2024

So it was a little sad to not have the boys with us for our Christmas festivities this year. But then I thought how only having to make 4 gingerbread houses wasn't so bad . . . that didn't last long, however. The girls each invited their boyfriends and we also had Alaina join us - so I ended up making even more than usual, 7. Ha!

But it was really a fun evening and I loved it. I just love looking at our gingerbread houses! (In fact it is January 5th and we haven't eaten them yet nor have I allowed Ben to take them down . . . P.S. I am post-dating this post to December so it will end up in our 2024 book . . .)

The table all set and ready for the fun!

Fun!

I liked how everyone got into it! Alaina had never made one before and her's turned out pretty picture-perfect. Aidan and Patton might have helped decorate one, but that was pretty much it. But they just went at it and it was awesome. :)

Aidan's

Lucy's

Patton's (I love the angry Gingerbread man)

Ben's

Mine

Alaina's

And Emmy's - which was 20% Emmy, 30% Alaina, and 50% Aidan. :) Emmy's creativity can be rough at times, so glad she had willing hands to help. (She usually just copies me - which she tried to do, ha.)

The Creche

My friend Molly and I had the idea last year of doing a community Creche festival . . . Molly reminded me of this in late fall and so we decided to go for it. We got permission from the stake presidency to do it and then spent the next 1 1/2 months working out the details, etc. Unfortunately we were only given a 4-hour window on one day to hold it, but it still turned out great. (It was just a ton of work to only host it for that short period of time . . .) I am not going into all the details, but we were able to pull it off. We had over 150 nativities from stake members (we tried to invite a few other churches to join with us and they were very adamantly against joining us sadly) and had over 275 attendees. It looked really great and I was glad to have been a part of it. 

I will share pictures, but they don't do it justice. The gym really did look nice - I promise!

A very unique and awesome nativity.

My good friend, Melissa, finished up this stained-glass nativity right in time. It was gorgeous. 

P.S. Jonas had a birthday on Saturday. We weren't able to celebrate with him, of course. But I did manage to get a cake mailed to him and he said it was really good! :) We talked to him on his birthday and it was nice to see him and visit with him. I think he's doing pretty good overall.

The High school State Championship Game

Well since our football team made it to state and since Emmy is dating Aidan . . . we went up to Fort Collins (CSU) to watch the 4A championship game. Emmy headed out earlier and went up with the Lamberts. We came up later that evening (Friday) and stayed with Jim and Diana. Lucy was with us. On Saturday, we made our way up to the CSU Football stadium to watch the game - stopping at Bucc-ee's, of course, on our way up. :) My best friend Sarah Bugarin came with her husband Jay and son, Alex. So it was so fun to see and sit with them. There were quite a few people from Montrose there and we all sat together and had a good time. Well we had a good first half . . . Aidan played amazing and had a couple of touchdowns, some great catches, and some great runs. Our team led at halftime 28-7 and Montrose was feeling pretty good . . . 

Then the second half came and it just went downhill for some reason or other. It was pretty sad and Montrose ended up losing 28 to 35 (yep, we scored no touchdowns in the second half . . .). But it was still so cool to be in that collegiate stadium and hopefully the football boys can now just enjoy the experience. They were all pretty devastated and heart-broken, of course. So was Emmy.

On Sunday we went to church at Joe and Britt's ward and had a good time. Afterwards we went to their home, with Jim and Diana, and had a wonderful visit and lunch together. 

Sadly we didn't get any football pictures. But we did get some nice pictures at Joes and Britt's. :)

It was a fun weekend full of football and family. :)

Oh Christmas Tree 2024

On December 1st, we went up to the woods to cut down our Christmas trees (yes, two - the kids put up a small tree upstairs . . .). The pickings seemed very slim this year - literally.  But we eventually found a couple of trees. The girls hated our main tree - ha. They thought it was ugly, pathetic, etc. It was pretty sparse looking . . . but lovely in its own way. :)

Apparently I never took a picture of it all decorated. It wasn't that bad. :)

So Behind. . . Here's November . . .

