December 2019

On December 3rd I finally finished my felt projects for Festival of Trees this year.

On the 5th Christian got this candy gram from a secret admirer!

On the 7th I decided I'd make some Christmas color filled omelets:

Then we went to the Festival of Trees.

We left on our vacation to NYC on the evening of December 9th and stayed at the 60s themed TWA hotel at JFK. Because there were a bunch of hiccups with service when I had been there in the spring, they had given me a free night's stay! Faith was so excited to be in the same place Leonardo Dicaprio had been in filming for Catch Me if you Can.


The hotel has a cute 60's theme with lots of fun things to see.

(Bud is pretending like he doesn't know what the handle on the door is. He really does know it's used to roll the window down, haha)

We loved the show the roller blading "ice skaters" were putting on!

We braved the drizzle to check out the roof top pool and look over onto JetBlue's terminal 5 and the planes pulled up to the gates.

December 10th we rode the Airtrain and then the subway into the city.


We spent nearly all day at the Museum of Natural History. We loved it and couldn’t believe how huge it is!

The evening of the 10th we picked up some cookies at Levian bakery,


checked out Times Square,


saw phantom on Broadway (!!!),

visited the tree at Rockefeller Center,

and enjoyed the fancy lights at Saks. We packed that busy day to the brim!

On December 11th we stopped by a coffee shop for some New York bagels (and a family selfie in a dirty mirror ),


hopped back on the subway (which we were becoming very familiar with)


over to the Staten Island ferry which took us right past Lady Liberty (for free!).

After that excursion, we visited the September 11 Memorial,


had a delicious authentic lunch in Chinatown,

tried bubble tea,


checked out Macy’s,


and stood in awe of the Empire State Building.


The following day I didn’t get any photos, but we saw some “wildlife” in the form of subway rats and headed home to Utah. It was a cold, great, busy trip! And I was only a little bit depressed that it didn’t include a warm beach.

On the 14th I made these cute neighbor and friend gifts:

Our garage door opener had broken about a week before, so we replaced it and I told the kids that was their Christmas present. Then our garbage disposal gave out so we got a great deal on a huge horsepower one at Costco which Tony installed,

and our dishwasher gave up the ghost and we had to buy a new one! I hope we all enjoy all of these expensive "gifts!"

The evening of the 14th was the Christmas dance and Faith looked stunning, as always.

Sadly, shortly after the dance Jonah broke up with Faith and broke her heart. It was so hard to watch her go through that!

On the 20th we gave Tiff & Kristen blankets embroidered with the Riot logo and they gave us hats.

Christian had gone to a Christmas party at Talia Porter's house (Talia is in 9th grade, but is a friend because she's in our carpool). Of course he had to make a gory gummybear nightmare scene!

Here's my cutie looking extra cute on the 21st.

That day we met up with grandma and Tammy to see Jumanji 2, eat at Lee’s Mongolian, and walk through the Ogden village lights.

After church on the 22nd I did a photo shoot of the kids because they looked so cute and festive.

Christian might be what the kids are calling these days "bougie" (creating an air of wealth) because on the 23rd he made himself a floor picnic of blueberries, brie and crackers, and sparkling cider which he sipped from a champagne flute.

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom & dad's,




then stopped by to see the Roy city lights.




Christmas morning the kids forgot they weren't little and got up early to see what Santa brought!

Skittles was equally as excited!

On our way to Ogden.

At my mom & dad's.

And grandma Braegger's.


From Tammy Faith got money for Shakespeare (her jar of Jolly Ranchers said "I hope your Christmas is jolly & bright"


and Bud got cash to put toward his purchase of and Oculus Quest Virtual Reality gaming system (inside his frame it said, "break glass in case of emergency".)

Tina's son Jason with his wife Athena and kids Draven and Riley.
  

Tina's stepdaughter Chelsea with her husband Laz and kids Lex and Liam.


On the 28th Faith got a manicure and I got a pedicure at New Image Day Spa,


then collected up Christian and Tony and went to the cheese factory.


