Cole is Ordained a Teacher - January 10, 2021

Two years ago, Cole was ordained a Deacon in January of the year he would turn 12. On January 10, 2021, Cole was advanced to the office of a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood as he will turn 14 later this year.

Steve ordained him along with the members of our Bishopric - Bishop Jason Kilgore, Brother Jason Overbaugh (who is the advisor over the Teachers) and Brother Chris Etherington (who is the advisor over the Deacons and has been amazing to help Cole transition to our ward and meet the boys his age).

Before the ordination, Brother Overbaugh asked Cole what it meant that he would be a Teacher now. Cole said "Is it sort of like a promotion?" Cute! Well, sort of in that you will have more responsibility as a Teacher than you did as a Deacon. He will still pass the Sacrament if there aren't enough Deacons, but now he will help prepare the Sacrament to be blessed by the Priests and passed by the Deacons. In addition, he will be able to minister, officially, to families in our ward. He has been assigned to be Steve's companion and their assigned families are the Etherington's and the Faucette's. That's easy! We already love them and their kiddos. Ryan Etherington and Ethan Faucette are probably Cole's best friends in this neighborhood. We see them almost every day. Perfect!!!

In the ordination, Steve blessed Cole that he would know the difference between those friends trying to help him do the right and draw closer to the Savior and those who would draw him away from the Savior. I loved that. He also blessed him to be able to balance his studies and activities and duties as a Teacher along with all of his other requirements each week. Love that too!

We are proud of Cole for serving as Deacon's Quorum President in our old ward and for doing all that was asked of him during his two years as a Deacon. Now, he is "promoted" 😜 to a Teacher and I'm sure he will do all that is asked of him during these two year as well. We are excited to see him serve.

Congratulations Cole - you're a Teacher now! We are proud of you for your priesthood service and for your desire to advance in his priesthood ordinations. 

(Cole looks weird in this picture with the mask under his chin. Silly boy.)

Reagan is Driving??? and more Church Ball - January 8, 2021

Steve called me (from the house????) and asked me to come outside and to bring my camera. So, I did. I wasn't sure what I would find and I was right to be worried.

He and Reagan were driving around the neighborhood in his car. WHAT?!? She has no license, no permit and no business driving. Well, he let her, so, we may now have a problem on our hands.

Incidentally, I'm a bit of a hypocrite when I object to her driving at 15. My parents let me drive at 11. We had an old Jeep CJ5 that was just sitting all of the time. We would take it to go off-roading once in a while, but for the most part.. it sat. When we were having a picnic one day, I told me dad "Today is the day I should learn to drive." He agreed and taught me how to drive stick shift. Truth be told, I didn't actually think they would agree, but they did. That started a long story of me driving, me getting into an accident, me hauling my sibs around town and me being a better driver than most of my friends. But again.... my parents NEVER should have let me drive at 11 and I certainly won't do that with Reagan. But, Steve is starting us down a slippery slope here. Oh well - he gets to teach her to drive if he is going to do this. Good luck guys!

AAANNNNDDD... we have more church ball to be played. Ethan actually hurt his foot, so, he spent half of the time resting and half of the time playing referee for Ryan and Cole. These boys love to play!

Reagan's Team is in the Paper - 1/6/21

 

There was an article in the local paper about the CCHS Women's Volleyball Team. While the article mostly talked about the varsity team, it showed Reagan's picture and she was so excited to have the team featured in the paper.

New Scooters and 3 Basketball Courts - 1/5/21

Reagan and Cole received new, Segway scooters for Christmas, but unfortunately, they didn't arrive until the week after Christmas. Oh well - I guess they can't use them in the winter anyway. Steve and I put them together and charged them up while Reagan and Cole were at school.

Also, we played some more bball. Mary Etherington took the boys to our church to play, but someone had reserved the church. So, they headed to the Stake Center, which had a bigger court. 

Then, they were kicked out of there, so, she decided to drive the boys to Corner Canyon High School. Somehow, the doors were unlocked but no one was on the court, so, they played there for a while. Lucky boys!!!!!

These boys had a GREAT time!

More Fun on Christmas Break - 1/1/21 - 1/3/21

We had a few more days of Christmas Break before we had to go back to school. Cole tried to play basketball at the church as much as possible.

