Kitchen remodel

Christmas Activities

Home Depot Craft

We went and and made countdown to Christmas blocks at home depot. Lucy and Lincoln are getting so good at making these projects! After they sat on Santa's lap. It was Lincoln's first time seeing him this year and he had no fear!

Temple Square Lights

We met our friends Kevin and Ali and Emma at Temple square to see the Christmas lights. We haven't been for a few years and it's the last time they're doing it before the temple closes for 4 years. It was so pretty and SO cold. We bundled our kids up really good and so they were fine. Jack was so bundled up that he could barely move, but it looked like he enjoyed seeing the lights. We went inside and saw the Christus. After we went to the Lion House Pantry for dinner. It was a good night. I love being on temple square!

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Desert Star with Lincoln

Mindy and Remi gave Dan tickets to Desert Star for his birthday. However when the day came, Jack was sick and Dan was too so he stayed home while I took Lincoln with me. We went and saw The Christmas Carol. It was very funny. Lincoln and I enjoyed our date together with the Sorenson Family!

Festival of Lights

It was Jack's first real time seeing the Festival of Lights. He loved being out of his car seat and driving the car. This is always one of our favorite traditions. 

Christmas Parties

Neighborhood White Elephant party:

The Mann's always throw an awesome Christmas party every year. We wear ugly sweaters and bring white elephant gifts. This year we played the game "I never" while doing the gift exchange. It was so funny and we learned a lot about each other. We have the best neighbors!

Gingerbread House Party

Mindy invited us to her annual gingerbread house making party again! We invited our good friends Kevin and Ali to party with us.  We decided to make a camper that we called "Glamping Christmas". It turned out really cute and we didn't spend much time or money on it. We had fun chatting with Ali and Kevin. They made The Wizard of Oz and it turned out so awesome. Dan really wanted to get home and watch the Jazz game so we rushed our project and left early. They had the judges come and voted for their favorites. Mindy told me that we got 3rd place!

Ward Party

We had a good ward party this year with yummy food. The best part was that it was all catered by BYU so we didn't have to bring anything. After dinner, Dan took Jack home because he was feeling sick and needed to go to bed. I stayed and watched the kids sing Silent Night. I told my kids that Santa would be there but they were disappointed when I found out he wasn't coming. So Lucy sat on cute Owen's lap who was dressed like Santa. It was cute!

Soderberg Party

We had the Soderberg party at the Salt Lake Tennis club. It's always fun coming here because the kids have a blast playing soccer and running around. We ate dinner, chatted with our cousins and then Santa came! It was Jack's first time on Santa's lap and he screamed. Mindy and Erika and I put all the babies on Santa's lap at once and they all screamed. It was so funny! Sorry kids! It was a fun party. I always love seeing my Soderberg cousins!

Tervort Christmas Party

This year we had the party at Julie's house. We all brought appetizers to share for dinner. It was yummy! After dinner, Dave and Kathy did a little program where they showed us the nativity video and shared their testimonies. We also sang "the miracle" and it was so touching to see all the kids sing it with their whole heart. Then we waited for Santa to come! We sang lots of Christmas songs when we heard him walk through the door. The kids were so excited. Especially Lincoln this year. Lincoln sat so close and patient until it was his turn to sit on his lap. This year he had no hesitation or fear. He was pretty excited that he got Paw Patrol balls from him. Lucy was feeling sick and she was in Julie's room for most of the night. We did let her come out for the devotional and to sit on Santa's lap. She got a little fairy doll that she liked. It was Jack's second time on his lap and he did not like him again and cried. Later though, Jack walked over to him and sat down next to him and looked up at him. It was so cute. He was so happy for the rest of the night playing with his football that he got from Santa. After Santa, we sent the kids in the basement and had our white elephant exchange. Dan and I had really good gifts this year. Brad got Dan's gift which was a hat from Weinersnitzel that read "Most wanted Weiner". It was inappropriate but hilarious! Audrie chose my gift. It was so fun to see her and everyone's reactions. I took the family picture and switched everyone's heads on it. It was pretty funny! It was a fun party!

Moss Party
We had our Moss Party at Carolyn's house again this year. She does such a good job decorating for it! We ate a delicious dinner then told each other about what we did for our Big Gives. This year we all helped Melissa donate clothes and toys to some children in Venezuela. She showed us some pictures of the kids receiving these items. It was so fun to see a cute little boy with the paw patrol car that Lincoln picked out for him. After, we exchanged gifts. Grandma gave my kids the cutest little stuffed animals. Dan and I got a little kick out of the fat lion that she gave to Jack. It was a wonderful party!

