The Everyday

To celebrate New Year's Eve we had a few friends over and ate good food, played LRC, and let our kiddos play.  This is the only picture I have of our celebration. This was pre-food on the serving table. I was able to use both of my new tablecloths from Christmas--one in the kitchen and one in the dining room. 2023 has been a good year for our family. We went on lots of fun trips. Deer Valley and Hawaii with Shaeffers (Marty bleached his hair for Hawaii), Pagosa (with Adairs, Kents, and Shaeffers), Emi and I visited family in PA and MN, and we went as a family to Japan and saw lots of people and places we love. We attended 3 of our siblings' graduations--Nick (Olympus), Bubs (BYU), and Courtney (Columbia). We bought a home together. And had lots of visitors! Dan and Angela, Nick, Bubs, and Dave & Steph's family. Marty and I went on lots of fun dates and both grew spiritually. Marty started a new role at work--Hedge Accounting. I prioritized my mental health. I ran my fir...

I got a text from one of our friends in the ward this afternoon. Her daughter was home from college on break and was wondering if she could watch Emi for a bit. It was so nice of her to offer! What she didn't know is that Marty had to work this weekend for quarter end, and so having her help made a huge difference. Feeling grateful for kind people.  A picture Paige H. took while watching Emi.

In the morning we had Peter, Alex, Isaac, and Rachel over for breakfast. Dan made us all breakfast burritos and they were so yummy. Afterwards, Isaac went through the tunnel and rock wall over and over and over again. Emi enjoyed following him, and Rach enjoyed hanging with her mama. It was good to see the Rosen's one last time before heading back to Denver. Just an hour before we left to the airport, Diane stopped by. She came to visit and deliver Emi the cutest Nuggets shirt. From there, it was goodbyes and off to the airport. We have loved the past few weeks here in Utah. We are blessed with an incredible family. We had 8 pieces of luggage + Emi. haha. Emi gave me and Marty a late Christmas present--she did amazing on the flight and drive home. 

Grandpa played with Emi this morning. I watched as Grandpa let Emi dump crayons out of a bin over and over again and then he'd put them back in the bin for her. It was cute and reminded me that it's okay to let her dump things.haha. Emi loves hanging in Grandpa's office. In the afternoon Emi and I went and visited with Peter, Alex, Jackie, and the kiddos at my parent's house. Isaac was in such a funny mood! And Rachel was sweet as ever. After we were done visiting we came back to the Shaeffer's just in time to go to The Grid. I have never been go karting before and was a bit scared (what else is new? haha) but didn't want to be lame. So I tried it and had such a good time! Angela and I had planned on each doing a race, and taking turns watching Emi on the other race, but because she was still feeling under the weather she opted to let me do both races. I was really excited to do both races because it was so so fun. On the second race I had an unfortunate mishap ...

In the morning Emi and I headed over to Lesley's house to hang out with her and her girls (5 of us girls in total). It was fun to catch up and have our little ones play together. We're honestly better at making time to hang out now that I live out of state than when I lived in state. Funny how that works! The rest of the day we took it easy. Michael and Angela weren't feeling well today which was a bummer.  Is it really the holiday season if several people aren't sick throughout it?

A few of us watched "The Princess Switch" this morning. It's the kind of movie that you know the entire plot after watching the first few minutes of the movie. We were making fun of it, but somehow we made it through the whole movie. There's something satisfying about predictability in sappy movies. This evening after we went to dinner at Asian Star we watched "Game Night." I'd watched it before, but had forgotten the ending so it was very suspenseful and also funny.  After the movie, Marty, Nick, and Chris played Zombies and the rest of us did NYC Crossword Puzzles together. Courtney would project each puzzle on the screen, read the clues, and the rest of us would pitch in to help solve the puzzle. There's a very slim chance I would be able to solve these by myself, but with everyone working together it makes it really fun and finish-able! Random picture from today-- Emi walked over to the window so she could watch Grandpa outside. 

Christmas morning was relaxing. After Emi woke up, Marty, Emi, and I watched "The Grinch" (old version of course!) and talked with my parents over FaceTime. Then Marge arrived while Grandma and Grandpa cooked up a delicious waffle breakfast for all of us to enjoy.  After breakfast began the present opening. Emi got the cutest chef outfit (to go with her kitchen) and another year of My Gym classes from grandma and grandpa. Marty got new golf clubs, luggage, and a coupon to go choose out a golf bag and driver with his Dad. I got a new curling iron (I'm going to finally learn how to curl my hair haha), Wicked tickets, and beautiful tablecloths.  It's so exciting watching everyone open their presents and seeing their reactions. While everyone was excited about their presents Emi enjoyed playing with the gift bags some of the presents were wrapped in. haha.  The rest of the day was chill. We ate lots of food--charcuterie style--and spent time together. In the evening we wa...