Christmas Break

I used to dread Christmas break and the 2 1/2 weeks the kids would have off of school.  Now, it's not quite so bad.  We can do fun stuff together... and even bring some friends along.  We were able to get some skiing in before blackout, Anna had plenty of elf-shifts at the North Pole Express, and there was plenty of time to sleep in, eat breakfast late, and finish up Christmas shopping.  The only thing that was missing was SNOW.  I am not complaining about the furnace/ boot dryer not running so much, or not having to shovel, or scrape the car.  It's actually been very nice... I just don't want winter to forget about us this year.  Until it gets here though, let's soak up some low-angle solstice sun!

Hawkins Family Picture Time

I am so glad this happened!  They turned out so good!  A million thanks to Beverly for seeing the vision and pulling this off.  Sure, it was a little cold and windy, but EVERYONE was there.  I've learned the value in that lately.  Capture it while you have it.

December Part 1

Midway Creche: Every year, our town has an exhibit of creches (aka nativity scenes) from around the world.  Almost everything you can think of has been turned into a creche: legos, coconuts, ivory, straw, etc.  Last year their was a dog creche, so when the email came out for creche submissions, I brought the cat nativity.  Mom let me use her stable with the light.  I didn't realize how much of a hit it would be!  It was fun to see all the others too.  The dog nativity was NOT there this year.  

The Tree: Due to scheduling conflicts, we were unable to take the kids with us this year to get the Christmas tree.  It was better this way.  I had planned to go to the top of Wolf Creek Pass (I saw a bunch of possibilities passing through last month), but when we got to the top, it was a complete white-out!  I wasn't THAT brave, so we backtracked to our usual spot and found a perfect tree.  I'm not sure why I try to recreate the wheel.  This spot delivers.  Why even try anywhere else?  It was awfully heavy though and very hard to drag out.  Sadly, I did not get a picture of it decorated, but it was amazing!  Every year we have the discussion of switching to an artificial tree, but we are always glad we put in the time and sweat for a real one.  It's my favorite tradition.

The Kindergarten Christmas Program:  I mean, come on, what is cuter than this?!  I'm glad they brought it back, right in time for my last-born to participate.  He practiced very hard on his speaking part and totally nailed it.  They kept him on the top row so he had the projector lights in his eyes the whole time.  It was still so great to see them all singing songs from around the world.  Go Tommy!

Happy Anniversary:  It's been 17 years since I married this guy!  Wow, it's flown by.  It was pretty cold that day so luckily our warmest-December-15th-EVER-wedding day is still in the record books.  I booked an outdoor "Alpenglobe" at our local Midway restaurant for dinner.  These things are hard to get so we felt very special.  But in the end... meh.  The food is expensive for what you get, the service was slow, it felt like sitting in a fish bowl (like I had to wave to everyone that passed by) and it was a little boring.  But now we know!  It's all about the photo-ops anyway.

Drew Gets Baptized!

We sure love having another 8-year-old!  Drew was so excited to get baptized and actually helped plan his service.  Grandma Christy finally passed the torch of accompanying the songs to Anna, and she did great.  The cousins sang a primary song, I gave the talk, the Grandpas were witnesses, and Bevan did the ordinance.  It all went off perfectly.  Drew was surrounded and supported by so many family and friends.  I was touched how well the stake primary presidency organized everything and escorted us along.  We met back at our house for lunch and treats.  I'm sure Drew loved the attention and hopefully grasps how important this day was.  We sure love the gospel, our Savior, and the peace it gives us, especially on days like this.  Way to go, Drew!

Birthday WEEK

Having the majority of the family birthdays within 7 days of each other can be really efficient, but at the same time, the kids can feel kind of lost.  I promised that they'll have a "friend party" eventually, after Thanksgiving.  It's just a busy time of year.  

For Bevan, we went out to dinner with Beverly and Lloyd and came back for ice cream cake and presents.  Simple.  

For the boys, we did a combined birthday at the children's museum at Thanksgiving Point.  We spent all day there!  We left for lunch time (also with Beverly and Lloyd) and then went BACK.  I just couldn't pull them out of there.  I was thinking they were getting too old for it, but I was very wrong.  I found myself searching for a "comfortable" seat to spend an hour or two, but found nothing.  I guess to keep people focused on supervising their kids, they make it hard on the parents.  "Hard" as in rigid and uncomfortable!  We finally left after dark.  Anna spent the night at Beverly and Lloyd's for her present and they had a wonderful time shoe shopping and eating Panda Express.  I guess everyone got what they wanted!  I love all my birthday kiddos.