Also, he and Ethan continued to work on and add to their mock Star Wars build. This thing is crazy!

Well, we have loved our break and now its time to get back to the books!

Christmas Visits - 12/26/2020 - 12/31/2020

While we didn't get to have all of our usual, Christmas get-togethers, we did get to see many of the people we love. I already posted about how we were able to visit with Steve's girls and their families. 

Then, the Sunday after Christmas, our favorite missionary had his farewell. Elder Jackson Kearl is headed to Ethiopia (after doing home MTC for 8 weeks) to teach the gospel to the people in Africa. We will miss this boy, but are so proud of him for his example of service and love. We were able to attend his farewell and have a celebration with his family and friends after that. 

We were able to visit Steve's parents for a bit, just us... not all of the family at the same time, and we had to wear masks, but we'll take what we can get. Cole loves to play with their little reindeer who dances :) 

We visited my parents (who refused to wear masks or let us wear masks) and got to chat with them and have dinner.

Our friends the Shapiro family came by for a visit and a gift exchange. They are the BEST! They bought us a candy machine to put M&Ms in (well, that's the candy that both of our families love). They said it was for the "house that has everything". LOVE IT!!!! We weren't able to hug them but snapped a pic of the front door.

My Uncle Scott and Aunt Ronda and their family came up from Phoenix for a visit and to ski (unfortunately there wasn't much snow). We were able to see them and have a meal.

Then, my sis Amber and her husband Jared came up for a visit on New Year's Eve. We ate with them, Jared played guitar with Cole and sang karaoke with Reagan and we had a nice visit.

We really have used these karaoke machines and speakers a lot! They are so fun. We aren't great singers, but we enjoy playing around.

This was the first year that we weren't all together to ring in the new year. Reagan was at a girls' party with two friends and Cole had three boys over to watch movies and play video games. Although 2020 has been a disappointment in many ways (HATE any type of home school and hate that all of our trips were cancelled), our family has grown closer with all the time we have spent together. We have learned and grown and moved into our new home and neighborhood. While we don't want to repeat 2020, life is wonderful and we are grateful for all of the blessings that we have. You - our family and friends - are at the top of our list along with the gospel of Jesus Christ and this amazing country that we are privileged to live in. So, let's go 2021.... it's going to be a great year!!!!!

Christmas Decor 12/30/2020

Our first Christmas in the house and, just like other holidays, this is going to take a few times to get right.

As I said before, this is a bigger house on a bigger scale and when I place a few things.... sometimes they don't work in that place. I end up moving things around. 

Reagan took our "fall tree" and took off the leaves and turned it into a tree for her room. she used pink and magenta ornaments and shoe ornaments.... so cute!

Cole has amassed quite a little winter village of Lego sets. We put them on a table downstairs.

We bought a tree for our room and decorated it with white and gold. Love it!

We brought our old tree that we used in our living room in the old house. We put it in the downstairs family room, but I really don't like it. We've had it for 13 years, but we've redone it and we've re-decorated it and now, it just doesn't seem to work in this house.

We LOVE the gold Santa that came with the house. It's so cool!

Finishing out Christmas Break - 12/28/2020 - 12/31/2020

 We had a few more days of Christmas break and we enjoyed them to the fullest. 

Making Christmas cookies is a MUST on Christmas break. 

We also headed to the church quite often for Cole to play basketball with friends, with Steve or by himself.

Cole would take half of the gym for basketball and Reagan would take the other half to practice her volleyball skills.

Yep - these are fun filled days for sure. Soon enough, it will be time to head back to school. Drat!

Merry Merry Christmas!!!!! - 12/25/2020

 Wake Up!!!! Wake Up!!!! It's Christmas Day!!!!!

No longer are our babies waking up at the crack of dawn to come running upstairs to see what Santa brought. Nope - I was able to shower and get ready and even snap some pics before they came up.

We got up and the kiddos dug into their stockings first. Silly kiddos. Then, we went around the room and each of us opened a present and then... repeat.

We were bugged that the electric scooters that we ordered for Reagan and Cole didn't arrive. They are all over this neighborhood during the day and everyone plays night games, so, we thought electric scooters would be fun. Drat that they are late, but oh well - life happens sometimes.

