Highlights of 2024

I am in the Atlanta Georgia Airport right now. We have a long layover (still 2+ hours before we board) on our trip back home after spending the holidays in Florida. Since I have free time (kids are all on screens) I thought I'd finish up this highlights of 2024 post. I began this post a few weeks ago and started by looking at our 2023 highlights from last year. When I saw our family photo taken in September 2023, I immediately thought "Shoot, we didn't get family pictures taken!!" but then my brain looked through some files and remembered "Oh duh, yes we did! We had two weddings!" 

Ethan and Bella's wedding in March above, and Joseph and Eliza's wedding in June below.

We didn't get individual shots, so I'll be sure to do that sometime in 2025, but a big family photo with coordinated colors take a lot of work, and that counts. Wow, we're at the end of 2024. This whole year is such a blur now... I'm glad that I do these recaps for myself. It's nice to take time to look back and remember that yes it was busy, but it was great. We did a lot of wonderful things together! Sometimes in the day to day rush of life, I think and feel like there's no time for anything - it's just carpool and lessons and dishes and dinner. OR we're busy with skiing, wedding trips or traveling (like right now) and Corey and I are both so busy and interrupted that we go a week without having a one on one conversation. Life takes 100% no matter your work or how many kids you have. My advice - write it down. Record it for yourself and for your family, cause soon it will be over and you won't remember what happened to your time. If you keep some highlights for yourself, I think you'll be impressed with all that you do. I'm glad I've still been able to mostly keep up with blogging here, even thought lots of it is mundane info. I like to have details to trigger memories for me and the kids (Hyrum and I were just talking about the stuffed animals that he and the older kids had in Costa Rica and he couldn't remember the name of his Webkinz gecko, but I found it on the blog - Ben!) But big or small stuff, it's the brick and mortar of your life story. Kids, I hope you are reading this - write in your journals! Today is NOT your final destination, but it could be a pivotal part of it! So write it down or you'll forget what happened on your journey. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox. As for our journey this year, yeah, two weddings, one missionary, lots of birthdays, and a few dozen more wonderful memories ~

January - Ethan proposed to Bella, Skiing at Sundance, Joseph is 24, Peter is 5, Skiing at Brian Head, Wes to the temple, Abi gets her drivers license, Wesley starts home MTC and then flies to Mexico to finish his training

February - Skiing at Nordic Valley, Sundance, Anniversary dinner, 25 years, Bridal Shower for Bella

March - Wedding dinner, Ethan & Bella est 2024, wedding photos, Ethan is 22, Abi in New York

April - Four Corners, Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, Stop by Lubbock, Melodie Junior Recital, Peter can ride a bike, Joseph proposed to Eliza, Waterford, Joseph BYU Graduate, Owen and Daniel spring soccer, I'm 48

May - Natalie won 2nd in a state debate competition, The Wride House: World Premier, Owen trumpet recital, Daniel First Grade Program, Skyline Super Reunion, Natalie Young American Award, Katharine is 2

June - Hangin' with Hibberts, FSY and Oakcrest, little kid hike, Happy bday Corey, Lily is 15, Wes is 19, K got stitches, Joseph & Eliza est 2024,

July - 4th of July Carnival, Pineview (pre-drama), Natalie is 11, Wedding photos, Wride Reunion in Park City, Provo River, Jordanelle

August - Joseph starts Medical School, Hyrum is 21, First Day of School, 30th High School Reunion, 

September - Sibling sleepover, Abi is 17, Sophi is 13, Hyrum to Idaho, Daniel is 8, Ice blocking, hiking, I love fall

October - Hike the Y, Daniel is baptized, Desolation Lake Ride, Halloween

November - Katharine loves dresses, Pipeline, Tea Party, Blues Concert, Thanksgiving, Biking in St. George (Pilot Transmission)

December - Tiny returns, Family Gatherings and Concerts, Mel is 24, Christmas in Florida

It's been a full year with many blessings. We look forward to the ways God will guide us along this new year, to help us learn and grow... er... thrive in 2025!! (haha, yeah, ya gotta make it rhyme!) :) 

Happy New Year!

