Little Mel & Christian

Well we're half way through December and as of this moment (5:35 pm on Saturday Dec 13th) I've only published one blog post this month. Doh, the month is racing away from me again. I have been being productive though, but mostly doing the not exciting things, such as being on top of laundry. As for the state of the laundry room... yikes. I'm working on one corner at a time. First corner is our bedroom, and I'm doing a good job keeping our door locked so that it stays clean. I've been reading Simple Abundance and she's had a few things during the fall months (Oct & Nov) that have helped me look at our home and each room and drawer with intention for what things should be used for. As for our bedroom, I've moved out the tv, which Corey and I never watch, and also moved out the pink chair, so now I can use my desk in here cause I don't have the noise of kid movies on the tv next to me. Amazing. So here I am at my desk and I'm working on making photos of Mel and Christian for the wedding celebration (the side by side pictures that I did for Ethan & Bella and Joseph & Eliza.) So far they're turning out cute!

I guess that's easy when you have two cute little people in each photo.

Aww, it's so fun to remember our little Mel! 

And to see a little Christian! Both of them on their 1 year birthday.

Those cute little babies are all grown up and getting married. To quote Fiddler on the Roof ~ Sunrise, sunset, Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? don't remember growing older, when did they? I'm going to go keep at it while I can. Abi and Lily are both at the Skyline Winter's Dance tonight. Sophi and Natalie are with Corey and Katharine over at Wayne's house. ODP are here - O watching football highlights and DP are playing with the remote control car. It's loud. I think I'll go close my door. Going to keep working on these side by side photos. <3

Owen was invited to Breakfast with Santa by his friend Liam. So nice of him! Owen had a great time with his friends Eli, Liam, and Afton, and Liam's little sister.

They got to see the Grinch too!

Now it's 10 pm on Saturday night. I've been up here working in pictures at the computer. Corey and the kids got back around 8pm. Corey kept working in his office, and Natalie got Peter and Katharine engrossed in a game of Cinderella.

(Somehow Natalie fit into the pink ballet costume she wore 4 years ago, impressive!) There is music playing, Katharine runs away from the ball, they are cute and we're smiling at them, then when their game is done, Natalie asks Corey "Can we watch Cinderella?" Corey says "No, it's 10pm." Natalie tells Katharine the sad news: "Dad says we can't watch it." Katharine says to Natalie "Let me try..." and she  goes and asks Corey the same question, haha! Of course we thought that was adorable that Katharine thought she had some stronger influence over her father, and of course she was correct, so Corey turned it on for a little bit. We didn't let them watch the whole thing, but we did put it on. Super cute Katharine, we love her and yes, she has us wrapped around her finger! 

Melodie is 25!

Happy Birthday to the wonderful Melodie! 

Tonight she and Christian went to the same concert that they went to last year for their first date, aww! (mentioned at end here). I entered to get tickets but was not selected. Christian's family had 6 extra, so we borrowed 4 of them and Corey and I were going to go too, and we had Daniel and Peter tag along. (Abi was at a Lyceum concert, Lily Sophi and Natalie had a book club with neighborhood friends, and they took Katharine with them). It was so crowded downtown that we were late, so Corey dropped us off and then went to park. We got in ok and got a seat at the front by the projectors, which were blowing warm air, but it wasn't too hot, just nice and cozy. I was texting Corey to let him know where we ended up, trying to avoid a repeat of 2018. It was around 8:40 when he was at the doors, but he was not allowed in cause the seats were all taken (it was general admission then standby, so it was all full). We could have tried to have Peter sit on my lap, but security wouldn't let him in, so he watched from the tabernacle, then waited for us in the car after, so we had a speedier exit than most. 