The past two months are like all a blur and I can't even remember what happened ha. But I have a few pictures from the month that I will share:

Lucy with Levi - or Elder Lipps. Levi is Ben's cousin's son and he is serving a mission in the Denver South Mission, which is our mission. He was on our side of the mountains for Zone Conference and I was able to get Lucy from school and pick up Levi and grab some Twisted Sugar. Fun!

Here's Aidan at one of the playoff games. There were a couple of games in November and Aidan did awesome in all of them. He and his team won the 4A Regionals and so were headed to State in December. So fun!

Ben went to Honduras for a week; I did not join him this time. But Ben had a great time and really enjoyed the work and the whole experince. Awesome! Here are some cool pictures of Ben assisting the doctors in the OR:

Alaina had a birthday in November and I made her a cake. I think she had a fun day - my girls and her took the day off from school and went shopping in Junction, got their nails done, etc. Alaina's dad made her and her friends a fancy steak dinner and I provided the birthday cake.

Lucy and Patton - more football. Patton played on the Freshman team as Quarterback. He did well but he's wanting a different position for next year. 

Getting pictures after the game is a big deal. :) I think this was the 4A championship game and Aidan was sooooo happy - it was cute. :)

I guess I didn't get any pictures on Thanksgiving day . . . lame. But we had a good day. The girls walked the Turkey Trot with their friends and Ben ran it. My knee was giving me serious trouble and so I didn't do it this year. Boohoo. We ended up inviting the missionaries over at the last minute and so they joined us and it was really nice. 

The End of November.

A little late conclusion to October . . .

 Eh, we're halfway through November, but whatever. . . 

Bad lighting, but our porch was decorated (we ended up with a few more) with pumpkins from our backyard garden. The pumpkins eventually all turned orange.

I don't have any "official pictures," but Emmy and Aidan became official girlfriend/boyfriend. It's a big ordeal these days and includes the boy giving the girl a basket of cute things and asking her to make it official. Something like that. :) He's a really great kid.

Before heading out on deployment, Jonas and Aby had a fun weekend together in Utah (she flew there from college). We were going to go to Conference as a family, but couldn't make it that weekend (as I mentioned in my previous "Utah" post). But Jonas and Aby went - cool!

A special luncheon for a special, and especially old, lady. I have been helping (and getting paid) for taking Berry to places and appointments, organizing in her room/garage, etc. This picture shows Berry two days before turning 99!! Her beautiful niece, Jamie, came out to celebrate with her. Then there is me and Debi (Debi is in my ward and helps out Berry when I am not available). We had a lovely lunch. :)

Jonas repaid Aby's visit with a visit to her college town, Fort Collins (she goes to CSU). They met up with Jim and Diana and went to sacrament meeting with them that Sunday. Jonas and Aby attended a CSU football game, went to a concert in Red Rocks Amphitheater, and more.

Molly and I (as well as Jody and Melissa, not pictured) went on a lovely, cool fall hike. We even got snowed on. I loved the view of Ouray down below - so pretty!

Lucy is in some "child development" class and the students get a weekend to take home a baby. Lucy named her's Tyrone. He cried a lot. Like a lot. He's fancy and every time he fussed you waved a card thingy over his chest to record that you checked on the baby. Then you had to either change the diaper (the diapers had some sensors in them . . .), feed it (it was a loud feeder and would even burp), hold it, etc. It woke up every couple of hours during the night. HAHA. Luckily, I didn't have to babysit it for longer than 30 minutes. Lucy took Tyrone to a stake dance, church, etc. The data gets sent to the teacher and it's like their "final." Fun times!

My attempt at a Nightmare Before Christmas chalk art. Lucy loves the movie and recently watched it with Ben. She didn't say anything about my efforts . . . which pretty much sums up my life as a mom, ha!

Elder Maxwell Update in Photos

Pretty much the same ol', same ol' for Miles. He's happy and all that good stuff. Here are his random pictures from the past couple of months (whoa, there's a lot of them!):

He is teaching an english class - but, per him, really doesn't know what he's doing. :)

His Day of the Day/Family History project. :)