouldn't hear of it
Phew! That was a lot ! I will close with various memes and inspirational quotes I collected over the month! Happy New Year!.JPEG)
.JPEG)
I'm going to send this to Ev after our conversation... hehe
Grammy and Papa with two of their missionaries!