So this Christmas concert is a big deal. It's an annual event by The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, held last night, tonight, and tomorrow too. This year the guest performers were Broadway stars Stephanie J. Block & Sebastian Arcelus, and the message focused on themes of hope and the Apollo 11 mission. It was good. Peter was a little bored, so I rubbed his back. Daniel LOVED the sing along part. We sang Jingle Bells, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, and Silent Night. After the concert was done, 4 people around us told him how much they loved hearing him sing. A girl behind us said it was the highlight of the evening for her, and she couldn't sing cause she was too moved to tears by Daniel. So that was some people behind us, and then there was a couple right next to Daniel who also told him he sang amazing and that he has a God given gift. I got a pic of Daniel's silouhette as he gave a standing ovation.

His hair was a bit crazy as you can see by the volume of his silhouette. He just let it airdry after taking a shower after school, which I told him to do to get all the baby powder out of it from being Albert Einstein at the 3rd grade Wax Museum today. 

I was laughing at how I pulled this look off. Daniel's natural hair volume plus hair glue with baby powder and hairspray to try and seal it in. The mustache was made with a little white paint, then using hair glue again to try and make a few trimmings from the duster stick to his lip. haha...

When he went downstairs to show Mel and Christian his finished look, they laughed at how he was sneezing - a combination from the powder in his nose plus the duster cotton tickling from his upper lip. Ready to go to school!

He really wanted to stick out his tongue, but his teacher told him he couldn't. So I got a pic of that from home. Corey, Katharine and I went over to the museum. 

Such interesting statues.  

Daniel didn't take being "wax" very seriously and he was moving around a lot, including changing his facial expression...

Hey! Get that tongue back in!

I'm biased but I think he was the best Einstein there. 

Another year done at the wax museum. Past years:

2012 - Hyrum as Abraham Lincoln
2014 - Wes as Norman Rockwell   
Feb 2017 - Abi as Helen Keller
Dec 2017 - Lily as Amelia Earhart, 
Jan 2021 - Sophi as Sally Ride
Dec 2021 - Natalie as Ruby Bridges
2023 - Owen as John Glenn

Mel and Christian came and saw Daniel, so that was fun. Mel walked through the hall to see the grizzly drawing she did back in 2012. It is still hanging proudly on the wall. 

Mel and Christian are such a great couple, and I love how they are so supportive of the younger kids and do so many nice things for our whole family! M&C stayed up here after helping us last night with the little music program we did for our neighbor. It was fun to hang out will Mel on her birthday! She might have hung out with Katharine more than me. Mel played Uno with K and Mel won twice, thus bringing Katharine to tears, haha. I didn't have my phone with me at the time or I would have gotten a photo of that, little K sulking at the coffee table, so cute. Mel, you have to let her win, always! K recovered from the trauma. Mel and Christian treated us all to homemade pizzas for dinner tonight in a little portable pizza oven that he put up in the backyard. Um, wow. Peter had two friends over who got to make their own pizzas - 

And then when the dough was starting to be cooked, Sophi and Natalie came home with half a dozen friends, doh! They had stayed after school for a ballroom rehearsal, then showed up around 6. Mel and Christian had enough to feed all of them too, but when they walked in I was thinking "Hey Mel! Happy birthday! To celebrate, why don't you make dinner for us and all the kids' friends!" They weren't planning on that big of a crowd, but there was more than enough to go around. Just loaves and fishes miracles happening, helped by the magic of Mel and Christian!

27 Years Ago

December 2nd is a special date for me. It is a date that was the end goal in my mind during the year 1998 when I was serving a mission for the Lord in Arizona. The Lord comes first in my life, and I stayed focused as I did the Lord's work, but I also counted down to December when my service would be complete and I would return home. December 2nd is the date I took a short flight from Phoenix Arizona to Salt Lake City, coming back from my mission and got to see Corey again after 3 1/2 years apart! Someone caught a photo for us that day - from my scrapbook (way back in the 1900's and the days before blogging)...

Together again, yay! That day was a dream come true and the beginning of our life together. A short 2 months later we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, eternally bound, never to be separated. So, yeah, that's what I think of every December 2nd. And I also think of Shannon. I love her too. Just realized she passed away when she was 50, and I'm almost 50! What would I do if I knew my time was drawing to a close? I will try to live like that today. One of my biking songs is "When I Die" by Kyle Hume, I like it. So far, I do think I'm proud of who I've become here on the ground. Also in that photo above is my Snow college roommate Diana who was so nice to come to see me, as well as our high school friend Dave.

