December Joyness

What a month. What a year. 

Ava's 9th birthday:

She had a couple of friends over for a movie night. She was so excited about it. I love how cute she is and excited about simple things. I can't believe this is my last kid's last year in single digits!

Our ward Christmas party was the night of her birthday, and the bishop had everyone sing to her. She seriously loved it. She's the type of kid that doesn't get embarrassed over stuff like that. I think it's amazing.

We went to dinner with Grandma for Ava's birthday, and Addie read a book. Just had to document for my photo collection of Addie Reading in Restaurants, which will be a treasured volume of photos someday.

We went out for ice cream and my mom requested that Addie leave her book in the car, so I also had to document that special occasion.

All the concerts and perfomances we ever thought possible happened this month. 

We went to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. It's pretty neat, but I sure wish it wasn't $94 for our family to go. Cray cray.

The Light of the World portion of the gardens is really good, but was extra good with all the lanterns. I did love it.

Early Christmas dinner with Nils' parents, since they spent Christmas in Mexico. We're thrilled to spend time with them whenever we can. Par's cancer is currently considered stable, and he's been given a break from chemo since July, with monthly blood tests and scans every few months. What a blessing! 

Anders is as tall as Nils now. His life's goal is to be taller than his dad.

Addie got contacts! It was a bit of an ordeal for her to get them in initially...in fact, Nils had to do it for her. That's all it took, though, and she's been a pro at it ever since. We were surprised she wanted contacts, because she seemed so happy to have glasses. She learned pretty quick that glasses are a bit of a pain.

 Tumbling show off day. Their teacher, Cassie is also my co-worker at the PT clinic. She's fun to work with. We get to commiserate about our teenagers. It's nice to know you're not alone sometimes. :)

My mom got a new gas fireplace, so the girls were enjoying reading by the fire.

Ava was Mary this year for the Christmas Eve nativity. Baby River wasn't super happy about being confined, hahaha.

Christmas Haul

Visited Temple Square on Christmas night. It was quite rainy/sleety, but still pretty.

Downtown SLC on Christmas, coming down from the Capitol. Not too shabby!

My best Christmas present! I was a little stressed about neighbor gifts this year, since I usually make gingersnaps. I didn't want to make a million gingersnaps with regular flour and then be sad that I couldn't eat any, so I was confounded as to what to do instead. Nils' work had a Christmas luncheon, and as it ended they were gathering all the poinsettias from the tables. One of the ladies asked us if we wanted to take a whole bunch of them, since they would have just been thrown out. I immediately thought they would make perfect neighbor gifts! I said we absolutely wanted them, so we looked a little freakish carting all of these out to the car. We made a little tag to put on them and delivered them that night. YESSSSSSSSSS. What a score! Aren't they pretty?

Welp, 2018 has been a year full of challenges for sure. We've experienced some pretty big changes in many areas of life, and had some very sad times. I think this year has been a great reminder for us of the blessings of the Atonement. We sure have needed the comfort of the Holy Ghost and felt the love of our Savior throughout the year. We're so thankful to know that families are eternal.

Through the rough stuff, we've had many a good thing happen. We try to be aware of our blessings, as they are plentiful (such as getting 25 free poinsettias!!!), and we are most thankful for them. We're thankful for our children, even though they test us to our limits at times, and I'm grateful for my best husband to go through the storms of life with. :)

Life is a ride, eh? Happy New Year to all!