Baby Blessing, Christmas, and the Demise of 2023

We celebrated Christmas a week ago and now we are about to celebrate a new year. Where did the time go?

Cheryl's family once again came to Utah to celebrate Christmas with us and the Stronk's.  On December 23rd, baby Lainey was given a name and a blessing by her father, Parker, in our home. The Bishop of our ward, Bishop Von Porter presided. 

This picture of the priesthood members who participated in the circle was taken shortly after the blessing ended. (Parker Stronk, Ryan Stronk (behind Parker & Lainey), Bishop Porter, Alan, and Lainey's great-grandfather Richard Larsen. Bruce Stronk is out of the picture.)

Parker gave a beautiful blessing, just as he's done for all three of their children. Lainey was so cute in her little white dress.

Bishop Porter was asked to take a group picture of everyone in attendance, which he was happy to do. The only problem was that Alan and I were cut out of the picture, so a picture of us with Lainey was taken the next day.

I was sick the day of the blessing and stayed in my room prior to the blessing and afterwards during the luncheon. I had a stomach bug and couldn't eat much for a few days. I wore a mask during the blessing so as not to pass my illness on to anyone else.

We decided to have our main Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and we invited Alan's brother, Galen, to join us and Ryan was there as well. Eric's family held their own dinner that night, but came over for a little visit later that evening. We had a nice dinner with ham, scalloped potatoes, fruit salad, rolls, and string beans,  with pumpkin squares and chocolate pie for dessert.

The next day, obviously, was Christmas day. Having little children around helps make Christmas seem a little bit more magical. Kessler excitedly left out cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve. He was excited on Christmas morning to see that they were gone from the plate.

This year, Wesley was big enough to open and enjoy playing with gifts. I can't believe she will be two years old in less than three weeks. She is at such a cute age.

 Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. Sadly, I didn't take many pictures on Christmas day.

 Ryan spent the night on Christmas Eve so he was here for Christmas morning. Jared almost joined us, but instead went to Colombia to spend the holiday with his girlfriend, Catherine. Kyle and his kids were in Arizona. Eric's family came over later in the day.

I'm really hoping that 2024 turns out to be a better year than 2023 has been. For me, 2023 was a painful year due to two knee surgeries that have been very difficult to recover from. I want 2024 to be a surgery-free year! I guess that's my hope and my resolution for the new year. NO MORE SURGERIES!

We will be spending New Years Eve at the Airds, along with the Bleaks. It should be a fun evening with dinner then games. I doubt, however, that we will stay up until midnight to usher in the new year, but we will see.

Olivia - One Talented Granddaughter!

 It was such a pleasure to attend two recitals for my granddaughter, Olivia, last weekend. The first recital was for music. She began taking voice and guitar lessons this year and she's really progressing well.

Her first number was a solo. I would have been so nervous, but she did great.

Her second number was singing while playing the guitar. Another great performance.

 I kind of wish I would have been able to take guitar lessons when I was younger. I love playing the guitar, but I'm self-taught so I'm not that great at it.

That evening, we were able to go to a local Junior High auditorium for Olivia's dance recital. I love watching her dance as much as I loved watching Ella dance over so many years. Olivia was involved in many of the performances because she takes so many classes. I always enjoy the many costumes she gets to wear. Here are a few pics to enjoy:

I'm so glad that we live close enough to some of our grandchildren that we can attend recitals and other performances on a regular basis. We enjoy them so much.

Thansgiving 2023

 Its holiday season again and we recently celebrated Thanksgiving. This was different than any other Thanksgiving for me because I had a first - I lost weight instead of gained weight. That's hard to do...unless you have stomach problems and can't eat much of the delicious food that was prepared. I ended up losing 4 lbs. over 3 days due to an inability to stomach any food. That's ok. I don't need all of those calories anyway.

This Thanksgiving was different in another way, also. Never before had we had a visitor from Colombia, nor a friend of Evie's at our Thanksgiving table before. Jared and his girlfriend, Catherine, who is from Colombia flew up from AZ to join in the festivities. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving there, so it was fun for her to witness a traditional Thanksgiving meal here in America. Jared and Catherine have been dating about 9 months (I think). She has been visiting Jared in AZ for about 2 months and will fly back to Colombia in two days. I know they will really miss each other and will look forward to seeing each other again a few months from now.

Evie's friend, Wolfram, was fun to have in the home. Very friendly, good personality, and fun to have around. Evidently, Wolfram's family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving so it was a nice treat for him to join us.

Besides our local family members in attendance, Kyle, Milo, and Clara flew up from AZ to join us. It was fun. It's been a while since we had sat at a Thanksgiving table with them. 

We had 14 people in attendance, which necessitated setting up two separate tables. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. Eric & Nicole contributed a lot to the meal - mashed potatoes, gravy, two different kinds of rolls, and pumpkin squares.  Everyone helped before and after the meal.

After eating the meal, we played "Deal or No Deal". This is a game that our family loves to play. I think this is the 3rd or 4th  time we've played it. They like it because they have a chance to win money ranging from $.05 to $50. Boy did they win money this year! They broke the bank! Ryan and Kyle teamed up and won $50! That's the first time that's happened before. I can't exactly remember for sure all the winnings, but I believe that Ethan and Wolfram won $30; Milo & Clara won $5; Ella & Olivia won $20; and Eric & Nicole won $17. We are going to have to restrict how often we play that game if they are going to keep winning like that. 

One highlight of the day was when family members shared their musical talents with us. Kyle and Olivia sang a duet, which was amazing. Each of them also sang solos with their guitars. Ella even sang an original song on the ukulele. What an amazing family we have!

It snowed in Riverton this Thanksgiving so it was fun for family members who don't normally get to play in the snow be able to do so. Milo and Clara built a snowman in our front yard and they also went down the street to the park to slide down the hill. Kyle also took them up to Woodward to do some tubing there before they went home on Sunday.

Another person really enjoyed playing in the snow - Catherine. They don't get snow in Colombia so she made sure Jared took her places to play in the snow. They built a snowman at the park. They also went to Park City to experience a ski area without skiing.

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. It's always so nice to be able to spend time with family. We were only missing Cheryl's family this year. With three very small children, it's difficult to do much traveling, but Christmas is just around the corner and we are excited that they will be coming here to celebrate with us.