Legoland

Today was "divide and conquer" day. We fly out tomorrow so it was our last full day in Florida. After a day of rest yesterday, we were all ready to make the  most out of our last day here. We didn't do Disneyworld or Sea World, cause it was just too much for tickets for all of us. But we told kids if they wanted to do something like that, we would support them and help them get there. No one wanted to pony up their own cash for those activities, and that's ok. It was good to spend time at the pool and beach. Corey did feel like he wanted to give Peter an experience though. And Peter came up to Corey yesterday holding a brochure for a crocodile experience and humbly asked Corey "Is this too expensive?" That melted his heart and so he started working his magic and got tickets for Owen, Daniel, and Peter to go to Legoland today. Abi decided to go too and she contributed to her ticket. Corey, Abi, and the boys were stuck in tourist traffic for longer than they'd like, but eventually got to Legoland and it was the "BEST DAY EVER" according to Peter.

Hyrum was a good stand-in father figure for the day and also documented with photos, which I appreciated. 

Not sure why these pics are in panoramic format?

Peter is a Ninja!

Yeah, this day at Legoland was mostly for Peter. 

(We love you Peter!)

We still plan to take him to Disneyland sometime soon. I think it needs to be before he's 8, cause I think it will still have that magic for him if he's still little. And under 8 is still little. So maybe after Wesley gets back! That would be really fun. Yes, let's do it for Spring Break 2026! They had a good day today though, and that made us happy. 

Joseph, Eliza, Melodie, Ethan and Bella all went and did a kayak tour at Blue Spring State Park in Joseph's rental car. Corey drove Hyrum, Abi, Owen, Daniel and Peter to Legoland in his car, then Corey worked in a Marriott lobby while they went and had fun. Corey said it was like "coming home" to be at a Marriott, ha. Yes, feels like home. I stayed at the Wyndham hotel with Lily, Sophi, Natalie, and Katharine and we packed up and checked out of the room. It was a bit crazy loading up my car with the food and luggage and presents and bins of crap that we brought out here, but we did it (thanks to an extended check out time). 

We were on our way out at 10:30 and we drove straight to Ft. Lauderdale. Everyone driving to somewhere fun.

Well, not us so much. But Katharine didn't know she was missing out. She was singing to the Little Mermaid and loving it (when Ariel gives her voice to Ursula, it was really cute. We played the song on repeat so she did it a few times.) 

Lily played other Disney soundtracks and quizzed her sisters.

The drive wasn't too painful, even though Lily, as my navigator, took me to downtown Ft. Lauderdale instead of to our hotel, so then I had to backtrack for 20 min. It's fine. Yay, we made it. Then they all immediately sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. 

And that is why we always put the remotes away first thing when we get to a hotel. "No, girls, sorry... I need you to help me get dinner ready for people." Katharine, I'm ok if she vegges out."

Haha, little queen. 

When Mel got to the hotel, she took Lily with her to a latino market so she could get a big avocado. Mel has been dating a guy and they have some joke going on about how the avocado that Mel was bringing to me (after her mission) was confiscated by the international security people. So she had to go get one and brought it back for them to use in a date night recipe.

Mel and I played Egyptian Rat Screw a few times. It got intense...

And then after everyone was back and settled in, we had some scripture time before we headed to bed. 

And hugs all around. Some of the kids have early morning departures - Joseph and Eliza and Ethan and Bella are leaving first - J&E are dropping off Ethan and Bella, then returning their car, then the rest of us and all the luggage should fit in our two cars. 

It's been great having everyone together, and so exciting that we'll have some babies joining the family next year! Corey was thinking that that would probably happen, and thus a trip like this will be harder to pull off in the future for them with diapers and carseats, so this really was a great chance to have a family trip together "one last time"... I'm sure we'll do something fun again (they are talking about Costa Rica or Hawaii for the next one!) ha, we'll see! If we make it epic enough, then maybe people will do what it takes to join us! 

Sick People and Games

I got up at 8 this morning to get ready for the Hunter's Creek Ward. Good messages at church. I should have taken notes. Corey stayed back at the room with K and N who are both still sick. We stayed for both hours. I stayed in Primary with ODP though cause Owen was putting on a brave face but couldn't hold in the tears. It was tender, I was glad to stay in there with him. Peter and Daniel sat by us too. Back at home, I took a nap with K, she's got a slight fever again. After a nap with me, she snuggled up with Abi as she ate an apple. 

And then she fell asleep again and slept the whole afternoon while we played games in the room, quite loudly. 

I'm hoping she's not up all night. But she's sick, so she probably needs to sleep. Natalie is sick and she's been sleeping a ton.

Her hair got so messy! In her pathetic condition, she quietly asked for a tv remote. I gave it to her and told her she could watch tv. Her siblings were happy to take advantage of the situation and are in there watching Studio C with her. 

