DECEMBER 2020

 First Half of December (5th - 19th) - By the time we got back from Hawaii it was already December 5th!  It was nice to have something to jump right into because otherwise we probably would have been too sad dreaming about how wonderful Hawaii had been!  Kasen was excited to unpack his new shoes from the Arizona Nike store and start wearing them to school to show off.  He is really turning into a little mini-Jed when it comes to the shoes.  Kinsley and Dallin got right to work writing their Christmas lists for Santa.  The kids were worried about making up their work for school so they did homework all day on Saturday.  (Aside from Ava who started her homework the night before), Kasen and Kinsley were able to finish all their homework for an entire week in one day... makes you wonder why we send our kids to school to sit there for 8 hrs each day right?? James had his baptism via zoom and it was fun to be able to watch and support him.  Dallin finished up his first semester of Let's Play Music and graduated from Red Balloons to Blue Bugs.  He was pretty excited.  The other days during this half of the month were spent shopping - 95% online, Jed's work party, decorating for Christmas, and trying to keep the focus on Christ.  One of these years I'm going to be done with Christmas shopping before December even starts and dedicate all of December to focusing on the Savior.

 We were able to go to the Christmas River with Jake/Megan and family one night before Jace left for his mission.  It was snowy and cold, but it is such a pretty and fun activity to do.  The kids have fun walking through all the lights and being outside.  The highlight this year was the Grinch - he was in a different location this year and so he interacted with the kids longer.  The little kids were scared at first but he was pretty funny.  Even though we really didn't get to talk or visit with Jace that much it was nice to see him one last time and wish him well.

Last Half of December (20th - 31st) - We know Christmas is right around the corner when Kinsley has a birthday.  This year she turned 10 - double digits!  From here on out things really start to change for kids.  It's bittersweet.  Luckily Kinsley is still a young girl in a lot of ways.  I love this age.  I definitely can't believe it has been a decade since Kinsley was born.  Her birth story is so special to me as it one of those times I personally felt the Savior minister to me in the hospital through the Atonement and his perfect knowledge of all our pain and suffering.  I'm so thankful for that experience.  We woke Kinsley up with a really fantastic version of Happy Birthday in the morning and took her to get some donuts for breakfast.  Before we left she was able to open one of her birthday presents - it was a jeep for her American girl doll and a tent with camping gear.  She was pretty excited especially when she saw the size of the box before she opened it.  She picked out a great chocolate cake too.  During the day we played and watched movies and then celebrated after Jed got home.  Due to corona we didn't have a party with anyone but we still tried to make Kinsley's birthday as special as possible.

The kids started winter break on Kinsley's birthday so we they got creative with their time.  Kasen made a homemade basketball hoop and many other things.  One day during the week Kinsley was complaining that her mouth hurt.  She had mentioned something a few days earlier but she said she thought it was a canker.  After she complained about it again I told her to let me look and see what I could see.  I was shocked to see this giant abscess!  It was December 23rd and so I immediately called Ben's office to see if there was anyway I could bring her in or send him some pictures and maybe get an antibiotic before he was closed for the next 5 days for the holidays.  By a tender mercy from heaven we were able to go in and they found out that Kinsley's tooth couldn't push through and had become infected underneath her other tooth.  So they pulled her baby tooth out and drained the abscess.  It was such a miracle to be able to get in and get it taken care of!  I can't even imagine how bad her pain would have gotten over the weekend!  Ben said she was as tough as nails and didn't even make a sound.

 

That night Jed and I went to a 40th birthday party for our friend Sadie.  It was so fun to see my friends from high school and their husbands.  We laughed and talked way too late.  

