Highlights of 2025

Goodbye to 2025! I was looking back at the "Highlights of 2024", and at the beginning of that year, one of our first highlights was Wesley starting his mission. Now at the end of 2025, we just welcomed him home!

That was the last of the highlights, but it made the top 3 for 2025. Highlights #1 and #2 were welcoming into our world two grandbabies. Mary was born in April. Here she is with her parents Joseph & Eliza ~

...and Alvin was born in May. A family photo that Ethan and Bella had taken this summer ~

My grandbabies are THE CUTEST!!! and my kids spouses are so amazing! With Wesley's return, we have had all 13 kids (plus some!) at home the past 24 hours and Joseph and Eliza and Mary won't go back to Ohio until after Mel's wedding which is in ten days! Oh! That's another highlight! Mel is getting married! Another amazing spouse joining our family. I guess that will be a 2026 highlight, so the 2025 highlight is that she and Christian got engaged!

So yeah, big eternal additions to our life this past year. We didn't get family pictures taken in 2025 except at the airport with Wes yesterday. That's ok cause we'll be getting a group family picture with everyone in a week at Melodie's wedding, so check back in to see for that. Here is some of the fun and memorable events we've had this past year  ~

January - College kids off to school again, Natalie joins the Young Women program, happy birthday Joseph, Peter is 6, Winter hike with the kids, Hibbert game night (where we met Mel's boyfriend)

February - Mel and Christian dating 1 month, Family anniversary feast, 26 years of marriage, sibling one on one outings with Ethan and Bella, art museum

March - Little Shirley Temple, St Patrick's Day rainbows, happy birthday Ethan

April - Family Vacation to California (Angels game, Six Flags, Pirate adventure) Mel graduates college, 1st grandchild Mary is born!

May - Tiff to Ohio to meet Mary, Mary home from NICU, my 3rd miscarriage, 2nd grandbaby Alvin is born, School's out, Katharine is 3

June - Cousin Emma's wedding, Happy birthday Corey, Wesley is 20, potty training Katharine, Lily is 16, sisters trip to Salt Flats

July - Camping at Spruces, Natalie is 12, Hibbert Reunion at Bear Lake, Owen is 10, Wride Reunion at Park City - carpets cleaned! plus tie dye shirts and Jordanelle

August - Happy Birthday Hyrum

September - Climbing for FHE, Abi is an adult!, Sophi is 14, Daniel is 9

October - Hike the Y, BYU vs Utah game, Halloween

November - Mel and Christian engaged, Thanksgiving at Park City

December - Mel is 25, Christmas, Wesley is home!

It's been a full year with many blessings, and we look forward to receiving many more from the Lord's hands this next year of 2026! Happy New Year!

Wesley's Home!

Today is the day! We got to welcomed Wesley home!!! Corey got first the first hug -

then Peter!

Then Katharine, then hugs all around, so many people to hug!

Video of the moment below.

He flew in at 12:30 pm, and so after the kids played Mario Kart for a bit while I took Abi to a dentist appointment. She's working on her mission papers, and I was able to get her in for an appointment at a new place at 9am today. Suuuper nice dental office! "Sandy Center Family and Cosmetic Dentistry". We got there with 5 min to spare, and they got us back right on time, yay. Very kind and welcoming! I plan on taking the other kids there soon. They have a special for a family plan through their office for cleaning and x-rays for $250, so that would be a really good deal, even better than their 

She had no cavities, yay!! A bit of gingivitis though. I'm going to start getting us electric toothbrushes. She got back, played a game of Mario Kart, we've been doing very good at being lazy this winter break

Then I felt it was time to clean up (I wanted to leave at 11:45). Corey had told them they could play until 10:30. 10:30, I went to enforce, they said "let us finish this race" or something like that, and so I said ok. Hyrum was watching from the kitchen and said "The mother I grew up with wouldn't stand for that..." (he says I've gone soft). You're right Hyrum! So then I just went up and turned off the screen. Daniel protested "We were almost done!" I said "You ARE done." and Hyrum was satisfied. 

I put some music on the Bose and we started to clean up. We played songs that remind us of Wes, like "Falling for Ya". We might have done a bit more dancing that we did cleaning....

