Highlights of 2023

It's time to say goodbye to 2023! It's been a wonderful year. One of the highlights was being able to get family pictures taken. 

We hadn't had nice pictures taken since 2020, which was the last time we had everyone home (thanks to covid). But Katharine wasn't born yet in those, so we didn't have a picture of everyone yet. Plus from 2020 - 2022, Melodie Ethan and Hyrum were all gone on missions. I was really hoping that we'd be able to get photos taken after Hyrum got home from his mission, but I wasn't sure if Wesley would be gone already on his. I knew there was a possibility that Hyrum's and Wesley's missions would overlap, so these photos are a tender mercy for which I am very grateful. 

We had everyone here for one weekend, after Hyrum got home and we had to wait until Joseph got back from a trip to Guatemala, and we also had to fit it in before Hyrum left for school in Idaho. So it worked out perfectly, phew!

So that was one of the highlights of the past year for our family, and here are a few dozen more! ~

January - New Year's Day at Brighton, Joseph turns 23, Night at Snowbasin, Peter turns 4, Quick trip to St. George, Wes's hockey senior night

February - Wes' first hockey goal! 24 Years, Anniversary day trip, Skiing at Alta, Sophi likes Basketball, Wes is good at henna, we love bouldering

March - Ethan is 21, Spring break trip to DC, Monticello, Busch Gardens (two times), Jamestown, Yorktown...

April - ...DC Mall, Mt. Vernon, Biking begins, Katharine can stand, Abi and Lily music school, My bday

May - Katharine can walk! Owen trumpet recital, Katharine turns 1 year old, Joseph took the MCAT! School's out

June - Corey and girls to Guatemala, waterford, hiking, Corey's birthday, Lily is 14, Wes is 18, My sister's wedding,

July - Natalie is 10, Owen turns 8, Hibberts at Bear Lake, JeNeal's passing, obituary, and funeral, Park City

August - Corey got Covid, Hyrum is 20, First day of school, Hyrum returns his mission to San Diego

September - Family pictures, Abi is 16, Sophi is 12, Owen is baptized, Daniel is 7, Wes' wisdom teeth out, Games at Waterford, Monarch chrysalides and lots of butterflies!

October - Fall colors, Lighting the Y (Katharine's famous), Cookout, Our pet Lucky, Halloween

November - Thanksgiving, Wesley's mission call, Mel to Arizona

December - Bouldering at Momentum, Mel is 23, Christmas, Trip to St. George, Gooseberry Mesa

It's been a full year with many blessings. We look forward to the ways we will learn, be challenged, and grow in 2024! Happy New Year!

Nordic Valley

We are back home after spending two days skiing at Nordic Valley. We spent the night at Wolfcreek and so we skied yesterday at Nordic Valley and again today. Yesterday I didn't ski. I sat in the car with Katharine and Hyrum as we waited for our room at Wolfcreek to be ready at 4. There isn't a lot of snow, so Nordic Valley only had one lift open. Hyrum didn't want to buy a ticket for both days, so he's held out being a little bored yesterday, but he got a buddy pass today. Katharine didn't ski cause kids in backpacks aren't allowed. I thought she'd wear Peter's skis from two years ago but I guess we didn't bring those? I don't know what is going on... I didn't help pack anything. I was dragging my feet a little bit on this trip. I think with the trip to St. George, I probably wasn't ready to leave the house again? I felt like there was so much to do at home... But instead of cleaning anything, we all just threw snowpants, coats, gloves, etc all over the basement floor and then walked away. Sigh. I also didn't help much getting us out the door. Well I did do all the food prep. But I didn't bring Katharine's shoes, which was a mistake, and I also assumed someone else got a coat and snowpants for her, which was another error. I put lots of socks on her (one pair of hers, then two more from Peter and Daniel) but she'd pull them off,. Her toes were cold in the car... she'd be freezing if we were outside, so we just stayed in the car and watched puppy videos. (She likes puppies). Today Corey said he'd stay with her so I could ski. So we checked out of our room at 10, then headed over to the resort. Lily Peter and Mel. 

