New Year's Eve

Dec. 30th

Not exactly New Years Eve, but I didn't know where else to put this picture. We were shopping for food for our New Year's Eve dinner at Sam's Club. We took all the kids (minus Gabe) because Sam's club offers such an inexpensive lunch. 

Dec. 31st

The girls went to the mall with 2nd cousin Isabelle. On the way, we went to Kneaders (and then to the credit union to grab some cash for Elisa). We weren't super happy with our meal. My sandwich had like one thin slice of meat. I should have let my mom return it for a new sandwich, but she made sure she let the employees know about the skimpy sandwich haha. 

Another incident with Isabelle, not horrible just annoying. She wandered off on her own and the girls could not find her anywhere. I had to come inside the mall and search for her. Then Isabelle's mom, Lindsay, had to come in and search for her since we couldn't find her. I had to leave with the girls, but Lindsay eventually found Isabelle in the food court, which I thought I had checked but I guess I missed her.  

Meanwhile, Gabe went on a little trip with my dad to the Ogden Union Station train museum. Gabe wanted to check it out, so I thought it would be a fun little trip for them to go on while us girls were shopping and food prepping. Gabe had a good time and bought himself a pin at the giftshop. My dad took these pictures and sent them to me 

I got the appetizers together, there were a lot of them, and most of them involved some sort of cheese! The "main course" was the bean dip. Tootsie, sans Mark, came over to (surprisingly!) with some buffalo chicken dip. All the food was yummy, and we had a good time chatting afterwards. No fights nor drama...yay! I don't think we played any games this time. Afterwards, my mom insisted all of us siblings pose for a picture, but I don't think its very print-worthy. It was a fun New Years Eve appetizer dinner!

A video of all the New Years Eve yummies!

Almost done eating...

Just chatting about random, silly stuff

Sigh...Lisa...know we know where Aiden gets his camera smile from!

This one is just okay.

The party was over, time to go! Me and my Gabe while waiting for Grandma in the van to finish using the bathroom in aunt Lisa's house.

Christmas in South Jordan

 Finally made it to South Jordan! The kids were happy to see their cousins. It was too late and we were too busy to open gifts that Sunday evening (Dec. 28th) so we decided to open gifts the next evening when Eric was off of work (I think my dad was still looking for a job then, or he had just gotten a new one, I can't remember). I spent most of that evening wrapping gifts that I had Amazon ship to their door. I liked doing that because the tax was slightly lower and I didn't have to cart lots of gifts around.  

But first, dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant not too far away that was not good.  I wish I could remember the name, so I don't' make the mistake of going there again! My mom came after we ordered and shared with me:

Eating at the mediocre-at-best Mexican restaurant 

Then we gathered everyone (minus Erik, Tootsie, and Mark) around the tree to open gifts. We opened them in order of youngest to oldest. Calvin went first. We had a good ol' time opening gifts. I think everyone was happy with what they got. I got my mom the most gifts this year, so she was opening hers long after the rest of us were finished. My main gift to all the kids (except Gabe who had no interest) was a visit to Airborne jump place the next day. I printed off the papers confirming the time and place and I had all the kids open them at the same time. They were pretty excited and happy with the gift. I thought I got a video of it, but I guess not. I really like my gifts--perfume. Estee Lauder Magnolia from my mom and La Vie est Belle from Lisa. They are both really great fragrances! 

I made Calvin a box of silly kitty stuff! Months later, I realized I forgot to put the kitty stickers in the box. Whoops. I guess he'll get them next year!

Ian opening his Toad switch 2 game from the Blaylocks

Elisa got Aaliayah some Japanese comic book

Gabe opening...something!

I got the girls matching gifts--EMF (aka ghost hunting) devices and matching necklaces that say weirdo #1 and weirdo #2. The girls had fun ghost hunting with the devices. I don't care if they're a total scam or not--they're only $14 and they get the girls out of the house.

My dad opening...something! I could have been the running ornament that I got him last year, which I found hanging out in the old gift bags, still in its original packaging. I don't think he remembered opening it last year! Haha a bonus gift.

Christmas in St. George

 After Christmas day, Erik had to work so we left for St. George that following Saturday, two days after Christmas. The first thing we did when we arrived in St. George was order takeout from Red Fort Indian food. Bryce and Makayla and Zetta came over to eat with us and do the gift exchange, which we did after eating. The kids got spoiled with even more nice gifts from Grandma and Grandpa and Bryce and Makayla. Erik and I got some nice stuff too! There were plenty of gifts to go around. 

I left most of my gifts in our room since I didn't need to bring them up to South Jordan. I told Ian to leave his Lego gifts in St. George but he didn't and to this day he is still missing pieces from his Piranha plant. The next day was Sunday. I think just Erik and his parents went to church. I don't think we even packed our church clothes. The kids and I left not too long after Erik returned from church. I had a 3.5 hour drive up to South Jordan and Erik had to catch a flight back to Phoenix that evening. So we said our goodbyes and headed up north to see more family!

I've been seeing these Funko Pop figurines. I'm not sure what the craze it, but Elisa got one.

