Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We celebrated by watching a movie, playing games, and making an obnoxious amount of noise at the stroke of midnight!

I love the fresh new start that I feel with the start of a new year, but I also love reflecting on the year that has just ended. I asked everyone to send me their top memories from 2018. Here they are:

Tricia:

*Spring Break in CA

*Watching Bailey end her high school running career with a big PR in the mile

*Bailey's graduation

*Hearing about Haiti

*Camping

*Deseret News Marathon

*Craig's Visit

*Mark's PUTS run

*Bailey starting college

*Scrapbook Retreats

*Watching Bailey skydive

*Trail running/hiking

Bailey:

*The special needs dance

*Helping with the Emancipation Event

*Spring Break

*Graduating (and her rad jumping pictures)

*Haiti

*Marathon

*Skydiving

*Camping and trail running

*Working (she liked her jobs)

*Rodeo with friends

*SHANIA concert

*BSU football games (and everything else about college)

*The Yule Ball

Mark:

*Snowshoeing

*Last guitar performance

*New Trailer/Camping

*Bailey graduates/Starts BSU

*Hail Storm

*Haiti trip for Bailey

*25 year anniversary

*Trail running

*Watching B skydive

*Craig Visits

*PUTS race

*Watching B kick butt at the Deseret News Marathon

*Boise trips

*Stadium of Fire

*Sawyer gets a new car

*Reeses has surgery

*Tricia's car accident

Sawyer:

Of course he didn't send his!

Happy New Year!

Sawyer and Kaija!

Please enjoy the boy's faces!

The Yule Ball!

I'm doing the Winter Reading Challenge for our local library. One of the categories was to attend a library event. I saw a poster advertising the Yule Ball right after Christmas. I asked Bailey if she wanted to go with me. Not only did she go, but she dressed up as Professor McGonogall. So funny! She is such a nerd! Our library staff is the best! They always go above and beyond, and this event was super cool. They had cute activities, and it was decorated awesome. I had tons of fun 'people watching.' Right when we got there, I texted Mark and told him I've never seen so many socially awkward people in my whole life! Hahaha, Bailey fit right in! 

Pictures with Snape.

Cute Professor McGonogall ready to 'sort' the witches and wizards.

They had recovered old books, and they looked awesome!

Oh my gosh, she kills me!

Just for the record, she bought Professor McGonogall's wand when we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, so she was all set!

Merry Christmas!

Since the kids are both adults now, we did Christmas a little bit different. They got 4 presents this year:

Something you WANT

Something you NEED

Something to WEAR

Something to READ

They were given a paper to write whatever they wanted in each category, and then Mark and I picked one from each to get them. It worked out really good!

I could care less about presents this year, I was just happy to have everyone home for a month!

Kaija spent Christmas in Utah with her family, so her and Sawyer exchanged one gift before Christmas, and a couple after Christmas when she got back.

Awe, so sweet!

Bailey made lots of yummy stuff for us to eat on Christmas Eve! We had a nice ham dinner that night.

Matching pjs!

Merry Christmas!

Stockings!

They love Christmas! They aren't allowed on the carpet, but they get so excited for presents, that they just keep inching their way into the room! :)

Presents for the puppies!

His WANT present was a gaming chair.

His NEED present was a sun shade for his car.

His WEAR present was a pair of athletic shoes.

His READ present was the Gentlemen Bastard series (and we threw in a Dave Ramsey book for good measure).

Santa also surprised him with a present he wasn't expecting. He got concert tickets for Carrie Underwood! The concert isn't until summer but that will give him something to look forward too.

Her WANT present was a small vacuum for her dorm (she is a pretty practical person). :)

Her NEED was a 2019 planner. We had fun making it look super cute, and getting her life organized the next few days (a girl after my own heart).

Her WEAR gift was training gear for her triathlon. She is doing a half iron man in July, so she got a couple tri suits.

Her READ gift was her own set of Harry Potter books. I got her Heartless too, because I wanted her to have something she hasn't already read.

They got the usual movie stash for us to watch over the break.

Sawyer got Bailey the perfect gift; an Underground Railroad hat and water bottle. She loves them! He got Mark and I running belt bags. I am using mine for snowshoeing.

Bailey got us all the journal edition of the Book of Mormon.

Bailey gets us all up at 5:30 in the morning, so this happens shortly after presents are opened.

We tried to find Reeses a stuffed Reindeer as close to her old one as we could. The old one was soooo disgusting, but she loved it so much, that we didn't have the heart to throw it away. I snuck the old one to the trash, and she seems to love the new one already. :)

While everyone was resting, Bailey went around the house vacuuming with her new vacuum! Haha, if I would have known that, I would have been getting her cleaning stuff for years!

We spent the rest of the day watching movies, playing games, eating yummy food, and using our new stuff. I liked simplifying the gifts this year, and trying to keep our focus where it should be.

First Snowshoe Trip of the Season!

Right before Christmas we took our first snowshoe adventure of the season. Kaija had never been before, so we took her to Harriman Park. We figured it'd be easiest on groomed trails. Like usual, Harriman didn't disappoint. It's always beautiful. 

Kaija, Sawyer, Bailey, and Mark

My cute little family!

These two spent lots of time racing each other, and pushing each other down.

Awe, cute!

Fab Five Christmas Party

We had our annual Fab Five Christmas Party. We had dinner, opened presents, and hung out talking in my basement until wee hours of the morning. It's always a good time with these gals.

Christmas Ornaments!

Decorating the tree was a little sad this year, because Bailey was away at college. When she got home, they each got their yearly ornament to put on the tree. Sawyer got a twitch ornament to represent his year of streaming. Bailey got a Haiti ornament to represent her trip there over the summer. 

Decorating the tree!

Sawyer's twitch ornament!

Bailey's Haiti ornament!

It was so good to have everyone home for a month!