Sophi Abi and Mel.

Ethan and Bella came up last night, but they didn't bring ski stuff. I didn't want to ski, but once I got on the hill I was ok with it, just biding my time. Peter was fun to ski with. He's cute.

After I did two runs, Corey texted that he and I could head home if I wanted. Ethan and Bella could use our equipment. They got buddy passes so I did my 3rd run and then I went to swap clothes with Bella. Ethan and Bella suited up~

They looked cute so we took a pic. Then she said "Let's get one of you guys too!" but I was pretty sure we weren't as cute as them. That's ok. 

We got Katharine in our photo, and she gets the cute quota up. 

So we took Bella's car home with Katharine, and they all kept skiing until 2 and came home in the van and Corey's Pilot. They left around 2 cause Ethan and Bella had work back in Provo. Joseph and Wes were at home, plugging away at their independent study classes. Wes has 5 more! Can he do it - can he get 5 classes done in 3 weeks before he starts the MTC? 

Actually the Stake President wants him to finish in two so that he can take a week to prepare for his mission, so yeah, this kid is under a serious deadline. He worked on Earth Science yesterday and today. They helped each other stay on track. Wes said "I wanted to play Battlefront, but instead I did 12 hours of math..." Corey left Ethan with the $100 of his Christmas money to use in an emergency (to bribe to keep the kids skiing longer,) but he misunderstood the instructions, and instead Ethan told them if they did a jump, he'd buy them Wendy's on the way home. So the roast and potatoes I made wasn't eaten by the kids when they got home. BUT then Junior and his parents came over to visit for a few hours, so we had second dinner with them and they all ate the roast then. And a chocolate cake. 

Oh, I forgot to mention, part of my "I don't want to be here" mood was because of my 3am bathroom clean up...

I heard some whimpering and thought maybe Peter was lost or had a bad dream, but instead found him in the bathroom with a runny messy #2 on the floor that he was trying to clean up by himself. By the amount of toilet paper than had been used, I think he had been trying to clean it up for atleast 15 minutes. He might have figured the clean up was done well enough, cause he moved on to putting his clothes back on, but couldn't put on his pants cause they had a mess in the back. So I cleaned things up, gave him a bath...

...started laundry, found some swimming pants and a thermal shirt for Peter to change into, and then sent him back to bed. So THAT'S why I wished I wasn't skiing: Lack of sleep. But there's more fun ahead tomorrow - we have the New Years Eve party with our neighborhood friends at the the Felix's cabin at Brighton. Party party! Peter and Katharine might need to stay home since they've had the runs... 

Dance Party!

Corey and I got back from our biking retreat late last night. We were glad to see all the kids and hug our little ones. We started to gather in the front room after breakfast. We turned on the baby shark song so we could smile at Katharine dancing to it, and one song led to another and we were soon having a full on dance party. These following links are videos - It started with the little kids leading us in Cotton Eye Joe, then Wes joined during the repeat and took it up a level. Next was Rio, and you can see Sophi coming down stairs. One by one the kids woke up to the music and came to see what was going on. The little boys requested Bad Guys. That one made me laugh as I thought of them, in their roles as the little annoying brothers, saying to their older siblings "We're not the bad guys! We're the good guys!" And then THIS ONE was my absolute favorite! This was a request by Joseph, and I loved that all the college kids and big sibling teenagers joined this one (they all knew dance moves from FSY!) 

I had to take a screen shot of Mel doing her little shimmy - that was my favorite part of this dance. Joseph's high kicking and clapping was pretty good too. Oh, and also when all the kids yelled "RUNAWAY!" and scattered! Lots of favorites, it was so fun!

And the last song that Corey recorded was a tween request of Fallin' For Ya. I liked seeing Mel and Hyrum eating their cereal on the stairs as they watched the party from the stairs. Breakfast and a show.  Hyrum has been sleeping in the basement, so he had probably the best seat in the house to hear the music and the stomping on the floor. I'm sure that this morning's impromptu dance party will go down as one of my favorite memories of this winter break. I know we have something special here in our home - a little piece of heaven with all these kids and how much fun we all have together. I'm soaking up this break, as it is our last time with all the kids before Wesley leaves next month for his mission. I love my family! I highly highly recommend being in love with your spouse, and if that comes with the added blessing of a quiver of children, take it! IT IS THE BEST. 