The kids that were feeling well went out and played football in the rain earlier, and then went dancing in the puddles. 

I did dinner tonight - some Korean Chicken, rice, and veggies. We had enough for everyone. Mel and I got that ready. We did a game of SkyJo, which was funny cause it was on a glass table. At one point Mel was laying on the ground under the table so that she could see what people's cards were and what was going to happen. Hyrum won it. Then we did Secret Hitler. 

We did a few rounds of that and it was fun because Peter joined in. He was a good President and Chancellor and he was happy at the end that he was never a fascist. 

We didn't know for sure that he was always a good guy, but he did play liberal cards for us all. We never accused him cause he was too sweet. (He could have been a good fascist cause we all trusted him). I wonder what a lying Peter would look like? Yeah, Owen and Peter made the game interesting! Owen has learned how to lie and did a pretty good job. Probably not a good thing that he can lie convincingly. Corey was sleeping most of the afternoon. Ethan has been trying so hard to get him to come play games with us. Joseph, Ethan and Hyrum gave Corey a blessing and he was able to be upright and join in one game of Secret Hitler tonight, so that was fun. Tomorrow we check out and drive to Ft. Lauderdale. JEMEB are going to go to a national park and kayak with manatees. Corey is having Hyrum and Abi go with Owen Daniel and Peter to Lego Land, Corey will drive them, and I get to clean up and check out of our rooms with the help of LSNK. Natalie is usually my best helper of those 4, but with her being sick, I don't have high expectations for a lot of help from anyone. We'll see how it goes. 

Cocoa Beach

It is 8:45 pm here in Orlando. We're back at the Grande Vista after a fun beach day at Cocoa Beach. 

Last night Joseph made ambitious plans to leave between 5:30 and 6 am to go there to watch the sunrise. Younger siblings wanted to come. Then he sent a text around midnight saying his plans had changed and he and Eliza didn't want to get up that early. I didn't tell the younger siblings, but I didn't wake any of them up this morning. For J&E that would mean only 5 hours of sleep, and they did that  Christmas eve and then had headaches Christmas Day. I still got up early to make oatmeal for any early departure-ers, but then I went back to bed with K and there wasn't any stirring in the house until around 9. I knew I wouldn't be going to the beach early, cause Corey had gone to bed early with K, and I didn't know his plans, and I didn't think I could get out the door with everyone without his help. Little K got whatever sickness Abi had on the plane. Katharine had a fever yesterday and still sick last night and slept with us. It was fun to snuggle her. I usually don't get to cause she wants Abi.

Right now she only wants me. Her fever went away after I gave her some tylenol last night after dinner and she slept well after that. Around 9-10, kids were debating what to do and costs. Still might be fun to go to he Kennedy Space Center. Hmm... As we talked about options, Mel made ham sandwiches for lunch, we packed up a bin full of dried fruit, I grabbed some chips and other stocking stuffer leftovers, and we eventually all agreed on the beach and we left for that around noon. Iy was an hour drive. We all got free 90 min parking spots that we went and rotated after our first round of time was up. The older kids got their first game of spikeball going (Owen's one of the big boys now)...

Peter was excited to bring his t-rex wood skeleton puzzle to bury in the sand "So I can be a paleontologist!"

We'll find out later if any of the pieces got left behind in the sand. Hyrum set to work creating the Star Wars scenes he envisioned.... Can you tell what this one is?

Yep! "Seagulls! Stop it now!"

The little umbrellas and a hotel kitchen cloth made a good beach towel for the clone troopers, enjoying a day off at the beach.

And Hyrum recruited his siblings to help make the space port Mos Eisley

We ended up creating some fun scenes that I'll share in a second. As the afternoon progressed, Lily dug a hole and we put Peter in it. Once he was helplessly stuck, we pondered what to do with him. Hmm - Ethan decided to go for a field goal.

Then Mel had the idea to change him into a spider. Most of us were squirming "gross!" 

Our imaginations are a little too real so we all thought that was disturbing and yucky, but he felt cool to be Spider Man. After a few pics, the girls got to work creating something sweeter.

Aww, baby sea turtle just hatched out of his egg! Hurry to the ocean before the seagulls get you like they did yoda!

Katharine still wanted me most of the day. I held her, carried her to the water a few times, but she didn't want to touch it. Mostly we just sat and I rocked her and we listened to the waves. Good grounding time. 