 

During the week Ava was able to go with Jed when he went to put a cast on Josh.  She loves being right in their seeing all the medical stuff.  Ava also got a letter this week awarding her with an opportunity to attend a symposium for students who have displayed academic achievement in leadership and medicine at Harvard University.  Wow it was so exciting to read that she was invited to Harvard to do labs and lectures with leading scientists and doctors from around the world... until we read that it would be broadcast from Harvard but would be available in an online format.  It would still be quite the information, but Ava decided against attending because of it being all online for 3 days.  Still quite the honor though.

CHRISTMAS EVE - We knew it was going to be a quiet Christmas Eve this year.  We delivered a few gifts to neighbors and then dropped off some presents to John and Coleen.  The kids had all written notes to them and Ava had included an inspirational quote from President Reagan.  Before we left John had given Ava a Reagan Ranch calendar.  I'm not sure he realized that it was a 2020 calendar and basically useless, but we all got a good laugh looking through the calendar pictures on the way home.  Nothing like a calendar of a dead president for a 15 year old girl!  The kids made sugar cookies that night for Santa and we did some last minute Christmas story reading.  Dallin kept saying prayers all night that Santa wouldn't forget our house since our chimney wasn't that good.

CHRISTMAS DAY - We had asked the kids to not come out of their rooms until we went to get them since we had all of the presents in the basement this year.  They were yelling through their doors to each other and then Ava was calling us begging to come out.  Usually our kids don't wake up until 8 or 9 but by 7 this year they were ready to go.

 

Christmas morning is always fun and exciting.  Everyone was excited about their presents.  Kinsley got a horse trailer and a horse to go with her doll and new jeep.  Kasen got a guitar.  Ava got a laptop.  Dallin got a little mini trampoline.  Jed got a new ipad and I got a great new coat and camera bag.  The kids had all got presents or made presents for each other.  Ava had recently won a graphic design contest at the high school for designing a flyer for football fundraising.  She won a $50 amazon gift card and used it to buy all her presents for everyone in the family.  It touched my heart so much that she would use her winning gift card on presents for everyone else instead of ask me to buy her stuff.  She is such an amazing girl.  There are few teenagers that would be so generous.

NEW YEAR'S EVE - The rest of Christmas break was spent facetiming with family and enjoying all our new gifts.  Sydnee rented the Flips gym one day and invited us and one of Austin's sisters over to get the wiggles out of our homebound kids.  It was really fun and the kids had a blast.  Kinsley really wanted to jump off the high platform but kept getting too scared.  She has always been scared of heights.  Finally after 2 hours she did it at the end.  We all cheered for her and her courage!

On New Year's Eve we took the kids to Rexburg to the cheap theater to watch The Croods 2.  We were all dying for some sort of activity outside the house and this was our best option.  Ava wore her "I survived social quarantine" shirt which was quite fitting for the last day of 2020.  Afterward we got our annual Chinese food for New Year's Eve and read our fortunes for the new year.  These were the fortunes everyone got:

Jed: Your hard work will soften the troubles of others. (fitting for his profession and his church calling) 

Emily: Your friends are delighted by your keen sense of humor.

Ava: Your sense of humor will get you through difficult times.

Kasen: Judge one not by his charms but by his actions.

Kinsley: Your charming nature will open many doors for you.

Dallin: Revel in the spotlight (How fitting for a youngest child like Dallin!)

We had one extra fortune so we decided to use it for our family fortune for 2021. 

 It said: You are destined for success and happiness.   

After dinner we got out the goal jars Ava had inspired us to do this year and everyone read all the goals they had accomplished.  It was awesome to see all that we have done.  Reading through Ava's accomplished goals alone took half the night! Midway through Jed started dozing and Dallin decided to give him a "massage" with various kitchen utensils.  This new form of massage basically involves squeezing Jed's face together as much as possible.

Afterward we played some games and got out our new disco ball light and had a dance party counting down the last few hours of the year.  Jed slept through it all just like every year.  It's nice to know that even a year like 2020 can't change some things.

             GOODBYE 2020 - HERE'S TO A LESS PANDEMIC FILLED YEAR IN 2021!!