January

January felt like a busy month but I'm not sure what we did because we didn't take very many pictures.  

Brandon made fun of the days when our kids would find something exciting about their food and make us take a picture of them.  

Alex returned home from Las Vegas on the first of the month and Ripley was very excited to see him.  She had become very attached to him during Christmas break. 

Mia had some fun this month. She and I went to a party for her dance company one afternoon.  It was pretty cute! 

Ripley is very sweet.  Not only does she like to cuddle but she likes to be on top of us most of the time.  

She also got a haircut this month.  They had to go a little shorter than we were expecting because of some matting.  Hopefully it grows back quickly! 

Mia also got to attend Middle School orientation. I can't believe she will be in middle school soon! She is very excited and ready to be done with elementary school. 

Finally, Mia and some friends went skiing one Saturday during the month.  They skied all day and late into the evening.  Mia had so much fun but was very tired by the end! 

December

We had a wonderful holiday season.  It was great to spend lots of time together.

We started off the month by assembling gifts for the young women.  My assembly team did a great job.  

Alex and Brandon got to go ice skating for a young men's activity. 

Mia got to participate in making a Christmas music video at dance.  She love doing these each year. 

At school I was nominated by one of my student's families to receive a donation and to have a semi-truck come visit my Kindergarten class.  The kids loved it! 

Another young men's activity was a our house.  The boys had a cook a meal entirely made from things they bought at the dollar store.  Spam was definitely involved. 

Buddy the Elf got up to his usual shenanigans. 

Mia is always creating beautiful nails. 

My very favorite Christmas tradition is going to the festival of trees.  It was lots of fun this year as usual. 

We also did our traditional Nativity re-enactment.  

Mia was so excited to get to choose the parts this year and of course she made Brandon be the donkey. 

We also got to visit with Santa himself.  He visited Nikole and Jordan's house.  

Christmas Sunday is always the best!

We made a delicious meal to celebrate. 

Then we made homemade gingerbread cookies.  

Later in the week we decorated Gingerbread houses. We were delighted that the kids wanted to work together this year.  They included lots of weird youtube references that we didn't understand. 

And just like that it was Christmas Eve. We started off the day at the Clements house eating another delicious meal and exchanging presents. 

Then we headed to Sarah, Jen and Bayley's for more food and our traditional white elephant gift exchange. 

Alex took on the challenge of eating a disgusting pizza that Ryan had made.  He immediately spit it up but it was a good effort. 

Then it was Christmas Day.  First off we found letters from Santa and from Buddy upon his departure.  

We were so excited to see Santa had arrived! 

We enjoyed a slow morning of opening presents and eating scones. 

Ripley really enjoyed her gifts as well. 

Next we headed to the Clements for more presents. 

Then we finished up the day at the Hettinger's house for even more presents.  Ripley was getting tired. 

We finally made it back home and Ripley collapsed. 

The next day is alway my favorite day of the year.  We enjoyed our gifts and relaxed all day. 

The next day we headed down town to see the lights at Temple Square.  

We also got to attend a Temple Preview night for Mia.  I can't believe she is going to be in Young Womens. 

At the end of the month we got to go see Frozen at Hale Center Theater.  It was a fun show and we all loved it.  

Mia also took an aerial silks class over the break. 

On the very last day of the month Alex went to Las Vegas with the Everitts, Ryan, Wilson and Grandpa and Grandma.  Utah played in the Vegas Bowl.  Luckily they won and it was a great game. 

The rest of us stayed home for New Years.  Mia was very excited to watch the last Stranger Things episode.  She also spent some time doing beautiful nails for me.  We missed Alex but it was a nice low-key 

Overall we were very blessed in 2025.  We learned to not take some of our blessing for granted and are looking forward to new adventures in 2026!