Gooseberry Mesa

Corey and I are back home after a quick get away to St. George. We woke up at a decent time, enjoyed the free breakfast they served at the Marriott Townplace Suites. I read in 4 of the 6 books I brought, not bad (I was trying to justify why I brought so many, cause I didn't know what I'd be in the mood for!) Corey did some work and I stretched while I read, then we checked out at noon. Filled up the car, stopped by Lowes for a screw for the Velocirax, then we headed to Hurricane to find the Gooseberry Mesa trail. It was a longer drive away than we thought. The "main street" of Apple Valley is not your typical main street. It was lucky that we didn't try to do this one yesterday. We started on the trail at 2:20 and rode the South Rim trail up to the ridge that overlooks Highway 59 - 

This trail is not a black diamond... apparently it was a double red diamond! 

As the Snowbird advertisement billboard says, this trail was for a different breed, and that breed is us! We did pretty good! Not bad for two almost 50 year olds!

It was other worldly and super fun!!

It was a perfect experience to finish a great little get away. We rode the ridge up all the way to the last rock where we got a great view of both sides of the mesa - 

Pretty fun!! Then we rode the north rim back down to the car. We started this with no idea what to expect, but some google reviews said it was a 4 hour thing, yikes! So we did great for going into this thing totally blind. It worked out just perfectly - it was 10.21 miles, took us 2 hours 15 minutes to do it, 644 elevation gain. Even though we had to drive home in the dark, I'd do it again and I hope we do go again next year post Christmas. Actually Corey and I are thinking this might be a quarterly thing that would be good for us. And the kids did great at home! We just got back, all the older kids are awake (Joseph through Abi) and all the younger kids are in bed asleep! And the house is clean. Mel and Hyrum were the miracle workers, and Abi made dinner. Joseph and Wes were doing school all day, but they put away all the Christmas decorations, and the house is totally clean. Mel said Katharine was perfect too! Katharine is asleep with Natalie, but I'm going to go grab her cause I need her to nurse. I didn't pump since this morning. We have one day home tomorrow, and I'm hoping I'm able to take advantage of Mel's help and do a bit more with me here too. They cleaned up our bedroom, but just moved all my piles to the side of the room. I'd like to get rid of the piles for good, but I need some help, so we'll see if we can do that tomorrow. Friday we are going up to Wolfcreek to ski there Friday day, then sleep over, and maybe ski again Saturday, then Sunday is church and heading up to Brighton. It's been a full and busy winter break, makes it feel too short! Perhaps we planned to much. Next year we'll maybe skip the over night ski trip, but we are taking a couple break again. It was wonderful. I'm excited to go do Gooseberry again someday. 

Zen and Bearclaw

Hello from Southern Utah! Corey and I are in St. George for a little day-after-Christmas get away that we planned for ourselves, as a pat on the back/reward for us giving the kids yet another year of life and another successful Christmas day. Sure, it may have been a little anti climactic gifts-wise (sorry Hyrum) but that's happened before, and there hasn't been too much emotional scarring because of it. Plus the nine kids at home have been kinda slackers chore wise this year, so I'd say we are even. We do owe Mel big time for making this get away possible, and whoever else she says was a good helper when we get home tomorrow. 

We left home today at 10 am, went by the Sandy Momentum for some quick bouldering, then were on our way at 11. We got to St. George around 3 and went straight to the trail head by the Worldmark resort, where I did a bit of exploring in January. 

We made it to the top of the Zen Loop trail.

We made it back to the car with a bit more of sunlight still left, so then we went up to the watertank, rode the three fingers of death, went along Bearclaw poppy for a bit, then turned around and made it back to the car by sunset.