Lily said "I don't remember doing this for the others when they came home... do we just like Wes better?" Well, those homecomings were a little different (covid, landing at 2am) (After picking up Melodie from the airport, we all went out to eat after. We didn't do that this time, and it's not cause we like Mel more, it was just cause Wesley was being released at 2:30 so we had to hurry home. We've done different things so far, we'll see which traditions stick. This one is a pretty easy one to keep, so yeah, let's do this again. We'll take any reason to help the kids be motivated to clean. 

I went up to make a quick post for Mary and Alvie to hold. Then it was time leave cause ahh his plane was arriving early! Was arriving 12:37 but now it was 12:14. We were all pulling up at 12:16. I was worried he'd beat us to the gate and we'd miss him like we did with Mel. But we didn't have anything to worry about. We were watching and waiting....

We were almost ready to give up. 

He finally came out 12:59. See the pics at the top of this post. I got the final hug!

A lot of bitter sweet emotions at the end of a mission.

Group picture!

Photo with Mary and Alvie!

Peter getting some brother time. 

So it's been great. We went by my parents house on the drive home, so Wes could give my parents a hug and hello. 

My mom is sick, so she gave a wave from a distance. 

When my dad saw us, he thought were there to pick him up for the museum. My dad and I had been planning on going for a few weeks to see the current exhibit before it ends this Saturday, so it's been on my to-do list. But no not yet, but maybe later! The Stake President came by from 2:30-3 and Wes was released, then we had lunch...

...then Wes opened Christmas presents and Peter and Katharine opened gifts from Wes (he got both of them cowboy boots!)

Then the kids watched some AI videos Ethan has made. It's a strange world. Funny, but strange.

We talked about plans for the next few days. We decided we would go tonight to the Church History Museum at 5, then maybe climbing after that. We picked up my dad on our way out. I thought that was a good transition activity for a recently returned missionary. Joseph Eliza & Mary, Ethan Bella & Alvie, and Hyrum, Peter and Katharine came a long too. I was glad I was able to enjoy the exhibit even with the toddlers there. Wes was nice to keep them entertained in the kid area. Wes made an epic temple. The service missionaries said it was the best one they've ever seen. 

I enjoyed the exhibit and got what I wanted out of it - some inspiration, some resolve to submit an entry someday. Dad enjoyed it, then we slowly gathered and got ready to go at 7:45 (museum closed at 8).

We parked at the conference center. I went and got the car with the marrieds, who drove in a separate car.

I got the van then picked up Dad and WPK. There was a flurry of activity after we got home, with people asking what was for dinner at 8:30pm. Corey apologized for not having something ready - he said it wasn't on his radar. Neither of us were hungry after the big lunch we had. I don't think I can serve up two big meals a day! Plus yeah, 8:30/9 is past dinner time for me... everyone was cooking their own stuff - rice, steak, top ramen, wontons, veggies, sourdough bread, just a ton of activity goin' on, and I am up here recording the days events. I would have done a sit down dinner, but that got vetoed in my mind when we decided to do the museum. And after everyone started cooking and eating, I figured climbing wasn't going to happen tonight, so I came up here to blog. It's been a good day. I have started a highlights post for 2025 that I need to work on, and there's a lot from this past year that I still need to catch up on!! Ahhh.... plus a wedding next weekend! CRAZY! There's a lot to do!! Good day. 

Recover and Refocus

Merry Post-Christmas. We've been having a pretty chill day. Baby Mary showing how we all feel. 

The kids had their fair share of being lazy today via napping and playing Mario Kart. We've enjoyed lots of Mary time too. Everyone has been very good at sharing her. 

Around 4:30 Hyrum took Owen, Afton, Daniel, and Katharine over to the church to play in the gym. Thank you Hyrum, that was nice of you. Sophi went to her friend Kelsy‘s house, good job venturing out Soph. Natalie was sweet to play a dinosaurs vs. aliens game with Peter (a toy he got from his secret sibling).

With Christmas done, I guess it's time to start focusing on the wedding that is two weeks from tomorrow! I spent the morning working on side by side pics - got 10 years and 11 years done. Mel came over and I showed her the flowers I got on Tuesday. She approved and we decided that for fake flowers, we'll start with boutonnières, so I worked on those while we talked over other wedding details. 

I think this will work ok! Mel ordered some magnets that we will use to attach them to peoples shirts and suits. Those will be here Tuesday along with an order of more fake eucalyptus leaves. 