Zetta seemed entranced by everyone and everything! She enjoyed the fun and attention.

Ian was excited to get this, we are still looking for the missing pieces (probably in the van)

A video of all the fun!

Gabe got something for his phone to help make his YouTube videos. I think he liked it!

Elisa got a bunch of nice colored pencils from Aunt Makayla!

Gabe lost his old Walaluigi in Germany, and got a new one to replace it.

Christmas Day in Phoenix

Here is our Christmas day post from 2025 (months late of course), but better late than never. For the 2nd year in a row, we got to spend Christmas day in Phoenix with just our family. I bought a new Christmas tree: a tall skinny one that fit in the corner. I like it because it was super easy to set up, came already strung with lights, and the lights had tons of different colors and patterns to choose from. The best thing about buying this tree was leaving the ginormous tree in the attic and not rearranging our front room to accommodate it haha! I felt like Christmas crept up on me fast this year. In fact, I feel like it does that every year. All of the sudden it's November, and I'm thinking that I have no idea what anyone wants for Christmas! Anyway, I managed to get my Christmas shopping done in time (mostly thanks to Amazon). Christmas day went great with not too much to say other than the kids liked their gifts, the food was yummy, and we were all happy. Except that Gabe and Elisa didn't get me anything for Christmas this year. My boo-bean Ian always gets me something of course. He has a heart full of love and enjoys buying people gifts for Christmas (yep, with his own money). All in all, a very fun Christmas day:

Santa came!

It was hard to see all the other gifts under the tree, but there were plenty!

The kids posing with their Santa (main) gifts. Gabe got a Donkey Kong Switch 2 game, Elisa got a tablet, and Ian got the Switch 2 (to share with everyone of course!)

The kids took turns opening their stocking

I bought these perfumes for myself...

A new phone! I had my old phone for 5 1/2 years!

Ian made Gabe a silly gift that had multiple stages of opening

Gabe had been making these pretty awesome Mario Kart cars out of felt and made one for Ian for Christmas. He also made Ian's Koopa a little outfit. He hid Ian's gift in the piano. Silly boys.

Erik and I scored a pretty good deal on Facebook Marketplace for some N-scale model trains, some of them were brand new. We gave them all to Gabe as one of his gifts.

I got Elisa a nice record player. I also bought some speakers for it. The speakers didn't work for it, so now the record player has been sitting on her dresser ever since, unused...

Me and my cutie. This was in my craftroom but I can't remember what we were both doing in there...

Our Christmas dinner--smoked ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, and a veggie dish (similar to green bean casserole) that I thought was pretty good but I think I was the only one that liked it.

Random December Happenings Part 2

Here are some more fun things that happened in December:

Ever since the new flooring and baseboards got put in, we knew we needed to get the downstairs repainted. The baseboards came only primed, and there were spots on the wall near the baseboards where the drywall and paint had been torn off. I had picked out the paint colors the previous month, so we set up a week for Ryan to come back to paint not only the wall and baseboards but also the ceiling and front door. That took a few days to get done, around December 10-12. 

I chose Kilim Beige. It was a shade or two lighter than what we had before. There is a lot more yellow tones in it that I thought there would be when all was said and done. Would I choose it again? I don't know. I thought I could have gone even lighter, like Antique White.

These all had to be taken down.

 

In the middle of the painting job

The difference between the old paint and the new. The new is on the left and the old is on the right.

My favorite part of the painting job was my new green door! So much better than the ugly brown that was there before. 

I bought new frames, metal art, and decor off of Amazon. The N monogram I initially found on Amazon, but purchased it off Etsy from the same company for $20 cheaper. I arranged them on the floor how I wanted them, and Erik helped me hang them up. I have since filled out the empty frames and bought some cute little fake plants for the shelves.

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Dec. 16

Went to Goodwill for funsies--didn't find much but this pretty teacup and saucer for only $4. I'm slowly building a collection of vintage/antique tea sets. They have to be pretty and have to be made in either England or Japan. 

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Dec. 16

Elisa came back with this pretty awesome gingerbread house she made at her YW activity. It had to be eventually throw away, but not before I took a picture of it.

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Dec. 21

I can't remember why I took this picture on a random Sunday afternoon, but probably I took it because she is just so cute!

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Erik's cousin Lindsay and her family finally came down to Phoenix (to see a football game), and Elisa and Isabelle got to spend the day together! I took them to eat at Slim Chickens (Ian came too) and then dropped them off at the mall. It would have been great if she could have stayed longer to hang out with Elisa. They look more like first cousins than 2nd cousins! I never even knew my 2nd cousins, so I think it's great that Elisa gets to spend time with hers.

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Dec. 23

Silly Ian left this on my camera roll.

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Dec. 23

A date with Ian to lunch at Cafe Rio. The kids were off for Christmas break, and Erik was at work. Gabe and Elisa didn't want to come (or Elisa was at Jayde's), but Ian really wanted to go out to eat. Ian (and Gabe, too) love to eat my salad leftovers, so I let him order a salad for himself this time (pretty sure there was a deal going on). I let him take this picture of me.

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