So today is Tuesday, which is my temple day. On my way to the Jordan River Temple at 4:30 am, initiatories at 5, leaving a little before 6 am. I sent a polo to the Hibbert Gospel channel, then took a photo to send to my family for their "daily shot of the temple". 

Corey was on his way to the temple at 6, I went bouldering, and he shared a really nice message with the kids sharing his testimony of the temple. I'll come back and transcribe some of it later. 

Mel called me today and we went over some wedding stuff. She's picked out her color palate, pretty!

And she's also settled on a venue. We signed and paid for that today. Mel decided on The Activity Barn at Wheeler Farm. She and Abi went to see that on yesterday and they said it will be good. I didn't know how we would pay for the things we did for Ethan and Bella's Wedding, OR Joseph and Eliza's, but somehow we did and we are still alive almost two years later. How shall we pay for Mel's? Probably the same way - by going forward with faith. Similar to something I read today... The Liahona (LDS Church magazine) had a supplement with it's November issue: a memoriam of President Russell M. Nelson's life. He passed away on September 27, 2025 at the age of 101. I read some of it this morning and there was one part I really liked on page 5-6.

"When Elder Spencer W. Kimball called and set Dr. Nelson apart as a stake president in 1964, Elder Kimball joked “Everybody we’ve interviewed around here says you might be all right, but you don’t have the time. Do you have the time?" "I don’t know about that," Russell replied, "but I have the faith!"

Corey and I have never had money set aside for hospital bills when we've had another child, but somehow they've all been paid. So to steal President Nelson's response - Do we have the money to pay for a wedding? We don't know about that, but we have the faith. Wait... that quote didn't end with a period, but exclamation point! "I have the faith!"

Venue Searching then Up to Park City

Hello. Today the majority of my time was spent checking out venues for Mel's reception. Abi didn't have a flute lesson today, so I had the car, and she and I left at 10 and drove by Wildflower Event center. I wasn't impressed by my drive by - it's just in a strip mall. Meh, then I drove by the Midvale Cactus and tropicals, didn't love the parking or surroundings there. Then the Ivy House... that looked like it was closed - had a chain link fence around it. Then the Sugarhouse Cactus and Tropicals, I did like that one - easy access from the freeway, easy parking, and then we got back in the car and headed to Red Butte Garden to meet Mel and Aimee for a 12 appointment tour of the Orangerie. 

We really liked that one. It is usually $5000, but Saturdays in January are only $2500, yay. That is doable, the only catch is you have to use one of their caterers... We were able to stay and sit at one of the tables there and we called and emailed a few of them to try and get an idea of what that price would be for light refreshments. Didn't make too much progress with that, but they let us put a hold on the venue for one week for free, yay. So we'll try to do some work and figure out things before next Tuesday.

Katharine making her contribution as we tried to crunch numbers. 

Many decisions to be made, but the venue is one of the priorities, cause we have to have that one figured out so we can put it on the announcements. After Red Butte, Katharine and I went to Costco in SL to get some groceries for the next few days - we are up at Park City for Thanksgiving. Abi drove up with the kids, Corey and I drove together. We brought ice skates, coats, hats, and a bunch of other things that filled up the back of our two cars. It will be a fun week though with plenty of food, SpongeBob...

... and grandbabies!!! Alvie!!!

Joseph and Eliza and Mary are flying out and will be here in the morning, yay!! Fun fun for everyone.

Cute Kat

Cute Kathrine this morning.

I actually look forward to her coming into our bed. It's usually between 2-3 am. She'll come over to my side of the bed, ask to sleep with me, and I help her come up and then we snuggle. I'll tuck her in but after an hour or two, she usually kicks off the blankets, so I am sure to wear socks so my toes don't get cold when that happens. She also does a bit of rotating, so I have to keep her far enough from Corey so she doesn't kick him awake, while also keeping her from going off the side of the bed. I love her. She's three and a half but she's still my baby. 