After we opened presents and stockings, we had our breakfast. We had cinnamon rolls and omelettes - a tradition for years. Then, the kiddos played with their gifts and we all decided to head back into the theater room for another Christmas movie.

Cole and Ethan joined forces to work on their mock and they had SO many soldiers.

Steve and Reagan went on a walk in the neighborhood. It's crazy that there isn't any snow for Christmas.

What a great day!!! We are sad that Covid has kept us from our usual Christmas Day visit to Steve's parents with all of his siblings, but we love our little family and enjoyed just being together on this blessed day. We really do have SO much to be grateful for and our beloved Savior is most important all year, but especially today. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Christmas Eve!!!!! - 12/24/2020

It's Christmas Eve!!!!! We started out our day by going to visit Steve's daughter April. She has MS and is especially susceptible to infection, so, she is extremely careful when it comes to Covid. She didn't want to join us for our Christmas Eve celebration, but we decided we could do a porch visit with her. She wore two masks and stayed on the porch. At least we were able to chat with her and wish her a Merry Christmas. Steve's other daughters Shannon and Rachel joined us with their families.

After we wished April a Merry Christmas, we picked up Cafe Rio and headed for our house. It's our tradition to get together on Christmas Eve.

We ate and then played games and then watched Christmas Vacation. Then, we opened gifts. 

The family got a kick out of the Lego Mock that Cole and his friend Ethan made. So cool!!!! 

After our family left, we headed downstairs to the theater room to watch some more Christmas movies. Plus, Cole started putting together some Legos. It was just us on this Christmas Eve.... but I LOVE that!

Our next door neighbors, the Faucettes, make a Christmas village each year. It is beyond description... seriously! They use their pool table and several other tables. They have mountains and hills and snow and water and lights and trains and moving people. It's so cool. They've been inviting neighbors to come and see it for a couple of weeks, but we have been so stinking busy that we haven't gotten over there. Cole was talking with Ethan and his mom invited us over late Christmas Eve. Well, since our family had gone home, we figured we would head over. It was really amazing! Plus, we got to visit with our neighbors for a bit.

Well, that's a wrap!!!! It's time for Santa to be arriving, so we'd better get to bed. Tomorrow's Christmas!!

Fun with Friends - 12/22/2020 & 12/23/2020

Reagan and Cole each had fun plans with friends today. Cole invited the Etherington kiddos and Scotty Pepper to join him at Airborne. That's always a favorite of ours.

These kiddos jumped and played and swung and climbed and had a great time!

This really is SUCH a fun place. The kiddos can go at their own pace, do what tricks they want and hang with their friends.

Meanwhile, Reagan had her friends (twins Natalie and Noah) over to hang out at our house. These three are so much fun together! 

They sang karaoke, ate, watched a movie and just got caught up with each other. Since they no longer go to the same school, they fit in their visits here and there on school breaks or during the summer.

Later that night, Cole headed to Highland to have a Christmas party with his cousin, Drew.

The next day was Reagan's bestie Sophia's birthday. They are extremely concerned about Covid, so, they just had a birthday drive-by party. Sophia loves the actor Tom Holland, so, her mom had cupcakes made up that have a picture of her and him together (can't remember where she got that pic.... comic-con?). Anyway, we said a quick Happy Birthday from a social distance and drove away. Maybe we can have a party next year. 

 

After that, we took a Christmas card to Steve's parents. They are being extremely careful also, so there will be no family gathering at their house on Christmas Day. It's so sad. We didn't go in. We just met his mom at the door, she wore a mask, we gave her the card and we were on our way. Did I mention that I hate Covid?

After running our errands, we met our new neighbor Ashley and her mom at Momentum Climbing. She is a climber and wanted to introduce Reagan and Cole to the sport.

While I'm sure Ashley had Reagan and Cole safely belayed, I have to be honest that it scared me to see them so high up there.

They climbed with the belay, they climbed without the belay and they had a great time. Ashley's mom (Julie) and I chatted while they climbed.

Our friends Kim and Dave Hoopes from our old ward stopped by with some Christmas treats and it was great to chat with them.

Different kiddos with different friends on different schedules made for crazy, hectic days for us parents, but we've got this. It's Christmas break and we want to see our friends!!!!!

Christmas is Almost Here!!!!!!