Tonight Corey and I took J&E&M to Nancy's house on our way out on our date. Nancy and her fam flew out at 5 for their trip to St Kit. That works out great for Joseph and Eliza to have their own space We do our best to be hospitable, but it's pretty crowded, and we need to buy new air mattresses. We have two broken ones. Last one broke somewhat recently with kids friends were jumping on it. Someday we'll have some good quality guest rooms for the adults,. Oh, but not so nice that any of them move in or think they can live here? Is that right? Then Corey and I continued on our way for a date night dinner at the Sugarhouse Aubergine. We were going to go climbing after that, but it got too late. We went by the new Trolley Square Momentum and discovered that there is no top rope there and only a small bouldering area. It's a Momentum "micro gym" which is prob good for college kids, and this one is close to the U, so that makes sense. We decided not to boulder there, but are glad we checked it out. The Trolly Square location does have a cold plunge, so that's good to know if we ever want that (you need reservations) and a sauna too. It was kinda late after that to start climbing, so instead of going to Millcreek we went home and we'll go climbing in the morning. I just finished a few more side by side pics - 13 14 15 years, should be good. 

It's been fun making these and looking at the two of them through the years. 

Christmas Day

Last night, after our party, Corey drove over to his dad's house to load up the van with gifts. Joseph helped him. They came back home and parked in the garage. I set an alarm for 1:30 am to get up and set out the presents. But then I put in earplugs. Thus, I did not hear the 1:30 alarm. Thankfully God woke up at 2:30. I thought "That would have been bad..." but not really bad, just a little sad if they woke up and there were no presents. I took a pic of the kids all sleeping in the front room. How many can you find?

I spy little baby Mary! I was impressed that Joseph, Eliza and Mary participated in this tradition. That is more than I would do! I went over to the side room. Cookies for Santa, clementines for his reindeer. 

I poured the milk down the sink. Sorry to be wasteful, but I gotta hurry and do this - no time to carefully pour milk back into the container. Plus that would probably be too noisy. I was walking as quietly as I could, but it felt like everything was noisy. I tried to do the stockings, but the bags of chips were too noisy, so I did cheetos for ODPK and then I didn't do chips for any of the other kids. Then I went to the car. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to open the garage, but thank you Corey for backing it in. There were a lot of bins in the car. All zip tied. Luckily there were clippers there in the garage with my biking stuff (when I cleared a new path Mon Nov 10) so I didn't have to go back into the kitchen. Clipped those open. The bookshelf box was heavy. All the bins were heavy. It was hard to do it quietly. I'm sure I was waking people up. 3:08 am, one bin left...

For the last big bin I was ready to just turn it over and dump the gifts out, but... I resisted. I placed them one by one with care. It took me an hour to put it all around the tree. I tried to do chips twice more, but nope, too noisy, and I don't want to take the stockings all down to do it in Corey's office, yeah... so 3:26 am, I'm calling it good. Yay all done.

After I snuck upstairs at 3:30 I heard Natalie whisper to Owen "Are they there?" And then I heard them stomp across the room. Aaaand they're up. It took a bit for me to fall back asleep with them pitter pattering around. Hyrum asked me yesterday about them getting up early to play the Wii. I said to wait until 6. Not sure if they did. Corey and I stayed in bed until 8. Wesley called around 8:30. HE COMES HOME IN FIVE DAYS!!! Wes showed us a spider man cowboy that Santa brought him. 

Kids/boys were playing the Wii while Corey and some of the girls made breakfast. 

Hyrum had been looking forward to destroying everyone in Mario Kart, but then reflected this morning that he had forgotten about Christian....

Christian was a force to be reckoned with as Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was bigger and "heavier" and kept pushing Hyrum off the track. The tournament ended on Rainbow road, with Hyrum having his first bout of luck and maintaining first place for most of the race, only to miss a booster at the end and have Christian get it and push Hyrum off the road right before the finish line. Everyone mourned with Hyrum's tragic last minute defeat. Hyrum fell to his knees and put his hands over his head. I was laughing at it all, it was funny. Hyrum "This is too stressful!! I need a break!" 

That was a good time to stop for breakfast. Lily's sourdough bread with a pretty star on top, just like a Christmas tree. 

There was a feast prepared - eggs, bacon, yogurt and berries with all the fixin's 

Mary!!! So cute in her Christmas pjs

Little kids ready to eat, and so are their dragons! 