It was really fun! We are staying at the Marriot Townhome suites or something. It's like a very small room, it's good. After a quick shower, we decided to go out to dinner, because the only food we brought was pink lady apples. We drove to one restaurant that ended up being closed, so then we drove a little more and happened upon George's Corner. And it was a hit! Corey got some mocktail that was super good - had cranberries in it and some spice, and then he ordered some sausage bowtie pasta dish and I got the Autumn Salad, which had salmon, sweet potatoes, candied pecans and goat cheese...

It was absolutely delicious. Loved it. If we're ever in St. George for a date night again, I wouldn't mind going there a second or third time. Totally hit the spot. And now we're reading a bit in a quiet room., we haven't turned on the tv or allowed noise to disrupt us. I brought 6 books, cause I didn't know what I'd be in the mood to read when the moment came, so I just have a goal to read a chapter of each book. Only one down so far, Pres Oaks book "Life Lessons" I read a few chapters though. It's a light read. I'll try to read the other 5 tomorrow before we check out. Checkout is at noon, and we'll hit another trail before we head home. :)

Melodie is 23!

Happy Birthday Mel!! Corey and I and Wayne all met up with Melodie in Provo at Tucanos for a birthday dinner for her. 

I haven't been to Tucano's before. It was delicious and we all ate too much and finished it off with some maracuja pudding and a big honkin' slice of chocolate cake. Mel took the cake home. It will probably take her three days to finish it. Ethan and Joseph were having a party for her at 9:30 pm, but that is too late for us, so we didn't go back down for that. Wes wanted to, but we were glad that he stayed home to do math instead. He is almost right on track to finish by Jan 22. He got a late start today because we took care of a mission prep item - we went at 10 am to get him suited up at Mr. Macs. 

He's never been attended to like that. "This is great! I feel like a celebrity!" There were two employees standing close by saying "Wow, that looks great! Fits like a glove! That color is perfect" etc etc. Wes opted for the slim shirts, a very trim jacket and pants, so this young man does not have any room to gain weight on his mission. He doesn't want to gain weight anyway, so hopefully knowing his clothes won't fit if he does will keep him focused to not go crazy. 

Ethan gained 40 pounds when he was state side in Missouri, but Ethan had always been a hungry boy. It went to his hollow leg through high school, then caught up with him on his mission. He was lucky to go to the DR to lose it. Wes is going to Texas. Southern cooking and TexMex might catch up with him, but maybe he'll sweat it all off. 

He got a gray suit with two pants and a nice Texas blue suit with two pants as well. 

Corey got new shoes in 2018 when Joseph was getting ready for his mission, and Corey has been in need of a new pair for a while, so he and Wes will find shoes at another time. Today it was just the suits, and it took two hours (like I said, Wes was enjoying himself). After we got home, Wes had to get crackin' on his classes. It was good to get something mission done today though. His suits will be done next Tuesday. He's excited. 

A Saturday In December

The van got new tires today. Good job, van. It snowed a little bit last night. Corey drove it to Costco and it made it successfully out of the neighborhood. I'm glad that I won't be nervous about a blowout when I drive it anymore. The van still has a few issues. The back right side door broke 2 years ago, and since it was $2000 to buy the motor to get it fixed, we've just had that side be a manual door, which is fine. The kids are all used to it, so no biggie. A warning light that says "side door" is on all the time to let us know that something over there is not working. Another weird thing that started probably early 2023 was that the light for the drivers door says it's open, even when it's closed. So some sensor there is broken, which is fine, but it always leaves that red informant light on, and also a little door light, that lights the floor when the door is open or closed, is always on as well. And music in the van still plays with a 3 second delay, which is only annoying when you're trying to read the lyrics, but they scroll up out of view before the audio of the song gets to it. Thankfully that glitch does not happen with phone conversations. That is all the issues with the van at the moment. I'm glad the bald tires are taken care of. Good job me finding the right tires (235/65R17) and figuring out how to order them and how to make an appointment with Costco tires (they don't usually answer the phone).

So I got Abi and Lily out the door to GMS. They made the bus, we caught it at the post office, then I came home (even though I was ready to go climbing, I decided to not abandon Corey) and I did the dishes while Wes made breakfast. Kodiak cakes are his favorite. He loves them "so much." He makes enough for everyone. Katharine with her monkey, enjoying some cakes.

