Raleigh surprised Ryker with a day of shooting.
A bunch of guys from work (including an instructor who incidentally is the FBI sniper at the Rose Bowl)
went out to Warner Valley one Saturday to shoot all kinds of guns.
Ryker was so excited leading up to it.
We knew it could be hard for him... he has an INSANE sensitivity to loud noises.
So Rals bought him inner ear plugs and outter head phones to block out all the noise.
Bless his heart, he tried.
He took one shot, burst into tears and ran for the truck.
It was upsetting to him. The whole experience.
"It was scary"
This, our son, who rages and punches and screams and yells at his violent video games,
but luckily doesn't have a single violent tendency.
I can't lie... I am not sad one bit, that he doensn't enjoy weaponry.
30 seconds after it was announced that Utah would be going to Allegiant Stadium for the Pac-12 championship, we had tickets.
The game was in Vegas at 5:00 on a Friday.
Why? I don't know.
Nevertheless, I left work early and we drove down there.
We were expecting a little traffic.
We were not expecting TWO complete lane closures in STUPID Mesquite.
There was one point in our three hour journey that Raleigh said if we are not to "this point" by "this time" we are turning around.
Luckily we didn't.
The game was the most fun!!
The stadium was absolutey gorgeous!
We could not believe we won
I am so glad we were able to go to this game.
What a fun memory
I had my 90 day review.
It was an hour and a half.
An hour and a half of endless praise and appreciation.
I enjoyed every single second of it.
I got a hefty raise,
two embroidered work shirts
and my name plaque for our office.
Also my boss encouraged me to drum up new business.
I am not good at that.
In fact, I hate doing it.
We had an office plague going around.
Even though, I was taking Vitamin C power packs and washed my hands aggressively
several times a day, it found me.
I went from 0-100 in about an hour on Monday the 12th.
I had a fever, the chills, chest congestion, runny nose, aches...
and no real PTO.
So I pushed through at work and then I would go home at night an DIE.
Raleigh and the kids were 4 days behind me.
We were all so sick together for 13 days straight.
We could hardly breathe.
We weren't hungry.
We could hardly do our daily duties....
but, forget shopping and getting ready for a major holiday.
This little girl would come into our room at night and try an keep up
with her homework. She would take tons of medication and wimper.
I worry the most about this one, so I made her sleep close to me.
She is never without that blanket.
During the day, they would all sleep together
And cough and sneeze and whine
It wasn't fun... but then again it kindof was.
We were all miserable, but at the same time we all knew how each other was feeling
so we could be totally compassionate to each other and help one another.
We had a sweater day at work. Some were ugly, some were just holiday themed.
Christmas Eve was on a Saturday this year.
We woke up early and did some last minute shopping.
Every store was out of control. We tried to not get frustrated.
We still didn't feel very good.
But, we wanted to keep up with tradition, so we made a 3:30 reservation for
dinner at Outback.
It was perfect! No one was there, but a cute little group of old people.
A little old man came over to our table and handed each of the kids a $2 bill
and told them how important it is to learn how to save their money.
He told us how rare $2 bills are and how they will be worth some money some day
and they should save them.
It was cute
I was given STRICT instructions that I could not post this
picture with Nana in it.
I don't know why.
But she and Papa were there.
We had a great time!
Papa decorated cookies
The kids decorated Gingerbread Men, which are SO much easier
to decorate than gingerbread houses
The kids opened pajamas
I had two dreams the night of Christmas Eve.
I had taken some medication that messed with me a little bit,
but my dreams were that several of my children were sad on Christmas
Day. Crying and sad. Some of them didn't like the gifts we gave them,
some of them were just sad. I woke up a couple of times in the night, sweating and
in a bit of a panic.
We had been so sick in the month.
We were not good shoppers.
And we were both just off kilter most of the month.
We just didn't have our heads in the game.
It was a real possibility that my dreams could come true.
My big kids are all over. Some of them living alone.
It was a very real possibility that some of them would actually BE ALL ALONE.
I was no where near them to be there with them.
Brayden was in Kansas and not totally happy about that.
Also, this was our first non-Santa year and even though the kids had confirmed
that they were onto "that", it still felt sad and un-magical.
But, contrary to my worst fears, everything went perfectly.
The kids were darling and grateful and weren't upset at all.
The big kids did alright too.
Brayden called me to tell me he was doing just fine.
The girls all got together in matching pajamas and celebrated together and
looked happy.
and they were exceptionally delicious this year.
11 years ago, we were in St George, down from Eagle Mountain.
Christmas was on a Sunday that year.
I was SO pregnant with Ryker.
We stayed until the 27th and headed for home.
My water broke at mid-night on the 28th and Ryker was born on the 29th.
The next time Christmas will be on a Sunday will be in another 11 years.
We asked the kids how old they will be in 11 years...
Peyton will be 24, KK-23 and Ryker almost 22.
We forcasted...
Missions will be over.
Probably at least one of them will be married.