Beka and Matt made these dragons for the kids with their 3D printer. I put them in their stockings which was awesome cause they had news toys to play with all morning. Daniel had asked Matt if he's able to print a dragon when we went to visit my dad on his birthday last week. Daniel monopolized all of Matt's attention talking about it and looking up different dragon files. Beka was so sweet to ask if the other kids wanted one, and I thought they'd like to all play together, so they made one for each of the kids and one for Katharine too, and K got two - a mom and a baby dragon (in Daniel's left hand). The last one finished printing yesterday and Corey and I went to get them after climbing. Owen is the longest cause he's the oldest, Daniel's is the only one with wings, which is cool. Peter's is his fav color green, and K's is pink and purple. So fun, they were a total hit. At breakfast, the little kids commented on how there were so many presents under the tree. 

That caused the older kids reflect on that one Christmas years ago (2019 to be exact), when there were not so many gifts. We talked to Ethan and Bella this morning. They are in Colorado. Ethan said Santa didn't visit their hotel room and it reminded him of that sad Christmas day too, so I sent him the post to read. I had the link and opened the post and read it to the kids as we ate Christmas Crepes. That tree and those meager presents really do look so sad! haha!

Then into the front room for family "secret sibling" gifts. Corey and I didn't participate in that, but they kids had gotten us some presents that we opened. Mary is a gift for us all 0 

Peter got Joseph a few random items that I'm assuming were from the dollar store. 

Lily made Mel this cute cork board so she can remember an important date coming up. 

I should come back later and say who had who and what they got them. It was all good though and fun, And now to the white tree for gifts from Corey and I - Owen got sports shirts, Abi opening bedsheets

Lily with headphones, Sophi with a jewelry box, Natalie opening her sheets.

Katharine's best present was a Fisher Price Little People Disney Princess pink carriage. 

Peter was excited about getting Spider-Man webshooters.

Our work here is done. Mel and Christian left after that to go be with his parents and siblings. Kids  at our house enjoyed their gifts for a bit while Corey and I snuck out for a Christmas Day bike ride because today had a high temperature of 53 degrees!!! Wow! I wore normal biking shoes, not my boots, and we needed no hand or toe warmers. The trail was 100% clear and perfect. At the ruins ~

Eliza and Mary sneaking in a needed nap ~

Corey and I got back around 2pm, but 2pm was what time we were supposed to be at Wayne's... doh. I got a salad ready and sent the kids ahead with it. Corey and I cleaned ourselves up and then would have left but then we found we had to re-wrap gifts that the kids had opened for Nancy, Jeremy while we were gone. We got there at 3. We brought some zebra popcorn and rolls. Wayne let Nancy now we had arrived and then she and her family came over. Ham and creamy funeral potatoes, my balsalmic salad, rolls, and a jello salad.

Mark and his family are gone on a trip to Israel, so that's why they didn't join this year. Ethan and Bella are in Colorado. They'll be here Sunday after they visit Bella's family. Mel and Christian at his folks'. The dragons are at the table enjoying their food (Peter fed his some leaves).

Peter with his pet dragon.

I laid on the couch after eating and took my needed nap. I missed the gift giving, but Nancy took some pics. 

I didn't mean to sleep through the whole thing, but I did. 

Kids excited to open a few more gifts. 

Then we stayed and visited and more people took their Christmas naps...

Made sense to put Natalie and Katharine on a couch together.

We woke them up at 7 and headed to the cars. Joseph and Eliza got their instructions for feeding Nancy's cat (they are leaving for a vacation to St. Kit tomorrow) and Mark's lizard that Nancy was watching, and then we left to go by the Hibberts house after that. My dad loves to hold the babies if they'll let him. And Mary is so friendly, she was ok with that. 

She's also a bit busy, so she was soon off exploring.

We had fun watching her practice crawling if something caught her interest, like a phone!

Natalie and Katharine continued their nap on the drive over, and Owen and Peter fell asleep as well, which made sense since they got up at 3:30. Abi wasn't feeling very good, so she headed home with the kids who were asleep in the car. Dad holding Mary again. My dad visiting with Hyrum. We enjoyed some shrimp with cocktail sauce that my parents had out, yum. 

My parent's Christmas nativity mantle. 

More visiting on the floor. We stayed for like an hour. 

And with that, we're calling it good! Another Christmas Day is in the books, and it was a success. Visiting with family, giving and receiving gifts of love, and time remembering God's love sent to all of us in the gift of his son. I really enjoyed the Follow Him podcast with Bonnie Cordon. I'll blog that more later, but it's 3:11 am on Dec 30 and I'm finally done with this post, so I'm heading to bed. To all a good night.