Thanksgiving x 2

What would be better than having thanksgiving dinner with your family?  Having 2 thanksgiving dinners with your family!  Sharon was coming into town and organized a family dinner on Sunday before thanksgiving.  We had almost everybody (we missed you, Monica)!  It was such a great meal with everything thanksgiving should have, but tasting 10x better.  Thanks, John, for hosting all of us.  

So, what did we do for actual thanksgiving?  Barbecue brisket at the cabin!  We had a few families who were also on their "off year" and had a great meal.  Brisket, mac'n cheese, fried green beans, rolls, coleslaw, and birthday cake.  There wasn't any snow for sledding, but a couple of hikes did us all good.  We really south's do this every year!

Halloween 2023

 For the first time in 5 years, someone has NOT dressed up like spiderman.  It's a record!  I couldn't talk Tommy into it.  He insisted on being a ninja.  Drew was a convict... and his props were handcuffs and a crowbar.  Dallin's costume arrived the day before because we couldn't agree on WHICH hazmat costume was appropriate.  The "zombie hazmat guy" was pretty graphic.  In the end, he would only wear the mask in the official picture, but not anywhere else.  Lastly, Anna dressed up as Cruella.  I do not think she's too old, and as long as she wants to wear a costume and participate, I'll let her.

The ward sponsored the chili cookoff and trunk-or-treat the Saturday before.  It's fun to get a candy-warmup.  It was a little cold outside, so everything got moved inside, except for the trunks of course.  Tuesday was Halloween night and we were rushing to get out the door and work the neighborhood.  Anna broke off with Azure and stayed out about an hour longer.  The rest of us did our usual route, making sure to hit those houses making fresh donuts.  Mmmmmm.  It was a cold night, though, and the boys were anxious to get home and roll in their candy.  We'll see if it can last longer than a month this time!

Fall Break... -ish

We didn’t have much of a “fun” fall break this year. This was partly because we were in St. George the weekend before (for Bevan’s marathon) and also because both Bevan and I had to work during the week. I’m also really ticked at the school district for having a fall break that lasted 11 DAYS! Really?! Of course the kids are going to get bored eventually. How do you keep them occupied for 11 days?! Fortunately the weather was nice and they were able to play outside with those few friends that did not go out of town. I dragged them on a hike to Stewart Falls one afternoon, when I wasn’t working. Ya know, just so I’d have some material to blog-post about. It was very pretty and the kids were all good little hikers… for the most part. I had to bribe them with ice cream for when we finished. And now, Bevan has a fall break for the next 2 weeks! Oh, why can’t all our breaks ever line up?

And now, please enjoy some pictures of the only fun thing we did for fall break. Did I mention it was 11 days long?

St. George Marathon

 It’s been amazing to see how determined and focused Bevan can be when it comes to running. He’s always had the goal of the “sub-3-hour” marathon and this time he was going to get it!

The hardest part of the entire weekend was actually getting OUT of Utah County. The traffic was horrible, but with some creative frontage roads and a dinner pizza to-go, we made it to St. George with only 45 minutes before the expo closed. Phew! Our motel was super close to Worthen Park, so we were able to take a walk down there and check it out before bedtime. It made it super convenient for Bevan to slip out the next morning at 3:30am. Why don’t we do this every time? The kids and I strolled down there after cereal and motel waffles to watch him cross the finish line. He actually came in sooner than I thought, so I didn’t have my camera quite ready. Rats. He did so well though! 2:53 was faster than any of us had guessed! The kids took off for the playground while Bevan and I wandered around for the next 45 minutes, eating, drinking, and getting a leg compression message. He pushed himself hard, so he felt awful, but says it was worth it. Okay! Later on, we tried to take the kids to the Children’s Museum, but it was closed for the race. Instead we played at the splash pad, rode the carousel, hiked the slots at Pioneer Park, swam in the hot tub at the motel (because the pool was freezing!), and ate at the pasta factory. Bevan did plenty of resting, but knew he would be feeling it the next day.

The next day, he was feeling it! I drove the entire way home while he slept off and on. Luckily it was a beautiful day with no traffic. It really was a great weekend and Bevan is already excited about Boston 2025! Hopefully his 3 toenails will grow back by then…