"Can you see the world in a grain of sand?" - (We listened to the killers on our drive Christmas Day, to help me stay awake) Was just as well K needed me, cause I didn't have a place to change into my swimsuit anyway. I would have gotten in the waves to play with the older kids, but there was no public restroom where I could change. Or for any of us to use for the bathroom. I held it all afternoon. I hope the kids did too. Cocoa Beach might want to provide some public restrooms unless they are encouraging ocean wees. I walked around quite a bit looking for a place, but every restaurant said "restrooms for Dine in customers only" - boo. Once I got her curious about sand, I was able to leave her. 

And that's when we did the Star Wars photo shoot. Hyrum was up for the sunrise, cause he wanted to photoshop it and make it a double sun photo of Luke on Tatooine. But instead they made this -

Han and Chewie read to fly out of here, if they can get past that giant pink dressed monster past the ship hanger... 

C-3P0 and R2-D2 escaped from the Jawas. The kids had fun.

And that was my vision when we decided to give most of the Star Wars toys to Hyrum. I knew he'd make some magic happen, and he did. Thank you Hyrum! Pic of the kids is at the top of this post and I did a selfie of us with K, cause she didn't want to get in the pic with her siblings. 

If you look at the sibling pic, you'll see Luke on the top of a building, and he just shot a clone trooper, so there's some live action falling, but Luke better hurry cause he's got a trooper ready to get him. Corey looked ok at the beach, but he's been horizonal since we got back. He probably got what Abi had on eh plane. He slept and the rest of us went swimming while E&B made dinner, Jungle Cruise playing on the jumbo screen (I don't love having a huge movie screen there by the pool). Ethan came and told us dinner was ready. Spaghetti and meatballs with broccoli. Then I stayed and cleaned up with Bella and Eliza, J&E went to play fooseball and ping pong, and MHWLSODP went swimming again. Joseph and Ethan came back and now they are playing chess and Bella and Eliza playing Bananagrams.

Corey is in bed, Natalie is asleep too, she has a fever, I'm here blogging, K talking to herself in the other room, I'm glad she's feeling better.

Ok, kids all came back and we had Ferrero Rocher chocolates for dessert and we just finished a few rounds of Secret Hitler. We all had fun playing this last night, so everyone was up for playing it again tonight. On one round, the fascists ended up being JMEH and E was Hitler, but then H put down a winning Liberal card (it was his first game, I made him chancellor, I gave him a choice for fascist or liberal and he didn't feel he could lie about his mother so he put the liberal card and that gave the liberals the win, and his fellow fascist Ethan explained to him why that was not the right move. "Sorry, it's my first game..." It's also fun playing with Owen cause we could not tell the difference in how he acted. We were pretty sure he didn't know how to lie, or if he was lying he was very good but more likely he was still learning how to play the game. On one round, I was Hitler and I didn't know this but Owen was one of the fascists, he put down a fascist card, cause he "had to" (aka only got two fascist cards to choose from) then looked at my cards and totally outed me "She's a fascist! And she's Hitler!" We debated whether to keep playing or stop, since me being Hitler was now known to everyone. Joseph said he'd like to see how it played out. Turns out at the end, Owen plays the final liberal card to give the Liberals the win, THEN we find out he was a fascist! Which adds to the curiosity of why he outed me! Funny, so then Ethan explained the rules of the game again "Owen, if you get a fascist card, you want the fascists to win... which means if someone is a fascist (like mom) you lie and tell everyone she is liberal..." "Ooooh!" It was funny. After that round, Owen got a fascist card again, and I was a fascist and Joseph, and Abi was Hitler, and that time we won it! Owen put down a liberal card, people were suspicious, I was President, checked him, and lied and said he was a liberal. Eliza tested me later and gave me a choice between fascist and liberal and I put liberal as a strategy and got a little bit of trust, then later I was President again and this was near the end and people were campaigning hard, I was able to give the chancellor position to Abi, Mel was the the final "yay/ja" vote we needed, and wit that fascists won! That was Joseph's 4th or 5th game as a fascist and he was glad that his fellow fascists finally got it, haha. Good job Owen!

We are doing a game of Skull King now but it is very late and we should go to bed soon. Don't know what the plan is for tomorrow. It's ok - that relaxing flexibility has made this feel like a real vacation!

