The End of 2025!

 

Christmas Day

So Christmas just felt a little different this year. I am not sure if it was all due to the 60-degree temperature, but that was for sure part of it. It's also just different with our kids now all being young-adults and teens. So, honestly, it wasn't that amazing this year. Emmy set a pretty sour tone early in the morning as she was sad/mad about not being able to see Aidan much that week and their weekend (myself going with the girls and their boyfriends) to Utah was canceled too. So it just wasn't a great day. Maybe the kids had a different/better perspective? They were all happy with their gifts - big Lego sets from Santa for the boys (Porsche for Jonas and Starry Night for Miles), clothes from Santa for Emmy, and "new" skis with ski passes for Lucy. The rest of the gifts from us were a variety items for the boys (nice slippers/outdoor shoes, gloves, art kit, hoodies, etc.) and mainly clothes for the girls. They did all seem to enjoy what they got.

But Ben and I tried to make the most of it and the weather and took the dogs out on a little adventure to Fat Man's Misery. It's a little hike near Delta where you drop down through this slot and then hike on a river bed. It was really cool and the dogs LOVED it. There was some water and so that was nice for the dogs as it was pretty warm!

Brigham heading up the slot on our way out. Brigham super-impressed us as he was not timid at all and just went for it! Which is not him at all! Our pup Gordon and surprisingly Bella were pretty scared and had to be greatly encouraged and even picked up for the slot part - especially going down . . .

In the slot - I think this is Gordon trying to go the other way ha.

Cool!

Hehe, cuties.

It was so pretty!

Selfie/couplie!

Our three awesome dogs.

Bella and Gordon

This was hiking toward the slot. Just an open, dry, cactus-y area. 

Anyways, that was all our pictures of Christmas day, ha!

Gingerbread Houses

We had seven of us decorating houses this year - our whole crew plus Patton. Aidan was unable to make it as he had a very sick Aunt who was in hospice up at Junction and Aidan and his family spent a lot of time up there that Christmas week. But we enjoyed another round of gingerbread . . . (I forgot to get a picture of Patton's.)

The gingerbread hood.

Lucy's

Emmy's

Jonas'

Miles'

Mine

Ben

I so love looking at them and want to keep them up all year, haha.

Ben's 50th

Ben turned the big 5-0. Such an old man. I had mentioned maybe going to Glenwood Springs to ski as a family or something, but Ben wasn't too interested and really didn't want too much. In the end, he decided he wanted to go to the Grand Junction temple together as a family and do baptisms. Emmy had already had plans of being in Utah with Aby for the weekend, and so we missed her. But the rest of us went to the temple and had a nice session there. Later that evening, Ben, myself, and Miles went to dinner at Guru's. (Jonas had headed out for a National Guard Christmas party in Blanding, UT and Lucy was out with Patton.)  

The boys at the Grand Junction temple. (Lucy was changing in the car and so I just snapped a pic of the men . . . )

The girls posted cute happy birthdays on their Instagram accounts:

A whole new decade is here for Ben!

First Part of December (sadly in reverse)

Well December might be a bit more busy so I thought I would do a mid-month post. Of course the pictures go from most recent to latest and it's just too much trouble to switch them all around . . . 

Jonas turned 20! He celebrated his bday by driving out the night before to Blanding and then towing back his old Jeep. Nice. He made it home in time for orange chicken dinner and some peanut-butter chocolate cake. 

I really love my cute little Sunbeams class. This one, Hazel, is definitely a fav. She took my phone and took lots of pictures. Here are a few. :)

Molly and I, with a ton of help from Lori as well, organized another Creche Festival for our community. We were able to do it Friday night and Saturday this year. It looked beautiful, but is definitely a lot of work . . . 

There were some pros and cons about it this year. Pros: it's awesome. We had maybe 50+ more people come than last year. There were more non-members of our church that came than last year. We had about a dozen or so displays from a ladies group of the Methodist church and a pastor of another church. Very cool. Cons: it's so much work. (Is it really worth it?) Less participation and attendance from our own members.

We went and got our Christmas tree and it's lovely. :) Truly, it's a nice looking wild Christmas tree! The girls were happy about it and enjoyed their snow fight while Ben worked on securing our tree to Emmy's car. :)

This was round 2 where Emmy was able to give some payback to Lucy and pin her.

The look of defeat on Emmy's face after losing the snow wrestle to her li'l sis. She looks so mad, but she really wasn't. Funny picture.

Go Lucy, go.

And so it began . . . 

The Tree! I'll have to post some inside pictures of it with lights and ornaments. It's a beaut. I mean, scrawny and small, but pretty and well-proportioned. 

We actually got snow the first day or 2 of December. Yay! I herocially took all three dogs on a walk. Haha. Now December has been like in the low to mid-50s. I mean, nice for fall. But I want more snow.

November 2025

As my kids have gotten older, I just don't have as much to post. So I have my very unoriginal titles of month and year. Boring. But it is what it is. So, on to our November 2025 - which, according to our wall calendar looked dull. So why did it seem so super crazy!? Makes no sense . . . 

Cute doggies cuddling together ha!

I made bread . . . which is something I don't do very often anymore because my girls don't eat a whole lot of it. But it turned out great!

I went hiking (in November) with Heather and Jaymie and it was dreamy. Packed snow/icy conditions near the top, but nothing crazy. Lucky me.

I took my two lovely friends, Molly and Melissa, to Ridgway to see the Mountain Film Festival. The films were awesome but the northern lights we saw were equally so! Amazing! My first time seeing them. :)

Myself, Molly, and Melissa. I love these gals.

Our hood. Always something exciting when the neighbor's son comes for a visit (i.e., is not in jail).

Gordon is the cutest. And growing way too fast.

Three dogs - it's pretty great really. They are super chill (finally) in the evening time and it's so nice.

THE BIG SURPRISE - JONAS COMES HOME! Okay, well not home but to my parents' home for 

Thanksgiving. Jonas had found out the Monday before that they would officially be leaving deployment and flying into SLC on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. Miles was driving down from Rexburg and so it worked out perfectly. Jonas didn't tell anybody (but Miles ha) and so when we finally arrived around 8:30pm - Jonas was there! YAY. So fun! It was so fun to have everyone there. But I am lame and didn't get a picture with my parents and Derek - who was also there. Lame, lame. But we had a lovely time in Midway with family! My mom made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with a little help from us. :) We played games, hung out, kids drove the toy, etc. 

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I took the girls to Weber State University's campus to walk around and get a feel for it. Emmy has applied and been accepted there and so it was good to check it out. I am not sure Emmy is quite sold or sure of what she wants to do - it's hard getting a feel when the campus was completely empty! But it still was a good trip. Lucy's best-friend in Utah, Lila, met us there and hung out on campus with us - afterwards we grabbed some lunch and then did some thrift shopping and all had some good finds. 

On Saturday, Ben, the girls, and the dogs all headed back to Montrose early, early. 5:30am early. They left to catch our high school's football team's semi-final game. Which, sadly, they lost 29-31. Ugh. I managed to get the three of us left (myself and the boys) tickets to the BYU football game vs. UCF. It was really fun! It was Jonas' 2nd collegiate game, but both boys' first BYU football. So that was cool. It was a poor start for us, but ended great with a "W" for the "Y." 

Ben made this amazing banner for Jonas! Jonas and I drove home Sunday night and it wasn't my favorite driving, but we've driven in worse. It was good to be home. Miles headed back up north to finish up his final few weeks of the semester.