We had a great holiday season. Thanksgiving was the nice, somewhat slower reprieve between Halloween and Christmas. We did our Thanksgiving tree all month and went to Michael and Michelle's for Thanksgiving dinner, which was lovely.
Other things: relief society Friendsgiving dinner; a bunch of church meetings; getting started on ward Christmas giving; had a bunch of fun social events (book club, bunco, out to lunch with friends, birthday girls night to SLC with DeAnna and Sarah); Belmont skate night. Houston came to visit with Owen and Declan. We had a great weekend with them, going to the aquarium, getting good food and swig, and letting the kids play a bunch.
The last day of the month Camille and I went on a fun date to luminaria. At the beginning of the month, I asked all the kids if they wanted to go this year, and most of them said they weren't interested. But it was actually really fun to just go with Camille, and she was an absolutely delightful date. I think when it came down to it, the other kids were jealous and wanted to come. I like the one-on-one time with Camille.
A lot of my attention in December was taken up by the ward Christmas giving. I was in charge of organizing the whole thing, but mostly it was pretty smooth going, aside from a few bumps. And I had other members of the rs and eq presidencies help deliver the gifts to the families we were helping. Also, right before we left for the holidays, one of my friends had a bunch of money she wanted given anonymously to members in the ward who needed the help, which was a really cool experience. One older lady that I took $1000 to actually cried and said, "you don't know how much this will help." My friend said that this particular lady was on her mind. I have no doubt in my mind that the Spirit was nudging her to help this lady.
We had a really fun book club this month. We didn't read a specific book, but we did a gift exchange where everyone brings a gift that is supposed to represent a book and then we had to guess the book based on the gift. It was so fun. I brought a pie dish and pie serve to represent The Help. And out of nowhere, 3 different women chose The Secret Garden as their book!
Sawyer got sick with something random. His neck was super swollen and sore again, and we were having a little ptsd from last year around the same time. So we took him to see the doctor, who told us to get an ultrasound of his neck and get bloodwork done so that we had a better idea of what it was. It turns out he just had infected lymph nodes in his neck that we took care of with antibiotics. Thank goodness nothing more serious.
I went to the kids Jingle Jam, and it was so cute and fun. All three of them were so excited about singing their songs, and I loved watching them. There are some really great things about the kids being in school, and stuff like this is one of them. I love going to their school stuff.
We went to Oregon for Christmas this year. It'd been a while since we've gone for a visit and it was time. Plus, in the coming year, there isn't a great time to go visit -- there will be a lot going on. We drove all on the 21st and had many obstacles on the way. Without going into too much detail: 1) the van battery was dead and wouldn't start, and it was parked in the middle of the driveway with Daniel's car in the garage. Daniel pulled the van into the middle of the road so that he could pull the white car next to it and jump it. 2) someone drove down the street and ran into the white car, which ran into the van, damaging both vehicles and hurting Daniel in the process. It's a miracle Jack wasn't hit, because he was running around watching Daniel the whole time. 3) cruise control wasn't working after that, as well as traction control. 4) I got a ticket for speeding in Nevada. 🙄🙄🙄 5) we slipped on icy roads around Lake of the Woods and had to finish the drive very slowly and cautiously. We got there safely, but it was a rough day and we were all exhausted.
Our visit in Medford was wonderful. It was such a nice break for me -- a break from the stress of my calling and spending time with people in my 100% comfortable with, a break from regular house work and normal life. We hung out and lot, kids played with their cousins; Julie and I worked out together; mom, sisters and I went out to lunch; mom and I went for Pedicures; i finished up Christmas shopping and we had a wonderful, relaxed Christmas day; Daniel organized the most fun bingo game for the whole family, with different games and prizes for kids and adults; we played the church gym for a few hours one morning; we went to see Moana 2 in theaters altogether; we took the kids to buy dog stuff after we told them we were getting a dog; we played games; and Julie, Schpuck and I went through a lot of mom's things -- her jewelery and quilts -- so that we could document who is getting what (Daniel told us to do it 😆). It was a wonderful week and a half. I could've used a little more time, honestly. December was a doozy, especially with our ward giving tree. It was like, I was happy to be going home, to be in my home, but I wanted more rest and more time with my family.
We came home new year's eve so we could get the doggie.
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