Thanksgiving 2019

Jack woke up with a fever but Dan and I thought it was teething so we took him to Thanksgiving at the Tervort's anyways. We had a delicious dinner, chatted with everyone, and watched Jack take more steps. He started coughing though and it sounded like croup so we left early. Kaylee let us borrow the nebulizer and our Doctor called in a steroid. Luckily there is a 24 hour walgreens open even on Thanksgiving. Dan was nice and stayed home with Jack because we didn't want to get others sick. I took Lucy and Lincoln and we went to my parents for dinner round 2. It was very good! Lucy and Lincoln had fun with their cousins. I felt sad not being there with my whole family though, but I'm grateful we weren't all sick. This is the second holiday that Jack has been sick, poor guy!

Adult Trip to Disneyland!

Dan's sister Julie planned a trip to Disneyland and invited all of her siblings and spouses. It sounded so fun but I was on the fence at first because leaving Jack is hard for me to do, but we decided to go and it was so freaking fun! Adam, Julie, Davey, Kristy, Dan and I went and we had a blast. 

When we arrived in California, Davey and Kristy were waiting for us with a sign that said PARTY ANIMALS! The party has begun! We rented a van and the whole way to Universal, Dan was yelling hello out the window to anyone we passed. It was hilarious. 

We arrived at Universal Studios and went straight to Harry Potter land. Yay!! My happy place. I'll be honest it wasn't as cool as Harry potter world, but it was still awesome. We went to the Harry Potter castle and waited for about 10 minutes– single rider line is a glorious thing. It was perfect cuz Dan and I ended up going together. We grabbed some lunch at the three broomsticks and then got in line for Ollivanders. We got to tour the shops, get butterbeer and enjoy the ambiance a little more than when we went with our kids. 

Then we went and explored the rest of Universal. The highlights were dancing on the escalators and making a fool of ourselves, going on the new Jurassic World ride and getting super wet, and then going on the tour ride. Unfortunately, we got stuck on that ride because the driver ran over a big chunk of metal, but we made it fun while we waited. They gave us a free ride pass for the inconvenience but by the time we got off of the ride, the park was about to close. We went back to Harry Potter land and looked at the lights but they had no fireworks or castle projections, unfortunately. Oh well. We did get to go on the Hippogriff coaster though! It was such a fun day and perfect weather! 

We drove to Grandma's and she was still up so we chatted with her and Chris for a bit before we went to sleep. 

On Sunday, we took our sweet Grandma to church. And then we hung out with her in her back yard for the rest of the day. It was great to catch up and to talk to her. I always love hearing her stories. She is the sweetest lady and seeing her is always the highlight!

On Monday, we went to DISNEYLAND! We rushed right over to Star Wars land and got right on the ride. Dan and I were the pilots of the ship and I was horrible. It was a fun ride though. Even though I've never been a huge star wars fan, bit was really cool to be there. When we went back there that night, we ran into Kylo Ren(?) and some Storm Troopers who stopped us and asked if we were with the Republic. They took Julie aside and asked her more questions. Dan yells out to her, "Use the force Julie and smoke those fools!" A stormtrooper walked over to Dan and said to him, "if the last Jedi was here, it would not be you".  It was pretty funny! 

The whole day was awesome. It wasn't too busy and we got on rides pretty fast. It wasn't bad waiting at all though because we didn't have kids! We went on so many rides. After each ride, we clapped and cheered. We basically acted like kids on each ride! The best though was going on a Small World. We tried going slow in line because we wanted to see it light up. We let people go ahead of us, we stalled in line, but kept getting pushed up to the front and got on the ride. But to our amazement, it lit up right before we went inside. It was perfect timing! The rest of the ride, we sung and danced to the songs. Another highlight of the day was eating dinner! We got a Monte Cristo sandwich and Pommes Frites. The fries were the best!!! It was so good to sit down and eat and chat. We finished the night by seeing the fireworks. It's always so magical! It was a GREAT DAY! I missed my kids sometimes, but honestly, the day went too perfect and all my expectations were meant. It was so good! I do feel a little mom guilt though and so I will have to bring my kids back soon!