There could be a baby as well.
When I think of the last 11 years and compare that to the next 11...
What we have in store for us....
WOW!!
Every year when I hear
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
by Mannheim Steamroller, I sit and listen to it and cry.
I do this because every year when I hear that song and I know that we made it
through another year and we are all healthy and good, I pause to be grateful.
That song causes HUGE personal reflection in me
I LOVE IT!!
Every time I hear it.
I love Chip Davis for composing it.
We went to church with Papa and Nana this year
It was good.
Their choir is REALLY good.
Poor December Birthday Ryker.
His birthday is very disappointing to him every year.
No one is more sad on their birthday, than him.
He just has overly high expectations and none of us behave the
way he has envisioned in his mind, so we let him down every year.
This year was no exception.
Raleigh took him to breakfast at Kneaders.
He gave him his gifts, 4 t-shirts and Air Pods
and then we took him to Chuck a Rama for dinner.
A man randomly walked up to him and asked if he could give him a dollar.
Ryker said "thank you, it's my birthday."
It was cute.
The ONLY thing he asked for, for his birthday was a suit.
We took him to the store to get fitted, but they had to order it.
So he didn't get it on his birthday, we thought he might die of disappointment
and disbelief that life could be so cruel to him.
Poor little boy.
I love him so much.
I left from our birthday date and went straight to Brayden's house.
The only thing he wanted for Christmas was for me to help him pack up and clean
his house for his big move up north.
I was like..... please let me just give you money.
And he said "remember when we did that in 2016 when I was moving to Kansas?
I loved that. I loved that it was just you and me.
I just want to do that again".
How could I pass that up?
We worked SO hard and had a really good night together.
I will never forget it.
WE were so proud of our hard work.
It was hard, hot work but we did a really good job.
Brayden was able to transfer up north with his company.
He LOVES his new job. He lives in a house divided into two apartments with
his best friend, Kaden and his wife.
So his best friend lives right down stairs.
Every time I text him, he says how happy he is.
There is no better thing a mother can hear from her son.
I was SO happy when I heard that Kami and Brent were coming
to St. George from their new town, Yuma.
When they lived here, we started the tradition of going to
Sakura for Kami's birthday, which is New Year's Eve.
Then they moved and we had to be okay not doing that tradition anymore.
I am so sad about it.
But, this year, they were here and so we were able to go.
It was delicious and so fun.
Then we watched a bowl game and played Yahtzee.
Ryker was the happiest kid.
He LOVES playing games with the family.
It was the perfect way to end the month/year.
I was grateful to get to talk to Kami for a couple of hours.
The men watched bowl games and we sat on the barstools and talked about
work and food and life and how she is going to win the lottery some day.
I am always so sad after Christmas.
I love the way my house looks and feels and smells during the holidays.
It is so sad to take all of those feels down and pack them up in boxes.
This year was especially hard. I don't know why.
I put it off until New Year's Day.
I have so many things to be grateful for.
A wonderful marriage to someone who is SO good to me.
It is so much fun to be so in love with your husband.
My big kids are in better places than they were this time last year.
I am very excited for each one of them and what lies ahead for their futures in 2023.
I am blessed to have a great job with people who appreciate me and what I contribute.
I closed up my envelope of "extra money" that I have complied from company parties and appreciation payouts and for being on-call. I am hovering around $1200. Christmas 2023 was paid for in 2022 without dipping into my bank account. That is mind blowing. I currently have $400 in my "Shoes envelope"
I have learned SO MUCH this year.
SO MUCH
I cannot talk enough about what I learned scripturally this year. My testimory grew 10 times bigger. Every time I taught the lesson, I was SO excited. I couldn't wait to teach the kids what I had learned. I wanted them to be as excited as I was. They typically weren't. But, it didn't stop me from jumping up and down while I taught, saying.... Can you believe this stuff? Can you believe how cool this story is?
My biggest fear is that I am going to forget.
In addition to learning more than I ever have about the scriptures, I have felt more blessed by un-deserved blessings over and over than I ever have in my life. I cannot believe how many times I prayed for something and almost before days end, I was blessed. How is that possible?
My kids were blessed. Jesus has literally taken the wheel and is driving their lives.
My marriage was blessed every single day.
My bank account was blessed.
My work environment was blessed. I had some experiences that were without a doubt just straight loving Heavenly Father nudges in my direction...just "I see you", I know you have worked so hard, and I am going to reward you for that hard work. Even the hard work you did 3 and 4 years ago, I will reward you for that time too. Just so that you can know that I know who you are and I know what you need, to let you know that I am watching over you.
I will talk about an experience that I had this month in January's post. I don't care what happens in the month of January, this story made up for everything.
I was blessed this year to discover a health issue before it became life threatening.
I was blessed that all of my expensive testing for that health crisis was paid for, not by me.
It is unbelievable.
For a person who suffers with foreboding joy... I must say this is scaring me a little bit.
But, for now, I am going to enjoy it.
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