Then Corey took the van to Costco and got food for this next week and for a family gathering tomorrow with the Stokers. And we did an amazing job making a list of what we needed and sticking to it. We've done really good at budgeting this past month! At home - Natalie got Katharine dressed up in this cute pink dress that used to be hers. It's a little large (size 3T) but it fits well enough length wise. Natalie wants us to have a ball, and is always getting K ready, just in case today is the day. I told Natalie let's try for over the break. Katharine was skipping along and twirling around in this dress. And here she was playing with the sunshine on her hands - "Now I've got it..."

"Now I don't!"

She is just delightful in so many ways. One moment today that I shared with the college kids - I was changing her messy diaper, and I said "pooooopyyyyy...." and then she made me totally laugh when she said in her one year old way "Where are you?" I said my line again "Poopyy...." her reply "WheAhhUu?" Wes told me tonight that he taught her that, from once when they were wandering around the house looking for me "Mommy?? Where are you?" So that was soo cute and super fun, here is the little recording of it that I shared with them where you can hear her adorable voice. She is our little princess.

I stayed home today and cleaned the boys room and sorted socks. I cleaned the girls room too and arranged it so Wes could take his Government final. Another class checked off for him, yay, go go go Wes! He's got 6 weeks left and 6 classes? I was home with K while Wes did that, and was able to keep her out of the room he was testing in. Corey took the boys climbing, but it was just a short outing, cause they had to leave to go to Lily's recital at 4. After they got back, I had a meat pie ready, and I snuck out to go to the temple. Corey had turned on a movie when I was home, something to keep the boys quieter. It was a show called Leo which took us all by surprise, but parts of it we quite enjoyed, like when the girl was being sung to to stop crying. The kids all liked those lyrics and we probably need to learn that song so we can use it around here! I don't fully endorse everything about that movie, but parts of it were really funny.

And Lucky is still around and is a sweet little creature. Some sad news for him though - he lost part of his front left leg sometime during the night. Maybe if he fell down and was flapping around in his enclosure and banged it off? Here he was enjoying some sunshine today. 

I put him by the window in our bedroom around 3 so that he can enjoy the evening sun. 

It's cute how he spreads out his little wings to soak up the sunshine. I hope it makes his existence a little less boring. And now it is 11 and everyone is still up. I took little boys climbing around 9pm. They were running around crazy and Corey needed them gone. Unfortunately, bringing them made Wes not want to come. He said he'd rather do math than be at the gym with them. And I get that. Lily could tell I was a bit unexcited as well, and she was with them most of the time. They were good. Other than right after we got there and put on our shoes ready to start climbing, I had to take them off and Peter's off cause he had to use the bathroom. 

My main goal for tonight was to do that last red V1, and I did it, so now I've done all the V1s. I learned today that you can search the climbs on Kaya by level of difficulty. I searched the V1s - there are 12, and I had done all of them except for that red V1. I was glad I did it today. Took two tries. Now it's onto the V2s. There are 22 of them and I've done 10 so far. Something to work on this next week! I'm going to go brush their teeth and kids boys to bed now. It's late, I predict that we're going to struggle getting up on time for church in the morning. G'night

Wax Museum & More

Another year of 3rd grade, another 3rd grader, another year of the wax museum! Today it was Owen's turn. I went over with Peter and Katharine in tow. We wandered through all the statues until we came to the 20th century section, and there we saw the famous astronaut John Glen! Owen did not crack any bit of a smile when we came to him. "Wow! John Glenn!" 

"John Herschel Glenn Jr. was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1962." Those are some amazing accomplishments! So why does he look so depressed? Maybe he's just tired.

