Sunday, December 21, 2025

Grandma and Grandpa are here!

 Grandma and Grandpa are here, so it feels like Christmas time!

But first we had to get through our last week of school, which was full of fun.

Westin did the spelling bee and made it through 6 rounds. He was pretty nervous (read: grumpy :)) about this so we were proud of him for doing something new. That night we took his friend's family dinner whose dad is fighting cancer. We've done this a couple times and Westin loves making his friend cookies and helping me package everything up. He's a sweet kid and a good friend. 

Tuesday I volunteered in Camden's class and we went caroling to a care center for Young Women's. After caroling Michael and I went to the Baileys house to watch Marta open her mission call. Brazil! I was so touched seeing her sister Emma when Marta announced she'd be learning Portuguese, which Emma is learning right now while she gets ready for her mission in Portugal. I just love those girls.

Wednesday was Westin's deacon interview. This cute kid is about to make a big jump and Michael and I have been talking about how fun this next stage of life. We're excited for him, even if it's hard for us to believe our little Westy boy is this big kid now. Bennett had a breakfast party at school that day for doing 80% or more of his homework. He did 100% and I never talked to him about it once or even really knew he did it. I think he gets most of it done at school. He's such a content, hard working cute kid.

Asher wore pajamas to preschool for their cocoa Christmas party Thursday and he was excited about it, so cute. Michael had Reading Rainbros on Thursday and on Friday we got Italian food with the Dimonds. I love meeting up with them so much, and downtown is just a Hallmark Christmas card right now.

This weekend, Grandma and Grandpa came!! On our first day we saw a new Angel studios movie, David, in the movie theater with them and that night we went to Spring Creek Gardens and met Santa. Then we had our Christmas program at church on Sunday and I loved our choir numbers this year. Also it was the first and only time that ALL four boys sang a primary song in sacrament meeting for us :) The first time Asher decided he was ready to do it was the last time Westin will be up there. I hopped off the stand from sitting with the choir to see them and when I saw Asher was up there too I was so surprised and just beaming at them all. Man, having four little boys is absolute joy.

Westin made it a good few rounds through the spelling bee.
This was out of his comfort zone, we were proud of him for going for it.


I love this single ornament on this baby tree on our walk.

Puzzle guy.

He really loves puzzles right now.

More toffee making

Asher picked these out for Westin and Bennett :) 
He's just making sure they're really good for playing :)

Little Christmas scene

Dinner with the Dimonds downtown. We try to make this happen during the holidays and I always leave them feeling happier.

Cute little Hallmark city

Grandparents are here!


The Spring Creek Santa alway so sweet.





Sunday football games

Asher wore his church clothes *and* his tie all day because he was feeling handsome :)

Sunday, December 14, 2025

Recovery Week and Finishing Basketball

We made a lot of toffee this week. That's a favorite tradition around here. Soo many cubes of butter.

Our nights were all busy this week -- karate, Young Womens, Relief Society Christmas dinner, Book club planning for 2026, Westin had a fun basketball birthday party for his friend Quinn, and Saturday night we had dinner in the dark at the Gregorys for St. Lucy's day. They'r so fun, the boys thought that was really funny and then they spent the night playing with their Lego castle.

Saturday was Westin's last basketball game and the Stars finished the season undefeated. He loved this season. We ran straight from his game to his piano recital, and walked in during the number two before him. He did a great job with his two pieces and then it was fun to hear the other numbers -- I just know how much hard work goes into all those performances and it's such a good thing!

Sunday we delivered toffee to people we love for over three hours,
and we all got out at each stop. It takes so long but leaves us feeling so grateful that we have so many good friends here. We made it home in time to turn on the end of the Broncos game and watch them pull off another close win.

December is so full. The boys are having fun with events at school and shopping for each other for Christmas. We're all getting excited for Grandma and Grandpa to get here next week! 

It's toffee tiiiiiiiiiiime

Having Camden home this week has been so sweet!
Extra time with him during Christmas. This is the tradition I look forward to the most each year --
watching The Grinch (the cute animated one from 2018) while not multitasking AT ALL,
with my littlest guys.

That Christmas cactus keeps showing off, 
and Luna keeps watching me do dishes.

Car wash day is the best day!


White elephant night with the young men and young women

I scored this Christmas cow sweater and I was very.happy.

I've been writing in this with Bennett and he is so adorable.


Bennett's piano recital!
He's doing Let's Play Music instead of traditional one on one lessons,
and we've really liked it. He totally loves it.

Sweetest guy.


Westin could bring three of three things to school: Pillow, pajamas, stuffies. He chose three stuffies 
and I just like that he still is this boy haha.

My new curtains came!
I moved my rods up a while ago and these look so happy in here.

No curtains...

Curtains!

No curtains...

Curtains!

Ward Christmas Breakfast

I'm sad for Westin to already be old enough for Young Men's next year,
but as I watched him sing Once There Was a Snowman up there with the primary, 
I conceded that it's time :) :) Haha he's a good sport.