On the 31st we hosted Tony's family for a New Year's Eve party. We had several soups including Zupa Toscana, Chicken Noodle, and hamburger vegetable.


I had seen these hanging, battery powered lights on a friend's Instagram and ordered them off Amazon for the occasion. They have different modes which you can set by remote, but they end up looking like cool fireworks!


We played the candy bar game and watched the ball drop on t.v.

November 2019

November 2nd we celebrated our baby's 18th birthday at Tucanos.

I refuse to acknowledge that she is now an adult!

On the 10th we celebrated at the grandparents'.




On the 12th Faith did a service project with the Young Women assisting at a women's shelter sorting and stocking donations.




October 20th was book club and I held the meeting at our house.


The book was "The Hiding Place" and took place in the Netherlands. I tried my hand at making oliebollen (I added used dried currents instead of raisins) and they tasted very much like the ones I remember Sue making for New Year's when I was a kid.


On the 22nd I brought the Fun Friday Treat for Riot. These are sweet potato rounds with ricotta, pecans and cranberries.


On the 26th Jonah answered Faith for the Christmas dance:


We had a huge snow storm on the 29th!


On the 30th we were just getting ready to go to a movie when Faith remembered that we were supposed to be at the Nutcracker in Ogden in just fifteen minutes! We made the 30 minute drive in about 20 and just had to wait for an applause break for the deb to seat us. It was not Ballet West, but they had swapped with the Moscow Ballet as a special thing this year. It was good, but not as good as our favorite! I was especially disappointed with their Russian dancers, LOL! Mom gifted the girls another beautiful ornament to add to their collections.

October 2019

On October 2nd we met up with grandma Braegger, Tammy, Chelsea & her family at Gardner Village for some early Halloween fun.






On the 5th I made taste treat delight, just like my dad made my siblings and I on Saturday mornings when I was little.


On the 12th we took a drive up the canyon to Taggart's Grill for the world's best carrot cake and some other treats and were greeted by this peacock.


Later that evening at Smith's, Bud tried on this cool costume.


On the 15th Faith painted this gorgeousness using watercolors:


Here is her first try at watercolor, an assignment for her art class, in a display class at school:


On the 17th, we got this horrific news about our Bishop:

It freaked me out and I had to take an hour off work to cry and hug my kids. Luckily, he had never acted inappropriately around them or anyone's children I'd heard of. Still, it rocked our ward and left a scar we are still trying to heal from many months later.

Took a picture on the 19th since I put the fall leaves above the cabinets this year:


I didn't get a picture of Faith's I.D., but here is her school picture this year:


That night everyone fell asleep early except me.


I looked at the clock, what the heck? Asleep before 8 pm?


On October 22nd Christian's school invited the kids to dress up like tourists for some kind of ribbon week. We later found out not many participated, but Bud certainly killed it!


That afternoon I had taken a few hours off work to babysit Melinda Townsend's baby, Trevor, while she took her toddler to autism therapy. The sign-up in Relief Society filled up so fast! He was so tiny and squishy and smelled so good my ovaries ached!!


On the 25th Christian went to a Halloween dance (what we used to call "stomps"), his first dance ever. He wanted a Captain Kirk costume because he'd been enjoying some OG Star Trek, but for the amount of money I was willing to spend we could only get this Data from TNG (used, off KSL classifieds), which was the same color. We did get him the old school communicator, though. He had a great time!

(Notice that he isn't wearing glasses--because he got contacts! He's doing the daily use ones that you throw away each night so I don't have to worry about him cleaning and storing them properly.)

October 26th I went with Kim & Brandi to Viva La Diva, Trick-or-Treat Diva!













Absolutely AMAZING! We had the best time!!!

On the 31st Faith asked Jonah to the Christmas dance:




She went to school in her Jack Skellington onesie pajamas, so she was all dressed up to hand out candy that night.






I made chili, cornbread muffins and roasted pumpkin seeds.

I didn't get a picture of Buddy, but he wore the costume from the pic above and went trick-or-treating with his friends and hung out with them.