He saw us, but took his "be a statue" role very seriously. I didn't want to tempt him to break character, so we read the mini-bio and went on. Luckily we were just a row away when the statues took a one minute break to stretch and change their positions. Owen smiled at us then, and did a little wave. Then we came to the end of the wax museum and left through the cafeteria. Another wax museum done - check! We've had lot of wax museums through the years. Joseph and Melodie were before the blog - J was Mitt Romney, Melodie was Sacagawea, Ethan missed it cause he was going to school in Chile, Hyrum was Abraham Lincoln, Wes was Norman Rockwell. Abi was Helen Keller, Lily was Amelia Earhart (Her hair was so cute), Sophi as Sally Ride, Natalie as Ruby Bridges. I couldn't remember what Sophi was, but then realized that was because hers was in a post covid year, thus it was not in person, hence my fuzzy memory.

Peter had an experience similar to Daniel's in 2021, and was a bit upset with me when I told him that we were done and were heading back home. "But we did not do any fun stuff! That was a boring!" I agree, it was probably a boring thing for you, Peter, and for that I am sorry. I was just reading that 2021 post and realized Peter probably thinks of Thanksgiving Point when I say "museum" so of course he was disappointed. Poor kid. Maybe we'll have to get a membership there again. I tried to play in the snow as we walked to the car. I started to spell his name with my foot prints by shuffling along together on the sidewalk. "Look! We can spell your name! P.... E..." but then he was mad cause he didn't know how to do what I was doing. "I don't know how to do it!" Well you can just do it with your finger? I started to write his name with my pointer finger. He tried that, but cried when the snow was cold. I know something that will be fun.... let's put Katharine's feet in the snow! Look at her cute footprints!

And then Katharine was mad at me for making her cold. Ok, so no one is happy or playing, let's just go home and watch George. And soon we were watching Curious George again. Curious George has replaced the dogs of Lady and the Tramp and is currently Katharine's favorite cartoon. Abi's old monkey doll has become Katharine's favorite baby to hold. She will squeal "Monkey!!!" and hold it by the neck. She'll watch the movie for a little bit, then get distracted and wander off to wherever I am. She has been doing a good job as the toddler responsible for taking the ornaments off of the tree (that are within two feet height). And she's added to that by pulling the string of lights off of the tree, and then putting them in her mouth.

I told her no, she turned and smiled. Let's not get electrocuted. But you are a very smart girl for putting the tree lights together with that part of the movie (when George eats the fireflies.) She's such a smartie pants. Yesterday she had her 18 month well visit. She was curious curious at the visit. She was pushing buttons and exploring everything within her reach during our 15 minute wait in the exam room.

Peeking in the garbage. Trying to get the safety lock off of the cupboard there.

She pulled the tape off of the poster on the door. She is just so curious just like George! and so busy! She is super smart. 

Yesterday she opened a mouthwash bottle that had a safety cap! She is able to take off any lid, so I've moved all vitamin pills, soaps, shampoos, etc in our bathroom, that used to be within toddler reach, and they are higher now. She opened a Costco container of Glide Floss the other day and strung out all 6 of the flosses, not all the way, but enough that Corey and I have a pile of unwound floss that we'll be working through for a while. Add that to our unrolled toilet paper pile. Just a fun part of living with little humans. She is also very good at getting into Abi's makeup, which Abi is learning to put out of toddler reach. Katharine used up all of Abi's favorite concealer. Katharine imitating Abi by curling her eyelashes, ha. 

I mentioned how busy she was at the service concert this past week - She is smart on curious and busy busy. Also something that totally made me throw back my head and laugh on Wednesday morning, I was taking a cold shower (have this whole year - usually a straight to cold shower for 2 minutes and 30 seconds!) and I usually turn on a fast song to help me get through it, so I'm in the shower then I hear the door thud from being thrown open. Katharine is sitting there looking at me, and then starts bouncing to the music. So funny! She was standing right in the door frame, I wanted to capture the moment though, so I got back in the glass shower and told her to go over to the door, but she came to me, but it was funny to see her there, standing in curiosity at the music, then bouncing along to the rhythm. She is a delight. And with George ever faithful by her side.

Or she also had this little baby that I got recently for her. 

None of our other baby dolls have made it, and they don't have that brand at Walmart anymore - but this little one is a good size and she's taken to it, so we'll call it good. I was squatting down to get a picture of her, and she imitated me. Cute little thing.