Lily got creative yesterday and make a soda can choir with all the soda can's that she's been collecting from her friends. Cute, creative, and I'm trying to not be annoyed at her wasting my hot glue for the eyes. 

I took a ride up the canyon today, and got another local legend, yay, this one for Downhill Quarry (17 times in the last 90 days). After that, I got cleaned up and then Corey and I left at 5:30 for our date to meet Christian's parents!

We met up at Aubergine to negotiate the bride price, haha. They are super great, and we willingly give Mel to Christian and are happy to share her with his family. We met at the Aubergine in Sugarhouse, which was a good in between spot (they live in Bountiful) and this Aubergine was the perfect restaurant because it is the one that Mel worked at after her mission, and cause his parents are plant based too! That pic was at the end of our meal while we were talking some wedding plans. We should have taken it with our visually pleasing plates of food before us, oh well. I'm sad to report that the cashew melt is gone, hopefully not forever. Corey got the Aubergine melt instead. I got the Vitality Bowl, I think? Either that or the Good Earth bowl, those are the two I switch in between, though now I can't really tell them apart. Tomorrow Christian's mom, Aimee, is going to come with Mel and I to look at Red Butte Garden as a possible venue for the reception. Ahhh, there is probably a lot to do! Lucky for us, Mel and Christian are both college graduates and very responsible adults. They are doing a good job so far at taking care of the plans, and shared their spreadsheet with us. Lots to do, but we should be able to do it all before Jan 10th, even with holiday festivities and a missionary coming home!! 

Temple with Alvie

Today at 11:30, Ethan and Bella attended a marriage sealing at the Draper Temple, and asked if any of us wanted to come watch Alvie for them while they went inside. Um, YES!

Katharine came along with me and she helped me watch Alvie. I asked her if she wanted to hold him, and she said no. But then she said yes. 

I think she said "no" at first, cause she could see that this baby was not tiny sleepy baby Mary. This was big baby Alvie. But then she got brave and held him for a second. And we walked around the temple lobby, and then I saw the waiting room area and we went in there, and let Alvie practice his push ups and planks - 

and look at a magazine about temples... 

and stare at Aunt Katharine...

...and eat the television remote. 

He liked that the best. There might have been a few germs on it, but honestly I don't think anything is dirty at the temple, so it was good. And I let Ethan and Bella know I let him have at it. It kept him happy. 

And we looked at fake plants. He liked practicing grabbing those, and then Ethan and Bella were back out. Lily and Natalie came to perform baptisms while I watched Alvie, so it was all good for everyone! 

And since I shared pictures of Alvie, here are a few of Mary too. Joseph sent these to us on Wednesday. CUTE MARY!!! 

Aww she's getting so big! We are excited to see them next week!

So they are cute. Yesterday/Friday the church announced that young women can serve missions starting at 18 years old now. That means Abi doesn't have to wait until September and can turn in her papers like in two months (they say to do it 4 months before you anticipate being available to serve), so I think she's going to get started on that soon! She could start right after graduation in May 29th. Wow! Yesterday I'm pleased to report that I finished blogging April 2025! yay, good job me. Today I went over to the church to update the Relief Society board. And as I came out, I saw the updated missionary board! There is our cute Wesley! Center top - 

He is coming home so soon, yay, we're so excited!

Official

Guess who is "officially" engaged???

Yes! It's Mel and Christian! We're glad she finally popped the question tonight

Haha just kidding, he asked her of course. He swept her off her feet. 

They are thinking January 10th, so this is will be coming up fast and things are gonna get busy, but we couldn't be more excited for them! They are an amazing couple. Boy this is going to be busy and fun these next two months!!

40 Days

We got flight plans today! For a certain Elder that we are super excited to see again!! 