Final game, a win!
The Stars end the season undefeated!
Even with two games where they didn't have a sub.

Straight from that final game to Westin's piano recital.
He did a great job!

Our TV broke.
What's with microwaves and TVs right now!

Some toffee deliveries ready to go.

Camden and Asher took turns driving during the in-neighborhood toffee deliveries.


Sunday, December 7, 2025

Goodbye to Tonsils and Microwaves

This week was first spent trying to keep everyone healthy when Asher seemed to take a turn for the worse, but by some miracle he's the only one who ever got sick. We were so grateful, because Wednesday was Camden's tonsillectomy. He was only looking forward to this because he really remembered how much pudding and Jell-O and applesauce Bennett got to eat. What he was REALLY excited for though, was ramen. I made ramen noodles all the time as a kid but I just never have them around for my boys. Turns out they LOVE them but they only seem to get them after someone gets their tonsils out :) 

He was such a sweetheart the morning of his appointment and didn't get nervous until right when they had to take him away for the procedure. He handled it like a champ and they wheeled him away and then I cried, while Michael did all in his power to help Asher not cough in the pre-op space... not great timing! Camden did well but had a harder first hour out of anesthesia than Bennett did. He was moaning and in pain, so whiny and sad, and we felt so bad for him. He got 2.5 smoothies down and just seemed miserable. Suddenly he sat up, threw up, looked at me and said, "Can you hand me my glasses?" And then he was himself, for basically the rest of his recovery. Wild.

We went home to a house full of soft (and sugary, why are the soft foods so sugary) food and some serious screen time. Camden handled it all really well and we're grateful to just head into recovery from here and be on the other side of this.

Westin's basketball game was fun on Saturday but I'm noticing a big shift in his age of sports -- some kids really are jerks now and I always thought as parents we were all just trying to form not-jerks and that we all have to be patient with each other, but now I'm seeing some parents are jerks raising jerks. And I don't mean that in a whiny way -- I truly just never realized some people who just are that way are fine with their kids being that way, I thought we were all doing our best to raise really kind people and sometimes it's harder than other times. But it's not so simple, and it was hard watching Westin's team play a super rude team with a bunch of questionable behavior that was just laughed at and even encouraged by some parents. Absolutely wild to me. But those boys man -- Westin's team only had 5 guys, no subs, and the other team had like 12. And they were literally beating up on those 5 guys but they all just kept playing and kept playing. When one went down hard and they thought he couldn't keep playing, the other team offered to lend them a player to keep the game going. At this point Westin's team would probably have just called the game before playing with one of those guys on their team, it was just an unspoken feeling of defiance in the gym that this time was playing dirty and these 5 boys were struggling. But Westin's teammate got back on the court, and those 5 Stars beat that team by almost 20 points. I was soooo impressed with them and just so happy watching them prove themselves. I was riled up (and did nothing about it, don't worry) but ended feeling soo proud and grateful for Westin and his crew.

Sheesh, people. Raise nice kids.

That was mainly our week -- losing tonsils, putting up Christmas, and fighting the good fight. 

Asher was just not feeling himself and even though that's sad,
he's very cute when he's cuddly and lethargic. 

High Fitness night for YWs!
Lindsey and I go to a High class together most Saturdays,
so we were so stoked her sister was up for coming to teach a class to our girls.

Notice how high energy everyone looks, until...

...all the energy gone.
I thought they were going to love this class way more than they did, haha.
Why are teenagers always tired??

The first snow!

Our microwave came to an end and we had to get it replaced.
Seeing this empty box was kind of fascinating to me, had no idea that's what it looked like in there.

Finally hung things back up on the wall in Westin and Bennett's room!
Camden and Asher's, no luck yet.

Our new microwave tells us fun facts.
We're all pretty thrilled about it.

Little sicky Asher is such a cozy guy.
Add in a book and a Christmas tree plus snow outside?
Perfection.

My Christmas cactus is blossoming!

The morning of Camden's tonsillectomy.
He's just so sweet.

Camden's ready. Wolfie's ready.

Sweet man.
It's so unnerving sending your kid off to be anesthetized. 
We're just glad to finally get on the other side of this, 
because it for sure needs to happen.

Camden had a rough first hour of recovery.
He was so restless and in pain and whiny and I felt so bad for him.

This was at his worst, and about 15 minutes later he sat up, threw up,
and was back to himself immediatley.
I think that anesthesia just really made him nauseous.

Christmas is up!
Camden is having a couple days of all the screen time,
and Asher is not complaining about it.

This little simple staircase makes me happy.

We got a train for our Christmas tree this year when a neighbor was getting rid of theirs,
and it's been a big hit with the boys.
We also got a book from the library that shows you how to make different dinosaurs with random legos.
Also a big hit with the boys.

The undefeated Stars!

Westin has really liked basketball this year.
He plays with good friends and has really improved since his last season,
thanks to hours and hours of shooting hoops out on our street.
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