Yesterday she had Corey's phone and sent a few emoji's. I liked the follow up laugh emoji after my comment.

That was followed by a few Gifs of people excited about it being Friday eve. 

So this past week has been busy. Tonight I took Abi and Lily to GMS for their Friday evening class (don't love the day or time of this class...) and then they rode the bus home, Corey and I drove Sophi to a friend Christmas party at 6 and then went out on a date to Bandits. Natalie was in charge at home, since AL&S were all gone, and Wes was doing homework over at Wayne's house. Wes is going to pick up Sophi at 10 after her party is over. Joseph had an interview with the U of U medical school this morning. Joseph and I were both fasting, and he said it went really really well, like better than he had hoped. So he is anticipating that he will get in, but also knows that if he doesn't he did everything he could and it went as well as possible - he "left it all on the field" so to speak. The U is his number one choice, good luck Joseph. And a few other things from yesterday - Katharine had her well visit at 10:30, then it was home until Sophi and Lily got home, at which time I hurried over to the church because I signed up for kitchen help at a funeral. I came home with lots of leftovers, which is one of the perks of helping out at funerals. It was a loaves and fishes event - there were so many people there (lots of Tongan family) so we were a bit worried the meals the Relief Society provided would run out, but they brought a lot of their own food - a bit pork feast and desserts. I was able to take home leftover desserts which I then used as my treat contribution for a Relief Society cookie exchange last night. I was going to make cocoa quickies and add some red and green sprinkles on them, but instead I added the sprinkles to some banana cream bars with fluffy white frosting that they had at the funeral. Looked festive, and saved me the time of making more treats. My kids loved the treats last night - they finished off brownies and the banana bars, and then this morning I let them have at the large spread of cookies I brought home last night. I talked with my butterfly friend Terry, most of the time at the cookie exchange. She has been in Texas the past 7 weeks. She came by after the cookie exchange with some gifts that she brought from Texas for Wesley. She told him about the HEB grocery store, Texas' version of Kroger/Smiths. She brought a Texas flag for our collection. She got him a Texas jacket pin, some cotton from the cotton fields of Lubbock, some longhorn socks, and other thoughtful things! She and her dog Leo went by and took a photo by the Lubbock county line and the Lubbock temple for Wes. 

Terry has been in Texas helping her parents by getting their home ready for sale and she was going to do an estate sale too, but then had a miracle of a lady coming by after noticing he storage pod in the driveway. This lady said she was recently divorced and looking to buy a home, and she bought the home as is AND everything in it! It was a miracle for Terry, but it was still a ton of work for her. Terry's advice to parents: do Swedish death cleaning while you have the health, don't make your kids do it after you get sick or die. Her parents are both here - her mom had an outpatient surgery that was supposed to be an in and out thing, but instead turned into 2 weeks in the hospital, and her dad had a stroke from the stress of that. Luckily they were here in Utah, but they had been planning to go back to Texas to take care of things, but instead Terry had to do it. ANYWAY - the take away - clean up after yourself. No one will be able to take care of your things and the stuff that you've been holding on to cause it's important to you, BETTER THAN YOU WILL. So do it now. So I'm writing that down as a note to self to continue to work through and get rid of stuff. I'm not sure that is a note I can pass on to my parents. Wayne is going good at working alone now, trying to sort his way through years of memories and gathered items. I checked out a book several weeks ago, that I didn't read, but it wasn't renewed because someone else put it on hold, but I did look through it on my way back from Katharine's dr. appointment - just real quick in the library parking lot as P&K watched a movie in the car - it's called the 7 minute solution by Allyson Lewis, and I did like her idea of Prioritize, Organize, SIMPLIFY!! Simplify is a thing that has been on my mind this whole year. Which is one of the reasons why we will most likely be having a very simple Christmas this year. (Like more simple than our 2019 Christmas! - minus the ugly and depressing wrapping job). Boys Christmas coloring pages tonight. Simple things. Keep it simple.

I still have a lot to do, so I'll probably continue with the goal of Reducing and simplifying in 2024.