Yes, Wesley is coming home on December 30th!!! It would have been January 7, but that is the day that school starts at BYU Idaho, so that would make him miss the first day of school and we wouldn't get to see him hardly at all if he had to head up there right away. But he didn't want to come home in the transfer before Jan, which would be at the end of Nov, cause he wanted to stay for December and have a "white" Christmas with his mission. They have a goal for each companionship to help someone come to Christ through baptism in December, so we're praying for him for that, and his mission President worked to help him be able to stay for December but also get home before school. So so so excited to see that young man, especially excited for Peter! So BYU just lost their game to Texas Tech, which is a college in Lubbock, and Corey's been teasing Peter that BYU lost because Peter was cheering for TTU cause Wesley was there. That pic above was on game day, Wesley was there on campus, and Peter was here wearing his cowboy boots! Peter isn't ashamed his heart was rootin' for Texas. BYU can win it next time. Anyway, yay, next month, we can't believe it's so close! Just counted it out on the calendar, that's just 40 days away!!! We are going to have a party. We are really glad that we get to have a week with him before he goes to school. I'm excited to go climbing with him again! Wes in Dec 2022 when we went with Joseph~

Maybe some of the other kids can come play with us too. Joseph and Eliza will be up in Idaho for Christmas, but they might make it down to see Wes. 

Today I had the van and K and I took it in for an oil change, then we went by Macey's for ice cream and bananas. 

I hope I'm not damaging her with all this ice cream. Yes she's wearing the same outfit as on Monday. Yes, it and she have both been washed since Monday. K had a playdate with Scarlet at 1, and while she was gone I blogged and almost finished April! I just have one more post to do. Then I went to the DI to pick up a Christmas tree for Ethan and Bella, then picked up K, then took Owen to his trumpet lesson at 5. 

We saw a rainbow on our drive there. Rainbows are SO AMAZING. I don't know how God thought of all these over the top things that we see in season and weather. After getting home, I texted a neighbor to ask if I could cut some of their ornamental grass for a Thanksgiving decoration idea at park City next week. Then Corey and I went climbing at 8 and did top rope at Millcreek. Now it's late and time to go to bed, we survived another week of school. Just two days next week before Thanksgiving break. Time is ticking by and I don't mind cause we're SO EXCITED TO SEE WES!!!!

Outing with Grandpa

Wayne and JeNeal had tickets to Hale Center Theater and would go together before she passed. Wayne has kept the tickets, and now takes his grandkids with him to the different shows. Tonight Peter went for his first turn to go on an outing with Grandpa, they went to see Frozen!

When Wayne first asked me which kid would like to go, we were thinking Katharine would like it.  That was two weeks ago. When I asked her about it, she was a little nervous about being alone without her parents or siblings. Then a few days ago Wayne saw that children have to be 5+ so that made it easy for us to swap her date with Peter. Plus it helps that K doesn't remember she had that on her calendar for tonight. Abi took Katharine with her (and SNOD) to go to Churchill on Parade, which was helpful for her to be gone when Wayne came. They had fun there. I can't believe Owen will be going to junior high next year!

So I'm just here with Lily and yay I have a moment to blog. Corey is working late, I took a bike ride earlier today, love these mountains.

Oh, and I was able to get out successfully this morning to the temple (unlike last week). On my drive there I listened to Stick of Joseph, finished this one on the drive there and back (temple covenants found in the Book of Mormon), and started this one while I was bouldering at 6am (the temple, the veil, and the bridegroom). I went to Millcreek, I like the bouldering there the best. Oh and they have the sauna now! In the women's bathroom. I was going to go use it after I climbed but they closed the bathroom for cleaning or something cause it was roped off, darn! Next time. I like the top rope at both Ft Union and Millcreek, Sandy just a little less. 

Also after going to the temple today, I thought I'd record the names of the ladies I did work for. I did initiatories for Alice Bull 1911, Gertrude Fitzpatrick 1903-1971, Alice May Sutton 1903-1998, Olive Sarah Davies 1913-1992, and Elsie Gray 1897-1975. I guess someday I'm hoping to come back and see where we link up and research the lines more. I was listening to a podcast recently (Follow Him for D&C sections 125-128) made me want to keep my own record the names of people I do temple work for, which ordinance, what day, and not just let the church keep the record. So, yeah, I'll just keep this info here for now.