Parents Visit

 Since my parents retired last year, they plan to come to Texas once a year for a few weeks. They came shortly after the new year and stayed through Tanner's birthday. It was fun having them close enough to visit often. They will bring their RV and stay at a park somewhere in Houston.

We had a fun visit with them. The kids spent all their time playing games and showing my parents all their cool tricks. Tanner loved throwing the football with Papa. Ashton loved to teach Nana some new games. Gemma soaked up her time playing Candyland and drawing with them. Lydia liked reading books with them, but really just enjoyed having their dog visit too.

We're already looking forward to their visit next winter.

BYU Bowl Game

 Joseph, Ashton, and Tanner went up to Shreveport for the BYU Bowl game. They had a good time despite the loss. Tanner held it together a little better than the Baylor game. It rained pretty good for the first half so the kids were chilly. Thankfully, they brought blankets and ponchos to stay decently dry.

Friday was an early release before winter break so the kids left after school for the 4 hour drive. Once at the hotel, they went swimming.

Saturday morning, they found an indoor climbing gym. There isn't much sight-seeing in Shreveport. The kids enjoyed it.

They arrived at the game early to catch the players practicing. Tanner braved the weather to stand out and watch the team practice. He even had a player throw the ball to him in the stands and Tanner got to pass it back to him. I can only imagine his smile!

He is the little blue dot at the top of the walkway. Out in his poncho watching his team warm up.

Sunday, they went to church in Louisiana and headed back home. Now we have to wait until 2023 for a Texas football game, assuming they play a team in Texas when they enter the Big 12 conference.

2022 Goals

 Here are our goals for the new year!

Physical:

Joseph: Run 2,000 miles

Casie: Run a half marathon in March

Ashton: Improve the butterfly stroke on swim team

Tanner: Play soccer and join swim team

Gemma: Learn to ride a bike (two wheeler with no training wheels)

Intellectual:

Joseph: Learn to officiate a sport

Casie: Play the viola for a special musical number at church

Ashton: Read her Spanish books every day

Tanner: Learn to read (in either language)

Gemma: Learn the letters

Social:

Joseph: Go hiking with friends

Casie: Continue involvement in the community via swim team board and PTA

Ashton: Invite friends to play with her

Tanner: Be a good sport, not cry and scream when his team loses or when he loses

Gemma: Speak kindly to her siblings

Spiritual:

Joseph: Continue interactive family scripture study

Casie: Prepare for the Sabbath day

Ashton: Read the Old Testament Scripture Stories

Tanner: Sit reverently during the sacrament

Gemma: Learn the 1st Article of Faith

2021 Goal Updates

 Joseph

Physical: Run 2,000 miles over the year  (Ran about 1,600 miles)

Intellectual: Practice more soup recipes (Found a soup recipe that he enjoys making for lunch. He makes a big batch once a week and has it)

Social: Play tag games with kids (Definitely plays tag when we visit the parks)

Spiritual: Lead interactive scripture study with family (We did scripture study really well this year. I think we've found what works best for our kids. That doesn't mean some nights are difficult and we only read a verse, but consistency is key!)

 

Casie

Physical: Physical therapy work (I finished physical therapy during the summer and have not experienced the pain and injury again so I'll take that as a win!)

Intellectual: Improve family pizza night. (I found a good sauce recipe and dough recipe. I often forget to start the dough on time so I don't always make it the same way)

Social: Continue to foster non-church playdates and relationships. (Definitely had lots of playdates with people not from church. We know several families in our neighborhood and get together often. I also joined the swim team board and the PTA again so that is helping.

Spiritual: Patience! (I did okay in some areas. Definitely room for improvement)

 

Ashton

Physical: practice piano for 15 minutes/daily (Did decent at. Some weeks were better than others)

Intellectual: Write a long sentence every day (School helped with this. She writes a lot.)

Social: Ask her siblings nicely the first time (Work in progress)

Spiritual: Share a scripture about baptism at Family Home Evening (She did well at this and was baptized last year!)

 

Tanner

Physical: Play coach pitch (the next step up from tee ball)  This goal changed to soccer once he had the choice. Tanner LOVED soccer and is counting down the days until his next season starts.

Intellectual: Learn the rules of football or other sports (This kid accomplished this and then some. He knows more about sports and the rules than I do.)

Social: Get better at cops and robbers! The neighborhood kids get together at least once a week to play cops and robbers. Tanner really wants to get good to beat the 10-12 year olds. (He got better at playing with the neighbor kids overall. Before, Tanner struggled with getting along and playing what they wanted. He enjoys playing soccer with them now.)

Spiritual: Say better prayers (This one is cute because every time he finishes a prayer, he now asks, "Did I improve my prayer?")  Tanner improved his prayers a lot. It is more meaningful and not a memorized prayer of saying the same things over and over again.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

For a few years now, we have made it a point to visit a church that holds a "Night in Bethlehem" activity. It is really well done. The church sets up an entire outdoor city with little stations to learn about living during the time of Christ's birth. It reminds me a lot of Nauvoo. There are blacksmithers, a tannery, rope making, bread braiding, etc. The kids love it. There is also a camel every year plus cookies and hot chocolate. Schools come and sing too. the kids loved it this year and we will definitely be back.

Decorating cookies one night. Lydia just cared about her bowl of sprinkles.

Then, a repeat when we tried decorating gingerbread houses. Lydia just ate the sprinkles and candy.

Tanner got into the decorating more this year. It was fun to see his designs.

For the first time in two years, Ashton's piano teacher actually held an in-person recital. But, it was the weekend of the BYU bowl game so Ashton couldn't attend. She hosted her own virtual recital again and loved that. I don't mind as it allows both families to hear her play too. Plus, she gets to play a couple more songs than normal and she learns how to announce what she is playing and who composed it.

One day over Christmas break, I took the three oldest to the Space Center. It was fun except they got rid of a bunch of exhibits. My guess is due to Covid numbers increasing. The exhibits were just put out over the summer and were really hands-on. It was an okay trip and it got us out of the house for a little bit.

Otherwise, most of Christmas break was spent playing at parks, meeting up with friends, visiting the dentist (no cavities in ANY of the kids!), and driving their siblings crazy.

Thanksgiving 2021

 

Well, this is the only picture I took of Thanksgiving. To me, that means we had a lot of fun. Either that, or I was too lazy to care. Probably both.

We had some friends over from our ward for Thanksgiving. They have some kids around our kids ages so that was nice. We played some new games with them and loved spending time with our ward family again.

The day after Thanksgiving, our ward had the turkey bowl. Tanner went to play as they had a kid game going too. One of the young men is the starter kicker for our high school and Tanner adores him. He got to throw the ball around with Max and play with him too. The little girls and I played in the stands (the game was played at the high school's practice field.).

Temple Visit

 Our stake asked each of us to visit the temple before the end of the year, including adults, youth, and children. I decided to take the kids one day during Thanksgiving break. The kids had a good time. We did a little scavenger hunt and walked around the temple and the grounds. Afterwards, we visited a huge park nearby and had a picnic lunch.