Florida Christmas

We have survived another day of traveling and get to take a break now as we stay in the Marriott Grand Vista. I just woke up from a major nap and now it does look like Christmas to me, cause kids are playing with presents and legos on the floor.

Hyrum and Ethan enjoyed working on Peter's lego set.

I'm glad we're here and that we can relax for a few days. We had an early morning and a great Christmas morning, then a 3 hour drive up to Orlando. It all went off without a hitch. I sent J a text to wake me up this morning, which he did, and I went upstairs and we found the tree and Christmas lights. Went back downstairs to set out the sibling gifts to each other with some lights... There! That's better!

That looks more festive than it looked last night. Ok good. Little kids were knocked out cold.

Hyrum helped me move the Christmas presents up to the 4th floor to their room. 

Mel had finished blowing up the tree, trimmed with lights. H put out the presents from Santa (Corey and I)

Joseph Mel and Eliza were all up and working on breakfast.

We were kinda making it up as we went. When they were done with the crepes and fruit, they sent a text that they were on their way and we woke up the boys. Well, we moved them from the pull out couch where they slept and put them in chairs while we put the sofa back together for everyone to sit. Peter looking very snug.

We left Katharine sleeping in the bed until we went upstairs for breakfast.

Kids looked in their stockings and ODP ate some, but I recommended they save the treats for the car ride to Orlando, esp since Joseph had a fun breakfast waiting for us. We had a little devotional. We watched "The Christ Child" and then Corey shared some good thoughts about how maybe traveling on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day could actually be a very appropriate tradition. Just think about it - it was a 70–90 miles journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. That likely took them between 4 days to a week of travel. They were out of their comfort zone, not in circumstances they would have chosen. But unlike us, they were not traveling in fast cars and airplanes. We got tired sitting on around watching tv, vs. feeling tired from riding a donkey for 4+ days, yikes! They were not prepared with everything they probably would have chosen to have for when their baby would be born, just as we did not have everything we would have liked to have on Christmas for our "traditions" but it was good enough and we should be grateful. Corey said "So we should be able to handle a hotel without carpet..." (The Worldmark had tile floor) haha, among other things that we were griping about. We still have it very cushy compared to Baby Jesus. Good things to think about. Then we exchanged "secret santa" gifts. The little boys had gifts for everyone. To "Kafrin" from Peter, cute!

Abi was feeling better this morning. Mel got Joseph a "The Earth is Flat" shirt, which she made last minute over at Wayne's house, which was why she was an hour behind us on the drive to St. George on Monday. He loved it! He's always thought that it is so weird that people actually believe the earth is flat. 

There was a logo on the front too that said "Members all around the globe" haha. Very funny. 

Some of the other memorable sibling gifts were the custom Cat Noir blanket that Lily got for Sophi, which inspired the blanket that Natalie made for me with pics of my face all over it and a quote saying "No one can compete <3" "Natalie, where did you get that?!?" She replied matter of factly "Amazon." It was really fun and around 9am we went upstairs to the 4th floor where the college kids slept, for breakfast and more gifts. 

We had called and asked for a had a late check out, and they said they could give us until 11. That works. So we had two hours now. Joseph and Eliza had planned a fun breakfast of Christmas Tree crepes. The green crepes were all ready to go and he gave a little "Joe's Cooking show" demonstration on how to make them. 

Fun, this could definitely be a new Christmas tradition.

And then it was time for Santa's gifts. 

We had a roaring fireplace on the tv, so relaxing.

So the most memorable gift will be these announcements from the marrieds. First Joseph and Eliza gave Katharine a gift of a shirt (they didn't finish but the print is ready to go) that says "Aunt Kathy's Homestyle cooking" (from a meat place in Canada)... Peter then opened some spiderman underwear with a post-it that said "A cool gift for a cool uncle." People looked a little confused, and it took a few minutes., and then Daniel said "Wait! Is someone pregnant??" The ultrasound pic with the gifts were the clue he needed. And then a reply came "Two people in this room are pregnant!" 

Then Ethan had a gift for all the kids and it had a dice in 

Then for the gender reveal, J&E opened a gift from Eliza's grandma with some cute PINK pajamas. They are having a girl! And Ethan planned ahead and had Daniel wear some BLUE underwear, and gave him a wedgie in front of everyone for their reveal, in true Ethan style. So they are having a boy. They are both due in May, Ethan and Bella at the first of the month, Joseph and Eliza at the end. Exciting things coming in 2025!! And what a fun surprise for everyone for Christmas!